I have yet to post about our time and I am afraid that if I let any more time go by it will just be a thing of the past, so I am posting today so that you can all read and see what an amazing time we had there serving God and bring people to Jesus through relationships, dramas, and prayer.
The first day we got there it was raining- hard. We had to take a boat and were mostly all wet by the time we got to the shore. Then, we found out that the place we would be staying was actually a hotel that had its own ocean view. It was gorgeous and we were definitely blessed with our accommodations seeing as all the other groups that have gone to Livingston have stayed on the floor in a church and had to get water from a well to shower and wash with. It is the little things in life :)
We did a lot of children's ministry with clowns, puppets, and dances and had anywhere from 30-70 kids at a time. One of my most favorite things to do was to look out over the crowd during kids ministries and pray over the futures of the beautiful faces filling the audience. God has such great plans for the youth and kids of Livingston and I can't wait to see what He is going to do and how He might use me to be a part of His plan coming to life.
We also did a lot of prayer walks and one on one ministry with people. We felt like the ground needed to be prepared before we could do much open air ministry because there was such a spirit of slavery and apathy that we felt dominated the people. We did a prayer walk at 5:00 AM where we walked around the city declaring God's truth about Livingston and the people who live there. We even stood on the dock and shouted "Jesus is Lord over Livingston" as people were boarding the first boat of the morning. Yes, it was uncomfortable shouting with people looking at us, but I believe that it changed something in the spiritual world and that was our goal.
There is a house for sale that Mario and I have seen every time we have gone to Livingston. We have dreamed and talked about how it would be the perfect location and perfect starting point for a ministry in Livingston. This trip we actually had the opportunity to go inside and look at it. Some of the students went along to help us pray over the place and we were all surprised to see that the house was in better shape than we thought. It has basically been sitting empty for a few years, so I expected to see dirt, cobwebs, and overall grime. Although there is definitely work to be done on it, it was way better than expected. It is something that we are praying about for the future, but to see it was something that excited us and we believe that if it the right place for us then it will be there when God calls us to be there. I can't wait to see what God has!
I would like to show you some pictures of our time as well because as the saying goes, pictures really are worth a thousand words :)
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| The house we looked at (this picture doesn't really do it justice) |
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| beautiful faces |
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| the adorable twins! |
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| A friend I met while on a prayer walk |
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| Mario's cousins watching us do children's ministry |
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| The future of Livingston! |
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| Beautiful sunrise |
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| Thanksgiving Dinner (I ate eggs, beans, plantains and bread-so traditional, right!?!) |
