Pieces of the Puzzle ~Part 3

Part 3

The last week has been an amazing time of seeing what God has been doing behind the scenes. So full of confirmation that what we are working on is what God wants us to be doing. But first let me tell you what God did to bring us to this point. The story is long so we will be breaking it up into parts. To start at the beginning go here

For the next several years the missionary thing got put on the back burner and all but forgotten. We had babies and jobs and ministry work. Life was busy and good. Every once in a while Jose would mention to someone that we wanted to be missionaries and I would nod and smile and think it was never gonna' happen. 

In 2007 the pastor from Lima our pastors had visited 5 years before came to Powerhouse. He spoke about Peru showed pictures of the people. Something inside of me broke. I was in tears the whole time he was speaking. I realized that I had hardened my heart toward missions even though I spoke a good game I had no intention of ever doing it. That was the beginning of the end for me. I told my mentor what was in my heart and Jose and I began to talk about going to Peru in earnest. 

Suddenly the future became crystal clear and for almost a year everything fell apart in our lives. We lost material things, friends and family left our church and relationships changed, and our business failed. The enemy tried to destroy what God had called us to do. This was just another piece of the puzzle. 

At the end of 2008 we were just beginning to recover. We still had embers of our vision burning. Jose invited his dad to attend an Encounter and in the beginning of 2009 he did. Jose was his small group leader and it was an awesome time for them. After the encounter Jose's dad told him that whenever we end up going to Peru to start the work he wanted to go with us and be a part of it.

We started making plans to visit Peru as a family including Jose's dad. Jose says he knew that this would either make the desire unquenchable or put it out. One month before our trip he had a meeting with our pastor. We knew that if this was God it would be confirmed by our spiritual authority. He gave us some direction about who to contact in Lima and asked us to report back after the trip.

In August we took a 10 day trip to Lima. Jose and I fell in love with Peru and saw the great need here. We both knew we could never go back to living the "American Dream."

In Jose's follow up meeting with Pastor he said "this is it, we want to move to Peru and plant a church." Our Pastor said he knew and he had just been waiting for us to level out after the shaking we had undergone the previous year. At that time we said we will leave in one year.

We started planning out how we would get there and what we would do. We planned to sell everything except what we could carry in our suitcases.

In March of 2010 our Pastors invited us to accompany them to the Remnant conference hosted by Pastor Larry Stockstill. One of the speakers was Robert Morris. We had heard of him as the pastor of one of the most prosperous churches in America so our mindset was that he was going to talk about money and how to have a prosperous church. Instead he spoke about the heart and having a heart of sacrificial giving. He had written a book called "The Blessed Life" which was basically about being willing to give up everything for God.

Let me just pause and tell you something about how Jose and I operate. We are both givers. We love to bless other people and are known to be a little bit out there in our willingness to give. However I'm usually quite a bit more reserved than Jose. I know that anytime Jose leaves the house anything on his person is subject to being given away. I'm more likely to figure out what the needs are and go from there.

So when we were sitting in this session God told me we needed to give our stuff away. Not sell it. This does not make sense. We planned to buy our plane tickets and maybe fund ourselves a little bit with the sale of our furniture and other personal belongings. But I knew what God told me to do. So before I could push it back or ignore the thought I whispered it to Jose right there. This only served as confirmation for Jose who had been feeling the same thing for a little bit. So that was it. We were going to give everything away.

Part 4 Tomorrow

Pieces of the Puzzle ~Part 2

Part 2

The last week has been an amazing time of seeing what God has been doing behind the scenes. So full of confirmation that what we are working on is what God wants us to be doing. But first let me tell you what God did to bring us to this point. The story is long so we will be breaking it up into parts. For part one go here 

In October of 2001 I went to Russia on a 9 month mission trip. I thought it was something God had called me to do but in reality I was trying to be a missionary on my strength. It was the the hardest thing I had ever done at that point and because of various situations there I returned home in May 2002. Completely broken and with no desire to have anything to do with God or Christianity. 

While I was in Russia, my parents decided to change churches. I was not pleased. I wanted to go home and hang out with my old friends at my old church. Not start over at a new church. Honestly, the only reason I went was to keep my parents happy. I had no intention of getting involved or even liking it but slowly God started working in my heart. I met real Christians who loved God purely and passionately and as a result showed His love to me when I doubted His existence. I wasn't all the way there yet but I started seeking God again. 

Jose attended his first Encounter God weekend in February 2002. There he was liberated from all addictions, affirmed as a son, understood the true cost of sin, was filled with the Holy Spirit and given vision for his life. The following month our pastors went to Lima, Peru. They visited a church and an orphanage. When they showed the video and gave testimony of what they saw Jose's heart began to race. God was showing him another piece of the puzzle. He couldn't believe a white guy from Katy, TX went to his country to minister the gospel. After that service Jose went up to our pastor to talk to him for the first time and told him "The next time you go to South America, I'm going with you." 

Later that year Jose was commissioned to minister to men. At that time God had spoken to Jose to talk to his dad about Jesus. He visited his dad in November and presented the gospel and testified of what God had done in his life.

It took 2 years of God preparing Jose before he accompanied Pastor to South America.

2 months after Jose went to South America we got married. Thinking we would be missionaries in 5 years...

Part 3 tomorrow

Deeper!

This year has been such an amazing year for us. I can't believe it's only half over! I feel like we have all grown and learned so much just from experiencing God. I could go on about this for awhile but there is so much else for me to talk about that I'll save it for another post. ;)

One of the biggest blessings for us was something that just happened! Jose and I planned our trip to the states in March so we could be a part of the Intense mens conference/father son campout. The only downside, we couldn't stay long enough to be a part of our 15th anniversary conference. So we enjoyed our time there. Only told a few people what we had faith for and PRAYED. So 2 weeks before the conference Jose gets an email that the tickets have gone down to half the normal price (the only time we have seen that happen) so we got blessed with the tickets to go to Houston! We surprised our Pastors and most of our church and had a great weekend of spiritual refreshing! I can't even begin to describe all the ways we got blessed last week while we were there. I will just summarize by saying that God is always, always faithful! He provided for every need we have and used some amazing and often surprising ways to do it. :) 

Some highlights from the conference

*We burned the note! Our building is paid off and Jordan Ranch is more than halfway there! I can't express how exciting this is for us!

*Jose turned 10! He got saved 10 years ago at the 5th anniversary conference. I will always be grateful to God for bringing Pastor Watkins to Katy Tx 15 years ago. Without him my husband would not be the man he is today. We will never forget where we came from!

*The teaching from the other covenant pastors. So awesome to hear the word from brothers in the faith!

*Seeing 57 men, women, and youth get commissioned!

*Visiting with Pastor Carven and Juanita Izaks from Namibia, South Africa. A brother and sister in the Lord and we love having them as a part of our family :) 

*The look on Pastor GF's face when he saw us walk into the sanctuary!

* Seeing so many people we love! We didn't have enough time to spend with most of you and we really wish we could have. But it was encouraging as always to see you and hear what God is doing in your lives!

There is too much stuff to list on one post!

   

One of the things we got blessed with was THE camera I've been praying for. I took over 300 pics and narrowed it down to about 90 favorites. So here are some of the best of the best. Or at least some of my favorites :)

We also got to say hi to some of our family. My niece is cuter than ever and likes Jose more than me. It's really not fair ;) Also my brother looks like an adult now. Which is so weird because when I think about him he is still in his 15 year old body. Why do they have to grow up (I admit he is almost 24 so I should probably adjust his age in my mind) 

For Nothing is impossible with God ~ Luke 1:37

What else can I say? God is good! - an update on us

Jose is out right now taking the men from Houston to the airport. We had fun seeing our friends and Pastor this week. The came for the "Salvamos A La Familia" (saving the family) conference that La Casa Del Padre was hosting. It's a little weird being considered a Pastor. I got to meet and share our testimony with Molly Godzich as we were riding to the convention center. We also got to visit with Pastor Craig and Jan Hill and ton's of other men and women of God who's names I can't remember. :/
Not to mention all our friends, including Jack King from Faithful Men's Ministry, and our Pastor G.F. Watkins. I have to say we are so blessed. We are just starting out in the ministry and God has already begun to place us before kings. (so to speak)

In other news I am really loving our home (have I said that already?) I walk around in it everyday and just thank God for his grace and his love for us. We were talking today about it. You know sometimes God will ask you to do something that may seem like it makes no sense. In our case give away all your belongings...not sell them but GIVE them away. Pack up your family and move to another country. Most people when we tried to give our stuff to them said "No, you should be selling this to buy new over there" Trust me that sounds like the most logical thing to do. And I'll be honest there were times when my faith wavered. I would see all the crazy stuff we accumulated and in my head I would start calculating how much we could have sold the stuff for. I know, I know, shocking! But when I walk around my home, with my new furniture (our fridge still has the label, and the plastic sticker to protect the finish on it!) Stuff that is nicer than we had in America. I think "WOW!" I am so glad we listened and obeyed. We had no idea what God had in store for us! As a blessing for our obedience he has given us a beautiful furnished home. Honestly if we sold all our stuff we could never have bought the stuff we have here. God is so good! I know, I'm gushing. I just wish those of you that read this blog could have walked along side us (some of you did actually) and seen the progression. There is such a blessing in obedience that goes beyond the material things and the meeting famous people. It's indescribable really.
Proverbs 10:22 says "It is the blessing of the LORD that makes rich, And He adds no sorrow to it." We don't have a lot of money but we have the blessing of the Lord. I feel this verse very strongly lately. I live this verse right now. God is good!

When we met our landlady she told us that she was going to get a biopsy done on a tumor she had. Victor prayed for her with Jose and I agreeing that night. The next day she was at a memorial service and began crying. Tears were coming out of both her eyes. The next time she talked to us she told us about it. She said she had just been told by a Doctor a week before, that she would never be able to cry from her left eye again. Jose told her to get her money back from the other Dr because the great physician healed her! The next week when we were moving in we were talking and she told us she was leaving the next day to get her biopsy in the U.S. I prayed for her with Jose agreeing. A couple days later she asked her assistant to let us know that when they went to do the biopsy the tumors were gone! I'm telling you guys it's fun to serve the Lord!

Please pray for my sister. Her water broke over 36 hours ago (at 10:00 am Saturday 9/11) and she is not progressing. I know the baby will be here by the time most of you read this but please keep her in prayer. I know she will appreciate it.
Also, my camera is dying a slow death and I really need a new one. I am believing God for a dslr because I want to get more serious about photography. Please pray for us that God would provide for it. :) THANK YOU!!

Jose's story

Before I became a Christian I never had a heart or desire for children. When I was very young I had an accident that the doctors told me I could not have any children. When I received Jesus to come into my heart I realized that from Genesis on, God’s desire was to fill the earth with people made in his likeness and image, not much has changed. This mandate began to grow inside of me to fulfill what God had set out to do. My heart began to change towards children in such a drastic way that I began to serve in the nursery at Powerhouse Christian Center. I remember Pastor Watkins coming back from a trip to Peru and visiting an orphanage in Lima; that night my heart began to beat so fast that I thought it was going to explode and I began to understand the Holy Spirit working in my heart. That night I remember going up to Pastor after service and telling him that if he ever goes back I would like to go with him. I was only born again for about 6 months at that point. A couple years later I had an opportunity to go with Pastor Watkins to South America and what I thought would calm my inner desires to go to Peru increased even more. For 5 years following I engulfed myself in learning ministry. I have been a witness to countless spiritual sons being returned to a right relationship to their heavenly father. I have seen transformed lives through this ministry find purpose and passion for pursuing God. In 2009 the Lord began to work in me more fervently with what he showed me in 2002. In my effort to try and quench this inner struggle I took my family to see what God birthed in me many years before. The word says that God is faithful to complete the work he began inside of us, and that is exactly what happened. I saw myself knowing that I was called to be a missionary to do what God had done inside of me and help others to be raised up. My mandate is clear: Restore order in a world of chaos by bringing back spiritual and natural orphans to a right relationship to our heavenly father through Jesus Christ. My heart is to reach, teach, and send out. Reach orphans, teach the way of the cross, and send them out to other parts of the world.
Jose

New Year, New Adventure

It occured to me the other day that we can no longer say that we are going to Peru *next year* it is now this year that we are going. I can barely believe it and I can hardly stand it! I'm so excited about going that it's always on the corner of my mind. Today was a big day for us as our Pastor officially signed off on our mission. He gave us some great encouragement also. It's so awesome to have his support :) We will be the first missionaries raised up and sent from Powerhouse!