"...Unabated Zeal."

As I have been here at home, it's been great to just relax, rest up and refuel. Being home with my family and back in my home church has been such a blessing, and I am extremely thankful.

Yesterday at church, I had the opportunity to go up front with elders and pray for those that needed prayer. As soon after, a woman came up to my Mom and I and said, "Ok, I have two things; One, I want to know what it's like to hear God's voice 24/7, to constantly be hearing the voice of the Lord day and night. Second, I just have this feeling that something big is about to happen, I don't know what it is, but I know something's coming." As she was saying this, she was crying and shaking. You could see her intense hunger for the Lord!

We began to pray and intercede for her, being sensitive to what the Lord wanted to say. Immediately I was reminded of the Welsh revival.

Thursday and Friday night we held "the Burn 24/7" with Sean Feucht at our church. He spoke about the revival and how it began with 15 teenagers in a room, who would not let go of God until He gave them what they sought. That's when revival broke out!

So spoke to the woman, telling her about the revival. I told her that like the youth that would not let go of God, that she was not let Him go until she received that which she was feeling, that which she was hungry for.

Later that day, I could not stop thinking about her and her intense and contagious hunger for God. Oh how I want that hunger! I want the kind of hunger that pleads for Him 24/7, that strives to hear His voice every second of everyday!

On Friday night Sean shared an illustration with us:

That morning he had gone hunting extremely early up at Seeley, MT. As he was trumping around in the snow, he found fresh elk tracks. For hours he followed those elk tracks around and up and down the mountains. He finally became very frustrated and thought to himself, "I don't want to be where this elk has been anymore, I want to be where he IS!"

The church, the body of Christ, has become content on following the tacks of where God HAS BEEN, instead of hungering and striving for where HE IS!

I can't believe that I have settled with following His "tracks", just residing in the places where He has been. When and where did I begin to think it was ok to settle for a mediocre christian life? To hunger for the "hunger of the Lord"? This may not make sense to some reading this, it hardly makes sense to me...all I know is I don't want to follow His tracks anymore. I want to be where He is! Not tomorrow, not the day after, but today!

"So set a fire down in my soul, that I can't contain, that I control. I want more of you God! I want more of you God!" by song artist Will Reagan - "Set a Fire."

Finally!! Another blog!!

Wow! It has been awhile since my last blog, I apologize to all those who have been so patiently waiting.

This past month has been incredible, full of new opportunities, experiences, hopes, dreams and visions. It has as well been my toughest month here, and at times seemingly impossible. Culture shock has slithered its way into my everyday life here in the Amazon. Learning a new language, taking on a new culture and living a new life has been the hardest thing I have ever had to do. Daily I pray that God would grant me grace and strength for that day, and He has been ever so merciful to do just that.

I read this quote the other day, and found it hit extremely close to home:

“I give up my right to a comfortable bed,

And trust God for strength and endurance.

I give up my right to three meals a day,

And trust God for my health and strength.

I give up my right to familiar food,

And trust God for my like and dislikes of food.

I give up my right to dressing fashionably,

And trust God for my self esteem and security in Him.

I give up my right to seeing results

And trust God for accomplishing His purposes and seeing fruit in His timing.

I give up my right to control what I do,

And trust God to control me through His Holy Spirit.

I give up my right to control others,

And trust God to accomplish in them what He wants and in His timing.

I give up my right to control my external circumstances,

And trust God for my circumstances to accomplish His purposes in making me Christ-like.

I give up my right to pleasant circumstances,

And trust God for the privilege of suffering for His names sake.

I give up my right to make decisions,

And trust God for His sovereign hand on my life.

I give up my right to be understood, and trust God for my reputation.” *Terri Hughes of SEND International

Yet through all of this, it is nothing. Nothing compared to the Love of Jesus that I feel everyday. I know without a shadow of a doubt, that I am in His will, and that I am in the right place at the right time. God has taken me through so many things here that I never imagined I would do, I would become, that I would accomplish. Before I ever came here I had always asked God, “Why me? There are so many more qualified people, more skilled, more prepared.” I still find myself asking this question. But, for some reason He has decided to use me, and everyday it is in a new and different way. I never thought I’d be able learn another language, yet now I sing on the worship team and just preached a 5 min message last week – in Spanish. I never thought I’d ever do youth ministry again, but here I am loving and working with them every week. I never ever thought I had any teaching skills, yet I’m teaching English twice a week and have several students now. I never thought I would ever see a revival, but I now get to be a part of the beginning steps of one right here in Leticia! God has been so good to me, has blessed me so much and shown me so much favor.

My weeks are filled with Spanish classes in the mornings, every morning Monday through Friday. It has been so intense and for the past two months, and I think I’ve wanted to quit just about every day. But, as I mentioned before, God has granted me immeasurable grace and strength. I now work only one day a week at the Aljaba, children’s home and school. But, my days have quickly been filled with teaching English, practices and church services, more time spent with the youth, prayer meetings with the children, and extra projects here at the house. It was incredible to see, that even when one door closed, God opened five more!

Another door that has opened, is the opportunity for me to come home a month earlier. This is in order that I might be able to return back to the Amazon in time to greet the first team of the year in January. I am so excited about the plans with this team coming! They will be helping host the Women’s Conference at my home church here in Leticia, as well as a soccer training camp for children and so much more!

I’m so excited to come home and see my family soon, but even more so to return here and be apart of the new plans God has for the Amazon.

I want to thank you all so much for your prayers and support! It was so encouraging the other day to hear that all the elders of my home church in Missoula, MT where praying for me during their elder’s meeting. Thank you all so much, I cannot express how much this means to me. To know that the body of Christ is backing me up is such an incredible feeling. Thank you.

God bless you,

Dios te bendiga,

Heather

"Vivir y Respirar la Vida de Oración"

"Living and Breathing a Life of Prayer."

How many times have we given the passer-by comment, “I’ll be praying for you” and actually gone through with it? What do you consider prayer? Is it the brief “Hello God, it’s me, I’d really like Your help today…Amen” your daily prayer?

This past week Meredith (another missionary here) and I have been really sensing the need for prayer here in Leticia. One morning, during my prayer and devotion time with the Lord, suddenly the idea of starting a House of Prayer here in Leticia popped into my brain. I stopped praying and slowly said, “Ah…Lord, I don’t know if this is you or not, I mean…obviously it has to be, but…I don’t know the first thing about starting a House of Prayer? Where? When? How?” That exact same day I talked to Meredith and had begun to tell her about what the Lord had lain on my heart, about the House of Prayer idea. But, then quickly changed my mind thinking, “Ah, not yet…I’m going to wait for a little more confirmation before I start blabbing my mouth about something.” Well, I didn’t have to wait long, Meredith soon went on to say how that next day she was going to begin the start of many nights of prayer, at La Aljaba children’s home! I got so excited and told her what the Lord had spoken to me that exact morning! In the end we both realized the Lord was telling us something , “PRAYER!”

During my recent devotions the Lord gave me this scripture, Isaiah 62:10-11, “Go through, go through the gates! Prepare the way for the people; Build up, build up the highway, take out the stones, lift up a banner for the peoples! Indeed the Lord has proclaimed to the end of the world: Say to the daughter of Zion, surely your salvation is coming; Behold His reward is with Him.’ And they shall call them The Holy People, The Redeemed of the Lord; and you shall be called Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken.”

We had been praying and praying for revival, but when was the last time we prayed for prayer? A cultivating life of prayer to be made in our lives? In our cities? In the church no less? Again and again the Lord says to me, “Prayer! Prayer! Prayer!” God is saying to me, “I have called you here to ‘prepare the way for the people,’ to ‘build up the highway,’ to ‘take out the stones’ and to ‘raise up the banner!’ To help prepare the way for REVIVAL!!” To do this there needs to be daily prayer, 24/7 prayer here in Leticia, spreading into the Three Frontiers; Peru, Colombia and Brasil!

Having received this vision, we have begun to run with it! Please keep us in your prayers as we hope to unite with the people, organizations and churches here in prayer. In showing the slight piece of the vision we were given, we hope a great movement of prayer will happen here. We are already beginning to see it!

This past Wednesday night we held our first prayer meeting with the children at La Aljaba children’s home. We gave a short teaching of prayer, the importance of prayer and then led them into a few songs of worship. As we began to pray, the children all got on their knees, faces in their chairs, praying. The glory of God fell, and almost every single one of them had tears rolling down their tiny cheeks, and were crying out to God. It was incredible! In the end we began to sing, “La Nina de tus Ojos” which talks about how we are the apple of God’s eye. They all began to sing, and it was amazing. I could see and feel so many of their little hearts being healed! Jesus had shown up that night, and touched them all.

After celebrating with Meredith that night about what God was doing, I headed out for home. When I got home, not even five minutes later my doorbell rang. Three of the junior high girls from the church were waiting outside the gate with such incredible news! They began to excitingly tell me that they had received the baptism of the Holy Spirit that night at the church’s service! They suddenly began to speak in tongues to “prove” they had! They asked me, “Do you know the language of the Holy Spirit?!” I basically screamed in excitement my answer, “Yes!!! Ahhhh!!! God is so good!!!” That night God wasn’t just working where we were, but was working all around!

For the last two weeks I had been gone on the river with teams, so I had missed two weeks of church services. After everything happened on Wednesday night at La Aljaba, I headed to church Thursday night to hear them teaching on prayer! For the last three weeks now they have been teaching on prayer, the importance of prayer, and how to pray! Wow! I was so blown away! God is speaking His vision all over Leticia, “Prayer! Prayer! Prayer!”

Yesterday I got this ridiculous urge to paint again, the first time being a couple days ago, after a time of prayer for the Amazon. So I headed out, got some supplies, and then began to paint. When I was finished, I stood back, looked and thought, “Ah…well, it’s not Thomas Kinkaid, but it’s not horrible.” It was a picture of the sun rising, with it’s rays slicing through the darkness. I just made it sound so much better right then, than it looks, lol.

Anyways, I left it there on the table to dry overnight, I would figure out what to do with it in the morning. Well, this morning while passing it, I looked down on it, and this song by Hillsong popped into my head. “And His glory appears, like the light from the sun. Age to age He shines! Oh look to the skies, hear the angels cry, singing ‘Holy is the Lord!’” I believe with everything that God has been showing us here, this is His promise to us. That His glory will appear, like the light from the sun! As we begin to cultivate a life of prayer, the Lord’s glory will be made known here in Leticia! Which we believe and are praying will come with revival!

I’m so excited for what God’s doing here! I’m absolutely thrilled to be a part of this, and be a part of the body of Christ here in the Amazon. Again, thank you to all who were praying with us Wednesday night! As you can see God is moving mightily and His glory will be made known! As my grandmother wrote me in an e-mail, “the ground is very fertile.”

Here is just one last scripture. As we begin to teach on prayer here, and the importance of prayer, I hope and pray for the rising up of the second church of Acts. In chapter 4 we read of the persecution the church has gone through, in verse 23 they have just been let go. What do they go on to do? Read this, “…they raised their voice to God with one accord and said: ‘Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them, who by the mouth of Your servant David have said: “Why did the nations rage, and the people plot vain things? The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ.” For truly against your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done. Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness that they may speak Your word, by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.’

And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.” Acts 4:24-31

After this prayer the church of Acts becomes a “Power House” for Christ! There were healings, miracles, signs and wonders left and right! The church became of “one heart and one soul” (verse. 32) and “with great power…gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. “ (verse 33)

Everything that happened with the church of Acts began with prayer.

Acts 2:1, the Day of Pentecost, what where they doing? Praying!

Acts 3:1-10, the Lame Man Healed, Peter and John were on their way to pray.

Acts 4:23 – 31, Annointed with the Holy Spirit, filled with boldness! Again, they were praying!

So with this all being said (in a matter of only 500 pages! Hahaha), we have begun to pray for…well prayer! To teach how to pray, the importance of prayer, and the effects of prayer!

Again, thank you for all YOUR prayers! God is moving!!

Heather

07/27/2010

“Revival!”

For the past month, I have been praying for revival to begin here in Leticia, Colombia. Leticia is a very strategic point in the Amazon, this region is called the “Tres Frontires” meaning the “Three Frontiers.” All three countries, Colombia, Brasil, and Peru connect right here. The revival would be carried into all three countries, and quickly spread throughout each one! The damage to the kingdom of darkness would be immense! The gaining back of ground would be innumerable! “Lord! Send revival!!”

For the past two weeks we have had two teams from the states here in the Amazon. One from Texas, the other from Georgia. The first week was spent in Brasil with AX missionary and good friend, Clauber and his family. One of the many things we did, was build a staircase going down to the river, for the family. About every 6 months, the Amazon river does it’s toll on the stairs, thus creating much work for the family to completely replace it. The men worked on the plans, the cutting, digging and assembling. After many hours of work the new stairs were complete!

As the men were working on that project, I had led the girls over to a small field where the weeds, thorns and vines were as tall as me! Each grabbing a machete we went to work for hours, cutting, chopping, swishing and slashing. The next day, after many hours of hard, hot work, we had leveled the ground. We then all stood back and looked upon what would be the new soccer field, it was awesome!

That night, all 30 of us headed out into the night to a local church for the night’s service. The Georgia team preformed several dramas, and gave testimonies. Speaking on purity, and God’s standpoint on sex. That night several people received healing for broken hearts, and several gave their lives to Christ.

Four days and three church services later we had seen a total of 69 salvations! Praise God!

Sunday our Texas team headed back to the states. They were such an incredible team! They had all worked so hard in everything, kept great attitudes, and really, truly loved these people. Many times they had, had to be ready to minister an entire service in a moment’s notice, but they always held it together. I love seeing people like this working in the kingdom of God!

Monday night was Georgia’s night for the youth at the church. The theme was purity, and how God made and intended sex to be inside the boundaries of marriage. Skits were preformed and testimonies given. However, when the call for “broken hearts” was given, the alter was quickly flooded with youth. As we surround them, praying in tongues, and praying wholeness over them the spirit of God fell! Suddenly, people were slain in the spirit, prophecies after prophecies were given, there were tears and there was laughter. The intensity of the anointing was incredible! I could not help but weep! His presence was just so sweet.

The incredible thing was I had never seen this before here in the Amazon, nothing even close to it! Two hours after the service was supposed to have ended, three fourths of the people were still there, praying in tongues, slain in the spirit, and just sitting, soaking in His presence. The pastor of the church, Pastor Julio, later told us he had never seen anything like that here ever. He had seen it in Bogota on a previous trip, and had ever since been praying for that to come here. The people here in the Amazon have heard of it, but have never expected it, because they’ve never seen it. No more excuses!! Revival’s coming!!!!

Things have begun to shift here, things are changing, winds are blowing, God is moving! Like the rain that is constantly falling here in the rainforest, I believe God’s presence and anointing is beginning to soak the Amazon! Soon and very soon it’s coming, His glory will be made known here!!

The Savannah Team

01/07/2010

These past two weeks have been absolutely amazing! We had a medical team from Savannah, Georgia join us as we headed 8 hours up river, into the jungle, to do clinics.

The day after the team arrived here in Leticia, we pulled out all the medical supply bins left from the last team a few months earlier, and began to prepare for a week on the river. The next day, we headed down to the port with a truck loaded with food, water, personal packs, hammocks, tents, propane, flashlights and tons of bug spray! After about an hour of loading onto the boat, we finally all piled in and were on our way!

As the night rolled in, we stopped overnight at a small community about two hours from our next destination up river; Santa Rosa. Hanging up our hammocks under the starry sky, we all quickly fell asleep. The next morning we decided to hold our fist medical clinic there in the little school by the river. So hulling all the bins off the boat full of medical supplies, we began the setup for the clinic that day. In the back of the room we set up about 5 tables together for the pharmacy, then a table with chairs to the right for “station 1” and another to the left for “station 2.” The line quickly began to filled all the way outside the door and down the stairs. After several hours of translating, prescribing, and handing out the right medications and several vitamins, we packed up and were on our way upriver.

Along the way, we stopped at an Israelite village in Peru for lunch. The Israelites are a people that live in colonies along the Amazon and Javari rivers in Peru. I’m not exactly sure of the ins and outs of this cult, but I do know that they believe that Jesus Christ is a man that lives in Lima, Peru. This creates so much confusion! How do you tell a people about Jesus Christ when they believe they already know him? Learning from AX, apparently they don’t welcome outsiders easily. Infact the last time AX was at Santa Rosa to hold a medical clinic, there were angry men, and the next morning barely anyone had shown up to the clinic. The team had, had to leave early.

So we were a little cautious in having stopped at this village for lunch, so we just stayed out by the river until we were finished. However, after about an hour of having been there a man came over the hill to talk to us. We found out soon that his son was very sick and needed medical attention. George, along with two nurses headed up back up the hill the man towards his house. After they came back, having treated the young boy, we were given bananas and squash, and a very warm goodbye. I was thrilled to have been apart of this new experience! God was doing something there!

We headed another few hours up the river and finally made it to Santa Rosa. As we pulled up, I looked up the steep hill, saw the deep, thick mud, and decided that it was a good time to pull out the boots. George quickly hopped out, hiked up the hill and disappeared over the side. I began praying, as I knew he was asking for permission to stay the night and hold a medical clinic in the morning. As George had gone, a government offical of Peru, by the name of Orlando had gone with him. At the request of George, the man had decided to come with us on our trip up river. Having him along, had opened many doors. Soon George came back and yelled, “Alright! Let’s unload!” Praise God!

Many of the Israelites had come over the hill to watch and help us bring the heavy bins up the muddy hill to the school. As we hung up our hammocks and set up our tents, we soon drew the attention of many children and adults in the community. Some of the ladies from the team and I headed outside with our cameras and limited Spanish, and quickly made many little friends. We were forming relationships with these people who had before despised us. God was beginning to work in them, and we were able to be apart of it.

That night, after a wonderful jump into the Javari river, washing off all the grime and sweat, we began to cook dinner and get ready for the night. Soon a crowd had gathered outside to watch us, so George headed out there to begin the “service.” He began to preach to them, showing them what the bible said, and who Jesus Christ really was. Many people showed up, and were soon participating and asking many questions. It was awesome!

The next morning we set up for the medical clinic. After seeing people for eight hours straight we finally split the team in two, and took shifts to eat and freshen up. Two hours later we finally closed up the clinic. Everyone had received the medical attention they needed, vitamins, and the children were loaded with candy, stickers, balloons and bible tracks telling them of the love of God.

We packed everything up and headed back down to the boat. Waving goodbye to the crowd on the hill, we left for the next village 45 minutes downriver. The next day was our second to last medical clinic. Again it was filled with balloons, candy, soccer and playing with the kids. It was great! Earlier that morning we had been asked to have a church service with the people, and 7 people gave their lives to Christ! Praise God!

After packing up everything once again, we finally headed back out for home.

The trip had been intense, physically hard, and totally mosquito infested. But, God had moved greatly in each community we were in. To hear about the previous visits to these communities, and how unwell the team was received, it’s a total God thing the response we received from the people. Everywhere we went there were seeds planted. Seeds that now need to be watered and cared for. Amazon Xpeditions is now planning on supporting a pastor to go upriver to those communities once a week, stopping in every village to continue the work that was started, to water those seeds planted.

So praise God! Thank you all so much for keeping us in your prayers! God is moving and doing some amazing things here in the Amazon!

The next two weeks will be filled with studying Spanish, volunteering at the children’s home and getting ready for the next team coming on the 9^th.

God Bless!

Heather

“The Missionary Mentality.”

14/06/2010

You may be thinking, “Mmmm, ‘The Missionary Mentality.’ That sounds nice!” and it is! Well…there’s a side of “The Missionary Mentality” that I’ve found that isn’t so great…the side concerning finances. Yes, I have found that we as missionaries (not meaning to stereotype at all) have a terrible habit of hanging onto our money, making it stretch as far as possible, even skipping a few meals if need be.
The other day I was thinking about how much I was hanging on to my money, with the mentality of, “I don’t know if I’ll have enough support next month, so it’s ok to hold on to this.” So every time the offering plate passes in church, every time I passed a person in need, in hunger, every time I could have blessed someone I kept that money in my pocket.
The Lord graciously reminded me of the story of “The Parable of the Talents.” A man who was traveling to a far country called to his three servants and gave them talents. All except for the last servant, who only received one talent, went out and used their talents, receiving double back. The last servant buried his. We all know how this ends, the Man comes back, appreciates and praises the first two servants, and scolds the last one. What did the last servant say? He said this, “And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.” It seems I have caught this very same disease; by holding onto what God blessed me with, to bless others with, I have become afraid and hidden that talent in the ground. The Lord has called me here to bless those around me, to go out, use the talents He has given me, and reap the Harvest! The first two servants gained double back! They reaped the harvest of their seeds sown. I want to reap the harvest of souls here in the Amazon! I don’t want to be like other missionaries, who have been here for over eight years seeing NOTHING!
Taking this message to heart, I put it into practice. I have been so blessed by gaining so many friendships with the people here, that it was time for me to bless them back. After church Sunday night, I took several of the young girls out for hamburgers at “El Camino” to hang out and have a good time. Boy! Did we have a great time! So far the girls have continued to stop by the house, bringing little gifts of candy and cookies with them. In this I hope to continue blessing the girls, but more than that mentor them. As my Spanish progresses I hope to soon be able to have bible studies here at the house, and be an influence in their lives. Show them that they are truly the apple of God’s eye, and are here for a reason. That God has a plan and a purpose for their lives! I’m so excited for what God’s doing!

Before the church service Sunday night (whew! Good night!), I was at the internet shop talking to my family on skype. When I was finished and had paid, I was about to walk out the door when an older man stopped me. He said in a thick Austrian accent, “Not meaning to listen to your conversation, but it was hard not to. Next time you need to keep it down, the whole place could hear your conversation.” I was thoroughly embarrassed and apologized many times as he walked out. Just as he did it started to pour rain. The man walked back in, and leaned over the counter where I was standing. That’s when the whole conversation began. He asked what I was doing in the Amazon, and I told him the whole story from beginning to end. I soon found out he was an extreme atheist. Having grown up in a Catholic church, he had a very sore view of Christianity. He knew what religion was, but had no idea what having a relationship with Jesus Christ meant. After hearing my whole story he said, “Wow, you are a very religious young lady” (referring to me having gone to bible school, on the mission field and headed to church soon). I told him, “Nah, I hate religion, I have a relationship with God.” I began to explain that and thought to myself, “My goodness! I sound like a crazy person!” You know what? It is crazy! I am crazy! Crazy in love! Crazy in love with my creator who is crazily in love with me too! Hahahaha!! I kept telling him, “I don’t even know how to explain it!” I couldn’t compare His love to anything! Because He is absolutely transcendent, in a category all of His own – there is nothing in His category to compare Him to, to compare His love to – He’s transcendent!
Our conversations swarmed around evolution, creation, whether the bible was true or not, the church, other religions – meanwhile the torrential downpour continued outside. “God thing?” Haha, I think so!
At the end of our conversation, I asked Him what happens to him when he dies. He said, “That’s it, then there’s nothing.” His view of life was that everything was by accident, we just walk through life without hope, and then die and that’s the end. I grabbed his shoulder and said this, “You know what? I don’t believe that. You know what I believe? What I know? I know that God created you for a reason, that you have a plan and a purpose for your life, and that more than anything He wants to have a relationship with you! Why? Because He loves you sooooooooooo much! That He would send His one and only son Jesus Christ to die for you, so that you could spend eternity with Him!” Whew! He squirmed, but I could see that he knows, deep inside he knows this. When we parted I said, “I’m going to be praying for you!” Sure enough he’s on my prayer wall as I type this! I hope to see him again soon.

So! My conclusion is this! Even though this week was my “week off” before the next team, ministry never stops! There is no such thing as “ministry time.” Life IS ministry. Everyday you walk out your front door, be prepared. Paul said it best to Timothy, “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.” 2 Tim. 4:2-4


God bless,

Heather

Colombia, Peru and Brasil! Whew!

This week has been a fabulous week! I am utterly exhausted from all the ministry, excitement, children and travel on the river, but it’s been good.

Tuesday we left for Islandia, Peru to do a youth purity conference with the highschool. Before the conference, we began to pray with the Pastor of the local church. The little church soon flooded with the presence of God, several prophecies were given to the Pastor and his family, and we were all spiritually prepared for that night.

It was amazing! As we began to sing the spirit of God fell, it was incredible. Later we split up the boys and girls, I then spoke and give my testimony to the girls. The response we received was far above our expectations. The girls popped with questions, and the three of us ladies were able minister to them. Then we ended with a song, “La Nina De Ojos,” which talks about how we are the apple of God’s eye. When the girls began to sing that there was such as sweet spirit of God, and many tears. God is so good! We spent that night in tents in the little church, and headed out early the next morning for Brasil.

Wednesday afternoon we reached Clauber’s and set up camp inside the small school there. Thursday we were raking, sweeping and cleaning up the school, yard and home. Then we headed out on the river to see a bible school Amazon Xpeditions had built for the Tikuna people in Brasil. As we reached the bible school, we looked up the hill to see a building, overgrown with jungle and brush. George (AX founder) began to tell us that a few years ago they had funded and built the bible school, however after much controversy with the government, it was now barren. It was now in the hands of the Tikuna, but not being utilized at all. It was the saddest thing. Since I have been here I have heard story after story of how AX has provided so many things, and many opportunities have arisen for a great need in the Amazon to be filled. However, so many things have gone to waste, just sitting waiting for someone to take up torch and keep running. The workers here in the Amazon are very few…

We then headed back up the river to a local missionaries bible school. He was an old Korean man of 81 years old, who had been there for over 20 some years. As he shared his story with us, his plans, and showed us the school, I wept. God had called him to the Amazon, to those people, to that specific area 20 years ago and he’s not leaving until God says. Ahhh! He absolutely blessed me and encouraged me. I would be so blessed to be able to work with him.

Later that day we held a purity conference with the youth at a local church. It went so good! There was much response, questions and interaction. During Q & A time, we asked the girls if they had a mentor (preferably a woman) to talk to. They all shook their heads, they had no one to talk to. It broke our hearts…I hope that I can soon go back and be able to speak more to them.

Then Friday we held two vacation bible schools, which went really well! The next day, in pure exhaustion we left for Leticia, only to head out early the very next morning to do a youth purity conference with the adults in Brasil. Teaching them the importance and responsibility they have over their children and their purity. It went really well.

Well! The CFNI team, aka, “Dream Team” leaves tomorrow. I’m so sad! They have been such a wonderful team, done such a wonderful job! I’m so proud of them!

In two weeks there is a medical team coming and we will be heading for several hours up the Javari River, to reach the unreached tribes in the valley. There are 11 tribes in the Javari Valley, that are unreached and suffering from lack of medical attention. Please keep us in your prayers!

Blessings,

Heather

Traveling the "Road of Humility."

Today I was reading in “Compelled by Love” by Heidi Baker. Wow, what an amazing woman of God! She began to tell of a vision Jesus had showed her, saying, “I want to take you up to the mountain to a low place because the river flows to the low places.”
Being here in the Amazon I have seen the poorest of the poor, eaten their “delicacies”, and sat in the dirt with them. Through this entire trip, God has been calling me to a greater level of humility. I have begun to realize just how selfish I am, how self-absorbed I have become. After hiking miles into the jungle and spending the entire day with a family that lives completely off the land, my heart’s been broken. How could I possibly ever want again? How can I ever complain again? God is continuously telling me throughout this journey, “Go lower, and lower, and lower.”
Heidi continues in her book with this, “If you are in a low place and not concerned about your position, whatever trickling presence of God is in the room, you will be low enough to receive it.” I remember times of prayer in the House of Prayer at CFNI, where I just didn’t want to leave. The presence of God is so beautiful, so sweet, that leaving was just horrible. In Ezekiel 47, it talks about the healing waters and trees. Verse 12 says, “Along the bank of the river on this side and that, will grow all kinds of trees used for food; their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. They will bear fruit every month, because their water flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for medicine.”
I came here to the Amazon to give something to these people, but what good am I if I can only give them something five or six months out of the year? The trees in Ezekiel 47 bore fruit every single month of the year, why? Because they were soaked in His presence, daily drawing water from His waters. Heidi goes on to say, “You should want to be immersed in, and live inside, the very heart of God. From there, all fruitfulness flows…true apostolic ministry only flows from being immersed in the presence of God. This creates continuous supernatural fruitfulness.”
I must get lower, and lower; that I might be soaked continuously in His presence; that I may bear fruit daily; that the people I came to show Jesus’ love and to love would receive just that.

This week the team and I are headed to Islandia, Peru to do another purity conference as well as a VBS. We’ve been informed that the youth we will be dealing with this time are being influenced greatly by homosexuality. The spiritual darkness there is attacking the youth big time, and this will the be the hardest group by far we’ve had to deal with. In other words, I think God is really warning and telling me, “This is not the time, if ever, to be spiritually dry and fruitless.” Everyone of us has really been praying, and soaking in His Word. So please keep us in your prayers.
Right after spending a night and two days there, we’ll headed back out onto the river for Brazil. We’ll be there from Wednesday to Saturday, doing vacation bible schools with over 200 kids! It’s going to be an absolute blast!

This past week we went to Peru ministering to the youth and children. The first night we planned for the youth purity conference, however when the majority of the group was children we quickly had to change the service. When Paul spoke to Timothy in 2 Tim. 4:2 saying, “Be ready in season and out of season” he sure knew what he was talking about! Hahaha, we as a team have had to learn to be ready at any moment to switch things up, to preach, to do worship, or to do a VBS. I was asked to do the teaching at the purity conference, but when it was canceled that night I was so bummed! Hahahaha, I had prepared so much for that, and now nothing. But, soon the next day at the drop of a pin, we were asked to be prepared for the youth. I was already ready to roll! At the end I did a quick survey of how many of those youth had ever heard anything like that before, none of them raised their hands. Wow, that’s why we were doing this. This is why we were getting chewed alive by bugs and sweating our brains out. Because no one ever had, no one had reached out to them. I think Mother Teresa said it best, “When a poor person dies of hunger, it has not happened because God did not take care of him or her. It has happened because neither you nor I wanted to give that person what he or she needed. We have refused to be instruments of love in the hands of God to give the poor a piece of bread, to offer them a dress with which to ward off the cold. It has happened because we did not recognize Christ when, once more, He appeared under the guise of pain, identified with a man numb from the cold, dying of hunger, when He came in a lonely human being, in a lost child in search of a home.”

Whew! What a busy, intense week!

This past week the team and I have been ministering to the local youth and children of Leticia, Colombia. It’s been awesome! Friday we did something a little different however. After a 20 minute drive outside of Leticia, we were dropped off at the side of the road on a trail. There were no markings, no signs, nothing but the trail leading off into the jungle. We were going to visit a family that was living off the land in the middle of the Amazon rainforest. The hour and a half hike in was incredible; hearing all the screeching sounds of the jungle was intimidating and exciting all at once.

Finally we arrived to an opening containing two small huts and a larger one. The entire family, including sons, their wives and children gathered into the larger hut with us. Then we began church! This family used to go to church in town, but due to the expensive journey (the cost of a taxi), they have been unable to attend. So we brought church to them. We began to sing songs they knew in Spanish, all clapping and singing in unison to the same, one true God. We then spent the rest of the day with the family, picking and eating fruits, coconuts and other jungle tasties. One of which included the “Mojojoi.” A very fat, short, white worm! Once again, I have eaten a worm…only this time it was alive! Ah! As my leader handed me the bowl of moving worms he told me, “They gave this delicacy to us and we must eat them. They will be very offended if we don’t.” I have to say, when they called telling us it was time for desert I didn’t expect this. I then got it out of my leader it was a joke, however I knew there would be a time where this might just be the delicacy, and I would need to eat it. After a long time of pondering, picking up the worms, eyeballing them, and more pondering…I finally said, “Ok.” Surrounded by cameras and camcorders from team members, I bit off the butt (one of the women demonstrated how to eat them), sucked the insides in, danced around squeeling a little, then finally put the rest of the worm in, and chomped down. “Eeeeeee!!!!!” Is all that could be heard on the recordings, hahaha! After the swallowing, and tongue being shown, it was all gone. “Whew…what’s next?!” Hahaha!

Yesterday we held our first VBS! Our entire theme was Noah’s Ark, and how we must have faith and obedience in God. We had an incredible time with the children, playing games, learning the story, eating snacks (which just so happened to be animal crackers!) and doing crafts! The kids loved it! Then in the end we brought them all back together and learned a memory verse, “ 2 Corinthinas 5:7, ‘For we walk by faith and not by sight.’” The kids learned how Noah listened to God’s voice and had faith and believe God.

Also that morning we held our youth purity conference with the older kids of the La Alajaba. We had a time of worship and prayer, then began with our video and teachings. It went really good! I then began to share with the girls some of the things God had placed on my heart, just being very open and honest. Wow! The presence of God became strong, and soon several of the girls began crying as we began to pray for them all. In the end I could tell several of them had been set free of some strongholds they’d been holding onto. God is good!!!

Then at the end of the night we headed to a local pastor, Julio’s church. We had been invited to merge our worship team in with his for the service that Saturday night. What a great service! Also the night before (Friday night) we’d also done a youth purity conference with the youth and worship as well. Whew! Busy, busy, busy! There is no shortage of ministry needs around here for sure!

Today we had another service at Julio’s church, where two other team members and I were able to worship together with the worship team. We sang several songs in English and in Spanish. It was so awesome to worship together with the body of Christ!

I’ve gotten to meet several amazing women at this new church, and am excited to have gotten so close so fast! One of which speaks a little English and wants to learn more, and help me with my Spanish. It’s just been really awesome the people God is placing in my life already, so encouraging!

Well! That’s it for now, Wednesday we head out up river into Peru about 6 hours! We’ll be doing some ministry there, so please keep the team in your prayers!

Thanks for all your prayers already! We have been shown so much favor in so many areas, that we know without a doubt it’s God!

God bless,

Heather

Riding the Amazon

Today it has been exactly a week since I’ve moved here to the Amazon. Everytime I think about it, it just seems so crazy to me…I’m living in Colombia, in the Amazon! For the past two years I’ve dreamt of this day, sometimes bittersweet, but mostly I was waiting with bated breath.

Tuesday, May 11^th Amazon Xpeditions brought down a team of Christ For The Nations Institute bible school students to the Amazon. For the past week we’ve prepared for the upcoming VBS here in Colombia and filled ministry bags with toys, clothing, medicine, bibles and school supplies. We’ve held two purity youth conferences located in Brazil and Peru. Today, being a holiday in Colombia, we took it as our opportunity to “recharge.” So we took a boat along the Colombian side of the Amazon into Macedonia, Peru for lunch, then to a hidden lake to spend the day swimming and relaxing. On the way back we stopped at a village in Peru to check on the water filtration system installed there within the past few months. The system pumps the brown, toxic water from the Amazon and turns it into clear, clean water for the village. In Islandia, Peru the system supplies enough clean water for over 3,000 people! At the moment the system’s pump however has broke down, leaving only less than half a tank of clean water left. AX is working on getting that fixed as soon as possible, as well as trying to supply more pipe to reach down to the river. As the dry season has come, the Amazon has gone down greatly already, ‘causing there to be a need for more piping. Please pray for God’s protection on all the water filtration systems installed in Colombia, Peru and Brazil. It is extremely important to the small communities and villages that clean water continues to be readily available.

The youth purity conferences have been fantastic! The outreach team from CFNI has done such a wonderful job teaching, giving testimonies and praying for the youth of the Amazon. Our first trip was to Brazil, were we spoke to about 70 some youth. As soon as the boys and girls were divided up and everything was brought out into the open, we could see that there was allot of girls (I was with the girls) that had experienced and delt with these issues of rape, molestation and premarital sex. After translating at times from English to Spanish, to Portuguese, to Tikuna, about 4 girls came up for prayer. I asked one of the girls what she wanted prayer for, she said for her sick grandmother. When I was in Africa as the assistant youth pastor, I had experienced many times how students would come up for prayer for their families or schooling when the subject had been totally different. It was their way of coming up for prayer, but not telling you what was going on. I had always become so frustrated with this, but then soon took it as an opportunity to pray over them, bless their lives and speak life over them. Often times during prayer I would receive a word for them, or be given an understanding of what was really going on.

So I was prepared for this young woman the other day. Before I began to pray for her, I told her I would pray in English, but agreeing with her about her grandma and such. I prayed for her grandma, then went into praying over her, her heart and her life. I soon knew that there was so much hurt in this young girl and my heart ached for her. I just began speaking in tongues and God’s presence showed up. I’m not sure how long it was, but when I said amen and looked at her, there were tears streaming down her face. She’d been touched by God! I longed so much to be able to speak Portuguese so I could talk to her, but I will for sure continue praying for her. Later, through my lack of Spanish and her’s as well, we got pictures and videos, names and ages. I will be going back to live there for the month of July and hope to be able to somehow talk to her and continue to impart into her life.

The youth conference in Islandia, Peru was amazing as well! At the beginning, the church members had each brought a different dish of food for our team. They set up a table in the front of the church and served us some amazing Peruvian foods!

Soon after we showed them a video on purity, gave a teaching and had a time for questions. Several people had questions and we answered them biblically.

Finally, we passed out bibles and purity bracelets then had a call to prayer. Almost every single person in there went up for prayer. Then we had a time of rejoicing and praises! It was so amazing! Praise God!

Here’s my bible verse for this week, “In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ…” 1 Peter 1:6-7

“En lo cual os regocijais grandemente, aunque ahora, por un poco de tiempo si es necesario, seais afligidos con diversas pruebas, para que la prueba de vuestra fe, mas preciosa que el oro que perece, aunque probado por fuego, sea hallada que resulta en alabanza, gloria y honor en la revelacion de Jesucristo…” 1 San Pedro 1:6-7

Leaving Montana...

Hello! I suppose I should start this blog with an introduction; My name is Heather and I've grown up in a tiny town in Montana my whole life. The last three years I've spent attending bible school in Dallas, TX. Can I just tell you, "I am not a city girl." Haha, I LOVE the mountains! The fresh air! The Hiking, the backpacking, the mountain biking! Whoo!! But, I knew Dallas was where God had me at that moment in time.

In the summer of '08 I felt led to go with Amazon Xpeditions to the Amazon for my summer outreach program at CFNI. I didn't want to go. I told God, "I want to go somewhere like Europe, to travel, eat good foods, drink tea and do worship ministry." But, I knew that I was supposed to go to the Amazon. The Whole while leading up to the trip I was not excited, I still didn't want to go. I knew it would be extremely hot, humid, full of bugs and dirty water. Little did I know just how life changing this trip was going to be! It would be full of challenges, full of painful experiences both physically and emotionally, but God had a plan.

God had called me there for that moment, that season in my life, to play and swing the little children around; to teach them Sunday school songs in English; to just hold them and love them; to dig and build a cistern to hold drinking water; to travel the Amazon river for days to reach the unreached; to build a school where there were none; to show them the love of Jesus!

The children in Leticia, Colombia stole my heart. My vision and desire is to raise those children in the Word of God; to tach them the things of God that they may be grounded deep in the Lord, and that they would reach out to their own people.

Just recently I graduated from the Advanced School of Missions at CFNI, completing my three month internship in Botswana, Africa. It was absolutely AMAZING and such a learning experience.

Now, I finally headed back to the Amazon! I've been home for the past two weeks visiting family and enjoying beautiful Montana. I don't know how long I'll be in the Amazon for, but i know that God's called me there at this season in my life and I'll be there serving in any and every way I can, until He's will is complete for me there.

To be continued...