The Next Chapter(?)

Hello!!

So I know you are all itching to find out what's next now that I am back to the USA.

Well, here it goes....

{Warning: ALL plans shared in this blog are subject to change according to the Master's prerogative... but then again, you already knew that ;) }

I am moving to Florida until the end of January. After that I'm bound back to Southampton, England for two years.

The Story:

As you all know, ever since the Summer of 2009 I always felt the conviction that I was to move back to England but hadn't the clarity as to what part of the country God wanted me at. Well this Summer its been made evident to me that Southampton is the place God wants me to move to. While I was there in October I spoke with the pastor of Calvary Chapel and asked him if there was the possibility to come back, to which he was very open to and gave me a positive response.

Now what? The Immigration laws in England have change since I last lived there- the process is a lot more complicated.

What does that mean? It means that any organization wanting to bring an immigrant over to the country needs to apply and be approved for a special license with the government. It includes, of course a lot of paper work. After this process is finished THEN I can apply to the UK Border Agency for a visa- which also includes a lot of paper work.

So, this next few months I will be gathering the information pertaining to all these processes, applying and praying that everything gets done correctly and speedily.

Prayer Request:

• That I would find all the information I need before applying
• That all application forms would be filled out correctly
• That the applications would be processed speedily
• That all the finances necessary for this venture would come in
• That I would stay focus and encouraged through this whole process
• That God would continue to open doors for me to share His good news :)

Thank you sooooo much for your love and support!!

You are a blessing to my soul, I cherish all of your prayers.

Back to the Future...

Walking around kicking dry leaves under a beautiful blue sky on a crisp Autumn day; that was my afternoon on the last day in England... I love how God cares about the little details of life that make me smile, He is awesome!

I arrived to Washington DC last night. Thank you for your prayers about safe travel.

My time in England was wonderful. I learnt that God is faithful even when we are faithless. When I am tired and feel like I cannot possibly go on, He takes me by the hand and says: 'Come on beautiful, do not be afraid, I am with you, I will see you through. Remember it is not about your strength but about My power being made perfect in your weakness. My GRACE is SUFFICIENT.'

Oh how He loves me!!

I learnt that love's beauty is not about perfection but about forgiveness and acceptance. I learnt, as Elizabeth Elliot wrote once, I have 'chosen the hardest road, but it goes straight to the top'. I learnt that in this world there is nothing more precious than the love of God and that God's heart, the secret place, is the safest place I could ever be. The world may pass away (and indeed it will) but His word remains. The mountains may crumble (and indeed they will) but His promises are sure. The world may be against us (and indeed it will)but greater is He who is in us than he who is the the world ;)

So then, what is the conclusion of the matter?

"Fear God and keep His commandments..." (Eccl 12:13)

FOR

"He cannot deny Himself..." (2 Tim 2:13c)

"...the Lord...He is good!" (Psalm 118:1)

"the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but [His] kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall [His] covenant of peace be removed..." (Isaiah 54:10)

So what then, dear reader?, what shall I encourage you to do? Trust Him! Trust Him with all of your body, mind and soul. Trust Him so much you lose yourself completely in who He is. Trust His guidance, even when the world tells you it is absolutely impossible, even when they say you have lost your mind, love Him and rely on His word...

... it is then, that you will walk on water ;-)

Israel...

Where should I start?...

Israel was great. There were over 1,000 people at the convocation... some from countries I'd never even heard of. My favorite part were the prayer watches with ppl from all over Europe, praying for Israel and our respective countries. We got to see a bit of the land and go to places like the Temple Mount and the Sea of Galilee.

The atmosphere in Jerusalem was obviously tense. It was heartbreaking to see the Jewish people walking around doing all these rituals without understanding and then seeing the young generation scoffing at the older for believing in such things... It was just odd, I wanted to shout and ask them: 'Don't you know who you are?!!'

Cool story though: On the plane on our way from England to Israel a secular Jew sat by me (a secular Jew is a Jew that doesn't follow Judaism). He moved to Israel from Russia 20 years ago, at that time he was about 10 years old. He asked me why I was going to Jerusalem and boy, oh boy, that was the start of a 5 hour conversation about God, how He relates to us, how much he loves us and about Jesus Christ. It was awesome :) I wish I could tell you he made a decision for Christ right there and then but he didn't, so pray for him!! I sensed a lot of his understanding was broadened-both intellectually and in the heart- by our talk but of course, faith comes from God. Pray that God gives him the faith to believe.

Thank you so MUCH for ALL your prayers, they were very effective. Things couldn't have gone more smoothly and we were all so blessed by the unity in the group (no doubt thanks to your prayers).
God bless you!!!!!!!

At the moment....

I have not had a chance to sit down and write a post about what's been going on (but I will, SOON!)

So I just wanted to write a quick note to let you know where I've been and where I'm at...

Arrived from Israel a week and a half ago. Israel was fantastic :)

Been in England since then, at Southampton. Being in Southampton feels so good, like coming back home. It was fresher's week this past week, so the town is buzzing with students again which is great fun. Pray for opportunities to share the gospel.

That's all for now...

Write to you soon! :-)

The Language Barrier...

Here is, yet, one more short story about Germany and the Sister...

God doesn't care about the language barrier...

(Remember what I told you about the Sister's bookmarks?.... good.)

the story...

We were out and about buying souvenirs, all of us well supplied with bookmarks (just in case) ;)

As I was checking out at the store I looked at the clerk and thought, 'why not, she looks like she needs some encouragement... I'll offer her a German bookmark and told her God had a message for her'. She looked at me politely and took one. Then it happened, I saw what many of the Sisters have seen many times before... God at work through the bookmarks...

The woman's countenance completely changed, she was happy. All smiles she spoke to me in German (don't know what she said, but it was good) She was so impressed by it that she took me to the other clerk, who was with a customer, said something in German to her then pointed at me to give her one. hahaha...

There I was witnessing God in action, reaching out to ppl (despite my inability). What a GOOD God we serve!! I can scarcely believe how much He loves us and how relentlessly He seeks us. To think that He planned this little moment, to reach this one store clerk, to lavish His love upon her through this tiny little encounter... wow!

I learned that day that God is not really minded by the 'language barrier'... He is not minded by any barriers at all, He will cross oceans, He will leap over walls, He will create the most ridiculous- I speak in human concepts- circumstances to express His love to us.

The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.

Sharing Good News with a Costume

Here are more stories about my time in Germany :)

Sister L., the Sister in charged of us during the Summer, decided to take us to this town in the South called Rotemburg, on a day trip. Our purpose was to sepend time together, sight-see, buy souvenirs and do missions (that's what they call evangelism). So we set out in the morning with a nice pack lunch and a back-pack full of bookmarks in German, English, Spanish and who knows what other language...

{Side note: I should tell you that the Sister's bookmakrs are well known in many parts of the world. They have different messages about God, Jesus, His love, plans and desire for us. The bookmarks have very nice pictures and are well made but the great thing about them is all the prayer that goes into them. When the bookmarks are being put together the Sisters pray that God would speak to the people that will receive them in a very special, very real way. They do this with their books and pamphlets as well. Consequently they have received testimonies of people who at the verge of despair a bookmark has made it into their hands and God has revealed Himself to them.}

Back to the story...

At first I was a bit weirded out as ppl kept staring at us. I didn't undestand why they looked at us so intently, then I realized it was because of the Sisters. (hehehe, after spending some days with them one gets so used to the habits as to forget they are dressed quite differently than 'civilians') I thought to myself: 'Oh no! this is going to be a hindrance... who wants to talk to a 'nun'?!' (not that they ARE nuns, they are Sisters, but to the untrained eye they look like nuns)... Well, to my surprise- EVERYONE seems to want to talk to them. Hahaha, there were indeed few people who refused to take something from them or share a word. When we set up to sing about God many ppl came over to listen. Their smiles disarmed the hardest countenances. Praise God He is glorified!!

It was a great lesson for me. Here are this Sisters, their desire is to love Jesus and have other people love Him too, they (even though they might be a little afraid of sharing with strangers just as much as any of us are) want to be obedient to God's command and therefore are unhindered by things like apperance. They are free and courageous, they do not worry about being 'relevant', politically correct, having the right words or examples to share with people- they simply obey out of love for God and God uses them in response to their abandonment to Him.

At the end of the day I thought, they really are just regular ppl sharing an extraordinary God... only they do it while wearing a costume ;-)

Joy is Ageless- Fact!

Hullo!!!

It's been over a month since I set out from Washington DC on my adventures.

I arrived in England on the 28th of July safe and sound. (Thank you for your prayers!)
Departed for Germany on the 31st of July to spend the month with the evangelical Mary Sisters.
And I 've arrived to England again this past Wed.

My time is Germany was very fruitful, and although I am still processing all that I've learnt, I will like to share some hightlights.

There are 144 Sisters in Darmstadt. 144 women fully committed to serve Christ, to seek God's face, to hear His voice and follow His lead. They are not perfect by any means but they have learned the secrets of identyfing themselves with the sufferings of Christ. They have been involved in very many different ministries since the Sisterhood was founded. They now have branches in over 20 countries and have literature translated in almost 100 languages.

But the thing that impressed me the most about them was not the reach their ministry has, nor all the buildings and land they have aquired by simply (literally) praying, believing and trusting in God; no, the thing that impressed me the most was the joy they had which bubbles out everywhere they go.

I met many Sister well over 75 who as soon as they started to talk about Jesus, remembering all the things He has taught them and how He's guided them, would break into big smiles and giggles as if they were still school girls- their eyes would sparkle like I've never seen before. For a moment, despite their wrinkled faces, white hair and glasses they would transform and you could no longer tell how old they actually are. The joy of the Lord is their strength! Their childlikeness is delightful and contagious. What Jesus says about being childlike makes sense when you are around them.

Wherever they go they are welcomed and I saw the grumpiest of persons be transformed in their presence. Not because anything they had to say but because God's presence is evident within them.

They are bold and lovely. I learned a lot about the importance of taking care of our inner life with Jesus, of not losing our first love of Him. Jesus above all else MUST come first: ministry, relationships, the cares of this world, what we eat and are clothed with, is secondary. Jesus must take first place in our hearts and we are to be vigilant against any idol that would like to put itself in His place (yes, even ministry!)

As Jesus said: "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you aide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing." (Jn 15:4-5)