I would like to introduce myself. Many of you might know me simply as Pedro’s wife. Or others might have known me first before. As we journey together it's important to Pedro and I that we are open with you guys about our lives and live authentically before you and God. This letter is a small reflection of who I am. Thanks for taking the time to read it and pray for us at this time of our lives.
God is on the move, I have been on the move since a very young age. I grew up in a Christian home,and around my 8th birthday we sold everything and moved to the Valley of Texas and Mexico to work with Refugees that were coming over from Central America during the Sandinista Wars. From a young age I could hear God speak to me about being a light to the nations and was given some very incredible opportunities to answer God’s call both by my parents and local churches.
Thirty years ago, I was 12 years old at the time. I learned some key lessons from my youth group at Trinity Worship Center. One was how to read the Bible in a year and how to spend an hour in prayer. The next lesson which was crucial to me was the teaching I received on world missions. Those teachings were not limited to just a Bible study but practical short term mission trips that changed my life and led me to my life long calling.
Thirty years ago I boarded my first airplane with my Youth Pastor and 12 other members of my youth group. I was the youngest member to travel with them and we flew to Amsterdam and on to Madrid, Spain. The next two weeks were filled with dramas, sharing with people in rehab, talking to people on the streets and plazas and traveling to Morocco, and encouraging the long term missionary who had been sent out from my local church.
Since that time God has given me the opportunity to go to more than 27 nations and live in Paraguay and Bolivia. In the book I am writing, “Surprise: the Mission is Me,” I am sharing life lessons that I have learned from my involvement in long term and short term missions. Because the greatest impact over the past 30 years has not been the people who have been saved, although I have seen a few, or the children in the orphanage that were taken care of, or the 6 Bolivian workers that I have been a direct part of sending to the 10/40 window, or the many other amazing things that I have seen over the past few decades. The most amazing things have been the things that God has worked on in my heart: Taking this shy, insecure little girl and making her a confident woman, changing me from immaturity to maturity, from folly to wisdom. I have learned and still am learning at a deeper level to move with God, to flow with His spirit and to go where he Goes. God is interested not only in what I do but in who I am. God has used each trip to teach me a lesson that has changed my heart to be more like him. To live a little freer by being, not so much by doing, and to grow closer to Him, little by little, and get to know all His ways.
And that is why Pedro and I pray that this next trip will have the same effects on our hearts.
This week will be my first international mission trip with my life long partner and companion in this journey of life and mission. Pedro and I will be traveling to Southern Spain, 30 years almost to the day of my first international mission trip. We are going to meet a team we want to work with in planting churches, explore the refugee centers we hope to serve at in the future, view different options for personal housing and possible ministry guest house. And most of all we will be praying and discerning God’s will and call on our lives.
We really believe that God is going to do something amazing in both our hearts. Would you pray with us as we journey this next week and a half? Pray for insight into God’s heart for us and our ministry. Pray for safe travels. Pray for divine connections and encounters along the way.
Thanks so much for listening to our hearts and for moving with us to bring God’s peace to a conflict-filled world.
Rael Moreno
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