im back...

hey everyone. its been absolutely way to long since i last posted a blog. i apologize. but at the urging of mis padres and others, im back and i hope to be more regular with my posts...i wanna share a recent dad story with you guys...(sorry this is gonna be long..)

like i said in my last update, the end of july i worked with a team out in the valley. the missionary i was working with had arranged for me to stay at a local pastor's house who lives out in the valley, near where we were working. this saved me from having to travel close to an hour each way back to my house in north quito. i didn't know the pastor or his wife prior, so i was a little nervous being thrown in a house where there was going to be nothing but spanish being spoken. but to be honest, staying there turned out to be such a huge blessing.

one morning during breakfast (which consisted of freshly squeezed juice, bread, fresh fruit, and coffee) a middle aged lady walked into the kitchen. i didn't know who she was but she quickly introduced herself as being the pastor's niece. (the pastor and his wife both tienen 70 years). her name was martha, and she seemed like a very nice lady...

ok so fast forward a few days... its evening time and i am with the team at the church of the pastor whom i was staying with. the team was talking about purity, and actually this night one of the youth interns from the group was the one speaking. after the guy was done speaking the pastor got up and asked if anyone from the group would like to share a testimony. immediately everyone started to look around, wondering who was gonna be brave enough to get up there. i really didn't wanna speak, just bc i mean i live here, and i really wanted the younger members from the team to have an opportunity to share. anyways.. their youth pastor ended up going up and sharing. after he was done the pastor asked for another volunteer. but this time he didn't wait for anyone to volunteer, he just called me out! at this point i was kinda regretting staying with him at his house, bc had i not, he probably wouldn't have called me out...at least that was my logic...

so anyways the pastor called me out, and im thinking, (sorry dad but i was) "crap, what am i going to say? i got nothing. nada." so i get up there not really sure what im gonna say or where i wanna take this exactly. but then i just felt overwhelmed by the lord telling me just to share my testimony about how i came to ecuador..the process...the struggle of it all...so thats what i did. when i tell that story, or i guess just in general when i share something that the lord has done in my life, i tend to be very transparent. i just lay it all out there. thats kinda how god made me. so i was very very personal up there... i shared from mark 4 three things that the lord so clearly spoke to my soul during a time of desperation.. god cares/ god is in control/ and remember who god is and what he's done.

after i got done sharing i went and sat down, and then one more person got up and shared their testimony. after we were done with the service the lady i met during breakfast, martha approached me and handed me a piece of paper. she took my outside and told me that she really needed to talk to me and that she wanted me to read the piece of paper. but she was very adamant about me not telling her uncle (the pastor) about what the note said. she told me that the lord really spoke to her through my testimony and that she knew that the lord had brought me there to share for a specific reason... the note she gave me pretty much said that she had a problem with her daughter and that she felt like the lord brought me into her life to help her with the problem...

after the brief conversation with martha, and after i read the note, i was floored with so many emotions. i was in awe that God was orchestrating something so much bigger than me. i was afraid that i didnt know what i should do say. i doubted that i was the right one for the task.. but i was also excited for this opportunity to join god on this adventure.


(ok so this is getting kinda long and i am about to leave to go teach english, so i will finish this story in another post soon...hopefully tonight!)