Wednesday, May 16, 2012

The End of the World

           After eight months of traveling, living in cars, sleeping in the most random places you can imagine, and having plans flip-flopped every ten minutes, we’ve finally arrived at the pinnacle we’ve been waiting for.  We’ve reached the bottom of the world; we’ve made it to the tip of South America.

When the vision for the Iris Latin America trip was birthed in 2010, Jesse and Tanya (our team leaders) felt led to not only share the gospel in every country in Latin America, but specifically to travel all the way to the very bottom of South America.  They yearned to ignite revival fire from the tip of the continent and let it fan to flame up the rest of the Latin world.

            While in Santiago, Chile, we decided to leave our vehicles at a YWAM base and take a series of buses and ferries to the tip of South America rather than driving.  This would save us time, money, and the hassle of driving through winter weather with our clumsy fleet of vehicles.

            Our ultimate goal was to reach Argentina’s Ushuaia, the southernmost city on the planet, literally deemed “the End of the World”.  Getting to Ushuaia required weaving in and out of Chile and Argentina various times, through a beautiful but circuitous route.

            After days of travel, while stopped at a random bus station in Argentina, we were forced with two choices.  We could spend the night in this town and bus directly to Ushuaia in the morning. Or, we could board another bus within the hour and take a less direct route to Ushuaia, stopping in the Chilean city of Punta Arenas along the way. 

            In my mind, it clearly made sense to wait a day and take the direct bus route to Ushuaia.  However, Tanya reminded us that we needed God to order our steps and asked us all to pray for a moment.  Immediately, the Lord showed me that we were going to Punta Arenas.  Though this made no sense to me, I knew the illogical plan was from God when all my teammates said the same thing.  An hour later, we were on a bus back to Chile.

            Upon arrival to Punta Arenas, a few of my teammates went to find a hostel for our group, and we ended up across the street from a small church.  I hadn’t even noticed the humble graffitied building when we arrived, but the following morning, worship music flooded the air.  Taylor noticed some familiar songs and was overcome with a desire to worship.  He walked over to the church, hoping to sneak in for a few moments, worship and then head back to the hostel.

            However, his plan to remain under the radar was quickly interrupted as he was approached by several people from the church who wanted to know more about him.  A teenager who spoke English asked Taylor some questions and relayed to the pastor that Taylor was a missionary passing through.  The church had a desire to send out missionaries and asked Taylor if they could pray for him, excited to be receiving a missionary in their church.  Taylor went up to the front to receive prayer; and afterwards, he spoke a few prophetic words over the church.  As he spoke, several people began to weep, amazed that this young guy from the states was speaking the very words on their hearts.  It was clear that the Lord was moving.

            When the pastor found out there were twenty more of us across the street, he was very excited.  He invited us all to worship at the church later that evening.  We were greeted by several youths who warmly hugged and kissed us, as well as offered us warm drinks and sweet cakes.  I liked this place already.  As we spoke to the youth, we realized that we had the same heartbeat for ministry.  The parallels between our vision and theirs were so strong that I was overwhelmed by God’s divine hand in this connection.  Turns out, the church began to receive prophetic words in 2010 about lighting revival fire, starting at their church, and blazing throughout the rest of the continent.  Jesse and Tanya had birthed almost an identical vision in 2010 while living on the other side of the world in Mozambique, Africa.  As we compared timing and vision, we realized it was no accident we’d been re-routed to Punta Arenas.

            Though we´d planned to just pass through and quickly find a bus to Ushuaia, the church asked us to stay for a week, offering to host us in family homes.  We gladly accepted, and my friend Melissa and I were put in a house with three little girls.  The girls were extremely excited to have two new roommates, playmates, entertainers, and live-in jungle gyms. 

            Throughout the week, we partnered in ministry with the church in various ways.  One afternoon, our team gathered with the youth to worship and pray together. Afterwards, we decided to hit the streets.  Before approaching anyone, we asked the Lord for whom He wanted us to pray.  My group received some weird pictures that seemingly didn’t go together--penguins, a scarf vendor, a group of girlfriends, a bicycle, and the name Camilla.  As we walked to the main plaza in Punta Arenas, we noticed a booth where a vendor was selling scarves.  As we got closer, we saw that he was also selling penguin stuffed animals.  A group of girls approached the booth, one of them on a bike.  We greeted the girls and asked their names.  One of them said her name was Camilla.  I laughed, realizing how all these odd images had suddenly worked together.  We asked the girls if we could pray for them, and I pulled one of them aside to prophecy over her.  I told her that God had chosen her as a leader, and her peers would follow her example.  I explained that this was both a blessing and a great responsibility.  I could see the wheels turning in her mind.  One of the girls from the church asked her about her personal faith.  The girl said she wanted to accept Jesus into her heart right then and there.  I couldn’t believe a mental picture of a penguin, some scarves, and a bike had gotten us here.

            The rest of the week with the church was a huge blessing and encouragement to all of us.  We had a church wide service on Friday night before we moved on to Ushuaia and felt an unexplainable heart connection to the congregation.  My teammates and I prayed for a guy with pain in his knees who wept after being healed of all pain.  During worship, I saw him jumping up and down, excitedly leaping for the Lord, knees good as new. 

            That night, the church blessed us with an incredibly generous offering as well as prayers for our team.  Person after person after person hugged and kissed each one of us, weeping with joy that God had brought us together.  I don’t think I’ve ever felt so loved by a group of strangers in my life.  But we all knew our vision and heart for the Lord matched so perfectly and intimately that it could only stem from God’s love.  Our connection was so strong that for the first time in eight months, I left a city in tears, so overwhelmed by the love I felt in my heart.

            To make things even better, one of the men we met in Punta Arenas connected us to a church in Ushuaia and arranged for us to be warmly received and housed for free during our time there as well.  After twelve hours on a bus, we were greeted by a smiling gray man who escorted us to a cozy church in the center of Ushuaia.  A huge hot meal was waiting for us, as well as an eager group of youths who wanted to hang out with us throughout the week. 

            We enjoyed the beauty of this incredible city, half-stunned that after eight long months of travel, we’d finally reached the end of the world.  Despite my disdain for cold weather, I must admit that even I was impressed by the majestic beauty of the snow-covered mountains in Ushuaia.  The reflection of the mountains glittered in the bay, and wispy clouds decorated the sky.

            My team spent the week teaching at a YWAM base and partnering with a few local churches.   At one service, Ben and I prayed for a little girl who had constant pain in her legs.  Her mom said the pain got especially bad in her knees when she played.  We prayed for complete healing, and the little girl burst into tears as she explained that she didn’t feel pain anymore.  Moments later, I noticed her running around with her friends, a smile beaming on her face. 

            Ben and I also had the opportunity to pray for a young man, probably in his thirties, who had just lost his wife.  We tried to speak words of encouragement over him, but our hearts broke at his pain.  I hugged this grieving stranger as he cried in my arms, wishing I could magically mend his heart.

            Ben got choked up as he reminded the man, “She is in a beautiful place.  She’s home now.  She’s home….” 

            As Ben spoke these words, the man smiled and nodded.  “I know it´s true,” he declared.  “I see her in my dreams, and she is happy.  She is singing in my dreams.”

            Sobering moments like these remind me of why I am on this trip.  Sure, I love traveling and seeing new places.  I love seeing people healed of physical conditions and jumping around pain-free.  I love teaching at YWAM and speaking at churches and sharing stories with congregations.  But what I love the most is seeing peoples’ hearts touched by the love of God.  I love that even in the most tragic of situations, I can see a glimmer of hope that only God can give.  Life is short and hard sometimes, but what an amazing gift it is to have faith in something greater.  My time in Chile and Argentina has been such a humbling period of experiencing God’s love in my life and seeing it in others.  And as much as I am excited by the vision of revival fire spreading throughout Latin America, I know that the most important thing is spreading LOVE.  Without it, every miracle, healing, and prophetic word is meaningless. 

            In two days, I will get on a bus again and begin the journey back north.  After heading south for eight months, we will finally be driving towards home!  I am excited for all the adventures ahead of us, but I know the greatest thing we will experience is deeper levels of God´s incredible love.  I miss and love you all and pray that you are experiencing His awesome love in your hearts as well. xox