It seems like I was just hugging my baby sister good bye at the Akron/Canton Airport yesterday to head to launch and now I am packing my bags to head to my second country on this amazing journey with God.
This month has been full of wonderful, difficult, growth and I am so thankful God has been working through me in the tough moments I have had this month. Our team was stretched, both mentally and physically, during our first month on the Race. With having to build a sanctuary and help manually repair other parts of the farm building we were living at in the rainforest of Costa Rica, we definitely got some good workouts in. We were dirty, sweating constantly and covered in bug bites for the majority of the month. Feeling uncomfortable and not like myself started to weigh on my emotions. Sometimes it felt like it was too much to handle and I was just wishing that I was back at my office job, clean and in air-conditioning. But when those moments came, where I felt like I wanted to give up and there wasn’t anyway I could go on with a good attitude, is when I really put my full faith in God to get me through it.
I had some of the best talks with my Heavenly Father down a gravel/dirt road in 85 degree weather with 90% humidity than I’d ever had before. I may have looked like a crazy person to people in passing, talking out loud by myself, but I was having a real conversation with God. He already knew all the frustrations I was feeling, but I felt Him tell me that He just wanted me to invite Him into the problem. As soon as I did, He showed up and filled me with so much joy and love. As much as I would have loved to have wifi everyday, been close enough to a town where I could get American food whenever I wanted and have meals that I didn’t have to constantly pick gnats out of, God placed me on that farm this month for reason’s I didn’t realize until the end. His plan is greater than mine and even though I didn’t always agree with the way our ministry host did certain tasks, they truly loved us and told us over and over again what a blessing my team and I were to them. Little did I realize how much Tony and Rosita would mean to me and the lasting impact they left on my life by blessing it was more than I could ever hope for. I am glad God is in control and I am not.
My favorite day of the entire month was my birthday which we got to spend at the beach! I started off getting to ride a horse down a backroad with beautiful fields on either side of me. It was absolutely indescribable and breathtaking. Then we headed for the beach where my team surprised me with a cake and we spent the day relaxing by the water. We ended the day with a pizza for dinner and a few minutes of FaceTime with my family back home. I couldn’t have imagined a better day!
I leave tomorrow, November 4th, to head to my next country, Nicaragua. We have a debrief there for the first 5 days where, as a whole squad, we will get to relax, hangout and talk about how our first month went with our wonderful leadership team, in Granada! I am so excited to see our coaches and squad mentor and just get some time with my amazing World Race Family to recharge and talk about how we can improve and what we did well. On November 9th we will start our ministry work in Nicaragua in the city of Chinandega.
Thank you all again for the continued love and support. It amazes me constantly how much love God has surrounded me with and the friends and family He has put in my life. I miss you all so much but have no doubt this is where I am meant to be.
Stay tuned for updates during our all squad month in Nicaragua from November 9th to December 2nd! Love you all!
