Hello, friends and family!!
The time has finally arrived!! Eight months after God brought this thing called the World Race into my life, I am launching TOMORROW!! I will fly to Atlanta for a few more days of training and then we will head out to Colombia for our first month of ministry on the World Race.
Between Training Camp and Launch I have been spending time with friends and family, finishing up with a trip to North Carolina to see my dad’s side of the family. My time with people has been amazing and I am grateful for it, but I have felt like I’ve been living in limbo for quite sometime. I am ready to be on the field, although I will miss you all terribly. It hasn’t hit me yet that I’m leaving for a year tomorrow, and I don’t think it will hit me until I’ve been in Colombia for a few weeks and I realize I’m not coming back.
I want to say thank you for the incredible support you all have been to me and I want to thank you for your continued prayers while I am gone. I have been blown away by the number of people telling me they will be praying for me every day. THANK YOU! I will do my best to post specific prayer requests for me, my team, and my squad in my blogs and videos because I believe prayer changes the world!
I got to go to one of my good friend’s weddings a couple days ago! He and his wife will leave to be missionaries in Hungary after they finish their honeymoon.
This is Jeff and Debbie, one of the couples in my church in College Station who “adopted” me. 🙂
Debbie is wearing this bracelet for the next year to remember to pray for me! Jeff changed his password on his computer to something that will remind him to pray for me every day when he logs in. I cannot tell you how many people have done things like this for me and how much it means to me! Thank you all!!
One of my best friends, Erin, came from Nashville to see me for July 4 weekend.
Last week I went to Raleigh for a few days to see my dad’s side of the family. I hadn’t seen them in eight years, so it was about time! It was wonderful getting to know them and spend time with them.
I saw many more friends the past six weeks but I wanted to give you a small glimpse into the beautiful souls God has placed in my life. I am grateful for each and every one of you and every word, card, hug, and message has been cherished in my heart!
Now for some business about leaving:
I originally said my first ministry assignment would be in Medellín, Colombia. This has changed, and now I will be serving with the Alex Rocha Youth Center in Cartagena, Colombia. I am excited about this opportunity because I get to work with children and adults in poverty through VBS, sharing testimonies, and….drum roll…teaching English! For those of you who don’t know, my Master’s degree is a Master’s of Education Teaching English, so I am beyond pumped for this opportunity to serve people with what I have learned!
However, I will say I have been rather discouraged the past few weeks. More like scared, actually. I’m not scared of too much, and while all my friends describe me as an eternal optimist, I can be a realist, as well. I read an article about the ministry I am working for, and it is located in the poorest and most dangerous neighborhood of Cartagena. The World Racer who stayed there said she couldn’t distinguish between gun shots and fireworks, music is played 24/7, there are 13-year-olds walking around with their babies, and every aspect of poverty imaginable is present in this neighborhood. While I am excited to serve here, I am also terrified of the danger. We are not allowed to go anywhere without a local adult, for which I am thankful. Please pray for our safety and for my fear! I want to be used exactly where God wants me, and I know that God has brought me to this journey to put me exactly where He wants me. But being in the middle of God’s will for you doesn’t mean there is no fear. In fact, I think most of the time fear comes with the territory of doing what God wants you to do, because it’s always out of your comfort zone.
How to communicate with me while I’m gone:
– First of all, PLEASE message me, comment on my blogs and videos, and communicate with me however you want. It will be hard for me to initiate anything in my friendships this year, but it would mean the world to me to have a message of encouragement waiting for me when I get to wifi.
– We are doing a “technology detox” for the first six weeks. I will only be allowed to access wifi once a week, even if we have access to it. For the remainder of the trip wifi will be sporadic and whenever I can access it.
-You can communicate with me through WhatsApp, Facebook messages, email, iMessage, Facetime, or Skype. Just keep in mind all of these require wifi and I may not answer for days or weeks depending on my access to it.
Prayer requests:
– For safety for my team and my squad
– That we would continue to be open to whatever the Lord has to teach us in these few days training in Atlanta and during this first month of ministry.
– That this first month we would set the tone for the trip in servitude, attitude, openness, adaptability, and sacrifice for each other and for the people we will be serving.
– I am one of the story leaders for my squad. As long as there is wifi, I will post at least one blog or vlog per week and I aim to make one creative storytelling piece each month. This will probably be telling people’s stories. With my journalism background, I have a heart for telling people’s stories, and I think it is by our testimonies we overcome the enemy. So I hope to bring people’s stories to you this year that you otherwise would not have the opportunity to hear. Please pray God directs these encounters and allows me to tell the stories that He wants told. Please pray I am open to God using this storytelling in whatever way He wants, not just in the way I think it is going to be.
– Please pray for the impossible. In every meaning of the word.
– Please pray for rest. We get one day off a week from ministry, but it is important for us to be able to fill ourselves up in the Word and have our own quiet times, too. Please pray we are able to manage our time to get sleep and spend individual time with God so that we are able to serve each other and the people as well as we can.
– Please pray however else you feel led! You are as much a part of this journey as I am, and I cannot tell you how much your prayers change the world! We must learn to live in the unseen reality, not just the seen reality. Your prayers are breaking barriers and opening doors and providing protection in untold ways. Believe in the power God has to work in you and through you. THANK YOU!!
Please subscribe to this blog or my YouTube channel if you haven’t so that you will get all the updates along the way!
I will update you all soon! Prepare for much more frequent updates!! Ahh!! It’s finally here!!!!
God bless and thank you always,
Tera
