Headed to Salasaka

Last night we picked up the First Baptist Church Rocky Mount team from the airport. Mrs. Ruby & I will head to Salasaka this morning to work with them in their REAP community. Just after meeting them briefly last night, I am so excited to spend the rest of this week with them! We have so much to learn from each other and have so much excitement to share about taking the gospel to the nations. I believe God is going to use them greatly this week in building relationships with the Quichua people of Salasaka.

This week we enter into a place of darkness. A community with very little evangelical presence. Rituals and false hope fills their religious lives. They pray to the Virgin Mary and the Saints. Sure, they’ve heard of Jesus, but they worship the child Jesus or the crucified, dying Jesus. They do not know the victory of the resurrection and the freedom of salvation. Pray that this week the strongholds of Satan will be broken. Pray that some will begin seeking Truth in the Bible and that for some their search will be over and they will be saved by Jesus Christ and experience true victory and freedom.

I cannot believe that 7 or my 8 weeks here are over! The time has gone by so fast. I got a card from my sister Britney back in June that encouraged me to live to the fullest. Elizabeth Elliot said, “Where ever you are, be all there.” Please pray that I will give of myself in service to my Savior this week by pouring into the people and into this team. I don’t want to hold anything back. I want God to use me. Please pray that God will advance our hearts’ desires to live out His love and gospel this week and our lives!

Finally please pray for our friends, Fabian and Gloria’s big evangelistic campaign this Friday, Saturday, & Sunday as they celebrate the 3rd Anniversary of the church they helped start. Please pray that the community will see Jesus through them as the Gospel is preached and sung and free meals are served.

For Such a Time as This

I have been in Quito for the past several weeks. Living life with Ruby & Fletcher has been a JOY, to say the least! I love being a REAP team member and a niece in the house of my Aunt Ruby & Uncle Fletcher! We’ve had major construction going on in their apartment for the past two weeks and today things are beginning to be put back into place. Four years ago when I lived with them and planned to teach English classes, a volcano erupted a week after I got there! My schedule shift to major disaster relief for the next three months! So hey- what’s a little cement dust! (Okay- I know Aunt Ruby- it was more than a little ;) I’m glad to be here…for such a time as this!

My translator project is complete! I presented the re-vamped “Translator Ministry” notebook to Ruby and Fletcher on Wednesday night. Over the past three weeks, I’ve been meeting with small groups of potential translators to share what REAP is, what we believe, and what we expect of them as translators. Now we have updated profiles and pictures ;-) on each of them! I’ve also contacted many through phone calls and e-mails. It has kept me busy and I have loved every minute of it! I love projects that I need a “To Do List” for! I love to organize things and to meet new people so it was a fun job for me. So I am thankful to be here for such a project as this!

I’ve been very thankful for some of the people that I’ve met through this. I made a wonderful new friend with a young woman. Through one of these routine translator meetings, I was drawn to this girl. I knew there was more to know about her beneath the surface. Through reading her profile and a later e-mail from her, I learned of some questions and burdens that she is carrying as a new believer. Since then we’ve been able to meet and talk about these things! It’s been so evident that God orchestrated this whole thing. What a gift this dear friend is to me! Such a reminder that behind every face is a story! Stories of pain and joy. Stories written by God intricate in design and rich in purpose. I know God gave me this translator project for such a friend as this!

Tomorrow morning we leave for the weekend to visit and encourage some friends near Ambato, where I spent a semester with the Dickersons in 2006. We are excited to spend time with these dear friends. They are faithful servants and missionaries to their own people. Just like when I get back to Henderson and Wake Forest, and just like you right where you are right now, God has purpose for us for each day! That purpose never differs from sharing the greatness of our God and living out the Gospel to every person you encounter. God put you exactly where you are for such a time as this. Look for those moments and rejoice in them!!

Please pray for my new friend, for safety as we travel, and for rich encouragement to be exchanged among us and our brothers and sisters-in-Christ this weekend.

Top 10 things I’m thankful for from my 22nd year of life-

1. Ricky Vest officially becoming my brother. (Can’t believe Friday they’ve been married a whole year!)

2. Completing my first year of seminary (including GREEK…with A’s!!!)

3. Family Nights with Britney and John Marks. (What a blessing to be in WF and then in Henderson with them!)

4. C-N-C (aka College-n-Career) @ North Henderson really became a family!

5. Making such incredible, life-long friends at Southeastern. What a gift!!! (Can’t believe this time last year we didn’t even know each others’ names!)

6. The 8 months of the Nikon D-5000 and the first 7 months of the 365 Picture Project!

7. Living only 28 miles from my parents & my home church & being able to serve both again!

8. Another trip to Ecuador- God is so gracious in teaching me and preparing me for the future AND allowing me to serve with Aunt Ruby & Uncle Fletcher plus meeting so many new people!

9. Sunday Nights at the Sanders- Britney and John Marks buying a house in Henderson/the example they are living out for me, other young couple (Cecelia & Tony, Mike & Erica), and the students.

10. Lelia. Enough said :-)

Time to Put the Pieces Together

The Lord has been so good in teaching me this summer. Now it is time to put some of the pieces together. This lesson has themed around the 4th of July. I’m going to give this to you the way I started to realize it, not in the order it all took place. So get ready to rewind with me.

On July 3, I skyped in for Sunday School. The lesson was about how our freedom in Christ leaves no room for selfishness. Now hold your place here and rewind to the previous week that I had spent with Elizabeth. Despite how incredible the week was with her and how privileged I realized that I was, I carried this attitude of entitlement around with me. An entitlement that when Ruby & Fletcher got back from Peru that I didn’t have to speak any more Spanish! Another entitlement was that I would return to all my comforts and my solid community of believers, which was completely ignorant of the struggles of Elizabeth’s life after I go back to NC. As I wrote in a previous blog, the Lord thoroughly convicted me of this on that last morning with her. So needless to say when Sunday School rolled around the next morning, there was no doubt in my mind of my own selfishness. We discussed this concept of entitlement during the lesson that day. The truth is everything that we think we are entitled to actually belongs to God. HE is the one deserving of everything and I deserve nothing! When I claim such entitlement, I exalt myself to the place of thinking I deserve what God deserves instead of being humbled!

Before that day in Sunday School, the Lord had already begun this lesson of how we spend our freedom through an encouraging letter I received the week before from my dear friend Logan. She wrote Galatians 5:13, “For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love, serve one another.” Through her letter, God began to teach me, “Katie, don’t let your freedom in Christ make you think you can do whatever you want. I did not set you free to rule over yourself, but to be free to walk by the Spirit and to love others, and for you, to GO, SERVE, and TELL!”

Now let’s return to Sunday School, the last verse of the lesson was Philippians 3:20 which says, “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” We are made for and eagerly await OUR country. That country is Heaven; as believers we are NOT citizens of this earth! This is a continuous lesson for me. My home is NOT the USA. It is NOT North Carolina. And the hardest of all to realize, my home is NOT where my family is.

That whole Sunday School lesson of entitlement came back to mind as we celebrated the 4th of July with all the IMB missionaries. As Americans in Ecuador that day, I had this attitude that we are entitled to take the day off, to celebrate, and to eat all our favorites! But I spent that day thinking about this citizenship of Heaven. Yes, we are privileged to be US Citizens, I realize that now more than ever, BUT that is a very temporary citizenship. It does not compare to our true citizenship. I am not a citizen of Ecuador, or of the USA, or North Africa/Middle East or any other country the Lord leads me to. My home and my citizenship are in Heaven.

Now rewind with me one more time to the Monday before this lesson. I opened a letter from my newest brother, Ricky. This letter is a priceless treasure. God used his letter to empower me to look courageously at who God has created me to be. My greatest challenge this summer has been working through my desperate fear of what God is going to call me to do in the next four years and in my life. But Ricky’s letter beautifully described my life, my calling, the support and love of my family, and where my home is.

This lesson continues every day. Luke 1:74 says, “…that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve [Christ] without fear.” What inconceivable deliverance! What astounding freedom! As my Daddy said in his 4th of July sermon, “Giving into ourselves is a false way to get to freedom. To truly enjoy our freedom, we must realize what it cost. Sometimes we don’t appreciate the freedom we have because we did not pay the price to have it.” Jesus alone paid the price for us, the undeserving. Pray for me to continually serve him without fear because of this great freedom!

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Special thanks to God today for those mentioned throughout this puzzle. Thank you for being crucial pieces of this life lesson for me by faithfully speaking God’s truth into my life! Know that God is using you in great ways!

God's Goodness Redefined- According to Psalm 73

This has been crucial for me in the past few weeks. How we define God’s Goodness changes our perspective of Him. I know that some of us need to rethink how you define God’s Goodness or maybe you are in the middle of some circumstances that you are beginning to think God is not all that good or at least not to you. In Psalm 73, Asaph went from defining God’s goodness as God blessing those who are pure in heart to defining it as nearness to God. If you can relate here, read through this Bible study from a Study on the Attributes of God-

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Asaph, a Levite who was chief of the musicians under David (1 Chronicles 16:4-7,37), composed Psalm 73. My conviction is that the central theme of Psalm 73 is the goodness of God. The first and the last verses of the psalm contain the word “good.” Through the course of time and this psalm, Asaph undergoes a radical change in his understanding of the meaning of the term “good.” Because Asaph’s misconception of the meaning of “good” is virtually the same as evangelical Christians today, we must understand the message of this psalm and the meaning of the term “good.”

Asaph describes a period in his life when he had serious spiritual struggles. His premise was the goodness of God, particularly His goodness to His own people, Israel: “Surely God is good to Israel, To those who are pure in heart!” (verse 1).
To Asaph, this affirmation of truth meant that because God was “good” to Israel, God’s blessings would constantly be poured out upon those Jews who were righteous. On the other hand, the unrighteous could expect many difficulties. Now there is an element of truth in this, as we can see from the blessings and cursings of Deuteronomy 28-30. But it was not altogether true, and this was evident even in the Book of Deuteronomy:
2 “And you shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. 3 And He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD” (Deuteronomy 8:2-3).

Asaph admits to his readers that he strayed far off course. He was so far from the truth that he came close to destruction. In his words, “his feet had almost slipped” (verse 2). He seems to be confessing that he considered giving up the faith and forsaking the way of righteousness, supposing that it was of no real benefit.

Asaph’s problem was largely due to his distorted perspective. First of all, he was envious of the wicked. Unlike Lot, whose righteous soul was vexed by the sin all about him, Asaph wished he could be in the sandals of those who were wicked. He did not hate their sin; he envied their success (verse 3). Second, he was self-righteous. He looked upon himself as being better than he was. He seems to have supposed he deserved God’s blessings and concluded his “righteous living” had been in vain:
13 Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure, And washed my hands in innocence; 14
For I have been stricken all day long, And chastened every morning (Psalms 73).

These verses also suggest Asaph views his suffering as coming from God. God was punishing him, he supposed, for being godly. Third, Asaph seems to have been consumed with self-pity. It is really difficult to see life clearly when you are looking at it through tear-filled eyes. And these tears were the tears of self-pity.
I believe Asaph’s words in verses 4-9 which describe the wicked are a description of those whom Asaph saw in the congregation of Israelites who came to worship. Asaph is talking about wicked Jews rather than pagan Gentiles. I also believe Asaph’s analysis is highly distorted and inaccurate.

Asaph makes some very sweeping generalizations in the first half of the psalm, implying that all the wicked prosper and the righteous, which surely included him, suffer. He wrongly supposes the wicked are always healthy and wealthy and thinks none of the wicked experience the difficulties of life. Even in their death, they are spared from discomfort. He likewise thinks those who prosper are all arrogant, blaspheming God, daring Him to know or care about what the wicked are doing.

There is some measure of truth in this. Some of the wealthy wicked would be just as Asaph has described them. But Asaph has over-generalized, making it seem God blesses all the wicked and punishes all the righteous. The wicked flaunt their wickedness and are blessed. The righteous practice their righteousness and are punished for doing so. As far as Asaph is concerned, there is good reason to consider joining the wicked rather than fighting them (see verses 10-14).
But Asaph was wrong, and this he confesses at several points in the psalm.
2 But as for me, my feet came close to stumbling; My steps had almost slipped. 3 For I was envious of the arrogant, [As] I saw the prosperity of the wicked (verses 2-3).

15 If I had said, “I will speak thus,” Behold, I should have betrayed the generation of Thy children (verse 15).
21 When my heart was embittered, And I was pierced within, 22 Then I was senseless and ignorant; I was [like] a beast before Thee (verses 21-22).

The turning point in the psalm is verse 15. Up to this point, Asaph viewed life from a distorted human perspective. To him, the goodness of God meant health and wealth, not unlike the “good life gospeleers” of our own day. But, as Asaph admits, he was wrong. In verses 15-28, he explains why he was wrong, ending with an entirely different definition of “good.”

When Asaph came “into the sanctuary of God,” he was able to “perceive their end” (verse 17). Now Asaph viewed the prosperity of the wicked in the light of eternity rather than simply from the vantage point of time. Those who seemed to be doing so well in their wickedness Asaph now saw in great peril. Their feet were on a slippery place. In but a short time, they would face the judgment of God. Their payday for sin might not come in this life, but it would surely come in eternity:
18 Surely Thou dost set them in slippery places; Thou dost cast them down to destruction. 19 How they are destroyed in a moment! They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors! 20 Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when aroused, Thou wilt despise their form (verses 18-20).

How foolish, even beastly, Asaph had been to think the wicked would get away with their sin, and there would be no day of reckoning. How foolish to conclude God was punishing him for avoiding the sinful ways of the wicked. Asaph now sees his relationship with God in its true light. Eternity holds for him the bright hope of God’s glorious presence. But in addition to this future blessing, Asaph has the pleasure of God’s presence in this life:
23 Nevertheless I am continually with Thee; Thou hast taken hold of my right hand. 24 With Thy counsel Thou wilt guide me, And afterward receive me to glory. 25 Whom have I in heaven [but Thee]? And besides Thee, I desire nothing on earth. 26 My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever (verses 23-26).

Asaph now sees that the prosperity of the wicked has hardened their hearts toward God. They have become proud, arrogant, and independent of God. Asaph also sees his “affliction,” whatever that might be, as a source of great blessing. His suffering and agony drew him closer to God; the prosperity of the wicked drew them away from God. His trials were indeed a gift from God for Asaph’s good. His struggles had led him into a deeper intimacy with God and were thus worth all the agony and distress of soul. Trusting God and living a holy life are not just the means to eternal blessings; they are the way to great temporal blessings as well.

Now Asaph understands the “goodness” of God in a different way. He has a new
definition for “good.” In verse 1, “good” really meant the absence of pain, difficulty, trouble, sorrow, ill health, or poverty. In verse 28, “good” means something far better than physical prosperity:

28 But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, That I may tell of all Thy works (verse 28).

Nearness to God—intimate fellowship with God—is our highest good. We may say then that whatever interferes with our nearness to God, our fellowship with Him, is actually evil. And whatever draws us into a deeper fellowship with God is actually “good.” When God brings suffering and adversity into our lives, our confidence in His goodness should not be undermined. Instead, we should be reassured of His goodness to us.

In the end, Job’s suffering brought him nearer to God; thus it was good, and God was good in afflicting him. Paul’s suffering brought him nearer to God, and he saw it as a blessing (Philippians 3:10). The chastening of the Lord in the life of the Christian is not only evidence of our sonship, it is God’s working in us for good (Hebrews 12:1-13; see Romans 8:28).

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Click here to find the full study of the Attributes of God.

A Brief Update

This week has been full but it has flown by! I have been working on contacting all our potential translators, meeting with them, and updating their contact info. I am loving it! Give me a notebook. Tell me to organize it and to contact people. Let me make a “To Do List,” meet people for coffee, tell them what we believe (and expect of them as translators) and take their pictures! And I’m right in my zone!! Hopefully when I’m finished, finding translators will be much easier for Ruby & Fletcher and the REAP teams in the future.

Some of the translators are not believers. Pray that as they have opportunity to translate for a team that by hearing the gospel over and over out of their own mouth the Truth will penetrate their hearts. Some of the women that I meet about translating have deeper needs. One beautiful young woman I met today has the desire to grow spiritually but says she doesn’t understand because she is a new believer and is not part of a church. Pray that the Lord will give me wisdom on who and how to best invest and disciple them in the short time I have here.

REAP has one other member besides the Dickersons- Miss Patti. Miss Patti is 73 years old and has been a missionary for two years. She teaches ESL classes. I spent Wednesday afternoon with her and assisted in her English class. Lots to learn from Miss Patti about being obedient to God no matter what!

I’ve had a great week with my Aunt Ruby & Uncle Fletcher! It started by celebrating the 4th of July with all the missionary families here! Many of which are mentors and heroes in the faith to me! Then on Monday night we made our favorite tradition together- Blizzards! Dairy Queen has nothing on us! They’ve taught me more card games this past week than I’ve ever played before! We love playing cards together at night after our full days! Thank the Lord with me for giving me such incredible family to serve with here!

Una Semana Incredible

I spent the last week house-sitting for the Dickersons while they attended a missionary conference in Peru. My dear friend, Elizabeth Ascanta, spent the week with me. The Lord truly provided through us spending the week together. I believe it was a rich experience for both of us. Elizabeth is from an indigenous community in Tupigachi, Ecuador. I met her two years ago when I spent the summer there.

This week, I saw a piece of how different our lives are. We celebrated those differences in as many ways as possible. We cooked our favorite meals for each other from our own cultures. We had Elizabeth’s 1st pizza, 1st macaroni & cheese, 1st brownie, 1st real icecream sundae, 1st coffee from a coffee maker. She watched it the 1st morning and said, “Es incredible!” We did things in Quito she has never done. She had 24/7 internet & Christian music access! We kept saying, “It’s vacation!” She said it was like spending a week in the United States; so that is what we imagined. I realized once again, how ridiculously MUCH I have! Her life is so simple and mine so complex.

In the greatest way, we are very similar. Elizabeth & I both desire to serve Our Lord by sharing the news of His great salvation! We are both 22, both love music, both study in seminaries, both are pastor’s daughters, both work with the youth and children in our churches, both single with confidence in God’s timing and will, and both want to be missionaries (though most of the time I’m still scared to admit it).

There is a great difference even in our greatest likeness. Elizabeth’s great desire to serve is hindered because she does not have someone willing to serve with her. It is difficult to accomplish the work of sharing the Gospel alone. Mrs. Ruby pointed out to us that Jesus always sent his disciples out in twos. There is strength in group of two or three. Please pray for a partner in ministry for Elizabeth to continue to reach the people around her community. How many times I have taken for granted the body of Christ which surrounds me! I have great friends who love and serve Christ! How often do I stop and thank God for that team of CO-workers in God’s work? Rather I live like I am entitled to such friends. Like I am entitled to go back home in a month and pop right back into my busy routine and great friends without hardly look back. Rarely remembering the believers who God is working through here. On Elizabeth’s last morning here, during my quiet time with the Lord, I was seriously convicted of my selfishness and grumbling in the midst of God’s great provisions. As I confessed my self-centeredness to Elizabeth, I promised to pray for her as she continues in her walk of obediently following Christ.

I thank God for providing this week with Elizabeth. We learned so much from each other. To share in family of God across cultures is a reminder that God is so much bigger than us! As I mentioned in an earlier post, Elizabeth only speaks Spanish. Thank you for your prayers this week for our communication. We enjoyed talking, encouraging each other, and praying together IN Spanish. She was gracious and patient with me and the Lord provided just what He intended all along!

Check out pictures of our incredible week!

What’s next? This week I’m shifting gears in my summer and will begin working on REAP’s translator ministry. Goal? To organize and update the contact lists & to make finding a translator for REAP teams easier for the Dickersons in the future. How? By meeting with small groups of potential translators to get to know them, their English levels, and their availability. I meet with my first group in the morning.