Dios es Bueno

Wow. It´s been a whirlwind of a week! So much has happened and I feel like there is so much I want to say but I don´t even know where to begin!! Before I left for Masuco, I was having a really hard time. I was having one of those days where I was just done. Ready to go home. Ready to be finished with it all and be in the comfort of my own home. But God showed up and met me where I was at. I gave the devotional for our group on Tuesday and the word that the Lord had given me was ¨My grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness.¨ God was so good. He gave me the refreshment and the power I needed. When I am weak, He is strong and He proved Himself to be faithful. I think a lot of the team were at that place of weakness but praise God, He is strong and has been helping us all along the way!

Well, we made it to Masuco just in time. The roads were pretty rough, and were dirt roads most of the way. It took about 4 1-2 to 5 hours to get there. It started to rain just as we were unloading so it was definitely good we made it when we did. Our hotel rooms were quite small and very interesting. I actually split myself up between two rooms. Originally, I was going to share a twin size bed with one of the team members but another girl on my team had an extra bed so I slept in her room. There were bugs everywhere of course. And it was somewhat funny taking showers at this place because the shower was like 2 inches away from the toilet. There was no toilet seat of course and the water was very cold. Haha. Plus the water didn´t always like to stay in the bathroom. Oh yeah, not to mention, I had some ants visit my bag the second night. I went to get my stuff out and found a couple hundred of them crawling around my bag! They found some crackers that had accidentally opened up and decided to go after them. It was a fun little experience for me! =) Oh did I also mention that at this hotel, they turn the electricity out on everyone at about 11:30 or 12 every night. And then at about 5:30AM, everyone that works at the hotel gets up and starts working and turns on the tv and makes a whole bunch of noise. Needless to say, the nights were short and I did not get a whole lot of sleep but praise God, He´s been giving us all the supernatural energy we need!

Well lets see, what are some highlights and some short stories for you in Masuco. For starters, it was much cooler than in Puerto Maldonado! And we also had some rain!! In Masuco, we had the dental clinics and the medical clinics set up. Then we attempted to do sewing classes. I helped as best as I could with that but there were two problems with me helping. 1. I don´t know how to sew. 2. I don´t know Spanish fluently. It was definitely a stretch and we only had a few people show up but God helped us with that! We had some trouble with the sewing machines too so that made it difficult as well. We VBS for the kids and the services at night with the church. It was great to be there and to encourage the church. It was the first time GO had ever been to this area! What a blessing to be a part of it! The team has been really great too and I have enjoyed getting to know some of the people on the team. They have been an encouragment to me. It´s been so wonderful to see how God has been working through each one of us and bringing all of our stories together and speaking through each person on the team. So I was supposed to give a devotional on Wednesday but didn´t feel ready and wanted a little break. So another guy on our team was asked to do it. He agreed and what he shared was something I definitely needed to hear. He talked about how we need to learn to be in tune with the Spirit. He said when we were in this one town, he had the thought to go ask this kid to kick the soccer ball to him and to play with him. But he was tired and didn´t really want to. He had turned around and just when he decided he would play with the boy, he saw that the ball had gone into the street and had hit someone on a motorcycle and the man on the motorcycle had gone down. No one was hurt and everything was ok but he realized that the Lord had given him an opportunity and he had missed it. And it could have turned out a lot worse.

So Ron just shared about how we need to be in tune with the Spirit and be asking the Lord where He is at and what He is doing and what He wants us to do. I really needed to hear that word because it was just the day before that I had been talking to the Lord about a word He had given me. Someone shared with me that God wanted to show me great things and to expect Him to do great things in my life. So I´ve been sitting here saying, ¨Okay Lord, I´m waiting! What are you going to do?¨And I´v been doing nothing. It hit me like a ton of bricks. Well He´s not gonna do anything cause I´m not actively involving myself. I´m just sitting on the sidelines. I need to be asking the Lord, okay, what do you want me to do! So that´s what I¨ve been doing the past two days and you know, it´s been neat to see Him already work and speak to me!

The other night, I was sitting in church, all nice and comfortable and ready for the events of the night. Then a thought came to my mind. Who´s sharing their testimonies. No one had really said. Then I got the feeling that I was supposed to share. And then I had a feeling that Larry was going to call me up to share. You see, Larry Cochran has this thing with me and my family. Whenever we are on a trip with him, he will ask us any time to get up and share a testimony. We always have to be ready. So I usually just wait for Larry to tell me that I´m going. And well, what do you know. I´m sitting there in the service and he gets up and says I´d now like Michelle Cravens to come up and share a word. Hah! Thanks Larry! It was good though. God was with me and gave me the Lord and it was so awesome to see how my testimony and the testimony of the other woman that shared from our team came together. God knew what He was up to. I´m excited to continue to see Him work in ways like this! =)

Well, I´m finishing up my time with this team. We had to Cusco tomorrow and I get to see Macchu Picchu on Saturday. Then I fly to Lima on Sunday and my parents leave Sunday night. I¨ll be in Lima another 12 days then head to Yurimaguas. I´m starting to get excited and a little nervous about that trip. Apparently we´ll spend two days in Yurimaguas then head up river to another town. It´ll take a day to get there by boat. And I´m thinking conditions are gonna be pretty primitive! I might even be eating some bugs! Haha! I´m excited about the adventure. As much as I hate being uncomfortable and in the hot weather and having to pop a squat over a small hole (maybe that was too much info!), I can honestly say there is a peace and a joy about it all. I love the adventure. And I love the fact that this is where I am supposed to be. That I am in the center of God´s will right now. That´s always the best place to be! =)

I need to get going but please keep me in your prayers as I travel over the next few days. Also pray for my left eye. I think I got an infection in it yesterday and it´s a little irritated. The vision is a little worse in it and the glasses don´t really help to correct it. I´ve got some meds in it but just pray that I won´t have any more problems.

God bless and thanks so much for all your prayers!!

-Michelle