We continue to see God´s hand in every area of our lives and ministry. He is moving us into a greater level spiritually and in the ministry. We have enjoyed living in our new place and hope to be able to host and bless a bunch of people. The administration team at our complex gave us permission to do games and sports activities with the kids. We are desiring to use this as a way to build relationships with the families here, give awareness to our foundation, and most importantly share Christ! We will start this Friday. Maria continues to teach English at El Shadai and has been a blessing to her students. I continue at the Barrio 17 school and have been able to build greater relationships with the kids.

Enciende El Fuego
Our ministry on Saturday mornings continues to go super well. More kids continue to arrive and we are a bit pressed for space! We are thankful to be able to use the building, but we are declaring and praying for our own space. We have finished teaching the stories of the Old Testament and will be moving into the New Testament soon. We have been receiving a bunch of donations in form of clothes, snacks, and other things to be able to bless others with. We were able to bless and pray for a Venezuelan family with a special needs girl and provide clothing for an orphan boy through the donations we received. We feel God has taken the ministry to the next level and it feels a little overwhelming in a good way.

A few weeks ago we went to support a kids group in a neighborhood called Barrio Bolivariano. We taught about Jesus as healer and played games with them. I also got the chance to visit a tiny Christian school twice to give devotionals to the kids sharing the gospel message and talking about Jesus as healer/miracle worker. I also handed out New Testaments to the kids! There are a few other projects that have been presented to us and we are praying about if God wants us to partner with those projects.

Surprises!!!
We were blessed to be a part of a mission team from Gary Oates Ministries (healing ministry) from the USA in early August. We helped translate and went with them to some of their ministry events inside and outside the church. They visited our foundation one afternoon and blessed the kids of the neighborhood! God opened up some doors for us as well through their time here. Through this mission team we were able to meet the directors of a mission training school and have started a partnership with them. We have taught some classes at the school and will be supporting them and they also will be supporting us in the foundation! It feels like a missions family!

More of Him
We are continually seeking God for wisdom and discernment in what we are doing here. We are learning to accept and be grateful for all God brings to us even though it may be uncomfortable at times. We also continue waiting for God´s timing for our future children. Maria is learning to rest in the Lord and persevere as she is almost finished with her studies. God is doing a lot of work in her heart and drawing her into a deeper relationship with Him. I am learning to receive from God simply by being in His presence and have been enjoying more of His intimate and tangible presence. The more time I spend in God´s presence, the more of God´s presence can be transmitted to others through me.

“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God´s will for you in
Christ Jesus.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

In Christ,
María and Jonathan

Life in Santa Marta
July has been a fantastic month filled with many blessings. The beginning of July we got the chance to go on a vacation to Antioquia, a state of Colombia. It was a wonderful week of enjoying nature, God, each other, seeing many sights, and resting. God watched over us and really took care of us in all the details during the entire trip. This semester Maria will be continue to work at El Shaddai teaching English part-time. I am continuing teaching PE at the Barrio 17 elementary school on Mondays and Tuesdays and am helping with English classes at a Christian school on Wednesdays. Another exciting change is that we have moved into our new (and bigger) apartment. We have surrendered it to the Lord and know it is His. We hope to use it to bless others and to host volunteers, family/friends, and pastors/prophets/others that come to speak at our church.

In these past few weeks, God has been allowing us to meet and connect with different persons. We attended a three-evening prophetic service two weeks ago. God spoke to us in many different ways and we received a lot from the Holy Spirit. Both of us were unexpectedly able to translate for the prophet and his companion during the prayer tine after the service. Even Maria had the opportunity to translate! There is a missionary team from the USA coming next week, and our pastor asked us to help translate and accompany the team as there is only one main translator for 25 people. The team is also planning on visiting our foundation one day. We are looking forward to what God has in-store for us. We also connected with a pastor/ministry leader from Bogotá who does a lot of missions work in Colombia and South America.

Enciende El Fuego Update
Things with the foundation continue to go great! In Barrio 17, we continue to see God’s hand at work among the kids. This past Saturday, two of our teachers were able to pray for a group of the older kids and the Holy Spirit touched them. Exploradores Del Rey (Royal Rangers of Colombia) has partnered with us, and it has been a blessing having them each Saturday. In December/January, we have a young lady named Valeria from Bogotá that will be coming to volunteer with us for a month. We are excited about having her and trust God has big plans for her while her. Another lady has joined our team. She also does ministry with kids in other poor neighborhoods. We are looking forward to partnering with her in the work she is doing as well. We have seen God’s provision with volunteers and details, and we know it is His foundation and His dream. We feel God wants to do so much more through us and the foundation and feel there is something missing, so we are praying for God’s direction.

God has been teaching us a lot about faith, declaring things in our lives, the power of our words, asking/receiving from God, the prophetic, etc. We both have been enjoying God’s presence more and feel Him so much closer. We continue to wait and pray for our kids to arrive to this world. God has been speaking to and through Maria more and has given her words to speak to others. Last Saturday we prayed for the grandmother of a girl in our ministry who was seriously sick (they believe cancer), couldn’t sleep, and was extremely discouraged. We went to her home and declared her healing and Maria spoke to her words from God. It was beautiful! Another day Maria had a dream about a lady in our former neighborhood and saw her in a wheelchair. Maria spoke to her about the dream and we went to encourage her and declare her healing. God used this same woman to donate things for our new apartment and she wants to support us in the foundation! We continue to see God’s hand in our finances, ministry, marriage, and many other things! We give Him all thanks and praise!

In Christ,
María and Jonathan

​Ministry Update
Enciende El Fuego continues to grow steadily in number of kids. We are blessed to be able to use the community building free of charge and have the support of the community and community president. We are seeing spiritual growth in many of the kids. It hasn’t always been easy, but it’s been worth it. We have started working in another rougher neighborhood called Divino Niño on Thursday afternoons with our drawing teacher. He asked us to do the spiritual/sports part (He isn’t a Christian), and we are gradually sharing more with those kids.
 
This week (June 25-29), we had our first VBS with the Barrio 17 kids. It was a crazy and great week filled with teachings about Jesus’ miracles, crafts, dance, and sports. The last day we had a gospel presentation and an “altar call.” Many kids felt God’s presence and hopefully accepted Christ into their hearts. We have a break from activities until July 9 when school vacation is over. God brought us all the right teachers to fill in for the needed days. On Thursday, we even enjoyed watching Colombia qualify for the round of 16 together!
 
God’s Hand
God continues His great work here in Santa Marta, Colombia. We continually see His goodness, faithfulness, and His hand in our lives and ministry. God continues to challenge us personally as well and is taking us deeper in our relationship with Him. We feel He wants to take us to the next level in many different areas of our lives. He has been speaking to us to claim and fight for blessings – spiritual, physical, ministerial, etc. He is working to continually refine us and shape our hearts. We are encouraged to know that God is always working behind the scenes for our good. We are excited for what is yet to come!
 
En Cristo,
María y Jonathan
 
“Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” – Ephesians 3:20