It's been a while....Updates

Wow it has been almost two weeks since I last posted. I am so sorry. The past few weeks has been hectic. It all started when our 1988 Isuzu Trooper started leaking gas from the fuel rail. God had used Pastor Leo and Angeles to introduce us to their mechanic when we first got to the Isand, so he was who I called. He said bring it right away because it could start a fire! This was a Thursday so I had to work that night. I brought the truck to Luis and they replaced the fuel injector because that is what they thought it was.I had to leave the truck there over night so my good friend Armando picked me up and brought me to work and my bosses husband brought me home. The next day I was on the road and headed to work by 3. However, I could still smell gas and it seemed to be running worse than before. I got to work and popped the hood, it was leaking gas faster than before. Now here is where my flesh kicks in. See I normally fix my own vehical but being I have very basic tools here I really had no choice. I looked at the injector and it was dirty. My first though was, " Great, they did not even replace it. This does not even look new. I knew it. I come to an island where I can't speak their languange and my car breaks down and I get taken advantage of." Im not proud of thinking this. But, I cannot deny that I did. So I called l Luis back and told him what was wrong. He said bring it back ASAP. So the next morning I brought it back. This was a Friday so again I had to work that day. Armando again picked me up but this time in the morning and brought me home. Luis said it was the fuel rail, which Isuzu no longer makes because my truck is so old and people here use these trucks to go two-tracking so parts are hard to come by. He called everyone he knew with a junk yard and no one had one. He said we cannot find one anywhere and you should just leave your truck here because it cannot be driven. My thoughts " Oh great, not only do I owe money for something that was not even the problem, now I don't even have a car." Then I prayed and turned it over to God. After that prayer I Knew God would provide our needs. So that evening I left my car over night again and being that it was Friday I could push work of a day or two, Thank God! So now that we came to the realization that we have no car, no food in the house and basicly are stuck home we just prayed. Prayed for God to provide. That evening I got a call from Luis. THEY FOUND THE PART! I have no idea how or where but they did. Praise Jesus. Here again God provided and flesh kicks in. "I wonder how much this is gonna cost me?" I prayed for Gods provision and he provided and here I am worrying about money, real faith right. I though around $300-$400 dollars. After all he had replace an injector, put all new seals on all four injectors, and a new injector adaptor already and now a new rail which is next to impossible to find. 

Luis called me later that day and said it was ready to go. Praise Jesus! Armando picked me up and we went to get my truck. As we pull in the hood is open. I'm sure you can imagine my thoughts. I get out and go over to the truck and Luis says look, I replaced all this. (Almost entire fuel injection system) My old one was in the back of the truck. We started it up and it ran grest with no leaks. So here comes the big question," How much is this gonna cost me?" I ask. Luis looks at me and says, "No, nothing. I returned the new injector and got my money back. Don't worry about it, no cost." I was shocked, amazed and felt like a complete jerk at the same time. I gave this to God, doubted the original fix, then doubted that God would provide. I had no words other than, thank you brother I love you. Luis is a man of God and I knew this, but I still had fear and doubts about him because he was unknown to me. When in fact he wasn't. He is a brother in Christ and I should have never doubted but I did and I grew from that moment. Trust God and he will provide and true brothers and sisters in Christ have your back and there is no need to fear. God is good.

However, I think God may have wanted to test my new learned lesson. A few days later it was down pouring and flash floods occurred while driving. I went through a HUGE puddle, more like a lake, and my truck stalled out, after trying to start it the battery died. So there I sat in the dark in the rain in the middle of what seemed like a jungle with next to zero cell service. What do I do? Pray, worship and wait. Long story short after a couple hours alongside the road Armando picked me up, jumped the truck made it home and the truck is running like a champ. God is good!

We where at the beach the other day a met a team from Pennsylvania who were here on a mission trip. They were here doing street evangelism and promoting the Nicky Cruze Crusade happening in Arecibo this past weekend. I ended up connecting with them and going out to street evangelize with them. We went to a ghetto area here and prayed over some people and God had given me some words for this one guy, funny enough his name was John. It hit him to the core and he started to cry. It was so good to see God move. Then Saturday our whole family went to the Nicky Cruze Crusade. Not sure who we were there for but felt God tell me that we were not there for us but someone else. It was great to meet new people and see hundreds of people gathered together for Jesus. I would love to get something like that going over here in English. There is a large enough English population where I feel it would be effective.    

God also provided a dinning room table for us! It seat like 8 people! Thanks to our friend Marlin from church. It is so nice to have such a big wooden table.

We also found an American Football League here for Blake! We went to practice last week and we all love it. Looks like Blake will be playing football this Fall. Here football can be played for almost 10 months out of the year! Blake will hopfully be on two leagues, the recreation league and the high school league. Both play at different times of the year. We are all very excited.

We spend most of our time in Dorado. This is about 45 min from our house. Church is there, Younglife is there, football is there, more friends are there, life groups are there, pretty much 75% of what we do is in Dorado. A lot of driving, gas and tolls but God always provides. 

March 7th we will be doing our food handout with Armando, Jeanette and their girls. We always look forward to this time to intentionally serve and show the love of Jesus to those who normally get ignored. This month, as of right now, is a spaghetti dinner. Yummy.

Bridger wants everyone to know that we have a new dog. His name is Pug or Sir Pugs A lot. He is a Pug, Chihuahua mix. He is super cute. We wanted a dog we could take on the plane with us. He is small and loves to play. It is nice having a dog around, we all miss a Magic, our German Shepard back in Michigan a lot.

I guess that is all for now. Hopfully I update more often sorry. Thank you for your prayers and support.

Ways you can support financially

Send a check written to Seven Hills Church with Hoogeveen Missions in memo to:

-Seven Hills Church

c/o Hoogeveen Missions

661 East 24th street suite 100

Holland, MI 49423

(Seven Hills deposits by the 7th of every month)

-Online at 

http://www.donationto.com/Matthew-28-Missions

Gear Up!

The other day our family was at the beach snorkeling. We only have three sets of snorkel gear so we were all not able to go out at the same time. This particular time I chose to go out into the water but had no gear. As Jennifer and the kids were swimming around looking at God's creation under water, sounds of excitement and wonder came to the top. I was wanting to see what they saw but I could not. I was in the water inches away from the under water world but could not see it. At first this was just another experience a normal day at the beach, but then Holy Spirit spoke to me and shared with me something that has impacted my life ever since. 

This is what Holy Spirit revealed to me:

The reason I was so close to this underwater world but could not see it was not because I did not want to, or wasn't willing, or didn't understand; the reason was because I did not have the right gear. This is like our walk with Jesus. Now this is Holy Spirit talking so I am included in this. Many Christians have good intentions, passion, desire, willingness and even knowledge of what to do. The problem is they don't have the right gear. 

-Now I did at one point put on swimming goggles, I could see but it was not real clear, Bridger even tried without goggles, he too could see but it hurt and was very blurry. We were not using the right goggles. Now I also tried goggles and no snorkel, I could see; however there was a difference of time limit of visibility. Without snorkel, 30 seconds, with snorkel, well over 30 min at a time!

Holy Spirit said ,you see, it's not only about desire, passion, knowledge and willingness; it is also about having the right gear. In the Christian walk that means two things, what gifting or giftings has God given you and are you using them? Second are you wearing the Armor of God?

So many times I catch myself going about things in areas where I am not gifted. That is just silly. It's like goin snorkeling with a pair of swimming goggles and a straw! It just won't work very well.

Don't get caught up in passion, desire, wisdom, knowledge and ministry but forget about using the right gear God has for you!

Lean not on your own understanding....or thought or vision or.....

Good morning! God is good. The weather here has been amazing. It gives us the freedom to do more things as a family and gives me more places to study and pray. Praying on the beach is my favorite spot. Not because of the water and beauty although that is nice too, but Jesus spent a lot of time on the beach, so I figure maybe there is something to that. It is peaceful and most of the time when and where I go I am alone. It is a great time to get alone with God.

Jennifer and the kids are plugging away at home school. They are normally done before noon. That is really nice. They are learning a lot of new things. It is an adjustment for sure, however it is working very well.

Monday Blake and Dallas went to Younglife in Dorado. This was their first time ever going to Younglife and they loved it! It is great that there is this outlet for kids on the island. This was promoted through TheCenter ChurchPR, which is where we go to church.

I spent some time with Pastor Efren from TheCenter Church yesterday and talked about a lot of things. One of the things that came up was what their church is in need of right now. There were several things ,from a men's group, kids class leader, discipleship group leader and more. Efren started to focus in on the discipleship group leader and started to explain what they are looking for and what they have been praying for for over a year. They have been praying that God sends them someone with a passion and desire for discipleship and they feel like that is what God sent them here. My insides were going crazy. But I kept my cool. Once he was finished, I simply said, " To tell you the truth this sounds exactly like what The Lord has called us here for. However, I want you to pray about it and ask God to reveal to you if I am the right person for this. If it was me I would hop on it. But I just feel it needs to come to you. I will be praying about it as well." So, Pastor Efren has now charged me with looking for different discipleship classes/programs/courses that we can look at doing. To be proactive he said😉

So please join us in prayer as Jennifer, myself, Pastor Efren and the leadership of TheCenter Church come to The Lord in prayer over this.

Last night was our home group. We talked about some great stuff, including discipleship and what we are called to do and how it may look. We focused, we'll sort of focused on Matthew 5 when Jesus talks about being salt and light. It was a good time of talking about what Jesus called us to be. We are to be The Light of the world. Most of all it was great to spend time with friends and family. We hi gout, talked about life, Jesus, drank coffee ate some treats that Jennifer made and just enjoyed life together.

I know one things is for sure. The Lord is defenantly in control because he is leading us in directions we were not expecting. Most of what we wanted or thought we were going to do is not happening the way we expected it to. Never think you know because chances are you dont. God has it already planned out. Who am I to actually think I can make a plan and it is just like Gods plan? Now that just silly of me. But that's what I do sometimes, ok most of the time. I am learning and growing and will never stop. Just when I think I know, God shows me something different. It is very humbeling to say the least. God is in control not me, not my boss, not even my pastor. It is all God. When we choose to listen it may be easy, may be hard, may even be painful to a degree but it is always for the glory of God and we will always come out a better person and more like Jesus.

Some prayer requests then some praise reports to finish this out for the day.

-Ever since my fall off of the rock into the river my right side of my torso has been hurting. Not all the time just when I sit a certain way or touch it in a certain area. Pray for healing of what ever it is. It is more annoying than anything.

-Of course again pray for this discipleship leader role at church

-continued provision

-that those who have a desire to know more about Jesus to be directed to us and Armando.

-those that need to hear about Jesus are directed to us too

-clearity on what our Tuesday nights look like, or don't look like.

-clearity for a friend here on what to do about work issues

-clearity to get wisdom and understanding 

-for pastors here on the island doing the work of The Lord

-for anyone else on the island doing the work of The Lord give thanks for them both.

- pray for our second food handout we are planning.

- pray for our hearts to be focused on Jesus and doing all we can do for him while on the island however long or short of time that may be. Let us focus on being here.

This is from John- that I trust God more with finances. He has not once let us down. I just need to trust in him more and not worry. I know he will provide so why do I worry? 

I could go on and on but this is good for now.

Praise report

Your prayers for financial support were heard. The Lord blessed with at least $400 unexpected dollars this month! Praise Jesus!!!! 

Work at the school is going great.

Our Spanish is improving....slowly....but it is improving.

We are meeting more of our neighbors.

The kids are meeting new friends.

The Lord is working and people are seeing his love!!

Thank you everyone for your prayers and support!