Decking the Halls and Preparing the Hearts

My silly sister and I are so alike sometimes. She texted me earlier, "I am going to blog today!" Little did she know that I started working on this post yesterday.
Neither one of us has posted in months and then we both decide to write something on the same day. Silly us! Be sure to check out her post after mine if you haven't already.

It's been a while since I've written because my world has just. not. stopped. Between student teaching, going to class, home work, and work work, I am a worn out mess! I am basically working full time...and then some...without the full time pay.
It's all good though because the end is in sight. This past Saturday I applied for graduation and found out that I will be walking the stage on May 11th at 3pm. EEK! I can hardly wait.
My mom also informed me that that is mother's day so uh, what better present than to see your daughter graduate from college??!?!? I can't think of anything.
161 days and counting.
BUT, back to the present...

If you haven't heard, I am currently working on the weekends at the self proclaimed #1 Christmas store in Texas. Just drive around the metroplex and you'll see the signs on all the highways that tell you so. As you can imagine, I am reminded weekly at how fast the holidays are approaching. (We're at the 13th of November here people! Thanksgiving is only 2 weeks away.)
People are spending thousands of dollars on trees and decorations to get their houses ready for Christmas, but I can't help but wonder if any of it is really necessary. Now, don't get me wrong, I love decorating for Christmas as much as the next mom who just discovered pinterest for the first time. Its one of my favorite family traditions there is, but I think its sad how many people could be missing the true focus of it all.

I'm not going to go on a huge rant about this, but I do want to say something. This year, as we start thinking about decking the halls, lets get our hearts right and minds tuned into what we're celebrating in the first place, JESUS!
Let your decorations be a conversation starter about him rather than a competition to see who's house looks the cutest or most expensive. Decorate for YOU as a reminder for the season and what its all about rather than crumbling under the pressure to make it picture perfect.

As for me, I'll admit that I've been doing my thing more than I've been doing God's thing lately, using the excuse that I'm just too busy and I'll make time for him later (anybody feel me on that?), but the fast approaching holidays are reminding me to run back to him.
This time of the year is like the easiest time ever to do that so I encourage you to run with me! Its so easy because the topics to study are so obvious.
If you're like me, you might get a little overwhelmed with where to start reading in the Bible or feeling like you need some sort of plan that is actually going to be relevant. Like I said before, we are 2 weeks away from Thanksgiving, and lucky us...the Bible talks about giving thanks A LOT! And the Advent season comes right after that. Perfect.
Last year I went through an Advent reading plan by the She Reads Truth blog on the Bible app and I liked it a lot but totally forgot about it until someone mentioned the blog in my small group the other night. I looked it up today and they are starting a Thanksgiving plan on Monday. It looks like its going to be really good and I'm especially excited about the fact that they are going to be connecting each day to a hymn. The thing I liked about the plan I did from them before was that they are not too lengthy and I think they try to make that a theme throughout their plans. They are easy reads with GREAT nuggets of TRUTH.
Another site I came across today while doing research is Good Morning Girls. Their plans are also available on the Bible app and they started a Thanksgiving plan this past Monday. The thing I like about them is that they have a passage to read for everyday and then a couple verses to really hone in on from that passage. They also have a weekly memory verse, weekly vlog, and devotional blogs on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
I think I am going to go through both plans. The she reads truth one in the mornings, since its shorter, and I am LAZY in the morning, and the other to really dig in at night. They are both just too good not to pass up.

Alright?! Are y'all with me yet? Let's get a jump on this thing and prepare our hearts way before all the craziness begins. I think it will lead to a more joyful and definitely more meaningful time for everyone this year.

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God."

Colossians 3:16 ESV

Deepest Waters

As it always is with college students, when I meet people they say “What’s your name and what’s your major?” I reply with the usual, “Hey! I’m Ruthie and I’m majoring in Christian Ministry and Missions.” The question that always follows without fail is, “what do you want to do with that?” There are like one million answers I could give to that question, but the one that usually comes out is I DON’T KNOW. The real question in my mind though is should I know? Am I supposed to have a plan for this crazy thing called life? If so, I’m obviously failing. But then I hear the still small voice in the back of my head saying, “My precious child, you don’t have to know.” Hold up. I don’t have to know? That is so completely opposite of what the world is telling me. Even in the Union bubble of Christians, everybody has a plan. They know exactly what they want to do, where they want to go to graduate school, when they want to get married, and in some cases they even know whom they’re going to marry. Let’s see… I have exactly zero of those figured out. I mean, I know I want to get a job and I know I want to get married, but you can’t tell people that when they ask. That would be so awkward. “Hi I’m Ruthie and in the future I would like to have a job and a husband.” Nope. Not okay. These people want real answers.  So here I am, wondering what to do and if I’m supposed to go to graduate school and whom I’m going to marry when I remember that small voice saying, “you don’t have to know.”

I’ve been pondering this for a while now, and I have come to the realization that my goals in life are not supposed to be getting a job and getting married. These are the goals poured into me from the world though. Isn’t the world’s definition of success having a good job, making money, marrying an attractive man, and giving birth to 2.5 children? Probably, but do I really want to be successful by the world’s standards? I’m leaning towards a no on that one. Sure, I want to have a job and I want to get married and have a family, but I’m not going to let those be my goals and I’m definitely not going to let them be my definition of success.

So what things should be my goals? I thought and prayed about this question in my quiet times this past week, and I found an answer in 1 Timothy 6:11-12.

 “But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”

So is God calling me to focus on what I can gain in this world? I don’t think so. I think His call is for us to focus on pursuing a life where we fight the good fight of the faith! Where every single thing we do is aimed to bring glory to God and to make Him known to ALL peoples! These are some intense words. We all want to say, “oh yeah, I’m just giving my entire life to God and allowing him to do big things through me, so it’s whatever, I’m pretty holy.” Nope. YOU are not. It’s not going to be like that. First of all, the actual giving your control over to God part? Yeah, that’s a struggle. We are selfish humans! If you know me, you probably know that I have an innate inner need to be in control. Well, the bible tells us (especially me) that the Lord is supposed to be in control of our lives, so there’s that. Secondly, I am not the one who is doing all of this in the first place. It is God. I cannot take any credit. So basically this is my other biggest selfish, sinful need in life—the need to have people think I’m really perfect and have it all together. That’s not part of God’s command to me either, so I’m going to have to ask for help getting rid of that desire. It’s going to be crazy difficult!  The devil is not going to agree with me making my goals the same as Christ’s, and He is going to try to make me stumble, but guess what? I still know that God is going to use me. He doesn’t just call us to do things for His glory and then leave us alone when the hard parts come!

I am reminded of the beautiful worship song that I had the privilege of leading this past Wednesday, Oceans by Hillsong. The second verse is a perfect picture of surrendering ourselves into the “deep waters” of following God. It says, “Your grace abounds in deepest waters, your sovereign hand will be my guide, where feet may fail and fear surrounds me, you’ve never failed and you won’t start now.” Yes, you read that right. Our God has NEVER failed, and He NEVER will. Even though we are called to follow Him into the deep waters, we will never be alone, and we can be assured that He will use us for His glory. Just thinking about this as I write is giving me goose bumps. Our God truly is sovereign over all. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords and He has plans for me, the worst of sinners. I am truly humbled every time I realize what an amazing God we serve.

So now I find myself here at Union, a Christian Ministry and Missions major, planning to use my life to bring glory to God and make His name famous to all peoples. What does that look like in my career? I honestly could not tell you that. Will I be successful by the world’s definition? Maybe not.  All I know is that wherever He leads, I’ll go, and I will continue to pray, “spirit lead me where my trust is without borders, let me walk upon the waters wherever you would call me. Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander, and my faith would be made stronger in the presence of my Savior.”

Ecuador Recap

I am finally getting a moment to sit down and recap everything that happened during our amazing week in Ecuador.

 We kind of slacked off while we were there because, as you can imagine, we were just so tired at night. All we wanted to do was go to bed ASAP. So, I hope you can accept the fact that you get to read about a few days all at once. (Get ready for a LONG post!)

Ruthie last talked about our second day there which was our first day to do VBS in Las Marias. God continued to bless us throughout the week as we had more and more kids come each day! I am not sure what our final count was for the last day but it was in the 100s for sure! 

It seemed like everyday we had a new challenge to face with the building we were using. The second day of VBS they informed us that they were going to start painting the inside walls and we could only use half of the room, and it was other little things that happened just like that for the rest of the week. We didn't think we were even going to be able to use the building on Friday for the carnival, but thankfully God showed up in HUGE ways for us. Our team worked together so well and all the challenges that were thrown at us ended up being total non-issues. It was great! On Friday we ended up being able to use the building for the carnival, no problem, meaning that all the kids and parents who were there were able to sit inside and hear Matt preach the gospel! 

Our third day we were there we went to the Equator museum to meet some kids that were in an Ecuadorian traditional dance group. We did a little dance of our own for them (just a LITTLE embarrassing for us considering it was just motions to a song from our VBS at home...they were way better dancers for sure). After we danced, we made bracelets with them and then they danced for us! It was so cool to see these young kids doing the traditional dances and they were really good. After they danced Matt preached and a lot of them prayed to receive Jesus! 

I hope and pray (and invite you to pray!) that they truly understood and will continue to seek him all of their lives. 

The last thing we did, just like at the preschool the day before, was give them all their goody bags we put together with all the clothes and stuffed animals. The looks on their faces were priceless and it was so precious to watch them pull stuff out of the bags and hold it up to show all their friends. As we were passing out the bags one by one, it seemed like we weren't going to have enough for all the kids, but it was totally a Jesus multiplying the fish moment. We had EXACTLY enough. Praise the Lord!

Showing off our dancing skills. 

The kids!

After we passed out the bags, we had a few extra stuffed animals that we threw out to the crowd. It was like we had a t-shirt gun at a football game or something :)

All the girls in the baptismal with two of our lovely translators.

 The next day after VBS we held a tea for the ladies at the Las Marias community center. We headed to the hotel to get all fancied up in our darling maxi skirts and stopped to get lots of delicious treats for the ladies on the way back! We decorated the tables with pink, pink, and more PINK. We had pink table cloths and lots of pink roses. (You would not believe how CHEAP roses were there. We got a lot for the price that a dozen would cost here.) When the ladies arrived they filled their plates to the max with all the goodies we had set out. So much so that we had to go get more food because we didn't have enough. Kelli had a little journal that said "Jesus mi amigo" for each lady and guess what?? Yet again, we had EXACTLY enough journals for each lady. God is SO GOOD and he is so IN CONTROL. He never ceases to blow my mind with his power. 

Our little program that we put on consisted of all of us singing "Eres mi amigo fiel" ("I am a friend of God" in English), an ice breaker contest to see who got to take home the rose centerpieces, a little interpretive dance/drama to the song "Who am I?" in spanish, Kelli bringing the gospel, and our two youngest singing "At the Cross." Everyone did such a great job, all the details came together beautifully, and I was so blessed by seeing these ladies have such a great time!

This was after they wiped us clean at the food table!

The lady half of our team looking pretty!

I must add this even though I don't know very much about it and don't have any pictures. All of these afternoons while us ladies were doing our thing, the manly half of our team was working hard building a wall for a family in the Las Marias community. They worked very hard and did an amazing job. I know they completely changed that families life and it was all in the name of Jesus :)

The last day of VBS we got to have our Carnival in the evening! We had a bunch of different stations with games and prizes for the kids to win and we also fed them some delicious looking (NOT) hot dogs. After the fun time, each group of kids got to sing in front of everyone, we had some special music, and Matt brought the gospel. Again, a lot of people prayed to accept Jesus as their savior and I pray that they truly believe that that is the ONLY WAY and the REAL TRUTH. It was so exciting to see all the life change and seeds being planted in those families' lives and the community as a whole.

Mindy was so brilliant to think of this idea to hang our crafts everyday.

This is Melany. She was one of my favorites, but she was a MESS.

Matthew was a great sport being all the characters for the bible story each day. This was Jesus.

I got to hold one of the girls cat one day while she did her craft. I have to admit I was a little nervous that I would get fleas or something, but no worries!

Isaac! Probably my favorite boy :)

Photo booth fun at the carnival!

I could have held this sweet girl all day! She was such a happy baby. 

It was so sad to leave these kids that night. I just wanted to bring them home!

The very last day we were there we did a little sight seeing in Quito. We went back to the equator museum and got to see all the cool stuff about forces on either side of the line. We got to try to balance an egg on a nail but unfortunately I couldn't do it. If you were ever wondering, it is true that the toilets flush the opposite direction in the southern hemisphere. All water spins the other way due to the coriolis effect (you're welcome for the free educational portion of this blog :P). We also saw the middle of the world monument.  I'm not sure if that was exactly what it was called, but it was a pretty cool place and had a lot of shopping! And to continue in the shopping mood, we ended our tourist day by going to the indian market in Quito which had A TON of stuff for good prices. It was fun to haggle prices and bargain with the store owners to get the best deals! 

Standing on different sides of the world.

Middle of the World monument

One of our translators, Nata, and I after dinner at Crepes and Waffles. So glad I got to meet her!

On the plane ride home I was completely amazed, yet again, at how wonderful of a God we serve. He made me realize so much this week how amazing it is that he created, knows, and loves EVERY SINGLE person on this planet just as much as he loves me. Just reflecting on the week while looking out at the incredible clouds took my breath away and made me so thankful for all that he did. The pictures I took with my phone don't quite do it justice but that is what I will leave you with.

Cumbaya Day 2

Wow! Today was such a whirlwind, and we saw the mighty hand of God working just as we knew he would. Last night we had a time of prayer because there is another event going on in the same community this week. We selfishly prayed that the children would come to our VBS so they could hear the message that they so desperately are searching for, that Jesus loves them. God definitely answered our prayers! Today we had a whopping 67 kids come to VBS and hear the gospel message! PRAISE THE LORD! We had a rotation of story, music, snack, rec, and crafts. Our story today was about how God created the world and us in his image, and Mrs. Earley and Matthew did an awesome job acting that out! I am in charge of music, and one of my favorite parts of the morning was hearing the kids sing the song "I love you Lord" in Spanish. They said it was their favorite song of the day, and they kept on wanting to sing it over and over. The song goes like this:

I love you Lord, and I lift my voice
To worship you, oh my soul rejoice
Take joy my king, in what you hear
May it be a sweet, sweet sound in your ear

I know for a fact that the sound of all these precious children worshipping their king really is a sweet sound in His ear.

After VBS the men worked on a construction project and the women went to a preschool to meet some kids! We did kind of the same thing as this morning, but just all together, so there were 2 songs, a craft and the same story. These kids were very poor and they treasured the crafts they were getting to make: a pipe cleaner bracelet with beads and a scratch-off cross. They all wanted to make like 20 of each and wear them all at once, it was pretty precious! After the program we got to give them each a bag of clothes and a stuffed animal. It was seriously one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. The kids were SO excited to get the animals, and they couldn't even believe that this was happening! When we were leaving we saw one girl modeling her new clothes for her mom, oh my goodness it was so precious.

That about sums up our day, but please continue to pray for us throughout the week. The biggest prayer request we have is for the carnival on friday night. We are unable to have it inside the community center, so instead we have to have it outside on this dirt soccer field. When it's windy
(everyday) it makes it really hard to breathe and to see. We are praying fervently for God to stop the winds on friday night so the gospel message can be preached to the whole community, and people won't stay inside. If you could join us in this it would truly be a blessing. We are expecting God to move in mighty ways here in Cumbaya!

Also you can check out the pictures from our day on Emily Carol Earley's Facebook! She is making the album public so everyone can see!

Cumbaya Day 1

Wow! What a CRAZY past couple of days it has been. I am finally here, snuggled up in my bed in Cumbaya with one full day under my belt. For some of our team it was not so easy getting here, but more on that later.

As most of you know, last week Ruthie was at the MK retreat and they finished that up yesterday morning. She told me it was an amazing time, they made a lot of new friends, and saw God work BIG TIME. A lot of the kids even came forward to say they felt called to full time missions just like their parents. So great! As for me, I had an amazing week in the GORGEOUS Glorieta, NM with none other than my favorite VINE STUDENTS. There will be a post on that coming soon, but I just have so much to tell you about Ecuador that it will have to wait! I definitely saw God working in the lives of the students at camp, though, and there were some huge burdens lifted off a few of them. One night, a girl got up on the hot seat and simply said, "Tonight I have realized that my chains are gone and am no longer held down by my sin and insecurities." WOW. Such profound words and a huge concept to grasp! Can't wait to tell you more.

Ok, now what you've all been waiting for..........ECUADORRRR!!!!

As soon as the bus pulled in Saturday morning from camp, I headed straight home to do laundry and repack because I only had a 5 HOUR turn around time. (Keep in mind we drove all night on the bus) My parents and I left Love Field around 5pm and safely arrived in Ft Lauderdale, rented our car, and got a GREAT nights sleep! After sleeping in 'til 11, we grabbed a little chili's and started towards Miami. We thought we had plenty of time so we started driving down the road right off the beach just to see the sights a little bit. That is when we received the call from Matt Poe (cue the duh duh duh music). He told us that their flight had been cancelled due to Volcanic Ash. Uhh.....WHAT??? This news kinda freaked my mom out a little bit, but we were on a different flight and a different airline than everyone else. Ours ended up not being cancelled and we got on after many calls to my uncle, who is a pilot, just making sure we weren't going to fall out of the sky, and we didn't! Praise the Lord! Our friends on the other hand were not so lucky and they had to spent the rest of the day and night at a hotel in Miami, then left at 6am this morning. 

So, this morning, those of us who had already arrived (all the people from the MK retreat, my parents and I, and the Earleys) set out to do a little PR for the week. Basically, the biggest thing we are doing this week is going into a little community called Las Marias and putting on a Vacation Bible School for the kids and any moms that want to come. Obviously, we needed to let them know we were here, so we printed out some flyers and hit the streets! We had translators with us and they pretty much did all the talking with the people we saw, but I was definitely trying my best to understand what they were saying and throw in a few words here and there with my, all I've taken is Spanish 4 and not since Freshman year, Spanish. When we got back to the community center, we realized that there was a little issue. Someone had left a sink on last night and there was about 1 and a half to 2 inches of standing water across the whole place we are supposed to have VBS in tomorrow. Everyone just jumped right in with trying to get that water out of there. Even some of the kids grabbed a broom and helped out!

Audrey doing her thaanng.

This is Danino!

Danino and Anthony. They were too funny!

Lovebirds. With their gender appropriate brooms.

David got into a little squabble :)

Waiting for the bus to come pick us up with everyone else!

After all the flyer passing out and squeegeeing water, we anxiously awaited the bus to come back and pick us up with the rest of our team who had finally arrived! We headed back to the hotel for some delicious PB&J for lunch, did a little intro session with all the translators and everyone, and then headed back to Las Marias to set up for VBS! Once we got there we set up pretty quick and a lot of kids came out to play with us. They are all so cute and full of energy.

Las Marias

Gangs all here!

Matt telling the kids to bring all their friends tomorrow because they are going to have the best week EVER!

Praying over the community and our week.

The last thing we did today after eating dinner at the super nice brand new mall was sort through all of the clothes we brought with us to donate to the preschool and dance ministry we will be going to later on in the week. We had A LOT of stuff to go through but we finally got it sorted and stuffed into age appropriate bags to give to each child we meet!

At this point we were all getting PRETTY tired. 

Now I am just finishing up this post up and ready to go to bed! (you wouldn't believe how long it took to upload those pictures on this WiFi) I can't wait to get VBS started tomorrow and see God really reveal himself to some sweet kids and moms. I ask that you guys pray and believe with me Ephesians 3:20-21 tomorrow and all throughout the week. It says. "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." I am SO GLAD I serve a God who never leaves my side and whose Holy Spirit is with me AND inside me! What great power he gives us. I pray that he would give me and the rest of the team here this week strength and courage to BODLY spread the message that Jesus loves them SO MUCH that he came to Earth and died on the cross to save them from their sins and he DESPERATELY wants to have a personal relationship with them. I hope so much that the people here will get a grasp on that this week.

We appreciate your prayers so much so PLEASE do not stop. We start VBS tomorrow at 9:30am and it goes until noon so anytime you think of us during that time we would love it if you could lift us up in prayer to the Father.

Either Ruthie or I are going to try to post every night so keep checking back for more stories and adventures! 

Hasta mañana!