This blog chronicles my adventures since my junior year of college to..everywhere. Primarily it consists of life experiences and God stories in Honduras, Costa Rica, and Panama. Enjoy and God bless!
The Crossfire Ecuador Team is now two months into training and preparing for our trip in July! Here's a little of what we've been up to:
*2 different all-day Car Washes in the church parking lot
-Someone in the church even donated professional spray-on wax, so we could wash, dry, and wax each car that came through!
This was great practice in working together as a team and blessing our local community. Today, we went over to Curundu and helped out Juntos Podemos (Together We Can), an organization that has a school and community center in the middle of a poorer section of Panama City.
We were digging a long ditch for the workers to install new pipes. The guys used pick axes to break apart the rock and a bunch of us shoveled it out. We also had a group of girls sweep and mop the entire community center floor, as well as sweep up all the rocks and leaves in the playground area. We were exhausted, but took shifts, and kept each other's spirits high by singing songs about digging or rocks or other themes that seemed to come up. The funniest song that came up was the Panamanian anthem, because there is a phrase in it about "la pica y la pala," and that's exactly what we were doing (using the pick and shovel). Love our team, and I'm excited to see how God continues to bond us together and prepare us for the journey of serving Him in Ecuador this summer! We would love your support and prayer!
Support the group HERE. Or donate under my name and get a tax deductible receipt from Resourcing Christian Educators (RCE) here. Learn more why I'm going in this POST.
Thank
you for all your prayers this year! God is continuing to do amazing things in
Panama!
As
you know, missions has long been close to my heart, and this summer I get to
take part in a unique mission trip experience! Students from the Crossfire church
youth group in Panama City, Panama (where I teach) are planning to partner with
Operation Mobilization in building relationships and sharing Christ in a
practical way with the people of San Antonio de Encalado, Ecuador.
Located
about 5 hours away from Guayaquil, this little mountain village has never
really heard the gospel of Christ. Our local contact tells us that the town's
only impression of church comes from weddings and funerals at the Catholic
church about 30 miles away. The people there speak Quechua and Spanish, and our
visit will be the first time a Latin American group has come. Being bilingual,
our team will be able to communicate easily in Spanish, yet we are also
spending months ahead of time preparing in cultural knowledge and understanding,
team building, and training in the tasks ahead.
I
have the special privilege of serving as a leader on the Ecuador team and am
excited about witnessing the transformational effect this trip will have on the
students in their walk with Christ and in their desire to pursue local or
overseas mission opportunities one day. The short-term mission trips I
participated in during high school still influence my perspective on the world
and fuel my desire to participate in God's global work, and I deeply desire for
my students to learn similar lessons through building friendships and serving alongside
locals abroad for the sake of Christ.
Together,
we plan to spend the week of July 21-28th in Ecuador working alongside the
adults of the village and a nonprofit Christian
organization CODEINSE in a water distribution project. Through this construction
project, the villagers will see that we are united with them and willing to
work hard. This will tangibly show God's love, and, in the afternoons, we will
share about Jesus through songs and stories to the kids in the community.
In
order to participate in the Crossfire mission trip this summer, I will need to
raise $1200 by July 1st 2015. I
also need to build a team of people who will support me through their prayers
and advice as I prepare for this adventure. Suggested donations are $25 or $50,
or you could sponsor an entire day of the trip for $150.
I
appreciate any form of support you can provide, especially prayer for the
students and leaders as we prepare to go, as well as the people of San Antonio
de Encalado, Ecuador as God prepares them to experience His truth and love in a
personal way.
God
bless you, and I look forward to being in touch!
