Update - Oct 5

Hi everybody! I just managed to get an internet connection, so this will be a quick, spontaneous blog. Juan is back from Congo! Juan had an awesome time traveling with the Bishop. Juan likes to talk in the third person :) Congo was all about spiritual renewal and God was DEFINITELY with us. Miracles happened! It was awesome to see God at work with my own eyes. One night, a mosquito got trapped inside my mosquito net and I wanted to kill myself! But it was otherwise a great trip.

Traveling with the Bishop was great. His pockets are full of gifts for everyone. He has chocolate bars, crosses, rings, bracelets, etc. He sweet talks everybody and puts smiles on their faces. The Congo airport is chaos. It looks like an old bus station, and it's scary if you aren't familiar with it. There are no signs to tell you where to go, and no one speaks English, and you have to bribe everyone to get through. When the security boss saw the Bishop, he walked up to him and threw his arms around him and was so happy to see him. He allowed us to skip the line up to get our passports stamped and did all the passport work for us while we went to go get our bags. It was smoooooth as butter. While in Congo, the Bishop was trying to get his flight changed to return one day early. He asked me if I wanted to change my ticket as well or travel on my own. I told him I would rather travel with him. He told me that I might have to come back on my own because the early flight was already overbooked. I thought to myself 'Oh man, I am going to have to go through the Congo airport on my own!' I stressed out and secretly wished to not have to go without him. It occurred to me that this was a reflection of true spiritual life: Once you have walked holding the hand of God....once you have relied on Him completely and experienced His comfort and care, you dread going anywhere without Him, to the point that, if He's not going, you don't want to go either.

Our missionary team is now in a small village called Maseno, completing the documentary. The filmmakers are extremely nice people and they are not afraid to go to the poor areas with us. We have become good friends in a really short time. Christine shared something nice with me yesterday. All these amazing people we are meeting (the missionaries, the Bishop, the priests, the filmmakers, the mission staff), we would have never met any of them if it were not for Jesus. He is the one that we all know, and we have met each other through knowing Him.

Jenny has caught malaria and typhoid and was feeling really awful, but is thankfully now starting to recover.

Ok guys, get ready for this one. I am excited to share some good news. No, we are not pregnant. There is a young married couple here from the US called Mike and Sherry, whom we absolutely love. Sherry has really bad asthma and allergies and the combination makes it really tough for her to breathe, let alone be active. She uses her inhaler almost hourly. It's tough to witness and it breaks Mike's heart to see his beloved wife in this condition. He asked us to pray for Sherry. Without telling each other, Christine and I decided to fast and pray for Sherry, but when we saw that the other one started skipping meals, we knew what they were up to! We had recently studied the book of Esther, and she fasted and prayed for 3 days and God answered her prayers, so we thought we follow her example. So together we fasted and prayed. We decided not to eat or drink anything at all for 3 days. Our prayers intensified during the fast. I thought that I would be starved, but God really supported us. We asked God to focus His attention on us, to let His gaze rest on us, so that our prayers would be loud and clear to Him. We also taped two pieces of the shroud of Baba Kyrillos (our former Pope who was well known for doing miracles) to her lungs as well as anointing her with Honout (spices used to cover the relics of Saints) from Bishop Bishoy (one of our former Bishops who carried an old, helpless man up a mountain, and the old man turned out to be Jesus, and Jesus told him his body would never decay and it never has - it's still in Egypt and in tact - google this for more info). After 3 days, Sherry was feeling a better, but was not yet completely healed. I felt that God was sending us a message. He was telling us to be careful not to think that there is a guaranteed formula for accessing His power. So I fasted and prayed one more day. GOD GRANTED OUR PRAYERS! Sherry has been healed!!!!! She hasn't had to use her inhaler in a couple of weeks! She now walks to the grocery store and back (a one hour trip)! I remember the day Mike ran to our building and said 'God is good! Whatever you guys did worked! Thank you, I know you suffered for Sherry'. I was brought to tears. The fact that our mighty, awesome God listened to, accepted and answered our prayers is overwhelming. I want everyone to know that God's power is within our reach if only we ask for it with faith and love. He is truly listening and yearns for us to depend on Him only.

A special note to our brothers and sisters: Get ready, because He is coming into your lives. We are praying constantly for Jesus to make Himself present in your lives, for Him to throw His arms around you and never let go. Now you know for a fact that He listens to our prayers when they are made out of love. Don't be afraid. Having Him next to you is a huge relief - finally there is someone out there who cares deeply for you and loves you and yearns to help you. Be prepared. Your lives are about to change. We guarantee it :)

One more thing. Mike and Sherry told me that if I could perform a miracle, they would name their baby after me! Sherry is due in December and I think they are really going to name him Juan! Imagine, an Egyptian named Juan! I love it :)

Juan and Christine