Saturday, July 18, 2015

Spiritual Warfare

 Friday July 17, 2015

Bible Verse: "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose," Romans 8:26-28. Katie led the group in a bible study all about how the Spirit intercedes for us, and she used the image of the Spirit being our mailman, teacher, and translator.

The whole group rode in the back of the bus to get around Copan.

This was the view and the gorgeous day that we had.

Ready to go zip lining!

These were the workers who helped us - they looked like monkeys on a zip line!


Helmet Selfie :-)

Go Margarita!


Many of us tried zip lining upside down!            Miriam zipping through the trees!                                      
Dave asked for 'mas, grande bounces' or 'more, big bounces'!

Fredy and Miriam having too much fun at lunch.

Hannah posing with Scarlet Macaws, the national bird of Honduras.

There were lots of gorgeous plants at the aviary we went to!


This bird wanted to pose for us!

We got to hold birds, and shake our fists to make them spread their wings.

Gabby holding birds...

Bethany holding birds...

This toucan kept chasing Abby!


Street vendors selling jewelry.  You had to bargain for a price!

We saw this on the drive back. Moo! 

       Today was our second and last day in Copan.  In the morning we went zip lining with Canopy Tours, which had 16 zip lines, that were a total of 4K long.  We were accompanied by four employees that hooked our harness to the zip line and told us how to do it.  On one zip line, we were allowed to try zip lining upside down, and most of us did.  They also bounced us by moving the wire up and down, and Abby and Dave especially loved it.  We took lots of photos, and the employees even volunteered to film us as we were zip lining down, which turned out to be a really cool video!
      After that, we went to an aviary and saw lots of gorgeous birds, flowers, and even some bugs.  They were all in cages, but you could walk into some of the cages for a more 'face to face' experience with the birds :-).  We saw Macaws, Toucans, Parrots, and a few other birds that had more exotic names I can't remember. At the end of the aviary, two men were holding birds and they put them on your shoulders for you to take a picture.  If you shook your fist, they spread their wings, which is a reflex because they think they might fall off.  We all enjoyed looking at these birds, because they were so colorful and we all commented on how they were God's creation and that He is so creative and magnificent.
      We got back on the truck and rode back into the city of Copan and we stopped at a shop where we looked around for souvenirs or gifts for family.  There were street vendors outside the shop selling very similar jewelry, and you had to bargain with them.
      When we were done, we went to the hotel to get our stuff and as we were waiting outside the bus, Fredy came up to me and asked me a question I will never forget. He said, "Do you love God?" At first, I was startled by the question, but I said yes.  He asked me again and now, having heard the question before, I said yes very quickly.  I didn't catch on to what he was doing though.  Then he asked me another time, and I said yes, but I said it like a question because I was wondering why he was asking me this.  Then he said, "You didn't sound too sure!" Then I remembered John 21, the story where Jesus asked Peter if he loved him, and Peter had done the same thing I did.
      I didn't know what to say after that, but Fredy asked me to recite Romans 8:28, the verse I had talked about at Bible Study.  I recited it, and he nodded, like he wanted me to remember that verse.  I had just confirmed with Fredy that I do love God, and the verse talked about how God works for the good of those who love him.  It doesn't mean that my life will be perfect and free of worry, but God is working for my good.  It took me the whole day to figure this out, and I thought a lot about what Fredy had asked me.  I believe that was the Holy Spirit working through Fredy, but I don't know exactly why, I just know that I'm very blessed to have known Fredy on this trip.
      During the bus ride we slept, and then ate snacks and sang a bunch of songs.  Fredy said he loved our singing!  As we got off the bus, we realized that multiple people hadn't been feeling too well, but we hadn't said anything.  Jennie, Miriam, Abby and Katie had some form of a stomach ache, fever or headache.  I will save you the gory details, but we were talking about maybe this was a bit of spiritual warfare.  We had come off of a few great days of serving God, and encouraging each other as christian friends, and now we were sick.  I don't believe in coincidences!
       We knew that we would be doing a lot of work painting tomorrow so we all prayed for healing.  A few of the people who felt good went swimming but everyone else just watched or read.  We had dinner, and a lot of us ordered chicken soup.  Abby and Miriam left for bed early, and we prayed that they would feel better tomorrow.
       Please pray that we would be healed and that we will be well enough to paint and serve God with everything we have.  He has already overcome the world, and no sickness is bigger than God!

4 comments:

  1. Praying for healing for you all!
    Thinking of "Do you love me?" Jesus then says, "Feed my sheep." Praying for opportunities to feed and be fed today...and the ability to digest!
    Much love!

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    1. I reread that passage after Fredy had asked me that question and that's what I want to do! Feed his sheep, and show His children His love. Thank you for all the prayers!

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  2. We are praying for healing and for strength for you to finish this trip well, knowing that you have been faithful to what God called you to do. Love hearing the updates - I know how much extra effort this has taken - THANK YOU for all you are doing. What a blessing you all are.

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  3. Thank you everyone for the prayers! A lot of us felt better for the long day of painting!

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