HI!!!! Hope you are doing great!! I want to share with you what I am doing next…
It is just so amazing how God works! How He seriously has everything planned.
Two years ago as I was working at the inner city summer camp I worked at throughout college we were told that the last week of camp an international group was coming to camp. We were told that kids from all over the world were going to be in our cabins, so the way camp was run was going to look different.
That last week of camp a ministry brought a group of campers from Houston. The group was from a predominantly international part of Houston so that week at camp I had campers in my cabin from Kenya, Nepal, Burma, and other countries. It was so cool! The group that brought the campers were a part of the Keystone Project. The Keystone Project has missionaries who live in the apartment complexes that a lot of these international people live in. A lot of them are refugees who have come here from war torn countries and lack proper knowledge of how to immerse into America. The missionaries live next to them; building relationships, helping them with physical needs, and showing them the love and truth of Christ. The Keystone project also has discipleship trainings in South Dakota where people come from all over the world to these trainings. The trainings focus on making disciples to the fourth generation. Making disciples who then go and make disciples so that there are these movements of disciples and God’s Kingdom is being established.
After spending a week with the Keystone project at camp and getting to know some of the staff that was at camp, I immediately thought that what these people were doing was awesome. God had always been giving me a unique passion for different people groups and the interconnection of those different cultures.
I went back to school to finish my senior year of college and decided to do the World Race (also found out about the World Race through camp! God’s on the move even when we don’t realize it!). For the next two years I continued a relationship with the missionaries in Houston with Keystone. They would ask me for prayer requests and I got to see them a few more times as we met up for lunch and to catch up. Half way through The Race the Keystone Project popped into my head. This time It was not a “cool thing”, but instead an open door. As I was seeing God’s Kingdom being built all around the world and as I was building relationships with people from all these different places I knew that I wanted to do exactly this after The Race. I am pretty sure it was in Cambodia, when the Lord was giving me revelations about His Kingdom, that He shined that light on Keystone again. Coincidently, that month our ministry was all about the interconnection of God’s people working together. (Seriously, He’s got it all planned and he’ll reveal it to us and we will not even realize what he’s doing in the moment!!!!). Since I was only half way through the race I just kind of let that idea sit there, until a few months before coming home when I started to really pray and seek out if Keystone was where He was leading me next.
And it definitely is. The door to Keystone was the only one left open with a huge light shining on it.
After a few weeks at home I went to South Dakota for one of Keystone’s discipleship trainings. And it wrecked me…in the good way. I spent a month in the Black Hills being challenged daily of the sacrifice Jesus calls us to in order to fulfill the great commission, while being surrounded by people who are totally sold out and in love with their Father. There were about 80 people at the training, from around 17 different countries all over the world. I came back for the month of November, planning on moving to Houston to join the city team there early December. One weekend I went to visit the team in Houston. The first night we went on mission the first family we met was from ETHIOPIA!! So cool!!! Immediately I was so excited, sharing with the family how I had just been to Ethiopia and loved it so much! We bonded over our mutual knowledge of the Ethiopian coffee ceremony tradition and they invited me back over for a coffee ceremony. This got me so pumped for ministry in Houston!!
So what exactly will I be doing? Starting next week I will be living in an apartment complex amongst internationals, who are predominantly refugees, building relationships with them. The goal is discipleship and loving like Jesus as I live amongst these people. The ministry is volunteer work, so while I am down there I will also be working
Some praises… God has given me a passion for relationship building and for cultures unlike my own. I am excited to step into what God’s doing in Houston, getting to interact with different cultures, while still being in Texas and close to home! Second, It is so awesome how God establishes our steps. As I look back on my life, I see how the Lord has established my steps during each season, leading me to where He wanted me. Praise Him!
Would love prayers for this next season in Houston. Pray that the Lord would set apart those that He wants me to meet and minister to in Houston. Also prayers for a job that I can do alongside ministry. If you would like to learn more about what I will be doing you can email me at [email protected] or message me at 972-351-3598. I want to eventually send prayer updates and praises for what is going on in Houston, so if you would like updates let me know!
Also, if you are interested in learning more about The Keystone project, here is a link to their website. https://www.keystoneproject.org/
“The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.” -Proverbs 16:9
Above, is a picture of the Ethiopian family I met in Houston last weekend! They are believers and are sold out for Jesus. Cannot wait to reconnect with this family once I get to Houston!
