Information that you may not yet know about why I’m on the field again!
There came a time in my life where home was no longer the comfort of Spokane Washington. I knew this when I got off the race in November and went home for the holidays. Though I was home and happy to be with friends and family, it just wasn’t the same. Now I had seen the world, experienced life outside of that little city and so unsatisfied with going back to a 9 to 5 work job that would just pacify my young adult life. Now that I had a taste of what God was doing in Latin America all I could think of while at home was how to get back into the atmosphere of mission life. Now I’m not saying that God isn’t doing big things in little spokane Washington.. He defiantly showing me that Washington was NOT where he was calling me.
In a way I already had peace with moving on from my life in spokane, but in a very real way I was more scarred to leave than I had ever been before. I knew I wouldn’t be back for quite some time and that this little town I was born in would no longer be home to me. As many of you know my heart is to be fully committed to ministry full time and as god is working out the specifics he has placed a hunger in my heart to learn me about how I can further the kingdom with the gifts and talents that he has placed in me.
That’s where Beauty For Ashes came into my life.
As many of you know I’m on a six month stent visiting Guatemala, The Philippines, and Thailand. Now, what we are doing there is ministering to women specifically dealing with abuse, abandonment, and there involvement in the sex trade. We are using a revised curriculum called Beauty for Ashes that is taught over a period of 3 days. Our hearts are to take these women out of there typical environment, where we will host a 3 day retreat specifically giving them the safe space to share there stories and to learn about what healing and restoration feel like though vulnerability and honesty. As well as showing them that they are important to Abba.
I have personally participated in a retreat when I was training for the field in Gainesville GA. And this was my experience:
What is your view of God in this season of your life?
(All the colors represent all the change in my life happening, all the chaos and confusion happening in my personal life as well as my next move as a missionary. The chains were once bound to my sin and how they are not anymore, yet the chains are still there. The heart represents what God whats to teach me in this season. He wants to bring me into who He is and show me what makes his heart beat. The yellow stripes around my broken body represent the physical sound of the fathers heart beating where the sound waves are pushing back the chaos of life.)
Part of what we do is draw pictures because not all women are literate. This way they can tell parts of there testimony through a literal view of who they believe God to be. Ofcourse as the hosts we set the bar for how vulnerable we all go. We share our personal stories right along with these women which shows a level of vulnerability that helps them identify with us as sisters. These women deserve to have their lips unlocked.
I hope to continue hosting retreats that are bringing women all over the world a platform to stand on that tells shame and worthlessness to kick rocks. A retreat that brings a level of vulnerability and trust to the hands of the Father. A retreat that says I am worth something to someone.
Its all about hope. Giving hope back to someone who it has been stolen from.
I need more support friends and family, and I don’t mean just financially. As I have been on the field for 1 month I am desperate for feedback of how I can love you all better. How I can continue to include you all in what God is doing in and through my life and my story. You all have a part to play here. I was never meant to do this alone. I want to invite you all to be apart of what I believe our calling is- to poor into the broken lives of women. I have also invested into this life and I want to invite you also to invest. Nothing matters more to me then the beautiful soles of these women and the ones to come. Pleas pray and consider partnering with me for the year of 2015-2016. Please consider becoming more of a committed giver for the next 12 months. You and I partnering together can be dynamite for the kingdom!
With so much love from Guatemala, Olivia
