Praising

I love living in Macas. I love teaching and I love my students and fellow teachers. What a blessing it is for me to have the opportunity to be here, serving Jesus as best I can,  and learning a new culture and how to walk more closely with my Jesus. I am daily reminded of my insufficiency and His Great Sufficiency and Provision. 


Learning to wake up everyday knowing I must get on my knees and ask for this provision has been a journey of much spiritual growth for me! And because I am a stubborn girl sometimes, The Lord has had to teach this to me the hard way. But I am learning to be thankful, grateful, for those lessons...without them, there would be no learning and growth! 


This past week, my Grandaddy Loftin passed away. When I left home in June, I knew this would probably be the last time I would see G'Daddy, but the realization of this last week was a tough burden to bear. I think being so far from home, not being able to fly home for the services, has made the news a little easier to deal with, not feeling the full effects until I get home probably. But Oh, how I have longed to be home with my family, to sit, grieve, and comfort, just be there to encourage. The Lord had other plans in mind for me here, for reasons I may not know until I am with Him.

On another friends blog, I read a quotation from a newsletter written in 2002 by Elisabeth Elliot (who is my favorite author) about missionary Amy Carmichael:

When I was fourteen I learned of an Irish missionary named Amy Carmichael whom I never met—a down-to-earth mystic whose beautiful writings captivated my imagination. She had gone first to Japan, where in her room she had two words written on the wall: Yes, Lord.

Through the providence of God she went then to South India, where, as an itinerant evangelist, she soon discovered the evils of the Hindu temples where little girls and boys were used in unspeakably wicked ways. At first she could not believe such treatment of innocent children but soon discovered that things were far worse than she had imagined. She prayed earnestly for their deliverance and was able, over some fifty years, to make a home for many of these children. She wrote, “I would never urge one to come to the heathen unless he felt the burden for souls and the Master’s call, but oh! I wonder so few do. It does cost something. Satan is tenfold more of a reality to me today than he was in England, and very keenly that awful home-longing cuts through and through one sometimes—but there is a strange deep joy in being here with Jesus.


“Praising helps more than anything. Sometimes the temptation is to give way and go in for a regular spell of homesickness and be of no good to anybody. Then you feel the home prayers, and they help you to begin straight off and sing, 'Glory, glory, Hallelujah,’ and you find your cup is ready to overflow again after all.”


This week, I've been feeling that "home-longing" cut through me, but I have also felt that "strange deep joy" in being where Jesus wants me to be. What a beautiful love! I am praising Jesus that He has brought me to Macas to teach these precious children about Him. And I have deeply felt the prayers of so many friends and families at home...THANK YOU. My cup is very full of "Hallelujahs" and is ready to be poured out again. 


Thank you dearly for your sweet emails and encouragement during this ugly-beautiful time. The Lord has taken the ugly and is making it beautiful. G'Daddy is in Heaven, free from his burdened, earthly body and is rejoicing with the angels around the Throne! What could be more beautiful?! He might even have a pocket full of tootsie rolls and a Coke in his hand! :) 

The Macabean Life

Just to give you a glimpse of the day to day experiences in Macas, I took my camera around "town" Saturday to capture some of the city views! 

This was the beautiful sunrise view sitting on my bed looking out my windows one morning...This is one of my favorite times of the day...spending time in The Lord with such a majestic sunrise, different every morning!

Down the street from our apartment- houses with drying laundry is a quite common sight.

The top of this small mountain is where I hiked a few months ago to see the beautiful views of the entire city of Macas.

My favorite fruit and veggie store, owned by a precious little lady who teaches me a lot every time I visit her!

My grocery store

Where you might want to buy live chickens...if you're into that kind of thing. I prefer mine to be frozen. :)

Small fruits and veggies market to the left, and the Super Tia Grocery store on the right. They have frozen chicken!! But just look at that sky!

The verse we are memorizing in all my classes this month is 1 Thes. 5:17 "Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."

There is always, always, always something to be thankful for, no matter what the situation! 

Be always joyful!

Much love to you from Macas!

-Laura

Catching Up!

Baking cookies! A few weeks ago, some of the high school girls came over to our apt to bake cookies! Alyssa, our chef, taught us all (or some) of her secrets!

This is Diana, one of my roommates! She is from Cuenca, a city 5 hours away from Macas and speaks only a little English! I've been giving English lessons to her at night- we end up talking from the heart, which is great practice and great encouragement as well!

The City is doing LOTS of water pipes work around town--for many months! This week, they've been outside our apartment, which makes for some noisy mornings!

This is our church service! Columna de Verdad- Column of Truth. This is the gym of the school during the week, but on Sundays, this is church! We have one worship service at 10am which lasts a little over 2 hours. After the worship time, all the children go to Sunday school while the grown-ups stay for the sermon with Pastor Domingo (Spanish for "Sunday") how appropriate! :)

After church last week, we went out to eat at one of our favorite restaurants, Don Vichi, and had a delicious meal for $2.50, which is on the high-end in Macas! This is roasted chicken, "salad," a maduro (a very ripe banana roasted on the grill- delicious!) and of course, a huge helping of rice. It's just not a meal without rice. :)

Andrea got the Tilipia Fritada.

This is Unidad Educativa Cristiana Emanuel, or Emanuel Christian School (UECE), where I am teaching! Lots of life and love here! Pray for The Lord to work in the hearts here.

This is Teacher Miryam, and also Roommate Miryam! She is from Ecuador and speaks 4 languages! I am loving having her company at the apartment and at school! She is teaching all the advanced English students and is a busy lady! 

Guess what I found. Well, amiga Andrea found it at the market, knowing I'd been dying for one. A Sweet Potato!! Look how beautiful! It was bright, barney purple color! on the outside too! Tasted pretty much like an orange sweet potato. Thank you Lord for comfort foods from home with a beautiful, new twist! Isn't He creative!?

Pray for our students and teachers at UECE that Christ would be glorified daily.

Thank you for your prayers and encouragement!

Love to you from Macas!