1.5.13

Today was pretty incredible. It was our evangelism day, the one we’d been working on planning since Monday, and we got the privilege of being a part of demonstrating the love of God for others. Half of us were split into two teams: me, Esmi, Lalo, Angie, and Manuel.  Before we went to downtown Cholula from 10:30-1, we prayed for about fifteen minutes before, over the signs and our hearts and others’ hearts.  When we arrived, we set up a bench and three chairs, carrying signs that said “Come!-Are you searching for something out of the ordinary?- We have something for you!” Our main purpose was to minister to others, praying a blessing on their lives or for whatever need they may have, and asking God for a prophetic word for them (like I mentioned in my earlier blogs, prophecy is basically listening to the heart of God and transmitting it to the person it’s directed to, with words that have to the purpose encourage, console, and exhort). I believe we had about fifteen people pass through in total, some coming in families and others singley.

There were two women that stood out specifically in my mind, because we were able to talk and share a lot with them and them with us. One of them, Virginia, sat down with her son who had eyelashes a kilometer long, and as we prayed for her, I felt as if there were someone in her life that she was angry with, someone that had disrespected her. Then I saw a really elegant bench, like God wanted to give her rest. When we opened our eyes to share with her, Angie said that she’d felt as if there was a lack of forgiveness in her heart, like she needed to forgive someone in life. I shared what I had experienced as well, and Virginia then told us that she was struggling hardcore with forgiving her mother for something she’d done. She added that a Christian woman had approached her yesterday as well and talked to her about this, and that she didn’t think running into us today was a coincidence. “I just.. it’s really difficult to forgive her. I don’t think I can.” I shared with her that there was someone in my past with whom I’m still struggling to forgive, and that to forgive someone is not always something you feel all the time, but rather a decision you make, and one you have to make a lot, to leave what happened in the past and move on without this big burden on your back. Esmi shared that in forgiveness there is freedom, and that with the power of God in our lives we can find the strength to forgive these people that have hurt and damaged us.

The last lady that we spoke with last sought us out, without us having to say anything to her. “What’s the deal here? I want to hear about what you’ve got that’s out of the ordinary. There’s always people here in the park with signs like ‘free hugs’ and whatnot, but what’re you guys about?” Esmi explained to her that we were here praying for people and asking God for words to share, and the lady said “Well I could use some prayer. I’ve got a problem about as big as me. Will you guys pray for me?” And with that she sat down and smiled at us expectantly. We were encouraged, asked her name, and lifted her up in prayer. After a minute or so, we began to share with her what we’d sensed. Esmi had felt a verse put on her heart that was one of encouragement for the lady, to search out God and He would give her rest. I had seen a super ripe tomato on a vine, literally at the point of explosion, like it needed to be picked or else it would go to waste. I wasn’t sure how to interpret this so I just said what I saw without adding anything, and she said that it represented just being full of the world’s pressures and them bottling up. Manuel added that if we don’t take time to rest in Christ and share with him our struggles and battles, we’re going to explode. Angie had seen a place that was full of problems and struggles, but a Hand that had come down and was uprooting these problems, taking them out of her life.            

 The lady was super encouraged by what we shared with her, and said that right now she was struggling with her fourteen-year-old who was going through a rebellious streak and she didn’t know how to handle that situation, and moreso that she’s a single mom with three kids and it’s always a fight to provide. She shared with us some things she had lived through where she had seen the provision of God, even though she wasn’t a Christian, but sought out peace in churches, and cried out to God one day after endless job-searching that she was done searching and God just ought to take care of it cus He has the power, and three hours later she got a phone call offering her a job. We could feel she had a lot of faith, but just not necessarily planted in the roots of God.  Esmi shared with her the salvation message and our overall need for Christ, and invited this lady to pray with her, and she did! It was awesome. And she asked us how she could keep in touch with us, so we gave her our facebooks and the facebook of our church as well, and invited her to that. We left Zocalo pretty floored at the way God moves.

When we got back, we washed dishes for an hour and a half and cleaned the kitchen. Then we had an hour of free time and then an hour of exercise, which I got to skip cus I was fasting until supper, whee! :) haha. So I took these sixty minutes to just pray and continue to seek out what God has planned for my life. In the midst of praying, I had an impression of seeing myself leading a small group of young women, getting to know them and knitting our lives together, sharing struggles and life together. It was really neat, cus that’s something that’s on my heart to do. Another thing I pulled from this time that was from God is you need to settle. Like I need to plant myself down somewhere for a decent period of time, instead of acting like this vagabond, wandering from place to place- college for a year then dumping it, working at camp for three weeks, working for six months, La Viña for four months, taking life as it comes. I need to settle, to let my past catch up to me and to confront + deal with things I’ve been running from, to heal and to grow, and to grow up. I’m not quite sure of the place I need to put down my roots, although I have a tentative idea, and am waiting for God’s confirmation or re-direction.

I was delighted when supper finally rolled around- extra happy because we were served fried platanos, my favorite!! We were eating all together and Brayan asked “Anyone want some of mine?” and of course I jumped and said “Yes, me!” and thanked him twice, and he’s like “Of course, you’re my carnalita.” Aww. Each day it’s beautiful to watch the brotherhood between us ten different souls grow, whether it be seeing each other’s angry sides (which admittedly isn’t so beautiful, haha) or hearing crazy stories or sharing ideas or what’s on our hearts or things we don’t understand about God. The dynamics are smashingly lovely.