Author: Adventures

Releasing Joy

We've finally made it to our first ministry site in Battambang, Cambodia, where we will be for the next two months. I'm going to be honest, our first day at the center meeting all the girls was tough for me; we were greeted with joy and smiles, and my initial reaction was, "Why are we here? They each seem so happy, what is God possibly going to do through us here, when there is already evident joy?'' Those thoughts raced through my head throughout the first day, and after returning to our 'treehouse' to turn in for the night, I realized how selfish I...

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Spoiled Americans

My team arrived to the location of our first ministry sight in Battambang, Cambodia last week, and we began our work with the girls of TransformAsia on Monday. This past week has been a week of introductions and building a relational foundation with the girls we will be teaching. Next week, we are all set to begin English classes and Bible studies every morning and afternoon, Monday through Friday. We will also be teaching Bible studies on Sundays.             Since we arrived in Cambodia nearly 2 weeks ago, I have come to realize...

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week 1.

At last we have completed our first week in a new country. It has been a week that has humbled my spirit as well as affirmed what God has been teaching me and speaking into me for the past year. Prior to leaving on this trip I asked Jesus to place me in the darkness assured in my stability and reassured by my preparation that I could stand in the midst of it without faltering. I waited for days and months patiently to see what exactly it was that God was preparing me for that I would need such strength for. I now know exactly what it was. Cambodia. Our first day here we walked through...

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Above the Clouds

               When God calls a man, he bids him come and die. Christ told his disciples to follow him, knowing he was headed to Jerusalem to be crucified and he asks me to pick up my cross and follow him there too. These past few days have been heart-wrecking as we’ve been getting more involved in ministry. Elderly people, most of whom have disabilities, living in a home with only the absolute bare essentials, and children whose houses are built of garbage are the faces of the injustice of this world. How did I not know about this? I...

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Breaking down my walls

Hey everyone! I dont even know how or where to start about writing this blog. So much has happened in these last two weeks. All i can really say is God really made me see the walls i built around myself and the box i put God in all my life. I cant even describe to you how blessed i am for everything God has givin me. He totally opened my eyes to that too. Our team whet to the dumps in Guatemala and prayed over the people that lived there. As i walked into the huge piles of garbage it just broke me that these children and human beings lived here and survived each day on digging through...

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Dios sana!

La Verdad no se donde empezar. Este viaje ha sido increible y al mismo tiempo super duro porque me he dado cuenta que tengo que dejar ir de tanto en mi vida. Primero solo quiero contarles de un dia que fuimos al mercado de Puerto Barrios a orar. Fuimos a orar por gent y una señora tenia un dolor de oido. Me dijo que le tenia much presion y que si porfavor podiamos orar por Ella! Oramos mis dos amigos y yo por Ella, y despues se Puso a llorar y me dijo que ya no le dolia! Y decia Gloria a Dios! Wow que nota es nuestro padre que quiere sanar a sus hijos:) me encanta eso!! Mas que nada...

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He decidido seguira a Cristo

I’m pretty sure that I’ve learned more in the past week and a half about the power of prayer and the life of scripture than I have in thirteen years of Bible class. The Word of God has become alive to me and prayer has become essential in my every day. The only reason these things are true is become I have been continually becoming more aware that God needs to be tangible in my life if I’m going to get the most out of these next three months that I can. Being here has not been easy. It has been exciting and so fun at points, but not easy. I absolutely love my team; they...

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Hope Shines Through

Today we visited the garbage dumps. We were warned before going there that the stench can be overwhelming and that in a prior group a girl had fallen to her knees and almost lost it.   It had been raining for a couple of days so the smell was subdued, but it was replaced with excessive amounts of mud. When we got there I was plagued with a mess of mixed emotions and thoughts. Are these not also beloved children of God? How it that I can be is so blessed with excessive amounts of comforts my entire life and there are people down here that are digging through rotten trash with hopes of...

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Just Google It.

       The thing I miss most from home is not my car, books, or even my bed. It’s Google. Strange answer, I know, but that abundance of knowledge that was once so accessible now has becomes a once a week luxury. Instead of typing a question into the search bar, I find myself pausing. Thinking. Waiting. Trusting.                 I don’t have to Google it to know that the percent of knowledge I have acquired is miniscule. I suppose I could find out, if I really wanted to, the...

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TIG: This is Guatemala

               When I heard we were going to visit the garbage dump to talk to the people who lived there, I was excited. Since this is my second time in Central America and having seen how much trash just lies around in the streets, I imagined houses being built from scrap metal right by the mounds of trash. What I saw was exactly what I imagined, but I was still surprised by the reality of it. Our friend Kevin (he is a 19 year old missionary from Guatemala who is living with us) told me that people live there because...

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Week 2: Guatemala Top 10!

So I have been in Guatemala for approximately 9 days now. In those nine days, I have prayer-walked through the streets and market, visited a church, an elderly home and the garbage dump, and eaten a lot of arroz y frijoles y tortillas. I have worked on my Spanish (entiendo-si, hablo-mas o meno) and had some good conversations and some hard ones. I have once again realized that it is NOT about having it all together or having all the right answers, but just about being real.   But now, for something slightly more light-hearted. My current top ten favorite things about...

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A God That Got Dirty

Wow, it feels like its been so long and that so much has happened since i last wrote. I probably have a few stories I could tell you all, but since my time is limited I just want to tell about one experience. This week we visited the garbage dump. In this dump many people live and rummage through the trash trying to collect things to recycle and sell. Now, I have seen poverty before but this took it to a whole new level. You just wouldn’t believe it! Just imagine the worst landfill you’ve ever seen. The worst smell. And to top it off, a dead horse, and 20 vultures eating it, in...

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