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
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