i am alive!

well hey there everyone! i know what you are thinking. and yes, it has been a very very long time since i have written anything. see, i was in colombia for two months with only access to an ipod. DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT IS TO TYPE A BLOG POST ON AN IPOD? trust me, i tried. then i gave up. and when i got back, it was all to emotional and stuff and i told myself "i need to process." then life picked up speed and honestly? i forgot. whoops. but guess what? i remembered! so here's a little bit about the past three months. some things i may go into great detail and others i might barely mention. it's just what my brain deems important for today. :)

i left for colombia with a team of 14. we came back with 9.... and a half......

JUST KIDDING. it was really safe. but i do think we all left a little bit of our hearts in colombia. the people are the nicest. the kids are the cutest. the weather is the most humid. the oranges are the sweetest. the language is the most spanish. ok, enough of that.

we were first in a city called pereira. we stayed at the ywam base there, and got really close to those who live there. the base just started up and they only have a few on staff. yury, the director. her sister, paula and paula's 10 year old son, andres. and a guy on staff named sebastian. oh, and of course, our translator, steve. they were all so nice. even though we didn't speak the same language, i really do consider those people family. here's a picture of our main "living room" at the base.

we did a lot of street ministry in pereira. we would just go to a park and start doing some dramas and testimonies and people would start to gather. we ended every time with a prayer time, and we SAW God move every time. sometimes it was hard because we didn't speak spanish well enough to talk to people and we only had 2 translators for our entire team. but one thing we learned, is that if you are faithful to step out, God is faithful to reward you. there were so many times on this trip where we would look at each other in shock that we actually talked to this person, or prayed with this person when we speak two different languages! i was able to pray with this girl to accept Christ on Christmas Eve of all days! it was incredible.

while we were in pereira we also did a lot of other things. we did some prison ministry. we played with orphans. we went to a drug rehab center, and a home for abused girls. we did lots of prayer walks and went to a lot of youth groups. it was an amazing time of MINISTRY every day. we learned the importance of constantly filling up on God, because you can't pour out if you are on empty!

after 3 and a half weeks, we flew down to leticia. it's on the amazon river, literally a 5 minute walk form where we were staying to dip our toes in the amazon. not that we dipped our toes in. we wanted to keep them. :) it was also a 10 minute walk to brazil and a 10 minute boat ride to peru. it was fun to be in and out of all three countries in one day, like it was no big deal. our time here was a big character developing time for ALL of us. we stayed at the ywam base again, and were working with an organization called MMI. (medical ministries international) they were putting on an eye brigade, where people would come and get their eyes checked and even get different surgeries for dirt cheap. it was a really cool thing and we were anticipating running a kids program! they told us they expected 100 kids every day, for two weeks. this was going to be our time. we all love kids and couldn't wait to just play with them. well, it so happened that the turnout was much less than they expected. we didn't have very many kids, and most of them would be gone by noon. we got discouraged fast, but like i said, we built character. we were able to put into practice things we learned in lecture phase. things like "spend quality time with God" and "you can choose your attitude." that was our theme. "I CHOOSE TO HAVE A GOD MOOD!" the opportunities that God provided us with were amazing. we were able to go to the island 4 times, and we really got close with the kids and this one family there. it was a time of just loving on them. not needing to see them ALL get saved, but just showing them that we care. this is a picture of two girls on my team playing games with the younger kids. we played a LOT of pato, pato, gonso. a.k.a. duck, duck, goose.

later we went for a three hour boat ride down the amazon river to a village. we stayed there a week and did all sorts of things. we played with the kids a lot, did some prayer ministry at houses, painted a medical clinic that MMI is trying to set up there. we also bathed in the amazon river. AND WE DIDN'T EVEN DIE! it was delightful. but it was so cool to live with the natives and just live so simply. here's a picture of me with a bunch of village children.


overall, my time in colombia was amazing. i learned so much about who God made me to be. i was able to step out and take a leadership role. i was the "official" photographer and i led worship. but more than that, our leaders wanted us to take charge of our own trip. they said we were only going to get out of it, as much as we put in. and i didn't want to come away with regret. God was able to use me to motivate and encourage the team, and i love that He grew in me discernment for when to say things and when to not.

it is so hard to be away from my team. i grew to love them so much. but i know that God has a new exciting adventure for all of us!

i start full time at Oregon State on april 1st. i'm excited to start doing something. i'm praying that God will give me a huge heart for the campus and everyone on it! it's a wide open mission field that i have the chance to impact for God's kingdom!

isn't that what life is all about? living THIS day, for THAT day? that day when we'll finally get to see God face to face? and that's one incredible adventure, if you ask me.