Hey friends 🙂
I haven’t blogged in a while because I’ve had a really hard time finding the right words to put into my blogs on what the Lord has been doing in my life. Since being in India though I feel the Lord telling me to take out my keyboard and not worry about trying to use the right words or saying the right things, but to let Him speak through me and to show all that He has been doing in me. So here we go!
In Ecuador we spent month one in Quito but we moved to Portoviejo month two and three. Here we worked in a garbage dump, a hospital, and we worked with many ministries inside of the church. My entire life I have prayed for a place where I could walk in and feel at home immediately. Where I would be surrounded by people that made me come alive and things that brought me joy. A place where the Lord would show me who I am and break my heart for what breaks His. That’s exactly what the Lord gave me in my time there. I was welcomed by a loving community where I built relationships with people being myself from the start. He showed me my passion for families that live inside of a garbage dump by breaking my heart everyday we went and by taking me away from it. The Lord showed me who I am in Him and took away my false identity that I have been putting on for most of my life. He gave me a joy that I’ve never experienced and showed me what it felt like to be free, and be me. When we left my heart was completely broken and I can honestly say that I left my heart in Ecuador. Moving on to India was very hard for me and I was struggling to leave all of the memories and people behind. I was struggling with choosing into my team and was struggling with pursuing the Lord without being distracted. I landed in the middle of nowhere India, our team was paired with another team that I knew nothing about, and we were locked into a school compound and could only leave if we took a local with us. I had a conversation with one of our squad leaders and she told me that it seemed like the Lord was trying to grow me in community and intimacy. She gave me some tips and told me to really choose it. After this conversation I felt so full of like and motivation I walked up to some of my team members and said, “From this moment on things will be different,” and they were. I chose into my team and invited a team member of mine into a bible study with me. I found a spot where I would sit reading my bible, journaling and listening to music and watch the kids run around filled with the joy of the Lord. This was where again I had experienced joy from the Lord that I had never experienced before. I remembered the joy I had in Ecuador and the joy I had in that moment and decided that in every moment I would remember that joy. The Lord has done so much in changing my outlook on everything. He has been growing me in positivity, joy, love, boldness in speaking out, not complaining when life gets hard but thanking the Lord for even the hard things, and using my gifts to my full ability and never holding back. Also being myself even if that means being super weird and making a fool of myself because… theres no shame in looking like a fool. Lastly I would love to share an amazing story! One week ago we got put on new teams and partnered with another new team. Team Tenacious! My teammates are now…. Chloe, HannahMarie, Elizabeth, Xi-Ming, and Alyssa H. They are amazing, and I love them so much already! Anyway we had our first day of ministry and we had a VBS at a school. We went in giving it our all, being crazy and singing and dancing for the Lord. We taught them tons of sons, shared a bible story, shared some testimonies and then at the end had a prayer time where we got to pray of a room full of kids. During this time we had three kids come to Christ and one kid healed of pain that he had in his heart. The Lord did so many amazing things that day. That was the day where I heard the Lord tell me “BE FREE”, so that’s what I did. I was free during that time. I was on fire for the Lord and I let the Lord speak through me and praised our awesome God that we have the amazing opportunity to serve. The Lord is so good. He is so powerful, and man let me tell you.. He is so loving. In this new season I am asking for prayers for boldness. To not have fear when I get up to speak in front of large groups of people. I asking for prayers for awareness of what the Lord is teaching me and the amazing things He is doing around me. Also I am asking for prayers as I have prayerfully decided to pursue an a year long internship with a ministry called Inca Link after my race is over. This is the ministry we worked for in Ecuador and today I sent in my application. I have had so much peace in the decision to move to Ecuador and would love you to join me in prayer as I go through the application process. If you have any questions about anything or would like to talk please shoot me a message I would love to answer them! I will continue to try and post more blogs on what the Lord is doing! Please be patient with the wifi availability I don’t have many options!
