Hello Again!
It’s been awhile but the last few months have been incredible and challenging! They have also flown by and it is crazy to think that in 40 days I will be home. But for now, here is a recap of my past few months!
Thailand: This month for ministry we went into a village for the first week and helped the church with administrative things the second week. In the village we painted the church for our host and were able to teach some english. We were also invited to speak at the church Sunday morning. The worship in this church, although in another language, was beautiful and the Lord was so present. Administrative work consisted of sorting through and organizing boxes and boxes of paper into files. It was tedious, but gave me so much time to sit and just talk and listen with the Lord.
My Highlight of the Month! MOM CAME!! I don’t even know how to tell you all how incredible this was. First, I got to surprise her at her hotel and it was such a sweet moment to see my mom after 7 months. I had missed her so much! Secondly, we got to worship the Lord and serve Him together! A mission trip with a parent is an experience unlike any other. I am so thankful that she got a taste of what my life has been like this last year, because not many will truly understand, and I love that I get to share this with her. She watched me sleep/just hangout when I would crash from exhaustion. This meant more to me than I know how to express, Mom thank you. Another thing we did was have real and honest conversations with each other. We deepened our relationship and grew in love for one another. We laid hands on a woman who gave us foot massages and prayed for healing and blessings. We did life with the Lord. It was beautiful and filled with memories I will treasure forever!!!
We also got to take a cooking class and play with elephants, which I am sure you saw pictures of, not the other things. However, let me make it clear that although those were incredibly fun experiences, the joy I have and my favorite of memories with my mom were the “normal” moments of just being with her and sharing my life with Christ with her.
Momma you are amazing in every way and I love you dearly. I am so thankful for your love and encouragement!
El Salvador: This month for ministry we were at a YWAM base. YWAM is an incredible discipleship training organization, in addition to many other schooling options. We helped with a feeding program in a community. The children who came to the feeding program also then attended a discipleship program one day a week and their parent(s) another day. It was so much fun to get to know the children and learn some spanish along the way. We also would go to the university language department to help students waiting around outside with english practice. This was a time for us to help them practice, while also sharing about our faith and the gospel. We also visited a hospital. The patients wait outside and it was unlike anything I have ever seen. We were given the opportunity to pray with patients and hear their stories. It was such an amazing experience. There was a woman there, with a very similar story to my dad’s and she carried such joy of the Lord with her. The Lord encouraged me to share some encouragement with her and her son in addition to praying for healing. I am so grateful for that opportunity. The most amazing part of this month though was the YWAM community. The people at the base are amazing and I love them dearly. They poured so much into me and the team and I am so grateful for the love they shared with us. This place will always have a special place in my heart!
My Highlight of the Month! This month’s highlight was unexpected and such a gift from the Lord. Being on the World Race and traveling country to country we see miraculous things happening, but there is this wonder of “what is the Lord doing back home”. This month I got a gift from the Lord and that gift was to be let into the work of the Lord back home. In the beginning of the month I called Sam, Trey’s bestie. I was calling to tell him about what the Lord had told me, in Cambodia, about a song he had written. (3 months prior, but God’s timing is always perfect) As I began to tell him and ask about his life. Our conversation took a turn I often pray for but didn’t expect. Before I knew it we were talking all about the goodness of the Lord and His sovereignty and plan. The Lord has a hold of Sam’s heart and is teaching him to be more like Him. Hearing about the movement of the Lord in Sam’s life and continuing to hear about it has encouraged me beyond words. Sam you are an incredible man of God, and your desire to pursue and grow in knowledge of His goodness challenges me to run harder and faster after the Lord! Thank you for being a light in a broken world and following the Lord’s call in your life.
Honduras: This month for ministry we were at Helping Honduras Kids (a children’s home) and the Jungle School (an actual school in the jungle). This month…let me tell you! WOW! I learned a lot and the Lord did a lot!!! The school was so fun and I wanted to pack up all the kiddos and bring them home. They were the cutest, especially Tony! We helped with english in the school. The children’s home was were we stayed, so bye-bye rest! Kids everywhere, always! The kiddos were however, also the cutest things ever. Their lice filled heads and chicken pox increased our prayers but didn’t create much distance. We loved them so much! They filled us with a whole lot of joy and love!!! We celebrated at the end of the month with a water party and it was so much fun! I have never seen kids so excited for water on tiled floor haha It was such a blast!
My Highlight of the Month! The blind are healed! At the end of the last month the Lord asked me if I would surrender my brother to Him. Those of you who know me, know that my brother is my best friend and I love him a whole heck of a lot. I would do just about anything for him too. I also struggle surrendering the people I love most to the Lord, backwards I know. I knew it was best and I loved that the Lord was inviting me into it. I began to pray and work to surrender. We were a couple weeks into ministry and I had surrendered Trey but was losing hope that the Lord would heal him. Then in Honduras we were on the bus on the way to the jungle school. Within the first 5 minutes of our hour bus ride I heard the Lord say, “pray, his vision will be healed, he will wake up with his sight.” I immediately thought, “Oh my gosh Trey will be healed today!” I prayed the whole way to school!!! I got to the school and long story short got my toe nail ripped off and wound up at the nurses office. There were two others waiting on the nurse as well. One spoke english and started talking to me. Asking why I was at the school and why I was at the nurse, etc. I asked the same, but didn’t get far. He brought this guy from his community to the school to see the nurse because of his eye. His eye had gotten hurt the night before. I asked what had happened, but the man couldn’t remember a thing from the night before because he had drank too much and blacked out. However, he did wake up with his eye hurting and half of it was concave. I asked if he could see and he said he woke up and could see. I was blown away, I realized in that moment that I had been praying for this man, not Trey. I was praying healing for a complete stranger and through this stranger, my hope of healing for Trey was restored. The Lord is a healer. I was able to pray over the man and prayer for the Lord to grab his heart and draw him to the Lord and to walking a life of faith. It was a beautiful day of restoration and healing for the man and my soul as well.
Guatemala: This month for ministry we are partnered with Love Serve. We get to teach english once or twice everyday, put on a VBS every Friday and attend worship on Tuesday night. We also live with the most incredible and loving family. They graciously let us help in the kitchen and constantly bless us. To put it simply, they spoil us and love us well. We have fun dance parties with the family and regular tickle fights. This month has been incredible, and I can’t believe we only have a week left to go in Guatemala.
