Happy Friday! Feliz fin de semana! :)

May the LORD bless you and keep you; The LORD make His face shine upon you,

 and be gracious to you; Numbers 6:24

Let's look for opportunities to bless people this weekend.

xoxoxo Melissa

Keep our eyes on the prize!!!

...And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Phil 2:8

In less than 2 months I will graduate from the Spanish language institute...:) I will be walking forward in the next step....God knows what that is....and He will connect the dots (...) from here until then. My responsibility is to be faithful with what He has given me today...:) to seek Him with all of my heart, to trust that He has me in His hands...and He will open the doors that need to be opened and shut the ones that need to be shut. I am excited!!!!

Yesterday I spent time with the ladies at the recovery home, I conversed with a young lady who arrived at the home a few weeks ago, she is 23 years old and GOD is doing a wonderful work...during the Bible Study she had some good insight and so I asked her about it afterwards and she mentioned that her mom is a wonderful Christian women, solid in the Word etc. The young lady just made a few bad decisions over the years that had lead her to a dark place. She told me that she is a whole new person in just 23 days it's as though she can see now. She is starting to get vision and has a hunger to know God. She shared with me just how humbling it was to be there and she shared how she felt like the Lord wanted her to help out the center by working (see note in bracket!) and also  it would be a way for her to earn a little extra spending money. (the ladies if are well enough are asked to help support the center by selling little trinkets in the street or by asking for donations, technically since her mom pays she does not have to do this) She explained to me how she really didn't want to be in the street because she was embarrassed but felt like God had asked her to....so in the end she did go out and although it was hard at first ...as the time went on ...the Lord blessed her immensely with people who responded well and gave...she was so encouraged she went out the following 3 days and was planning on continuing as long as the Lord had desired her to do so. As I was thinking today of my conversation with her, I was reminded of the verses in Philippians 2 starting in 5...where it says....let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, ....but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men, ...He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross...  ::::WAKE UP CALL::::: NEWS FLASH:::::I'm not on this earth to please people....but to PLEASE JESUS CHRIST.....to be obedient no matter how ridiculous it may seem to the world.....just like my friend at the recovery home, technically she didn’t have to work, she was scared of what people would think of her at first, but she did it anyway, even though she was scared...and as she walked out in faith..And did it anyway. She was obedient. God blessed her immensely...God showed up..!!!! And ...let this mind be in us...which was also in Christ Jesus.....

Quick update on a few of the other ladies: E the 19 year old that I had been meeting with the last few weeks is now back at her home and doing well, praise God! :), recently there are two other ladies that I am aware of that have also recovered well and are now doing well and both have jobs! :), there is one young lady, I believe she is 25 years old (just one year older than me!) she has been back and forth to the recovery home two times now, this last time that she came is when I met her....she had been homeless living under a bridge, really it's a miracle that she is still alive. She made a decision for Christ 3 weeks ago...she decided to leave....I heard she is back on the streets. PLEASE PRAY FOR HER....God we ask that you would protect her in the name of Jesus, God that you would open her eyes to see, Father that You would put people in her path that know You, that would love on her and influence her for You. We pray the blood of Jesus over her precious life, we know that You have specific plans for her life, oh how precious are Your thoughts towards her, if she would count them they would be more in number than the sand, You know every hair on her head....We pray that she would walk in truth....Father You have been drawing her heart as she had decided so boldly just 3 weeks ago that she wanted to live for You...remind her of that decision Father. Wrap your arms around her and we ask for a mighty miracle in her life Jesus. For your glory oh Father, may your perfect will be done in her life. Make her path straight oh Jesus!! Thank you ..... We love You......Amen.

Have a great week fellow labourers! And ...let this mind be in us...which was also in Christ Jesus.....
:)Love,
Melissa

Sumergeme!!

Sumergeme! Submerge me with your Spirit oh Lord!  Quiero honrar el Senor!

Therefore be imitators of God as dear children.

And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us,

an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

Eph. 5:1-12

We can only be imitators of what we know. The definition of imitate is below.....

im·i·tate

1. To use or follow as a model.

2. a. To copy the actions, appearance, mannerisms, or speech of; mimic

b. To copy or use the style of.

3. To copy exactly; reproduce.

4. To appear like; resemble.

The only way to imitate somebody is by watching them, following what they do...we have to know their actions, speech in order to copy exactly or reproduce what they are doing. We have to know the person....we have to spend time around them...learn their ways.

It is so true the saying that you become who you hang around. ..So who are we hanging out with? Are we spending time with the One who made us? How can we imitate Him if we do not know His ways? The Word says that we are to be imitators of God as dear children. (vs.1) we are to walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, as an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. (vs.2) ...are we loving as Christ has loved us? (Loving beyond faults, forgiving regardless of circumstance), are our lives an offering and sacrifice to God that is sweet-smelling? (Do we do things out of obligation, kicking and screaming...maybe not literally but God knows....He smells it.) God help us to be imitators of You....help us to walk in love as Christ has also loved us and given Himself for us and please help our lives to be a sweet-smelling aroma.

My English class that I volunteer teaching at a day care has an age range from 2-11 years old and it is literally different every day as to which children are there.  As I was talking with the director this week she explained to me how most of the kids that come to the day care there come from not good home situations. Now this explains a lot of the behavioural issues that I tackle every time I teach. They are being imitators of what they see at home. She explained to me how that morning one mother literally pushed her kids into the daycare that morning and then left...and immediately the little 3 year old girls that were dropped off pushed a table that was in front of them....they were imitating the actions of their mother.  Many times I think we imitate or somebody is imitating us without even realizing it....who are we hanging out with? Who are we imitating?

I was invited to an all day bible study up in the mountains last Saturday...I went with my good friend Nana, my friend's mom Ili and a new friend of mine Monica. We spent the day with other believers studying, encouraging, worshiping and fellowshipping together. It was really a beautiful day....a true blessing to be around people....people who imitate Christ.....it was really refreshing. I am thankful that the Lord has blessed me with the opportunity to spend time with such people........ (I don't have a picture...but was tagged in facebook...if you'd like to see)

Well' that is all for now....Missing my family.....looking forward ....living in present....

......desiring to be an imitator of God.

xoxoxooxMelissaxoxoxoxo