We finally had a chance this morning to sit down and reflect… The first thing I looked at was the calendar to get a grip on the time and day of the week. I’ve really lost complete touch with the days as they have all run together… But what I realized in seeing that it’s January 26th was that the time has flown by, just like I thought it might. To give you just a glimpse and overview of the things that have happened in the last 26 days, I’ll list just a few below.
Since January 1, I have:
- Finished all my preparations for the race (taxes, car payments, car insurance, health/medical insurance calls, travel plans to banks and cards, car registration, shopping, etc. The list goes on and on!)
- Completed fundraising $17,400
- Packed all my essential belongings (for a year!) in one big pack and a small backpack
- Said goodbye to as many family and friends in person as possible
- Left Iowa – flew through Detroit – down to Fort Lauderdale – and on to Medellin, Colombia!
- Met the group of 14 other humans I’ll be traveling with for the year
- Experienced mountains and extreme, intense, immediate motion sickness for the first time!
- Gone through more intense spiritual training – learning keys, tools, and lessons that will surely come in handy throughout the next year. It’s been amazing to see how it has all added to and complimented everything that I learned at CFNI. I can’t wait to see how they will go hand in hand.
- Completed workouts close to every single day, like way early in the morning.
- We have defined, learned about, and applied more aspects of listening prayer by going out and communicating with people in the streets and neighborhoods of Medellin
- Been invited by two of my coaches out to dinner with a couple we met in a dog park. Funny thing was, they invited me along as **the translator!! (Let me tell you… that was an exhausting three hours. Between the husband’s little pinch of English, the daughter’s tiny pinch of English, my few pinches of Spanish, and the occasional assistance of Google, we made it through!)
- There have been many times of spontaneous and soaking worship where the LoRd has continuously reminded me just how much He loves me.
- I have lived in community now for two weeks in a small, but accommodating Air BnB with 28 other people…………
- I have PARAGLIDED over the mountains and city of Medellin! (Because why wouldn’t I run and jump off a cliff to see things from a different perspective?)
- We’ve gone on a few “small” hikes
- We’ve broken down into smaller teams – I’ll be on a team with four other women – and we’ve just started praying about where we’ll be going next!
- Ministry and missions have been redefined. (Check out more at the bottom.)
- We partnered up with a church that does outreaches with drug addicts, alcoholics, prostitutes, and homeless. The church invites them in to sleep for up to a week and then mandates that they start attending church. If they continue to go, they are encouraged to go to the rehab program. What an amazing opportunity it was to worship in and amongst so many people from so many different walks of life, all passionately in love with the LoRd. He is simply incredible.
- Thursday we closed down the two weeks of intensive training that have prepared us for as much as possible of what’s to come.
- Yesterday we left training camp and launched off on our own! I made a connection with a friend from Christ for the Nations Institute, and she graciously helped us find accommodations. We are staying with pastors from her church who are connected to the Director of Missions all throughout Colombia! This is not the first time I’ve been thankful having connections from CFNI friends all around the world! We have been so incredibly blessed. We will finish up here tomorrow and then make our way west, where we feel the LoRd is calling us.
So you know, this list is far shorter than it could be. There have been countless hugs, laughs, tears, conversations, interactions, language barriers, pangs of anxiety, moments of overwhelming peace, etc. in these last few weeks both in Iowa, in Colombia, and during the transition. I’m finally coming to accept that it’s going to be impossible to keep everyone as updated as I’d like. As we have been learning and covering the importance of blogging in these last few days, I’ve started to realize that this will be the best way to share with everyone what’s going on! And so that when I’m home in a year, instead of recapping the year in five minutes, maybe you can just follow the journey as I go!
Every word of encouragement is so appreciated! As we’ve been training, I’ve come to understand more and more about what this whole year is going to look like. It’s been easy to say that “I’m going to 11 countries in 11 months, depending on the voice of the LoRd on where to go and what to do.” So many people were asking for specifics, and the truth of it is, I don’t know. We, as a team, don’t know where we are sleeping for the next year. We don’t know who we’ll be serving. And we don’t know what we’ll be eating or how we’re going to stay in budget. All these “I don’t knows” seem to make people uncomfortable. And to be honest, it’s a pinch out of my comfort zone as well. But what I do know is that He is with us every step of the way. We are taking Him at His word and believing Him for both the big things and all the small things. He isn’t going to fail us and He is going to lead to us. He’s going to do great things as we continue to say yes, and we are going to turn around and give Him all the glory.
Missions Redefined:
Being at training camp the last two weeks has helped us shape and understand what the next year looks like. PRAYER. Prayer is the biggest, most important aspect of all that will be accomplished this year. Because we have no predetermined ministry sites, no predetermined places to sleep, and no translators booked in every country, we are going to be waking up every single day and seeking the LoRd for what He has in store for us. This may seem a bit strange, maybe counter-cultural?, but hey. We serve a God who speaks. He is always saying something, we just have to stop long enough to listen. He always has people on His mind. He is always up to something. He is always there, moving. Many times throughout these last two weeks, we practiced listening prayer and learned about the multiple ways He speaks. While understanding that He doesn’t speak with everyone in the same way, it’s been exciting to learn more about how He speaks to us and learn how He speaks with our teammates – some through dreams, visions, words, music, nature, theology, etc. In the days to come, I will continue to post pictures, testimonies, and stories as I am able.
If you have any more specific questions, do not hesitate to reach out! The best way to reach me is either Facebook message or email. I’d say carrier pigeon, but I don’t know if I’ll be in one place long enough!
