Rain on a Tin Roof

It's raining thoroughly now. All the chickens have found shelter in various places. This kind of rain keeps everyone indoors. A lazy mood has taken over. The only thing that seems to remedy this dreary day is a nice hot cup of tea, the soothing serenades of Simon and Garfunkel, and Tito occasionally sitting in my lap. I actually like days like this here--where nature forces everyone to take it easy, not that life here is always on the go. So there's not much more to do now other than read and do some blogging.

Life here this week has been a lot less exhausting than the previous week. Last week we started our first campaign of 2011. During the week of campaign we all camped out at Km 8. Daily living there is a lot more primitive than 38, even though they are closer to Pucallpa. The water runs once a day. So buckets must be filled for showers and dish washing. And you always hope that the water runs before you go to clinic so you can have a full water bottle for the day. The days were quite busy, we saw on average 200 patients a day in the medical and dental clinic. Then in the evenings we'd pack up and head to the tent to have VBS and evangelistic meetings.

I love singing with the kids at Km 6. None of them had known the songs prior to our coming. It filled my heart to hear the kids singing or shouting with such enthusiasm. They especially loved the Creation song, which is a new one that I've learned here. The song talks about various animals and how all of them are God's creation. Each animal has it's own hand motions. The kids absolutely love this song and ask to sing it 3 or 4 times each night. One of my favorites is "I've Got the Joy, Joy, Joy, Down in My Heart." Of course we sing it in Spanish. The kids get so excited to shout, "En mi corazon," (in my heart) each time. I wish I always had that much enthusiasm. I think this last week helped me to understand why Jesus told the people that to enter heaven we must become like little children.

Also this week Yerbas Buenas decided that they wanted to have an all-night prayer meeting. Yerbas Buenas isn't my home church here, but I decided to join Hanna. I also thought this would be a good time to have my own prayer session with God. It definitely wasn't what I was expecting however.

We arrived to the church members singing hymns. It was only 10:30 and people were already yawning, including myself. In fact I was already tired before arriving at the Church. I was doubtful that I would make it the whole night. After a few more songs, one of the members stood to give a little message. Then we were told that we would have some time to pray individually. We each found our little corners. I pulled out my prayer journal, Bible, and reference guide that Brittany Gimbel had sent me. I was ready to put in a good hour. However, after about 3 minutes of praying, the church members were finished with their prayers. They started chatting amongst each other, some were chuckling-probably talking about how they were going to make it through the entire night. At that point I realized that this was not going to be what I had expected. They had only prayed for 3 minutes and were done, how in the world were they going to go through a whole night of prayer?

The night ended up being more of an all-night hymn sing with a few devotional thoughts thrown in and some prayer sessions. I dozed off a couple of times from exhaustion. I did end up having some really good prayer time with God. But I was frustrated with myself. I've stayed up all night in the past doing laser-tag parties or movie nights and didn't have too much of a problem making it through the night. But now, that I was supposed to be having a prayer time with God, I had a hard time keeping my eyes open. I think I felt a little of what the disciples went through when Jesus asked them to stay up and pray with him. They had all the best intentions of having an all-night prayer session. But weakness took over.

I'm glad I went. Although I think I'd rather have an all day prayer session than an all-nighter. My mind is clearer during daylight hours. During our all-nighter I did come across some scripture verses pertaining to prayer that I enjoyed. I'll share them now.


Principles on Prayer (from Mark Finley's book)

"The purpose of prayer is to lead us into oneness with the mind of God and deepest fellowship with Him."

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with me. Revelation 3:20

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:16-19