Joys and Trials of Life

Introducing Sammy!!!!

My nephew, Samuel Edward Russell, was born on Saturday, October 27th at 10:22 a.m.  He is such a cutie and I LOVE him already :-)  Joshie loves being a big brother and even made up a song about it.

"Big Brother, Big Brother, doo doo doo doo ..."

I am so thankful for skype so that I could see Sammy on the day he was born.  The other night, I was able to hear Joshua giggle and laugh while running around his house and my sister put the phone up to Sammy's mouth so I could hear his sweet little baby noises.  I miss these two precious boys and my family so much, and I cannot wait to give them hugs at Christmas.  Precious Sammy will finally get to be held my his Aunt Carrie :-)  And Joshua will get to sing with and say "Hi, Aunt Terry!!"  in person :-)

 

 

Halloween - October 31, 2012:

In Colombia, Halloween is celebrated is a very scary way. Children are not safe, are prone to being kidnapped and have often times been sacrificed on Halloween. Please pray for Colombia and that God would protect all of the innocent lives here in this country (not only on Halloween, but everyday!)  This day is dreaded by many Colombians. As I listened to my students talk about October 31st, I saw an enormous amount of fear as they told me to lock my door and stay in my apartment for the night.  One even told me that a girl in her neighborhood was murdered last year.  I had the opportunity to go back to the Jungle and minister to the kids who live on the street in a very scary neighborhood called Barrio Santa Fe. The Jungle is a ministry that pulls kids who have been badly abused and who have prostitutes as parents off of the streets and share with them the love of Jesus. This is a very unsafe part of Bogota and we were able to create a safe place for about 200 kids on a very scary night!

"For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms."   Ephesians 6:12

My prayer is that each kid heard the message that Jesus is LIGHT and is KING over all the dark places in this world.  Thank you for those who prayed for me and my colleagues.  May God's glory be shone in the dark places of Colombia today and always :-)   Praise God that all of these precious lives were protected!!  Please continue to pray that Satan would have no power over this neighborhood and that the name of Jesus would be proclaimed.

Trip to Monserrate - Sanctuario de Senor Caido

Colombia celebrated All Saints Day on Monday, November 5th, so my friends and I took the opportunity to hike up a mountain :-)  We climbed 2.750 meters to see the beautiful sights of Monserrate.  There is a beautiful cathedral at the top with a gorgeous view of the entire city of Bogota.  The cathedral is called Sanctuario de Senor Caido.  It was little cloudy and rainy, but we had a lot of fun!  It's amazing to be up there and see God's wonderful creation.  Here are some pics of our adventure:

 

Prayers/Praises:
That the Lord would help me with being away from my family right now - that I would lean on Jesus in those moments of sadness, trusting Him to be with me and fill me when I really want to HOLD little Sammy :-)

My personal quiet time - I am so overwhelmed with ministry sometimes that it is causing me to stay up late (grading and lesson planning) which makes me unable to focus when I wake up early to spend time with my Jesus.  Pray that I would find rest in Jesus, like he promises us in Matthew 11:28-30.

In Him,
Carrie