February in The Jungle

I left Milagro on Feb 2^nd to fly down to Loja with a team from New Zealand that had come. We spent most of the 2 weeks in Yantzaza where Julia Henry (OMS Missionary from Lurgan) works. The purpose of the trip was to see the ministries down there, encourage the workers and help out with kids programmes and teaching music. We did a lot of travelling about in buses called 'Rancheros' without sides, and hard wooden planks as seats...imagine a 3-hour bus journey on one of these! Also right now is the festival of Carnaval, so people run about throwing water over each other in the streets. Therefore I'm sure you can imagine that riding in a bus with no sides made us the perfect helpless target...and Yes, we got wet!!!

Anyway, we travelled a lot to reach some Christian communities in the jungle area. One community we could only reach to a certain point and foot and had to spend the next 2 hours hiking through the jungle. We met with the communities of people and shared with them. We did kids programmes in each place...taught the kids songs and did a few bible stories. I enjoyed teaching some music to a few people. I taught 'Mighty to save' and 'Open the eyes of my heart' to a few people in Spanish and they seemed to enjoy learning that. I don't know everything that I've learnt yet, but I just appreciated being with people who sincerely love God and this challenges me to love Him more with all of my heart.

Being with these people really showed me that God was in control of their lives. So many of the things that hold us back in our western lives and hinder us are not present. Good things that we have but use them for bad things just aren't there. Even in some places they didn't even have electricity. Pray for these people (in Yantzaza, Guandos, Nuevo Porvenir, Yacuambi and Guayzimi).

You know what God has shown me?....It's that He is totally in control.

'Have you got any rivers you think are uncrossable? Any mountains you can't tunnel through? Facing with Him what seems quite impossible; He can accomplish what you cannot do'

I'll tell you guys how God showed me this in a real simple way...

It was Thurs 12^th Feb I went out for a wee walk in Guandos and as I was walking I approached a river. I had to begun to cross the river because I wanted to get to the other side. There were a few obstacles; the fact that the river had a strong current and that I had to pick my steps carefully due to the large rocks made my progress slow and stressful. I was so focussed on putting my feet in the right places to avoid falling and it made it even harder with the current. How many times do we feel like this in life? I know I feel that I have a million problems and sometimes I really don't know where my next step will be, and sometimes even to keep walking forward in this world is difficult due to what we're faced with each day. Anyway, I managed to get across the river and then hiked up a long, steep hill and upon reaching the top of the cliff I was able to look down and see the river below. I tell you the truth that from these heights the river seemed like a trickling stream of water and what had seemed like boulders at the time now resembled mere pebbles.

It hit me immediately that God was speaking to me so clearly. Yes we are Christians, but that doesn't mean we don't struggle. We still have problems and struggle every day and so often we know that our great problem is in that we try to walk on and face life in our own strength. Don't we fall flat on our faces every time? I know I do.

What God wants to say to us all is that if we can just lift our eyes in the midst of our struggles and have faith, we will see Him looking down on us from above and reaching out to us. If we keep focussing on our problems by looking down at them, we are rejecting the help of God. But if we trust in Him and His strength alone, he will help us, and He will point out each pitfall and rocky place before we even have to come upon it. Believe it guys, God is willing to take control of your situation, and not just your situation; your whole life, If only we'd just let Him!

Youth Group

I got back from Yantzaza on Thurs 19^th Feb and was glad to be back home in Milagro. I'm realising my time left here is only about 9 weeks so I intend to make the most of it by letting God use me to the maximum but also want to continue to grow in Him. On Saturday we invited all the young people from the church to the pastor's house to have our youth group. It was a blessed time. They came in the afternoon and I wanted to cook something special for them after having been away, so I made pizzas and taught them how to do it. After this we watched a Christian film called 'Facing the Giants,' and then had a time to converse about what God was saying to us through the movie. It was great to hear them recognize the main theme of the movie was that, 'Nothing is impossible with God'. One of the storylines was about a football team whose only goal was to win and play football in big stadiums where they would be seem by lots of people. I began to think. What are our goals for our lives? I'm sure we could fire out a few ready-made answers like, 'I want to honour God, please Him, know Him more, seek holiness and give God the glory in all I do.' But I ask you, what really are your goals? I was reading in Ephesians chapter one the other day about our purpose as Christians, and I challenge you to think if these things are the primary goals in your life. In Ephesians Ch 1 we learn that;

1. We were chosen to be Holy (Eph 1:4)
2. We were chosen to be for the praise of His glory (Eph 1.11)
3. We were chosen to be in relationship with God and to know Him (Eph 1: 17)

These verses really challenged me when I read them. As Christians, is it our daily desire to be holy, to please God, to be in relationship with Him and to know Him more? I know that needs to be my desire and purpose for getting up each morning. Also, I have found that when I am actively pursuing these things that my life makes sense...because after all, these things are what we are called to! So let's stop looking for other quick-fix things to fill the hole in our lives that we know only God can fill. May our goals be for holiness; may we seek to please God and seek to know Him with ALL of our heart. ONLY THEN will we experience a true joy and deep purpose because we will be doing what we were created to do!

Prayer Points

Praise God for youth group and how that is going. We finished up this evening with a time of prayer and then went to play some basketball to end the evening. Pray for all of the youth who came- Jean Carlos, Rubi, Vanessa, Luis, Roxana, Dagoberto, Carolina and Noemi. Pray especially for Roxana as she takes over the responsibility of this group when I leave. Pray for our hand over period over the next few weeks. Pray that God would give her confidence to do it and a heart for it, and pray that He would give me wisdom in guiding her through it practically.

Thank you all for yet another month of your prayers. I praise God for these kingdom prayers. Continue to pray for the church here and that God would give Pastor Carlos enough strength everyday to continue leading it.

I will be in touch real soon...Keep seeking Him first and may it be your deepest desire to know Him more each day and may you realise that, 'To live is Christ!'

God bless,

Jon