This Time for AFRICA

So 11 weeks have already flown by, which is hard to believe. And after 11 weeks of lecture and being filled up with God, it’s time to go out and practice what we learned. Where? AFRICA! The place I’ve wanted to go since as long as I can remember. God knows the desires of my heart, and made sure it was possible for me to go. He is so good.

My team of 17 people (15 students, 2 leaders, 8 different countries represented  in our team- crazy!) leaves tomorrow from the base in Herrnhut, Germany. My flight is tomorrow night from Frankfurt to Dubai, from Dubai to right outside of Kampala, Uganda and then we drive by bus up to Yei, South Sudan where we will spend Christmas, and the first 5-ish weeks of our outreach.  The next 4 weeks will be spent in Arua, Uganda. If you want to see our team newsletter, you can e mail me at hannah_mustgo@yahoo.com and I’ll send it to you (if I can… internet is not guaranteed in Africa).

            I’ve come to know that YWAM is very unpredictable and spontaneous because we base most of our plans on what the holy spirit tells us to do. So as of this moment, we aren’t really sure what exactly we will be doing. All I know is that I get to work in orphanages (YAY!!!) and stay in villages and refugee camps. SO sick. Like I said, we don’t know our plans, but God sure does. And with a God like ours behind us, these plans are bound to be rad.

            I’ve decided not to get on Facebook for the whole 9 weeks, so if you want to keep in contact with me, you can e mail me at the above address and I’ll try to get back to you. J God is SO good! Can’t wait to get home and tell you all amazing stories of how God moved in Africa! Prayers please! Love you all. <3 

The Holy Spirit is so rad

   So this weeks teaching was on the holy spirit- being FILLED with the holy spirit. I could go on for days about every little thing I learned and all the scriptures to back it up, but I won't do that. I'll just give you some stories that happened this week personally to me- my testimony if you will :)
   We practiced praying over people this week- a lot. So many times in the Bible it talks about laying hands on people, so we put that into practice. On Tuesday, our speaker Bart told us to just sit in our chairs and allow the holy spirit to come fill us. We had our "glasses" ready to be filled with Him- and I was definitely filled. Later that night, I found out that my house (at home in Tulare) sold, which means that I will not be returning to the house I have pretty much grown up in. It seriously tore me up inside and this whole past week has been really difficult, knowing I'm not going home to my home. But that night, I felt an overwhelming sense of comfort and peace flood through me. Even if it was just for half an hour, it was a great reminder that God was with me and my family through this whole process.
    Wednesday during lecture, we prayed for healing- if anyone needed healing for anything, we received prayer from other students in the DTS. I had the urge to ask for prayer for my back. It's weird, because I had never thought of my back being healed further than my surgery. But God, being the amazing healer that he is, brought relief to my back. My back was completely numb for a full day- as if I was on painkillers at the hospital still, not able to feel anything. God showed me that He isn't bound by what the doctors say- that if we ask and have FAITH that He can and will heal us, he will!
   Friday was probably one of the craziest days for me so far. Like I said, this week was really rough for me, so it was extremely difficult to find joy at all. The 2 people praying for me didn't know anything of my home situation or of what was going on with my heart, my lack of joy. But as they were praying, one girl kept repeating "joy... joy... unexplainable joy... laughter." And then it hit me: the joy of the LORD flooded through me and I started laughing and smiling uncontrollably. I literally felt like I was drunk on God. As I was laughing, these weights were being taken off my  shoulders, as if my laughter, the joy of the Lord was healing me. It was an amazing feeling that I had never experienced before. Go God.
   It seems as though every time God does something amazing in my life, Satan comes back at me with an attack, and honestly sometimes succeeds in it. Yesterday (Saturday) was extremely rough. Certain events happened that put a huge burden on me all day, and it seemed impossible to find joy again. At one point, I became so angry- more like livid- because of the events of the day. All I know is that right when that rage hit me, I got the worst migraine I have ever experienced. I had friends praying for me for about an hour, but nothing happened. One friend said that they felt that I needed to repent of some sin in my life and forgive somebody, and then they would continue praying for me. I did, and as I forgave this person in my heart for hurting me, some of the pressure left my head. I also started loving this person- like LOVING this person. I stated out loud all the things I love about her, and I had nothing but love in my heart for her. It was a very humbling experience and very cool because I felt like I was loving her like God did. My headache was still there, though. I ended up having to go into a dark room for 2 hours, trying to shake this migraine. A leader came in with me and prayed for me, and she got the same impression as my other friend: I need to forgive people who have wronged me. Suddenly, people who hurt me 6 months, a year ago even, popped up in my head and as I forgave each person, my headache kept leaving little by little. Finally, I asked that God forgive me for harboring all these feelings of resentment over this last year and as I did, my migraine was completely gone. Praise God for being our healer! I could just feel the presence of the Holy Spirit surrounding me, and I was completely at peace for the rest of the night, as if I wasn't even really here.
   Many people have told me on this DTS that God has huge things in store for me in the future- they just get this impression that God will use me in great ways. And I believe that Satan doesn't want that to happen. Every time I get attacked, I try with everything in me to see it as a blessing- Satan feels threatened by me, and by the great almighty God who is at work behind me, so he tries to rob me of my joy. I find strength in this passage in John 16:22: "Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and NO ONE will take away your joy." Not even you Satan!
   I pray that you all had a blessed Thanksgiving! Be blessed. :) Love you all. ***Oh and just a side note: I leave for Africa in less than 3 weeks. jiofdsahjvkdshguhu. That's all. 

Why Am I Here?

    Well... It's the end of week 7 which is CRAZY for me. I can't believe I've been here 7 weeks. Currently, I'm back in Herrnhut (which I'm not too happy about). We came here from Bautzen, Germany which is about 20 minutes by train from Herrnhut. We are here for the weekend, praying for our visas and just relaxing until our bus leaves to Zurich, Switzerland on Monday morning. We will be there for 4 weeks, then I'll be leaving mid-December for Africa!! Yay.
    So this past week was pretty rough for me. There have been so many changes happening back home in California and it's hard to be here and not there. So this past week, I have been questioning why I'm here. I'm cold, I miss home, I'm 18 years old, my heart isn't in Europe, and did I mention I'm freezing? Then God gently reminded me in His gentle Godly ways that I'm here because He called me here. My whole purpose in life is to glorify God and do what He has called me to do, and in Mark 16:15 Jesus tells us straight forward what we're supposed to do: "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation." Why am I complaining about wanting to go home, when this isn't my life to live anyways? God reminded me of some verses to help me with what I'm dealing with at the moment... "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." -Galatians 2:20, "I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will always have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." -Philippians 1:20-21.
     So my question of why I'm here has a simple answer: I'm here because I have decided to follow Jesus. I'm here because I have dedicated my life to serving the One who made the universe. I'm here because God called me to this freezing continent for a reason. And I'm excited to find out that reason. My heart may still be in Guatemala, and maybe God had me come to Europe to realize how much I love Guatemala... but I'm here now. And I need to take advantage of this opportunity that I have to tell this lost continent about God and His unfailing love.

Street Ministry

Alrighty, another post. :) Friday our group went to St. Georg, the other part of the Red Light District, the part where prostitution is illegal (but it still happens) and where most of the girls are trafficked, or not there willingly. I was looking forward to going all day, because I really have a heart for the Red Light District, as you could probably tell from my last blog entry. But when we got there, we had the option of either staying, or going to minister to drug addicts at the Hauptbahnhof (Central Station) and I really felt that God was telling me to go there instead of staying. I was very confused and kind of disappointed at first, because I REALLY wanted to minister to the prostitutes and worship on the street with the rest of my DTS. But instead, I was walking back to Central Station with 4 other people (2 were from my dts... Jonah, a lovely German lad and Jade, the raddest Canadian girl person alive).

So we arrived back at Central Station and we found out that we wouldn't really be ministering to drug addicts, just whoever we felt God was leading us to talk to. I was very mad at this point. When Jade, Jonah and I prayed, I prayed something like "Well God, you sent me here and I haven't witnessed anything SUPER spectacular yet on these outreaches and I'm kinda getting impatient, so it would be LOVELY if you would give us someone to talk to." I so regretted my attitude later, after God DID do something amazing. 

After getting blown off by a crippled man who told us something very rude, I was feeling deflated and rejected. But then we walked over to these two men just hanging out drinking a beer and smoking a cigarette. Jonah started by asking if we could just pray for them, and they said no. But then after talking to one of the guys with Jade for a couple minutes, we asked if we could pray for him. And he said yes. We prayed for his health, for his job, and for revelation of God's love for him. After we prayed, he had such joy in his eyes, and he asked us "Do you like orange?" We were like "uuuummmmmm... yes??" and he said "I'll be right back" and scurried away for a couple minutes and came back with orange flavored capri suns and a Mars bar for us. He said "By praying for me, you gave me energy, so I want to give you energy back." And he told Jonah later that he is so thankful for Jade and I praying for him because it showed him that we were genuinely interested in him and cared about him.

I can't even count how many times he said thank you. He was SO blessed by a simple prayer. We found out later that Jonah was talking to the other guy about God and he was taking a serious interest in Him. We also prayed for him, that he would be able to FEEL God and not just read about him on a paper we gave to him (he asked us to pray that over him). After the prayer, he said he could feel something stirring in his soul. Praise God. 

So ya, God definitely answered my prayer, even if I didn't ask Him in the nicest way possible. God seriously loves us and longs for a relationship with us and I'm realizing that more and more every day here at Youth With a Mission. Thanks for reading, and for your support for me. Love you all!

The Reeperbahn. (aka Red Light District)

This blog will be pretty short and sweet, but another one will come this weekend with more details. So if you haven't heard, I'm in Hamburg, Germany and absolutely LOVING every minute of it. We're staying in a church on the outskirts of town, just a quick train ride away from the big part of the city.
Last night, we had the opportunity to go to the Reeperbahn, or the Red Light District. ( For those of you who don't know what that is, it's where prostitutes stand on the street... Simply put.) We have been preparing this whole week for this experience, praying that God would prepare our hearts and minds and eyes for what we would experience there. And at first when we got there, a literal heaviness settled on my shoulders. I was overwhelmed my seeing an uncountable number of sex shops, pictures of naked women, and just sights I wish I had never seen. But then we started a worship jam session **(IN THE SAME SPOT WHERE THE BEATLES FIRST GOT FAMOUS!! fjkdshfjkdjkdhgfjkdh)** and the heaviness lifted from my shoulders. Go God. After some time, we went to the middle of the city and joined the other half of our group (we joined together with ywam hamburg for this outreach) and worshipped some more and prayed and prayed and continued to pray.
I really, really, really had to pee.... So as I crossed the street looking for somewhere to do my thing, I passed by a Burger King with 4 prostitutes standing outside, trying to latch onto men and lure them in. They were so beautiful, and probably around 20-24 years old. One of the girls looked at me, and so I smiled at her. And to my amazement, she smiled back. In orientation, the lady who tried preparing us for the Red Light District told us that if nothing else, smile. It might give them some hope. I'm praying and praying that that girl can be broken from her chains. That she can see herself as valuable. And that she has the revelation of God's love for her, His unconditional, amazing, free love. God is breaking my heart for what breaks his, and although it's a hard experience, I'm so thankful that He has answered that prayer of mine. I want to see these women how God sees them. So I'm continuing to pray for them constantly.
Well, tomorrow night we're going to another major part of the RLD and I'll update you more then. Lots of love. Hannah.

Singing and Hitchhiking and other legit activities.

On week 4 and still going strong. So far the topics have been Hearing God’s  voice (week 1), the unconditional love of God (week 2) where we had the BEST speaker ever, Dan Boumann… this guy spent 9 weeks in prison in Iran because he’s THAT legit. Some of the stories he told were just plain crazy and amazing, and you could tell how much he loved God and how real God was through his stories. This past week (week 3) we had this guy whose name I can’t spell, but it’s pronounced Eggbird. Yes, egg+bird.  He spoke about the character and nature of God.  And this week we have his wife who is talking about intimacy with God. Good stuff.

Nothing drastic or life-changing has happened yet but I figured I should update you anyways on what I’ve been doing here in Germany. We have weekends free, so this past weekend and the weekend before that, some friends and I took a train to Dresden, Germany. The first weekend was great- we shopped (even though we’re all poor YWAMers) and I spent most of my day in Starbucks, where I spent about an equivalent of $7 on a caramel Frappuccino… (don’t you dare judge me. It was worth it) and used the free wifi to upload pictures to Facebook. Feel free to stalk me by the way… it’s what they are there for. J

This past weekend was a little different though. I went to Dresden expecting to spend the day for my own entertainment, like the weekend before. But after finding a KFC (and freaking out because I was actually eating chicken… CHICKEN!! How I’ve missed you) Mary, my lovely travel buddy, and I met up with a precious German lad from our DTS who brought his guitar. We went to the middle of the city and he started playing and singing his little heart out, while tons of lost, unsaved Germans walked by.

Something about watching him praise God amidst so much ungodliness stirred something in my heart. Then I remembered my conversation with my parents on Skype, where they said they wanted to hear me sing again. So I did. It was only one song, but I sang with Patric the song “Mighty to Save”, which was completely appropriate. “Savior, he can move the mountains. My God is mighty to save, He is mighty to save. Forever author of salvation. He rose and conquered the grave! Shine your light and let the whole world see, we’re singing for the glory of the Risen King!” When I was singing those words, I started praying for all the people walking by. Europe is such a lost continent, and I feel so helpless and frustrated sometimes because I’m unable to speak their language and tell them about God. But since that song was all I had to offer, I was going to sing it (even though it’s very much out of my comfort zone to sing in front of people I don’t know). Although I went to Dresden for a day to myself, by a simple change of plans trying to bless others, I was the one that was blessed. Funny how God works that way.

So anyways, I left Dresden about 4 o clock with 4 other people because, as mentioned before, we are poor YWAMers and don’t want to spend unnecessary money on meals when we get free meals at the castle. So it was 2 boys, 2 girls, and me. We took the train just fine from Dresden to Lobau, where we were supposed to catch a bus back to Herrnhut. But of course, the next bus wasn’t supposed to come for another 2 hours, which meant we would miss dinner, the whole reason we left in the first place. Naturally, we decided to hitchhike back to Herrnhut, about 8 miles-ish away. We made a precious little sign and set out walking in the general direction of home. An hour later (sigh) we were getting cold and it was getting dark. So we prayed. Immediately a tiny little red car stopped for us. God is good. He just wants me to put a little faith in Him. That’s all. So 4 of us piled in the backseat and 1 in the front while the driver rocked out to “I’ve Got The Power”, complete with subs and all.  We made it back just in time for din din. All in all, my first hitchhike experience was a success. Go God.

I’m hoping to share many more stories like this with you in the near future! I’m in Herrnhut one more week, and then on Sunday my DTS is heading to Hamburg for 2 weeks (although 4 others and I are leaving this Saturday to do a drama in the church we are staying at). I’m not sure if I will be guaranteed Internet access, but I’ll get on and update you all as often as possible.

If you would be so kind as to pray for me that would be splendid. Pray for my DTS and I as we head to Hamburg, where I think we will be focusing on human trafficking. Pray for doors to be opened for us so we can spread the good news to as many people as possible. Pray for our ministry to be effective and that people would have open ears and open hearts to what we have to say. Also, pray that God gives me sure guidance as to where I should go on outreach this December. (I’ll update you as to where that country is later this week, when I know for sure where I’m going). Thank you all for reading and for your continued prayers. It means more than you know. I miss you all and can’t wait for the day that I will be reunited with all of your precious faces. Give my family hugs for me. Love, Me.

Muslim Ministry and Hearing God's Voice

I just had the most amazing experience. Have you ever been in Germany, talked to a  Muslim, and spoke Spanish all at the same time? Well that’s exactly what I just did. We had our first local outreach to Zittau, where we went to a refugee camp full of single men that all seemed to be creepily obsessed with my eyes.  Besides that, it was such a great experience that I will never forget.  He and I talked about the differences between  Muslim and Christianity, and really got into a heated discussion (all in Spanish, remember!) Sra. B would be so proud J  I told him pretty much everything I knew, and everything God told me to tell him. It ended with me asking him to just read the Bible and seeing how his life changes radically… and he AGREED! That doesn’t mean that he will give his life to Christ, but it’s a start. And that made me so happy. In the middle of our discussion when it seemed he wasn’t listening to me anymore, I just stopped and prayed “God, you can move mountains. You can melt a heart of stone. Please let him open his ears and listen to this information that I am telling him and let him accept it, God.” God was definitely listening to that prayer. So my first outreach was, in my eyes, a huge success.

 It’s amazing to me how God can speak to us and let us know what to say, who to talk to, when to speak, and when to listen. This week our topic of learning has been hearing the voice of God. And that’s exactly what I’ve been doing. I have been listening to the lies of others and the Enemy and myself for so long, that I was drowning out God’s voice, not giving Him a chance to speak truth to me. And now that I’ve FINALLY let Him speak, He sure has been speaking some crazy stuff to me.  The main theme so far for me has been MASTERPIECE. I am God’s masterpiece, and every time I say I’m not beautiful, it’s like I slap God in the face.  It will be a constant struggle for me, but what God says is true, and I can’t pick and choose what truths I want to believe.  This YWAM experience has been absolutely amazing so far, and it hasn’t even been a full week yet. God is already doing radical things in my life, changing me in ways I didn’t think was possible.  And I can’t wait to see the person I will become in these next 6 months. I'm so giddy it's insane. I'll keep the updates coming! Love you all :)


 

Destination: Deutschland

I made it! Finally. That was the longest 20 hours of my life. My travel partner Mary and I faced a few bumps along the way but we were blessed by these bumps... We met many people who helped us along the way, each of whom got the name "Angel". So here's how our day went: 10 hour flight from LAX to Düsseldorf, and then got on another plane, one hour to Berlin. The first drama of the trip hit us when we were surprised by the fact that the train station wasn't in the airport like we were told. We had to take a bus,  and since we are two dumb Americans we didn't know when to get off.. *Enter Angel #1*. A fine young German lad who actually just got back from Cali visiting his girlfriend. So basically he fell in love with us, took us to the train station, told us when to get off, EVERYTHING. Stinkin' ANGEL!! Thanks to lovely Angel #1, we continued on to "Central Station" and after buying a 48 euro train ticket (which we found out was a rip-off), we were comletely defeated, tired, lost, confused... the list goes on. As we were walking to sit down, I said out loud "God please give us someone to talk to." We plopped down on the lovely train station floor and *Enter Angel #2, 3, and 4* This guy randomly walked by and tickled the bottom of my shoe. I thought it was weird at first but then Mary told me to go talk to them and see if they spoke English and could help. They spoke perfect English, helped us through everything, told us where to go... ANGELS! We said farewell to them and while waiting for our train to come, Mary and I started feeling overwhelmed again. She prayed, out loud, holding my hands in a public train station with people all around, and asked God for guidance and peace. Not only did I immediately feel a weight lift off my shoulders, but also Angels #3 and 4 randomly came up to us and said "Let's go on this train here, just ride with us and you'll end up in the same spot." PRAISE GOD. When it was our time to get off, once again (surprise) we were confused where our platform was. These precious lambs missed their train to help us find our platform. At this point it was October 2 (we left Cali Oct 1) and we were running on no food, no sleep, and no energy. The train we were on was going to Lobau, where someone from our base was supposed to pick us up, but without a phone, we had no way to contact the YWAM base. Once again, Mary and I started praying hard that somehow we could find a phone and get ahold of the castle or that there would be a safe place to sleep at the train station. Yes, we were THAT desperate for sleep. But when we stepped off the train, our DTS leader was there to greet us. That was the best sight I had seen in a very long time. She took us by DTS van back to the castle and when I first saw it I could hardly believe it. It was so beautiful, and this is my HOME for the next month! I'll put a picture of it up on the next blog.
We also got our "schedule"... sorta. As of now, we are in Herrnhut at the castle for a month. Then Germany for 3 weeks. By then we should have our visa so we are heading to Switzerland for 5 weeks. After that is outreach for 8-9 weeks, then we come back and travel Europe more for 6-7 weeks. Yay. Well, I really can't wait to see how God is going to completely change my life. BRING IT ON!!

Almost There...

5 days! Holy gracious this is CRAZY. You can't even imagine my emotions right now... excited, scared, sad, anxious, nervous, stoked... really all over the place.  But mostly excited. If you know me, you know that I am not a "go with the flow" type of person. I like to know what I'm getting myself into. God is already stretching me in this way: I literally know nothing about what we will be doing, besides spreading the GREAT name of God. And I'm looking forward to being completely stripped down and being built back up to be a young woman on fire for God. The unknown is SO scary to me but so enticing at the same time, so much so that I can't wait to get out of this comfortable country and see what God has in store for me.
I've had to face the first challenge of the trip already: fitting 6 months of winter clothes into ONE hiking backpack. Yikes. But I think this is a blessing in disguise: I am hoping to learn to not be defined by what I wear, and focus my attention more on heavenly things than earthly things. Bring it on.
I've had to start saying goodbyes, which made this trip seem so much more real. My brother Parker got married on Saturday to the most amazing girl ever and I am so happy for them.

But this meant that I won't see them until I get back in 6+ months... And I've been struggling with that fact. But I'm casting all my cares on God. I know that in the times when I'm  completely broken, THAT'S when I feel God and run and cling to Him. I need to remember that I'm just saying goodye for now, and I'm going to make so many more friends while I'm away as well. God's got my back :) These 5 days couldn't go any slower.

Guatemala 2011 Movie

This is the video on Guatemala that I made. I hope you are as touched by these precious faces as I was and still am, 2 months after returning. Enjoy. 

(Song: God of Justice, Tim Hughes)

Healer by Kari Jobe

God is our healer! This song has been very encouraging to me these past few days. My good friend Lance VanGrouw had a horrible slip-n-slide accident and seriously injured himself. He's currently in the hospital and getting better (praise God!) but it will be a very long road to recovery for him.
Not only does this song apply to Lance, but also to me: Today marks the one year anniversary of my surgery. I can't believe it's already been a year! 2 rods, 13 screws, and one RAD foot-long scar later, I'm here and doing so much better than before my surgery. Thank you God!

The Countdown Begins

It's getting closer. 51 days until I leave. What?! This seems so crazy to me. I'm stoked out of my mind but I can't even begin to describe to you the fear and anxiety stirring in my heart. I keep reminding myself of the passage in Philippians 4:6- "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition. with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the PEACE of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." This is my prayer.

Not only am I anxious about the traveling-by-myself portion of the trip, but I am also fearful for my back. For those who don't know, almost a year ago I had back surgery because I had a severe case of scoliosis. Besides a few aches and pains along the way, everything has been fine. But lately, I've been in some major pain. And that scares me. If you could pray for healing, that would be fantastic.

I am so stoked that God has given me this opportunity to be His hands. I have decided to follow Jesus, and there's no turning back. I pray that God will prepare my heart to do whatever He asks of me.

Cabin Fever

So we spent the weekend up at my Grammy's cabin in the mountains and my lovely cousin Sophia graced me with this lovely rendition of Hallelujah... Enjoy.

After this weekend, seeing all the huge Redwoods and little creatures (however nasty they may be...)  I don't know how people can live in this world and still deny the existence of God. It blows my mind.

 I lift my eyes up, up to the mountains. Where does my help come from?

Standing in front of Stagg Tree, the 5th biggest in the world. 

Guatemala

Lots of people have been asking me about Guatemala. And when you ask me I don't know what to say besides "amazing". Sooo, since I'm better at writing than speaking, here ya go. 

Guatemala.... was life changing. There's really no words to describe the love that you receive and are able to give to the people of guat. they're so easy to love and love you without strings attached... just pure love. I don't know how to describe it, but it's definitely a God thing. I was in the Education site in a little 'town' called El Gorrion. I got to do what i love while serving God- love on the kids of the school. My whole goal for this trip for me was to become more selfless, do EVERYTHING for others and put my own needs last. To be honest, my last trip to Guate was miserable because the trip was all about ME: I didn't get the site I wanted to be in. I was tired. I was sick. me, me, me. So, because I was selfish I didn't get much out of the trip. Completely my fault. So, I decided to let God be in control this trip, and what do you know? I absolutely loved it and was blessed every day when the kids would smile at me and just cling to me. My heart was broken every single day walking through the dirty, muddy street of el gorrion and i couldn't help but think of the Hillsong song that says "break my heart for what breaks yours" and that's exactly what happened. My heart breaks for the people of el gorrion... they live in extreme poverty and have no running water, yet they still have the courage and faith to pray and be strong believers. they have nothing, yet have everything because they are filled with the holy spirit and are followers of God. And the best part about the people of guate: you would never know that these people live in extrememly poor conditions, because they ALWAYS have a smile on their face. they seem legitimately happy to live the way they do, and i can't help but think of my life- how i get upset if i don't have the coolest, newest "stuff". It was definitely an eye opener. there's SO much more to say about Guatemala and I have so many countless stories to share with you and if you want to hear them I'd gladly meet you for coffee and talk about how God moved in my life in this foreign country. The coolest part of this trip was that it got me STOKED for what God has in store for me in my adventures with YWAM. I have been majorly blessed serving others already, and I can't wait to see what God has in store for me in my next journey.  "Fill us up, send us out, Lord"

 Jesus loves the little children of the world.

 Hanging out in the beautiful cobble-stoned town of Antigua.

 My home girls from day one holding my senior pictures.

 Kisses <3 

Tying on bracelets.