Hello everyone here is a long overdue update !! 

Costa Rica was amazing, I learned so much, grew exponentially, and saw the Lord in new ways each day that I have never experienced before. I will be posting a blog very soon that will attempt to wrap up those 2 months into 25 moments and lessons which I will remember from that season forever.

However !! I am currently in GUATEMALA! confusing, crazy, & intriguing ... I know !! As many of you know, according to my original route I was supposed to be in Thailand right now, but due to the covid restrictions our route got switched a few times but ended up brining 35 minutes outside Antigua in a small town called, Paramos. 

On hearing we were going to Guatemala a few months back my heart lept for Joy. As many of you know I struggled with choosing between the route I am on and the activation route because although I felt called to this route (development) strongly, my heart wanted to choose the other route consisting of Guatemala since it was so familiar and a place a huge part of my heart was in. Now I know God called me to this route especially for gap i, the body of Christ within it. SO when our squad mentor announced we would be going to Guatemala, I felt so loved by the Lord and intentionally known. I could not even fathom that I would be back to the place I loved so soon & be able to show the squad who has become family the place that felt like home.

So from January 7th to 14th we spent a week near the volcanoes of Guatemala debriefing our time in Costa Rica. Our coaches, and squad mentor flew down to love on us, pour into us, & help us process. During that time however, I was sick in bed for about a week with a high fever and zero energy. It almost was ironic to me because as many of you know, I have been to Guatemala four times with my hometown church TCC, and the first missions trip freshman year, I spent most of the week back at the base, alone, with the flu. It is funny how the Lord teaches us similar lessons in different seasons. This time the Lord taught me what it meant to cling to him even in the moments I knew there was nothing left in me, because right there in that lack of strength the Lord sustained & provided more than I needed. The Lord also surrounded me with the sweetest souls there to make me feel seen even in my sickness.

By the end of the week the Lord renewed my strength and I was able to venture to Picaya, a Volcano, with the squad, roast marshmallows at the top, and thank God for healing me. At the end of debrief we headed off on a chicken bus full to the brim to the Adventures in Missions base here in Guatemala. My heart immediately felt the peaceful presence & atmosphere we were about to call home for 2.5 months.

A day in I got to show my friends my favorite places in Antigua and take them to all the best coffee shops !! It was a fulfillment I have never felt before. However, a day later 3 of my squadmates tested positive for Covid so we proceeded to quarantine for 1.5 weeks. It was a time of rest, renewal, dreaming with the Lord over our futures, and a milestone of the half way mark on the World Race Gap Year. It truly is insane to me that it has been 4.5 months. In some ways it has felt like years, and others the days never seem to end. Yet through it all, the Lord has changed my perspective drastically, taught me about His love in an intimate way, and given me insight for the future of His purpose for me. 

Now for the past two weeks each team has split up into various ministries around Guatemala. My team, Eden, has been working with two organizations. On Tuesday and Wednesday we work with Hope - a feeding program for families and children in the community of San Antonio. Tuesdays look like mornings of door to door visits, sitting with families, and hearing their stories and then spending the afternoons loving and feeding their children. Wednesday we work with a. Program called beauty for ashes. Half the team does a bible study, activity, and testimony with the woman while the other half plays with their children. On Monday and Friday we work with Myra and Manuel’s startup. They are a couple who both grew up in orphanages who decided to start a program to feed bellies with food & hearts with the Holy spirit. In a 20x20 room with 20 children who’s backgrounds are messy. We love on them , teach English, explain bible stories, and exemplify the Lord’s Love to them. On Thursdays the Adventures in Missions staff take us out to evangelize in local communities and experience divine appointments that the Lord has set up before we could even trace back. Saturday and Sundays are days or rest and adventure.

There has already been so many fulfilling moments, promises confirmed, & opportunities to dream with the Lord for my future ( all three words that the Lord revealed to me were banners over my time in Guatemala. ) I am in consistent awe of the goodness of the Lord and each day I am learning how to pick up my cross, carry the weight of it by laying myself down at the feet of Jesus, and seek him with all my heart. I am consistently learning the more I am willing to give to Him, the more I gain in wisdom that He is all I will ever need. 

I would love prayer over this season to be quick to give all everything I got, slow to forget the sacrifice Jesus paid on the cross so I could draw close to Him, and slow to take this time and season for granted. 

Many testimonies & God moments to come !!

All my love, Emily