Hello! Thanks so much for visiting my blog!
So I’m supposed to write an “about me” post.. I’ve always thought it was kind of hard to sum up who you are in a little box on the internet… but I’ll give it a go I suppose..
The name’s Ashley, and I am currently taking a break from school… I attending Indiana University [Hoo Hoo HOOsiers babyyyy! :)] where I studied Spanish & International Communications.
I am 22 years old.
I am sort of a wanderer.
I love to smile at anyone, and hug everyone. I love to laugh and discover and explore and wander.
Almost my entire wardrobe comes from Goodwill 🙂 it is such a fantastic place!
I love taking pictures… I’m not very good or artsy but I like to pretend to be.
I don’t have nearly enough figured out about myself, this world, or life in general, but I am incredibly curious. I think the biggest thing you should know about me is that I love to love. I have an incredible passion for people and for their stories. It’s amazing to just look around and see the numbers of people everywhere and to just realize that they all have a story much different than my own but we all have the common similarity of making up humanity. We are all wandering and trying to discover who it is that we are and who it is that we want to be.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately, and by lately I mean over the course of the past year really, about what defines me. Questions have been thrown at me for quite some time now as to what my future holds, where I’m going, what plans I have. And well, that’s terrifying. Those of you who know me, know 1) I hate plans 2) I honestly don’t have the faintest idea. There’s this giant, intimidating focus on the What Comes Next. And while it seems that I’m not walking across the graduation stage, cap n gown, for quite awhile, people are asking these questions and they’re on my mind.
And I’ve tried so hard, to hone in on what it is that I want to do, where I want to go, I really have tried. Those of you who have been around me for awhile know that these questions have plagued my mind for the past couple of years. I can’t quite seem to get into the school grind, or find a major that satisfies me, and so I’ve been so stressed out trying to find who I am and what it is I want to do, therefore I’ve been thinking a lot about what defines me.
I am a daughter. I am a friend. I am a niece. I am a sister. I am a worker. I am a reader. I am a writer. I am a thinker. I am a chocolate addict. I am coffee lover. I am a lover of late nights and sleeping in in the mornings. I am a child.
And first and foremost; I am a believer.
So I’ve realized that wherever it is I go and whatever it is I do, I just want to glorify God.
Well, realizing that, great, but I still had no idea what it was that I should be studying or what it is that God is calling me to in life. And I’ve come to realize that I honestly, sorry mom, still have no idea what my career will be. But I know for a fact what my vocation is.
My vocation is love, and right now that is my only concern.
And I’m in this place where I feel so lost here, in Bloomington, at IU, trying to get through school. My heart is so empty, and I’ve tried to take people’s advice and get through school right now, and it’s just not working. I just can’t shake thoughts out of my mind.
Things like, when it’s all said and done, and I’m at the worlds end, what do I want to look back on? I won’t care how much debt I’m in or the money I’ve made. It won’t matter the office job I had or didn’t have. I just want to look back and know that I loved, with everything I had, with all that I am.
Sometimes I watch the news, I’m not a fan because well it’s all so sad, and I just think about how much turmoil the world is in and I feel completely powerless. All I want to do is hug every single hurting person and just let them know that someone cares, that they aren’t alone, and that there is a hope in the despair and a light in the darkness. I look at the grand scheme of everything and sometimes satan plays on my mind and I think about how much hurt, heartbreak, and horror there is in the world and I think about how my few dollars won’t help all that much and I start to get discouraged and that is something I have to remember the opposite of. That in the end, my God triumphs over it all and despite whatever goes on or is going on, love wins. Yes, friends, LOVE WINS.
So I’ve decided to recommit myself to that living out that love.
Those of you who know me know that I’ve been wrestling with a calling to do mission work. I have been wrestling with this for some time now, school, graduation, or taking time and serving overseas. That has been a HUGE debate on my heart and on my mind. Ever since South America and Thailand, its just been there, in my heart and well, I guess I should say on my mind really, because my heart has always just said to go, but I hadn’t been able to convince my mind. Well, I want you all to know that, my heart has won. I can’t stop thinking about the world and how much I want to travel it and be a part of it and love on everyone in it. I can’t stop thinking about how now is the time to go, for so many reasons; First, I have no ties or commitments here, no contracted desk job, no mortgage, no fiancé or husband, no children, no pets, and at the end of the year no apartment. Second, and most important, God is just SCREAMING GO at me. So well, if God is screaming, I figure I should probably listen. So it is time, to abandon myself, to find myself. To abandon all it is that I know and lean solely on God and God’s provision.
That being said,
Let me introduce you all to the next part of my life. Some of you may know that I applied to a program called the World Race awhile back. The World Race is a program with the organization Adventures in Missions. It is an 11-month Christian mission trip to 11 different countries around the world. Well I put my application through on a whim on night when God was just heavily heavily heavily pressing on my heart. I waited awhile and started to doubt that that was God’s plan for me, so I pulled my application. I was overwhelmed with the idea of trying to raise the money, I was overwhelmed with what all the next year would entail as far as preparations to go, and I was even more overwhelmed with what that year on the field would hold for me. I waited awhile and just spent days in prayer and God continued to scream “GO” at me. So I decided that I needed to take God out of the box, and let Him do what only He can do. So, I reinstated my application. Sure enough 2 days later, I was accepted. So friends, I launch in July 2014 to embark on a journey of complete abandonment. I will be serving with a team and partnering with churches and ministries in local communities to preach the Gospel, plant churches, work in orphanages, minister to women and children who are trapped in prostitution as a result of human trafficking, and so many other things. Ultimately I hope to just bring Christ’s love to the world.
My line up is; Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Philippines, Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia.
So, this is going to be big. My mind is racing, but my heart has NEVER been so sure of something in my entire life. Like I’m more sure of this than I am that chocolate milk is my favorite drink… which those of you who know me, know that is a big statement right there. So I’m calling on you, my brothers and sisters in Christ to journey with me in this. You can be a part of this calling with me in many ways.
First: Subscribe to my blog, and to the blogs of my teammates. Get updates as to what God is doing in our lives and in the lives of others around us. You won’t regret it I promise 🙂
Second: Prayerfully consider supporting me; In prayer and even financially. I am going to need some serious prayer over the next 21 months. So please, Pray without ceasing. Also, I need to raise $16,280 which covers all expenses on the field, travel insurance, and transportation to all 11 countries. It does not cover gear and travel to training and to my first country. So please prayerfully consider supporting me financially. If you would like to help out, you can click the donate button on my blog and support me that way. You can also send a check, and if you’d care to send a check to me directly for gear, personal expenses, and immunizations, that would be great too 🙂
My address is
Ashley Zablocki
506 E. Melrose Ave
Bloomington, IN 47401
If you’d just like to send me a letter for funsies to that’s okay! I LOVE getting mail. It makes my heart warm and fuzzy and we all know that is a great feeling.
Thanks for reading, and I pray that if anything you will subscribe and adventure with me as I live out the next step that God has in store for me.
