It’s only been a little more than a week and God has seriously been moving! Here’s a recap of our first week.
Left Gainsville, GA and arrived in Fleming Island, FL about 6pm and then straightaway headed off to a birthday party for the Pastor we are staying with. It’s a
small Spanish community. I got to talk to Dulce, a 20 year-old Mexican girl who
just had such a restlessness about her because she’s not going to school nor
could she get a job. And there’s no community around her, she’s not linked to
any Spanish youth group or something like that. I realized that she’s not the
only one. So many people are stuck in this, or working a job that they don’t
enjoy.
watch TV, and that is the end of another day?
about Kingdom Dreams, then rushed off to a 7th graders Sunday School
class where we did a 5 minutes spiel, then rushed off again to a small Spanish
congregation where we had the opportunity to share more in depth and later on
prayed with some people. Then it’s back home for lunch, rest for a few hours,
then out again to their night service and then to a college group. Honestly, I
was exhausted. My introvert
personality crying out to just “Let me be
alone and rest!” But I pushed through, knowing that God had work for us to
do. And sure enough He did, for the session at the college group was really
good. Intimate setting, amazing worship and good sharing that just led to good
1-on-1 conversations later. I couldn’t have asked for more.
More
low key but not any less powerful. Had a great conversation with 3 older women
– Carol, Heather, and Kim, where hearts were just completely open to sharing
about passions, dreams and hurt. (Read Teri’s blog here). A special sisterhood
was formed that day between these women even though it was the first time Carol
and Kim had met. A special ‘triangle’ bond that is not easily broken.
of three strands is not easily broken.
I learned something that day as I sat there listening to aconversation between older women that I normally would not be in because I feel
like this is ‘my mom’s’ conversation, not mine. Carol completely changed my
‘older-people-either-think-they’ve-had-it-made-or-no-longer-have-the-energy-therefore-pursuing-dreams-is-for-the-young-people’
perception. I’ve never liked talking to older people because I always feel like
they are a know-it-all and there’s no passion in them. How wrong I was! At 60+ years
old, she wants “to turn the world upside down like Paul did”.
Then met up with Katherine’s friend Jen at a coffeeshop whosedream is to serve and educate deaf kids. It was encouraging to hear and see a
young person actively seeking out and pursuing her dreams. Right before leaving, we prayed for the shop owner. (Yup, praying left and right. 🙂 )Then Lily had some fun on a merry-go-round!
day of 68F and we went to Jacksonville Beach!
But even on our ‘off’ day, cool stuff still happens.
So we were walking to the beach after parking our van when
Katherine exclaims, “Hey it’s YWAM!” And sure enough there was a Jacksonville
YWAM right by the beach. So we headed in and prayed for some of the staff and
students, and then they offered us FREE LUNCH! Haha….
And then off to an afternoon of just glorious and beautiful day
at the beach in JANUARY! Crazy!
Prettymuch spent the whole day at home until a high school service in the evening. I
was given the privilege to speak for 10-15 minutes and God put on my heart to
challenge the youth to seek out and run after His given dream in each one of us
through the stories of Katie Davis and Austin Gutwein. Honestly this is
probably the first time that I’m speaking to such a large crowd (there were
probably about 150 students there) and I was a bit nervous. Don’t think it went
too well but oh well, training in
progress.
Jacksonville and arrived in Orlando. Went to a hospital to pray for newborn baby
Adriel who needs to have a surgery for a feeding tube into his stomach. Please
keep both mom and baby in prayers as she’s really worried that she’ll know that
he’s in good hands – God’s hands.
Don’t miss Part II! Coming soon!
