Belize 2008 report

Hi Everyone- (note: the photos are in no particular order)

Well, I returned late last night from a simply amazing and wonderful trip to Belize! God certainly blew us away with all that He brought forth. I want to thank all of you who prayed for me and have supported us in our ministry! It is always so evident to me that I am just one small part of the Body and that always makes me feel humbled, blessed and confident in the part that I am called to do, knowing others are faithful to do their parts as well!

(Nellie and Briana, two of the village girls, pose for a photo for us. They were our pals!)

(Christy shares part of her testimony at the Spanish Church )

We arrived to Belize with no problems and got settled in and then headed off to the church where we would be sharing with what we thought was going to be a small group of women. As it turned out, God brought 150 women to the meeting! After about 45 minutes of outstanding worship in Spanish and English (by their own worship team) Christy got up to say hello and share a short testimony of how God has been working in her life. I then got up and preached for about an hour with a translator on how God was restoring HOPE tonight and the amazing plans and purposes He has for each woman there. I also prophesied about several pictures the Lord had given me for them and the pastor got up to confirm all these things when I was done. The response was incredible and the night ended with a very emotional and Spirit filled time of prayer. As for me and Christy- all we could do is laugh and shake our heads in amazement! God is so good! Here we were expecting maybe 10-15 women...but God had other plans!

(Christy dances to "Faithful Father" at the women's retreat. Beautiful!)

(The leadership team of Vera, Christy, Eileen and well, yeah, we can include Basil too! haha)

The next day we headed down to Gales Point Village and to the mission base to prepare for the women’s retreat. For perhaps the first time ever, we got down there relatively obstacle free and then loaded up the boat to cross over to the base. Once at the base we settled in and began to go over the details of the next few days’ conference.

(Amazing what a shower can do! Eating out on our last evening in Belize. Christy, Vera nd I are joined by Dr. Gerhaldine Hidalgo- our host in Belize City)

(150 women gather and pray at the end of our meeting in Belize City Spanish church)

The women arrived to the base on Friday. Vera had already prepared all the cabanas and bunks for them and had placed gift baskets (that were prepared by Dr. Gerhaldine whom we stayed with in Belize City) on each ladies bed. She also had folders for each woman with all the song lyrics and notes for each session along with other little goodies. These special touches helped to show the women that God really loves them and that they are valuable and worthy of His love. The mood was friendly and united from the start although the women all seemed to still have a certain “mask” they were hiding behind. (This is typical of all the villagers- they almost seem to have this straight kind of glazed face no matter what you are talking about, etc) Our goal was that God would remove this mask, reveal His love to them and that the “switch” inside of them would be flipped and we would see life and light in their eyes! Praise be to God this was accomplished in Christ over the next few days!!!!!

(Okay, yeah, I'm on a church bench preaching- what can I say- I get a little excited!)

(me and one of the cuties from Gerhaldine's church)

The theme of the conference was Faithful Father and we specifically only invited those women that had been coming to Vera’s Bible study regularly. We knew this would be a small group of women but felt these were the women God was wanting to gather, break free, empower with the Holy Spirit and train up. I think we ended up with somewhere between 12-15 village women, young and old.

(getting to the base...there's only one way...by boat!)

Christy led worship each day, sometimes several times a day. Vera took care of all the administrative and audiovisual components as well as general “hosting”, another woman Carol who is a gifted intercessor surrounded the whole weekend in continual prayer and I just sat back and did nothing- HAHA- not quite. Actually, Christy also taught and danced and shared her testimony and prayed for women and prophesied over some. Vera also taught, and shared her testimony and prayed for the women and prophesied as well! I myself taught a lot of the sessions and led the women on the last night in the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I went to great lengths to really seek God’s heart on this and how to present it. I knew I would need a unique yet Biblically solid delivery in order to reach these women and also make it clear what the Bible says about the Holy Spirit. A couple hours before I was to teach, I still did not feel I had “the word of the Lord”. But then minutes later, as we were back in the chapel, something just clicked and I knew exactly how to proceed. By the end of the teaching I asked whoever wanted to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit to just come up and ALL TOGETHER at the same time, everyone stood up and walked forward! THIS WAS TRULY AMAZING AND ONLY GOD! We then prayed and the Spirit fell upon us all, all but 2-3 of the women began to pray in tongues almost immediately, some reported feeling like they were going to float away or fall over, others had a cool refreshing from their head to their toes, others felt warmth and heat thru their body, others felt strengthening...many were crying with tears that you knew came from being able to receive God’s love.

(the Gales Point Women's Conference 2008 attendees!)

The switch was flipped! These women were CHANGED! I ended up on the floor and pretty “drunk” to be honest. I was just so blessed, so honored to be used by God in this way...to be the one who He chose to play this small little role in all the other things that He has been working together in this village. I felt a “well done” from Him to us and all I could do was just lay in His presence and “be”. That night when we left the chapel (well, everyone else had left, I was still on the floor and Christy was kneeling down too), Vera came and told us that we have to come see the sky. The whole sky was lit up with a symphony of lightening. It was their first “electrical sky show” of the year. We couldn’t help but feel the wonder and hand of God in it all. HE was confirming and revealing Himself even more.

(Worship on our last morning )

So as we looked back on all that happened the next evening, we couldn’t really even think of how we could possibly improve upon it. God was ever present and He truly had gone before us preparing the way. Basil and Vera have been ministering in this village for 6 plus years. They have sown many seeds and opened many doors. This past 9 months, two young couples came to village and transformed many of the young people’s lives by beginning Bible studies and doing youth groups and really just preaching Christ in a relevant way. They planted many seeds too which they never could have done without Vera and Basil going before them. Then we had the privilege to come down and do the first women’s retreat and see all the women baptized and empowered with the Holy Spirit and have a new level of understanding of God’s love and that they are valued. We never would have been able to do that without all the preparation that the young couples had recently done. So it was just so neat to see ALL THINGS working together for the good of those who love God. I felt like we were just a small, but important part, of all that He is wanting to do.

I’m glad that we waited on the Lord for when we should return and I’m glad we obeyed when we heard His call now! Thanks again for sending us!

To God be the glory- forever and ever- AMEN!

Love-Eileen and family

Living the Christian Life

Just felt like posting some maybe obvious things on here today. Also want to give my take on those things. We are living in some interesting times to say the least. Lately there have been a number of "attention getting happenings" (that's not meant in a negative way) that have indeed gotten our attention. Whether it is the cyclone that hit Myanmar and all the subsequent devastation and millions (yes millions) of homeless and affected people, or Oprah's new teachings and mass audience hypnotism and past life regression, or the earthquake in China and all the subsequent devastation or the healing meetings in Florida with Todd Bentley- people ARE talking.

So what do I want to add to the conversation.

I guess I just want to add that whatever we do, do it in love.
Whatever we think, think it in love.

Yes, we know the end times are here or near or however you want to phrase it- we know the Bible tells us these disasters will occur, false teaching will occur and many other things. It doesn't say that right teaching will cease though. It doesn't say that God will stop being God or we should stop carrying out the commands He has given us. So we need to be careful when we are quick to respond from our flesh without first praying or even waiting for a season and watching.

The Bible also tells us to let the tares grow along side the wheat- should we try to seperate them too soon we will pull out good and leave bad. The parable of the fish also teaches us that the fish shouldn't separate the fish- God will handle that Himself. Whether it is true teaching or false teaching, whether it is a natural disaster across the globe or a needy family in your block, let's all remember to clothe ourselves in love and ask God how we are to respond to each thing. And then, when we hear Him, let's obey.

I could tell you how I personally feel about all of these things and it may be exactly what you think or it may totally surprise you- but I'd rather let you just talk to God about it.
Because really, He is the one you need to listen to and so do I.

So why even post this post? Well, just to let you know we're thinking about it all. We are watching it all. We are praying about it all. And we are doing our best to follow God and how we feel Him leading us in it all. We're also trying to learn from all that is going on around us. I feel there are so many lessons we can learn (individually tailored for each of us) if we are opent o letting God show us new things.

I do think everything should be examined against scripture. Not culture, not tradition, not religion, not politics but scripture. I think some things are what they seem and some are not. I think some things that seem fake are real and some that seem real are fake. And I think some things contain both fake and real. I think this is what Jesus taught us in His word. We CAN judge, we CAN discern and we CAN ask for God's help to lead us and give us wisdom...we just also need to stay humble through it all realizing we may be throwing out or pulling up a perfectly good fish or a perfectly rooted wheat stalk. In some of these things, only God knows for sure...and thank God He is the one who will decide.

Well- that's all - my love to all who read this :) Eileen