New Travels

Hi All Again!

I wanted to let you know that I will be flying to Rochester, NY and spending a bit over a week to then continue on to Costa Rica for 6 months.  I have my tickets, so it's now official.

September 29 -  Fly to Rochester
October 9 - Fly to Costa Rica

A man’s heart plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps.

Proverbs 16:9

For those in Rochester, I would love to see all of you, although I am sure it won't be possible for all of you, so I would ask that we at least stay in communication and please keep praying!  I definitely feel the prayers and I appreciate them more than you know.

Meeting Family

I started a draft of what happened during my trip about a week after returning, but time has again gotten away from me. It has three weeks since my last update and it feels like a lot more and a few days at the same time. The three days in Puerto Rico and two travel days felt like two weeks. It was such intense time. I was blessed beyond measure to have been able to finally meet my brother and sister. There is always stress associated with memorial services, which in this case was compounded by the excited and apprehension of meeting grown siblings for the first time!

I would like to express my gratitude to all of you for your prayers and expressions of love and kindness. I have felt the prayers and the closeness of the presence of the Lord in the midst of all of this.

I arrived in PR on Wednesday August 29 in the evening. I had exchanged Facebook messages with my brother and I was able to call him on Thursday, when I arrived in PR, but he was working, so I wouldn't be able to see him until the service on Saturday. I was able to talk with my sister, Emil Carla, for the first time and then we were able to meet for the first time! I was a bit nervous, but the time was a sweet blessing. I was overjoyed to learn that we share a common faith in Jesus Christ. The time flew by and we were able to have a lot of awesome conversations just getting to know one another. I learned that I have a nephew, Shawn William! It is hard to believe how surprisingly amazing it was to pick things up when there had been nothing there. My sister posted a photo of us when we had seen each other when I was 9 and she was 6 months old, the only photo I believe we have. I am so thankful for the time we could spend together and get to know each other.

My Sister Emil (6 months old) and I (9 yrs old)

My Sister and I now

Shawn William - My Nephew!!

On Saturday was the memorial service. I went with my mom and I met for the first time in more years than I can remember my uncle Hector, my dad's brother, one of his sons, Hectorcito and his daughter, Evyan. I remember them from our childhood, but too many years have gone by. I also met Evyan's husband, Hectorcito's wife and kids. 

At the memorial service, I also met my brother Omar. It had been way too long. He was about two when I met him and now here he stood at 21. We have so much to catch up on!!!  How strange is it to be an adult and barely be meeting so many family members!  This was the first time together!

 Evyan, Hectorcito, myself, Omar, Emil

Hectorcito and Shawn William

There were far more impressions and things that touched my heart deeply, but I am still processing some and  I am out of time for the blog today.  I will communicate more soon.

Emmanuel!

Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. (Matthew 1:23 KJV)

Emmanuel ... God With Us. Why is it that I relegate a name with so much meaning to the confines of Christmas and the manger scene? Not that the Nativity is not a miraculous moment and time to be appreciated deeply, but there is so much more. What an amazing failure to limit the meaning to that!

Today, I find myself learning the meaning in a whole new way. I again find myself on a plane going back to Puerto Rico unexpectedly. This time, leaving behind a whole new group of friends that have become as family in the Potter's Field Ranch in Montana. As I leave them, I go to Puerto Rico to the funeral of the father I barely knew and to meet my siblings.

My comfort is that God is with me, He is my Emmanuel! Not only at Christmas, not on a picture or in a movie scene, but here, now, alive, real, and with me, going through the intense moment.

My time at PFR is two thirds complete before commissioning and going to Costa Rica for 6 months. I have about 4 more weeks left. Everything that is going on was the furthest thing from my mind when I began this time. I didn't think I would need to step away from the classes and training before completing, but the Lord is not surprised.  He knew it before I came. He also knew that He would be coming with me.

I am missing going to Habitat for Humanity with my team and I am sure I will miss many other things, yet I have very few days to accomplish the mission the Lord is sending me on now. I will be returning to Montana on Sunday and I know I must stay focused on what is at hand.

For many years, I have longed to meet my brother and sister, with no real knowledge of how I could accomplish it. The only contact I knew was a phone number that is no longer in service and the names are not as unique as mine. Now, with excitement and some nervousness, I anticipate meeting them in the coming days. I have been in communication with my uncle Hector, my dad's brother. I have exchanged messages with my brother Omar and I briefly talked to him and we will be talking tomorrow.

Please keep us in your prayers.

More than Half Way!

Many busy days have gone by faster than I could have imagined. The days are full, the hours go by at lightning speed and the weeks blend together. I can't believe we are more than half way through the time here.  So sorry for the delayed communication.

I am so blessed. I am stretched. I am dying to self. My heart is at peace.

We have had many great teachers and many wonderful lessons. We continue going through the book of Acts. So many aspects that have proven essential on the field are being taught in practical ways. We live in close proximity, four to five girls to the same room. We are a large team of 18 interns and we have been further divided up into three sub teams. I am very blessed and stretched to serve as leader in one of the sub teams. I need to lean on the Lord constantly to know what He desires. I would love to say that I have it figured out, but I don't really. Unity has been a central topic. We have team building activities and we work together trying to help us to go from our natural tendencies of seeking self benefit, to esteeming each other higher than oneself.  We are learning to be a choir with one voice. We work as teams and share responsibilities as teams.

We had a cultural meal where we learned and ate as many different countries in the world. It is so convicting to think how much we take for granted ... How much I have taken for granted!

I am enjoying the beauty of the Montana scenery. These mountains are breathtaking!! It's amazing how each morning the mountains look so spectacular speaking of the majesty of God and every evening the stars are so bright that speak of His glory.

We went on a midnight float on a number of rafts on the river in Glacier National Park a few weeks ago. It was a full moon and the trees and canyon were lit up by the brilliant moon. We left around 11:00pm, stopped for a campfire and baptism in the frigid waters, to then come out around 6:00am. I was freezing, but it was glorious! There is no real way to explain how amazing it is.

We went to a lake close by that has a 35-40 foot cliff overlooking the beautiful view of trees, rock and water. The highlight of the hike is to plunge into the lake and overcome the natural fears that precede the jump. It was my second time to hike there, but it was my first time jumping in. The first time, I had just arrived, barely knew anyone and I was sick. This time, I was surrounded by my team, precious brothers and sisters that I have grown to love and appreciate, and I wasn't sick, so I took the plunge myself and jumped in. The fall felt longer than I anticipated, but the water was more refreshing than I thought. As usual, I did hurt myself a bit, but I am better.

The countries and destinations have now been selected and announced. I will be going to Costa Rica with three other sisters, one of which will return back to her home in Uganda after a month. The rest of us will be in Costa Rica for 6 months.

We are also practicing a mime skit with our new country teams to take to our respective locations.

Thank you all for your prayers and I will try to update more soon. I have many pictures which I will need to upload on my next time connecting.

Two Full Weeks plus in Montana

I can't believe it has already been two full... Actually, half way through my third week! The days just blur together.

I am starting to get settled in and figuring things out. It still is somewhat surreal.  Our days are very full and there is never a dull moment. I so appreciate all the emails and card I have received. There is something amazing and almost unimaginable in that it feels like home, even though I have been here for such a short time.

Among the many things that we have been doing, we go through a number of classes on:

Walking through the book of Acts, Inductive Bible Study, Apologetics and defending our faith, Inductive (IBS) Devotions (which you will get to see samples here soon), and so far going through the life of David with Pastor Don McClure.

We went to a Jeremy Camp concert, participated with an outreach to a wrestling camp close by and have met brothers and sisters from local churches.  We have also had some serving opportunities around here that have really been new to me.

I don't have a lot of time, but I wanted to update you and thank you all for your prayers.  I will try to write more soon.

God bless!

Travels and New Beginning

I arrived at Potter’s Field Ranch yesterday late evening after driving almost 2500 miles!  The drive took four days and three nights rest.  I have never driven that long and I was only able to do it with the Lord’s help.  I felt His company and guidance every step of the way.  I listened to music and teachings, I also was able to skype or talk on the phone with a few people too.  Thanks for keeping me company!

The first day (July 4) I drove through Michigan and I had lunch with my Uncle Doug and Aunt Chris in Port Huron and then went on to spend the night outside of Chicago.  The traffic through Chicago was very mild and I was very thankful.  It was fun to see the city.

The morning of the second day on the road, I met a young girl that had traveled to the same hotel I was in, in the outskirts of Chicago, for a funeral of her friend that day.  I was able to sit with her at breakfast and listen to her story and I promised to pray for her.  

I was able to take some pictures along the way, which I posted on Facebook.  The second day, I was able to see the Mississippi. On the third day, I took a detour to see Mt. Rushmore.  After that, that day was a bit of a harder drive.  Entering Montana, the route was very desolate.  The third night I was able to spend the night with John and Michelle Merkovsky and their kids in Bozeman, MT.  The final day’s drive was very beautiful as I came further into the mountains.

Once I arrived at the Ranch, there have been a lot of introductions and new friends to meet and get along.  I share a room with 3 other girls.  One of them is the first international student.  She is from Kenya and will be returning to oversee the site there after the program here.  Another one of my roommates has been to the El Salvador site that I went to in 2008.  I will try to get pictures later.

My Bed :)

This morning, we had a church service and a group of 70 young guys from a nearby youth wrestling camp joined us.  Two of them received Christ as their Lord and Savior!!

I am still sick, although with the medicine, vitamins and treatments, I am able to go through the day.  I normally have a hard time sleeping in new places.  I have been taking a night-time cold meds that have knocked me out, which has been a blessing in disguise in that I have been able to sleep and rest well in 4 different beds 4 nights in a row.

View from back porch of the house I am staying in

The program officially starts tomorrow.  We have orientation at 9:00am.  I am sure I will be very busy starting then. Today was low key.  Most went to town to buy a couple of things and I took advantage of it to take more meds and take a long nap.  It's 8:35pm and I am already feeling sleepy, so it seems to have been very needed.

The cell reception here is terrible as we are in the mountains.  I am able to receive texts in at least two known locations (one that I just discovered) and I am able to call from one.   There is WIFI here, but my laptop doesn't seem to want to connect to the internet, even though it connects to the wireless router.  My iPad does, but I can't do all my blog on it.  In any case, tomorrow we start a “Media Fast” where we won’t be connected to technology to keep us undestracted, so I won’t be accessible for a while, I think a week, maybe two.  Please keep praying and I will be in touch as time and schedule permits.  Please write and I will respond as I am able to.

For the few photos that I have been able to upload, see:

https://plus.google.com/photos/112312472328362037852/albums/5763009685074502401?authkey=CKjbt8OupOjN1wE

New Direction or Redirection?

These past two weeks have been a complete whirlwind!!!  If anyone would have told me this would happen, I would have been hard pressed to believe it.

Two weeks ago today at church, we had a beautiful presentation of Jeremiah 18:1-6 by Mike and Pam Rozell.  You can see a little description video here:
http://www.pottersfield.org/10477/content/content_id/193800/About_the_Touring_Ministry

I had seen this presentation before and I knew it would be good, but little did I know how the Lord would use it in my life.  During the presentation, some of the things Mike and Pam said touched me deeply.  The photos of the kids in El Salvador reminded me of when I went there to work along side this ministry, but I didn't seem to receive a dramatic revelation at the moment.

At the end of the presentation, I went up to the table thinking that I would ask about possible ministry opportunities after I would complete the plans that I already had in motion, somewhere in the January timeframe, as I didn't really have plans then.  During the conversation, it didn't seem like there was a really good fit, particularly for that timing, so I saw it as a closed door and moved on.  The next day, Pastor Ray texted me and asked if I had considered going with them.  Although I shared my impressions and proceeded with my plans, he contacted Pastor Mike to explore if there were any options where I would be a good fit.  As they talked, the doors just flung open.  Later that day, I spoke with Pastor Mike and the options just opened up wide for changing my plans entirely, which completely turned my world upside down!!!

Potter's Field Ministries has been serving the Lord for many years.  In addition to the presentations that they do, they have orphanages in Central America, Africa and South East Asia.  Along with the orphanages, they have community outreaches and church planting working together to minister to the surrounding areas.  Various churches partner with them and send teams for short term trips.  They also have an internship program for young adults (18-29 year olds) where they dedicate a year to the Lord, go through training and serve at one of their mission bases.  More details are here: http://www.pottersfield.org/10477/content/content_id/251896/What-is-IGNITE

PFM also has other service opportunities/needs that they don't announce, but rather seek the Lord and wait for direction from the Lord for connections.  As Ray and Mike talked, it was evident that I fit into a discipleship/overseer role that they have need for, particularly with my Spanish translation skills.  There are two sites that seem to be a good fit for me and I would potentially be sent to either.  The sites are in Costa Rica, where the current couple that is there would be coming out later this year, and Guatemala, where a new work is being established.  Either one of these locations would be very exciting and the opportunities are also long term.  In order to be part of the ministry, I would need to go through the initial 3-month training at Montana with the interns, beginning July 9!!

After this conversation, I sent some short messages to some of you asking for prayer as I found myself needing to make a decision very quickly about a dramatic change and I desperately needed direction from the Lord.  I found myself needing to pray hard and hear from the Lord, since I had many questions that needed answers.  My mind was spinning and my heart was racing!  To those of you who heard and prayed, I am very grateful!!!  The Lord met me in that desperate moment and reassured me that this new direction was from Him.  I very much struggled with making this change and I also needed to know that it wasn't in my flesh that I had been making the other plans up to this point.  What about my travel to China?  What about the people that I was going to meet there?  What about my friend in Bulgaria, who I miss and would love to see as her baby is born?  As I spent time with the Lord, He brought me to Abraham and Isaac on Mt. Moriah.

And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” - Gen. 22:12

Of course, this is a popular passage and it can be interpreted many ways for our lives.  The Lord pointed me to my desire to serve with a ministry organization and spoke to my heart that before allowing that, He wanted to know and wanted me to know that I would be willing to go anywhere with Him alone, that I wouldn't depend on anyone or any organization backing me up ... that it wasn't until I bought my ticket to China, that I fully surrendered and was willing.

I felt a lot of peace and I had confidence that I had heard from the Lord, but a lot of plans needed to change, some added and some removed and others even to undo current plans, particularly last minute (as it was 4 weeks until my departure to China).  I also had a lot of conversations that needed to take place.  In addition to the direction from the Lord to my heart, there are a number of factors that make this opportunity uniquely special and evidently the Lord.  Yes, here is a list of the top 10:

1. I have already worked with this ministry in El Salvador and I have seen what a mission base looks like and how it operates with a short term team, along with part of the role that I am needed for. 
2. The Lord directed multiple people to different places and multiple conversations to line up just at the exact time to open these doors. Of course, a huge evidence is that the pastors and ministry leaders of PFM have extended this invitation to me!!  This is a role that no one off the street can apply for!!!
3. It is a year commitment that begins July 9 ... the EXACT day my leave of absence begins and matches it perfectly!!!  The date selection was done way before and for completely different reasons, yet the Lord had them match exactly!  The timing couldn't be better!
4. The opportunity has potential for long term service, should the Lord direct that way, once the year completes.  Although an amazing experience in the Lord, after going to China and Bulgaria, I still wouldn't necessarily have a long term vision for service, so this is unique.
5. It will be great to have my language skills be an asset to the ministry, rather than a hindrance.
6. The training at the Ranch in Montana will be a great foundation for the future work the Lord would take me to, where great pastors and teachers, such as Don McClure will be teaching!
7. The Spirit has bore witness of the new direction through spiritual mentors, such as my pastor, pastor's wife and other leaders, friends, in addition to my family, Mom and Grandfather that this is not a decision made on a whim.
8. A dear friend shared with me:
   Colossians 3:15 from the Amplified Bible (AMP)
   15 And let the peace (soul harmony which comes) from Christ rule (act as umpire continually) in your hearts [deciding and settling with finality all questions that arise in your minds, in that peaceful state] to which as [members of Christ’s] one body you were also called [to live]. And be thankful (appreciative), [giving praise to God always].
   Also, Is. 30:21 And your ears will hear a word behind you, saying, This is the way; walk in it, when you turn to the right hand and when you turn to the left.
9. Other than my initial location in China and my friend in Bulgaria, those plans were starting to enounter a difficulty to line up.
10. Before this happened and without telling me, my dear friend Marina and even her mother in law in Bulgaria had started praying that if the Lord had something different for me than visiting them in Bulgaria, that He would re-direct my plans.  She saw the Lord's hand in the change and generously released me from my plans to come see her, even through we both would like for me to visit during this time.  We both still hope the Lord will open the door in the future. 
11. I spoke with Pastor Ted, and although a slightly more difficult conversation, given the gap that I am leaving with this change, he also was able to see the hand of the Lord in this.

As I adjust my plans, and since this time, I have been extremely busy (not that I wasn't before).  I would like to ask that you please keep me in prayer for:

1. My preparations and travels - I still have a lot to prepare and will be driving cross-country from Rochester to Montana July 4 - July 7 (or July 8 if the days become too long).  Yes!  I leave in 2 weeks from today!!!!!!!
2. My heart is still burdened for the people I would have visited in my travels that are now being canceled.  They still need someone to take my place and fill the gap left by my change of plans.  Please pray the Lord provides and directs Ted to fill this gap!
3. That I would learn the Lord's heart during the training months in Montana and that the training would join my heart to the ministry teams already in place and the interns.  That the time would be the preparation I need for what is ahead of me.
4. That the Lord would direct the selection of the mission base I will go to at the end of the 3 month training.
5. That the Lord would be confirming and directing if this is His plan for me long term.
6. For provision financially and understanding what it means to raise financial support, particularly if the Lord calls me to this long term and full time.
7. That I would be able to go to Mexico for a short visit for Chelsea's wedding in November :)

Thank you all for your prayers, support and kind words!  They mean so much to me!!!  God bless you all!!