Hello! Thank you everyone for your support and prayers!
We did make it to Guatemala after several trials and obstacles. After we got home from the ER, my parents booked another flight for the next day, where we would have to fly to Miami, FL and then take a connecting flight to Guatemala. We actually found out later that night, that the Kidsquest team who had gone to Guatemala had prayed right before they left for my mom, and here in Georgia, the pain stopped at that time, which was a really cool way God showed us the power of prayer. Then, the next day, we took our flight to Miami, but there was a huge storm right over the city, and we weren\'t able to land, so they grounded us in Tampa. It was night by the time we made it to Miami, so we booked a hotel and another flight for the next day and prayed that we would make it. We did finally, and were able to go to two of the clinics.
Another way God showed us the power of prayer was on Wednesday, when one of the moms on our team got a really bad headache. I wasn\'t in the car with them, but they shared her story later that evening when we were having a debrief time. She had woken up with it and it was so bad she could hardly think, but Dr. Herman (who was the leading doctor and founder of the ministry) led everyone in their car to pray for her and they prayed over and over until the headache suddenly just went away. Additionally, when we were at the sharing stations and got to talk with the people from the Guatemalan villages, one of the main things that was so incredible were stories of how people prayed and God answered. One woman I got to speak with explained how their church had prayed and God healed several of their members.
One verse that really spoke to me was John 15:16-17 which says \"You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit - fruit that will last - and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command; love each other.\" This is why prayer is so powerful. So many times in America, we pray for money, for things to turn out in our favor, or for other people to like us. However, these things may not be The LORD\'s plan for us. In Guatemala, these people are praying for survival, but always, they always pray for others first. They would pray for their families, their church or community, and even be praying for us, and then themselves. Through answered prayer, God pulls them to Him, and people come to believe. In America, we so often lose sight of what God is doing around us, because we have created solutions that we credit with healing, profit, success. It is truly and only God that is doing these things.
The last clinic day, our group met for debrief, and we talked about what we needed to change and what we had learned from this trip that we felt God had placed on our hearts for when we returned. One thing for me is that I need to surrender everything I have to God, and this is a daily struggle to live with open hands. Another thing is how we can be bold with our family and friends in sharing the Gospel. In Guatemala, it was so easy for us to step out and share, but at home we are so fearful. One, we are fearful of rejection, because we\'re going to have to see these people again, and two, that God won\'t show up in the way we want Him to.
We need The LORD; He won\'t forsake us or leave us, even when it feels like He hasn\'t shown up, and that is one prayer that I ask you to pray for, that I would have the courage to trust that God is with me always and will always show up even in my weakness when I feel like I can\'t say anything right or moving, because He is the one that makes it happen. We can plant the seed, but only God can grow it. It isn\'t up to us to convince someone to believe or convince someone to turn to God in repentence. God is the only one who can change hearts, but we can share this wonderful truth we have and the good news of a God who loved us so much that He sent His son to live a perfect life and take on the punishment of all our sins and die, but then rise again and conquer death, so that we could be with God eternally if we believe in Him and repent.
Thank you so much for reading and for supporting me and my family this entire journey! I hope you have been blessed through this as well,
Ellie