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We recently had a visit from one of our long term supporting churches, New Community Covenant Church of Chicago. They have been one of our supporting churches (of the Delp Family) since 2014 but just this year, they have made their first visit to Ecuador to be a part of the ministry Cayambe. It was a wonderful time as they helped us pick potatoes (on the Forever Flowers farm next to the greenhouses), spent time with the children in the Casa Hogar and served as a part of our community based ministries as well. Enjoy the pictures from their time. Thank you New Community for your service with us!!
A couple of weeks ago, we celebrated 75 years of Service Together as IPEE (the Covenant Church of Ecuador) celebrated it’s 75th anniversary in the Annual Meeting of the national church. It was a wonderful time of being together as we ordained six pastors to the ministry, received international visitors as well as celebrated each of the conferences of Covenant churches. Among those who visited was Eugenio Restrepo, the Regional Coordinator from Latin America, our friend (and boss!) in the Evangelical Covenant Church. It was wonderful to spend time with him and all of our Ecuadorian brothers and sister of the IPEE as it was the first time we were all together in three years.
It was a great weekend to catch up with my friends in the camp in Santo Domingo. I was so happy to see the the camp finally achieved its dream of having a pool on the campgrounds.
Before the Annual Meeting, we were able to spend some time with Eugenio taking him to the project in Cayambe as well as going out to eat with him.
I don’t remember ever really “celebrating” Lent growing up. I could very well be remembering it wrong, I am getting a little older and over-the-hill now. Maybe we did something significant remember 40 days of something, but I don’t specifically remember Lent. However, for the last 20 years, attending Covenant Churches and being involved in the Lenten season, I have realized the beauty in remembrance. Probably even more so during the pandemic when our family was very intentional about going deeper in Lent and helping our kids walk through it in light of the pandemic. It is sacred. It’s a holy space. Some years, mainly before the pandemic, Lent would sneak up on me and oftentimes I wouldn’t be as prepared as I would have wanted.
But this year God has really been drawing me in to this season of Lent. I welcome it. Even during Advent I kept thinking how significant it was that Jesus was born to die. How amazing and awful and beautiful and mysterious it all can be. We can complicate it sometimes, but that is the reality. He was born to die.
As we enter Ash Wednesday today and Lent begins, I welcome it. I welcome the beauty and the mystery. I feel God drawing all of us in, coming as we are, carrying burdens. Life is heavy right now and we can all bear witness to that. But in the beauty of the Ashes today, remembering that they represent mourning, grief and heaviness like many carry today. But in the midst of all that we carry, we can empty ourselves of that and be filled with Jesus. This is a beautiful time to do that. Some may feel so heavy that prayer and even breath seems difficult. But as this video below says, if you can breathe, you can pray. So as we carry so much, I encourage us to remember we are not alone:
As we enter this season, I want to draw close and the way I do that is through journaling, prayer, music, reflection. It can be different for everyone. But my goal is to try to post something most days, a reflection, a song a prayer; a way to draw us closer when all we feel is weighted down. So, today I open with a beautiful explanation of Ash Wednesday from Matt Maher, a worship leader, followed by a song. Usually scripture that I have experienced and read during Ash Wednesday services are from Psalm 51:
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. 4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge. 5 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. 6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. 9 Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you. 14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, you who are God my Savior, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. 15 Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare your praise. 16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. 17 My sacrifice, O God, is[b] a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.
18 May it please you to prosper Zion, to build up the walls of Jerusalem. 19 Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous, in burnt offerings offered whole; then bulls will be offered on your altar.
So draw close, lean in, be broken, be contrite and allow God to move in you. We can carry the ashes together.
This year for the Santiago Partnership we are continuing from what was started last year, we are returning to you the vision of Forever Flowers as we strive for self-sustainability, and we are adding in an extension into the community. We need your support one more time in providing ONE-TIME DONATIONS between now and December 31st, 2021, to help us build off of what we have already established through Forever Flowers 1 and further EXTEND INTO THE COMMUNITY through Forever Flowers 2.
As we are missionaries with the Evangelical Covenant Church, there are three options to support the Delps and Ecuador this year:
1. We are hoping and praying to be able to go on sabbatical over the Summer, June – August 2022. However, we do not currently have funding to be able to do that. If you would like to help in this way, we would so appreciate it. You can send financial gifts to:
Evangelical Covenant Church
P.O. Box 773420
Chicago, IL 60677
Please label it with our name and say “Personal Gift for Sabbatical.” Being that these are “personal gifts,” no tax-deductible receipt can be given.
2. Support our Project in Ecuador through the Evangelical Covenant Church:
3. Support the Delp Family as Serve Global Personnel through the Evangelical Covenant Church:
This past week, Kim was able to serve together with women from around Ecuador as well as volunteers from the U.S. and Germany to serve Ecuadorian and Venezuelan women. After two years of not being able to do women’s caravans, the pink coats (these have been a symbol of the women’s caravans for their bright fuchsia color) returned to action.
The Women Ministries of Ecuador who have been helping lead these caravans from the beginning served together and although all of us were new for the most part serving together, there was so much beauty that came from it. All of us came with a posture of learning and knowing that this was the first caravan after the pandemic, which meant there would be learning to do. I believe it was positive all around from those that served and those being taken care of, we all brought something to the table, as many of the women being cared for were part of the churches and communities we were in. The majority helped making meals or with set-up of the caravan making it a beautiful display of service and volunteerism together. The communities served were Oyacachi, a community on the border of the highlands and the Amazon region, Puntiachill, in Cayambe, and two communities in Quito, Lucha de los pobres and Comite del Pueblo.
A highlight for me (Kim) as a provider was hearing two different times from different women how they were being cared for. One lady, at least 60, said as I was checking her ears “this is the first time anyone has ever looked in my ears”. Another women told one of our providers that she had never been cared for or listened to the way we were listening and caring for her.
At the beginning of the week before the caravan started, I talked with the volunteers about coming in to the week with a healthy attitude. That all of us were coming in to this week from different places. Some completely drained from caring for people in the States, on the frontlines of Covid. Some emotionally and spiritually drained from grief and trauma. Others exhausted on all fronts. The encouragement was that all of us were coming out of our complex situations in to a new one. In to a space of serving vulnerable underserved women who carry many of these same weights on their shoulders and that we needed to fill up, to be able to pour out. I read Psalm 42, speaking to myself as well as others to be in a space to pour out completely.
42 As the deer desires rivers of water, so my soul desires You, O God. 2 My soul is thirsty for God, for the living God. When will I come and meet with God? 3 My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” 4 These things I remember, and I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go with many people and lead them to the house of God, with the voice of thankful joy, among the many happy people.
5 Why are you sad, O my soul? Why have you become troubled within me? Hope in God, for I will praise Him again for His help of being near me. 6 O my God, my soul is troubled within me. So I remember You from the land of the Jordan and the tops of Hermon, from Mount Mizar. 7 Sea calls to sea at the sound of Your waterfalls. All Your waves have rolled over me. 8 The Lord will send His loving-kindness in the day. And His song will be with me in the night, a prayer to the God of my life.
9 I will say to God my Rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why do I have sorrow because those who hate me come against me with power?” 10 As a breaking of my bones, those who hate me speak sharp words to me. All day long they say to me, “Where is your God?” 11 Why are you sad, O my soul? Why have you become troubled within me? Hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my help and my God.
It was a wonderful week to serve alongside of women who want to serve, inspire, empower and raise up women who have for too long been pushed down. It was inspiring to watch and be a part of and I’m so grateful.
Here are some pictures from the week!
Getting to know the kids in the Casa Hogar in Cayambe
Leaders together with Pastor Manzano in Lucha de los pobres
I don’t want to sound like a crashing cymbal
I don’t want to be some empty noise
I’m down on my knees Lord I surrender
Jesus help me to love with a love like Yours
Whether in the church or not, you have probably heard or read the “Love Chapter” in the Bible, 1 Corinthians 13. It’s a great wedding passage to have read and my husband and I even wrote vows related to it. Super holy, right? The problem I have had over the last few years is I just feel I can’t live up to that. I’ve been challenged to try and I want to try, but Lord have mercy, it is HARD! It’s a lot of pressure, it’s a lot of work, it’s a whole lot of hard and I’ll be honest, most days, I’m not up for it, most days I fail pretty miserably. I have to think that God knows that. He knows we can’t live up to this in the slightest.
But I also know, it’s a cop-out to just not try. It’s good to realize that we can’t do it. It’s good to realize that no matter how many times we read the passage, not matter how many times we try and fail, it shows us our constant need for something bigger than ourselves to invest in us so we can invest in others. We can’t live up to this kind of LOVE. You may think, wow, you are just setting yourself up for failure. I would like to look at it in the way that I am keenly, KEENLY aware of the fact that if I try to LOVE with the kind of love described in this chapter and other passages throughout the Bible, I WILL fail. But when I realize that, it makes me go to the source of LOVE, Jesus Himself.
Do I have a step by step idea of how to love this way? I wish I could say yes because I would probably be a millionaire by now. Honestly, I am just trying to daily figure our my own constant need for Jesus to love. But one thing I do know is that this doesn’t just happen. It is work, it is hard, it is messy and it shows us our true selves. But in realizing our frailty and necessity for Jesus every minute, we begin the process of learning, yes LEARNING how to love like this. This is an everyday decision. It’s a day-in, day-out decision to invest in the pain of loving others. It can be pain. But it can beauty and joy.
This song, Nothing, Something, WOO, it is something! The first time I listened to it, I was just unDONE! I knew the impact and the NEED for LOVE to rule in my life. I warn you, don’t listen to it if you aren’t truly ready for some work in your life, for some realization the constant need to be better.
The most holy person you know is broken, we all are and we can all do well to realize our brokenness so we can love each other in our brokenness. To love each other in our pain and joy, our mountains and valleys for the simple reason that WE are loved in ours. So listen. Let the words really sink in. Don’t listen to this as we a lot of times read the “love chapter”. Really listen and let these words penetrate the places that need love to be better, to love better. Our weaknesses make us realize our need and our weaknesses can help us love better.
The bottom line, no matter what I do or say or try or think I am or think I’m not. Without love, it’s nothing, NOTHING. Don’t just gloss over that. NOTHING. But if we have love, maybe the lives we live can be something. That is my prayer, my plea, that even a little that I do will mean something because love is behind it, in it, around it and through it.
18-20 And now I have it all—and keep getting more! The gifts you sent with Epaphroditus were more than enough, like a sweet-smelling sacrifice roasting on the altar, filling the air with fragrance, pleasing God to no end. You can be sure that God will take care of everything you need, his generosity exceeding even yours in the glory that pours from Jesus. Our God and Father abounds in glory that just pours out into eternity. Yes. -Phillipians 4:19-20 (The Message)
I’ve heard the Abraham and Isaac story a hundred times. Any good church-going, Sunday-school attending kid would, right? Maybe it takes more than just hearing or reading the story once we get older. When we experience life, we need more than just Sunday school answers to wrap our head around things, yes? Maybe it’s just me…
In Genesis 22 we read about Abraham and Isaac. We read some, but there isn’t a whole lot of insight more than the words. It didn’t talk about what the night before they set out for Mount Moriah. Do you think Abraham slept? Was it a restless sleep or maybe there was no sleep at all.
Abraham obeyed. I imagine that even Abraham, a man loved by the God of the universe had to fight against anything natural in himself to just stay in bed that day. His heart had to just be aching. Even knowing the Sunday school answers (that God is sovereign “El Elyon”, Lord and Master “Adonai” and “El Shaddai” Pourer-forth) could he really go in to the day with unquestioning obedience? Even after Isaac asked him about the burnt offering, he tells him, “God will provide”. Was Abraham pleading with God during that hike to provide, SOMEHOW, provide? But Abraham wasn’t naïve to who God was. He knew God, His character and the promises that surrounded Isaac. It begs the question that I wonder if he thought what a waste it would be to kill Isaac now. All that he had endured just for it to end like this? In Hebrews it sheds a little light on this subject.
Hebrews 11:17-19: By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”[a]19 Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.
Maybe at some point he just realized that even if he was killed, maybe God would bring him back to life? At some point Abraham must have reasoned that God would indeed provide. What a welcome sound to Abraham’s ears to hear a ram, caught in the thicket. What relief he must have felt.
That place would forever be known as a place where God will provide. God provided for Abraham, He provided His only son for us who deserved death. He offered His son to die in our place. The ram for Isaac, the spotless lamb of God-“was the only provision of Jehovah-Jireh for the sins of the world”.
I remember a Sunday school song
Jehovah Jireh, My Provider
His Grace Is Sufficient
For Me, For Me, For MeJehovah Jireh, My Provider
His Grace Is Sufficient
For MeMy God Shall Supply All My Needs
According To His Riches In Glory
He Will Give His Angels, Charge Over Me Jehovah Jireh Cares For Me, For Me, For me
Jehovah Jireh Cares For Me
I checked out a little bit where provide comes from when it comes to Jireh. The literal translation means “to see” or “to see to it” Similar to what Hagar says of God in Genesis 16 calling Him, “the God who sees”. Jireh can also mean in Hebrew perceive” and “experience.”
When Abraham calls God Jehova-Jireh, it isn’t him saying it willy-nilly, selfishly to just ask to give me stuff. He is saying
“You see/experience all this need of mine and make provision for it.”
It is deeply personal.”
God’s provision and how that translates in to our lives is seeing and experiencing our need and having a provision for it. He cares. He cares enough not just to see your need, but also to provide for it in every way. It isn’t always how we imagine, but it is done in a way that is for us, not against us. Yes, he cared enough about us to give His only son to pay our price of sin, but He also cares enough to provide for your daily needs in life. Nothing is insignificant and nothing is small. He cares. Just imagine what that means for a minute. He cares about wild flowers and sparrows, enough to provide for them, imagine the care He takes for YOU if he cares that much about birds and flowers.
I encourage you friends to go deeper than just Sunday school understandings of stories in Scripture. When we face the messiness of life (because it WILL happen), we have to rely more on the knowledge of personal understand of God’s character than the heady, logical, sometimes insignificant words and understanding we have. Our God is for us. Our God cares so much for us. He provides rams instead of death, He provides His own son in the place of sin. He care about flowers and sparrows and He has chosen you, He knows you, He loves you. When you call out to Jehovah-Jireh, it is more than just someone that provides, He sees, He cares and it is personal. Live in to Jireh and the significance of His presence in you.
Here is a song that has given words to sing over myself every day (yes, it is on repeat that much in my house) to know that Jireh is enough. I know who I am in Him. May you speak these words over yourself today.
Some quotes are taken from To Know Him by name by Kay Authur
It is that time of year where we see all the back-to-school pictures and we don’t want to be any different, but maybe for different reasons. We want to CELEBRATE that the kids are going back to school IN PERSON! It is a reason to celebrate! It has been a year and a half since our kids have been at their school. Simeon is starting 6th grade, Esther is starting 2nd grade and Ephraim is starting 1st grade! Yes, they will be masked, yes, they have bio-security measures as they enter school (alcohol on the hands and temperature taking before entry), double the amount of hand sanitizer but they are together and we celebrate it! All teachers are vaccinated! This is a big step here in Ecuador! Celebrate with us!
We wanted to do something this year for our kids, praying verses over our kids each day as they go to school. Something we have seen in them is that the pandemic has created anxiety, fear and worry and we want to combat that.
Simeon:
Philippians 4:6-76 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
Esther:
I AM KNOWN, LOVED, FORGIVEN, REDEEMED, CHOSEN, FREE, A CHILD OF GOD. …See what kind of love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are…1 John 3:1
Ephraim:
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26
With our recent trip to the jungle, we were also able to spend a couple of days in Baños, one of our favorite tourist areas in Ecuador to do some extreme sports, hiking and just enjoying time together with friends. We were so thankful our friends were able to go with us, Rolando, Diana and their three children. We are grateful for space and time to be able to rest and rejuvenate.
The most holy person you know is broken, we all are and we can all do well to realize our brokenness so we can love each other in our brokenness. To love each other in our pain and joy, our mountains and valleys for the simple reason that WE are loved in ours. So listen. Let the words really sink in. Don’t listen to this as we a lot of times read the “love chapter”. Really listen and let these words penetrate the places that need love to be better, to love better. Our weaknesses make us realize our need and our weaknesses can help us love better.
The Santiago Partnership