Half Way Point

Our time in Macedonia has been amazing. The community has totally opened up to us and has received us with full confidence.

We are working mostly with the local schools, teaching on relationships,identity, and what it means to have a relationship with the Lord.

They are so open!

And it is the most beautiful place on Earth I have ever seen. Raw creation. It is delightful.

Pray for wisdom for me. There are some complicated things going on with the pastor. I need wisdom to know how to confront it and do what is best for the community.

The picture above was taking in a time of counseling with one of the girls in Filadelfia. She was the one I got the cool word for. So much need...

Off to Macedonia

We are heading out to Macedonia right now. We will be out of contact for two weeks.

Please pray for our health (we have been a little stomach sick).
Please also pray that we would have a special grace with the people to win their trust. (They are not quick to trust from centuries of abuse).

Blessings,
Desteni

Filadelfia and Leticia

The first three weeks of outreach have been amazing. Unfortunately my camera is locked in a woman´s apartment right now, so I can upload any pictures. I wanted to share some of the stories though.

We arrived in the river community Filadelfia on October 3rd. It was so great. I stayed there last year for a very short period of time, but for some reason I fell in love with the people there. My heart felt so full to see the missionary and his family again. He is Brazilian and she is Ticuna (an indigenous tribe in the region)and their kids are all adorable.

Our team ended up working with the local church there, staying with the pastor and his wife.

We had our difficulties at first. The culture isn´t given to trusting people immediately, especially after having some bad experiences with missionaries in the past. Normally we give conferences at night, and have one on one counseling session in the afternoon, and prep time in the morning. Well, they were not open to having counseling times. That´s ok, because we´ll just go out in the community and talk to people...no...not that either, you can´t do that without a Ticuna guide or people won´t talk to you. Well maybe we can...NO. Alright. So the first week was complicated in that sense. Oddly, though we are a counseling team, every person on my team is really strong in dance and drama. So we thought of teaching the youth a dance in the mornings so that we could at least have contact with them. They were all about that. We broke up into small groups to begin with and processed what they learned the night before in the classes we were giving.

The trust really grew. People would still not open up though, so I just started talking to them about what God was telling me about their lives. (That is always fun and scary for people- "Hey, this this and this is going on in your life and you feel like this and this. God wants you to know this and this. Do you want to talk about it?") They would affirm everything I was saying, cry, and not respond. Until the last night. One girl I had been praying for finally opened up and shared what was going on in her life. God have given me a really cool word for her and I wrote it down so she wouldn´t forget it.

Then we had a tearful goodbye and made our way to the city.

This week has been full of counseling. Rachel and I took on the teaching load and taught every night. Very receptive. They too, would be very touch and not want to talk about it. That´s ok. We are working with a really neat guy in counseling. I have high hopes that God is going to make some radical decision to change his life. He wants it.

And- No weird illness. Every Fefa, would is allergic to mosquitos (bad for being in the Amazon) has NOT HAD ANY REACTIONS. Thank you for praying.

Change of Address

Please note that we are in the process of moving. If you would like to send me a package, please write to me first so that I can send you the new address. If you send it here, they have no forwarding services. So it won't get to me :)
Thanks!

Back to the Amazon

Well, something funky is going on with the site, so the pictures are out of order...let's be flexible.

Tomorrow morning I will be heading out to the Amazon again. I am taking a mighty team of four women (including myself). Rachel (of course you know who Rachel is), Lorena (21), and Stephanie (aka Fefa 17). Some might laugh at the thought of receiving a team of counselors and then...surprise! They are four girls with the average age of...you do the math. But I have full confidence in our team and believe that He has given us sufficient gifts and passion to really bless the people there.

We are going to be going to different towns/cities along the Amazon River. I will have the HUGE blessing of being able to return to the little community where I was last year. We are starting our outreach there for two weeks, working alongside the DTS team (which should be interesting and challenging but good). Then we will be in Leticia, Tabatinga (Brazil), another river community on the Colombian side, and...other places that we don't even know because they are unconfirmed!!! Yes!!

We need prayer! Like crazy.

1. Pray for safety/health. Last time I was there we were drinking rain water. Yum. We can have a parasite competition in the group. Or maybe we can go to new frontiers like typhoid!! Weeee! Good news is that I have health insurance. Good stuff. They will even fly me back to Medellin if I need it. (Like THAT would ever happen...wait...this sounds oddly familiar...) There is also malaria, more dengue...who are we kidding. It is the jungle. Prayer for health is not going to be in vane.

2. Language/Communication Barriers. Guess what they speak in Brazil...NOT Spanish. So me, Rachel (who is still working on Spanish) and two Colombian girls are going to give conferences to people who speak Portuguese and Ticuna. If I need to translate, that is going to be interesting, since I haven't really practiced Portuguese in...six years? Pray that the three weeks that we are in Brazil would be amazing at that people will understand us (and that we would understand them).

3. Team sanity. I am leading. Enough said.

No seriously, when you are intentionally jumping into the middle of the hurt and sin of people and families, there is NATURAL emotional stress not to mention SUPERNATURAL opposition. We need spiritual covering.

4. Wisdom. Discernment. Boldness. Creativity. All absolutely necessary. Please pray especially for me as I am leading the team.

5. Pray that God would use us greatly and that we would allow ourselves to be used greatly.

Just pray alright? Why are you still reading this...you should be praying!

But first, I must address the burning question in your hearts. Did Desteni do something to her hair?? Why yes. I went to get the roots done again (since post-black hair trauma) and my hairdresser decided that I wasn't white enough so he went just a wee bit more blond that we were going for. But hey, it is still cute.

Now, with that inspiration...on your knees people!