Stepping Forward

It has been awhile since we have written. You may start to call us slackers, but we spent our past week in a part of the mountains that barely had electricity, let alone Internet. And it was beautiful.

Last week the team made the long and treacherous trip to a tiny town in the mountains of the Honduran/Nicaraguan border. Our mission: to evangelize and teach kids´ club. With our faith in our Spanish waning, a flat tire, and interesting sleeping arrangements, we weren´t exactly thrilled with the week to come. Little did we know that we´d fall in love.

Our first couple of days started out a little rocky. None of us had ever evangelized before, let alone in another language. Feeling out what was expected of us was a challenge. And I had to eat a fish...with a head...and eyeballs. If you knew me, you´d realize just how amazing that is. I DON´T eat fish. Well, now I can say I ´´didn´t.´´

2 Corinthians 2:14
But thank God! He has made us his captives and continues to lead us along in Christ´s triumphal procession. Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume.

A sweet perfume. I can tell you that after climbing all over those mountains, we sure weren´t smelling very sweet, but I pray that our words did.

It can be very easy to get discouraged in times like these. With everything stacked against us, it almost seemed futile to even be there. The seed we were planting is a tiny one, and without being able to watch it grow  and see the harvest, our motivation began to wane a little. But, we are called to it, and though the seed is small, it will grow great, like the mustard plant (Mathew 13:31-32). It says in Zechariah 4:10 ´Do not despise these small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plumb line in Zerubbabel´s hand.´´ This reminded me of something Sandy told us in training: the promised land was given in inches, not miles. Though it may be small, we are doing something.

As the week went on, we got more comfortable and each of us found joy in our little mountain home. I can´t express how much I loved it there. The open sky, the silence, the simple life; my heart got to wander among the wild things. I felt at home. Getting to take a horse for a ride to Nicaragua may have helped that along a bit. ;)

While saying our goodbyes Friday night and Saturday morning, the pain of loss started pulling at us. We had made friends there. We had adopted the life as our own, the people as our own. It was like I was leaving home all over again.
Thank the Lord for wise people, though. On our last night after service (in the middle of the street), Edgar, a fellow evangelist, came up to say his goodbyes. Not only his smile, but his words touched my heart then.

¨If we don´t met again, I will see you in heaven¨

Now, I´ve heard this before, but in that moment, how profound! This family that we´re accumulating all over the world will be with us again one day.

2 Corinthians 5:0 "Our hearts ache, but we always have joy..."

This week, we are working at a Christian bilingual school and are making another round of friends. Our heavenly family keeps growing, pray that we continue to do so as well. :)

Kris