following the whisper

Hi everyone !!

I wanted to share a quick ministry highlight from hope 4 kids, one of the ministries that have stolen my heart !! Last Thursday we were evangelizing in a small town called paramos. Every Thursday we have a session with the adventures in missions staff called: activation. In the mornings we have numerous talks from the Adventures staff and then we do an evangelism execution called “ask the Lord” (ATL). We go out into small towns surrounding our base as a team, get together In prayer before we take a step, and each takes a moment to quiet our hearts & ask with anticipation that the Lord will reveal a word, imagery, or direction for us to follow. As the Bible says in John 10:27 “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” Each and every follower of Christ has the ability to hear the voice of the Lord if we are willing to listen & the more and more I listen the more my heart has begun to recognize the holy spirit’s whisper. 

So during this time of silencing my thoughts, I immediately saw a vision of a small boy in a striped sweater. A few moments later we grouped back together and headed off. Some of my team received words, others received directions, & some visions. In a few steps, we met a man in a striped shirt holding a little boy. I used my broken Spanish & We asked him questions to get to know him & his story. The interaction ended up in prayer & a new friendship. The rest of the day ended up in two more divine appointments. One with a lady sitting on a bench that my teammate Kalyssa saw, and the other a woman at a shop who knew the Lord well & ended up pouring life back into us. During that interaction with the second woman, a young girl came up to me and I ended up getting to share the Lord loved her dearly, that she was a daughter of a king, and pray with her. With a sweet embrace, she went away smiling and I believe the Lord touched her heart, 

However, I still had a strong picture in my mind of the vision the Lord gave me, and I couldn’t shake it. So as I got to the ministry building we work at, a young five-year-old boy named Alexander walked in wearing a blue and white striped sweater. I knew immediately he was the little boy the Lord had highlighted in my vision the day before and I knew the Lord was asking me to love this little boy with everything I had in me. 

Alexander had come to that day craving to just sit in someone’s arms and so that’s what I did the whole day, held him, taught him English, played games with him by my side, and held him as he ate. There was not one moment he left my side and we made a little friendship. I could tell he just wanted to be loved and was confident the Lord knew that. 

This same boy weeks before had constantly run away from the five of us, acted timidly, and was scared to be attached, however now every time we walk in the runs in with a smile and a desire to jump into our arms. As Alexander grows in the belief that he is dearly loved by us but also the creator of the universe, I am confident that the Lord will grow him into someone who pours out the same love we receive. Like Alexander, each of the 20 children who attend the ministry have their own stories. Some don’t eat many meals in a day, some don’t have fathers, and others are negligent of love. I know this ministry has changed most of their lives and provided a place to call home. I see the family that has formed in this 20×20 room. God is doing big things in each of these children’s lives and I know he has ordained each to be warriors for Him. 

This being said I am so thankful for this ministry: hope4kids that we get to partner with. The children there have grown so close to each of our hearts.

However, Myra, the woman who selflessly leads, cooks, and orchestrates the whole ministry by herself, is unable to attend anymore. She has to get a job working at a restaurant in order to pay for the culinary school she is attending in Guatemala city. For a while, Manuel helped but the USA contact that agreed to help them run the ministry stopped answering their calls and pulled all donations. The opportunity for her is once in a lifetime especially being from Guatemala, and although it physically breaks her heart to not be there Mondays and Fridays, she knows our team will help continue it.

So the five of us have been running this ministry for the past week on our own. We feel her absence each day, and the children miss her dearly, however, there are not enough funds for her and Manuel to continue to pay the ministry costs, go to school, and sustain to provide for themselves. 

Each moment their an opportunity to listen to the whisper of the Lord with no human conception of what He will do through obedience. For instance Today I felt that whisper to write this blog and with a step of obedience and knowledge of the God we love, the confidence He will provide is encouraging me with each word I type.

With that in mind, if anyone reading this feels a whisper or call to help out this ministry, any amount would help. The monthly cost to continue this ministry is around $1300 USD. This cost includes feeding the children with nutritional food because, for many of them, that’s their only meal of the day. It also includes necessities like water, rent, and electricity. Although we are here for around 30 more days, they won’t be able to continue this ministry when we leave because Manuel drives the buses for Adventures in Missions and Myra will have to work. So I am doing everything in my power to help them and that solely is to ask the Lord to provide. I know anything I did on my own would be out of a desire to be self-sufficient and help out of deprivation. This next week I will be making a video with more look into what the day looks like and the children of hope4kids. If you feel called in any capacity, please reach out to me in a comment, text, or Facebook message. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this and praying into it.

I know that God is the most sufficient provider and am confident He will provide. 

All my love,

Emily

This is sweet Alexander. My new Amigo !!