I want to share a little of what our days are like outside of the mission field. Dave Stephenson and I are rooming together this week. Each morning we wake up at 5:15 to get ready for our 6:00am prayer meeting hosted by Vicki Ingrassia. Many from this team of about 70 meet together to pray and worship. What a wonderful way to start the day! At 7:00am we meet with the whole team for breakfast, fellowship and a devotional time led by Sam Ingrassia (our e3 leader). These lessons always start with something funny with pictures from the day before and then a wonderful lesson on our role in the mission field. These are lessons I will remember forever. After breakfast, Dave and I run back to the room to pack up water and our materials for the day. Dave shares a short scripture for the day and we pray together.
After spending the day in the field, we return to the hotel to get ready to head out for dinner somewhere. You should see the lobby as we all flood back, there are stories being shared about the great harvest we have just witnessed. It's an amazing place to be. I imagine this is only a fraction of what happens in heaven each day. Scripture tells us that angels rejoice and praise God when a person receives the gift of salvation. The hotel lobby has to be just a small glipse of that scene in heaven. Keep in mind that we have been out for about 8 hours without easy access to bathrooms, in very hot and humid contitions, and we don't run to the rooms, we linger to share.
We usually dine with our field teams, the stories never stop. We share what happened, moments that touched us in ways I can't explain, and we just love and encourage one another.
After dinner, we return to the hotel, stories are still unfolding in the lobby, sharing from group to group with the Amazing things God is doing. (I use the capital "A" because it is the "Amazing" that Pastor Jerry preached about). Dave and I meet back in the room at some point, usually someime between 9 and 10pm.
The stories are different from team to team, and much different from our Medical team. They are moving from place to place each day, treating people in every location that come in with everything from cuts and bruises to parasites. Don't ask Edith Gray about tapeworms, she will tell you and you don't want to know. The medical team has been overwhelmed and each day they go out with renewed strength and love. They are a miracle in human flesh.
From the time we get back to the room, Dave and I share our day. We tell about the wonder of God working in the communities and share our "5 minutes" stories. The 5 minutes is something Dave came up with..."Tell me the 5 minutes you would like to go back to today and experience again".
We can't seem to stop sharing and rejoicing together until around 12:00 or 1:00am. (Remember that we get up at 5:15...we know it's insane!). I share a scripture for the day, while we answer email, and review the pictures from the day.
At lights out, I get the nightime scripture and prayer, then we try to cram in 8 hours of sleep in 4. God is good at recharing batteries on a short schedule. As I type this, Dave started snoring mid-sentence. I've never seen anybody who can fall asleep that fast.
The big news we got on Wednesday morning...after only 2 days in the field, we have seen over 1700 professions of faith! You now have more "hemanos y hermanas en Christo" (brothers and sisters in Christ).
Continue to pray for us. When God makes this much noise, Satan takes notice.
Last thought...Pastor Steven prayed for us Monday morning and in his prayer he asked God..."don't just show up God, we want you to show off!" He has - every day.
Matt
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