Hey everyone!!! I want to fill all of ya’ll in with what I have been doing over the holidays.
In case not all of you know I have moved into our newly refinished JAZ house (Josie’s Angels Zone) It is absolutely beautiful and such a good environment for the girls. And in case you also did not know who the JAZ girls are, they are a group of girls that were in some situation of abuse, sexual or physical, or being neglected by their families. My team has been living with them for the past month. We have been able to spend all our time with them, especially over Christmas.
This Christmas I was able to watch 32 beautiful girls experience Christmas for the first time. It was amazing. I loved being able to see them experience what I have undeservingly had the past 18 years of my life.
On New Years my team of all girls went out for one for Tiffany’s birthday. It w as probably the most memorable night of my life. We ended up going to a free concert and being able to dance on stage with Iyaz(American singer).
Right after that we were sent to Boracay (the nicest white sand beach in the world) because the JAZ girls were doing some basketball ministry there. That was basically my holiday season, God blessed me so much, my life almost seems like a movie at times.
Even though God has blessed me so much with these crazy once in a life time experiences, I still really struggle being here with the ministry. My mind is much more geared to be with little kids then it is to teenage girls. I will forever miss Nicaragua and the friendships I made there with some of the kids. However, God has been teaching me so much. In Boracay, I was in charge of 4 of the JAZ girls as a small devotional group and also to make it easier on the caretakers by dividing the girls. My four girls are incredible, they are beautiful princesses of God who have very strong relationships with the Lord. But leading them, making sure they were in the right place, and keeping track of them- was more stressful then I ever imagined. It really made me realize how horrible I was to my parents at some points because of my horrible attitude and how I never thought about how my actions effected my parents. I also have really been learning what my passions are and what they are not. In Boracay, they needed some of the caretakers to supervise at a Red Cross school during recess, it felt like I had been holding my breath for the last 2 months and for those short 30 minutes I gulped in some of the freshest sweetest air that has ever existed. Not literally of course, in reality the room was cramped, smelled like old chalk and sweat, and was extremely hot. I didn’t notice any of those things. Each conversation I had with each of the small second graders was like a mini energy boost to get me through the rest of the Philippines.
I know my passion is children, I have no clue however what to do with that passion. I don’t know if i should have a job that revolves around kids, or maybe have something on the side where I could do ministry with them. I really have to give it to the Lord and trust in him to know what is to come. No matter how hard it is to be doing ministry with teenage girls, God really has matured me through it all. My team leader Ellen Hudson, has been ranting about how she wants to live and do ministry here in the Philippines. Recently our contact, Josie(also the creator of the JAZ home), told her she had been praying about a new ministry and she felt called to ask Ellen to head up the ministry. This is enough for me. The fact that Ellen Hudson has been confirmed in the Lord that this is the plan for her life just gives me hope and also gives me such joy to see him fulfill his plans for her. Things like that- God showing himself so clearly through the hard times what he wants his children to do with their futures, the feeling of being totally and completely content with life for the first time in 2 months by stepping into a cramped classroom, keeps me going. I know God will reveal his plans for me in his timing. Pray for me as I continue my journey across the world and my journey to discover what God holds for me in the future.
New Years Resolution verse for my heart:
12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness,humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
