Guat’s Up Next?!?!?!
“What’s next? What are you going to do after World Race America?” I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been asked this question throughout this year. For a long time my answer was simply, “I have no clue.” It wasn’t until I was in Colorado in August that the Lord started to reveal what His plans were for me. Don’t worry! I’m going to get to that part, but first I’m going to give some backstory that helps things become more full circle. Hold tight and keep reading! Its worth it! Here we go…
A year ago, I announced that I would be leaving again. My plan was to go to a leadership program with Adventures in Missions in Georgia called CGA. That, obviously, did go according to plan but it is where I must start to begin to explain what it is I’m doing next.
When I came home from my international race in August of 2018, I had no clue what God had next for me. I went home and rested for a while and eventually decided to go to Georgia to try and find some sort of direction. While going through some re-entry training through Adventures in Missions, I went to an information session on Long Term Missions.
I sat and listened to what positions were available where and what qualifications were needed to apply. I found out about a position as a Field Mentor in India and felt like that was something I would love to do. I knew I wanted to do long term missions but I felt unqualified. I felt like I needed more training to be able to even think about doing something like that. That’s where CGA came in.
CGA is a leadership training program that Adventures in Missions offers. I felt like if I were to do long term missions, that it was something that I needed. I applied and got accepted into the program. I began fundraising and planning to move and live in Georgia for the 5 month duration of the program.
A few weeks after applying and getting into CGA, I got a phone call from a woman named Teresa. She presented me with the opportunity to join the first ever World Race America team after finishing CGA. I didn’t see a reason not to accept the offer. Not only would I get the leadership training needed for the long term position, I’d also get the chance to put it into action right away with World Race America. It was a win-win! So that became my new plan; got to CGA for 5 months and then finish up the year with World Race America.
Fast forward to January 2019. I pack up my car, drive to Georgia for World Race America training, and then to start CGA. We all know how that ended… I ended up getting in the van with the team and not going to CGA. The Lord promised me when I left Georgia in that van that I was going to get the training I needed. It just wasn’t going to be in a classroom.
God showed me that, had I stayed and done CGA, I would have been chasing the approval of man. I was seeking for people to say I was good enough to go and do long term missions other than looking to the Lord for affirmation. So the Lord graciously diverted me and sent me off to lean on Him and seek Him first.
Fast forward to August and I felt the Lord pressing on me that it was time to think about what was next. I, however, didn’t want to. At that point I was tired. I didn’t want to continue traveling. I wanted to go home and stay put for a LONG while, but I didn’t feel like that would be what the Lord had for me. So instead of asking the Lord, I avoided it. I stopped asking God anything for a while. Then one morning in Springfield, Missouri a woman walks up to me.
She said she had been praying for me for months and had a word from the Lord for me. She told me that she heard the word adventure. Once the word had escaped her mouth, I knew exactly what it meant. I knew it meant leaving again. I would not get to go home and live a “normal” life like I had been hoping for. Throughout the rest of that day the Lord kept speaking to me, over and over again, confirming what the woman had heard. He even spoke to me through another woman that same day. This woman, I met purely through a divine encounter, was actually the person who told me how long the Lord was asking me to commit to. (Though I didn’t fully grasp that until later.)
Now that I knew the Lord had another adventure for me, it was time for me to figure out what the adventure was. I couldn’t avoid it any longer, but I had no clue where to even begin. I thought of many different options both internationally and domestic. I looked at stuff outside of ministry too. It wasn’t until a teammate, Lauren, suggested looking at Long Term positions that it even crossed my mind that Long Term Missions might even be an option. Lauren had connections at one of the international bases and knew they were looking for people. She asked me to go look online at all the open positions and pray about them. If the Lord highlighted one to me and it was the same one she knew about, the would put in a good word for me.
I prayed about it and looked at the positions available. Suddenly, the thought returned of the field mentor position in India. I wondered if it might be that one. As I scrolled through the open positions, one did grab my attention immediately, but it wasn’t the one in India. It wasn’t a field mentor position either. It was a position that I would never had expected. It was a women’s ministry position in Antigua, Guatemala.
I was shocked that this position was even available. The long term base in Guatemala never had any open positions. (At least not when I had looked previously.) Not only that but it was a women’s ministry position. I never would have considered women’s ministry before, yet somehow that seemed to be the one position pulling on my heart. So I called Lauren and asked her which position she had thought of for me. It wasn’t the same one. It was a position in Cambodia. I thought for a second, well maybe that means I was wrong. That I wasn’t supposed to do long term after all. I started to doubt myself, so I prayed about it again. The Lord confirmed that I hadn’t heard wrong. That His plan for me was in Guatemala, but He used Lauren to direct me towards the path He wanted me to see. So, I started to apply for the position.
I hadn’t applied for a job in almost 10 years, so I had no clue on how to go about writing a resume. I was never very great at interviews either. (Ask my boss, Mandy Williams about that! Lol) So I felt way in over my head with the whole application process, but the Lord thinks of everything. Just as I was starting to apply, our friends Daniel and Bex stopped by Columbus, Ohio for a visit with us.
You see, Daniel and Bex had traveled with us for the first six weeks of World Race America. They stopped by to catch up, but it just so happens that Daniel and Bex were both super successful in the business world and were able to help coach me through my application. Bex helped me write the best resume and they both did practice interviews with me. I’m so thankful the Lord brought them to me at that time. They encouraged me and reminded me of who I am in Christ. They gave me the help I needed to walk into the interview process with confidence. (Not to mention Daniel went out of his way to give me and incredible recommendation to the head of the Long Term department!)
As I was applying and practicing for my interview, the Lord gave me little confirmations all along the way to keep reminding me that I was on the right path and to not give up. It was a bag of coffee beans in a window of a coffee shop in Columbus, Ohio with the word Guatemala printed on it. It was meeting a girl at our alumni meetup who had just found out she too was moving to Guatemala to work at the base. It was meeting a man at the church our host worked at in Medina, Ohio that had lived in Guatemala for 6 months. It was another bag of coffee in Memphis, Tennessee at the Starbucks I had been having my quiet time in all week. God kept placing little reminders for me along the way to keep reassuring me that I had heard Him correctly.
After about 2 months and 8 different interviews, it became official. I had made it through the interview process and would now be moving on to the internship. This is where I am in the process currently. I will be traveling to Guatemala for 3 months as a preliminary step before moving there long term. I have never seen the base in Guatemala because it was still being built when I was there in 2017. So, I will be going to see the base. I will be meeting the team that works at the base and making sure that I work well with the dynamic they already have. I will also be spending a majority of my time in Language classes. To be able to be effective in women’s ministry I have to be able to speak with the women, so the plan is for me to be in language classes all day 4 days a week and to join in on ministry the rest of the time. I will also be going to check out the job and make sure its something that I could do long term.
What exactly will I be doing? I will be posting that in my next blog! So stay tuned. I am super excited about all that I will have the opportunity to do in this new season!
After the three months, I would be returning home again. I would then let Adventures know if I feel like it is something I still feel the Lord calling me to do. If it is a yes from me, a yes from the base (that it worked for them to have me join the team), and a yes from the long term department, then I would begin fundraising for long term monthly donors to partner with. People who would agree to giving $10, $30, $50, etc… each month towards supporting me and the ministry I’d be doing in Guatemala. I would work with the long term department to determine how much I would require to live off of monthly. Once I have 100% of the monthly commitments for that, I would then launch to move to Guatemala for 3 years.
I am currently fundraising to travel down to Guatemala for 3 months. My goal is to be fully funded and able to be in Guatemala by February 2020. The total needed to do this is $4,500. That covers everything from flights, to the language classes, to food and housing. I pray that you consider donating to help me reach my goal by February. All I could desire for Christmas this year is to become fully funded and able to fly to Guatemala to start walking in the calling the Lord has placed on my life. I cannot do that without you guys! I ask you to pray and consider contributing to help me get started. Any amount helps and all donations made through the link on this page are tax deductible too. I am currently back home in Amarillo. I have started working back at my old job and am enjoying the holidays with my family. I am available to get coffee or a lunch with anyone who would like to catch up, hear about World Race America, or about Guatemala and the next steps for me. Leave me a message here or if you have my number shoot me a text and we can set something up! I love you guys and cannot thank you enough for all the support you’ve given me over the last few years. I am so blessed to be able to have the opportunities I do and I have that because of people like you. So, thank you! Merry Christmas! God Bless! Until next time….
