Que la cruz sea mi gloria

September was insanely busy. We traveled every weekend and had some really amazing experiences. Like I said in my previous post, I hope to get caught up on these soon. The reason I am prefacing this post with this however is to say that I hadn't been home to go to church at all until this Sunday. As I was explaining to my mom, it's interesting because I miss my family very much, but google+ helps a lot...and so the times that I have felt the most lonely are when I am craving to be with the church. I missed fellowship and felt very alone. I want to share two "experiences" I have had since arriving that have showed me just how amazing the God I serve is.

September 17th- A group of 8 of the international students had the opportunity to go with one of our professors to live in bamboo huts in a traditional community for the night and to go whale watching and snorkeling the next day. There are lots of stories from the trip that I'm not going to share now but that Saturday night was when I had what I now affectionately call my "Christmas morning" experience. The three hour van ride to get to the community had been passed with pretty deep conversation. A lot of the people in our group enjoy talking about what they believe and trying to understand what other people believe and why. In the process of this conversation, Taylor (a girl from California who I knew but hadn't had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with) really caught my attention. The little I knew about her was from our big international group events...she seemed super sweet, always reaching out to others, asking how they were doing...but on this trip and during this conversation it became evident to me that this wasn't just a character trait of hers (although it does come naturally to her) but it was her radiating the love of Christ. She showed no reserve in sharing His Name and His goodness. Even when people questioned her she didn't back down. She shared the truth in love and I was completely in awe. I would love to say that I did the same, but I was pretty quiet during this conversation...a lot of it had to do with the fact that everyone was very opinionated so it was hard to get a word in lol but I don't want to make excuses...I was a little intimidated. Later that night though we were assigned to our houses. In this community there isn't a hotel. The families in the community build "guest houses" next to theirs and when tourists come, they are divided up amongst the families. Taylor and I were put in the same bamboo house and after spending some time with the locals after dinner we headed to bed. It had been an exhausting day. We climbed into our beds and got our mosquito nets (!! exciting haha) in position...then we started talking. I told her how encouraging she had been to me on the van ride there and then she started sharing with me the same sentiments I had been feeling...lonely and missing the community of the Body of Christ. It became evident though that we were no longer alone (and really never were although it's very easy to feel that way)...this is my favorite part. Realizing that God had given us each other, sisters in Christ, we both just started giggling. We were soo happy. Like two little girls on Christmas morning. He knew before we even came to Ecuador that we would meet and that we would share this moment. We talked about what we had been struggling with and what was exciting to us about what God was doing. To be able to share with someone like that, freely and knowing that she understood, made my heart so happy. We prayed together, cried together and then laughed together some more...Jesus never fails. He gives exactly what we need, exactly when we need it. Words are so inadequate for how great my God is.

Oct 2nd- If you would have told me before I left that it would be a month into my exchange before I had the opportunity to go to church I would have laughed at you. No way...but September flew by...I literally have no idea where it went. So here we are...the company that I used to come to Ecuador provides what they call an "on-site coordinator" for the students who use them. Our OSC's name is Claudia, she lives 3 mins from campus and we meet with her every week to talk about things that are bothering us, things we've learned and anything we need she helps with. She has been wonderful. During one of our meetings I told her about my struggles with finding a church here but I actually forgot I had mentioned this to her so when she called and said her neighbor wanted to take me to church it was definitely unexpected. Unexpected but welcomed...Claudia said her friend would pick me up for church Sunday morning at....7:15. I was a little confused about why it was so early, but mostly just grateful for the opportunity to go. Sunday morning came and I got up, made myself scrambled eggs and headed out to meet them. They were waiting outside my gated community and "they"were Claudia's neighbor, her two sons, what I would later discover was her neice and her mother. I asked if we could pick up Taylor too which they said was no problem. After picking her up, we drove into Guayaquil and then headed a little north of the city. I'm not sure what I expected the church to look like, but the megachurch campus that we pulled into was not even something I had considered. It actually reminded me a lot of Grove City Church of the Nazarene in its appearance. (which will only mean something to the people from Columbus) Outside of the huge building there was a circus-ish looking tent set up for the children's ministries. How cool is that...We walked inside, past the bookstore and information desk and into the sanctuary. It was a little bigger than the chapel at Cedarville (again, sorry for the references if you aren't familiar) but gave me a very similar vibe. The praise team's instruments were set up on stage (drums, acoustic guitar, keyboard, sax, something else I can't remember) and there were announcements playing on the three screens. We arrived at about 7:40 for the 8 am service and it wasn't crowded but it wasn't empty either. I sat next to the grandmother and she got gum out of her purse and offered me some. Actually thinking about this now, it's almost comical. I was sitting in a megachurch in Ecuador, being offered gum from an abuelita. What? lol...anyways, at exactly 8 (there was a countdown timer) the praise team walked onto the stage and everyone stood. As soon as the first word was sung (in Spanish) I started crying. This is where I had longed to be for the last month. With the people of God in His house. The words were on the screen and I understood about 80% of them. The worship of the people around me took me back. Hands in the air, and full of spirit. I don't remember exactly what the first two songs were about because I was so emotional. The third song though I recognized. I soon realized it was ¨Let it be said of us". The title of this post is the beginning of the chorus. "Let the cross be my glory..." If you don't know this song, go look it up...it's great. I felt a little silly crying so much and had tried to be very discreet about it but I stole a glance at Taylor standing next to me, only to see that she was crying as well. We are very similar in that aspect...it doesn't take much haha. After the worship, the pastor came out and if he hadn't started speaking spanish I would have promised you it was Dave Warren...his mannerisms, the way he looked...the resemblance was almost eery. He spoke on Daniel and had an outline to fill in. Another heart-happy moment. :) I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of the message I was able to understand. He talked about 7 things Daniel did that we should also strive to do. Right before we closed they showed a little clip advertising the men's retreat that is coming up this weekend. I don't know if you have seen on facebook but there is a scene from a movie about Hitler where he is sitting in a room with a bunch of generals and then blows up at them, gets really angry...it has been used by many people who add different subtitles to it to make it funny...well, they used this clip to and the idea was that one general told Hitler that he wasn't invited to this retreat and that's why Hitler got angry. Idk, it was really funny I'm just not describing it well. lol After he closed, we were served communion, because it was the first Sunday of the month. (!) Not that this matters, but they even had the same serving plates as we do at Immanuel. I mean really? I laughed. I left refreshed, filled up, excited and renewed as I left. I know God has been with me every step of the way here, but it was soo wonderful to be with other believers. I am very much looking forward to returning next Sunday. I also want to thank those who have been praying that I would find a church...your prayers have been felt and much appreciated!!