back to Our Walk of Faith
Thursday, January 17th
We had to say goodbye to Kike and Mariana as well as Gigio and Daniela this morning. After we saw them off, we went back to the house. We were surprised when Blanco and his friends invited us to eat breakfast with them. Blanco told us that we could stay as long as we liked. Then they recommended that we go to Triganá a city that was within walking distance. Okay...we were interested in doing that, plus it would give us more time to pray. I'm telling you that there is power in prayer...we know that for a fact...that's why we've just been bombarding the Throne Room soooo much this past week or so!!
No sooner did we start walking towards Triganá, and God crossed our path with Rodrigo. We chatted a little and then we walked on ahead. Then Chris helped these guys push a cart, and Rodrigo caught back up with us. "For some reason," Rodrigo told us that they were having church tonight. He told us where he lived and that we could go with him and his family if we were interested! We didn't even know that there was a church in town! Praise God for an open door! It's a 4 Square Church...we've seen them all over, but have never had the opportunity to fellowship with them! Wahoo! Our steps were a little bit lighter as we walked on to Triganá.
Triganá is a cute little town...very touristy...but pretty. We found a nice place to sit and write in our journals for a little while...right in front of the ocean!! We'd been writing for about 30 min when Ana Maria walked by us. She stopped suddenly and started talking to us. As I explained what we were doing, she was really interested. She said, I have to go back to finish cooking at my restaurant. Come on over and have some lemonade. She walked on, and we weren't sure if she was serious or not. We gathered up our things but decided just to move a little closer...praying that if she really wanted to talk that she would call us over again. Not 3 minutes later, she stuck her head out of her restaurant and asked us to come over. She fed us and gave us something to drink, and we talked with her a little more. Come to find out, she's also a member of the 4 Square Church in San Francisco!!!
After we were finishing up our soup, an older gentleman walked up. Ana Maria introduced us to Pastor Santander...the pastor of the 4 Square Church! Talk about confirmation!! We knew that we were right were we were supposed to be AND that we were supposed to go to that church tonight!! Just as we were leaving Ana Maria's restaurant...7 tourists came up to eat lunch! Thank you, Lord, for blessing her business today!!
We were soooo excited to be going to church...we went to Hno Rodrigo's house and we met his wife, Hna Edilma and their children. What a sweet couple!!! We told them that how God had crossed our path that day with Pastor Santander and Ana Maria after meeting Hno Rodrigo in the morning!! What an awesome God!
When we got to church, Pastor Santander asked if we could share--our first church in Colombia!! We had a good service. Almost all of the choruses were different from ones Chris and I knew (another indication that South America will be really different from Central America). One of the songs really struck our hearts though...it was as if God was speaking it to us..."Un paso mas, un paso mas de fe; un paso mas, un paso mas de fe; adelante hermano, adelante hermano; allá en el cielo nos espera el galardón." now in English "One more step, one more step of faith; one more step, one more step of faith; keep going brother, keep going brother; our prize awaits us in heaven" Praise God! Praise God! Praise God!!!
After church, we were able to talk with lots of brothers and sisters there. Hno Rodrigo and Hna Edilma invited us to their house for supper tomorrow night. They also asked us to come by in the morning to try a palito de queso that she makes to sell in the community. Before we left church, Pastor Santander gave us 5 New Testaments to share with Blanco and his friends...exactly the number that is staying at the house. We weren't sure when we were going to give the Bibles to them or how they would receive them...but we were excited about the opportunities that God was opening up!
Friday, January 18th
This morning at breakfast turned out to be the perfect time to give them the New Testaments. All five of them were up and gathered around the table. I explained that it was a gift from Pastor Santander for them. None of them seemed very interested except Jorge. He virtually grabbed it from my hand. He opened it and started reading from it OUT LOUD! We were shocked. We had to go on to Hno Rodrigo and Hna Edilma's house, but we were interested in what would become of the Bibles.
Hna Edilma showed us the process...and I wrote down the recipe!! We talked with them a little more about what we are doing and how it appears that we've reached a dead end. Then Hno Rodrigo started telling us about a place called Tanela. Their daughter lives in this town about 2 days' walk from San Francisco. Apparently it's a huge plot of land (over 7,000 acres) off plantains that's been divided up among about 3,000 families. They export the plantains to the US and Europe from Tanela. The chalupas come up the Tanela River to Tanela and carry the plantains to Turbo. The chalupas take passengers!! (definitely something that we would be praying about)
We noticed that Hno Rodrigo and Hna Edilma weren't eating even though they were serving us breakfast. We weren't sure about why that was...come to find out...they were having a church-wide fast that day! Yikes! We had missed that at church last night!! We apologized and asked if we could go to church with them anyway. They, of course, welcomed us with open arms.
We've never been at a church-wide fast...it was really interesting...they talked about scripture and prayed together for hours. Yet, the time passed by so quickly! That's how it is in God's presence!
After they broke the fast, we went back to Blanco's house and had lunch with them. We noticed that one of the Bibles was gone, but the other 4 were still stacked up on the table. Maybe all of this was to plant seeds in Jorge's heart??!! God is in control!
Supper with Hno Rodrigo and Hna Edilma was a wonderful time of sharing and learning from this wise couple! From their house we went back over to the church to pray for some Pastor Santander, Julio Cesar, and Magdalis...all three of them are separated from their spouses right now. Chris and I felt burdened to pray for them. When we finished praying, Julio Cesar said, "The Lord spoke to someone here tonight, and you have a message to share with someone else who's here." Hna Edilma spoke up and said that she did hear a word from the Lord for Magdalis. I was amazed...I knew that the presence of the Lord was strong...but I had no idea! How exciting!!
Hno Rodrigo and Hna Edilma invited us for breakfast again in the morning as we walked back home. So there is at least one open door for tomorrow. We prayed a lot before going to sleep tonight that God would show us what to do tomorrow. Our towels were hanging out to dry, so I specifically asked Him to make our towels dry in the morning if we were supposed to leave. It worked for Gideon, and I believe that He's the same God today!
Thursday, January 17th
We had to say goodbye to Kike and Mariana as well as Gigio and Daniela this morning. After we saw them off, we went back to the house. We were surprised when Blanco and his friends invited us to eat breakfast with them. Blanco told us that we could stay as long as we liked. Then they recommended that we go to Triganá a city that was within walking distance. Okay...we were interested in doing that, plus it would give us more time to pray. I'm telling you that there is power in prayer...we know that for a fact...that's why we've just been bombarding the Throne Room soooo much this past week or so!!
No sooner did we start walking towards Triganá, and God crossed our path with Rodrigo. We chatted a little and then we walked on ahead. Then Chris helped these guys push a cart, and Rodrigo caught back up with us. "For some reason," Rodrigo told us that they were having church tonight. He told us where he lived and that we could go with him and his family if we were interested! We didn't even know that there was a church in town! Praise God for an open door! It's a 4 Square Church...we've seen them all over, but have never had the opportunity to fellowship with them! Wahoo! Our steps were a little bit lighter as we walked on to Triganá.
Triganá is a cute little town...very touristy...but pretty. We found a nice place to sit and write in our journals for a little while...right in front of the ocean!! We'd been writing for about 30 min when Ana Maria walked by us. She stopped suddenly and started talking to us. As I explained what we were doing, she was really interested. She said, I have to go back to finish cooking at my restaurant. Come on over and have some lemonade. She walked on, and we weren't sure if she was serious or not. We gathered up our things but decided just to move a little closer...praying that if she really wanted to talk that she would call us over again. Not 3 minutes later, she stuck her head out of her restaurant and asked us to come over. She fed us and gave us something to drink, and we talked with her a little more. Come to find out, she's also a member of the 4 Square Church in San Francisco!!!
After we were finishing up our soup, an older gentleman walked up. Ana Maria introduced us to Pastor Santander...the pastor of the 4 Square Church! Talk about confirmation!! We knew that we were right were we were supposed to be AND that we were supposed to go to that church tonight!! Just as we were leaving Ana Maria's restaurant...7 tourists came up to eat lunch! Thank you, Lord, for blessing her business today!!
We were soooo excited to be going to church...we went to Hno Rodrigo's house and we met his wife, Hna Edilma and their children. What a sweet couple!!! We told them that how God had crossed our path that day with Pastor Santander and Ana Maria after meeting Hno Rodrigo in the morning!! What an awesome God!
When we got to church, Pastor Santander asked if we could share--our first church in Colombia!! We had a good service. Almost all of the choruses were different from ones Chris and I knew (another indication that South America will be really different from Central America). One of the songs really struck our hearts though...it was as if God was speaking it to us..."Un paso mas, un paso mas de fe; un paso mas, un paso mas de fe; adelante hermano, adelante hermano; allá en el cielo nos espera el galardón." now in English "One more step, one more step of faith; one more step, one more step of faith; keep going brother, keep going brother; our prize awaits us in heaven" Praise God! Praise God! Praise God!!!
After church, we were able to talk with lots of brothers and sisters there. Hno Rodrigo and Hna Edilma invited us to their house for supper tomorrow night. They also asked us to come by in the morning to try a palito de queso that she makes to sell in the community. Before we left church, Pastor Santander gave us 5 New Testaments to share with Blanco and his friends...exactly the number that is staying at the house. We weren't sure when we were going to give the Bibles to them or how they would receive them...but we were excited about the opportunities that God was opening up!
Friday, January 18th
This morning at breakfast turned out to be the perfect time to give them the New Testaments. All five of them were up and gathered around the table. I explained that it was a gift from Pastor Santander for them. None of them seemed very interested except Jorge. He virtually grabbed it from my hand. He opened it and started reading from it OUT LOUD! We were shocked. We had to go on to Hno Rodrigo and Hna Edilma's house, but we were interested in what would become of the Bibles.
Hna Edilma showed us the process...and I wrote down the recipe!! We talked with them a little more about what we are doing and how it appears that we've reached a dead end. Then Hno Rodrigo started telling us about a place called Tanela. Their daughter lives in this town about 2 days' walk from San Francisco. Apparently it's a huge plot of land (over 7,000 acres) off plantains that's been divided up among about 3,000 families. They export the plantains to the US and Europe from Tanela. The chalupas come up the Tanela River to Tanela and carry the plantains to Turbo. The chalupas take passengers!! (definitely something that we would be praying about)
We noticed that Hno Rodrigo and Hna Edilma weren't eating even though they were serving us breakfast. We weren't sure about why that was...come to find out...they were having a church-wide fast that day! Yikes! We had missed that at church last night!! We apologized and asked if we could go to church with them anyway. They, of course, welcomed us with open arms.
We've never been at a church-wide fast...it was really interesting...they talked about scripture and prayed together for hours. Yet, the time passed by so quickly! That's how it is in God's presence!
After they broke the fast, we went back to Blanco's house and had lunch with them. We noticed that one of the Bibles was gone, but the other 4 were still stacked up on the table. Maybe all of this was to plant seeds in Jorge's heart??!! God is in control!
Supper with Hno Rodrigo and Hna Edilma was a wonderful time of sharing and learning from this wise couple! From their house we went back over to the church to pray for some Pastor Santander, Julio Cesar, and Magdalis...all three of them are separated from their spouses right now. Chris and I felt burdened to pray for them. When we finished praying, Julio Cesar said, "The Lord spoke to someone here tonight, and you have a message to share with someone else who's here." Hna Edilma spoke up and said that she did hear a word from the Lord for Magdalis. I was amazed...I knew that the presence of the Lord was strong...but I had no idea! How exciting!!
Hno Rodrigo and Hna Edilma invited us for breakfast again in the morning as we walked back home. So there is at least one open door for tomorrow. We prayed a lot before going to sleep tonight that God would show us what to do tomorrow. Our towels were hanging out to dry, so I specifically asked Him to make our towels dry in the morning if we were supposed to leave. It worked for Gideon, and I believe that He's the same God today!
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