"Bendecidas para Bendecir" is Off the Ground!!

There is so much I could say about how this morning went, but I think for this post, I'm going to just let the photos tell the story... What a blessing to be here serving the Lord, and to be used by God to be his hands and feet.  To have the privilege to share the love of Christ with others.  Thank you to EVERYONE who supports and/or prays for the ministry here in Manta, Ecuador!!  God is working in this place!

Friday morning we filled boxes and bags, ready to hand out on Saturday morning. 

Each household represented would receive a box full of food, 

and a bag of fresh veggies.

Praying together before people arrived. 

Waiting for their turn to be "checked-in"

We had the opportunity to talk with and pray with each person.

These need no explanation...

God is working!!!

It is pretty amazing, exciting and scary when you see God working and moving!!  Amazing, because even after all these years of walking with the Lord, to think that He would invite me to join Him in his work still floors, humbles and amazes me!   Exciting, because you KNOW that when God is working, incredible things are going to happen!  Scary, because while God ALWAYS makes it clear where he is working and what he wants you to do, He rarely, reveals to you HOW he is going to accomplish it all through you!

So here I sit this morning.   100% convinced that God is at work and opening doors of opportunity for us, yet trying hard NOT to get paralyzed by all the fear for trying to figure out HOW it is going to happen.

Yesterday Cecy, who works with me in leading the Women's Ministry at our church, and Cielito, the coordinator for the Bolsas de Bendición ministry, went to one of the local Maternity Clinics.  The purpose of the visit was to follow up a lead we had been given about giving out our bags to the new moms.  The director at first was a little leery and wanted to know if they were advertising for a particular brand of diapers.  When they assured her no, and explained what we are trying to do, she welcomed them to come.  Because this clinic does not do C-sections, (which a majority of the women here end up having), she told them that they usually only have about 5 or 6 new moms there at a time.  BUT then she said, I would love for you to come on the day we offer vaccinations, for the new babies.  We will have anywhere from 10 to 25 show up.  If you would come on that day, I would give you opportunity to speak to the Moms about spiritual things!   Then you could give out your bags!!

Then she said, another group I would really like you to come and visit, is a group of Moms whose babies, (we are talking 1 to 3 year olds) are malnourished.  If you would come, and talk to them about good nutrition, and you could also discuss spiritual things with them, and then give them a small gift.

OK, WOW!!!!   When an unsaved person, tells you they would love for you to come and speak about spiritual things with a group of moms they are working with, opening the door to give you time and opportunity to do it, you know that is GOD working!!   So what are we going to do about it?

I just sent $80 more to the lady overseeing the purchase of fabric and the sewing of the bags and receiving blankets.  We are going to try and get 50 bags made in the next week to 2 weeks.  Right now we have the money to do this and to even purchase the extra stuff we are lacking for the bags.  It cost us $86 to make the first 25 bags...  I had given her $80 a week ago to start making the next 25.

I look at this class of 40 ladies, none of them rich, in fact by US standards just about everyone of them would be considered poor, or at the least lower middle class.  They are giving monthly to support a precious little girl in Uganda, through our partnership with Mountain View Chapel and their Victory 1:27 ministry.  They are donating food stuffs for the new "Bendecidos para Bendecir" food pantry.  They are donating supplies to fill the bags, and a weekly offering to help pay for the sewing of the bags... At present we have collected enough money to making about 75 bags.  That is using money that was collected over the last year for Women's Ministry.   So when I think about this open door and the opportunity that the Lord is obviously giving us, it is hard not to get paralyzed by the  fear of "How are we going to keep this going?"

This morning in my quiet time, I read these verses...

Amos 3:7,  For the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.

Isaiah 41:10, fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Isaiah 41:12, For I, the LORD your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, "Fear not, I am the one who helps you."

Luke 6:38, give and it will be given to you.  Good measure pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap.  For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.

What I KNOW right now...

1.  is that God has revealed to us where He is working right now, and HE has asked us to step up and   join Him there.

2.  God has told me to not be afraid!  To trust Him, that He is the one holding my hand.  He is the one who will provide, He is the one who will bring it to pass.

3.  He has asked me to be generous with what He has given so far.  I'm not to "sit" on what I have, and dole it out, because that way, I know we can do this ministry in this "small way" for a few months....  No, I need to give and use what HE has provided, and trust Him to supply for next month!

Thanks for riding along with me in this journey!   Please keep the work here in Manta in your prayers and especially these not opportunities.   If you would like to be involved in ANY way, please send me a message.   You can leave a comment here and I will get back to you.

Blessings,
Joy

Quick update...

Just wanted to give you a quick update.

The Ladies class has collected enough stuff to put together the first 25 bags for our new Love in Action ministry, Bolsas de Bendición.  They will be putting the bags together tomorrow afternoon, and then delivering them to the new moms at the Social Security Hospital later in the week.  If there aren't many Moms there the day they go, we also have an open door at a Clinic just around the corner from our church, and we will be taking them there, too.

Please pray for the ladies that are working to get the bags put together, and then for each of the ladies that receive this gift.  May the Lord go before us and prepare hearts and open doors for opportunities to witness to these new Moms and their families.

The Administrative Team for the new ministry, Bendecidos para Bendecir, met again last night.  Everything is moving forward for our target date of Saturday morning, May 2.  We have 20 clients signed up to receive boxes of food for this first date.  Pray for all the final donations to come in.  Pray for the Administrative Team, as they each find others to work with them in different areas.  Pray for the Lord to prepare the hearts of these Clients as we near May 2.  Pray that they would actually show up and that God would touch hearts.  We don't just want to meet just their physical needs, (as the truth is we will never be able to fully do that) we want to introduce them to Jesus!

Thanks so much for your prayers for our ministry!
Blessings to each of you!
Joy

Since we returned to Ecuador, there has been a lot of things happening.  One of the big things we have done at church is introduce the "Love in Action" program.  This is a ministry where we will be seeking ways to express the love of Christ to our community and others.  Here are two of the newest ministries started through our "Love in Action" program.

The Ladies Sunday School class initiated a new out reach ministry directed at blessing new Mom's in our area.  They are making small canvas bags, filling them with some baby gifts, adding a card, saying "Congratulations on your new baby!" and then on the back of the card it says, "this is a gift from Iglesia Biblica Bautista" and has the churches address and phone number.  We have been given an "open door" to hand our gift bags out at the Social Security Hospital, and have had several others show an interest.  We hope that by showing the love of Christ in this way, it may open up the door of opportunity to witness to people that we would never have the chance to witness to.  We are calling this ministry, "Bolsas de bendicion" (Bags of blessings)

Our church has also started a Food Pantry ministry.  We are in the process of signing up "clientes" and receiving donations to put the boxes of "basic necessities" together.  Our date for passing out our first set of boxes is May 2!!  Our church has taken a big step of faith in this and we are excited to see how God works, provides and what doors he opens.  The name of this new ministry is "Bendecidos para Bendecir" (Blessed to Bless)

The basic cost for making the bags for the new Moms, including a small receiving blanket, is $3 a piece.  (This does not include the diapers or other small baby item we hope to add to the bag)

The cost of the boxes for the food pantry is running $25 each.

As you can see, neither of these are small undertakings, just on the economic end, not to mention the hours to just get them off the ground and running.   Our goal in both ministries right now is to reach 25 families, with the desire to grow and add to these numbers.

If you would be interested in helping with either one of these new ministries please email us about this at anztony@gmail.com.

Blessings to you and yours,
Joy