the things you do when you fall in love.

Some of my top wacky things I've done because I love Jesus. . . .

– coached football in New Orleans, which meant googling football for dummies everyday of football week
-hurtling a couch like James Bond at Renovate Live in order to connect with my junior high connect group (this resulted in a pulled hammie, I'm not as resilent as I was in my youth)
-competitvely competing in a game of chubby bunny at youth group, after getting diagnosed with cavities earlier that week

And now I add to the list — teaching in the Ecuador school district. It may not sound like something wacky, but for me…it is. If it weren't for my good friend Michelle going to the same university as me, I don't know if I would have ever made it to class. I love learning, I hate classrooms.

This month in Ecuador, my team and I are teaching English at a school down the street from us. This was a spontaneous ministry, one that wasn't planned for us — but after we dropped off flyers for the afterschool program we came to help with , we were asked if we could start the next day at 9 am.  Suuure, why not!?  haha!!

As soon as we enter the classroom, the teacher usually leaves, and there we are with students who speak not a lick of English and teachers who know little Spanish. Fortunately, the Lord has blessed my team with the spiritual gifts of charades and Language Barrier Sign Language (LBSL). With that being said, the students have been actually learning from us and it's been such a blessing to invest in their lives. It is evident that we are some of the only teachers who actually care about their education.

The Lord has allowed us to teach more than English — some of us — including myself, have had the opportunity to share our testimonies in front of the classrooms (we actually had a translator this time). The students were full of questions and they got a chance to see that we had walked through some valleys in our lives too.

I'm passionate about these students learning that there is a God who is very present during hard times. There is a big God waiting for a relationship with them. He sees them, He thinks about them all the time, He's writing a perfect story — even in painful times. I'm passionate about these students knowing that about the God who loves them, which leads me to our next ministry…Mano y Mano.

Mano y Mano is where we are living this month. It is an after school program run by Ana, and her husband David. David is currently in London, trying to raise funds for this struggling ministry. While the couple is a part, Ana works hard in the community, getting kids to come to the program. Mano y Mano averages between 30 to 40 kids. The ministry is one of a kind in this country. It's aim is to fight poverty through education, while keeping Christ at the center of it all. Kids come to play games, make crafts, sing worship songs, learn the bible, English, computers, and learn to play music. It's been a blessing to partner with such a driven woman and a driven ministry.

The kids here are awesome, full of love and laughter. All they really need is someone to come along side of them to tell them everything they are and everything they can be.

God uses ordinary people to do great things.

God's love towards me is uncondtional; I can't do anything to change how He feels about me.

(there's no such things as favorites — BUT these little guys have quite the story already + God will do great things through them. Special place in my heart! Pray for them!)

"I’ll show up and take care of you as I promised — I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for." Jeremiah 29:11 MSG

Simple Truth: The Lord qualifies you to do all things.