Chapter One Coming To An End

Hi everyone! It’s been a couple of weeks! We are currently traveling to Albania over a couple of days and I wanted to write this blog. It might be a bit longer than my other blogs, but I hope and pray that it builds you up! Thank you for your prayers and for your love! It’s crazy we are moving to the next country already! I am so thankful for the Lords grace and I’m excited to share with you a bit of what the last three weeks have held and how God has worked!

El jalu

We had another group come in from London, Chicago and Guatemala. They have been working with Reindom for a couple of years to reach schools in Guatemala with love and the Gospel! These were a couple of things this ministry did and how we got to come alongside of them

One thing this group does is put on a big birthday party for all the kids in the town. Kids often don’t get to celebrate their birthday and it was so sweet being able to do that with piñatas, games, teachings, and crafts.

We were also able to go to neighboring towns for house visits and more bunk beds. I love house visits! Being able to encourage, pray and listen to people always warms my heart.

Often the younger kids have programs and things going on and teenagers are forgotten, so we changed that a little bit. We went out to find teens who weren’t working and invited them to an event. We fed them, played games, shared testimonies and encouraged them in their true identity. God is so cool and we got to see many hearts softened and many came to know Jesus!

Medical programs are such a cool ministry. Although I don’t speak a lot of Spanish or even have medical backgrounds, I got to come alongside some great people who do. To pray over Guatemalans who weren’t just looking for physical healing but desiring spiritual as well. I love this verse and I think it expresses so much of how we need physical and spiritual healing in Jesus. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.””‭‭Matthew‬ ‭11‬:‭28‬-‭30‬ ‭

We are so thankful to have come alongside this ministry. Their work and hearts have impacted communities in Guatemala!

Not so random, Holy Spirit moments

Prayer room and Maria-
At prayer room one night we were intentionally praying over spiritual giftings. As we were praying i saw a vision of a women who was begging on the side of the road with one blind eye. I got a tug on my heart to go and find her, so I left the prayer house asking the Lord where I needed to go. A couple people joined me on a little hunt to find her. As we walked through Antigua we didn’t find her but we did find two other women and got to pray over them which was so sweet and so spirit led. Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to walk away knowing that you took a step of faith and that God will do the rest! That’s exactly what God did! About a week later, we were at prayer house and Alicia comes up to me and says “the woman you saw in your vision is outside on the street.” She leads me to this sweet woman, Maria! We get to sit with her, pray for her, pray healing over her eye, listen to her story, invite her to prayer room and give her something to eat! My faith increased so much! We later found out that Maria has been covered by so many prayers from everyone on our team! So thankful to God for increasing my faith and for helping me take obedient steps of faith!

A sabbath day led by the holy sprit!
I was doing my quiet time in Antigua and after drinking my chai went downstairs to pay. I got into a sweet conversation with the workers about what I was doing and how long I was there. After a bit i payed and then asked if I could pray for them. They proceeded to ask if I could pray over the whole staff and led me to the office. We had some sweet conversation after I prayed. Before I left they brought me some cake and I got to talk to one of the workers about Jesus. That day I had asked God to remind me of who he was and he taught me through sharing the gospel and praying. If you’re ever in Antigua go to Kaldi and Kapra Coffee House!

Habdiez, who asked for prayer
We were waiting for a chicken bus after a long ministry day and this guy comes to a stop after slowly driving by us. Grace goes up to the window and starts talking to him in broken Spanish. He gets out of the car looking a bit downcast and weary. We don’t understand a lot of what he’s saying, but we do hear “can you pray for me?” As we start praying he begins to cry. His broken heart finds rest in the spirit and after praying he gets in his car, gives us some bread, says thank you and leaves just as fast as he came.

Kite festival and prayer burn

We got to have all the girls on your team over to the Reindom house for a prayer burn/ sleep over. Taking shifts throughout Halloween night we got to sit with the Lord and pray over the holiday. In the morning, after meeting up with the rest of our team, we headed to Sumpangos kite festival! This yearly festival serves as a remembrance and thanksgiving for those who have passed away. These kites are all handmade out of a kind of tissue paper and they are all so gorgeous and intricately made!

Last ministry days and sweet goodbyes

The last couple days of ministry flew by so quickly. Such a bitter sweet thing. We had a goodbye party with our hosts. This was such a sweet time of prayer and worship over one another and celebration for the season we had. It has been such a blessing and encouragement to be apart of Reindom for two months. We’ve been able to learn from them, serve alongside them, and encourage them! It may be a smaller ministry, with not a lot of people serving but they are impacting the community in so many ways! Seeing their impact on the kids in santa marta just warms my heart! On our last day, after English class we had a little time to say goodbyes. There were many tears shed and many hearts warmed with confidence of what God is doing there. “Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.””Matthew‬ ‭19‬:‭14‬ ‭

Lake at Atitlán days

Aaah! Lake Atitlán! It is such a beautiful clear water lake surrounded by mountains! We cliff jumped, rode on a boat, walked through some really cute towns and got to chill! Playing mermaids in a clear lake surrounded by mountains, ugh so pretty and also my favorite part!! Also to be in nature made me so happy!

Volcano hike

Ok I just have to start with God is such a creative God! From the lake to the mountains! I am so thankful for his creativity and for the opportunity to go on this volcano hike. It was such a good Segway into debrief. We got to hike to the base camp of Acatenango which was about 5-6 hours of hiking. Then over half of us went on a night hike up Fuego to see the lava up close. That was one of the hardest and windiest hikes I’ve ever done. When we got to the top the fog lifted at such a perfect time for us to see the lava. It’s crazy to trust a volcano that much and still hike it. We had about 1ish hour of on and off sleep, in the cold and in a little hut on the side of the volcano. Quite an experience that I was so glad I had. After walking up at 3 we made our way up Acatenango to see the sunrise! One of the most beautiful sights ive really ever seen! So so thankful and would for sure do it again!!

Debrief

Our debrief was such a sweet time of rest personally and with the Lord.

We had a prayer burn over Albania and what this next season looks like. Although I don’t know a lot about Albania, I want to share some things that you can be praying about. First praying against the spirit of apathy in the environment we will be in. Whether it’s affected by the weather or something else. Being willing to pray intentionally despite circumstances. Secondly praying over hearts and against traditional bonds passed down from generations. That we are able to build relationships with people, show Christs love in how we live differently, and be a living testimony. Our relationships may take time and boldness in the spirt but God is going to work despite what we see. As we step into this next season my team is having a spirit of prayer over the Middle East.

Teachings

We had so many great teachings over our time at debrief! I want to share a couple points that were highlights to me in these teachings.

• Encountering Gods love and his presence through creation and through people. I don’t have to try and earn it but I can just receive it! Romans 8:16-17 “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”
• Encountering the Holy Spirit and the gifts he has for us. We are no longer orphans but we can meet with Jesus because of the Holy Spirit. John 14:18  “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”
• Holy spirit baptism in Acts 2: 1-13. If you have a chance to read it, do it! We should want the Holy Spirit and should open heartedly invite him in. The different gifts of the spirit in 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 and receiving those as the spirit wills!
• Knowing that because of the spirit we can walk in authority that he gives

Now let me introduce my new team!! Shalom!

We are switching up teams for Albania and I am so excited! Meet the team!

Prayer

• Safe travels as our team travels to Albania.
• For hearts to be softened as we go into the Middle East. For people to have dreams and visions of Jesus and of us.
• That the holy sprit would be made new to us and give us new revelation of who God is.
• An increase of unity with new teams and new positions!
• For the ministry’s we would be joining. That we would have unity with them.
• For the hearts of those we ministered to in Guatemala.

As always thank you for reading and coming along with me in my journeys and adventures. I love you all and am so thankful for your prayers!

In Christ,

Sydney <3