Livin' on Prayer! (aka halfway there, thanks Bon Jovi)

    It's official, we have crossed the halfway point of our time here! It's crazy because for me it hasn't felt like that long, it does but it doesn't lol and we still have 5 more weeks here! 

    This week was a bit different because Ana and Carlos are out of town for the week which meant it was just us, Georgen, and Maria at the CDI. We had a new plan for our devotional times with the kids this week. On Sunday before the week started we planned out our week which included groceries for the kids and for H@ngout, as well as creating the devotional plan and what we wanted to do with our time with the students at H@ngout. Our planning went very well and we have all been excited about what we're doing with the kids! We decided that we would have a 2 to 3 week devotional plan for each of the topics that we choose to focus on. The first topic we chose is "what is love?" and so the week started with Sam introducing it and having a discussion on what love is. For these 3 weeks we will be focusing on the verses 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 and are going to be practicing it to memorize it. After the initial discussion we told the kids to write patience and kindness (in Spanish of course, did you know kindness in Spanish is bondadoso?) on a pre-cut small heart. These hearts are leaves that will go on a big paper tree that we created to go on the wall in the CDI! The kids will write on hearts at the end of each time they learn something new about what love is from 1 Corinthians. Monday and Tuesday were the same for all the kids with the introduction of the topic and what we will be doing for the next weeks. On Thursday we got to do something a bit different with the kids during this time which included talking through the next few things from the verse and practicing memorization of what we've learned so far. Then we had the older kids write a letter that was to God about anything they wanted to talk to him about including loving him. While the younger kids drew and colored a pictured that was also to God. We had worship playing in the background. Initially most of the kids weren't into in, but then a few got really into it so that was nice to see. Afterwards they wrote the next few words on a heart. We decided that we would come back to the CDI to construct the paper tree on the wall. I was in charge of writing the words on the base of the tree, Katie created the branches, Matthew and Sam cut out more leaf hearts. I'm really happy with the initial-end product of our tree! Please be praying that the kids would feel God's presence and just feel his love so tremendously all the time and during these devotional times. 

What the tree looks like so far! Can't wait to see what it looks like with all the leaves on there!

So cute!

    On Sunday, at the beginning of this week we also planned for what we wanted to do during H@ngout since we were "in charge". Sam suggested that maybe one of us could share our testimony, our story of what love has looked like in our life and how it's changed our life and it would be cool if one of the students, specifcally Jose would translate. Katie thought it would be cool if I shared my testimony this week, so I said I loved to but wanted to take some time to pray about doing it. I was a bit hesitant at first because normally I don't talk very much during H@ngout because most of the conversations are in Spanish so it's hard for me to add or just be in conversation. It made me feel hesitant because I would be jumping into vulnerability quickly and because the student we thought would be cool to translate for me isn't a believer. I didn't realize the beauty in a non-believer translating for me initially. I decided to take the days leading up to H@ngout to pray and see if that was something the Lord wanted me to do. Throughout my prayer times I didn't hear any or feel any clear signs from the Lord that I should do it, so I decided to do it anyways and prayed the Lord would be with me and guide me with the words to say. Immediately once I sat down at H@ngout I felt a sense of peace and excitement so that felt like a clear sign that sharing my story was something the Lord wanted me to do. For the first part of H@ngout we all just talking and you guessed it hung out. I got to talk to 2 students who speak English really well, one girl is named Arelly and the other Aileen (I hope I spelled that right). It was so fun to get to know them a little bit and make a few jokes. I was so excited to get the opportunity to talk to some of the students because I haven't been able to do that yet. When it came time to share my testimony, Matthew opened up with how we've been talking about how "Love is the Way" for the past few weeks and said we thought it would be cool for one of us to share our story with love so he transitioned me in and asked Jose to translate. 

    The whole time while I was sharing it felt easy to remember the main points of my story and share them, usually it's really easy for me to go on tangents at different parts of my story. I'd share a little bit and then Jose would translate. I think it also helped that I had to keep it short and simple for him to make sense of it to then translate. The Lord just showed up so much during that time, it felt like such a safe place to share and be vulnerable. At the end once I finished, my story had opened such a good conversation with Jose. He began asking me questions about different parts of my story and then Katie and Sam also joined in the conversation. It was so so good. He's not a believer yet, I 100% know that the Lord is really working in his life. Please be praying for him and that whatever is stopping him from believing in Jesus would just go away and that the Lord would reveal himself to him. 

    I'm just so thankful that I was given the opportunity to share my story and what the Lord has done in my life. I'm looking forward to the many conversations that this could open up in the future with the students in H@ngout. 

    This coming week is our last kind of normalish week because the guys team comes on Saturday which includes James, Evan and Andrew! Katie and I also leave on Saturday morning for the weekend women's retreat that we got invited to. Then lots more things are coming these next weeks so a lot will be happening which feels exciting! Tonight we have been invited to have dinner at Carlos Gomez's  house along with some more friends there! 

Prayer Points:

• For devotional times with the kids.
• For more opportunities to be with the students and more gospel opportunity conversations.
• For the guys team to get here safely.
• For Katie and I at the women's weekend to get quality time with the Lord and for us to have a serving mindset while were there to help with food and Katie with music. 
• To walk in the Spirit in all we do.