I look back
in time and realize that I am not the same person who came to Madagascar 9
months ago, I am not even the same since I did my training in Quito after
quitting my job in late 2015. God has changed my way of seeing people, seeing
the world, but most importantly, God has changed the way I used to see Him. I
have always said, "God is great, powerful, good, merciful..." etc.,
etc. And it is true because He is all that, but still the words to describe Him
are short and limit who He really is.
In all this
adventure that I started when I left home, I was able to experience His love
and His perfection. When I first started this career in 2016 my days were up
and down. Some days I rejoiced in the beauty of His holiness, other days I
fought against my emotions because it seemed irrational to have left
everything. I ended up mentally exhausted, wondering over and over again “why
did I do it?” Was it worthy? And this does NOT mean that I was sorry to have
said "yes" to the call that God spoke to me in 2005, because all this
time until now all things have led me to the path He had prepared for me:
serving in Madagascar . The answers to my questions were a longing to feel and
live, from the depths of my being, the pain of seeing a human being without Jesus
Christ, the compassion of knowing that entire communities have not heard about
this Savior who gives life in abundance, the true love for people you do not
know that makes in your mind to think about: can they call on the one they have
not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not
heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?
This is my
way of seeing God now: He does not change, his essence is love and, the
salvation of the lost his greatest desire, and for that He brought me here to
Madagascar to share with others the salvation that one day was also shared to
me. There are no more questions that exhaust my mind, now I say to myself: Who
is the next person to whom I can talk about Jesus? How do I improve my Malagasy
in order to share Jesus in the language of their hearts?
NEW
CHALLENGES... BUT ALL UNDER GOD’S CONTROL
I have been
learning Malagasy language with a new program which I am also the first to try
it. Starting this program has given me the opportunity to learn massively while
living the language, which is something completely different from a classroom.
On the other hand, in the process we have been adapting the rules of the
program, analyzing what is viable and what is not.
I have
experienced some changes because both, my nurturer and me, have been learning
in the process how to make the program work at its best. Feelings of joy,
emotion, frustration and disenchantment I have experienced within normal terms
but with the help of God, the Master of Teachers, I have been able to make it.
SMALL FRUIT
IN A WIDE FIELD
The seed
has been scattered in different soils which, with the Lord's help and
dedication, will bear fruit in time. As many of you already know, as I
mentioned in my previous updates, I am sharing the Good News with some groups
of people: students, friends and ladies. These people are the ones I've been following
up and I'm investing a lot of my time.
At the beginning of April, the lady whom I called "C" and with whom I met every week to tell the stories of Jesus, came to me and said "I want to be baptized." That day was a joy to my soul. She was convinced by the Holy Spirit to give her life to Jesus and be baptized. The most amazing part was the day of her baptism, coming out of the waters she raised her arms to heaven in a sign of victory. I could not hold back the tears as I saw how God had brought light into her life by overthrowing all the darkness of the enemy.
A week
after this event, one of the girls I met on Saturday "T" listened
attentively when I explained to her why Christ came to this earth, the purpose
of His death, and that He will come back a second time and that one day we will
be with Him forever. In the end, she said "I want to be with Him forever"
and hearing that was so amazing that I had a difficult time asking "are
you ready to receive Jesus in your heart?". That day I hugged her and
said, "Welcome to this sweet life with Jesus." I ask you to pray that
the Owner of the seed will cause this harvest to produce a crop "thirty,
sixty and even a hundred times more than it was sown" (Matthew 13: 8)
SHARING IN
THE LANGUAGE OF THEIR HEART
What a joy was
to start sharing Bible stories in Malagasy! In these months I had been sharing
them in English (at least with the people who speak it), and at first I thought
it was not so urgent to do it in Malagasy but my heart jumped with emotion when
a month ago the Holy Spirit led me to tell the story of Zacchaeus to a lady who
sells coffee near my house. I went with my nurturer to have coffee because that
day the class started early and we wanted to have breakfast. Having finished
eating, my heart told me "share with her". I was full of fear to
start talking. Do not think it was easy and do not believe that from one moment
to another could already speak, I confess that I had a written paper with the
main points of what I was going to say lol. At the end of the Bible story, I
asked did you understand the Bible story I told you? She replied “of course, I
understood everything. You are good at Malagasy” but that is not all, what
surprised me was to see the face of the lady full of joy because someone from
another country has told the story in her own language.
On another
occasion, I told the story of Nicodemus. Well, I planned to tell that story in
English because I still struggle with switching from one language to another.
So I started to tell it in English when suddenly I spoke in Malagasy because
the words came to my mind one after another, I was confused at that time
because I knew I had to do it in English but I could not. The listeners were so
happy to hear me and their eyes were bright. So, I could understand that there
is nothing better than speaking to them in the language of their hearts.
“And
these signs will accompany those who
believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they
will speak in new tongues;they will pick up snakes with
their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all;
they will place their hands on sick
people, and they will get well.”
Mark 16:17-18
PLEASE PRAY
FOR
· The
study of the language that I will take up again this week in May. May God give
me wisdom and may my mind be open to the changes that may arise.
· May
the seeds that have been shared bear fruit.
· That
people like "C" and "T" be convinced and challenged by the
Holy Spirit to share with others about Jesus Christ. May they be disciples who
teaches others.
· For
more opportunities to share the gospel.
· For
my family in Ecuador, my mom is having a birthday this week. May God give him a
beautiful day even though he is not with her to celebrate it.
· For
more people who commit to God in praying and offering for this ministry.
PRAISES
For the
people who continually pray for me and the ministry in Madagascar.
For those
who are still committed to offering, may God multiply even more than they give.
For those
who send greetings and messages of affection. God bless the gift you have which
bless my life.
