Participant Blogs

      There are a few things that if you come to Brazil you should never forget: your swim suit, your rain coat, your smile, and your alarm clock . This little town of Ubatuba is crammed full of over 102 beaches. I have been here almost two weeks and I am ashamed to say that I have only been to about two of them, and I have yet to make it into the water.  (rest assured, it will happen) Now, it being rainy season and all here, it can be kind of a downer to be walking down the street...

 

      We have finally arrived in Guatemala, but not without any effort. WE set out for the journey from Peru to Panajachal, Guatemala a week before we arrived. It was an incredible journey. We had prepared as much as we could before we traveled, but there was no way of know the advnture that lied ahead.

Where to even start?! The past couple of weeks have been  filled with my favorite moments of Brazil. Not only has there been a lot of fun involved in this experience of discovering a new place, people, and culture, but  I have seen God move in my heart and in the hearts of those around me in our time here in Ubatuba.

Hello everyone!       I wanted to touch base and keep you up to date with the exciting things that are happening here in South Africa! I know that it has been a while since you have heard from me, but I promise you I have not slowed down since I got here almost a month ago now.         Looking back over the last month, we have been able to accomplish a lot. I, along with 14 other team members and 3 other teams from our organization have been doing local mission projects in the Jeffreys Bay area. From building...

     As I write, we are on our way home from an incredible faith journey. A week and a half ago we set out to Port Elizabeth in hopes that we would make it to Coffee Bay in the Transkei in South Africa. Once in Port Elizabeth, we went out into the streets with cans and told people about our mission to go to Coffee Bay and build a fence and playground for the kids. Over the course of three hours we were able to raise 18,000 South African rand for our journey. So, we left on our journey!

  “Where you invest your love, you invest your life”  - Mumford and Sons       Recently, I have been thinking about what it means to invest in relationships. Although that takes many different forms, shapes and sizes, there is one thing that is at the very foundation of a good solid investment…Love. In my experience, I have found it is easy to go throughout the day and be surrounded by people with which you talk to and work with, but I find that it is a totally different thing to stop and intentionally know that person. To know them is...

 

“What is REAL?" asked the Velveteen Rabbit one day...

 

"It's a thing that happens to you. When [someone] loves

 

you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but

 

REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

     In my mind, India has always been one of those legendary places that I have read about in books. As a child, I remember learning about Amy Carmichael who went to India and took in temple girls under her wing and taught them the Truth of the scriptures. Of course, I had read and heard countless stories about Mother Teresa and the work that she was selflessly doing in this land as well. India is all that I had read and heard about and more.

So, a little update on what our team is up to next.

     This year, I have learned to sing to the Lord a new song. I got on a plane headed to South Africa knowing that I was jumping off the high dive into the deep end. Fortunately, God is faithful to His Word. There were times when I thought, "I can’t do this" to which  God replied to me “I am.”