Opening Doors

"Great is the LORD, and highly to be praised,
And his greatness is unsearchable" - Psalm 145:3

Since I have been here I have seen so clearly God's faithfulness. Every night my roommate Rebecca and I pray together, and every day we see our prayers answered: in our relationships, in our attitudes, and even in the weather! It seemed like yesterday God opened up door after door for us. It was truly an incredible day.

We have had a lot of rain lately, because of another tropical storm. We prayed for nice weather to dry our things out (EVERYTHING gets wet here when it rains). And we woke up yesterday morning to brilliant sunshine!

We have been praying that God would help us build relationships with the Tias here. No sooner had we prayed that when Tia Mariela came up to Rebecca and I and asked if we would go over to her house after dinner to teach her English. Yesterday was the birthday of one of the girls in our house. The Tia of our house, Tia Marisol, came up Rebecca and I before lunch and asked us if we could help her make brownies in the afternoon. So we spent about an hour with her in the afternoon, just talking and baking together- another prayer answered.

We have been praying that God will enable us to share our faith and our hearts with these girls, and that he would just use us in any way to share his faithfulness with the girls. Yesterday, during lunch, Tia Beatrice asked me if I would share my testimony with the girls in her house that night. I was terrified, because I don't like giving my testimony in English, much less in Spanish. But God once again demonstrated his faithfulness to me, and showed that he can use even me in powerful ways. Many of the girls stayed after and asked me questions about why I am a Christian.

Last night, we celebrated Candy's birthday. We had a pinata, and it was highly entertaining watching everyone try to knock it down. It was even more entertaining watching Candy, who didn't have a blindfold, swing at and miss the pinata repeatedly. Then we had a great time eating brownie and telling jokes and talking with each other. At the end of the night, Rebecca and I tried to take a picture of the girls in our house. We were just about to take it when they started telling us we had to join them. They surrounded us and pulled us in, telling us, "somos familia ahora"- we're a family now. We have come so far in our relationships with them since we first arrived, when getting them to even speak to us seemed impossible. Yet another prayer answered.

I can't believe two weeks from today, I will be home! I only have a little over a week left at the Oasis. Please pray that God will use this time to teach me more about his love and faithfulness. Please pray that God will bring joy to the girls through me, and that he will help me be an encouragement to the girls and staff here. Thank you so much for all your emails and messages, it is so encouraging to hear from you!