Live a great story. This is how all of us on A squad are living our lives this year (and I will continue this forever!). We want our lives to be great stories. We want to go on adventures; we want to dig in deeper.
Last Friday my team and I woke up to a surprise. The women in the Breaking Chains program wanted to bless us by giving us manicures, pedicures, facials, and styling or cutting our hair. They wanted to pamper us! A few of them graduated from cosmetology school and even brought their certificates to Steven when they asked for permission to do this for us. They didn’t want us to do anything but enjoy ourselves on this particular day. It was incredible, special, and as I sat in the “waiting room” for my turn, I was watching my teammates getting their nails done by prostitutes. However, when I look at these women I don’t see them as who they used to be, I see them as beautiful women who deserve so much more, who have so much love to give. Every morning when they arrive, we greet each other with a hug and a kiss on the cheek, and as they leave the same thing. They have smiles and are happy to be here. It is hard to think that most of them go back to abusive homes at the end of the day. My prayer is that God will completely transform them, which I already see him doing and it’s only been 3 weeks! I pray they will see themselves as someone greater and have the power to leave the lives they are living and the homes they are living in. I want them to LIVE A GREAT STORY!
We have weekends off from our ministry, and our host encouraged us to explore the country in which we are living. This past weekend my teammates and I headed to Leon, which is a city about 2 hours from where we are living in Managua. We stayed at a hostel called Bigfoot and that is an adventure in itself. This was my first time staying in a hostel. I slept in a room with 10 beds and I only knew 3 of the people sleeping in the room with me. There are people from all over the world living great stories. A few of my teammates and I were sitting in the common area talking when a guy from Germany came over to sit in a hammock and started talking to us. He asked what we were doing and we were able to tell him what we were all about and the amazing journey we are on. We talked to many people about our trip and one guy even said it made him kind of want to be a Christian and travel the way we are. (haha!)
While in Leon, we went on an epic adventure…VOLCANO BOARDING!!!!!! This extreme sport is ranked #2 on CNN’s thrill seeker’s bucket list! And Cerro Negro is the only volcano you can do it. We hiked for 45 minutes up an ACTIVE volcano. The last eruption was in 1999 so it is due for another eruption. It was so windy the wind could hold you up as you lean back. At the top we put on our orange jumpsuits and goggles and prepared to slide down the volcano. I went first out of 36 people because they asked if anyone had any medical experience and I was the only one who raised my hand. They wanted me to go first so I could be at the bottom in case anyone got injured. So I prepared to go down the 41-degree angle of the volcano. I sat down on my board looking out at an incredible view and looking down at the tiny little speck that was the truck we rode in at the bottom.
I scooted myself to head down and off I went! Rocks were flying at my face (good thing for the goggles), and I picked up speed. There was a man at the bottom with a radar gun tracking our speed. I made it to the bottom with a speed of 50km/h. The record for females is 91km/h and I was not about to break that! That’s insanely fast! Nicaragua is the only place in the world you can volcano board! I could not pass up that opportunity and I feel incredibly blessed to be able to do something like this! LIVE A GREAT STORY!
Are you going on adventures? Are you taking risks? Are you trusting God with your life?
Are you LIVING A GREAT STORY??
