Author: Adventures

A Day with Reuben

As we loaded up in our white panel van, cramming in all 22 of us, our towels in hand, we had grins of anticipation on our faces. This would no doubt be a day to remember. We were going to visit some very dear friends at the local pool in a nearby city, Santo Thomas. After the brief 15 minute ride, we arrived at our destination, hopped out of the van, and waited in the parking lot.  After a few minutes passed, one of my teammates exclaimed, "Oh, there they are," as a little minibus with the words "Escuela Especial" (Special School) pulled up. That's right! We...

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Anciently Awesome!

Hi guys! I just want to give y’all some highlights of this past week. It was busy and amazing. I’m in awe of God and SO thankful for His gracious and guiding hand in my life. Enjoy the pictures of Siem Reap below! Much love— Sarah                  **Seeing elephants, monkeys, GIANT trees and ancient temples (aka a wonder of the world!) in Siem Reap! Song of Songs 8:6 **Ministering at the abandoned railroad station again! Praying truth and grace over all of the children and teens as...

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Flying Purple Platypus…

*This blog has nothing to do with a flying, purple platypus or anything of the sort. Got your attention though, huh?* haha Well, here we are at the half-way point with new perspective and serious writers block… Why is it so hard to explain what happened to me? I know. 'Cuz God is too big for words. 'Cuz God's works in me so far are too life-changing that I'm not even sure I fully understand yet. Something I've always struggled with is that "spiritual high" we all seem to get at camps, missions trips, and things of the sort. Over the past...

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I Can’t Help It

Fact: God is real.  Most people would agree with that statement, whether they're talking about my God or a god of their own… I realized something this week.  It was Wednesday morning at Ankgor Wat when my team and I were watching the sunrise.  As hundreds of tourists gathered to capture the moment, I realized that human beings have the undeniable desire to glorify something bigger than themselves.  All of us in that moment had to step outside ourselves to appreciate the climbing sun over the ancient temples. But these ancient temples are not glorifying my...

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Milking the Cow Dry

Nine weeks in and over half way there! This past week we took a trip to Siem Reap for our Mid-debrief. As much as I enjoyed Siem Reap and Angkor Wat, I was ready to come home to Battambang by the second day. It hit me while I was at Siem Reap that we only have 6 weeks left, and just 5 ministry weeks. Woah, where did the last two months go? We leave Battambang in two weeks which is going to be very bittersweet. I will be sad to leave this place that has been my home for over two months. It is crazy to think that in six weeks I will be on a flight home. My time in Cambodia is short and I...

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Thoughts on Thoughts

Over the past couple weeks in our English class, we’ve taken time during the Bible lesson to get to know our students a little more deeply.  We’ve asked the questions and had dialogues about ‘What do you think the purpose of life is?’, ‘What are some things in life that make you happy?’, ‘What do you hope for in the future?’, ‘What is love?’, ‘What things make you feel loved?’, just to name a few.  There are two genres of responses that keep occurring: ‘family is everything’ and ‘I...

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Update on Haiti: 46 Orphans Disappear

Seth Barnes got off the phone with our Haiti staff and this is what he reports…  When the government took the kids away from the SOG orphanage, they left in one or two buses (we couldn’t confirm). They divided them up by gender, the girls in one orphanage and the boys in the other.  They didn’t tell us where they’d taken the girls, but we knew where the boys were. It was a very confusing situation. We had to drive around for 3 1/2 hours trying to find where the girls were.  When we finally found the girls orphanage, we counted just 31...

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Though I Walk Through The Valley of the Shadow of a Volcano…

Yesterday (I wrote this on October 21, 2011) I went on the biggest adventure of my life thus far (You know…except for the whole moving to Guatemala for 3.5 months thing…). We were in Antigua, Guatemala for our mid-trip debrief and so a few of the girls and I decided to go on a hiking tour of the Pacaya Volcano. I almost didn’t go, but I knew I would regret it if I didn’t. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. We arrived at the start of the tour and there are a ton of boys around the age of 10 all trying to get us to rent their walking sticks. They were...

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Mi Papa en Guatemala

           Sorry guys, I wasn’t able to write a blog last week but I want to take this time for you to get to know Pstr. Ronnie.             I am personally blessed by his love for the Lord. I remember our very first night in Puerto Barrios and he introduced himself. “I will be your driver every ministry you go. But I am not only your driver. I am a pastor and I am with you, praying for you, encouraging you. You are all in my heart.” And up to this day, he has kept his word. He is a man...

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Party at the Children’s Hospital

My mom wrote in my baby book that when I was three I said, “Mommy, I want to be a doctor and a mommy when I grow up.” Well, that dream hasn’t changed at all and this trip has given me so much motivation to make that dream a reality. I am so blessed that one of our ministries is the children’s hospital. Hospital ministry was not on the description of this trip, nor was it on the list of ministries our contact had. Coming on this trip, I figured we wouldn’t be doing hospital ministry. You can imagine how happy I was when I heard that not only were we going to...

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White Horse

Well folks I climbed a volcano. Yep, you heard me right. A volcano. More or less I rode a horse up and down a volcano. This hike honestly was the highlight of my entire trip thus far. It was on this random volcano that I experience the Lord in such an amazing way.   Well let me give a little bit of background before I launch you into this little adventurous excursion I went on. My team and I spent last week (Monday through Friday) in the beautiful city of Antigua for our midway debrief. Cobblestone streets, authentic markets and amazing food galore. Antigua truly is Guatemala in its...

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You make me new.

“I lean not on my own understanding, my life is in the hands of the maker of heaven. I give it all to you God, trusting that you’ll make something beautiful out of me. I will climb this mountain with my hands wide open. There’s nothing I hold on to.”   This past week the Lord has been revealing His beauty to me in a way I have never experienced. In seeing His beauty, He has allowed me to see beauty in myself. I read the book, “Captivating” this week; it brought me so much healing as well as gave me new eyes to see beauty in the world around me,...

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