Abundant Joy
Do I have it? First off I made it safely to Ecuador! So much has happened over this last week so I’d love to update you.
After finishing up ministry in Arequipa, team Salmo 45:11 journeyed 16 hours by bus to Lima to meet up with the rest of the squad for a few days of debrief. This debrief had been long awaited because team changes and leadership changes were among the rampant rumors. The much awaited day arrived and went much better than we were all expecting. Three of the other team leaders were pulled up into the position of squad leaders and others of us, including myself, were asked to step down to allow others the opportunity to grow in leadership positions. Team Salmo 45:11 was also changed and split up amongst 4 of the 6 new teams. Before I even had a chance to wrap my mind around the fact that the girls who I had been living with 24/7 for the last 4 months wouldn’t be there, the teams changed.
Our new team will be led by Karen Hall. Our new team is made up of 7 girls from 4 different teams and we chose the name Abundant Joy. Before any of us realized it, debrief was over and it was time to move on. Leaving Lima, Peru, we spent 40 ½ hours on the bus to get to Quito, Ecuador. We arrived in Quito super early Friday morning only to find out, change of plans, our team wouldn’t be serving in Quito but instead in the town of El Tingo. From Quito, El Tingo is 3 hours and 3 different bus rides away hauling our packs with us.Upon arrival we met Dave and Ana Garlic our hosts and learned that at any given moment we might be teaching English, helping out in local schools, speaking at churches, leading the youth night, sharing our testimonies, leading vacation bible school, taking part in Bible studies, heading up the children’s ministry, doing grounds work at the Mano & Mano project, or heading out into El Tingo’s community to generate excitement for different activities held during the month. Is your head spinning because mine certainly was? Between all the travel, team changes, and the new ministry I found myself feeling a sense of dread for the month and totally overwhelmed. Month 5 has also started which marks the longest I have lived abroad and away from what is familiar. Getting settled somewhere only to have to move on the next month and start all over again eventually starts to take a toll.
The reason our team chose Abundant Joy is because we want our team to be marked by exactly that.So I’ve been asking myself, will I choose joy? I’ve been given lots of opportunities, like being asked to step down from being a team leader or team Salmo 45:11 being split up. Yesterday I realized I had reached my limit and desperately needed a day just to relax and process. What are these next 7 months going to look like? Am I going to choose to invest in my new team, knowing it might change again in 4 months? How are friendships that I’ve already made going to change not only over the next 7 months but once I go back to “normal life”?Do I have it in me to invest in the 5th ministry, in the 5th country for the 5th straight month?And most importantly, what does God have for me in not only these next 7 months but beyond that?
I have a big choice in front of me, will I lean on God, having literally reached the limit of my own strength, love, and grace? Will I choose abundant joy, knowing that I absolutely don’t have the strength on my own?I wouldn’t ever trade this experience for anything but for good reason God tells us to rest. Not just for an excuse to sleep in but to self-reflect; to rest in Him. As someone who has depended on herself and her own strength for so long, it’s humbling to reach the end of my own strength, to not only talk about hypothetically relying on Him but to see and know that only He can and will keep me going. “For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. Your restoration is what we pray for.” (2ndCor13:9) I don’t know if I have ever been forced to actually rely on Him before, so I must admit, I’m really excited to see where this new dependency on Him will take me.
