Dear Family and Friends, 

Welcome to my World Race Missions Trip. Throughout this past year and a half, God has been moving my life towards Missions in amazing ways. 

I wanted to Introduce myself, by Introducing my story of How I believe God brought me to the place I am today. 

So for those of you who do not know me, My name Is Isabella Iocolano.

  I am 18 years old and freshly out of High School. In June of ’16 I graduated from Classical Academy in Southern California and set off for my second short term missions trip to Haiti that year. This time with my sister Sophia. While in Haiti my team partnered with a local Orphanage, called Good Rest about a hour from Haiti’s capitol Port-au-Prince. Good rest resides in Croix-des-bouquets, Haiti. While at Good Rest our Team focused on beaming and fully installing a roof, to the newly built class rooms, that we had just broke ground on late that March. We also took all the Children, ages infant to 18 to their first doctors appointment/check up. My team and I spent a lot of our time with the children of Good rest, Loving them, serving with them and teaching them english and VBS (vacation bible study). Such as the story of Ester, which we involved the Kids in as we had our friends from Haiti translate into Creole or The city of Jericho, one of my personal favorites. The stories were interactive, playful and deeply convicting to even the simplicity of life. They usually were followed with some sort of activity and craft (almost always sticky) that could do nothing but make you smile and melt with love. 

July 13, 2016.

I vividly remember how excited the kids were when they saw transportation rolling into the orphanage. Just about all of them were jumping up and down for the appointment, while most were just imitating one another, with no real understanding of what was going on. We took about 120-300 children from the village to get tested and examined for diseases like HIV, Scabies, Ringworm, Malaria & to treat their swollen bellies. Most of the time this meant medicine or topical treatments to deworm them. All short term fixes. It was a emotional moment for my team when the News broke to us that for the First time the Children would have a nurse committed to making weekly visit to Good rest. This included check ups and logs of their health history. This was such a Miracle to witness because God had answered a prayer that had been made over the past 12 years. 

Through all these lessons and experiences God has allowed me to walk as a Missionary, he was also preparing my heart for my life’s calling. God has always been my Constant loving and patient father. Through a heart learning to Surrender to him and to constantly be praising and thanking him for all that he has done in my life, God has greatly mended my brokenness. Today I greatly understanding that without Christ in my life, nothing completed through me would be done. He has taught me to trust him and meditate on his promises. 

Today I am here, because of the Calling God has put on my heart. 

In ’12 I as a teenage went though probably one of the most difficult season’s of my life. This was meet with Grace and Love I didn’t deserve to Receive but did. All areas of my life felt like they were colliding and consuming my thoughts. At school I was being Bullied by my closest friends. My home was empty of the spirit and my father was over seas; which left my mom responsible for me and my two younger sisters in a new environment, completely alone. My family dynamic was alway different. Weeks turned into months and months to 6 years. 6 years Without a knowledge of Christ. 6 years of fear in a childhood of poor stature. I was the eldest. When things were ugly at home and responsibility laid on my shoulders. I choose to be a bystander to adulthood. I was 15. I had no understanding of My worth, Let alone in Christ. And when the last tested straw broke so did I. I woke in the Hospital, after a failed attempt to end my life. 

But sometimes you truly have to be blinded before you can see. God showed me what a life without him was like. My testimony therefor is a personal encounter with God. He truly LOVES Back to life! His love is light, and In such a dark world it is the only thing we can turn to. Although I will never understand this fully, I believe he Grows me to understand this more and more as I walk with him. Here is where my life becomes a full story plot line. God pursued my heart so I could pursue his and others. I chose in my Bio to write Briefly about one of the most fragile states of my life because I know it has power to exemplify the full Glory and Power of our God. His Love is radical. It can make a broken sinner, like me a heiress to His thrown, a daughter to his family, adopted, worthy and most of all a vessel for his truth. 

Why do I want to be a Missionary? 

Because Simply put, I want to act as a Mirror to point others back to Christ. I want to Reflect the love that I did not deserve, but So graciously received. 

So, Advance to last Summer.

I had committed to Biola University, Declared as a Major for Intercultural studies with an emphasis in cultural anthropology! YIKES.

WHY NOW?

Weeks had gone by since my trip to Haiti in July. At first I thought it was just my emotional attachment to this Country and my friends in it. But as time pasted, I realized It was deeper than that. I couldn’t shake this funny feeling I was having about Biola. Maybe I wasn’t supposed to. God called me to wait on him. As I began to grow more worried and restless about this internal indifference towards school, I also was growing worried about why I couldn’t be open with my parents and others about it all. I thought college was what God wanted for me too. To get the Education to become a Missionary, Right? Wrong!

War torn about Biola University and the conflicting emotion in my heart I turned to God. I remember asking Him Why now? Why not when I was accepted to the college. Why in that time was It never apparent to me that I didn’t want to be in school. Why was the desire of my heart then so off? But God was so patient with me. “Not yet Daughter, In my time. Be still and Know that I am God!” This was the profound answer I got. Also extremely frustrating because I was 2 short weeks away from moving into my dorm. But enough for me to let go.

My feelings had manifesting to this day.My Dear Friend Lynn and I had agreed to meet for lunch and talk about how Haiti went. Lynn was one of my roommates on a previous trip to Haiti in March ’16. She and I wanted to meet to talk about all the provision sought over Good rest. However, this topic melted into Biola effortlessly. I finally opened up. More like bursted into tears, Overwhelmed with the thought of moving in 6 days to a school I was so unhappy with. Lynn was able calmed me down and speak peace once more. She reassured me that my anxiety was normal and that as soon as I was plugged in with the new community, I would be just fine. Then we got up and walked two doors over to a thrift store of all places and God answered me. 

There at Captain Helms we noticed a familiar face, an acquaintance named Joy. She stared at me dead in the eyes and said, “I can’t stop look at you, I see a gapping hole over you and question mark over that.” God had illustrated my distress in such a violently gentle way. Oxymoronic, yes I know, but thats my God. He had us all right where he wanted us and as uncomfortable as I was, I could not move. I had NEVER encountered prophesy before, and I was so in such awe of how much confidence was restore in just the single moment where I surrendering over control to Jesus. Joy spoke to me for a while! Most of what she said was just remembered long enough to pull the strings of my heart. However, To this day I will never forget her imploring me to “Be a pioneer of my faith.” Prompting me to understand that ” I am standing on heavens platform.” Or encouraging me to know that ” I Can be a light to my family.” From this moment on I just New everything was going to be okay. My life was in the best hands. God kept his promise and all I did was walk forward.

So now Im here, I am a racer for World Race Missions Gap Year, Route 3. I am in Gods hands. I will be traveling In September to Five countries over Nine months. These countries are India, Nepal, Lesotho, Swaziland, and lastly Nicaragua. I could not be more scared or excited. This will be my first experience on a long term trip. I fully believe that through out this season of life and overall missions trip, God will be solidifying specifically where In my future he wants me. Whether that is Studying at Biola upon my return, Moving to india as a missionary, building my own orphanage, loving children back to life or teaching english abroad.

I am so darn excited! I don’t want to ask you to donate to me. I am confident that God will provide the money as long as I am walking with him. I witness this everyday. I am though going to ask that you please do pray. Specifically that if you feel called to give, that that it is out of an act of obedience. We are blessed to bless. Pray that In my heart my intentions are pure, that I stay focused and that he grows the country for me as he grows me for the country.That I may grow in patents and love. That Gods word will reach all stretches of land and sea. Pray that I glorify God by stepping out in faith to spread the good news and that people may be saved and healed and loved deeply. Pray that my heart is written with Scripture, so that others can see His light in and through me.

And I make this promise to you. I will continue to share the lives that I see changed as a direct result of your prayers and donations. That we will cry together, laugh together and share in Gods power through missions and in turn step out of faith together. Whether that’s receiving a person with open arms when they hurt you, praying over homeless on the bus or sharing Jesus’s life with the person over the grocery counter.Experience his Spirit! Wherever God places need before you, step out. I promise to as well. I Will write to you the changes in my life, in the lives of the people I meet in Country and in my teammates, over the course of the next year.