Hello friends!
Well, we're down to just a few weeks before we begin our adventure! We'll be leaving November 7 from Spokane and we'll be spending two weeks in Ethiopia, visiting the ministries the New Covenant Foundation supports. Much of this year, I, (Alyssa), have wondered about what purpose God has for me in making this trip. A few people have asked, "Why do both of you have to go? Why not just Angelo? What about your kids? Can you afford this?" I've certainly asked those questions myself, and honestly, I haven't had the answers. For those of you who know me well, just "Alyssa being okay with the reality of not having all the answers" is a big thing. Angelo and I would like to ask you:
To Pray: for financial provision for our trip expenses and for our at-home expenses while we're away
for his vision to look for ways that our friends and church family (Life Center, Spokane) can partner with God's work in Ethiopia
for good health (we've all been hit with the cold & flu season)
for safety and smooth sailing for Jami and our kiddos while we're away, and peace for this mamma's heart
(this is a big deal for me!)
If you've been praying, THANK YOU! If you've thought about helping us out financially, we're still short on funds and have just a few days before we have to get all our trip monies in. We'd greatly appreciate any little bit -- it adds up!
Angelo and I studied the life of Moses in BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) last year and two huge life lessons came through to me. The first lesson I learned in my own life and through studying God's interaction with Moses and the Israelites is this: God will interrupt our "good" with his "BEST".
If we belong to him, he is not content with leaving us in our own ideas, comfort zones, patterns, etc. You may have heard he's a "jealous god". His jealousy compels him to pursue us and continue to draw us toward what is best. This process is usually difficult, and it was for me, because we resist his will and his ways. Simply put, we want what we want more than we desire to know him. Silly isn't it, resisting intimacy with the God who created the universes, (who just so happens to be pursuing a relationship with you and me) simply because it makes us feel uncomfortable or awkward? Like Moses and the Isrealites, I have had all kinds of "reasons" why I should just be left alone -- God would be better off choosing and using someone else who could actually cooperate with him. But, as I studied his nature as illustrated in the story of Moses' life, I realized that the more I focus on God and his purposes, the more I need to know him and to allow him to transform my thinking and my patterns (Romans 12), so that my life might find it's rhythm in his constant flow of truth and grace.
And that leads me to the second lesson. Like Moses, I can ask him with boldness, "Show me your glory!"
As Moses' personal experience with God increased, his desire for God's truth, grace, goodness, holiness, indeed his glory, increased. Moses realized that he was in a position that no man could possibly handle on his own -- two million or more people conditioned to slavery, a big dessert, little food or water, no government, no organized law or religion, no idea of what the next day held in store.... But he had an amazing, interactive, powerful and provisional God. Moses may have begun believing he had no choice but to obey and follow God's lead, but I believe it grew into a healthy realization that all of us, regardless of station or service, age or education, are in a position no one could possibly handle on our own. It became less of a "tale" from the Bible and more of a real-life story of redemption for me as I spent a year in the dusty books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy, and I prayed, "Show me your glory!"
And he has. Time after time, my God's goodness has passed over my life, confirming that he is faithful to lead us through the wilds of day to day life. So he's been giving us little winks of his glory, and droplets of his goodness throughout this year, and recently he let us in on the secret of the purpose he has for us to go to Africa.
Last week we received an email from our pastor simply asking us "Could you be our eyes and ears? Could you be on the lookout for ways that Life Center Church can be engaged in a lasting relationship with the ministries and people in Ethiopia?" Our commission, at last!
We have eyes and ears and mouths -- we can do this job! We know the groundwork has already been laid -- God is working here in Spokane and there in Ethiopia, he just needed a couple of observant, listening, talkative people like the Santos' to have a little adventure in the process of connecting the two places (and lots of people) in meaningful ways that will stretch through eternity! Whoohoo! Jesus gave us the commission in Matthew 28, when he said he has the authority to send us out; how generous of him to spell it out in an email from our pastor, just because God knows we're a little slow on the uptake.
So lastly, please pray that we have "ears to hear" (Matthew 13:9), that we could see and hear and understand beyond our own abilities to find the ways God wants us and you to partner with him to know God and make him known. This can be more than simply filling a bowl or painting a fence. We're looking to find ways to join hands in the long race toward the goal set before us in Christ Jesus. We need the eyes and ears to find the course and the words to communicate his plans so we all can share in his glory.
Thanks and Blessings,
Angelo and Alyssa Santos
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