alex – a new Creation!

before you go any farther into this post, i want you to prepare yourself: physically, mentally and spiritually. this blog is going to be a long one. i would say that a part of this blog has a trigger-warning (SH) so if you want to, pause, grab a blanket and a beverage (probably fill up your water-bottle so you don’t get dehydrated, water is necessary -> read John 4:13-15) and maybe a snack (like the original Dot’s Pretzels or Goldfish, or whatever is your favorite). Make sure you also grab the Word of God, you’ll need to look up some passages 🙂

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to help you better understand as I go into this story of what the Lord allowed me to experience, I want to introduce the story of Job to you. Job is the 18th book of the Bible and is right before the book of Psalms and after the story of Esther. here’s a link to a video that explains the book of Job in case you’ve never read or heard about this story! side note: this all happened because we (Ben, Kailey, Natalie and myself) allowed the Lord to work through us and we listened to what the Holy Spirit was telling us to do.

0kay, here we go! that weekend (Saturday – Monday) we (my team and a boy’s team) traveled to Panajachel, Guatemala to have a mini vaca. that day (Monday) we had been trying to make plans of what we were going to do and ultimately decided to go to a coffee shop where our leaders were meeting for breakfast and hang there for the day. so they dropped their pin and we started walking, eventually we got to where the pin said they were – was not it. so we walked to the other side thinking maybe it was there, it wasn’t. we were lost, in a city we didn’t know very well – just a group of young gringos (white people) on fire for Jesus.

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as we were standing on the side of the street trying to figure out what to do, a man walked by with his dog, then circled back, sat down on the ground and started crying. of course, my first reaction was to question why and what the man’s intentions were – then the Lord gave me a whole reality check (He’s been doing that a lot to me recently). I got this image in my mind of the Pharisee’s in the temple courts and how they would walk past those who were begging or had things wrong with them sitting at the temple gates and didn’t help them. in that moment Ben walks up to the man and starts talking to him, so I knew that the Lord had something planned. the rest of us then joined Ben and the man and we asked him what his name is, and he can’t say it. He is clearly intoxicated and we could tell that something was off about him, we come to figure out that he is demon-possessed (think of the demon-possessed man in Mark 5:1-20). He is repeatedly asking us to end his life, which we were fighting back with the light, life and love of Jesus (John 10:10,16-18 & John 8:12). we end up finding out, after about an hour and rebuking and casting whatever was possessing this man away in the name of Jesus, that his name is Alex. he kept on saying that his heart was too dark for Jesus and that his life wasn’t worth living anymore – which is so not true, if you are believing that yourself, I pray that the Lord will show you how WORTHY you are of life, that He died so that you can have new life in Him (Titus 3:3-7). we end up talking to Alex for another 45 minutes, repeatedly praying over Him and asking the Lord to show His face and His light to him.

Ben showed so much compassion towards Alex, sharing his personal testimony to him showing that in Christ, even through all of our mistakes and our lowest points, God loves us and wants to make us anew. we eventually gave him some crackers, prayed over and for him, and then walked away – which personally was very difficult for me. Ben and Kailey got a word from the Lord that Alex needed to sleep and during that, the Lord would tell him what to do next. I personally got a vision from the Lord that I can best explain like this: you know when a little kid falls and gets hurt? well, Alex was like a child who was hurt, but everywhere around him is darkness and so he can’t find help. However, Jesus is standing right in front of him with His arms open in the light, waiting for Alex to come to Him. But Alex can’t see because he is blinded by the darkness, however, we were able to show him the light of Jesus, and so he could see a part of Jesus’ face. crazy right? The Lord also told me that we would see Alex again, which I brushed aside because I simply didn’t believe it. what a silly goose I am.

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well, as you can probably understand, we were a bit discouraged. i even asked the Lord, “why couldn’t we free this man? you’ve called us to cast out demons and to help people find freedom in You.” we then found a coffee shop, and then walked two miles away to the shore of Lake Atitlán:

as we were sitting there, all spread out along the shore, I spent some time in the Word. Looking at how Jesus casted out demons and how the individuals He freed then went out telling everyone about what He did and were full of the joy and the Spirit while the man we had just talked to was still in chains. I then turned to Acts 16:16-18, and read it out loud – in that very moment, the Lord told me to look in the direction of Natalie, and sure enough, there was Alex. i was in both shock, excitement, and disbelief, i also immediately told the Lord that I did not want to go over there. I didn’t want to have to face disappointment again and be discouraged that this man couldn’t be freed from these demons. but as I told the Lord that, Nat waved me over and called my name. so, grudgingly I got up, got Ben’s attention, and walked over to where Natalie and Alex were.

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as I walked over, I could hear Natalie asking him questions and trying to assess the situation. she then started telling him the story of Job. he didn’t really respond to what she was saying and low-key ignored her (poor Natalia). then, Ben came and Alex lit up! he immediately recognized him and kept saying, “Mi amigo! Mi amigo!” – so from there we let Ben take the lead. sure enough, Ben also told Alex about the story of Job and how Job had lost everything but yet still the Lord showed him His provisional love and peace. Then, Kailey showed up and started telling Alex the story of Job in Spanish! all not planned – 100% the Spirit of the Lord!  i then felt a nudge from the Lord telling me that Alex should get baptized. which at first I was apprehensive about but moved aside because of the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20), so I told Natalie and then told Ben as well.

we eventually got to a point in the conversation when the Lord told me to bring him into the water, and it was when Alex was coming to a point where we could tell that he was open to accepting Jesus. so, I first asked him in Spanish, “¿Quieres que te bautices?” which he didn’t respond to at all. little side note: Alex could understand and speak both Spanish and English, which was super helpful and totally from the Lord. so I waited a little bit before asking again, “Alex, do you want to be baptized?” That then led into the conversation about what baptism is and why you get baptized, and that before you get baptized you accept Jesus into your heart. I personally was very much filled with the Holy Spirit because I felt overwhelming joy and love towards this man, also so much excitement for what was happening right in front of us. after much conversation, laughter, confusion (that language barrier gets you sometimes) and excitement, I stood up and said, “Let’s get you baptized!”

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Alex then stood up – Ben alongside him – and said, “I’m scared.” Kailey then explained to him that there was nothing to be scared of, and that fear does not come from the Lord, and that baptism is something that you should be excited about and be filled with joy about. so he then took off his shoes and walked in. now, something I did not know about this lake was that the drop off, wasn’t like a lake in Minnesota where it goes from 4 ft to 10ft, no this lake goes from 4ft to 50+ft – I discovered that pretty quickly. that freaked out Alex a little bit (I think this man has seen some things), but after a couple minutes we were able to calm him down. I then asked again if he wanted to be baptized, Ben and I prayed over him once again, and then he just put his full face in the water. I was a little shocked and pulled him up and explained what was going to happen.

now, this man’s eyes were bloodshot before he went into the water, but when he came up after we had baptized him, they were white as snow. the Lord LITERALLY washed him clean. like how amazing is that?! he then started to say over and over again in Spanish, “Holy God, Holy God, Holy are you God!” and said, “my sister, my brother, thank you. thank you. thank you!” He was jumping and saying how the Lord had given him a new heart and that it was so big and full of love! he then proceeded to tell everyone he knew that Jesus had saved him and even told/explained John 3:16 to us in Spanish – amazing!

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well, if you have made it all the way to here, you must have a lot of time on your hands. i’m just kidding, i just hope you’ve spent double the time with Jesus today. also, thank you so much for reading about how the Lord has not only been working in my life, but also how He has been using me to make a difference in other’s lives!

another thing, shout out to Ben Norcia. the Lord has been so evidently working in his life and the willingness he has clearly shows the love and faith he has in Jesus. i’ve never seen such a clearer example of how the Lord uses our testimonies to show His goodness and faithfulness in our lives. it’s an honor that i get to be able to see how the Lord will use my brother in Christ in the next year!

prayer requests!

1. i and a handful of people on my team and squad all have mono 🙁 pray that the sickness will leave and be casted away in the name of Jesus. it is so clear that our squad is being spiritually attacked and so pray that we will be protected by the healing blood of Jesus.
2. that I will continue to learn more about the character of the Lord and that I am being renewed every day. that I will continue to have steadfast faith, joy and love towards Him. that i will continue to be willing to be a vessel for Him.
3.  that i will continue to have the hunger to get into His word. it can be easier to sleep in and rush my Bible time, but I want to have the hunger to wake up early and spend as much time as I can before I go into ministry or just the day in general 🙂

until next time!

Acts 2:38-39