Hey :0)! How are you all doing?

Knowing that you are praying not only for me personally but for my team mates as well, this time I thought to ask one of my Friends from the team, Jill, to share what the Lord taught her so far on this trip. Hope and pray that her words will be a huge blessing for you ! ( You can see her next to me on this picture below)

My name is Jill Andre, and I have been a fellow missionary of Timi's for more than six months here in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico.  When Timi asked me to blog about how God has impacted my life so far on this trip, I felt very honored.  This summary won't even come near to describing how Jesus has worked in my life this past year.  In fact, it would take a very long e-mail.  So I will try to sum up his work. 

The first semester involved a lot of submitting myself to the Lord and asking him to give me an other-minded perspective and passion for what he wanted me to do.   

A lot of my focus changed because of the prison ministry I chose to do with Timi.  These women in Matamoros are both in a literal and figurative prison because of the stronghold Satan has on their lives, whether it's drug addiction, alcoholism, fear, anger, depression or death worship through a cult called Santa Muerte.  When we are living in a Christian community in our church and friendship circles, we often forget how many people need Jesus and how great the need is for carriers of the good news.  My own prison that I was incarcerating myself into instead of living as the new creation I am (2 Corinthians 5:17) was suddenly spotlighted.  I am free!  Why not live that way?  From the beginning of this year until now, God has brought me back to the childhood I lost through my parents' divorce and other childhood trials.  He has helped me start over, in a sense -- not without difficult times, of course -- bringing me toward truth regarding my worth as his child and reassuring me of my salvation and the good works he is doing in me.  At one point, through a healing prayer session, he even called me "Jilly" through one of the women praying.  That's a name I haven't heard since I was seven. 

Most importantly, God has taught me how much he loves me, nay, is enamored with me.  I have never really had an emotionally affirming and consistently uplifting father figure in my life, so that void of male attention in my life is being filled by his immense love for me -- the only love that will never, ever fail me and the only love that can save me.  The only love that we truly all need.  Any day that I feel that is a good day no matter what happens. 

Finally, I have been learning to abandon the importance I put in other's opinions of me for my Father's opinion, for his love.  God has begun to show me, now that I am here, how much I am a conquerer because of his love, and as a result he is empowering with a passion to share that knowledge with others. 

Thank you all for reading this not-so-short-after-all story.  My greatest hope is that you would all know through it how powerful God is.  That's why I am here.