Okay so I am really sorry for not keeping up with my blog
but I promise, this will be worth it! This is will go over EVERYTHING that has
happened within these past few weeks!
Camp was definitely more interesting than I expected! I
didn’t work with the campers, I didn’t work in the food lines, but I worked in
Vestuario. Vestuario is where all the
supplies for games are made, all the outfits and costumes, all the stage set
ups and so on. There were good days and
bad days but I was really thankful because there were not many people who could
speak English, which pushed me to speak more Spanish! That was a huge blessing
because I really feel that my Spanish as increased since I started! It’s
getting easier to listen and its getting easier to respond more calmly. I get so nervous sometimes and I don’t know
why L I
guess that comes with time! And look at this! I even sang a Kari Jobe some IN
SPANISH with one of my friends! I was so nervous but it was an awesome
experience and we got to sing it twice! J
I
honestly have to say that the last few weeks were preoccupied with thinking
about serving in Chile and traveling and all that fun stuff! Although, there
was quite a turn of events.
Sunday
night. The night before the last week of
camp. We are all saying goodbye to all the friends we had made and were packing
all of our things on the bus. Our leader
calls us out for a quick meeting so we can wrap things up. Funny thing is while we were waiting to get
everyone together, a girl jokingly says “watch, he is going to tell us we
aren’t leaving till tomorrow…” So we get all together and we were told that
there had been quite a big storm in the mountains and had cause twenty
mudslides around the border that we needed to cross, over the course of the
three previous days. We had a missionary
driving in that area and had to hold off a few hours to get a call from him to
tell us if it was okay to travel up that way.
A few hours pass and Lucas tells us that we are staying the night and
will meet again in the morning. So all
of us, just taking our overnight bags to our rooms that we didn’t not look
forward to going back to, and we all eventually go to sleep. The next morning, we meet and are all waiting
to hear info on when we are leaving and what we have to do before we
leave. Then the big boulder of
disappointment hits. “The Chile portion
of the trip is cancelled and so is the camp that we were going to help out
with…” WHAT? God, what are you doing?...We all had those thoughts! After getting the bad attitude out, talking
with my mom and getting things resettled into a new room with all the gringas,
I truly realize that we are not leaving.
I realized we had to stay for kids camp.
I realize that we are going to have to be here for another week. What the???
My mom encouraged me to remember that God obviously has something
greater for us here in Monte. I said
that I really want to know what exactly that was! You know what? Even though they have been pretty much all
personal reasons, not as a whole group, I definitely have seen what we
were meant to stay here. I will tell you in number form J
1.
Obvious reasons, He kept us safe from being in a
mudslide! Saw the damage it did and was really thankful because some people in
normal size cars were stuck for days waiting to get lifted by helicopter! Another natural reason, I heard from a friend
that her family lives in Chile and she told me that there were multiple
earthquakes in that time. Go figure!
Coincidence, I think not!
2.
Okay so this is where it starts getting
cool. So if you remember, last semester
I took pictures of a missionary couple who were engaged and my counselor’s
family. After that, I asked God to use
this gift of taking pictures as a ministry and for HIM to use it! Another missionary approached me this week,
who is from Word of Life Romania, and asked me if I could take a video of her
to send for an even that they are having there this weekend. Random but I was like sure! Then another
missionary wife asked me to make hers too! I was walking to her house to do so
and it came to me that this was an answer to prayer! God was using me with this
camera to help not only missionaries here but to help people all away around
the world. How cool! If we would have
been in Chile, this would not have happened!
3.
Another prayer request of mine was for God to
start preparing me a ministry to work with, someone to minister to, someone
Spanish preferably so that when I come home, I can continue to speak and really
just to keep growing! You know sometimes
when you are continually praying about something specific and you don’t see
anything for a while, you just don’t always have your head up to really see what’s
going on until it hits you in the face!
There is a girl back at home whom I have been friends with for quite a
few years, but never really got super close to, but she is Cuban and I had just
messaged her a while back just to see how things were going. Well after conversation over a few weeks, I
had been helping her with something and I totally came to the realization that
this is the “ministering” God had given me to do right now! How awesome though because when I get back
home, I have a good girl friend to speak in Spanish with! God is so good! It’s
incredible how He works and I LOVE being the one that He uses!
4.
Lastly, I have had some hard times here fitting
in with our group of Americans. But this
week, I realized that when something goes wrong, it doesn’t mean it’s the end
of the world! It doesn’t mean that I
can’t keep going! In 1 Corinthians, it tells us that we are ambassadors of
Christ and even though all these girls are believers, I am still in charge of
my own heart and still in charge of representing Christ with my own life! How
am I showing others here that I have Christ in my heart if I am bitter every
day because something didn’t go the way I wanted or how am I representing
Christ if I hold grudges or am careless of how I say or act. Christ has given me multiple reasons to sing
and have joy and I AM the one missing out if I choose to not be joyous and have
a good attitude about my daily life. 1
Corinthians also says that if someone has wronged us, it is our responsibility
to forgive, not to be forgiven, and if we don’t forgive, it’s only hurting
ourselves. You know, I just really love
the bible! And in these past two weeks
from being here, I have been so comforted by the Word because God knew that I
had to get to a certain point in order for these things to really catch my
attention that I needed to change. I
realized that His purpose for me here is not to make more friends with
Americans and just get caught up in more drama, but to come here, learn
Spanish, learn immense things from His word, and continue on to do His
work. Paul was so right, I AM the one
missing out if I don’t keep my head up to see all the wonderful things that God
is doing, not just my little problems that can be so easily forgiven and
forgotten.
All in all, I am so glad that God kept us here. I can honestly say I have grown closer to Him
in this time and He continues to bless us because we are headed to Pichi Traful
this Saturday. It’s a beautiful Word of
Life owned Hotel that is located in the Patagonia Region of the Andes
Mountains. It will be cold but from what
I hear, “magically breath-taking.” And then!! Drum roll please! We come back
for a day, turn around, wash and pack warmer clothing because we are going to
URUGUAY!!! AHHH! J I am so excited to see what God plans to show
me there and thank you for joining this journey with me!
Prayer Requests
1.
Safe travels to Pichi and Uruguay.
2.
My heart and attitude would reflect Christ at
all times.
3.
Future ministries and people to be involved with
here and in Clearwater.
