So what a time I have had! Thank you for reading and staying
with me! We are almost there!
As you
know, I was planning on going to an orphanage.
Didn’t happen! I am so happy of
how intimate my relationship is with the Lord is right now because I was so
disturbed by SOMETHING that after praying and help from my mom, I knew I
shouldn’t go! My passion was translating.
I didn’t know what that meant, but I knew that I needed to stay. So I
did :)
Thursday
morning comes (I had decided to stay the Thursday before), and I get a text
asking if I was ready to leave tomorrow for a week to translate. I was floored! I was in my mind “YES YES
YES!” but I immediately sat up, and put the phone down, and prayed! I wanted to
make sure this is what God wanted and if this was really happening! I felt the necessity to say yes, so I did!
I got the
info I needed, told my family, Micah, and asked them to pray for strength! I
soon realized that it was going to be the SAME exact week that I was here last
year, frustrated because of the language barrier, and was waiting to see what
God was going to do in my life by bringing me back here! I was enamored with that thought of what God
has done in this year! I was ready to
go! I knew God had been working up this whole year for this week, and it was an
awesome feeling! I was scared, but knew
that He would be the one speaking through me! It was now Friday, I was packed,
we had to leave, so I did!
14 hours
later, back in South Argentina, I woke up to colder, yet beautiful weather, and
I was in Neuquen, Argentina. We were
there to rest for a little and then go door to door ministry, inviting people
to an event. I happened to be with the
mission pastor from the church that came down, scared out of my mind, but
reminded myself we are just translating to get people to come to a
service. That afternoon was
AMAZING! It was so much more than just
an invitational, there was a man named Daniel, that thank the Lord we had a
native from the area that he talked to him for the most part, but was very hard
on the outside, looked very disturbed and just very closed off. After a conversation, using the Evangecube,
he came SO close to giving his life to Christ. We came to the part of the cube
where you can choose Christ, or you can choose eternity in hell. His eyes were set fixed on the hell portion,
the fire, the eternal suffering. He did
not give his life to Christ that moment, as far as we know, but a seed was DEFINITELY
planted! The first day of my trip last
year was the worst day ever! It was what started to break down my wall of God’s
true will for my life. The fact that all
these amazing things that God were all in one day, and I could help facilitate
it, WHAT A GREAT FEELING! We had to
return to church, and with a splitting headache cause I had never spoken so
much Spanish in my life, I walked away with a smile because of how in awe I was
with God in that moment, so I did. :)
More great
things happened in the week, I could feel my spanish increasing rapidly, and so
of course, Satan started to bring in the battle. I was reminded this week of how beautiful
mercy, forgiveness, and most of all redemption is! It was Wednesday, I wasn’t in the greatest
mood because of the distractions Satan had drawn in, and we were visiting
schools. After translating for some of
the students all morning, we are close to leaving and so I sit on the stairs to
rest. A girl comes up and sits next to
me, starts talking to me, and asks for me to tell her my testimony. In my mind, I say “God, is this really happening?
God! Open her heart and give me the words to speak!” Now, I had never lead anyone to Christ by
myself in my whole life. I have always
been in groups, but never had been because of my direct words and testimony to
anyone, remember that. It was loud because everyone was talking and so she asks
to go into a classroom, and it literally was like God giving me this
opportunity on a silver platter. God
said to me “here you go Maggie! This is to make up for how you acted yesterday!” So we continued to talk, she was very
receptive, and through God using me to speak to her, she received Christ! HOW
AWESOME IS THAT! I was over joyed! I stopped for a minute and was like “are you
sure? Do you really meant it?” because I was just so floored how fast God moved
and just the fact that He used ME! Of all people? Especially after all the
things I have done, He still wanted to use me!?
I was so ecstatic! After we left,
we were on the bus, and the missionary that was in charge of the ministry we
were working with was proud of me and he reminded me that even though I’m not
perfect at Spanish, when I let my heart speak and I lay everything out about my
life to someone, God uses you in BEAUTIFUL ways! He told me to not hide behind the language,
just let my heart speak to the person.
That was so true, that was exactly what happened! God gave me a huge reason to smile, so I did
:)
We finished
the week and I was just so happy and blessed with what He had done in this
week! What’s even better is that there were so many other great stories from all
the other students that came! I was so
blessed by this mission group that traveled this way and will be eternally
grateful! I honestly believe that this
past week was one HUGE reason why God brought me down here! He worked all the way in April of 2012, to
prepare me for the same week in April of 2013!
It’s incredible!
We started
the institute this week! Crazy to see how time flies! It is going to be awesome but please pray
because homesickness is setting in! But I will continue on, because my return
home is a lot sooner that I think! So I WILL! :)
Prayer Requests:
1)
The people we reached in Neuquen.
2)
The bible institute! (For understanding, and
retaining for tests and LIFE)
3)
Homesickness! It’s one of the worst illnesses!
