Monday, September 28, 2009

The Currency We're Dealing With


Hello, Danielle here. I’m hijacking the blog from the normal author for a few moments because something is pressing on my spirit. We as a team are desperately calling to Jesus. Our airfare money is due in 7 days exactly, and if the money is not in—then we will as lovingly as possible be drawn off our mission team.
I’d like share a story from the book, Voices of the Faithful.
“Fourteen women stood in a circle as we prayed for the young Costa Rican woman who was about to leave as a missionary to a Muslim country. All of them were committed to pray for our church’s first international missionary. But what brought tears to my eyes that afternoon was not their commitment to pray.
In many evangelical churches across Latin America, God’s Spirit is raising up a missionary movement from areas that have traditionally been our mission fields. From our small church in San Jose, Costa Rica, He called out “Farisa” to go to one of the darkest corners of Central Asia.
When Margarita’s turn came to pray that afternoon, she prayed, ‘Lord, You know our family’s commitment to the faith promise offering so that Farisa can go to another land. As I’ve told my children, ‘First, we will give the offering, and then if there is anything left, we will eat.’
She continued her prayer, but I didn’t hear the rest. Tears flowed as I realized that this woman, whose husband was dying of cancer, was truly committed to the high cost of reaching the world for Christ. She was teaching her children where a Christian’s priorities should lie.
In the United States, the vast majority of those who support missions do so out of relative wealth. But the missionary movement from the Two-Thirds World (outside the U.S., Canada, England and Europe) is being supported in most in most cases out of dire sacrifice.” – Wilma, pg 305

WHAT DOES THAT STORY DO TO YOU?!

When I read it I immediately felt God telling me that the vision for this Missions Ministry is still much larger then we have made it to be. We are in obedience of God by pursuing this vision. EVERYTHING so far has been set in place by his hand. I have NO interest in pursuing my own plan. I only want Jesus’ glory to be made magnificent among us and the whole world in huge, glorious ways.
The question that we are asking ourselves is, “Is our missionary work worth Margarita’s family’s food?” Is our work THAT valuable, that we could accept an offering like that?
The honest truth is that as a follower of Jesus—redeemed fully by him. Our body could die tomorrow and we would be okay because we would finally be with Him, but there are lost nations. There are pre-redemption stories everywhere we look. Don’t think that this mission work is not valuable… I would be hesitant to accept Margarita’s offering, but she understands something about the dire need to further the kingdom of God through the world. She understands it so deeply, that she will not feed her family until it happens.

How do we make this personal? Please pray and give generously and sacrificially to these mission efforts. Allow the Holy Spirit to “break your heart to the point of giving to missions with exuberance, not only because of the vast lostness and depravity of the peoples of the world, but because the supreme sacrifice of redemption has already been made for their salvation, of only they hear. Amen.”

“For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints.”2 Corinthians 8:3-4

These are orphans at one of the poorest orphanages in Liberia.
PS: If you don't know how to give please e-mail guatemala.we@gmail.com

Saturday, September 19, 2009

"Come" An Invitation

Hello sweet, wonderful people.

As I sit down to write to you about our second meeting and all that has transpired in our hearts in between the first and the second meetings, I am reminded of a little mix-up that happened at FedEx Kinko's only a few weeks ago, a mix-up that has the fingerprints and personality of God all over it.

Wanna hear?

One recent Sunday afternoon I emerged into the local FedEx store, laptop and envelopes in hand, ready to print out 50 or so support letters for our trip. After the bell on the door promptly marked my arrival I made my way to the counter where a nice man offered to help me,

"What can I do to help you?" he said.

I explained to him that I had something that I needed to print 50 copies of and that being the technologically un-savy person I am, that I needed his help. I handed the man my laptop and showed him where I had saved my document and to my surprise he asked me something I've never been asked before upon seeing my document titled, "Dear Family and Friends."

"Would you by any chance about to be married?"

um, shock.

Laughing, "No, hardly!" I replied.

"Oh well, I was just wondering; you seemed to have the pre-wedding glow."




All you really need to know about the rest of the story is that I thanked him and that he printed my pictures for me. And what makes me heart smile...is that I emerged the FedEx store feeling how wonderfully appropriate his compliment actually was in light of our trip. So no, my letter wasn't a wedding invitation but it was a beautiful invitation, one to partake in a piece of the lives of people...people that God loves very much.

Not only is our invitation to others to help support us analogous to a wedding invitation but even better, God is all about ravishing our hearts in a way that invites us to be a part of something beautiful like missions.

Take a minute and read about our Father inviting his people around him saying, "Come."

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'" (Matthew 25:31-40)

I am so excited to accept His invitation with you to "come" and to see the ramifications of it. So a little bit about the meeting :). Oh, it was good!

After a time of worship with the three other teams, our college pastor, Miles, blessed us by speaking about 7 opportunities in short term missions.


1. Expand personal ministry horizon and heart.

2. Re-clarify and and re-surrender calling.

3. Develop a heart that breaks for the things God's does.

4. Experience God as a present, vocal, active Father.

5. Grow in servant's heart.

6. Deepen and sharpen prayer life.

7. Re-negotiate lifestyle.

After Miles shared with us, our teams broke off into small groups and each of us shared our testimonies.

And oh my, heart.

I feel as though I can't adequately tell you how blessed I felt that each of us was by each other's stories. I certainly feel what I talked about in my last post -- growing to love the members of our team like God does -- swelling in the hearts of all of us. We had such a sweet, heart-warming time.

Please pray...

-That our Father would give each of us a glow that beams the message that says we've been invited into something beautiful and that it would be incredibly contagious.


-That He would grow us specifically in the 7 ways Miles mentioned.

-That God would provide an abundance of prayer and financial support.

Oh Jesus, we want to know and feel your heart so, so much. Would you bring us near you and make us like you?

Go in peace!

Michelle