Coming at you LIVE, with Team eXpresso! The day we got announced who was on a team, we could not come up with a name for the life of us! It only took 48hrs, and our ministry host picking us up from the bus stop to come up with eXpresso, because we love to express ourselves, and we do love our coffee!
Welcome to Panama! When we got dropped off at the bus stop, waiting for our hosts to pick us up (not knowing who or what we would be looking for) my lovely teammate Brianna Johnson was going to take a picture of a sign, and a pickup truck came driving by and asked us if we need a ride, so she said, (in a British accent) “Sure.” They we’re actually our hosts, but it’s become a running joke now, not knowing for sure if we’re out our ministry site, or if we just got a free ride to Chiquiri, Panama!
All jokes aside, we arrived safe and sound! The Lord has fulfilled so many prayers with this new team already! I love to gut laugh, and laugh until it hurts, and every single day we do that as a team, unintentionally! I don’t remember the last time I laughed this hard! If I could only choose 1 word to describe my teammates, it would be Selfless. Every single one of them serves us all before themselves. They think of others needs, what they love, what will make them smile, without trying, and I love it! I see the heart of Jesus inside them all. Everyday feels like a slumber party with them. Our first night in Panama, we came up with a missions statement for our team,
“5 sisters cultivating safety and service by choosing vulnerability and selflessness.”
Vulnerability is our #1 thing that matters the most to us, and through that comes safety, but it’s a choice to open up and be honest with each other. With team changes happening so early on in the race, each team was hand picked by God, and with vulnerability and expression of how safe we all feel around the other, is God, and this team is a gift. So we choose to say Toda Raba (thank you in Hebrew) every single day, and sometimes saying thank you is hard, being here. I’ll elaborate for you!
We get to shovel, hoe, rake, and wheelbarrow dirt, to form a flat foundation of where our hosts (Heather & Danny) are building a church. It took me awhile to appreciate what we were doing, but how cool is it that we get to lay down a foundation for a church!
I’m going to let you into my head for a bit:
I felt impressed during this past summer, by God, to start a church in San Francisco to reach the homosexual community. I have never been there, and I obviously wouldn’t know where to start with that. But, since being on the race the Lord has given me a taste of my future through each ministry. Month 1 I got to be a nanny for 12 kids, and I want to have a big family. Month 2 I got to paint murals, and one day I will paint one that will pull anyone who looks at it to have an encounter with God, and now, I’m learning how to build a church. God is crazy, that’s all I have to say about that. And that He cares about your dreams. I do not enjoy digging and shoveling dirt. I do not enjoy manual labor at all, but I believe I am being equipped for something bigger than me in the future.
I love my team, learning to love my ministry here, and God is good!
God is so good that I am almost fully funded! By the end of April I need $1,500 to be fully funded, and to continue the World Race, and all that God is doing through me unto the people I meet!
If you would like to give, awesome! Thank you! And if you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment, email or find me on Facebook or Instagram! I would love to talk with you!
