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On the bus ride back to LaPaz from Cochabamba I began to reflect on our time in Bolivia. The ministry was good, but I kept telling people how hard this month was for me emotionally. I was all over the place. I got frustrated a lot and I cried more this month than the first two months combined. I realized that I was trying to do things on my own, that I wasn’t utilizing the community of people around me, and that I was striving too much. One of the reasons I came on this trip was to stop striving, to stop trying to be perfect. We can’t do anything apart from Him. As I sat staring out at the beauty of Bolivia, I thought of all the good things the Lord did this month. I saw how He is drawing me close to Him. I saw how He is bringing freedom in my life. Even through frustration He is there. In Psalm 31: 6-7 ” I will be glad and rejoice in your love, for you saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul. You have not handed me over to the enemy but have set my feet in a spacious place.” He sees our struggles, our hurts and yet He has set our feet in a spacious place. I love that word picture.   And in Ephesians Paul writes, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus for all generations, for ever and ever! Amen” (Ephesians 3:20-21). 

This verse was also a great word for me as we headed into team changes at the end of our time in Bolivia. I knew that whatever happened God was going to work it for His good purpose and I He did!  Yesterday we got a piece of paper with our new teams and were told to go pray and open it when we were ready. Before I opened mine, I wrote in my journal that I trusted God on matter what, even if it didn’t make sense or I didn’t understand. I completely trust Him. Team Lamp Lighters taught me so much and loved me so much (and I still love them) but I’m excited to start this new season. So meet Team I-61 (which has 3 of my Lamp Lighter teammates, yea!):

For our “Make a Memory” we went bowling.  It was a blast, even though I’m a terrible bowler.
Team I-61 (left to right): Cory German, me, Jenna Kehrli, Evan Kinney, Jessie German, Rikki Vick, and Melissa Lowell
I-61 stands for Isaiah 61. It’s a great passage, especially verse 3 where it says that the Lord is going to bestow on his people a crown of beauty instead of ashes. God has worked on me in so many ways these past three months. He has revealed to me areas of growth, areas of strength, and areas where I need to surrender. He is making beauty from ashes and he wants to do that in the people we minister to. These are things I want to continue to press into and grown in. I feel like the next eight months are going to be about being filled up to pour out to others. Isaiah 61:11 says “For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden grow, so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.”    

Next stop: Albania!