Adventures in Missions

Spoiled Americans

September 16, 2011
Adventures
Adventures Updates

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...

week 1.

September 16, 2011
Adventures
Adventures Updates

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...

HUMID

September 16, 2011
Adventures
Guatemala

Buenas! We arrived in Guate City on September 6th. It was such a beautiful weather. But after a 4 hour drive, we finally arrived to Puerto Barrios and it was HUMID. Our living situation is good — bunk beds and decent showers with occasional showering outside due to no electricity and too many girls going after 1 bathroom. But I LOVE it. I love not being in my comfort zone and living my life here in Puerto Barrios. It’s only been more than a week but we have gone to many places. From all the places we’ve gone, I can give you word snapshots of what Puerto Barrios looks...

A God That Got Dirty

September 15, 2011
Adventures
Guatemala

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...

Beautiful and Broken

September 15, 2011
Adventures
Guatemala

There are so many different things I could write about. I could write about the emotional roller coaster I have been on the past two weeks. My team's little saying is that we feel like we have already felt the highest of highs the lowest of lows. One moment I am so excited to be here and share God's love with the people of Puerto Barrios, and literally the next moment I have no desire to be here and I just want to go home. Thankfully, the longer I am here, the feeling of not wanting to be here lessons. I could write so much more about this roller coaster ride, but now I want to...

TIG: This is Guatemala

September 15, 2011
Adventures
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...

Above the Clouds

September 15, 2011
Adventures
Guatemala

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...

He decidido seguira a Cristo

September 15, 2011
Adventures
Guatemala

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...

Week 2: Guatemala Top 10!

September 15, 2011
Adventures
Guatemala

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...

Breaking down my walls

September 15, 2011
Adventures
Guatemala

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...

Hope Shines Through

September 15, 2011
Adventures
Guatemala

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...

Dios sana!

September 15, 2011
Adventures
Guatemala

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...

Author: Adventures