Day one of training camp /
Wow, this really feels like a lifetime ago. She was a quiet timid girl who was so fearful of what people thought of her. A girl so ashamed of what she had been doing the week before that she kept as quiet as possible so no one would find out. So lost in the crowd. So afraid of what people would think of her. Confused. Sweaty. Overwhelmed. Getting to the end of the day, exhausted and finding herself amongst people worshipping God with all they had. Feeling this weird energy that is the Holy Spirit and going along with it because she didn’t want people to think she was different.
Day one of launch /
Honestly, really sad to leave her mom. Sobbing so hard on the flight to Georgia the people sitting next to her on the plane offering her Kleenex. Filled with nervous and excitement anticipation as she begins a nine month journey with people she still didn’t know. Still very afraid. Still cared what others thought of her. Motivated to get to know people and to abolish the stereotype that she didn’t fit in and she was quiet. Filled with the Holy Spirit and ready to serve his perfect Will for her life!
Day one of Cambodia /
Very similar to launch. Very exhausted but ultimately SO excited to finally be in Cambodia. She is still very overwhelmed and doesn’t talk much. She is sweaty from the crazy hot weather and is getting know her teammates more. She falls asleep that night ready for this next month of working for the Kingdom and listening to the song “All Hail Lord Jesus”. A reminder of who she works for. She has an alarm for 5:30am so she can have enough time to get up before breakfast and talk to her parents who she processes with and completely relies on them with everything.
Day one of Ethiopia /
She is a completely different person! She is lively and herself. She greets each person on the squad as a new person and has tons of energy. She is SO excited to be back with everyone with a small percentage of anxiety. She has learned about JOY, she has shared the gospel with the people of the Siem Reap streets, she is so connected to her team and they finally feel like family. She is very sad to leave her first country, especially The ICF church, she thinks God is calling her back there. She doesn’t know how to separate her emotions from her faith and lives a very inconsistent life of emotions goin up and down! She is filled with wonder of what this country will be filled with as it was the reason she picked this route. She is walking into her house with the guys team for the next three months, no electricity, in the middle of nowhere and sad saying goodbye to her parents on the phone at the airport. God keeps repeating in her mind, “Shine bright, don’t hide your light”.
Day one of Nicaragua /
Woah. She had grown like a flower and is starting to bloom. She has a deeper relationship with Christ and has learned so much. She has worked through pride, sacrificial love, apathy, her calling to be a mother to all of God’s children, living intentional with the house moms, learning how powerful words are, she is even closer to her team, she is starting to learn how to fight for her team, she has discovered two more spiritual gifts, intercession & hospitality, she knows how to surrender, she is starting to learn more about rest, she sees her whole squad as family, she can’t drink coffee without sugar because of all the coffee ceremonies where the house moms load up the sugar in those tiny coffee cups, rejoicing in the Lord for her family, getting to talk to them after three months of full surrender, and most of all her heart is mourning for the goodbye of her family in Ethiopia.
She has also just come from Awakening where God awoken her spirit and she feels ready for Nicaragua.
Day one of Costa Rica /
Processing leaving Nicaragua and all the people. Processing her last mini debrief with her squad. God taught her so much in both of these seasons. He taught her how she needs to be loving her team and squad better. How it always goes back to rest. If she is not physically and spiritually rested she can not be a light to the people around her. She doesn’t have enough energy to be intentional and to say the hard things when they need to be said. She gets so complacent when she’s tired and that was really hard for her to hear that. Mended a lot of relationships at debrief because she was rested and able to have conversations. Realizing she was very apathetic in Nicaragua and how she never wants to be in that place ever again in her life. Learning to be a vessel and how she needs to take her emotions out of it. Learning a hard process of Jesus becoming her husband. Learning and growing more than ever before. The flower growing and blooming more and more!
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Coming SOON :
Day one of America /
