Adventures in Missions

My Enemies All Around Me

November 2, 2011
Adventures
Guatemala

I feel pressed on every side. I hear the loud whispers from my enemy: "You can't do it! You suck! You are a loser! You have been forsaken! Go home! Do it, go home! You have failed! Your passion is gone! Nothing you do is good enough! Your Father doesn't want you! God doesn't love you! Look around! He's not even here!!" And on they go. They sound so real; so true at times. I think about who God says I am and lately they seem so farfetched. I feel like David in Psalm 31: "Have mercy on me, O LORD, for I am in trouble; my eye wastes away with...

Top 5 Moments of the Week in Pictures

November 2, 2011
Adventures
Guatemala

1. Tennis! During sport's ministry, our Pastor knew I liked tennis so he talked with the tennis instructor at the complex, and he let me play. It was a very unexpected treat! 2. Outdoor Church Service on Friday and Saturday At the church service, I met these two adorable and sweet girls. Cesia, the girl on the right, was patient with my Spanish speaking skills, and we are able to have a good and long conversation. They bought me a lollipop and Cesia gave me her bracelet. 3. (Little) Cliff Jumping and Swimming in the River Friends of the pastor we work with wanted to bless...

Open Arms Acceptance

November 2, 2011
Adventures
Guatemala

I don’t think there is a better way of meeting someone with the person’s arms wide open for you. There is not a trace of judgment. Nothing at all negative. Solely embracing you for who are and that you are there. They don’t care about the shoes you are wearing or your big ears. They want you because you are YOU. That is how all the little kids are that I have met here in Guatemala. Spending time with them, I feel accepted, wanted, and loved. It fills me up just conversing and having fun with them. The other day, we went to a school and each of the Americans paired up...

I am a Paradox

November 2, 2011
Adventures
Guatemala

There are so many things that are being stirred in my heart. So many! I have experienced so many ups and downs and inside outs that I am a living, breathing paradox! I'm a Saint that sins. I'm a believer that doubts. I'm confident and insecure. I have peace yet worry about the future. I know that God has called me to be a leader, but I question if I have authority. I know who I am in Christ yet I fall to pieces in my shortcomings. I speak the truth but sometimes lie. I am a radical giver that tends to be quite selfish. I'm brave yet afraid. I'm patient and yet...

Let’s Move Beyond Acknowledgement

October 30, 2011
Adventures
Adventures Updates

My team spent four days in Siem Reap this week as part of our midway debrief session. It turned out to be a very interesting part of my week as the night life in Siem Reap holds much more activity than what I have witnessed in Battambang. Sex tourism was evident in every direction I looked. The best education I have received on sex tourism up to this point, I learned from a seventy-four year old man from Germany who had purchased a girl for the eight days that he would be in Siem Reap—and for some reason he decided to stop and talk to my teammate and I. ...

The Small Things in Life

October 29, 2011
Adventures
Guatemala

WIthin the last week we have been able to work with organized minisrties almost everyday. What I didn't take an effort to do until today, was to step outside of the Casa Verde and intermingle with the local little girls who live right across the street. I don't even need to be doing an organized ministry. God has made me realize that even just taking sometime to hang out with little girls is worth your time and means a lot. They were so filled with joy and I even got to work on my spanish a little more. It was mostly spanglish, but I like to believe, it...

Pitch Black

October 29, 2011
Adventures
Guatemala

Last week, we climbed a volcano. As much hard work as it was climbing up, and as much fun as it was roasting marshmallows and climbing into steam geysers at the top, I want to focus on the terrifying, heart wrenching descent. That we completed in the Pitch Black Dark. We realized it was getting dark. But it didn't really click that we still had an hour and a half climb down still, until we began. "Don't worry," our guide told us. "The horses have better eyes than you." Well, that's good news for those who actually rented horses, I thought a tad...

It’s A Scorcher!

October 29, 2011
Adventures
Adventures Updates

Siem Reap was our destination from Sunday to Wednesday. We were there for debrief with our leaders’ leaders. As soon as day one was over, I wanted to be back home in Battambang. Let me take you through our first day in Siem Reap. As soon as we arrived at Siem Reap and got off the bus, we were attacked by tuk tuk drivers. Literally. I kid you not, they bombarded us, yelling “Hey lady! You want tuk tuk? What hotel you at? I take you!”. For several minutes we endured this mob scene until our leaders found us some tuk tuk drivers to take us to our hotel, without...

Reflection

October 29, 2011
Adventures
Adventures Updates

Our team had a chance this week to go to Siem Reap. It was a chance for us to have a couple of days off, spend some fun time together, and reflect on the last six weeks. We were able to go to a few restaurants, relax, participate in a fish massage (fish eating the dead skin off your feet), and my personal favorite, shopping until we dropped, at the night market. I had such an amazing time with my team in Siem Reap, but the most meaningful has been the epiphany that god has given me of how deep and intimate my relationship with Him has become. In...

There’s life and there’s love; there’s love and there’s life.

October 29, 2011
Adventures
Adventures Updates

"For a small reward a man will hurry on a long journey, while for eternal life, many will hardly take a single step." Thomas A. Kempis I've grown a lot during these past 8 weeks; constantly blown away at the majesty of God and in awe of His goodness. My eyes have been opened, my heart has been broken, and my thoughts never ending. God is doing some pretty amazing things in my life, I'm humbled by this. A few weeks ago, I was given the opportunity to preach at the center we are working at, about Gods greatest gift-His Love. I emphasized, the only way to feel whole and...

Isaiah 55:8-9

October 29, 2011
Adventures
Guatemala

For me, ministry this past week was pretty much nonexistent…another little parasite decided to make it's home in my tummy, and so I've spent a good chunk of this past week in my room and in the bathroom. As a result, I've had quite a bit of free time on my hands. With the halfway point behind us now, I've been thinking more about what the furue holds. It's still a little frightening, knowing that I'm not in control, and the posture of being in full surrender is still new and uncomfortable. But I rest in the comfort of knowing that He...

Somos Hijos del Rey

October 29, 2011
Adventures
Guatemala

Quiero contarles de una nina que me ha roto el corazon. Se llama Fatima. Tiene 5 anos y la conoci en el orfanato. Es lo mas divino que hay en esta vida. Es toda rellenita, timida y super tierna. El primer dia que la conoci no me hablaba. Pero habia algo de ella que me fascinaba, y todavia me fascina y me encanto poder tratar de conocerla y esperar a ese dia que porfin me hablara. Hace una semana porfin me hablo Fatima! No se imaginan la alegria que me trajo al corazon. Ese dia fue increible, pude porfin hablar con ella. La miraba y le decia, “ Eres divina Fatima! Eres Divina.”...

Author: Adventures