Bethel- House of God

Sooo we only have 17 days left here in Nicarauga!! Time goes by so fast! Last week we went to a 6 hour church service in Bethel (the village we do ministry in every afternoon) and since the service was in Spanish I decided to read my Bible and I read Ezekiel 37. That is my prayer for the church here, that God would breathe real life into these people who are still chained up by condemnation and legalism. "The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “O Sovereign LORD, you alone know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’ ” So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’ ” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live." Ezekiel 37:1-10, 14 The Lord desires for us to be alive and living in the freedom of His grace, serving Him joyfully out of our love for Him!

Dania (one of the youth girls that is like a little sister to me) was crying after the service and I asked her why and she said because God is so good to her and loves her so much. It was so encouraging to see and hear her say that. Please pray that more of the youth understand how much God loves them. Two girls from Bethel are leading a Bible study in another village and the first time 60 people came. So please pray that it continues to multiply and that through learning God's Word they will bear lots of good fruit. Also continue to pray for Vision Nicarauga and the ministry they are doing here. The room our squad was building for Mario's son is almost finished. Roberto, the man helping us build the house, his brother just passed away from the kidney disease. Please pray for his family and the other men here who are effected by the disease. Phelix is another man in Bethel who has the disease so please pray for him and his family. Also please pray for the Juan Carlos, Mario, Lindsey, Estrella, Antonia and Thelma. They are all apart of this ministry-please pray God's blessings and provision over them. 

Also last week my team, Hadassah(that's our name), had worship-just the six of us girls. Before worship we wrote down declarations of who we are in Christ and how much He loves us, these were mine: I am a daughter of the Most High God, Yahweh, Jehovah, Elohim, Jesus Christ. HE is my daddy, my best friend, my first love, my Maker, the Creator of the universe, the ONE who was and is and is to come! THROUGH HIM I am: chosen, loved, cherished, holy, clean, blameless, worthy, pure, righteous, powerful, confident, secure, safe, whole, favored. royalty, free, beautiful, lovely, admirable, obedient, humble, full of joy, content, broken hearted, honest, motivated, compassionate, merciful, faithful, forgiving, strong, courageous, adopted, an heir, hopeful, mature, complete, lacking nothing, blessed, protected, eternal, just, wise, comforted, generous, a peacemaker, restored, healed, kind, good, gentle, self-controlled, spirit-filled, a warrior, ready for battle, devoted, passionate, victorious, redeemed, pursued, important, a new creation, treasured, alive, a light to the nations and full of praise. Then we went into a small room and listened to this song called Never Giving Up by Jonathan David Helser (listen to it on youtube!) in the dark and the Holy Spirit fell on all of us and we were filled with the joy of the LORD. Now we try to read them every morning to remind ourselves of who we are in Christ and what we are called to be through Him. 

So in Hebrew Bethel means house of God. I pray that it truly does become a place that is exploding with God's presence. I love that village and I have learned so much from them about how to honor one another and about being grateful for what we have. Please pray for the village of Bethel and all the families there. "And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."
Ephesians 3: 17-19

⁴ "Sing to God! Sing praises to His name. Exalt Him who rides on the clouds, His name is Yahweh—and rejoice before Him. God in His holy dwelling is  a father of the fatherless and a champion of widows. God provides homes for those who are deserted.⁶ He leads out the prisoners to prosperity."
Psalm 68:4