STRAIGHT OUTTA ......

      Straight outta Experiencing God is why I went back to Guatemala. It says that you watch where God is working and you join Him there. When the first or second group came back and reported to our church about Hope of Life and what God was doing there, I determined to go. The next trip that was feasible for me though, happened to be a medical trip, and I wondered why in the world He would urge me to go then. But I went and wasn't too great a hindrance to the team who conducted clinics for the villages near Hope of Life. 
     That's the why I went this time and then we were asked how this trip possibly changed us. I pondered that during the trip this June, this boiling hot, arduous trip, and came up with some answers and changes. It took some reflection and questioning and doubting and I came up with several things. 
     Three of us ladies conducted a "Bible study" for the ladies of Zion church there in Los Palmares. I put in quotation marks because the first day it was basically us giving our testimonies and a short lesson on the woman at the well. We put out about twenty chairs, and then started a bit late because they weren't filling up, but after one of us began the women began filling the church, probably 100 women. Our interpreter did such a great job by condensing the first testimony for the latecomers and then offering her own testimony! Why oh why do we doubt what God can do!
     The next day we tried to put out more chairs which had disappeared and someone had to drive somewhere to get more and it still ended up being standing room only! These ladies were hungry! Hungry for God to speak, hungry for His Word, and I think even more - hungry for the connected-ness that relational women need. 
     This changed my view of how I do my classes and my involvement in other ministries. I must learn to be more relational in my encounters. 
     The other thing I learned is that it wasn't so much about the work we accomplished (stucco, floors, and painting), but as I observed our team - it was about just serving - in big and little things, just serving, together. We are the Body of Christ, and as such we need the connected-ness of serving as teams, in unity for the cause of Christ! Yes, we had work goals, but our main goal must be to present the Gospel by our unity in serving. 

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