Hey guys! Long time no chat. And I am so sorry for that. I have genuinely had one of the busiest and coolest weeks. Have not had a chance to catch up-but that has almost been refreshing!!
ANYWAYS I want to try to update you all on what life has looked like!
First of all, the holidays! I have gotten a lot of questions about what they looked like and how I felt. It was different for everyone obviously, but for me it wasn’t that deep! I mean, beautiful and wonderful and all things great but not too different from home or anything like that! We celebrated Christmas as a squad and it was really freaking sweet. We did a secret Santa and my girl Ashlyn got me the BEST gift— HANDWRITTEN LETTERS FROM SOME OF MY FAV PEOPLE so I felt mega blessed. Also, we spent the whole day together and literally just sat around and enjoyed each others company. So yeah it was really nice and I was super content with it! It was one to remember. And New Years was a blast as well! It honestly looked a lot like any other party at home would look. Dancing, glitter, sparkling grape juice, a lil worship. One to remember as well! What an honor it was to celebrate both things here in Ecuador.
BUT THATS NOT WHAT I WANNA TALK ABOUT IN THI BLOG. I WANNA TELL YALL ABOUT MY GIRL.
So this past week with served with a ministry called “Dunamis.” It is a non-profit organization that serves under aged girls who have been rescued from human trafficking. Although I went into it thinking we would be serving with those women, we actually got the honor of helping the organization itself.
In the mornings, we went down the mountain a little ways to do a kids camp. (Oh yeah— did I mention we lived on the TOP of a mountain? Like 10,000+ feet up. We were in the clouds hahaha) But anyways, I fell in lovvveeee with the kids. Surprise, surprise, right? Lol.
Each day we danced, sang, and loved the heck out of them. Sure, it looked different everyday! Some of us did a skit. Some of us taught them dances from America (Cotton eyed Joe was played toooo many times) but ALL of us loved them and demonstrated Jesus as best we could.
As the week progressed, I began hanging out with a girl named Emily. (name changed for privacy reasons <3) She was 16 years old and genuinely the kindest and most intentional gal I ever did know. She pursued the Lord with zeal, and encouraged me to do the same.
I was ALWAYS greeted with a smile. It just never failed. Even if we didn’t know what to say to each other, it was just so cute because we would just smile and then laugh at each other because we knew there was so much more underneath the smiles. She was patient with me. I came into her country barely knowing her language, and she loved me anyways and even taught me some Spanish. Along with these things were the small things she did for Jesus, the things that other people may not have noticed. And its like SHOOT I wanna do that ya know??
ALSO RLLY FAST BECAUSE THIS WAS THE CUTEST THING I HAVE EVER SEEN. On the last day, I wrote her like a letter of encouragement and after I gave her mine she pulled one for me out of her pocket…..isnt that so cute. She thought of me and wrote that. I died. Also, while we were all dancing she paused the music for the whole camp and was like “Emma, these are the songs that I included in my letter for you to listen to! I am teaching you the dances so that you can do them even when I am not with you.” Tell me this girl doesn’t know Jesus because she could never love me as well as she did without having Him in her heart. Anyways!
It wasn’t until the end of the week that I literally SAW Jesus in her eyes. It was during a church service. The church decided to give out flowers to each person on the squad WHICH WAIT WAS ACTUALLY THE SWEETEST EVER BUT ANYWAYS! Each kid from the community went up there and grabbed a flower to give to one of us. My girl Emily grabbed the first flower, and ran over to me, handing it to me with such joy. I literally wanted to CRY at that moment. Because yes, I felt loved and I felt chosen by her and that was the sweetest, but more than that I felt the presence of the Lord overpower that feeling. I realized that sunflower was from HIM. I was picked out of the crowd by HIM. I was given the opportunity to love this beautiful human by HIM. I am so loved. I am so loved. I cannot even believe it. Of course though, I thanked Emily and then had to say goodbye. (Ouch my heart) She sang me a song and then JUMPED and hugged me, so much kindness in her embrace! And I know this may sound terrible, but when we said goodbye this girl sobbed and it made me SO HAPPY. Hear me out lol— I wasn’t happy that she was hurting obviously that was hard and made me sad but I was so happy that our relationship meant that much to her— because it meant SO much to me. And bro while she was crying I asked her if I could pray over her, and then she started praying over me and so I was praying in English and her in Spanish and bro it had me messed up. Talking to the same God at the same time in a different language? Like what the heck. What kinda life am I living here?!?!?
So yeah that was my week in the smallest glimpse. I wish I could just have you all here with me. It’s an adventure I sadly can never seem to put into words! I appreciate you alllllll attempting to understand and I appreciate you all being so patient with my lack of communication. I hope you each had such a special holiday season and that you saw the Lord in a special way as well! I love you all.
