Catholic vs Evangelical. The Litmus test for Christians

            I have been neglecting writing this for a while now. Neglecting it because I know I am going to offend people. I didn’t want anyone to think I am too liberal or too conservative. I didn’t want anyone to argue with me. But I’ve been thinking about this a lot this week. And I am finally writing it because I was reminded that if I speak the truth in love, people are still going to get offended, but at least I am speaking the truth.
            I have been living in Ecuador for almost two years now. During my time here I have been doing an internship for my school, Columbia Bible College. That means one thing: homework. And part of that homework is to really take a look at culture and religion in the country I am working in. In Ecuador, the religion is Catholicism.

            There’s no avoiding it. It’s everywhere. Images of Jesus dying on a cross. Statues of virgins and saints. Even Baby Jesus is worshiped, which was a very new idea to me. Mary is the Mother of God, making her God as well. I was disgusted. Not only were these statues worshiped, but many followers lived their lives with next to no religious conviction. They could do what they wanted and ask for forgiveness later. What a mess!

"Say NO to idolatry"

            When people asked me if I was Catholic I proudly proclaimed that NO! Indeed I was an Evangelical! This attitude carried over into my work with the kids at the club. I spent a lot of time discussing what was wrong with Catholicism. Idol worship, purgatory, priests, and Mary were all on my chopping block! How could the Catholics let the church become so corrupted?!
            I started spending more of my time with Evangelical Ecuadorians and wow did my superiority complex reach new heights! Most of my Evangelical friends had converted from Catholicism and had lists of reasons why the Catholics were wrong. The really bad word that was ascribed to them was “religious.” Ew. Good Evangelicals hate that word! It is dirty and reeks of false teaching!
            Then, over the summer, a man that I spoke to regularly at church in Quito who had been a missionary here for more than 20 years committed suicide. It was horrible. He had gone back to Kelowna which was where I was going to be working at camp for the summer, and we had made plans for me to stop by his place and visit. I didn’t make it to his house and only a few weeks later he was gone.
            Suicide is a tough issue. It isn’t really addressed in the Bible. There is no commandment that says, “Thou shalt not commit suicide.” I really didn’t know what my theological opinions on the subject were.
            One evening I was sitting down with some Evangelical friends who I respect very much and the topic of this missionary came up. One of them said to me, “Can you believe it? He committed suicide and now he is in hell!”
            Wait, what???? Hell?? Where did that come from? I thought that Evangelicals got all their theology right from the Bible...
            Over the next few weeks I found myself more and more uncomfortable with the way Evangelicals were glorified (among the Evangelicals). I was on the bus and the man next to me started a conversation. When he asked me why I was in Ecuador I told him I was a missionary. “Missionary?” he said. “I’ve never heard of that. What is it?”
            “It is a person who has a mission from God to tell people about Him.”
            “Oh! You’re a Catholic!”
            “Well no…I’m a Christian.”
            “What do you mean? A Christian?”
            It wasn’t until I explained that I was an Evangelical that he knew what I was talking about. I thought that was so weird. Why couldn’t I just call myself a Christian and people would know what I was talking about?
            That night again I was sitting down with my Evangelical friends. I explained the odd conversation on the bus. “Well of course he was confused. You are either Catholic or Evangelical.”
            I was taken aback. Something seemed off. Our conversation continued and the gist of it was, “Robbie, you are an Evangelical. Evangelicals have good doctrine and Catholics have bad doctrine. They have idols and we don’t. They pay penance and we don’t. They have doctrine that comes from outside of the Bible and we don’t. You are an Evangelical, and when you work with the kids your objective should be to get them to be Evangelicals.”
            I suddenly saw the title of “Evangelical” as just that: a title. It can be something to hide behind. As long as you have the right title you are okay. Catholics think Catholics are right. Evangelicals think Evangelicals are right. But let’s take a closer look at Evangelicals, shall we (seeing as the majority of those reading would consider themselves such).

            We have no idols. Yeah right. We may not bow down to worship a statue, but we certainly have a whole list of things that we care more about than God! I have idols in my life, and some of them I have gone to extremes to rid myself of. Others I have gone to extremes to justify. There is always something else creeping in to take the coveted place of God, and it will be a life-long battle to rid myself of idols.

           We don’t pay penance. It is true that we do not give money to the church to release our dead from purgatory. We don’t physically beat ourselves to please God. But don’t we often dwell on the guilt and work hard to make God happy again? Aren’t we often convinced that God loves us less or wants nothing to do with us when we fall into sin, but that He is happy and proud when we are “righteous?” How many times have we prayed and told God that if He would just do this one thing for us in our lives we would be different? Penance comes in many forms, yet somehow we are blinded to our own version.

            We don’t have false doctrine. HAHAHAHAHA Yeah right!!!! You can go to a thousand churches anywhere in the world and find people who base their doctrine on human feelings and ways of thinking instead of the Word of God! In North America some of the falsest doctrine comes straight out of the Evangelical church! The prosperity gospel is self-serving and empty. Its only goal is to win people over. To get numbers. Universalism is built on human ideals of love and goodness. Ideals that have been projected onto God in an attempt to make Him more palatable. What about smaller things? Our opinions on suicide. Our rules about when and how we pray (You can’t eat because we haven’t prayed yet). Our snap judgments we make about other people based on the denomination they belong to or originate from. We all get that theological superiority complex at one time or another. Yet somehow we think it’s okay. And how much of this do we get from the Bible? How much of it is just our tradition?

            What I have learned this year is that God doesn’t care about a title. While we hate the word "religious" we will find that we can be just as religious as anyone else. There may be people reading this who think they know Christ, but when they see Him face to face the Lord will deny ever knowing them. 

Matthew 7:21-23
Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’  Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

            I don’t say that to judge. I say that to emphasize that a title will never save you! Call yourself a Christian all you want, but if there is no fruit in your life, then how could you possibly call yourself His? If there has been no renewing of your mind then how can you say that you have been transformed and know God's will (Romans 12:2)? If you live however you want and hide behind a title, how can you say that you are a follower of Christ? Isn't that what the word 'Christian' means?
            I have been there. I had hidden behind a title for years! But I am not interested in being an Evangelical anymore! I long to know Christ for who He is and serve Him the way he calls me to in the Bible. I want to be filled with a love for God that causes me to practice true religion by looking “…after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep [myself] from being polluted by the world (James 1:27). I long to see others meet Christ and follow Him. Not to see them conform to a denomination or a mold.
            God doesn't care about your title. He doesn't care about the group of people you hang out with. God looks at our hearts and our actions. The two need to be aligned with Him. If they are not, whether you are Catholic, Evangelical, or any other variety of Christ follower, you may want to re-evaluate whether or not you truly know Him.

            Again,  objective in writing this is not to judge or condemn. Christ didn't come to the world to do that (John 3:17). I hope to perhaps help guide us back to Christ and to re-evaluate the ways we share the gospel with others. People should be drawn to Christ through us! Not sucked into legalism or conformity to our own ways of doing things. It is all about true relationship with God, and the process of getting to know Him as we follow Him, and Him alone, on the road to eternity.

Holy Spirit Who?

God is ONE!
I think we have lost that in most church circles. God has been neatly divided into three separate parts. The Father spends His time in Heaven. Jesus is the relatable man-God. The Holy Spirit is the power of God in us.
I have been supremely challenged on this as of late.

I read a book this week called “Forgotten God” by Francis Chan. I was suffering in my relationship with God. I longed to see His Spirit alive in me yet I saw very little evidence of Him. Occasionally I felt Him leading me one way or another, but where were the miraculous results of His power in my life. Didn't His power live in me? Why wasn't He doing the things I was begging Him to do?

My view of God (especially the Holy Spirit) was all wrong. As I read through the pages of the book I was seeing the Holy Spirit in ways I never imagined I would. How could I have been so blind to this before?

GOD IS ONE. Perhaps the most poignant point I got from Francis’ book was brought to light through a common Christmas verse.

For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6 (NIV)

This is talking about Jesus, right? But I never noticed before that Jesus is also called in this verse the Wonderful Counselor (commonly used to refer to the Holy Spirit) and Everlasting Father!! While there are three distinct parts, they are all one. They cannot be separated.

But what really hit me hard was the reality that the Holy Spirit is not just the power of Christ in me, but God Himself indwelling me. And it is Him who guides me. When I tell God everything I expect from Him I don’t allow Him to lead me. His ways are mysterious. His ways are above mine. And so, as I steal the control from God the Holy Spirit He is not allowed to manifest Himself.

As I reflect on all the times in my life where the Holy Spirit has guided me it has always been when I am ready to fully surrender to Him, and not when I have a list of expectations. He has also led me most clearly when I am not asking for a 1, 5, or 10 year plan. He doesn’t work that way.  HHiiiWhen he asked Abraham to pick up his things and move, He didn’t even tell Abraham where he was going! The Holy Spirit is spontaneous! He leads us moment by moment and we need to be ready to follow Him.

I recently (as in last night) had my most vivid, real, and close encounter with God. I hesitate to talk about it because I know many people reading this would not be comfortable with it. But God has shown me this week that He is with me. That He has not abandoned me. He has shown me that He is God Himself, living in me and working through me.

I know I have not written an update lately, and perhaps that is because not much has happened as of late. The routine of the kids club is not necessarily something that I feel I can write about monthly. But forgive me for having been quiet for so long. God has been doing great things in the lives of the kids who come. He has been changing lives and changing families. But please do not give any credit to me or anyone else who works with the kids. God has done miracles through us, and I am proud to have been a part of the work of God where I am at.
Have you seen God at work through you lately? Are you following the lead of the Holy Spirit? I pray that you are!

Please keep me in prayer. I will not be returning to Ecuador next year. I go home on the 17^th of July, and to be honest, I am looking forward to sharing what God has done in my life with others. I have a renewed passion for the church. That passion is to see a passion for God that goes FAR beyond the consumerist “me me me” church that can be found all over the world (and dare I say, especially in North America?). The church was always intended to be an outward flowing of Gods grace through us. Unfortunately it has become a “what about me?” church that seeks to feed the believer, while the believer rarely goes out and feeds those who really need it!

Please pray for my finances. As of right now I am receiving about $400 a month. What a blessing it is to have support. But this doesn’t even cover my basic needs. I only have 4 months left.

And most of all, please pray for the kids! They are learning a lot, but I long to see more souls won for Christ! Also pray for their family situations. Some of the kids have been very open with me about things happening at home. Pray that they will be filled with the Spirit and able to face these situations with love and courage. And pray that we in leadership would take the right actions to help the kids. It can be a messy process.

Thank-you all for reading and I hope you have been encouraged to seek the Spirit more! He is the lifeblood of the believer and the Church. If we do not know Him, then we do not know the Father or the Son either.

Blessings!!

An Early Christmas Present

Over the past year and a half, I have wondered why I am here in Ecuador. Satan has done an amazing job at hiding the truth of the gospel behind the walls of a supposedly “Christian” church that teaches its followers that to gain salvation one needs to be baptized, be confirmed, and take communion at least once. A church that teaches that the souls of the dead hang around and cause all the bad things that happen in an individual’s life. A church that teaches that God doesn’t save all. He only saves the good ones. It has been so hard to get the kids to separate religious dogmas from the truth of the gospel.

After my first year, I doubted my call to come back. I felt that everything I said fell on deaf ears. But I knew from the very beginning that if anything was going to come of the work, the Holy Spirit was going to have to do it all! I can’t take credit for anything that has happened with these kids. I went into this situation with poor Spanish and almost no experience working with kids in a school-like setting. I’ve been praying for these kids. I’ve been pouring myself into these kids. All the while, Christ has been my example. I’ve been quick to forgive and I’ve tried to be slow to anger.

One thing I was certain of was that I did not want to be rash with the gospel. I have seen too many people present the gospel in such a way that nothing is demanded of the listener. It is a gospel that seeks to add numbers, not find true seekers of Christ! I’ve been very clear with the kids that once they decide to follow Jesus, he demands their ALL! Down to their very lives. I’ve been open with them about the fact that saying a prayer doesn’t save them. True belief and surrender to Christ does.

Things have been coming to a head lately. It started when I went out to visit with a missionary couple with Action who run a similar club to what I run, but on a much larger scale. While I was visiting with them we saw tens of thousands of people doing an all-night walk to visit the statue of a virgin. Supposedly she grants miraculous healings. I watched the way the missionaries dealt with the issue of idolatry in the club and it was very counter cultural to me.

In Canada we are told to sugarcoat everything. We cannot offend. If they believe in idol worship, let’s respect that and focus on what unifies us. But this goes against what the Bible teaches. How can we watch as people who claim to follow Christ choose to worship a statue over their Maker? At what point do we stand up for truth? I realized that day that I was not standing up for truth the way I ought to all because I was scared to offend. I was scared that a parent might come to the club to talk to me, or worse, that the local priest would stop by. But those would just be more opportunities to teach truth! I learned a lot from this missionary couple in only two short days.
            Upon returning to my kids I was surprised to learn that about half of them had gone on this walk to the virgin of Quinche. They all had necklaces on with her image. We opened the Bible and read the ten commandments out loud. Then we read Psalm 120 which talks about those who worship idols as being as useless as the idols they worship. It hit the kids hard. They’re not taught this in Catechism.

The next day, all but one girl returned to the club without their necklaces. They had become convicted and they acted accordingly. Over the following week I explained the gospel as clearly as I could. I emphasized the grace of God and I contrasted it with much of what they have been taught about salvation. No response.

I could have made the gospel more appealing I suppose. I could have left out the part about surrendering everything about themselves to God. I could have only talked about God’s love and then lead them in a prayer. But I’m not interested in numbers. I’m interested in seeing a genuine change in the lives of these children for the glory of God.

Today, the Holy Spirit was with me. This whole “the world is going to end on Friday” thing has opened the kid’s ears to the gospel in a whole new way. They are thinking about death and the afterlife. Se we needed to talk about it. One of the kids was certain she was saved because the Catholic Church has baptized her and confirmed her. Her brother insisted that thieves and murderers cannot go to heaven because they are not good enough. I used the illustration of the thief on the cross to explain the gospel. He never had an opportunity to be baptized, to take communion, or to be confirmed. Worse still, he was a thief! Yet simply by confessing that Christ was God he went to heaven that very day.
            Again, I wasn’t going to force anything. I simply told the kids that if they wanted to know Christ and to be forgiven for their sins then they could talk to me privately. You can imagine my elation when two girls, Carla and Gabriela, came to me after the club and said that they wanted to talk to me more about salvation. We sat down together and four more kids sat down with us. I asked them what they understood about the gospel. They were too shy to speak. So I explained it again. Carla got it. The others still seemed confused. Praise God I had an Ecuadorian friend there to help me today. I turned to Glenda and asked her to explain the gospel. She used the colour system (black, red, white, green, yellow). They seemed to be getting it. I emphasized (probably about 10 times) that any prayer we say does not save them. It is the first step in a life of surrender. God’s salvation comes when we repent, but that doesn’t mean we get to live how we want. I explained the gospel one more time and had each of the kids explain it back to me in their own words. Not all of them could do it, but some of them could.

It would have been impossible to make them each say a prayer in their own words (because of how shy they all get about prayer). So I decided that I would say a prayer for them, and I had them repeat those things in their hearts to God. After praying I told them that this was the first day of the rest of their lives. That from now on their lives are not their own, but God’s and that they need to be ready and willing to do anything for Him. I also told them that they should each go home and say a private prayer to God in their own words, and then to keep the line of communication open with Him. They now had his Holy Spirit and had new power to face life and all of its trials. Last but not least, I told them to share their faith with others. They had salvation from sin and that is something they cannot keep to themselves.

As I left the club I was overwhelmed by the fact that 6 children had just made confessions of faith!! SIX! After a year and a half, God gave me my first ever harvest. I was saying “praise God” as I walked down the street! God does amazing things in the lives of people. He times everything perfectly.

Please be praying for all six of the children who made professions of faith today! Magda, Martha, Carla, Gabriela, Wendy, and Christian. They are all between the ages of 8 and 11. This was just a first step. Now I have until June to continue discipling them. I long to see them grow in their faith and fall in love with Jesus over the next few months.
            I need to say it some more. PRAISE GOD!!!! PRAISE HIS HOLY NAME!!! GOD HAS DONE WONDERS! HE HAS SAVED US FROM DESTRUCTION! HE HAS DELIVERED SOULS!!!! HALLELUJAH!!

That darned visa.

I’ve been postponing the update regarding my visa process because the whole thing was so unbelievable that I thought it would be easiest to just write it all down when it was over. Last year I got my visa in August. It took about a week and was a total gong show. They ended up putting the wrong expiration date on the visa and so it expired four days before they even gave it to me. That meant another day in the visa office for them to fix it. Unfortunately, this year was MUCH worse!
            I was home for the summer and my visa from last year expired about a week before I got back to Ecuador, so I entered on a tourist visa which is good for 90 days. It expired on December 8^th. Not bad. I had plenty of time to go through the visa process again. On November 6^th I showed up at the visa office at 6am to wait in line for about 4 hours to hand in my paper work. When I handed it in they told me that two of the papers were done wrong. One was my resume which was in English. I needed to translate it to Spanish. The other was a chronological list of everything I would be doing until I left Ecuador. The man told me that it had to be divided by month with a detailed description of what I was going to do every month. I was confused. I was handing in the exact same paperwork we used the year before, but this year they were being very picky. When I explained that what I do never changes. I do the same thing every week and I am going to do it until I leave he told me that the paper was fine and sent me to go and translate the resume and return with it later that day. I left the office, translated the paper, paid a $30 application fee, and then gave the paper and the proof of payment to the man who told me the visa would be ready the following week on the 12^th.

I went back the next week. Got in line at 5:30am so that I could be out in time to still go to the kids club. When I finally got in I was told that my visa was not yet ready. In fact, they were WAY behind on the whole process and were still processing October’s visas. I was told that my visa would 100% for sure be ready on the 26^th of November. I explained that my tourist visa expired on the 8^th of December so I needed to be sure I was going to get the visa. She assured me I would get it and she sent me on my way. I was pretty happy. She guaranteed me the visa and it was going to be ready in two weeks.
            The 26^th came and I returned to the visa office early in the morning. By the time I got in I had been waiting almost 5 hours! A different lady helped me this time. She informed me that my visa was not ready. They were still working on visas in the 800’s and my visa was number 983. BUT, she GUARANTEED ME that it would be ready on the 4^th of December! FOR SURE! When I explained to her that I had received guarantees before and that they did not come to fruition, she told me she would keeps a special eye on my visa (lies). I left quite angry now. I was beginning to think that they were playing games with me. Every Ecuadorian I know was telling me that I needed to bribe them or they weren’t going to help me. I refused to do it, and so I had to return on the 4^th,

I got there bright and early, waited for hours, and finally was called up to the front. My visa was ready…or so I thought. Turns out they rejected me. Why? The paper they told me was wrong at the beginning and then told me it was fine…was wrong. They needed me to divide it by month. I explained to the lady that they had told me that all my paperwork was fine and that I was confused as to why the paperwork they themselves had approved was now wrong. Her actual response was, “well for us it was fine, but not for our lawyer.” My thought was, “how could it possibly be fine with you when your job is to make sure that the lawyer approves me?” But I didn’t say anything else. She told me to go and make the document and have it in her hands by 1pm. I went to the office, made the document, and had it back with my visa application by 1pm. She told me to return the next morning and my visa would be ready. I was annoyed, but excited that it was going to be ready in a day.

So I was there again in the morning. I waited forever and got up by 10. This time another man helped me. He said, “weren’t you here yesterday? Why are you back? A paper was wrong, right? There is no way your visa ia ready today. The lady who helped you yesterday was just fired and I have no idea why she told you to come back today.” I was FURIOUS! He went to see where my visa application was. It took him ten minutes to find it. He came back, opened the folder, and dropped it on the desk. “Where’s the paper that you fixed?” I looked through everything and…no paper. The lady who was fired the day before never even put it in my folder and now she was gone. The man told me, “there is nobody even here to sign your papers, so I have no idea why she told you to come back. But this is what I am going to do. I am going to submit your papers to get signed without the missing paper. You go and print it off again and come and give it to me before noon. I think I might be able to have the papers ready today.” I cried a little and explained to him (not in a very polite manner) that everyone in the visa office is a liar. He can promise me a million times that my visa will be ready and I will never believe him.

I left for the office, cried some more, printed off the paper…again! And went back to the visa office. I handed the man the paper and he told me that he couldn’t accept the paper because he didn’t have my folder to put it in. He told me to come back with it at 1 and my visa would be ready. I didn’t get my hopes up, but I killed some time and was back at one. When I got in to see him at 1:30 all he did was shake his head as I approached him. “It’s not ready. There’s nobody here to sign your papers. Come back later today.” I told him there was no way I was going to return later today. He told me it would be ready at 1, and nothing. I wasn’t about to waste my afternoon hoping that magically the visa would be ready. He gave me the option of returning the following week and I chose that option. I then went home and cried for a solid 20 minutes. It was the only way to get rid of all the stress and frustration I felt.
            So this week on Tuesday I was back at the visa office. The same gentleman helped me. And, amazingly, my visa had been approved. I went and paid the remaining $150 for the visa, surrendered my passport, and was told to return (again) on Friday to get my passport back with my visa in it.

I went back today, waited for 2 and a half hours this afternoon, and there it was! My passport with my brand new visa in it. It only took 5 weeks (when it shouldn’t have taken more than a week). I left that office today so incredibly thankful that I wasn’t going to have to go back in there for years. Maybe not ever again!
            So for those who have been asking and praying, you now know what happened, and that I now am officially legal in Ecuador until December 11^th, 2013. Throughout the process I felt frustrated with people. They kept telling me not to worry because God was going to give me the visa the next time for sure. The next time would come and go and instead of having a visa I would have more problems. When people would tell me that God was going to give me the visa the next time I started saying, “but God doesn’t work like that. He doesn’t just give me what I want when I want it.” I have thought a lot about Job the last few months. I know that my problems are not nearly as severe as Job’s, but God didn’t just make life fine and dandy for Job because he believed in God. Job suffered and in the end never turned his back on God. Sometimes I think we forget that. We think life is going to be a walk on the beach with Jesus, but there is no guarantee of that. In fact, when I read the New Testament I see a group of people who were persecuted for their faith, who suffered terribly for the sake of the Gospel, and who still didn’t turn their backs on God.

May God forgive me for being angry with Him for not making my life the care-free life I think it should be. And may I grow from this experience.

Getting with the Program!

            It’s hard to believe that I have been back for over a month already. Time flies when you’re busy. It’s been a crazy month and I have a lot to share!

            When I first got back my priority number one was to look into how I was going to do the visa this year. It was a difficult process. I wasn't sure where to turn and how I was going to still fit in with Action Ecuador seeing as I am no longer connected with Action Canada. But after some discussion with the board they decided that they would give me the visa I need for this year. It was a huge blessing to know that there were no hard feelings about my split from Action Canada and that the work I am doing is valued, not only by foreign missionaries, but by nationals. It’s hard to put in to words the good feeling it gives me knowing that Ecuadorians think I am doing a good job working with Ecuadorians. I feel…accepted.

            After being here for only a week and a half I was off to Peru to investigate a program that is running in Cuzco that is very similar to what I have been doing in Quito. I went with my friends Bart and Tracy who have spent the last several months in Quito volunteering in an orphanage in the North.

            The program is called Niños Hotel. It was started by a woman who saw the kids working on the street in Cuzco and who wanted to do something to change it. She took in 12 street boys, and opened a hotel to help support them and give them a future. Now she has 4 hotels, 600 children, and 80 employees. The kids come before or after school to get two meals, do their homework, and they even get to brush their teeth and take a hot shower if they want. I left inspired to do more for the kids in Paquisha.

The tooth brushes for some of the kids at Ninos Hotel.

            Upon my return from Cuzco I had a bad cold and so was out of commission for another week. As of last week the club has been up and running and you would hardly recognize it from last year. Last year it was very loose. The kids would come and go as they pleased. There was very little consistency given by them and we really just spent the time doing homework, reviewing what we had learned from the Bible, and playing games. Now we have a routine. There is a point system that allows me to encourage them to come every day and show up on time. We started an oral hygiene program and I give them all food every day. The games we play are geared towards learning and we introduce a new English word every day. The kids are coming consistently and happily! I have been so pleased to see how quickly they adapted to the new routine.

When they don't have homework they can colour, play outside, or do a puzzle.

            I think my favorite part of the club is on Thursdays. We do circle time with the objective of improving self esteem and changing their victim mentality. The kids are encouraged to share about their triumphs and disappointments through the week. Everyone listens and is supportive. Then the kids are supposed to come up with a way to change their situation in the upcoming week. They set goals and the following week they are asked if they accomplished them. It hasn't been running long enough to know if it is working, but I could tell that he kids were sharing things they have never talk about before. Some were on the verge of tears as they talked about their parents hitting them and each other or about their fathers coming home drunk. Others have troubles in school or with their siblings. We end the circle time with all the kids praying silently about their problems and asking for strength to deal with them. They love it. They've been asking when we get to do it again.

            With all the extra programming comes a lot of extra responsibility. My friend Dan has been coming out with me some to help watch the kids and I've had a couple of other people come out for a day at a time, but I need a full-time helper. I’m praying for an Ecuadorian volunteer who loves God, loves kids, and can fully commit to helping with the club. I used to think that I would never find that, but I know that with God, all things are possible! Please be praying with me. As of today I have 28 kids registered for the club and I am often dealing with them all alone. Try helping 28 kids do their homework in Spanish when half of them don’t even have a pencil! It’s exhausting.

            Please also pray for me. On club days it can be hard to stay sane at times. Pray for my patience and my Spanish. Praise God it has improved by miles. Conversation is a breeze, but telling Bible stories often involves using a lot of vocabulary that I’ve never had to use before. My next project is to summarize the entire book of Daniel. It’s a daunting task, but it has to be done.

            I would also like to ask for prayer for one of the girls at the club named Katerine. She was absent for three days. When she finally showed up again it was with a swollen hand and a thumb that just didn't look right. She had fallen a week before and done something to her hand. One of her neighbours pulled her thumb around and straightened it out, but I think it might be dislocated. We took her to a doctor today but she said that Katerine has to go to the hospital and get x-rays (which is probably exactly what her parents were dreading as they are very poor). Her parents have been spoken to but I am not sure what was said to them or how they responded. Please pray that this will be dealt with. She has no use of her left hand until it is.

This is Katerine in the green a year ago. I know it's not a flattering picture, but it actually captures her personality amazingly! Haha.

            I appreciate all of you who have been praying for me, writing me, and encouraging me! God has been so good in this new season and I have seen Him a lot through all of you! Please keep in contact and let me know what’s happening in Canada. I don’t want to get home and be totally out of the loop!

Times are a-changing!

With another year in Ecuador JUST around the bend, I am really looking forward to what God has in store for me! One thing I have realized over the years is that God doesn’t just do everything for us. We have the responsibility to do a lot of work on ourselves (with the help of the Spirit, of course). So I have identified some areas in my life that need to change and this year is one to break old habits and start anew! Without further adieu, here are the three areas of my life that I am going to change this year.

Body

I know that everyone has the desire to change something about themselves, and I am no different. During the past year in Ecuador I lost a lot of weight which I really needed to do. I was happy that I got to come home and not worry about the extra weight for a while, because how fast could I get it back, really? Turns out that I have probably gained 20 pounds in the last two months. I cannot fit into the clothing I was wearing in Ecuador anymore and this is not good.

The problem has many layers. I have the WORST eating habits for one. I love deep fried food and ice cream and candy. I also engage in next to no physical activity here in Canada. In Quito it’s better, but not by much. So here is the solution. I pledge to change my eating habits. No more McDonalds or Sbarro pizza. I am going to begin eating fruits and vegetables in a regular basis. I am going to seek out healthy options whenever possible, and when I crave some sugar, I promise not to eat three Milky Way bars!

The biggest change physically will be a regular work-out routine. I don’t want to get ripped, but I need something that requires my heart to beat. So, I will begin running at least 4 days a week for at least a half hour a day. The problem is that I am generally not up early enough to fit in a run before the torrential rains hit which brings us to the next area of my life that requires change!

Routine

I am a night owl. I need to wind down in the evenings and I find I am most productive between the hours of 10pm and 2am. Not OK. This obviously results in a late wake-up every day. So, I promise to change that this year. I am going to be in my bedroom by 10pm every night and asleep by 10:30. My new wake-up time will be 6:30. Every day. Imagine all the extra stuff I am going to get done with all the hours of daylight I just saved myself! I think this is going to be one of the hardest habits for me to break in all honestly, but I am sick of living my life in Ecuador in the dark. The sun sets at 6 every night for crying out loud!

So I am going to wake-up early every day and go for my run. I’ll have the rest of the morning to plan for the club which could really use a little more attention. But I have another problem. I often neglect regular devotion time. I often grapple with various concepts or ways of thinking as I go through my day. I pray for specific things and try to work out specific problems. I think about verses that have particularly spoken to me during the week. But this would all be so much easier if I would just sit down with God in a more intentional way at the beginning of every day. This brings me to the final and most important area of my life that requires improvement this year.

Spirit

I promise to BEGIN every day with intentional interaction with God. Be that through a devotion book (if you have a good suggestion, let me know), meditation on a passage of Scripture, prayer, or even listening to a podcast on my run. I will seek to use these to improve my walk with Christ for His glory. I promise to pray more throughout my day and to be quicker to run to God for help. I promise to find God in all things and to find ways to display God in all things. I know I will be lazy at times. I know I will fail at times. But I also know that God’s grace is sufficient for me! I promise to pick myself up and with the help of the Holy Spirit to carry on for Him.

This is where all of you come in. Last year I found myself sucked dry of all energy and this resulted in a stale life that rested on routine and filling time with easy, passive activities. I need you to help keep me going. I have said so many times, and I will say again that I am not in Ecuador alone. I desire to be an extension of the church here in Canada. I want all of you to feel as much a part of my work as I do. I want to be held accountable. I want to be spiritually and physically supported. I need all of you to do this work, because I am but one part of the Body of Christ. I can’t function without all of your help.

Thanks for being here with me along the way so far. I leave for Ecuador in about two weeks again for a second year. Please keep praying for me and encouraging me (I am still nowhere even close to having met my financial needs). God is doing so much and I know He will continue taking care of things for me.

My Heart is Heavy

            There is a lot going on right now. My heart is heavy with a burden that I know is not my own. God has drawn me back to Ecuador for another year and the stress that comes with this is almost enough to make me want to give up.

            I need to work out a visa. I need to work out support. I need to finalize living situations. I need to raise $600 more per month. I need to prepare myself for another year of slugging it out, working with kids that everyone else has turned their back on.
But how do I make any of this relevant to anyone here? How do I make people understand that there is a world of people dying out there while the church in North America (and in many other places around the world) turns its back on them because they cannot see past the discomfort of not having enough money to eat out on occasion?

            I suppose this is my dilemma. It is hard not to become condescending when I talk about the needs in Ecuador that are being overlooked because of the hold materialism has on the lives of Canadians. We go so far as to theologically justify hoarding wealth while the lost are left to find their own way to get by. I am not innocent in this. I find myself the occupant of two worlds. I seek to satisfy myself in a selfish and sinful way when I could be putting more of myself and my resources into the kingdom.

            I just came off a couple weeks of camp. I found my own words that I had for the guys in my cabin really convicting even for myself. Why do I not give it all for the lost world? Why do I find it so hard to sacrifice more for the sake of the Gospel. We have a few years on earth and then we have an eternity to face, and only kingdom living counts in God’s eternal kingdom!

            How can I justify spending money on things like MORE new clothes and MORE delicious treats for me when I know first hand that there are so many people out there that fight over other people’s scraps? I know this sounds like the typical guilt trip that someone who has gone abroad leads people on, but unless you have lived it, it can be hard to understand. Christ gave EVERYTHING to reach the lost world, and somehow we settle for giving part.
            I’m not saying that everyone needs to quit their job and go into the mission field. I am saying that the job needs to be the mission field. I should not look for moments to live out and share my faith. I should live it and share it all the time.

            As I head into another year abroad, I bear that load that Christ has already taken upon himself and I am trying to let go. I can ask and beg for money until I am blue in the face. I can tell people prayer requests that would fill hours of airtime with God. I could try my hardest to make people understand the realities of poverty in Ecuador. But the Spirit will always do it better. I need to rely on Him.
            But I also need to rely on other people’s ability to respond to the Spirit. I am not in this alone. I am an extension of the church. I am one ray of light stemming from a source of billions of rays. Yet I cannot forge alone.
            God, give me faith! Strengthen me with Your Spirit!