If you've been following me on Facebook, you know that I've been traveling a lot this summer. I've been to Guatemala, Honduras, and to Florida twice. The entire family will be flying out to Colorado at the end of this month for my cousin's wedding. Traveling can be relaxing, at least it is for me, but it can also lead to a lot of extra thinking time, which for me, can lead to worry and stress. So something I've been trying to do lately is pray about things instead of worry about them. I'm very glad I did because God has shown up in two amazing ways.
1. Money for College
I graduated at the end of May, but I still need to do an internship in order to officially complete my degree. This isn't an ordinary internship, but rather an internship that I get 12 hours of college credit for, as well as an internship that I have to pay full tuition for. So, far, with help from both parents and grandparents, I have been able to pay cash for every semester of college thus far. So this fall is the last semester of college that I will have to pay for, and if I can do it without taking out a loan, I will graduate completely debt free. However, with my dad planting a new church in East Athens (livinghopeathens.org) and both my college fund and the one my parents and grandparents set up for me completely drained, there's not too much money for the almost $3,000 that this fall of tuition will cost (and that's after HOPE scholarship and many fees have been waved). Rather than panic or worry or completely stress out about finances, I decided to pray. I prayed for God to provide with no idea what that would look like. So...to make a long story short, when I got home from my trip to Honduras, my parents told me that a family member recently sold a very valuable painting to a museum, leaving $3,000 to each of us grandchildren who've graduated high school to use for further education purposes. This is the exact amount that I will need to finish out college debt free. God is so good.
2. Rosetta Stone, the language learning program
Future plans indicate that I will most likely spend some extended time in a Spanish-speaking country. I would really like to be close to fluent before moving there. I took four years of Spanish in high school, but 5 years of college have kind of made me forget. I want to learn it all over again, and Rosetta Stone started to seem like the best way to do so. However, $500 is the cost of all the levels, and as I mentioned before, I don't have that kind of money. So, again, I prayed. I prayed specifically for the product as I might be tempted to use $500 for something else if I was just given the money. So again, when I got back from Honduras, I come down the stairs and my mom so non-nonchalantly says to me, "hey, did I tell you that I bought Rosetta Stone!?" I was shocked. She said there was a sale so she bought it. She had no idea I was praying for it. God is so good.
1 Corinthians 10:31 "So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Post-Missions' Trip Update
I sit down to write this blog and it’s always hard to decide
how to begin. I know exactly what I want
to say, but it’s hard to formulate it into language that will be understandable
for everyone, rather than me just rambling on in Catherine-words. There’s so much to tell about the past 3
weeks, but yet I don’t want to bore you with unnecessary details. So I guess I’ll just start writing and trust
that what comes out is what needs to be said.
First of all, a big, ginormous THANK YOU to any and all of
you who supported me financially. I have
barely any money to my name so going on two international missions’ trips this
summer could’ve been a big drain on my already empty bank account. I physically could not have done them without
you and for that I am extremely thankful.
Another huge THANK YOU to all of you who prayed for me during the past 3
weeks. Both trips were physically,
mentally, emotionally, and spiritually challenging and draining; thus, I needed
an extra dose of Jesus to get me through.
Probably the cutest and most encouraging thing I experienced before I
even left was getting to see my 3 littlest cousins (ages 4, 3 and 2). I had dinner with them and they told me that
they had been praying for me every night for the past week prior to my trip
because they knew I was “going to Guatemala to tell people about God because
they didn’t know God.” My mom spend even
more time with these boys while I was in Guatemala, and she said they continued
to pray for me every night while I was gone.
What an encouragement that even the littlest in the Kingdom are praying
for the missionaries.
Guatemala (June 9-15)
My heart was captured by this country on the trip last year,
and I feel deeper in love during this year’s trip. We spent most of the week preparing a road to
be paved (which a team down there this week is actually pouring the concrete
for). This road leads into the property
of Engadi Ministries where the boys’ homes will one day be built. We were also able to go into a school in Zone
18 in Guatemala (one of the poorest, most dangerous areas of Guatemala). In this school, we were able to paint a few
of the classrooms. The children that
went to school there were so excited and encouraged that we were there. Most of these children live in one room
houses made from scrap metal. Seeing
paint on their school room walls make the rooms so bright and happy that they
children are even more excited to be going to school. As we left the school, all the students were
lined up by their classrooms shouting “thank you, thank you” to us as we passed
by.
Painting in the schools...I guess I had a supervisor.
Our team after the last day of work. We widened this road by 2 feet on both sides.
Honduras (June 22-29)
Orphanage Emmanuel is not what you’d first expect an
orphanage to be. First of all, most of
the kids have parents, but they have been taken away from them by the country
because of abuse or neglect. So it’s not
technically an orphanage, and you can’t adopt out of it. You can however sponsor children from the
orphanage, which is how Emmanuel gets the majority of its funds. The children go to school during the day and
while they did, we would do some tasks around the property. These included harvesting fish from their
tilapia farm, working in the greenhouse, butchering pigs, and pouring
concrete. I personally only participated
in the first two. The last three days we
were there, I spent a great deal of time around the toddler and infant house,
playing with the children on the playground.
During the afternoon, after the kids came home from school, we would do
a Bible story, crafts and play games with the “small boys” group (the ages
being around 4-9). These children loved us and only wanted to
play and cuddle with us. You’ll see a
few pictures of the children who touched my heart the most.
Santos
Josue
People have asked me which trip was my favorite. I can’t
answer that because the trips were both so different. My heart has been gripped by Guatemala and
Engadi Ministries, but the children worked their way into my heart when I was
at Orphanage Emmanual. The real test for
me is “would I go back?”…and the answer is yes for both trips.
Isaac and me in Antigua, Guatemala (volcano in the background).
Isaac and me at Orphanage Emmanuel
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Summer Missions 2013
A mini life update: I am currently in my last semester of classes at UGA. I will be done in May, complete an internship in the fall, and graduate in December of 2013 with a degree in Health Promotion. I currently work at Tribe Fitness (livetribefitness.com) as a personal trainer, hoping to continue in that profession after graduation.
So...last
summer, I went to Antigua, Guatemala with my sister doing missions work with a
group from Watkinsville First Baptist Church. While in Guatemala we worked with
Nathan, a full-time missionary with Engadi
Ministries. Engadi Ministries works to break the gang cycle in boys and helps
them find refuge and growth in Christ by giving them a home to train them in
the instruction of the Lord. Learn more about the ministry here. http://www.engadiministries.org/
The trip was life changing and the Lord put a burden in my
heart for the boys in Guatemala. This
summer, I am returning to Guatemala during the second week of June (8-15) with
Watkinsville First Baptist Church to continuing helping Nathan with his work in
Antigua. Our work will involve ministering to
the children in the city as well as helping with the construction of the boys’
home.
Not
only am I going to Guatemala this summer but I will also be going to Honduras
during the last week of June (22-29) to work at Orphanage Emmanuel. (www.orphanageemmanuel.com) This ministry takes in unwanted children and gives them a
chance at a life that they would not have had otherwise. During our time there,
we will be helping on a construction project in addition to spending lots of
time with the kids and showing them the love of Jesus.
So here’s the nitty gritty: the cost for the trip to
Guatemala is $1300, and the cost of the Honduras trip is around $1100. This is a lot of money that I do not have. However,
praise the Lord that the cost of the Honduras trip is already covered, so all
I need to do is raise $1300. It is with great faith and knowing that this is
the will of the Lord that I have committed to these trips with full assurance
that God will supply the money. I
ask that you prayerfully consider partnering with me in prayer and in finances.
*****If you can give*****
Send a check to 1061 Persimmon Creek Drive; Bishop, GA 30621.
*****If you can give*****
Send a check to 1061 Persimmon Creek Drive; Bishop, GA 30621.
Make the check out to "WFBC", and do NOT put my name anywhere
on the check.
Please know that these trips are not possible without your help. The reason we are here on earth is to spread the saving knowledge that the only way to get to heaven is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone. I am looking forward to sharing this good news in Central America this summer! Thank you for partnering with me in sharing the Gospel!
Please know that these trips are not possible without your help. The reason we are here on earth is to spread the saving knowledge that the only way to get to heaven is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone. I am looking forward to sharing this good news in Central America this summer! Thank you for partnering with me in sharing the Gospel!
Acts 1:8
"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
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