You would think being on this GE Baja Holiday trip 2 times before would make this 3rd time a breeze… so did I. Little did I know it would be the toughest. To begin. It was cold. And when I say cold. I mean really cold with no place to go to be warm. The first couple of days I was miserable. I could not warm up or stop shaking really. It was terrible and I questioned myself many times as to why I came on this trip again. Soon enough I got more used to the cold and it warmed up a little and I was able to overcome this physical toughness.
The first night during worship, I caught myself quite worried about my 4 month Passport trip. Next thing I know I am breaking down in tears just letting God take those worries from me and being able to focus on Baja and the people there. I got questions all the time about my past experience on the World Race and then what is it gonna be like the next 4 months on this Passport Trip so it was always there on my mind, but I was able to really focus on Baja.
Our first day during children’s ministry, after the drama, my team leader asked me to translate…I was like what?!! Really!?!? But I quickly overcame my fear and even though my Spanish wasn’t perfect, I tried my best to get the gospel message out there.
For working on the house- I was on the roof crew which was awesome. I nailed and stapled some, but mostly was there to assist the men who did a great job on the roof. And while we got the roof completed, the rest our team dominated on the plywood outside and the drywall inside. By the time the roof crew came down, it was actually starting to look like a house.
This team was interesting for me. On the World Race team- I was the youngest…on my Baja team- I was close to the oldest. Totally reversal of roles but it was so good to be able to speak into the lives of these teenagers and share all that God has taught me in the past couple of years. It was great to share my heart for Missions and see that passion grow throughout the next generation of missionaries.
On our last night of worship, the tears came again. This time with the realization that Baja is over and in a week I will be embarking to Central America once again for 4 months. This was something I had never really planned, but I trust that God had this in His plan and so everything will work out for good.
This trip taught me a lot about leadership. Confidence and truth and boldness. Now I am super excited to embark as leader of the Central America Passport trip and spend 4 months with that team serving and glorifying God.
GE has something called a Kodak Moment. If you could have a picture of your favorite moment on the trip, what would it be? Thankfully some creeper got a picture of mine.
When the teams were dedicating the house to Gloria and her family, I was translating a conversation and missed it. At first I was upset, but God quickly spoke to my heart and let me know that translating this conversation is where he wanted me to be. And I am so thankful for this. Our bus driver Martin really needed an encouraging conversation to help him grow in his faith and I feel so blessed to be able to facilitate the conversation with the country assistant Danielle. Last time I was in Baja, my Spanish was so limited. It's crazy how much I have grown in this in a couple of years and am able to use it to glorify God.
