The jungle in Ecuador

We split our team up into two teams to go to different areas in the jungle of Ecuador. We originally were going to the Waodani tribe but the Holy Spirit had other plans for our team. When we arrived in Puyo we found out that we weren't even close to the tribe and it wasn't going to happen in the time we alloted ourself for the trip. We prayed as a group and let our expectations for this trip go. We just let the Holy Spirit guide us in divine appointments to get us where He wanted us to go. In one day we found a missionary contact who was a jungle pilot who had many contacts in the jungle. When we met Rick for breakfast the next day as a group, he really interviewed us hard. He was skepitical of us and rightly so I might add. There has been a lot of bad agendas that missionaries have had in the past in the area. He set us up with a Cuban couple who had been ministering to the Shuar people for the last two years in a remote area. We flew to the area, Campo Ayudi. Our pilot Rick's house is right next to the same airstrip that Nate Saint, Jim Elliot, Ed MCcully, Roger Youderian, and Peter Fleming flew out of when they were attempting to evangeliz the Waodani tribe. They were martyed in the 50's. We spent 5 days loving, fellowshiping, and praying with the Shuar people in Campo Ayudi, San Franciso, San Juan, and the Three Maria's.

Getting ready to fly deeper into the jungle in Ecuador.

Fellowshipping with Pastor Ramon and his wife in Campo Ayudi

Guys practicing with a blow dart before going hunting.

Trying to get out of Campo Ayudi by plane but got delayed by rain.

Nate Saint house in Shell, Ecuador. He was one of the missionaried that was martyrd in the 50's in Ecuador.

Columbia

We drove three hours from Cali, Columbia to Silvia where the Guambiano indigenous people live. We received an invitation to meet them from the chuch that is hosting us. You just can't drive there and go on your own to meet them, you need an invitation. There are Columbian guerrilas who are in Silvia so it's not the best place for foreigners with Washington license plates to go by themselves.



They heard the Gospel 70 years ago and through many trials of martydom and sufferings have continued in their faith with God. They are a very generous and friendly people who love Jesus passionately. We prayed and prophesied over them and they did the same over us. It was nice to be poured into by a body of believers that love Jesus passionately. During the prayer time I felt a heat around me as I was sitting down. Whenever one of them would come over to pray over me this heat would rise. It was a cloudy day so it wasn't the sun and there wasn't a light over me. I felt it was an angel of fire and then asked it to go in areas of my body. It was incredible. Taylor Lindsey was seating right next to me and was experiencing the same thing. I told him to direct the heat to go over areas of his body and he experienced the same sensation. It was really cool. I would have loved to seen the angel but enjoyed the experience.

Community Life Part 1

Up until 16 months ago, i haven't lived in a community for over 30 years. My early childhood I would say I had a little taste of community life but I was very young and don't remember much of it. My adolescent years did not have much community in it other than going to school but I didn't live with my friends or teachers. I would describe my home life not as a community but as four individuals living under the same roof. I moved out of the house right around my 18th birthday. I did have a group of friends after I moved out of the house and really enjoyed hanging out but I wouldn't describe it as a community. I lived by myself the rest of the time up until 16 months ago.

I prided myself on my indepence from the time I left home till probably a couple of years after I gave my life to Jesus, when I was almost 32 years old. I didn't depend on anyone for money. I didn't depend on another person for my future (wisdom in a career, wisdom in what a man is suppose to be, wisdom in doing drugs/alcohol or not, wisdom in how I treated myself and others, wisdom in relationships, wisdom in basically life). I became this way because this is what I had to do. I left the house in survival mode and didn't know any different. I can honestly say not one "Christian" witnessed to me about Jesus. I only new independence and that's what the world, and its system, preached. Don't get me wrong, I would reach out to people, even family, but I was reaching out to people who understood independence and definitely didn't know Jesus. My first pastor always said, "I'm not mad at anybody." I'm not and hope this doesn't offend anyone. I'm just explaining what I experienced.

I moved to the San Francisco bay area when I was 31 and lived there for 9 years. I left this last September to go on this amazing missionary journey. I remember a pastor from my first church tell the congregation during a service that he read an article that said the most independent country in the world is the good ol' U.S.A. and the most independent area is "Silicone Valley." Yikes! To say the least, I was not living in an area that celebrated community life. Church offered some community life but it was fit into a very fast paced life where it wasn't a priority. The cares of the world were more important to people in "Silicone Valley" than relationship. As I continued my walk with Jesus, I knew it wasn't suppose to fit into a busy schedule but have more of a priority. My decision to go to Iris put this into reality.

I went to Iris because what I read in the bible was so differnt then my experience as a Christian. The bible and many amazing books testified of God's power but I wasn't seeing it. I went because I wanted to see His power in signs, miracles, and wonders. I heard and read that it was happening there. What God gave me there was so much more then what I was seeking andfamily thought I needed. He spoke to me about relationships. A relationship with him and others. "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,with all yoursoul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself." 

I really was not prepared for community life like this. I was so use to having my own space and time that it was a challenge for me but one that I was ready to lay down for. I needed to be humbeled in this area to have a closer relationship with Jesus and others. It wasn't going to happen in the enviroment I was living in with my background. To my suprise, I loved it. I'm not saying I was good at it but I did love it.

So here I am, on the Iris Latin America trip. Our has fluctuated from between 20 to about 30 people sofar. I have brothers and sisters from the U.S.A., Texas, England, Canada. Scotland, New Zealand, Australia, Mexico, Columbia, Russia, Germany, and little Zoe who is from Africa. There are so many different cultures represented in this community and some are very vocal about there culture. We have fluctuated between 7 to 10 guys on this trip and girls have been between 13 to 20. Yes, it is a very diverse group of on fire Jesus lovers. It's an Acts 2 home church on an Acts 13 missionary journey. I love it! Come on Jesus, more fire, more salvations, more healings, more community. I was feeling Him while I was writing,"I love it!" I had to express it in written form. Fuego!! Isn't Jesus good! You could be writing a blog that you don't want to write and He just blast you with His love. I love you Jesus! You are the only way!!

Yeah, so, let's get to the "nitty-gritty." That is a saying from our training video for the Iris Latin America trip. Everyone has to watch it to be in unity with each other. Another saying that speaks to the group is "they don't think I know a butt-load of crap about the Gospel, but I do." You know how the devil tries to discourage us so just repeat this saying until you have understanding and it's in your heart. If you want feel like you are with us more, in unity, you must watch our training video. It's called, Nacho Libre. It's very inspiring. My strange sense of humor is coming out. Uh-oh!

Community life has it's pro's and con's. The pro's far out weigh the con's. Biggest con I can think of is when the group has only one shower and the 20 girls take forever because they have to shave there legs. Why? Hello, you are a missionary where most want to go to the unreached people in the middle of know where and your worried about hair on your legs. You don't want the indigenous people to think, hey, look the women don't shave their legs. You already know us guys on the team don't care how you look.

Anyways..Life in a community is far better than an independent life. It's challenges you to be a better brother-in-Christ, a better witness of Jesus's love, a better friend, a better person, and definitely more humble. Things seem to come out of you in a community that depends on a relationship with Pappa God and each other. Things that you don't even know you are dealing with inside. A couple of weeks ago, in Bogota, Columbia, my family was around me praying for healing of my right hip pain and prophesying over me. During it, I heard the Holy Spirit say, confess that you have been dealing with anger/bitterness and to apologize to 4 people who you have hurt. Boy, I did not want to do this. It felt embarrassing but that feeling was a lie from the devil. He never want repentance. Repentance leads to reconcilliation and then to revival. Well, I did confess and felt a big burden come off me. I felt lighter. It's amazing when you can feel in the Spirit.

I love this community that God has put me in. I just wanted to share a little about me and how God is transforming me into something new. For me, this is the only way to live.

To be continued....

Video of time in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama

Driving over the Panama canal on a sketchy one land bridge

Camping on the beach of Playa Negra in Costa Rica

Kayaking in Nicaragua

In Panama City getting our vehicles inspected for there trip to Columbia via Panama Canal

More kayaking in Nicaragua

Pictures of Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama

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Myself and Ben kayaking in Nicaraqua

Jesse, Zoe, and Tanya

Hiking up a Volcano in Nicaragua. This was a cool rock formation

Making funny faces while waiting to go kayaking

Kathyrn, Rachael, Tanya, and Breck enjoying the beach of Playa Negra

Lake Nicaragua

Playa Negra, Costa Rica

Vehicle inspection in Panama City, Panama

King Jesse at our shipping company's office in Panama

Panama

Our time in Panama was amazing. The border crossing from Costa Rica to Panama was the toughest of the trip so far. We would find out soon enough that it wasn't even a drop in the bucket compared to getting our five vehicles across the Panama Canal to Columbia. After two days of travel consisting of two of our vehicles having problems we arrived in Panama City, Panama. We had the privilege of staying in a church that was right next to the Panama Canal. We got to watch the big ships travel on the Canal and the trains taking big containers away from the docks. We also got to drive over the bridge that the trains use but one lane is for cars to get to the city we were in, Gamboa. They just put some wood over the tracks. It was a bit sketchy to drive over but fun.

We had a lot of ministry opportunities but the one I want to write about had the greatest impact on me. Our contact from YWAM (youth with a mission) David, arrainged for us to minister in the most dangerous and poorest section of Panama City. This is why we are all on this trip. We want to go in the darkest areas of the Americas and bring the Light of Jesus to it. We went to this apartment building where they were waiting for us. A pastor was already loudly preaching and praising God in the inside courtyard of the building to some children. We all spread out and started praying for the people and the community. Some of the guys started praying for this one man. When I first looked into his eyes, I saw a lot of evil. One of the guys, Taylor, heard from God that we need to roar like a lion into him in unison. So we told our translator to tell him, and when he agreed to it, we roared very loudly for about 10 seconds. We continued to pray for him after and gave him hugs and told him Jesus loved him. When I looked into his eyes after praying, I did see a difference. Two days later, David told us the testimony of this guy. That same night we were praying for him, he was planning a big robbery. During the time we prayed for him and roared into him, he saw his destiny in a vision. It wasn't a good one. He saw himself in hell. When we left, he gave his life to Jesus and did not commit the robbery. Praise God!! People being transformed by the love and power of Jesus. I felt very honored that the Lord would allow me to be a co-laborer with Him in this gentlemens life. It was an awesome display of light entering where darkness is, and darkness fleeing.

Adventures in Honduras

Five of us, Maria Lopez, Liz Peppiatt, Natalie Mantai, Astrid Emmerich, and myself (Ted Hogan) left Choluteca on sunday to travel to Yamaguila and then up a mountain via donkey to Agua Caliente. An indigenous people group, the Lenca, live up there. We were like the United Nations of the Kingdom of God going there. One person born In Mexico, one person born in the United Kingdom, one person born in Russia, one person born in Germany, and one person born in the United States. It sounded easy enough when we were talking about going the day before but, to say the least, it wasn't easy. It was definitely worth it though. There is a quote from Soul Surfer that I love, "I don't need easy, I just need possible." This was definitely true for this five day adventure.

House in the Lenca village of Agua Caliente

We left Choluteca for a five hour drive that ended up taking over seven hours. Twenty kilometers into our drive our vehicle, "Overflow", was running even worse then normal. We pulled over and prayed for the Holy Spirit's direction. We pulled over two more times, once when the engine stopped as we were driving, and another when there was no steering and we heard a noise. Each time we prayed and pushed through asking the Holy Spirit to lead us. This was going to me a common theme, pushing through and listening to the Holy Spirit, for every facet of our five day journey.

We arrived sunday afternoon at Yamaguila and were blessed by an amazing ministery, Mercy International, led by Henry. We had lunch there and then decided to push on to Agua Caliente. Before leaving, we wanted to pray for the youth who were having a worship service. These are kids who have troubled homes. I thought to myself, we have fifteen minutes to do that, before driving two more hours in "Overflow" and then traveling three more hours up a mountain via donkey before it got to dark. Well.....the Holy Spirit had other plans for us. Three hours later, after prophesying, praying, and a fire tunnel for the fifty or so youth, we left at 7 pm for Agua Caliente. Twenty minutes later we were calling the staff from Mercy International for help because "Overflow" wasn't running right and we were sliding toward the side of the mountain due to muddy roads. I officially got the vehicle stuck in the mud on the way back to the base and had many from the community help us get out of the mud. To say the least, it wasn't an easy day, but worth it seeing those youth touched by God.

Bus taken to San Pedrito

Monday, we dropped off "Overflow" to the mechanic and set off on our now three hour bus ride to San Pedrito. If you've never been on a public bus in a Latin America country going up a mountain on a muddy road over sketchy bridges, I highly recommend it. We arrived in San Pedrito at 4pm and were met by Bengido one of our contacts. Most of us, 3 of the 5, wanted to push on through up the mountain that night to Agua Caliente. Then Bendigo asked us a profound question. What's your objective going up there? For me, our objective, was to push through that night till we got to our destination. Maria told him that we wanted to go house to house praying for the Lenca people, loving them, and telling them about Jesus. That was what I wanted to do but now was unsure if it was worth it to push through at night. We would only have four or five hours to minister up there anyways. The team was split on what to do. We finally made a decision to stay and minister in San Pedrito for the rest of monday and all of tuesday. There was a need there just as much as Agua Caliente. We had to get back to the rest of the team in Choluteca by wednesday night so we had limited time. When we told Bengido we were staying, he said, they are expecting you up in Agua Caliente. We looked at each other and didn't say a word. Would have been nice to know that little bit of info before we had this trying ordeal of coming to a resolution on what to do. That morning before our meeting, I heard the Holy Spirit say "unity and team." I told everyone but had no idea the depth of it.

Our gear getting transported up to Agua Caliente

Our three hour hike up the muddy trail to Agua Caliente

We headed up the mountain just before 5pm. We had three donkeys for the five of us. We used two of them two carry our gear and the other one we rode on. It took us about three hours to get to Agua Caliente. The first hour or so there was light to see. Henry, from Mercy International, told us the hike is uphill both ways. He was true to his word. There was very little flat area. The last hour of the three our hike was in darkness with a flashlights that didn't illuminate very well in muddy unstable thick dirt on a cloudy moonless night. We finally arrived at our destination. A community of thirty-five Lenca families who lived with no running water or electricity. It wasn't easy, but worth it as we pushed through and listened to the Holy Spirit to the best of our abilities.

Going house to house in the muddy village praying for the sick and telling them about Jesus

Tuesday we woke up to the sound of rain hitting the metal siding roof of the worship center we were sleeping in. This provoked most of us to pray for it to stop since we were going to go trampling in the mud spreading the gospel house to house and then hike down the mountain on the already muddy path. Over a course of five hours, we went to seven of the thirty-five homes, including our host for Agua Caliente, Bernardo. Bernardo and his family are one of only three families that went to the church established there by Mercy International. There hasn't been a service there for a few months because they no longer have a pastor there. Nine adults gave there life to Jesus and over ten children as we went house to house. We prayed for many people and one ladies back was healed of long standing pain. It was a life changing time for us. There are at least two more communities, Agua Dulce and Santa Barbara, of Lenca people above where we were that need to hear about Jesus.

Lenca family

Wearily, we headed down the mountain. We had been pushing it since early sunday. We arrived back in San Pedrito at 4pm and had just enough time to eat and rest till we were to do the 6pm service. One woman gave her life to the Lord in the small budding church and as we prayed for the people two men received healing: knee pain healed and another man had neck/back pain healed.

We had more problems with the vehicle on wednesday which the mechanic told us could not be driven but made it back on thursday, Thanksgiving day. For me, it was totally appropriate to come back on a day of thanksgiving. To say the least, this five day adventure in Honduras wasn't easy , but ...........