Day 5

Hi everyone,

Today we officially finished training for our drama! We are now ready to perform them in Ecuador! whoohoo!

As I was up on the forth floor of the hotel around noon, I heard music being played down at the center of the hotel. Being my curious self, I went four floors down towards the lobby and people on the trip were playing worship music. We had a guitar and flute going. It was really neat worshiping right in the center because other guests in the hotel would walk by appearing really intrigued. As time passed by, more and more people from the trip joined the spontaneous worship. A leader talked about how when we worship God, we worship in spirit and truth. And so he suggested that instead of singing the actual verses of the song, we would make up our own words, our own song to God. We sing whatever we feel in our heart. Would you rather have someone sing you a song written by someone else or a song that they wrote for you? I'm guessing that the second choice is the more favored one. In the same way, God's probably like that. Even David poured his heart out to God by writing songs to Him (look at psalms). This was a unique experience because I'm used to singing songs that were written by Christian artists rather than singing by pulling words from my own heart and making my own song to Him. (ok i really don't know if that makes sense at all...it's late)

At FUAGNEM, we had youth revival. As I mentioned earlier, I am one of the four people picked to share a message. I was SO NERVOUS speaking in front of 350-400 people. My palms were sweating, my voice was trembling and I could feel my hands slightly shaking while holding my flash cards. I would keep reminding myself throughout the day that God gave me the message to give to others and that my words are actually His words. That I can do all things throuh him who strengthens me. that even though I'm weak, He will still use me. Even through I was nervous I knew that I just had to because if I can't handle the little things God gives me, how can I handle the bigger things? Thank God for my loving teammates who prayed for me before I spoke and for a dear team leader of mine who let me practice in front of her a couple times. Also, huge thanks to Abby who was the first to know about this and cheered me on. but anyway..... I DID IT :D!!! even though I made some mistakes and actually admitted that I was nervous, the people on this trip are so encouraging and just continued to cheer me on. After I spoke, people would go up to me and tell me that my message really spoke to them and encouraged them. One girl even told me that she was struggling with fear and was looking for a specific verse that talked about it but she couldn't find it. but then i just happened to include it in my message! coincidence? more like God's perfect timing. Even though people on my trip may feel encouraged by the message, I think I feel even MORE encouraged by their words knowing that God actually used me to encourage others. In a way, it was good that I was fearful of sharing the message God laid on my heart because I was forced to trust God to give me the strength and confidence. I'm taking over fear one step at a time. baby steps, people!

GUESS WHAT!!?!?!? I'm flying to ECUADOR tomorrow!!! :D SO EXCITED!!! Man, it's going to be great. can't wait to just love on people! well it's 2:33 am, so off to bed I go! Thanks for all the prayers and support! hope y'all are doing well!

love,
michelle