As I began my World Race journey, the Lord told me to read through the New Testament. So, I started with the Gospels and continued on. As I reached the book of John, I came upon a verse that the Lord has been pushing onto my heart.  "He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie." John 1:27  I remember reading this verse and writing on the margins of my Bible, "If John i...

As my squad’s time in Guatemala soon comes to an end and we prepare for our next ministries, it is important to reflect. It is beautiful that by reflecting individually, we see what unique season Guatemala has been for each of us. This blog is a collaborative post made up of responses from my entire squad. Here are their responses to the prompt, ‘Guatemala is...’. Guatemala is where God gave me a heart transplan...

As we were getting ready to leave for Guatemala, our leadership team talked to the entire squad about some positions there would be within our teams. The positions are: Team Leaders, Logistics, Treasurer, Storyteller, Worship, Health Coordinator, and Beauty for Ashes. I began to think about each position and definitely felt the tug towards Beauty for Ashes coordinator. I called my mom and told her about the positions...

A 6 mile hike is nothing for the Lord. A village at the bottom of a mountain is no far enough for the Lord. Guatemala is not a forgotten nation. His grace, His love, His mercy, it all reaches all over the world. There is not a place or person that is not seen by Him. His presence is overwhelming. If we would not have hiked down 6 miles to the village, God would have still shown Himself to the people. This village fel...

Let me tell you a story, one that I think you all would quite like. A story like no other, so stick around! Let me set the scene for you. One afternoon our host, Wesley, tells us we are going to hike to a remote village to preach and do kids ministry. To be honest, we are told very little about this hike. We are told there is a possibility of mud and that it is quite long. We are told to be ready by 4am and to wea...

Hello everyone! So many things have happened here since my last blog post. We have been officially on the World Race for a month already, and we are coming up on living in Guatemala for a month! I just wanted to give you all a little recap of what we have been doing! Here are a couple core memories so far:  Got to preach to this village, was our first time in the villages! Visited two villages and talke...

These past couple days in Chicaman have been quite peaceful. My team and I spent the first days figuring out how to live in this new place. We learned about the market, where to get purified water, how to work the shower water, and the layout of the town. One of my favorite stories so far in being here was the farmers market on Saturday.  My teammate and I (Maggie or her Spanish name she recently acquired, Margari...

Hola! We are officially doing it! We are in Guatemala!!! Crazy to think that after a year of waiting for the World Race to start, we are finally in our first country. It has taken me a while to process things and it has been a "pinch me I must be dreaming" mixed in with a "what in the world was I thinking when I signed up for this" type of feeling. We arrived in Guatemala on Monday and left for our ministry in Chicca...

Abandonment: "The process of taking our hands off of what we have been holding onto" (Seth Barnes). This week can be described with one word, abandonment. The World Race is an act of abandonment and leaving every single comfort we have behind. Our beds are changed to sleeping pads. Our room switched to tents and bed sheets are turned to sleeping bags. Our closets are now squished into a 65 liter backpack that we now ...

Wow... I still cannot believe that I am writing this blog in Georgia, in my tent, and sweating buckets!!!  3 days ago, I got an a plane, met my team, traveled to AIM campus, set up my equipment, slept in the Georgia heat, and started my adventure. I never pictured this day coming, but once it did, I was in awe. I signed up for the World Race in August 2021, so this was a long anticipated trip. I am excited for the...