Hebrews 11:8-9 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as [in] a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker [is] God.

“Moooooo”. “What was that noise? Was that a cow?” I thought to myself, but it still didn’t register fully what I had heard, perhaps I was too distracted working on a study of the book of Nehemiah I needed to finish for Wednesday. Ten minutes later I heard a very distinct “Moooooooo”. Finally coming to my senses I thought to myself “OK, that was definitely a cow, I am not just imagining things. Ohhhhh yeahhhhh, there are cows sometimes in the field across the street.” The same field which at time doubles as a volleyball court, as well as a good place to dump and burn your trash.

Cows, Dog, Volleyball court, good place to burn trash, AKA the field across from my house.

When God called Abraham, he didn’t tell him where he would be sending him. He only told him that He had somewhere for Abraham, somewhere special, a land that He would show him with a city whose builder and maker is God. I too am waiting for this city, for the day that I will be with my Lord and God Jesus Christ in the city that He made, when heaven comes to earth.

More recently though this was one of the verses that spoke to my heart when the Lord first began to call me. In fact for the past 6 years or so I have not known where I was going, only that I was by faith following God. When God said “go” a few months ago back in California He didn’t tell me where, and so I too went out not knowing where I was going. And yet, here I am; one step after another. I will wait here until He says go again, if He ever does, and if not then this is where I will stay.

This last Sunday was my first day teaching in the English service. It went pretty well other than we were a little rushed on time, also being that it was my first time (I changed up the order of service, going from 4 songs in the beginning to 1 song to start with and 2 songs in the end after the message. We only have 50 minutes, if that, for the entire service.) it was a little rough going at first. Overall though the Lord blessed it and I am looking forward to next Sunday. We were going to cover the first 18 verses of the book of John, but in typical Zeke fashion we only got to about verse 9 (I am surprised we made it that far). The book of John, and the first 18 verses especially, are just too amazing to fly through.

Preaching it up, I really hope that little girl wasn’t running away in fear. She sure looks like she is bookin it though. Chendo (just kidding)

It was a pretty blessed day. After church Ceci and Henry took me out to lunch, along with their two daughters. After that they drove me around the city in order to show me some more of it. God has been good to me here, I haven’t had to spend a lot of money on food since so many people have blessed me with it. We came back in time for the Spanish night service and I got to sleep all happy and content, a day well spent.

I spent the next days studying for our first mid-week bible study that we had today, and briefly had to spend some time with some of the Americans who are having some visa issues (pray for Karen and David Akins, they are an awesome couple at the church who have been helping a lot with the ministry down here. They actually just volunteered their house for the home study, but were told they have to leave the country due to visa issues. We have one last plan to try before they have to do that, so please pray that the Lord would have mercy on them and help them to stay.). We also put on a dinner for some of Freddy’s friends (and mine too now) who had blessed us previously with a meal. David Tallez, one of the elders here, just so happens to be an expert chef and taught me how to make some amazing lasagna. Things were going great until we noticed how gay we looked, two dudes cooking in the kitchen with aprons and all. We just laughed it off though.

Gayisimo. But funny.

“Cooo, coooo”. (strange noises coming from the roof of my room, followed by what sounds like scratching and pecking). “Man those doves are really at it today, they are going to destroy the house”. Minutes later sand started to fall from the roof and I couldn’t help but laugh. I mean come on it is hilarious that doves are eating my room. You think you can trust doves, I mean they are the symbol of peace in the Bible right? Wrong, doves are Satan’s servants of destruction (or so I am coming to suspect). Im kidding, don’t stone me for heresy just yet, but really they are attacking my room. It is a problem and I am going to have to deal with it some how. I am pretty sure they are breading an army up there. I am seriously considering buying a shotgun (what, it would work wouldn’t it?). There is probably some lesson in it all, like don’t let doves eat your house.

When doves attack. Thats the material the fell from the roof, who would have thought doves like to eat walls.

Today’s study in Nehemiah went really well though. I think there were about 10 persons or so there, but I am not sure because I don’t make it a habit of counting heads. David and Karen are excellent hosts, we had brownies, cookies, coffee, soda, and more. We had about 20 minutes of just talking then had some time of “flexibly organized” prayer (as I like to call it). After that we started our study, I felt like God showed me a lot of grace since I had wanted to be more prepared then I was, but it turned out really well. I forgot how much I love teaching and it is good to finally get back into it on a regular basis.

The moral of the story? Follow God even if you don’t know where He is going or where you are going, just follow. One step at a time. Then before you will know it you will be there, exactly where God wanted you to be all along, and let me just say its a great place to be.

View from my balcony, overlooking the church.