Gritar

This is the spanish word for "shout", I believe, and I'm merely saying this to send a "shout out" to my boy, Brett Heim. I just had the best time talking with him, and if you don't know him yet, you should seek him out and GET to know him. He's a man who truly seeks God's will for his life and is desiring God above all else... those are the kinds of friends the Lord has blessed me with, and I'm eternally grateful. Thanks, God...

I don't want to detract from the AMAZING thing God blessed me with yesterday, so this post will be short, with the theme being "please read yesterday's blog and watch the video if you haven't already and praise the Lord with me for how Incredible He is". The second theme is "if you have already read it, read it again and praise the Lord for how Amazing He is". And the third theme... well, you get the picture.

Today SMAC happened again, and we got to go through Philippians 2:1-4 and translate it, helping them learn English and, Lord willing, sharing the light of Christ with them. It is one of my favorite (and most convicting) passages, and it reads:

1If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Verses 5-15 are also the bomb, so please go look them up read them! After the Bible translation, we filled-in-the-blanks to "No One Like You" by David Crowder. That song is sweet, and I hope and pray that the people are really listening to the words...

I met with Mirian again today to help her with her tourism thing, and afterwards went to the college to teach the professors English. After discovering that they had postponed it to tomorrow without letting neither John Mark nor me know, we headed off down town in search of an Ecuador soccer jersey. After successfully purchasing one in preparation for tomorrow's HUGE game against Columbia, we went back to the house, went out to dinner with the team from Alabama that's here, came back, and after having a delightful conversation with the aforementioned man of God, I am here now.

Oh- quick story from last night, too... some dogs were going crazy last night as I was walking home, trying to bite me and pursuing me, so I had to walk backwards to make sure they didn't get too close. During the walking-backward, once the dogs had pretty much given up (due to my taunting them), I fell into a man-hole. Yes, they have them here in Ecuador, too. And it was only my right leg, but it was definitely a surprise. No real injuries, praise the Lord, and my initial reaction was actually laughing at myself, thinking "I deserved that", because I had thought myself "the man" for a fleeting moment because animals 1/10 my size were afraid of me when I made a move towards them. I wish I had a camera to share it with you, and I hope you visualize this and laugh. And then read the blog below and glorify God for who He is and what He's done here in Ecuador.