He must increase and I must decrease

During our lecture phase we had a week on discipleship where we talked about what it costs to follow Jesus. We were asked what rights we were willing to give up... Food, family, entertainment, etc... The past two weeks we have had a lesson in what it means to give up some if our "rights". We started by spending a couple nights sleeping in a moldy church and then progressed to camping in the mountains, which was absolutely beautiful, but it was cold and rained almost constantly. It is a miracle that none of us got really sick. Each day we learned to  gather and cut firewood, cook our meals on the fire, and hike up the mountain a ways to wash our dishes or use the washroom. There were outdoor showers but it was too cold to shower so we went a week without a shower. I really enjoyed the camping experience. It had it's challenges but it was good and taught our team to really work together. Then we moved back to the moldy church for a couple of days. We were grateful to a least have access to a shower and feel the sun again. We felt like God wanted us to go minister to hippies in Valle San Rey and one of the friends we made on Tenerife has a small shack here where we were supposed to stay. On Sunday he was supposed to meet us to give us the key except he never showed so we waited for him until Tuesday and then decided to just go anyways. And so our faith journey began. 

Before we left we prayed and asked God to provide a place for us to sleep. Some people were praying for a nice apartment but I felt like praying that God would position us in a place where we could have the greatest impact for Him regardless of how nice it was. Little did I know how God would answer my prayer.  We got the swimming pool the one person prayed for but it came in the form of the sea instead. When we arrived in Valle Gran Rey the place where we parked the car ended up being the main gathering spot right. It was a God thing. After talking with people we learned that we could sleep at a nudest beach just down the road. According to the law you can technically sleep on that beach but you just can't camp there or set up a tent or anything. So we have been calling this beach home since Tuesday. There was a bad wind storm which cleared out most of the nudests until today--which was nice for us but made sleeping a challenge. The cool thing has been that it has given us an opportunity to connect more with some of the hippees and get a taste of their life as a lot of them also live there. Simple things like a toilet, a bed to sleep on, a shelter from the wind, rain, and sun, a chair to sit on, easy access to drinking water, etc... All have become luxuries which I am looking forward to experiencing again. It has been a challenge this week operating with not much sleep and still having a grateful attitude. I am sleeping in an amazing place but I am really looking forward to going back to Tenerife next week. Jesus said that, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” (Matt. 8:20) we have been experiencing a taste of what Jesus was talking about. The question remains: Are we really willing to pay the cost to really follow Jesus? 

It has been cool to see how God answered my prayer even though it was mot the answer I would have chosen. It has been a cool experience and I know God is doing something here. My heart goes out to the hippees and druggies that we meet each night. I know God has a purpose and plan for them. This place is all about being open to all spiritual stuff which makes it hard to share the Gospel but I believe that God is doing a work in their hearts. 

Next week our leaders are going to stay here and continue ministering to them while the rest of us return to Tenerife. I will be leading the team during their absence. Please pray for wisdom for me.

Some photos:

The rain cloud in the mountain at our campsite.

Our campsite.

The view from our campsite in the mountains. I hiked down there to the nearest village (1 hour hike down) to the nearest grocery store.

Drying our laundry in a park while staying at the church.

One of the places where I have slept at the beach (we kept changing it each night).

Sunset!

Blessings!

Psalm 19

Heaven is declaring god's glory; the sky is proclaiming his handiwork....Psalm 19:1

There is nothing quite like watching the sun peek over the mountains in the morning while meditating on God's awesomeness!

Radio!

This week a couple of us had the awesome opportunity to share on a Christian radio station here. On my heart lately has been the need to get back to the basics and just preach that Jesus came to die for us because he loves us immensely and so that we can know Him. John 1:1-5 has been particularly on my heart in particular. In the beginning was the Word and that the Word is light and darkness can't extinguish it. So on Friday I had the opportunity to read God's word over the airways here and preach about Jesus. It was really cool. 

Here is a picture of two of our team members in the radio station.

Jesus is King!

Tonight was an incredible night of ministry! I think it was my favorite night so far. A few of us went down to the red light area here in the late afternoon feeling like we needed to go and just pray and worship God. We found the building where the Living Room, a ministry there is. The ministry is on the top floor and the first couple stories are a strip club. We sat in front of the strip club and sang and just worship God in that place, read scripture out loud, and prayed over the area prophetically. It was amazing. When I arrived my heart felt heavy but when we left I felt like God had transformed the environment. It was awesome. I am reminded if the Israelites who marched around Jericho worshipping God and as they were obedient God brought the walls down. Now to continue to pray and watch what God does in that place.