Hola Friends,
What is the first word you think of for the word prayer? This question was asked of me as the beginning of our prayer conference. Prayer has a significant meaning and truly the way to commune to God. I believe the power of God is evident when people stand together to pray for specific request. Therefore, prayer builds character, breaks your heart for God´s heart, and truly humbles you to see the people around you. I believe prayer has the ability to make you become less of yourself and more like Christ. It´s not easy nor is it fast. One of my team memebers said that prayer is a process. I believe that is what God wants each of us to know and own for ourselves that praying for something or someone takes process. A process of depending on God and being reshaped for God´s plans for your life. Prayer to me is digging deeper with God and letting go of my control and being open to the Holy Spirit´s direction for my life.
During the week, I´ve had the opportunity to experience Spanish churches come together and devote themselves to prayer for their country and people. I´ve been broken for Spain as I heard the lifestyles of the Spaniards. It was anexperience to partner with another church and do a prayer walk around the community. This prayer walk was completely different than what I have ever experienced. We were a group of 30 or 40 people with banners that had Jesus´ name and Bible verses. As well as a megaphone to sing songs. As we walked through the streets, there were a lot of blank faces which made me feel uncomfortable. Our prayer walk felt more like a protest for Jesus because we were loud and definitely showed what we believe. It was different and hard to be a part of it but I´m glad I did it as a way to see another perspective of how the Christian Spaniards are on fire for God. Their passion led them to speak openly and declare who God is.
The next day, we spent time in the older part of Caceres to prayer walk within this community. Our team leader told the history of Caceres and then we prayer for specific areas of need like the Spaniards to receive Christ even though they have been hurt by the Catholic church. Other request were for the Evangelical church to reach out to the Catholic church and truly show them the purpose to living for Christ alone. We prayed for spiritual deadness and how so many of the Spaniards are fearful to trust and accept Christ.
Next we prayed for the different ministries that each missionaries have started and has really have had success. We travelled to Alburquerque and the different pueblos like San Vicente de Alcantara and Valencia de Alcantara. Within these pueblos, there is one Evangelical church or none at all. Like San Vicente de Alcantara had no church and maybe a couple of Believers but no one to really help disciple them deeper in their relationship with God. This truly broke my heart because I had read about the unreached people and now to see and hear with my own eyes is reality. It´s hard to imagine a town without the Gospel and sometimes it seems unreal. After experiencing the unreached area, the task of spreading the Gospel is daunting. Yet I had to learn to not have the task become overwhelming but at the same time, there is a desperate need for the Gospel. Only God can bring the workers out into the field that is hungering and thirsting for His rich Word of truth.
The next location was Bejar which is located in the mountains. This place was gorgeous and it reminded me of home being in the mountain region. However, this place only had one Evangelical church and the small pueblos around this location, those who are Believers, have 1 hour of driving to get to church. However, because of limited jobs, families have to choose either outting money for gas or for food on the table. This also, broke my heart to realize that I have the Gospel at my disposal and yet I´m not using the preciousness of it to learn.The Believers at Bejar church had a prayer meeting which I had the privilege of being a part of it. We split into English and Spanish speaking groups and we just started praying for needs of more workers, jobs, youth to have the passion of God, and the wisdom for the church leaders in knowing how to reach out to the people of Bejar.
One of the memebers, Moncy, told us her story of teaching at an English academy and that day, she was persecuted verbally for sharing about Christ. She was given permission to express before hand but someone thought she did not have permission and so it became a terrible scene. My heart just broke in two at hearing her battle but she persist in Christ to keep sharing. This was mind opening to first experience a sister in Christ fighting for God and being hurt verbally. We prayed for her and later I had a chance to just pray for her through a translater. This family of Christ asked us if there was anything we need prayer for and we just sat in amazement and humbleness to be asked of something that we did not think about. It was a blessing to be prayed for by the Spaniards and truly their hearts were Spirit led to ask God´s power over us as we continue our time in Spain. After the meeting, they wanted to talk to us and ask questions through translation. They didn´t care if we spoke Spanish it was a blessing that they wanted to be in our presence and vice versa.
Thurdays, we travelled to Velille outside of Madrid to visit a mission agency called Decision and had the chance to pray for God to continue his work within this agency. Then Friday, we finished our prayer conference praying in groups for 4 different stations. Each station was a people group or location that we had visited, so it was good to pray again. We had more of a perspective of each area or pueblos to pray for them. To be honest, the whole week of prayer was a battle because Satan did not want me to grow deeper in my relationship with God, however, the more he tried to fight me, the more I drew closer to God. I depended on God to be my hope, joy, and security as I endured times of struggle and restlessness. I thank God for the opportunities to grow and experience Spanish culture. Know the people is my favorite, even when I could not communicate. It´s true that nonverbals speak loud and clear because I get to know them through expressions and love.
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