laurabutler - Open The Eyes of My Heart, Lord: The Village

God transcends language. Through Him love, friendship, prayer, and healing know no boundaries.

Last week, Nidia, Tony's wife, went with my team, Krista, Kaci, Karson, and Cherub Grace, to the small village of Teupasenti. Nidia served as a translator, as well as a mother, and helped us to get acquainted with her hometown. Honestly, it's hard for me to even begin to describe this week, but to sum it up, a piece of my heart will forever live in this village.

To start with, I PLAYED SOCCER for the first time in a whole year and seven months.

in Honduras. with a Honduran boys soccer team. God is good and fulfills His promises!

Since this trip began, I have been praying nonstop for confirmation of whether or not I should play soccer on my accident-prone knee. As we were packing to leave for Teupasenti, I realized that my carabiner is now permanently attached to my knee brace. Like really, there is no way that it is coming off. At the time, it was frustrating, but in hindsight, I think that was God's way of telling me that He would protect me.

After we arrived and set up our stuff in our room of the house next to the church, we went to our afternoon ministry on the soccer field. Watching the boys practice made me sad to think that I wouldn't be able to play with them. That night, I had my team pray over my knee for complete healing and protection. I felt like God was slowly giving me an answer. Then, at the end of the next day, I started juggling with some boys, and it gradually turned into a game of keep away. God eased me into it, and I started to trust whatever His will was for me. I promised myself that I would only play in a game, though, if someone asked me, and the next day, Wilmer, the older boys' coach, and Nidia asked if we wanted to join the boys in a game. I was like, "Here we go, Jesus!". Being able to play again was the most amazing feeling in the world. Having knee surgeries is such a large part of my testimony, and God really redeemed that part of my life in just this one week. Every day from then on, it was just non-stop soccer.

Soccer at the field. Soccer at church. Soccer at school.

It was such a blessing. God did so many amazing things, and this was simply one way that His love was so apparent to me. Through soccer, I got to become friends with the boys, even though I can't speak Spanish, and I shared my testimony with them through Nidia. It's awesome that God allowed a connection between us through a love for the game to open up the door for a conversation about Him.

Also this week, we experienced several healings through opportunities to pray over injuries, sickness, blindness, and hurting hearts.

From day one, we became really close with a lady, who has had a fractured ankle for the past two months. The week before we got to the village, God told Cherub Grace that she would heal someone and to look for the color pink. As we were exploring the first day, we walked up to a lady sitting on the side of the road with her crutches and her pink shirt and started talking to her about her injury. She invited us inside of her house, with pink curtains and pink walls, and before we prayed for her, we asked her name, and she replied, "Rosa", and rosado just so happens to be the word for pink in Spanish. We prayed for her ankle pretty much everyday we were there, and she was always waiting for us outside her house.

With each passing day, God healed her little by little. After the first day, she went to putting pressure on her foot with both crutches. Then, she went to only one crutch. Then, she went to an ankle brace and used the crutch only for assistance. The progress in just a few days was substantial, and we saw the swelling go down. After a couple months of hurting, she finally is healing, and she hardly even understood the words we prayed over her.

In just one week, I felt so much love for so many people. This was possible only because of God. Because of Him, it didn't matter the words we said. He broke down that barrier, and the Holy Spirit was all over the place. The day before we left, we climbed up the mountain overlooking the village with Nidia, a pastor, and two boys to pray over the whole place. The view was awesome. In that moment, I knew that God also holds a special place in his heart for Teupasenti, and I feel like that is not the last time I will be there.

"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in yourinner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being

rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses

knowledge -- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

--Ephesians 3: 16-19