The Faces of Grace {Ecuador: Part 4}
These are the reasons that our Lord compels us to Go Ye into all the world, whether literally or via finances or prayers. These are the reasons that He compelled me to Ecuador this past August. These are the faces of grace.
The girl in the yellow—her name is Karen. She stole my heart. I may never know why. The words she spoke to me were lost in translation. But when she grabbed my hand and held it tight, begging me wherever she went—that language, I understood. Though she wasn’t possessive, her eyes spoke clearly, loudly, you belong with me. Love compels. That’s all I know. He bonded us and four months later I feel an ache that must be akin to a missing limb, a third world country away.
Felix and Josselyn are brother and sister. They were the first of the nine youth counselors at kids’ camp who bonded with me. Of the nine youth counselors, they were the only two who spoke English fairly well. I was drawn to them immediately by their undeniable love for Christ. Being in their presence meant being in His. During our last night in the Amazon, I talked at length with Felix and Josselyn. The use of pen and paper and sketching out word pictures might’ve been used to translate. Bless their hearts. They were determined to communicate with me. “Would you want to move here?” they asked me. I gulped hard but I’m not sure I ever answered. I told them that I would learn Spanish. No, I promised them I would. They’ve certainly worked hard at learning English. It may come easy for many, but I’m going to need the Lord’s help with this. Terry is on the far left. He and I were the only new team members on the mission trip. Terry left an impact on my life that has forever changed me. And I’m certain that he impacted those youth even more so.
Three amigos, Jonathon, Jimmy and Andres.
Andres, I was told during the trip, had recently started using his other name, Lider. This is what we called him. It’s a good fit. He’s a natural leader. Not only did he exhibit this during kids’ camp, but I’m told that at the age of 21 he has taken on a strong leadership roll in his family and works well with his siblings as well as his nieces and nephews. He was never without that amazing smile. During our team meetings in between camp and our other excursions, we discussed our next order of business and talked about various needs and circumstances among the children and youth. The missionaries, Francisco and Nita, told us that three of the youth, Jenny, Jimmy, and Jonathon were planning to be water baptized. This would be an awesome example and testimony for the younger children. However, Jimmy and Jonathon, we were told, were not certain they were ready. As a team, we talked at length about water baptism and what it signifies. Cisco and Nita were very determined to ensure that the meaning was clear. We discussed the importance of water baptism by submersion subsequent to salvation. Some of us mentioned that we’d been water baptized twice. During our meetings, Terry and I gave our testimonies. As part of my testimony I talked about divorce and condemnation and premarital pregnancy. Often, as Christians we struggle with condemnation. This likely played into my choosing to be baptized in water a second time. It’s not necessary, however. It’s not a work required for salvation either. Clear understanding of why this outward expression of an inward work is required generally reflects a clear understanding of salvation. It was my impression that Jimmy, namely, struggled with condemnation. Our team prayed specifically about this. When the time came, we were told that only Jenny would be baptized. Burdened heavily for Jimmy, I quickly found a Spanish Bible and opened it to Romans 8:1.
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
“This is for you,” I told him. He nodded slowly, drinking in the words with his eyes. I prayed he would see, you are not condemned, you are in Christ, you can be baptized. And you are not condemned if you choose not to be baptized today.
We rejoiced as Jenny was baptized by Francisco. The old man went under, the new man came up. Such an amazing example, beautiful testimony to every wide eyed child there that day. Jimmy and Jonathon stood watching. But then,
Jimmy stepped up. The words spoken in response to Francisco’s asking first, if salvation was sure, and then why he wanted to be baptized, were lost in translation. It didn’t matter. They were read on his countenance, read by his obedience.
And then Jonathon stepped up. The weight, the burden of sin and guilt, is exchanged at salvation. It was conveyed on that glorious day in Ecuador by the example of water baptism. I count it an honor to have witnessed this expression on the faces of these three amazing young people.
Just as Jesus was driven into the wilderness and tempted following his water baptism, it seemed that Jimmy would face his own battle of temptation in the Amazon. Many of us, including Jimmy, had eaten a delicious shrimp dinner at a local restaurant. We were unaware that the ingredients included soy sauce which Jimmy is highly allergic to. He began to swell not long after dinner. Just prior to our planned mission to visit children of a remote tribe, we were told that his swelling was severe and his throat was closing. Jimmy was taken to a local hospital. We prayed and then continued our mission with the exception of Francisco who stayed behind with Jimmy.
As I’ve mentioned before, this was the one of the best and hardest parts of the mission trip for me. The picture below does not fully capture the mass of children and parents who showed up that day. I cried behind my sunglasses.
And I smiled radiant joy. Meeting this baby girl below was one of the most profound moments of my entire trip. Andrea, an Ecuadorian woman with us, translated for me as the parents explained their baby girl was only three weeks old.
“Nombre? What’s her name?” I asked.
“She has no name,” Andrea explained. They had not yet named their three week old baby girl. The couple continued their conversation with Andrea. She looked at me, translated for them, “You name her. You give her a name.”
I felt eternity pass as I stared at that precious baby girl. She reminded me a little of Courtney, my middle daughter. Courtney had dark, straight hair with bangs just like this baby. We called Courtney papoose. Although it felt as if time froze, I didn’t hesitate an answer. Abandoning all consideration for Spanish names, I blurted out, “GRACE! She is grace. She is the grace of God.” And then I look at Andrea, “How do you say Grace in Spanish?”
“Gracia.” Grace in Spanish is gracia. Of course. Just one letter away from gracias—thank you in Spanish.
This is what I’ve learned from Ann Voskamp over the past two years. We see what God gives as grace, and we give thanks, then joy comes. Eucharisteo.
The parents nodded as Andrea shared my suggestion. I may never know if they chose the name of Grace for their baby girl. But they gave me a gift that day. That baby girl is indeed grace. All of those children are grace. I am so thankful for each one of them.
We were heartbroken that Jimmy missed out on this mission. He was too. But God is all knowing, Sovereign Lord. We learned later that as Jimmy’s airway constricted and he struggled to breathe, the doctors had explained to Francisco and Nita that the medicine he needed was not stocked at the local pharmacy and would have to be obtained from a nearby town. Treatment that day cost only a few dollars; however, medications needed weren’t kept at the government funded hospital. Nita ran to the nearest pharmacy in hopes that the doctors were wrong. Thanks be to God, they were. She made it back to the hospital with medication and from Jimmy’s account, she gave him the shot. His recollection, of course, was fuzzy. But by nothing short of a miracle, the doctors and staff received that medication just in time.
Jimmy’s swelling hadn’t fully reduced once we’d left the Amazon and unfortunately he didn’t make it to youth meeting our last night in Ecuador. I did have a chance to speak a little broken Spanglish to him over the phone, but I was a little heartbroken that I wouldn’t get to say goodbye.
But God saw fit to bless me. On that last night in Ecuador at the youth meeting, Jonathon and I had our first full {albeit broken} conversation. I had communicated less with this seemingly shy young man than some of the other youth. That night during the worship service I cried a river. Our flight was just hours away and I felt the weight of leaving those amazing kids and young people behind.
Jimmy handed me a ring and pointed to the word written on it: amigos. “Friends forever. This is for you,” he said. I nodded and cried. Then he said, “You—my friend, my sister, my mother.” And then I hugged him. And cried some more.
It’s been over four months since I left that beautiful country and I’m still processing the details. God has opened my eyes and my heart to a people as a whole. He’s opened my eyes to the children of Ecuador. But the bonds that I’ve had with some of them specifically have awakened me to the love that Christ has for us individually.
Every one of those children, those young people, are precious to Him. Every one of them, grace.
There’s a world beyond our four walls. There’s a harvest of souls and it’s ripe. It’s time for the laborers to work.
Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest. ~ Luke 10:2
Hello to every one, the contents present at this web
site are genuinely amazing for people experience, well, keep up
the nice work fellows.
Hi, I think your website might be having browser compatibility issues.
When I look at your blog in Chrome, it looks fine but when opening in Internet
Explorer, it has some overlapping. I just wanted to give you
a quick heads up! Other then that, fantastic blog!
Good article! We are linking to this particularly great article on our website.
Keep up the great writing.
Ich habe Ihnen die LektГјre empfohlen
My spouse and I stumbled over here coming from a different web address and thought I should
check things out. I like what I see so i am just following you.
Look forward to exploring your web page repeatedly.
Its such as you read my thoughts! You appear to grasp a lot
about this, like you wrote the ebook in it or something.
I believe that you just can do with some % to power the message house a little bit, however instead of that, this is wonderful blog.
A fantastic read. I’ll certainly be back.
I’ve been exploring for a bit for any high-quality articles
or blog posts on this kind of area . Exploring in Yahoo I
finally stumbled upon this site. Studying this info So i am happy to exhibit that
I’ve a very just right uncanny feeling I came
upon just what I needed. I so much no doubt will make
sure to don?t put out of your mind this website and provides it a look on a
relentless basis.
Definitely imagine that that you stated. Your favourite reason seemed to be on the internet the simplest factor to remember of.
I say to you, I certainly get irked at the same time
as other folks consider concerns that they just don’t recognize about.
You controlled to hit the nail upon the highest as smartly as outlined out the entire thing with no need side-effects ,
other folks can take a signal. Will likely be again to get
more. Thank you
Hi there Dear, are you in fact visiting this site daily, if so afterward
you will definitely get fastidious experience.
What’s up, after reading this amazing piece of writing i am as well delighted
to share my familiarity here with mates.
This text is invaluable. How can I find out more?
Amazing! This blog looks exactly like my old
one! It’s on a entirely different subject but it has
pretty much the same layout and design. Wonderful choice of colors!
This is really interesting, You’re a very professional blogger.
I have joined your rss feed and sit up for seeking extra of your wonderful post.
Also, I have shared your website in my social networks
Thank you for some other excellent article.
The place else could anybody get that kind of info in such a perfect manner of writing?
I have a presentation subsequent week, and I’m at the search for such info.
fantastic post, very informative. I wonder why the other experts of this sector don’t realize this.
You should continue your writing. I am confident,
you’ve a huge readers’ base already!
What i don’t understood is in truth how you are no longer actually much more smartly-appreciated than you may be right
now. You are so intelligent. You recognize thus significantly in terms of this matter,
made me for my part believe it from numerous various angles.
Its like women and men don’t seem to be interested until
it’s something to accomplish with Girl gaga! Your personal stuffs nice.
At all times handle it up!
Hello, constantly i used to check website posts here early in the break of day, as i enjoy to learn more and more.
There is definately a great deal to find out about this topic.
I like all of the points you’ve made.
What’s up, yup this paragraph is really nice and I have learned lot of things from
it regarding blogging. thanks.
Thank you, I’ve recently been searching for info
approximately this subject for a while and yours is the best I have
found out till now. However, what about the conclusion? Are you
certain in regards to the supply?
What a information of un-ambiguity and preserveness of precious familiarity on the topic of unexpected feelings.
hi!,I like your writing very much! proportion we keep in touch extra approximately your post on AOL?
I require an expert in this space to solve my problem.
Maybe that’s you! Taking a look forward to peer
you.
An outstanding share! I have just forwarded this onto a coworker who has been conducting a
little research on this. And he actually ordered me dinner due to
the fact that I found it for him… lol. So let me reword this….
Thank YOU for the meal!! But yeah, thanx for spending some time to
discuss this topic here on your internet site.
Pretty! This has been a really wonderful post.
Many thanks for providing this information.
you are in reality a good webmaster. The site loading velocity is amazing.
It kind of feels that you are doing any distinctive trick.
Moreover, The contents are masterpiece. you have done
a wonderful process on this subject!
Hi outstanding website! Does running a blog similar to this
take a massive amount work? I have virtually no understanding of coding however I was hoping to start my own blog
soon. Anyhow, if you have any ideas or tips for new blog owners please share.
I understand this is off subject but I simply needed to ask.
Kudos!
You made some decent points there. I checked on the internet for more info about the issue and found most people will go
along with your views on this website.
It’s difficult to find experienced people about this topic, but you sound like you know what you’re talking about!
Thanks
Hey there would you mind letting me know which web host you’re working with?
I’ve loaded your blog in 3 different web browsers and
I must say this blog loads a lot quicker then most.
Can you recommend a good hosting provider at a honest price?
Cheers, I appreciate it!
Great post.
I am really grateful to the holder of this web page who has shared
this impressive article at here.
Heya this is somewhat of off topic but I was wondering if blogs use WYSIWYG editors
or if you have to manually code with HTML. I’m starting a blog soon but have no coding expertise so I wanted to get advice from someone with experience.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
I have read so many posts about the blogger lovers but this piece of writing is really a nice post,
keep it up.
Way cool! Some extremely valid points! I appreciate you writing this post and the rest of the website is very good.
Hello! This is my first comment here so I just wanted to give a quick shout out and say I really enjoy reading your
blog posts. Can you recommend any other blogs/websites/forums that deal with the
same topics? Thank you!
I am sure this article has touched all the internet users, its
really really nice paragraph on building up new blog.
Do you have a spam problem on this website; I also
am a blogger, and I was wanting to know your situation; many of us
have developed some nice practices and we are looking to swap techniques
with others, be sure to shoot me an e-mail if interested.
Heya! I’m at work browsing your blog from my new iphone 4!
Just wanted to say I love reading through your blog and look
forward to all your posts! Keep up the fantastic work!
Hello would you mind letting me know which webhost you’re utilizing?
I’ve loaded your blog in 3 different browsers and I must say
this blog loads a lot faster then most. Can you recommend a good hosting provider
at a reasonable price? Cheers, I appreciate it!
As the admin of this website is working, no doubt
very shortly it will be renowned, due to its quality contents.
Hey there! I’ve been following your weblog for a long time now and finally got the courage to go ahead and give you a shout out from Atascocita Texas!
Just wanted to say keep up the great job!
Hmm it appears like your website ate my first comment (it was
super long) so I guess I’ll just sum it up what I submitted and say, I’m
thoroughly enjoying your blog. I too am an aspiring blog writer but
I’m still new to the whole thing. Do you have any points for beginner blog writers?
I’d certainly appreciate it.
Hello mates, its great article concerning teachingand fully explained, keep it up all the time.
Hi there everyone, it’s my first go to see at this website,
and piece of writing is truly fruitful designed for me,
keep up posting these types of articles.
I read this piece of writing fully about the comparison of hottest and previous technologies, it’s amazing
article.
Thankfulness to my father who told me on the topic of this weblog, this web site is in fact remarkable.
certainly like your website however you have to check the spelling on quite a few
of your posts. Several of them are rife with spelling issues and I in finding it very bothersome
to inform the reality then again I will definitely come back again.
magnificent put up, very informative. I’m wondering why the other specialists of
this sector do not notice this. You should continue your writing.
I am sure, you have a great readers’ base already!
There’s certainly a great deal to find out about this topic.
I really like all the points you made.
I’m truly enjoying the design and layout of your site.
It’s a very easy on the eyes which makes it much more pleasant for me to come here and visit more often. Did you hire out a
designer to create your theme? Superb work!