I’ve procrastinated this moment for as long as I could. My sister, the blogging queen, is probably reading this with a big smile on her face since I told her I would never do this. Yet here I am, writing a blog.
I guess I should start with an introduction to all of this. If you don’t already know, the World Race is an 11 month long mission trip where squads spend a month in each country working for various ministries. The trip I am on is an “expedition” route which means it is set up a little differently. This is a brand new route where we will be going to six countries they’ve never been to before. It will be more physically and spiritually demanding than other routes, and we will be encountering people groups that have never heard the name of Jesus! How awesome is that?
I’m humbled to have the opportunity to minister to an entire continent. Up until about a week ago, I really didn’t know what I was getting myself into. I thought I’d be going to these countries, helping some people out, and then moving on to the next ministry all while I was able to go see some cool places. Being the “go with the flow” type of person I am, I usually go into things with low or no expectations. However, training camp altered my entire view of what this next season of my life is going to look like.
A few weeks ago I was on my way to training camp to spend 10 days with the 30 strangers I’m going to South America with and I was not at all excited about it. 10 days? Come on, I have work and fundraising to do; training could easily be condensed into 4 days. I knew I was complaining so I prayed for a change of heart as I was driving up to Georgia. That change came the very next night. I was standing there during worship when someone came up and started to pray over me. He was praying for a new heart in me set on God and His mission; for a time of healing and awakening; and a new vision for this season in my life. I didn’t even know this guy and he was speaking so much life into me. My spirit was shaken and I knew right then that God was going to do some amazing things those 10 days. When day 4 rolled around I actually laughed out loud and thought “okay God you were right, I’m not ready to go home just yet.”
In those 10 days I told people things about myself that I didn’t even know, and vice versa. In 10 days these 30 strangers became some of my best friends. We were vulnerable. We opened our hearts together. We broke chains and the bondages of past struggles together. We learned about the Holy Spirit together. We went into local communities to pray for and love on people. We prophesied over each other. We prophesied over other squads together. We laughed a lot and you better believe we cried even more. In 10 days we were able to knock down walls and see the Holy Spirit flow like Niagara Falls in and through our squad. The last day I sat there unable to comprehend this simple question: if we were able to do all of this in 10 days, what will God do in 11 months? I still can’t wrap my head around it. Thinking about the possibilities gets me so stoked for this journey!
Thanks for taking the time to read my poorly written summary of what God has been doing in my life. If you wish to join my prayer team, please pray that I live presently these next 5 weeks before I leave. I want to enjoy this time with family and friends without being too focused on South America. For those of you that have financially joined my support team I can’t thank you enough! You guys mean the world to me and I’m so appreciative of your generosity. I know our squad is going to be able to do so much for the people in South America and I wouldn’t be able to do this without you guys.
Love you guys!
