What exactly will I be doing in Guatemala? I know when I say “women’s ministry” that it is a very broad spectrum. So in this blog, I wanted to share a bit more of what that might look like and answer as many questions as I can that you might possibly have. However, if I miss one, please leave me a comment on this blog and I will do my best to answer it! The role I will play is three-fold, so I will begin with explaining each part.
One of the many facets to being a women’s ministry coordinator is that I would be responsible for discipling local women and World Race women. For the racers it would mean pouring into, training, and discipling women’s ministry-focused World Racers on the squads that pass through the base. I would be encouraging her in her women’s ministry efforts on the field: both within her team/squad and in local communities. I would be equipping her to disciple other women.
During my international race, I was the women’s ministry person for our squad. I was able to host 3 women’s events during our race and helped train others on our squad to lead events too. I was also able to facilitate events during my domestic race. I was able to see first-hand just how powerful women’s ministry was and how impactful it was to the women in attendance. I will be able to use those experiences and testimonies to encourage others to pursue women’s ministry as they walk out their own journey with the World Race.
I honestly couldn’t think of a better use of my time than doing all that I can to make sure that women all over the world are being pursued. That people are intentionally creating space for women to feel seen, heard, and loved. It’s time for women to know, deep down in their bones, God loves them and has empowered them to change the world. Part of my job is encouraging racers to take the tools they have been given and live this out.
As for the responsibility of discipling local women, this is part of what I’m so excited about. This is the whole reason this position was created. Surrounding the base in Guatemala are many little villages. The base has been able to make connections and gain entry into 12 of them. In two of those, they have started doing women’s ministry. A woman I will be partnering with in this ministry has been discipling groups of 30 women in each village. She has been doing such an amazing job and the response has been incredible. The women being discipled are having such an impact on their villages that all the other women want to be discipled as well. They created my position so that all those who want to be discipled have an opportunity. Not only that, but with the extra man-power, the goal is to expand the women’s ministry to every village we are able to gain entry into. The goal in the discipleship it to equip these women to be able to disciple other women within their communities.
Another part of my job is that I would be conducting Women’s Ministry within my local community at the base. I get the opportunity to serve the women at the base that I would be working with day in and day out. I feel like this is something that is so important. We weren’t created to do life on our own. Our community is God’s blessing to us. The women you do life with are meant to build you up, encourage you, and point you to the truth in Christ. I get to do this for the women I will be working with. I get the blessing of walking alongside the women and loving them where they are.
The final part to this three-fold ministry is that I would be responsible to lead the planning and execution of Beauty 4 Ashes events, retreats, and trainings at the base. These events are patterned after A Walk To Emmaus Retreats.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with A Walk to Emmaus, it is a 3 day weekend that is designed to teach you how to live out your faith as a Christian while also focusing on God’s grace and His agape love. Emmaus holds a very special place e in my heart because it is where my relationship with Jesus began.
My testimony is a long one, so I’ll skip to the part that is important to this specifically. I had recently surrendered to the truth that God was real, but I had no clue what to do from there. “Okay, God is real. Now what?” What came next for me was Emmaus. My friends sent me there and I learned what it meant to live life as a follower of Christ. It was during that weekend that I first experienced the power of women’s ministry and made some life-long friends. It was also during that weekend that I received a prophetic word that was the catalyst to me joining the World Race in the first place. So the fact that my job will be to create events for the women of Guatemala similar to one that impacted my life so greatly is proof that the Lord was planning me moving to Guatemala long before I ever could have guessed.
Facilitating these events will include; planning the logistics of the event, planning the curriculum, activities, and agenda of the events, recruiting necessary help, preparing a run-through before the events, facilitating debriefs afterward, and reporting to my base leadership and Beauty 4 Ashes staff supervisor about my events. I am blessed with the opportunity to give other women the chance to experience something that changed my life. So, you could say this is my dream job!
That is, in a nutshell, what I will be doing in Guatemala. That is what my job will be but I also will have the opportunity to partner with the other things the base does. They serve communities through water filter distribution, community outreach, and the installation of fuel-efficient stoves.
The water in Guatemala is contaminated with bacteria and parasites. With 53% of six million people living below the poverty line, these families often don’t have the resources to get purified water. Drinking dirty water leads to many different illnesses. Part of the mission of the base is to provide clean water though distributing water filters into the community.
The second leading cause of death in Guatemala is from the smoke that fills the houses as women cook day after day over an open flame inside their homes. Inhaling this smoke day-after-day causes things like heart and lung disease, headaches, nausea, and irritable eyes. Having an open flame in the home is especially dangerous for small children who can potentially fall into the fire. That is why installing stoves is such an important part of the ministry the base does.
I pray all this gives you a glimpse into what I will be doing in Guatemala. If you still have any questions, just let me know! I’d love to answer anything you might want to know.
With all that being said, I am still needing to raise around $3,000 before I can go for my internship. Our goal is for me to be in Guatemala in early February and to make that happen I need to be fully funded by January 20. (That’s so soon but I have faith that we can make it happen!) I want to stress that this is not another trip for me. This is not about me traveling around. This is about me connecting with one community and moving my whole life to live out my calling there.
I have learned over the last 2 years how to live my life on mission wherever I am. It’s just what I do. It’s who I am. The Lord has called me to live that way in Guatemala and to help lead other women to do the same. Not because I can’t do it here in the states but because God wants me to do it there. I am thankful and humble enough to realize that it is only by God’s grace I get the opportunity to do this.
Thank you to everyone who has been a part of this journey so far. I would not be where I am now without your support. I ask that you pray about donating so that I may begin to follow this new path the Lord has for me. There are some who God calls to go but there are also those who God calls to be the one to send. I know I am called to go. I am reaching out to ask the one’s called to send to send me!
Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?”
I said, “Here I am. Send me.”
-Isaiah 6:8
Until next time… <3
