Hey there!
First of all, I am getting so close to meeting my fundrarising goal; I’m only a little less than $7000 away!! A huge thank you to everyone who has supported me, both financially and though the gift of prayer, I truly appreciate each and every one of you!
My big update is that a few weeks ago, my squad and I recieved news that my squad is NO LONGER GOING TO GUATEMALA – instead our third country is going to be COSTA RICA!! So I will now be serving in Thailand, India, and Costa Rica! I was slightly disappointed at first; for those of you who don’t know, I went on a mission trip to Guatemala with my family and some others from my church when I was five years old, and while I don’t remember a whole lot about the country, I do remember some things about it, and the fact that Guatemala would be one of my destinations was one of the reasons I chose this route. I had been looking forward to going back to a country I had previously been, was excited to make new and lasting memories there, and possibly even get to see some things I had seen as a little girl.
However, it didn‘t take long for me to get excited about this new change in plans, especially after I read a blog by a girl who had just recently been to Costa Rica on her World Race Gap Year trip. She titled it; to those who are next (costa rica), and had posted it just a little over a week before we found out about our route change (even though she had actually written it all down four whole months before and just hadn’t felt like it was time to share it until then – talk about crazy timing!). This blog had been found by one of the girls going on my route, who immediately shared it with our squad. Reading this girl’s blog made me feel like i was right there in Costa Rica; it was like I could see the early morning sun as it shone on the tile floor of the little house she stayed in; I can picture the bustling market down the street, and I could feel my heart start to ache for the children I would one day have to say good-bye to, just as hers had. God used this girl’s blog to help me and many of my squad mates to feel complete peace with the switch, and we are now SO excited to serve in Costa Rica!
While many of the people on my squad are just super excited about this change in our route, there are a few that chose this route mainly because of Guatemala. I would love if you all would pray for me and my squad as we make adjustments to accommodate this change, and that we would all have complete peace with this, knowing that God is putting us exactly where He wants us to be.
This route change, though somewhate confusing and frustrating at first, showed me that God is really and truly already working ahead of my squad, and that He has incredible things in store for us in Costa Rica!
