I don’t even know how to begin. The world race has been the most life changing mission I have ever been on. I have seen so much growth within myself and my team. As well as seen God work in so many amazing ways! My heart breaks with the news of being pulled off the field 6 weeks early..
Tuesday we got to Argentina, Guatemala and started debrief. Debrief was supposed to be a time to relax and recharge so we could go into our next ministry refreshed and ready to go. Saturday we got to the YWAM base in the evening. We were shown our room, unpacked and it was time for supper. After supper we got the call.. The students at YWAM are so amazing. We had just walked through their doors, barely knew anyone’s name, yet we felt their hearts break with ours.. It was just the evening before we were being told that squads were being put into categories of who needed to come home and who didn’t. We were in the lowest category and we’re told we were fine. It wasn’t even a day later that things changed and we were coming home..
I refused to allow the possibility of our time to be cut short to be real. They hadn’t told us when, so it could be a few days or a few weeks. Whichever it is I know God can make it so we can stay. I know he has a plan.
The next morning (Sunday) we had our tickets for a noon flight Monday.. WOW that was fast.. so much changed within a few days, let alone a few hours. I kept thinking this isn’t happening. We can still stay. God can close the boards so we can’t get in. He can make adventures in missions change their mind and let us stay. So many people prophesied over our time in Guatemala and how so many great things were going to happen and now we weren’t even there an hour and were told we are coming home. There is still hope. We aren’t on the plan yet..!
With a broken heart I write this blog from the plane.. I still don’t know why God brought us on this trip, sent us to YWAM just to turn around and had us come home so many weeks early. Not only that but I was told at midnight tonight the boards are closed. Just another day before getting the call and we could have stayed! Just a few more hours and we could have stayed!
I’m struggling with this decision. Our team was working really well together! We became a fast family and close friends. We were really starting to open up and become vulnerable with each other. Proverbs 16:9 “in their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.” There were supposed to be so many more fun times and great stories. So many hard questions asked and new things still yet to learn. That was our plan at least.
I don’t know what God has for us in His plan, but apparently being in Guatemala right now was not it. I can’t tell you what it is, but I can tell you that God’s plan is perfect. “God is never late, rarely is He early, but His timing is always perfect” this is a quote I heard from a teammate. I hate to agree, for the simple fact that I don’t want to go home, but they are right. I firmly believe God could have made it so we could have stayed. I also know that there is a reason we didn’t stay. There is a reason we didn’t get that phone call a day later. There is a reason we didn’t get a flight a few hours later. God wants us home. I still have yet to figure out what that reason is. Maybe He needs us in our hometowns because of the state of chaos everyone is in. Maybe they’re is something happening in Guatemala that we needed to get away from. For whatever reason, that we are being sent home, my faith and trust is in God. He has something better in mind for us.
Just because we are coming back early doesn’t mean our mission is done, it is just changed. Instead of ministering to people in Guatemala we can continue to minister to our family’s, friends, co-workers, and people in our hometowns.
My prayer for the team, squad, and other racers coming home early is that your races doesn’t stop just because we are back on American soil. Especially in this time of chaos people are looking for safety, comfort, and something more. We can use this to introduce people to someone they can find safety and comfort in and his name is Jesus. I pray that we take our experiences and the tools that we learned on the trip and use them for God’s work back home.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in it’s time. He has also eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from the beginning to end.
