Dear Partners, this is a very special praise report. Words cannot express my gratitude and that of the Spanish Ministry for your support at our 2017 Nicaragua Retreat. This year the women able to attend doubled and we blessed over 500 children with toys. It is a very intense week as we purchase, prepare and deliver to children from months old to the age of thirteen. We take the time to choose toys that will bring smiles to their faces and we love receiving the hugs as they pass us by. What is wonderful about our Retreat is we are also able to fellowship and encourage each other as His brides with our testimonies and praise reports. Our HH was so present in our time there and many lives transformed. I hope you enjoy the photos and video we have put together!
Praise Reports in Our Ministry
Ladies I want to share how, as we focused on our HH, His love and being blessed with the opportunity to give to children in need, I witnessed several women experience their EH reach out to them and saying words of kindness. Two that live there, their EH called to see if they can spend time with them. Things that these women say they had not done or said in a very long time.
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.Matthew 6:33 NIV
Here is a testimony from Helen and her experience during and after the retreat:
My love!!!
How wonderful You are! Today I am again in front of Your presence to praise You for who You are! You are almighty, I am completely in love with You my Beloved.
I thank you immensely for having prepared everything to take me to the Retreat of RMI, where I learned a lot, thank you Lord because You showed me how to apply Your principles, You encouraged me through the different testimonies and showed me how You can transform us into virtuous women. It was a beautiful experience that I wish to repeat and I ask You to make it possible. Thank you for giving me new friends who know You and understand the Restoration journey.
But especially I praise You and I thank You because during this trip I was able to let go of my EH, during my stay there I decided not to call him, write him or communicate with him. He looked for me for a few days but we did not talk about us. On Saturday, December 9, I felt very sad inside. I did not want to leave Nicaragua, I just wanted to stay there with my Lord living in the bubble of His love. I also felt sad because the next day was my first wedding anniversary and clearly we couldn’t celebrate, but everything summed up that I did not want to go home and I practically felt obliged to return.
I had a rather complex travel itinerary and it took me two days to return home, that is, two days between airports and airplanes, but it was a lovely time, in which I spoke with Him. I felt full of His love, I had joy and inexplicable peace. Despite being my anniversary, there was not a tear for that, only thanks and adoration for Him for giving me that beautiful gift of experiencing that retreat, I prayed a lot because I did not feel like returning and literally I felt I had to do it for Him, that I had to go back “carry my cross and follow it”.
The day of our anniversary, he sent me a message that contained an emoji of a couple holding hands and a puppy, which represents us as a couple and our pet, I just answered with a smile, I did not know what to say .. .. My EH was calling me to know if I would return and when. I saw that he was calling me I did not want to answer him, but I answered and tried to talk to him in the best possible way.
When I got home, he was not there, so I took the opportunity to find a place to hide the RMI books. After a while, my EH arrived and greeted me, asked how my trip had been and we talked a little, saw some purchases that I made and He thought that another man had given me gifts, hahaha. He said that I looked different, that I was radiant. It is something inexplicable, but he could see the change in me.
He was almost desperate because he saw that I was not being like before and I really do not know what happened to me, because I did not make any effort, everything flowed naturally, it was Him in me !!! He told me that he had missed me so much, something he had not said for months! and I did not know what to tell him! I just stayed quiet! This left him even more dismayed and he went into his room and cried. I acted as if I did not see that he was crying and we went out to dinner. In the car he told me that he had a job offer in Bogotá (9 hours from where we live) and that he was going to accept it, so I said, ok. He was stumped and told me ok? and I told him if that is what he wanted then, okay … then he asked me what happened I said nothing. He told me that I was very different.
During the dinner he told me that he had dreamed that I was pregnant and I could see illusion and excitement in his eyes. This surprised me. Only God and some friends (whom my EH does not know) know about my desire to be a mother! Later, he told me again that he missed me and looked for a reason to get close to me and kiss me, and he told me I was beautiful! wow !! It’s been a long time since he said anything nice to me!!!
On the way home he told me that the fan in my room had been damaged and that there was only one left (the one he used) so he told me that if it did not bother me he could go back to our room to share the fan, hahahaha God definitely has a sense of humour! I answered that what he decided was fine for me, but he said he wanted my opinion and I told him it was fine. And that’s how God worked for my EH to return to our room. I do not know anything about the OW, but the Lord told me during my flight back home: “..I will tell about your righteous deeds all day long, for everyone who tried to hurt me has been shamed and humiliated.” Psalm 71: 24. And “You have allowed me to suffer much hardship, but you will restore me to life again and lift me up from the depths of the earth.” Psalm 71: 20.
Dios es maravilloso! sé que aun tengo camino por recorrer pero no puedo dejar pasar esta oportunidad para alabarlo por lo que ha hecho y sigue haciendo en mí y en mi hogar, El tiene el control, El me ha hecho sentir mi corazón rebozando de alegría y amor y ahora puedo comprender que El me envió a ese retiro a última hora con un propósito especial. Toda la gloria es suya! Te amo Señor!!!!
God is wonderful! I know that I still have a way to go but I can not pass up this opportunity to praise Him for what He has done and continues to do in me and in my home, He is in control. He has made me feel my heart overflowing with joy and love and now I can understand that He sent me to that retreat at the last minute with a special purpose. All the glory is yours! I love you Lord!!!!
~ Helen en Brasil
Here is another PR from Lea who also attended the retreat:
The book of Restoration, RYM came to me as God’s answer to my marriage That is how I met the ministry and completed my course of Wise Woman, a requirement to attend the retreat 2017. Knowing them all was nice, and a unique experience, I needed to be away from home for a little while to find other experiences like the one I had. When I realized that we had to support other women to distribute toys it was a blessing, since I like to work with children. That was the reason why I approached God to serve in this ministry, to see each happy and radiant face of each child made me happy.
Sharing with my friends in Prayer was special. There was a moment that we laughed so hard, I cried because He reminded me that I have not done this since my mom passed away. I felt the presence of God in my heart and He was also with the ministry, His spirit accompanied us all that time. We shared testimonies that amazed us of the power of God, and during the week we had testimonies of how our husbands experienced changes while we were in the retreat, so much so that when i got home my husband told me “I missed you”, how beautiful it was for me to hear it from him when I did not hear him say it since we were dating.
I met Tara and it was like meeting Erin, listening to her, and she motivated me a lot to work with the ministry, so much so that I started it with my family. I motivated my aunts to read the book of Wise Woman and make a prayer group to encourage others. I noticed a cousin’s wife who he had left her and her family for OW, and it reached my ears, so I brought her the Restoration book and she thanked me. I saw her desperation to restore her marriage, and to tell me “You are the only one from my husband’s family who has cared for me, and I thank you very much”.
Every woman that sits next to me and sees that I read the book is interested in knowing how I acquired it and that they want to buy it. It encourages me to work day by day with the Lord.
I thank Erin for the way God has given her the wisdom to write that book that speaks to each woman in a unique way.
I gave a book for Men to my father and my husband, and both are determined to work with God. Thank you RMI for this Retreat, and for your prayers. God bless you. ~ Lea
Here’s What’s New!
I want to share something we are praying about and know He will guide us with the right plan. It has been very difficult for the Spanish women to receive the ministry books. Since there are many Spanish speaking countries, their postal service varies and it can be very expensive. Not only that, many women never receive their order. We are hoping to find a designated member in each country so we can send them a box of books, which will be more economical, and have them distribute from there the orders placed.
I want to share about Rose who when filling out an application to the Retreat had just started our course 1 RYM. She was determined to finish it and start the WW course as it is required to attend. I was able to see first hand how the Lord transformed her to His beautiful bride. As she writes in her PR, her main focus was marriage restoration, but as she attended her focus changed. It was beautiful to hear Carmen say to her one day in the van ride, “Don’t you notice how none of us speak of our EHs but only of our HH??? We are in love with Him.” I know that day she saw us glowing and happy and my heart jumps for joy knowing she is now also feeling it. Here is her PR from the Retreat:
I want to thank God first and then Erin and Tara and my dear friends, for renewing me in record time, a wonderful week, When I got there my focus was the restoration of my marriage and my family, in that week I really learned what it was to let go, let go and hold on to the only One that loves me unconditionally. At the end of that incomparable Retreat, the Lord worked on me in such a way that my marriage restoration took a back seat and my priority is to love Him more, to know Him more, to serve Him more and worship Him more. To experience that HIS fidelity has no limits has been fascinating. It has not been more than 2 days since my return and my EH has changed his heart towards me and his children, God works incredibly.
I will never have enough words of gratitude to express what the women at the Retreat did for me, teach me that the ONE who loves me with madness is there, impatient for me to turn my gaze towards Him, waiting for me at any moment, it is a wonderful adventure, it feels delicious to be loved at every moment and to love Him even richer yet. It’s great to wake up just thinking about Him, talk to Him, make Him part of my life. Nothing disturbs me anymore; I feel safe at His side.
Thank you God for all these wonderful women you sent me to guide me to You, thank you friends. I always keeping them in mind, and that God fulfills the wishes of each one’s heart with abundance because they are each unique, thank you Erin for Tara, she is the daughter that we would all love to have. She is incredibly exceptional, her heart and wisdom moved me and now I want to guide my children to the Lord. But even better I don’t even have to do that with my own strength, but with prayer and example. How great is the Lord. He loves me despite my sins, and give me such beautiful gifts that are all of you, WOW, WOW, how wonderful YOU are. I love you all and you more, my HH.
I would like more women to know that You solve everything and even despite the problems that I caused in my marriage, you took care of me and did not leave me alone, thank you Jesus, thank you, thank you. Now I just want God to use me to be able to do, and give back everything that these ladies did for me, just as God used them. I have great joy having shared with you. It has been a spectacular week, God is good, what a big blessing HE gave me. Now they only see my teeth all day, and there is nothing that can steal my joy and my peace, oh God I Love You, You are powerful.
See you next Retreat. I love you very much. Thank you God for your kindness. ~ Rose
My Love, what you have allowed me to experience in Nicaragua is beyond words. It is a precious gift from You. I thank you for allowing me to share Your love with all those children and women. I am looking forward to the Nicaragua Retreat next year.
Ladies I have to say our HH is so faithful! I was SG to prepare me for the Nicaragua trip knowing I would be ministering not only to children but women as well. He knows our hearts and as long as we seek Him, He will provide every word, gesture, and circumstance to have Himself glorified. Have a willing heart to serve Him and He will do the rest.
Here is a video of our Retreat.
~ Lota in Puerto Rico
Restored after going THROUGH the Fire!
RMI’s Spanish Español Minister