November is here and I can’t believe it! Time is flying. I get way less sleep than I am used to, but it is the best sleep ever. I sleep SO well at night. Every once in a while, I wake up to a roommate sleep talking (OR WALKING) and it takes me a moment to fall asleep because I am cracking up and trying to hold in the laughter. It is the best thing ever.
How is it going? Simply put, God is good. This is so simple, yet so profound. God is showing me his goodness in simple, mundane moments. God is kind and I am so blessed to be a child a God. I still cannot believe I have this opportunity to put in the work of processing hard things and allowing God to show me what I need to relearn. With this undistracted time, I get to be dedicated to having my eyes locked on Jesus. How sweet it is to be with Jesus. (song: eyes locked on the king by Abbie Gamboa has been my song while here)
Two weeks ago, the topic was “responding to the gospel.” It was an intense week! The lectures were intense and life was intense because a sickness was floating around our class. The class was almost half empty on Monday and Tuesday. Thankfully, everyone is on the mend and I only had to take an afternoon off when I felt sick. I enjoyed our speaker, Jeremy West, because he spent 10 minutes introducing himself and then got right into the teaching. That week connected to the father heart of God week because it had to do with “slavery vs sonship.” We spent time identifying moments where we might have unforgiveness towards others and towards ourselves. The great thing is that we did not stop there! We identified these moments, shared them, took them to Jesus and forgave or asked for forgiveness. I felt like God was carrying me through this process in such a kind, gentle way. God gently nudged me each day a little closer to Jesus and the cross. We took these things to the cross and then identified ways to step into the future as sons and daughters. A thought that stuck out to me was “convince the enemy that you are convinced.” There is so much freedom in forgiveness and it really is a discipline to forgive and I am taking moments to forgive random, silly things so that they do not take my joy.
This past week, the topic was “identity and calling.” Our speaker shared his story and really put an emphasis on appreciating the virtues of the individuals in your family. Often times, people can point out negative things about their family and I had a lot of fun finding the good things in my family members and it made me love and appreciate them more. Through his story, I learned to be grateful for my story, who I was and who I am. Thinking about things that made me who I am brought back a lot of memories -the things we liked and did as children are apart of who we are now.
Some thoughts that stood out to me this week:
Fear holds you back and keeps you from your calling.
The enemy wants to bring chaos, and God wants to bring order. The enemy wants to destroy your identity.
We are ambassadors of Christ to help people come back to God – ministry of reconciliation.
We are not a product of luck. God is intentional and knows what he is doing.
Drum roll… The moment I have been waiting for finally happened! Our DTS got to build a house for a family with the YWAM ministry HOMES OF HOPE. We spent Saturday and Sunday building a home for a family and it was such an awesome experience. Usually, teams raise money and come for a weekend to build a house for a family. One group raised enough money to build multiple houses and then many people on their team ended up not being able to come. There was money for a house and no one to build it- lucky us! Everyone in the DTS got to join the house build (usually only a few people each DTS are able to build). On Saturday, we met the family and got right to work. I did some painting and then I was called over to do some cutting with the saw. It was a blast to work with my friends. I also did some trim work and other random jobs. The family we built for was a family of four with a young girl and a 1 year old girl. They loved playing with our team members. All of them helped put things together and some of their friends came to join us as well.
On Sunday, we finished up the final touches and a few of us took the family to the store to buy anything they needed. (within a very nice budget). I was the calculator. Every item that went into the cart had to be shown to me so I could record the price and keep track of the money. I did not realize how intense the job was going to be until people started saying numbers to me in Spanish. I tried my best to translate but everyone was quick to help me. Running around with the family and seeing them put whatever they needed into the cart was very exciting. We had 3 or 4 carts full of things as well as some buckets. We filled the van up and drove to their finished house. While they ate lunch, we quickly brought their new items into the house to get it ready to show them. After the key ceremony where we all went around and said a quick blessing, the family received their keys and went into their new house. They closed the door to have a moment and then we knocked on the door to be their first guests. Both the mom and dad were in tears and it was beautiful to hear that this was more than they ever could have imagined. With this house, they have so many more opportunities to believe in themselves and to take real steps forward to bettering their life for themselves and future generations. My prayer for them was that they could use this home of hope to share the hope of Jesus with anyone who comes to their house.
Monday Ministry two weeks ago was one of the better ones for me. The group I was placed in felt very safe and they were all interacting with me. The leader of our group was an older gentleman named Andy who was really kind to me. We went into a Catholic Cathedral and I went with a girl from my group to pray with someone who was already praying. We stood in the back and a lady turned around and looked at us. I pointed her out and we chose to go to her. I missed a lot of the conversation but I was able to intercede for my friend and this lady as they were talking. While all the groups prayed and chatted with people, two members did a prophetic art painting to be used as a conversation starter and to bring good art into the area. (picture above).
This past Monday, we brought flags that said “Amor y Paz” (love and peace) to ministry with the goal of declaring God’s love and peace in Tijuana. We split up into groups and this part always scares me the most because I am so awkward during this ministry. I was put in a group that was all English speakers with one translator – which meant I was actually able to understand and keep up with the conversations! We came across a person who just looked sad. I felt like God was saying “look, my people are sad.” I am not sure if this person was a male or female, and in the moment, it did not matter. What mattered was that this person was sad and needed someone to talk to. Our leader was their friend for this moment. The person was just so sad and shared about their struggles. We were able to pray for them and their friend came to join the prayer. It was a sad and beautiful moment to be apart of because we were able to bring a little hope into their life for a moment.
On Halloween, we had another ministry opportunity! We hosted a Festival of Light in the neighborhood of the Hope Zone property in Zona Norte, Tijuana. (This is the same place I go for Monday ministry)
There is a school called SOMEA which stands for School Of Missions And Evangelism that is totally focused on evangelism. They go on Monday nights with my Trailblazers track to evangelize in the streets. During the Festival, their job was to be outside of the property the whole night and I wanted to join them. It was very interesting trying to talk to people while they were on the move for trick or treating. A lot of people were excited about the free food invitations. While waiting for some people in my group who were talking to a man, one of the SOMEA staff started talking to me and challenged me to talk to a girl near the man. She was maybe 10 feet away from me. I walked to her and turned back when I got halfway. But hey, 5 feet towards starting a conversation about Jesus with a stranger is better than 0 feet. The staff member looked confused when he saw me turn back, I just said I need another second to get brave. The hardest part was the first 5 feet and then when I got to the girl, it was easier. I started a conversation and then she got too many trick or treaters so I moved on, too. The win here is that I did it! I talked to a person about Jesus!
About 600 people came on the property throughout the night. There were crafts, a bouncy house, clowns, free hot dogs, and activities to engage in conversations about Jesus. More than 40 people gave their lives to Jesus!
This weekend, we went camping! We drove about 2 hours along the coast to a campground along a cliff place. We only spent one night there and I feel like I camped a whole week. Three hours of our time was spent in silence and solitude with the Lord. I will be honest, I did take some naps during this time. But I invited Jesus into the moments and they were actually good naps. I took the first nap down by the water on a little indented cliff. After dozing off a few times, I thought I should move because I did not want to roll of the edge into more rocks and water. So I went up a new hill and found a rock on the side of the hill. This was such a good rest. I would read a chapter in the Bible and then rest for a bit- I felt like a cat. I also felt like God was reminding me of details. When I was up the hill, I could not see the seal diving, the crabs crawling, and the little rocks that I would slip on. God sees everything from a distance AND sees all the details at the same time. We had a fun evening cooking dinner over the fire, sharing riddles, and debriefing our quiet time. I went to bed really early because I was so tired. It was a tough sleep. I am not used to tent camping with just a sleeping bag on the ground and my body was so sore. If I had a sleeping pad or mattress, I could have stayed there for a whole week! We got back on Sunday and there was a lot of laundry to do and a lot of showers to take.
Japan update: We meet every Friday as an outreach team to connect, prep, and pray for the nation and our time there. Japan is known as the “missionaries graveyard.” Missionaries can feel very discouraged there. As we intercede as a team, we keep feeling like God is telling us to be a light in Japan. We are excited for this challenge and are being intentional about praying for our spirits and minds as we travel there. We are still getting to know each other as a team. I have a group project with Breanne to educate our team on traditions, customs, and religion in Japan.
103 days until I come home, Mom
