I'm not planning to make a long post. My body is spent, and I'm turning in early. Besides, if you check my Facebook and go back, you'll see that I was able to obtain an internet signal and post updates. God was definitely good to us. All of our carnivals went smoothly, and they were well-attended with many decisions being made for Christ! I remember that on Tuesday we were on the way to a carnival, and my stomach began to churn and ache. I was in some serious turmoil, and there were no bathrooms to be found. I said, "God, I need your help here." Within about 10 minutes, the stomach issues reversed itself, and I was fine for the rest of the day! It's the little blessings from God that really spoke to us. Our entire trip went safely, other than a few sunburn issues and extreme fatigue. Temperature-wise, we saw no higher than mid-80's with minimal humidity and a cool ocean breeze. The mornings and evenings were chilly.
The kiddos from the orphanage remembered us from last year. There were 3 boys in particular that made a huge impact on me. Oscar. When I unclipped my sunglasses from my regular glasses, Oscar recognized me right away, as he was obsessed with those sunglasses last year. My hat was pretty popular as well, and got passed around quite a bit. Then there was Salvador, a sweet boy who was kind of reclusive until he was comfortable with you. I don't know how many hours we spent playing tag on the playground. The boy who grabbed my heart the hardest was 14-year-old Brayan (Bryan), who has had a rough past, and is fairly new to Colina de Luz. I had the opportunity to visit with him (He knows some English) and hear him read. I just wanted to grab him and take him home with me. The orphanage children are not adoptable, otherwise I'd probably be coming home with some of them, Lol. Brayan has a very loving heart. He also needs a lot of prayer, and I hope that you will add him to your prayer list, as well as Oscar and Salvador.
Over the past few months, I've asked you to pray about a very big decision in my life, and the time has come to share fully with you what is going on. For the last year, I've been praying about what God might hold for me where missions is concerned. Is God calling me to missions? What does God want to do with me? This past week, God made it clear what I need to do. Does God want me to be a missionary? The answer is a resounding YES. YES. YES. I knew that this mission trip might be the catalyst for a decision. What's the timeline? When God spoke to me, the call came with a "wait." What? I told a friend of mine that I was ready to jump in with both feet and get involved! I was ready to move to Tijuana right then and there! However, in addition to "YES," God also said "Wait. Not now." That confused me even more. God knew my heart! I have to wait? In the grand scheme of things, we only see part of the picture. God sees the finished project, and there is something more He wants me to accomplish before I take the plunge. There are still some unanswered questions that I'm waiting on. When am I supposed to begin? Is God going to call me to Colina de Luz, or some other place? I am deeply drawn to Colina, so I'm wondering if that's where God is going to use me someday. This past week, God brought many new friends across my path. One of them was a man named Enoc, who is moving to San Diego in few weeks in preparation to become a missionary somewhere in Mexico. On the day that I was really wrestling with God about what to do, Enoc noticed something was wrong, and took about 10 minutes to talk and pray about it with me. If Enoc is reading this, I hope he understands how important those moments were to me. It meant a lot to have him stop what he was doing in his busy day to minister to me. God used Him.
(Sigh) What's next? First of all, I'm going to start learning Spanish. I want to be able to communicate with those kids when I go back there. When am I going back? This December! I'm planning a week of Christmas break to go back down and spend some time at Colina, as well some other places. I'm going to need to raise between $500 and $600 dollars in a very short amount of time, so if God leads you to make a donation towards that, it would be a blessing. I feel that God is going to bring in all that I need to send me back. That place blesses my socks off!
So, no, I'm not going to quit my jobs tomorrow and run off to Tijuana to live next week. That's not what God is leading me to do right now. Would you be willing to pray for me that God would lead me in the right direction and that He would begin to prepare my heart for His work? This is such a big step for me, and I can scarcely believe it myself, but God has spoken.
I want to thank those of you who followed my trip on my Facebook page and prayed. We could feel the prayers!! Please do not stop. Future blog posts will give a bit more insight into our trip and where I am concerning plans and preparations. I am going to answer of my most fervent prayers right now, and that is a need for sleep. God gave us the needed stamina during the week, and now the time has come to rest. Thanks again for your prayers. I pray that God will bless you. Much love! ***Rob***
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