Anticipating Greatness

Last summer while home in Florida and working at Disney, I realized how long my summer breaks are and how I could do so much more with my time. It seemed like coming home and working a fun job weren't enough for me. It seemed like the "easy life" and I felt like I was wasting time. I knew I could be doing more to serve the Lord.

While at home, I started reading Samantha Allen's World Race blog. 

 -- For those of you who don't know, Samantha is an Olivet grad who is now the Resident Director of  McClain Hall, an upperclassman women's dorm at ONU. The World Race is a really neat missions program in which you travel to 11 countries in 11 months, helping with various ministries in every country.

While reading her blog, I realized that I wanted to go on another mission trip, a long one next time. And I started thinking about this summer; About what I could do to better serve the Lord with my time off from school. So I decided I was going to give up my summer completely to God.

I signed up with rightnow.org after hearing about it on Samantha's blog and was assigned a missions coach, Heather, who happened to be the same missions coach assigned to Samantha when she signed up! So I explained to Heather how Samantha's blog helped inspire me to give up my summer and we discussed opportunities for me to serve in Honduras. I had also considered doing a study abroad program in Chile before going to Honduras, to work on my Spanish.

Long story short, in October, after a lot of prayer and financial consideration, I ended up applying for a 6 week internship with Footsteps Missions. I deciding that I'd rather return to the place I already left my heart (and I didn't want to take out a $6,000 loan to study abroad for 4 weeks). I was ecstatic to see "my kids" again and to be there for such a long time, but somehow it felt like I was still missing something... Six weeks is a decent amount of time for a mission trip, but with about four months of summer, I felt like I could do more, but I wasn't sure what. 

A few weeks later, I heard about an opportunity to go to Paraguay with some other Olivet students, through Extreme Nazarene Ministries. It sounded great! But I was worried my interest was based solely on selfish desires, so I began to pray before I pursued the opportunity.

One night at Prayer Warriors, God prompted me to read in the book of Isaiah. I came across a passage that tells of a day when all idols will fall and only the name of the Lord will be exalted. I suddenly had his burning desire to travel to other countries and begin to help people break down these idols. And I figured it would start with Honduras when I went back again this summer...

Erinn Proehl, the team leader for the Paraguay trip, saw me one day at lunch and was asking me if I knew anyone that wanted to go on the trip, I told him the only person I could think of was myself, but I wasn't sure. Late that night he sent me an email that described the idols that are a problem in Paraguay, such as drug & alcohol abuse and child abandonment. I immediately knew this opportunity was what I needed to pursue to help break down idols, like God had said to me through the passage in Isaiah. I continued to pray about the trip for the rest of that week and it became so clear it was all meant to be.

So now I am officially going to  

Paraguay May 9-23 and Honduras June 18-July 30. 

I feel like I don't have any other word to use but excited. I'm SO EXCITED to see how God is going to use me in these different countries. I want to share the love of God and the story of Jesus with them all. I want to teach them that their idols are nothing in comparison to the power of God. I want to build relationships. I want to speak Spanish with them. I want to love them!

I am anticipating great things to happen this summer. We'll just have to wait and see. :]

¹² The LORD Almighty has a day in store
   for all the proud and lofty,
for all that is exalted
   (and they will be humbled),
¹³ for all the cedars of Lebanon, tall and lofty,
   and all the oaks of Bashan,
¹⁴ for all the towering mountains
   and all the high hills,
¹⁵ for every lofty tower
   and every fortified wall,
¹⁶ for every trading ship
   and every stately vessel.
¹⁷ The arrogance of man will be brought low
   and human pride humbled;
the LORD alone will be exalted in that day,
 ¹⁸ and the idols will totally disappear. 

-Isaiah 2:12-18

The Beginning

Once upon a time there lived a little girl who loved making friends and helping people. She grew up with three siblings who she loved with all her heart, despite the occasional fight. 

 

She loved school and going to new places. She taught her Build-a-Bears how to read and do math, and she had a very impressive Barbie collection. She loved to swim and read, and her favorite birthday destination was Disney World. She enjoyed macaroni & cheese and chocolate cake.

Years later, after many triumphs and failures, good days and bad days, this little girl embarked on a new adventure and arrived in a little town called Bourbonnais. She made lots of new friends there and learned a lot about herself. 

 

She grew closer to God and found her calling in the classrooms she visited. She studied education and Spanish and fell in love with new cultures. 

But something was missing. Her desire to travel to new places was not quite fulfilled. And the small voice of God saying "GO" was left unanswered. 

She began a new school year with the hope that that would change...

Then one cloudy October day, while eating in a near-empty Ludwig cafeteria, she noticed a flier that listed a few countries. When her eyes reached the bottom of that intriguing list, something happened that would change her life forever. She read the country name, "Honduras." She knew immediately that this was finally the answer she was looking for, so she began to pray.

She prayed, and prayed, and prayed, and finally she received an exciting email!

At that point God was pleased with her obedience and told her this was the beginning of the great adventure He had planned for her life. She was so excited to take the first step, and eagerly left for Honduras in March 2011.

When it was time to go, there were tears all around her, but she had none. God whispered "Don't be sad, don't say goodbye, you will return." So she left with peace, knowing that one day she'd return.

Since that day, God has been calling her to big things, and burdening her heart for people all over the world. She went home the summer after her trip and decided her fun job and sunny home weren't enough for her anymore. So she decided to surrender her next summer completely to God. She wanted to serve, she wanted to give up familiar, comfortable places. She wanted to GO.

And that's exactly what she plans to do...