Ecuador 2012, Part 1

Ecuador.  Where do I even start?  If you have kept up, you know my feelings were a lot different this time around.

I'm thankful for those feelings.  I went into this trip worried I was a lukewarm Christian and I left knowing I didn't have to sell everything and move to another country to be on fire for the Lord.

If you know me in real life, you know I am a crier.  I cry all the time and at anything.  I cried a lot on the trip.  One night in particular, we headed to a local small group in Curia, the little town where we were staying.  Let me first tell you how much I wanted to go.  I didn't.  Not at all.  It had rained all day and was misting/raining.  My bedroom is larger than most houses in Curia, so small group was being held outside since there were twenty of us and probably another ten to fifteen people from Curia.  Now, you can bet your bottom dollar I would have skipped small group if I had to go sit in the rain for two hours in the United States.  If I had to go, I would have complained the whole time.

In Ecuador?  I shut my mouth and went.  And was transformed that night.  I love to watch people worship.  I think a lot of people are less guarded when they worship and it inspires me.  Well, watching our team and the local Ecuadorians worship the Lord in the rain, in two different languages, brought me to tears.

How could these people be so happy in the rain and unguarded in front of strangers?  I certainly wouldn't be like that.  I hardly ever TRULY let my guard down, even in front of my family and my best friends.  I am guarded with my friends and family, and in turn, am guarded with God.  I don't know why, and I don't like it.  He is the ONLY ONE I can truly be unguarded with because He is the ONLY ONE who knows everything about me and doesn't judge.

Those people who let their guard down and just worshiped without a care to the rain or the language difference- they aren't lukewarm.  In any way at all.  I need to be like that.  I need to work on this.

I don't want this trip to be another mission trip where I am fired up for a week or two or even a month or two and then I've forgotten everything.  I want this to ignite a change in me that lasts.  I hope this trip, if anything, continues to teach me how to let my guard down and not be lukewarm.

Sweet Ecuadorian kids worshiping

By the way, this is Part 1 of I don't know how many.  There will be more posts on Ecuador over the next week or so, especially since I'll be laid up from surgery.