Ma Doshro (I Am Second)

My bags have been unpacked, most of my stories have been told. I've washed the Nepali scent from my clothes, I've sent thank you cards. I've stuffed down my feelings and put off writing this post so I wouldn't have to face them. I haven't let myself dwell on the memories, because the fact that I'm here and they're there breaks my heart.

They ask us to make an "I will.." statement about something we would do when we came home. All I can think now is, "I WILL NOT FORGET." I'm so afraid that my daily routine will overtake my life again, that my busy-ness will drown out my memories, that I will forget to pray for their beautiful souls. With a deep passion, I do not want to forget!

My emotions overwhelmed me on my first Sunday back at church. For starters, I was extremely disappointed when I woke up and remembered that I was home, I had dreamed of Nashville all night. Then, I don't know who picked the Operation Christmas Child video that was shown during the church service, but it was filmed in Nepal. Seeing the children and hearing the language just broke my heart. Memories flooded my mind. The four year old boy with the brilliant smile, riding a bike that was way too big for him all over the place by himself. The sincerity and passion in Rita's voice as she accepted Christ as her Savior. Her beautiful laugh and the way she says "Phillip" and "Isaiah". 14 year old Ambika, and the loyalty she has to Hinduism. Little Oosaipaw and his marbles, the way he tugged my arm and absorbed my affection. Kamari, who was too afraid. 18 month old Alex, watching cars in Nepali and cuddling his daddy as Mitch shared the story of Jesus with him. Mon trying to teach us how to say "thank you" in Nepali. Our Nepali Christian interpreter Tika, how she would reach out and hold my hand in such a sweet affection, or when she was scared. So many more faces and names. The tears and the giggles. The fear and the freedom. I would have much rather been in their strongly scented homes, sitting cross legged on the floor in a long skirt, eating whole sardines and using a bathroom with no toilet paper than sitting in the sanctuary at that moment.

The pastor had asked me to speak, and I thought I had my emotions under control enough. But as I stood before my church family, as the passion of God overwhelmed me, I just cried. Worship songs that had just been sung with a lack of passion, "Lord have mercy on us, Christ have mercy on us." and "Oh God let us be, a generation that seeks Your face... that turns our eyes from evil things... that casts down our idols." All I could think of was the people I had told Jesus about, who had refused Him. The houses where all we could do was pray, Lord please have mercy on these people!! They know not what they do! These families where literally generation after generation have worshipped idols. And those of them who did discover Christ, who knew that they might be beaten or mocked and were still willing to turn their faces from their idols and share the story of Jesus! And yet here Christians stand, eyes closed to the spiritual battle. Singing deep words without an ounce of passion. I expressed all of this. I stood there and bawled and urged them to worship! Missions exists because worshippers do not. The closing song for the service, Ten Thousand Reasons. 90% of the congregation was standing at the front of the church, before the alters, singing the very same song we had sang more than once in Nashville. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Your beauty steals my breath, every single time.

During our time in Nashville, I was a member of a team of 86 people. 44 of them were "nationals" from Nashville. We shared the gospel with 397 people! 47 of those people accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior, and 5 of them were baptized! 24 new I Am Second groups were started. The 44 people who live in Nashville will follow up in our absence, and disciple the people who accepted Christ.

So far, I have been able to train the youth leadership group at my church, and one of our middle school after-school clubs in telling a story about Jesus. We will continue meeting each week in a fashion very similar to "I Am Second" groups. Seeing them learn and share the stories blessed my heart more than I can express. I pray that the fruit of our labors will be abundant in this town. You're the God of this city!

Obstacles are the greatest opportunity for God to move.

♫ Spirit lead me when my trust is without borders, let me walk upon the waters- wherever You would call me. Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander, and my faith will be made stronger- in the presence of my Savior ♪

-SaraKate

Day five!

Imagine a dreary day. A gray sky full of clouds, crisp air settling around you. You are standing with a crowd of people gathered around an animal trough full of water. There is anticipation and excitement hanging in the air. Everyone is holding a camera or cell phone, ready to record what you are about to witness. The women go first, three from the Sudan. Cheers rise from the crowd. As silence falls, everyone is asked to put any form of a camera away. Two men emerge from the back of the crowd- two men from Iraq who could be persecuted for what they are about to do. They step into the water and sink to their knees as the women did. A voice rings out- "do you believe in the Most High God? Have you agreed to serve Him for the rest of your life?" The reply, a confident "yes!". A hand reaches out to show him how to cover his nose, hands bend him forward into the water with the words, "I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost!" As the last man rises from the water, 100 singing voices rise from blessed spirits- "Bless the Lord, oh my soul, whoa my soul, worship His Holy Name. Sing like never before- oh my soul, I'll worship Your holy name." Chills climb your arms, not from the cold- but from the beauty of the presence of the Lord surrounding you.

I praise The Lord for His wonderful works I have been allowed to experience this week!

Not only did I get to witness 5 baptisms today, but I got to share the gospel with 8 people! I got to go back to Rita's house and teach her another story from the bible, a story about how to pray (the Lord's Prayer). She was delighted. Telling her goodbye broke my heart. She hugged me, pinched my cheek and said, "you so sweet. I love you!" (I can still hear her voice in my mind, I wish I could share it with you.) Her eyes and smile are so full of hope and joy now! She hopes to be baptized soon, but is afraid of her parents. Please keep praying for her! 

We also got to visit several new homes from different people groups today. There's one community that we found where we thought Nepalis lived but it turned out that about six different people groups were represented in this community of about 20 houses. Unfortunately in all of those places Jesus was rejected or we weren't able to tell about Him at all. Two in particular stand out in my mind. The first house, a Vietnamese man named Tom. He was cooking food for his children, and finally answered the door as we were walking away. He stood on the porch and talked to us for a while but made it clear that he was catholic and had no interest in religious conversation. He said he had to leave because he was cooking dinner, so my quick thinking partner for the evening (Jeff) went into this story about how much he loves food, and invited himself in to see what was being cooked. I excused myself to the bathroom (a habit I've adopted to buy a couple minutes and pray for the house). As I was using the bathroom and praying I spoke the words "may we be a light in this house". As soon as the words left my mouth, the bathroom light went off! Ok, God I get the message. I prayed and I prayed, I sent the darkness from the house in the name of Jesus. My prayer is that they will not be able to forget about Jesus in that house. And when they stand in that bathroom, their eyes will see and their hearts will hear and their Spirit will feel God as they never have before! 

The other home the sticks out in my memory is the house of Yawna. Yawna is Russian! She has a beautifully decorated home full of bright colors, relics from the holy land and crosses as decorations. She is Greek Orthodox. She was incredibly friendly and personable, telling me lots of stories from her home and explainin her beliefs with me. She let me tell her the story of Jesus! However, she recites prayers every night from a book that her grandmother taught her when she was young. It took a while for us to explain the different between her prayers, and a prayer to accept Jesus. She told us the story with the cube and said she would think about it. She also said she would tell her husband the story when he got home. She later told us that he does not believe in God and mocks her for it. The simple fact that she offered to tell him anyways is fantastic!! Please pray for them both. For her to realize her need for Jesus and to have strength. For him to actually listen to her, and hear the words of God. 

It is funny the ways of speaking I have adopted this week. When talking to people who barely speak English, I have been using a lot of hand motions or a translator- and when you speak with a translator it is best to not use contracted words (can't, don't, won't, etc). So now in normal conversation I catch myself speaking with very clear articulation and lots of hand motions ( even more than before! haha)

As the evening ended, we were standing in the cold in a Nepali community waiting for our ride. A man invited us inside his home, and we learned that they were Nepali Christians! We spent an hour learning from them and hearing their beautiful story. Two of the men preach at a Nepali Christian church! It was a wonderful, encouraging way to end the week. As I was sitting in their home I realized that all of my clothes are saturated in the Nepali smell. It's a scent of their cooking spices and body odor, I really don't know how to explain it. It's a disgusting yet beautiful smell that lingers in everything. The women usually cook in the garage or outside to keep their house from smelling. However, a lot of the families we worked with this week lived in apartments and did not have that advantage. Washing my clothes, losing that scent, will be very bittersweet. Maybe I will keep a shirt and never wash it ;) 

Here's my heart, Lord- take and seal it, seal it for Thy courts above!

-SaraKate 

Day Four!

Joy mâché!

I wish I could simply sit down and accurately articulate to you my feelings and thoughts from today. I have learned so much! Right now, I am simply exhausted. The weather has been dreary and rainy all day... The majority of my afternoon I was wet and cold. Because of this, I have had some bad waves of pain from my rheumatoid arthritis. 

I share these negative things with you, to share the beauty. Without pain we can not know comfort. If you have never experienced the comfort and peace of Christ, I can not explain it you. It's simply something that has to be experienced. When I am sharing Christ with someone, when I am lost in His presence and lost in worship- I do not feel these worldly pains in my body. All I can feel is the joy and strength of The Lord resounding and pulsing through my Spirit! I wish that is something I could explain with others, that I could share a glimpse of. When a 14 year old girl is sitting across from me, claiming Hinduism with every fiber of her being because that's what her elders have engrained in her, when I am sad and frustrated because my word about this otherworldly pleasure is simply not enough. When elders respect our stories of Jesus but will not accept them, when Jehovah's Witness' have gone before us and left confusion. These are the moments when I have to leave the Holy Spirit in control, because I want so badly for these people's eyes to be opened to the truth. 

Please pray for us all. We are worn out; spiritually, emotionally, physically. But at the same time, we are more vibrant and alive in Christ than ever before. 

Many of us will be returning for one last visit to their communities tomorrow, and we need to be covered in prayer in the name of Jesus. Pray for Mon and Ash, for Kamari and Amber, for Waihay and Ehdah, for Sun and Ganga, for Somati and Harka, for Mon, Ambika and Darma!(these are only the ones that I have specifically worked with) These Nepali people have all now heard of Jesus, some of them for the very first time- and refused Him. Pray for our translators wisdom and articulation. Pray for myself and my team members strength, wisdom and protection against the strongholds in these lives, generations and communities. 

"Elegance does not occur when you add flourishes. Elegance occurs when you take away everything that is not necessary, and are left with what truly matters. "

 

In the name of Jesus,

-SaraKate

This is my name in Nepali :) I got to work with a beautiful translator today named Tika! She is only 14, a Christian Nepali! Without her, many people would not have heard stories about Jesus today!   

Day Three!

Holy Spirit You are welcome here, come flood this place and fill the atmosphere!

Since I woke up this morning, those lyrics were in my mind and heart. With my morning devotion I doodled them into my journal and claimed them in the name of Jesus for the places we would be visiting today. 

Yesterday, I mentioned a girl named Rita. She was the only person out of the Nepalese that I got a chance to share with that did not express fear at accepting Jesus as her Savior. She understood the story perfectly and expressed a desire to follow Jesus. But for some reason, she could not follow through with the sinners prayer. I could see in her eyes her desire for Jesus, the desire of her heart. However, when she opened her mouth to pray, she physically could not say the words. Because of the underlying strongholds I was sensing, I asked her if i could come back and bring a friend with me. Tonight I was able to go back and see Rita along with two of my dear teamates. We spent time praying over her, binding any strongholds, witchcraft or generational curses in the name of Jesus. I claimed in the name of Jesus that His Holy Spirirt was welcome there! Within a couple minutes of our prayer ending, Rita beautifully gushed the sinners pray in her own words!! Her mother was in the house so we asked Rita if she would like to share the story of Jesus with her mother. We got to watch as she led her mother through the evangicard in their language. Although her mother did not received Christ tonight, she was very receptive and the entire scene stole my breath with it's beauty! Her mother's name is Somati and her father's name is Harka. Rita tells us that they do not believe in Jesus, and do not want too. Please pray for them!! We got to spend more time with Rita, telling her another story about Jesus. Seeing her eyes light up at the wonders of her newfound Savior filled my heart with awe. Words truly can not express. 

Tomorrow we will be going back to feed her hunger and share more stories about Jesus with her. Please earnestly pray for these people, there are such deep generational curses and strongholds binding them in ways they can't see. Many of my team members where rejected by atleast one person or group tonight. Satan is seeing the hope we are bringing and he is fighting against us. We claim in the name of Jesus that he will have no grip on their hearts!  

Holy Spirit You are welcome here,

SaraKate

Day Two!

Namaste!

Today has been so beyond amazing. 

We started out with a training about the evangelism and discipleship methods that we're using this week and were placed in our small groups to go out into the city. 

My team was assigned the Nepalese people group. I am so in love. This people group fits my heart beat. They're busy and loud, their door is always open, and their shoes are always off! The specific street that we went too today was filled with all Nepalese, who all knew each other. Children were running back and forth and everywhere. The scent of spicy foods occasionally drifted past on the beautiful breeze.  I was welcomed into 4 different homes(the longest visit last almost 2 hours!), with different members from my team at different times. I was blessed to participate in presenting the gospel with approximately 8 people, not including the children who were in and out at various times. These beautiful people were so open to the story of Jesus, they freely shared about their culture and religions, and just as easily listened as we told about our Most High God. No one accepted Christ as their Savior tonight, and the main reason for that was fear. So many of them wanted what we were sharing, I could see it in their eyes. However, they feel that their families will not agree with their decision and reject them. The majority of the people that we spoke with today agreed that we could return tomorrow or the next day to share more true stories about this Jesus from the Holy book with them!! Please pray for them, some of the names that stand out the most to me are Mon, Ash, Kamari, and Rita. Ash and Mon are grandparents that hold a significant key to three generations being receptive to receiving Christ as their Lord! Mon invited some of us to eat tonight(our teams divided into even smaller "sub-teams"). She fed us rice, yogurt that was more like sour cream, entire sardines and an insanely spicy vegetable mix. I bravely conquered my entire plate, including the spices that were making grown men sweat, and then was served seconds! Thankfully, a little while ago my lips finally stopped burning, haha. At the next house, where I got to share the gospel one-on-one with a girl my age name Rita, we were fed again! This time it very yummy pork, with soda and banana! Please please please pray for Rita, she was the only person who did not express fear at accepting Jesus as her Savior, but for some reason could not follow through with the sinners prayer. She understood the story perfectly and retold it to me several times using our evangicards(which I left with her and she said she was going to share with her family!). She understands and expressed a desire to follow Jesus. She asked me to come back tomorrow and tell her more about Him!

For some reason cupcakes keep coming back to my mind. I was recently teased(in a playful manner) by someone I work with at the pregnancy care center. She teased me for being OCD and said she pictured me being the kind of person who would move through a tight schedule with a client and not give them time to share their personal story(I'm actually the opposite, I love people and their stories). For whatever reason, her comment stuck in my head and I pondered it later. I realize that I am OCD to a certain extent, like when it comes to methodical things such as organizing brochures or baking 700 cupcakes. But when it comes to people, you can forget it. I just love them! Sure we might need to do a lesson, but making them feel loved and cared for, truly listening to their story is so much more important than making sure that the lesson doesn't run a little late. When it comes to people you can't be OCD or methodical because they aren't cupcakes, they don't all need the same thing. Every person needs love in a different way. But today I realized, ultimately when it comes down to it- just as cupcakes need their basic main ingredients to be considered cupcakes- all humans need Jesus. Sure they still can't be treated OCD methodical exactly like cupcakes, because each culture and gender and "braches" of people need to be loved differently. But when it really, truly comes down to the roots-They all need Jesus Christ more than anything. So here amongst these beautiful people, I have discovered a way to be methodical in a consantly varying format ;) 

Also please pray for my roommate Cassie as she has a nut allergy and accidentally ate something cooked in peanut oil earlier today! She seems to be much better now after resting but please still keep her in your prayers :)

Nothing but the blood of Jesus,

SaraKate

Day One!

Moments like these, I wish that I was an amazing writer so that I could clearly articulate to you the things I desire to express. 

From the moment I left this morning, God  has held me in His righteous right hand. My flight was fantastic, the best I've ever been on. (from someone who's claustrophobic and scared of heights, that's saying a lot) I gave it all to Him. My anxieties, my fears and my pain. I've been waiting all day for my butterflies to catch up with me and overwhelm me, but thanks to the comfort of my Father, they had no grip on me. My pain started creeping in slightly a couple hours ago, but compared to the pain I normally feel daily, mixed with the stress and physical aspects of my day, it should be way worse. My roommate is a sweet walking miracle named Cassie, who's survived a double lung transplant! The prayer letters that Lyndsey wrote me hit right on today, reminding me to be brave in Christ and not allow myself to feel inadequate(this was especially concerning because I am the second youngest member of a 100+ team, with the majority being e3 veterans). The leaders are efficient and heartfelt, the orientation they shared with us tonight was moving. The worship was fantastic. The women I'm surrounded with love God and are sweet, caring spirits. I wish I could deeply describe the blessings and love I feel resounding in my soul. 

I was reminded again tonight of the burn I feel in my heart when India is mentioned. Not only does India have unreached people groups, but they have unengaged unreached people groups (so many that the list continues for 8 pages). This means that there is no one actively presenting Christ to these people. Every 1.5 seconds a person in India dies and enters eternity, with a very high probability of never even hearing about Jesus Christ. I pray that God continues to reveal to me this week of His plan for me to engage India (hopefully in February 2014!). 

I can't wait for the morning, we will dive head first into some extensive training to help us present the gospel in the most effective way, then we will begin engaging the local Kurds, Somalis, Southeast Asian Indians, Egyptians and Vietnamese. 

For now I'm going to do my best to contain my excitement and get a good nights rest! ;) 

🎶 then read the word and put to test the things you've heard until your heart and soul are stirred and rocked and broken🎶 -Clear The Stage 

Goodnight world,

SaraKate

21 HOURS

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

It's been brought to my attention that most people begin the "before trip countdown" atleast a couple weeks ahead... Well, I have officially begun my countdown and I have ***21 HOURS*** before my plane leaves! But only ***17 HOURS*** until I leave my house!

I can't fully express to you how I'm actually feeling right now. I'm such a strange mixture of anxiety and peace, of fear yet comfort. I can't wait to fully embrace the opportunity and mission field that God has led me too!

I'm the kind of person that doesn't reply anticipate things or dwell on them for a long time. I've been excited about my mission trip for a couple months now, but until last night, all of the things I have left to do hadn't hit me yet! As I was laying in bed, I realized I had a two hour orientation I still needed to listen too, cultural tips and evangelizing methods to study and remember, things I need to pick up from the store, an online airplane check in to remember, a Saturday church workday, laundry to do and a still empty suitcase all waiting for me!

As I sit here typing this, I still have some things to study, laundry to do and an empty suitcase! Even though my suitcase is empty, my heart is full and overflowing. Full of excitement and anticipation, full of love for my team members that I haven't even met yet, full of love for the people I'm going to get to share my Jesus with!

I would try to express to you the beauty that my heart is experiencing and seeing, but I know my words will fail. Words of this earth are so inadequate compared to the presence of The Great I Am!
 
I'm so grateful for all of the prayers and encouraging words that have been shared with me! One of my team leaders just called me from the road, just to pray with me for my safety and peace throughout the traveling process! I leave you with many heartfelt thanks for allowing God to use you to make this opportunity real for me, for encouraging me and praying for me! I am hoping that I will get to steal a few minutes at least a couple times this week to be able to post on this blog and share with you all!


Peace, blessings and love to you all!
-SaraKate

There's Power In Prayer

Shalom!

 

Nashville, TN is currently home to 91 people groups! 30 of those people are less than 2% engaged with Christianity, making their people groups categorized as "unreached". During the mission trip I will be joining in October, our goal will be reaching the 5 most prominent unreached groups- Kurds, Somalis, South East Asians, Vietnamese, and Egyptians. Together these 5 groups equal approximately 50,000 people. Of those 50,000 people it is estimated that only 50 of them know Christ as their Lord and Savior.

 

Listed below is one of the prayer lists from e3 with specific prayer requests for this mission trip. There are many more prayer requests, new scenarios and needs being brought to our attention each week! Although I still need some financial support, prayer support is essential and very important to me! If you feel God calling you to commit to praying for this mission trip, please let me know (you can email me at sara_hendry94@yahoo.com). I will add your name and email address to the list with others committed to pray. You will receive emails (approximately 1 a week) between now and October 13th, 2013. During the weeks of October 13-18 you will receive more frequent emails to update you on our mission endeavors and to share immediate prayer requests.

 

*"Heart hosts" are people who live in Nashville, that will commit to working with us during the week that we are there, then follow up with the people we reach after our group leaves the city.

 

Blessings to you!

-SaraKate

 

Prayers for August 2013   for God is on the move in Nashville USA! Pray for this "movement of God" to continue in a mighty, unprecedented way!  May He draw to Himself in Christ         (John 6:44) 1000's of the unreached of Nashville Metro Pray God's continued favor and blessing on our "Nashville host representative" David Kaufmann.  Ask God to protect he and his family, both physical and spiritual, as they stand in the gap for the thousands of unreached peoples who have fled their countries to receive asylum and refuge in Nashville USA Pray for laborers to be sent into the harvest fields (Matt.10) and for laborers out of the harvest!  "And he said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." - Luke 10:2 Pray God will convict, rise up, and make known to us those "host hearts" with both a desire to disciple and with a heart for the nations ... brothers and sisters currently sitting in the evangelical churches unawares of what God has done around them in Nashville Metro Pray that God will build a coalition of like-minded brothers and sisters with hearts to train up disciples who will train up disciples who will ...  Pray for men and women who desire God's glory above all else Pray God's wisdom, insight, and empowerment for the e3 leaders and trainers on this expedition as we cast vision to the Nashville CHURCH asking they pray and look to the nations (Mark 11:17) God has gathered together as He has done before (Acts 2) Pray the Holy Spirit's conviction (Acts 16:8-11) in the geographic communities where these foreign born, unengaged, unreached live. Ask He prepare unregenerated hearts to hear, believe, and receive the gospel of Jesus Christ Pray and ask God's provision for a multitude of translators and translation tools to be made available to the coalition of disciple makers God is raising up Pray all things to the praise of His glorious grace (Eph.1: 6)       ~Revelation 7:9-12~

E3 Sponsor Letter for Nashville 2013

I hope this letter finds you well. I am writing to share about an exciting opportunity the Lord has placed before me. I was planning on attending college this fall to obtain my degree in Christian Counseling. For now, I will be taking the next year off and devoting that time to serving God as a leader in youth ministry and through a couple of U.S. mission trips. I will still be attending college next fall and earning the same degree, Lord willing. For my first trip, I have signed up to participate on a short-term expedition team led by e3 Partners ministry. e3 stands for  Equip, Evangelize, and Establish. To learned more about e3 ministries you can go to www.e3partners.org. 

 I will leave for Nashville, Tennessee on October 13, 2013.  Did you know that Nashville is the fifth fastest growing metro area for foreigners? There are 87+ people groups living there, and every day 137 different languages are spoken in this city. 50,000 Muslims live there, along with 10,000 Somalis and 15,000 Kurds. Out of the Kurds and Somalis, there are only one or two known to profess Christ as their Lord and Savior! Because God has blessed me with His hope, I can bring the comfort He has brought me, to others. I am excited for this amazing opportunity to serve God!

 Our team will partner with a church in the area to target unreached areas with the Gospel. Each day I will team up with several believers, including a translator, and go home to home sharing Christ with those we meet. The locals we work with are committed to following-up with the people who make professions of faith throughout the week - and are further dedicated to establishing new churches in these areas. The goal of this ministry will be to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ and leave behind new churches in these unreached areas.

 I am writing to ask a couple things of you. First, would you commit to praying for me and my team? God works in amazing ways when His people pray. While I am making myself available to be used by God, I desire a team of people such as your self to take part in this ministry with me. Please confirm this commitment of prayer to me along with your email address so you can receive updated prayer requests before and during my trip. Second, would you consider investing in the ministry by helping to send me? The total cost for this e3 Expedition is $1,200. This money will pay for my training materials, plane tickets, housing and food. The majority of the funds will be due on September 13.

 Because I have taken a year off, I will be going on another mission trip in the spring. You can donate money directly to this Nashville trip by writing a check to e3 Partners Ministries and I will only be able to use that money for this trip. You can also donate money directly to me so that any money not used for this trip can be  used for my spring mission trip. Any donations can be sent to my attention at P.O. Box 1642, Avon Park, FL 33826. All donations will be used specifically for these mission trips. 

Thank you for prayerfully considering this request. For more details regarding God's calling in my life and details of this trip you can read the previous posts on this blog. I look forward to seeing how the Lord will move as I take this step of faith. Your prayers and financial support will be a great blessing to me, as well as to many who will have an opportunity to hear and respond to the Gospel.

Why Nashville?

Hello :)

Thanks for taking a minute out of your day to read my blog!

If you don't understand why I'm writing this post about a mission trip to Nashville, then take a second to read my last blog post that explains why...

The most common question I've gotten so far is "Why Nashville? Of all places, why there?"

First and foremost- that's where God led me.

I spent many hours searching for mission trips that I could go on this fall.. you'd think that would be an easy task.. well let me tell you, much to my disappointment- it is not. I searched many well known mission organizations websites, looking for a United States Mission Trip taking place during the fall of 2013, that an 18 year old could go on by herself. I ran into "roadblocks" everywhere! Either the trip was out of country, I was too young for it, it wasn't scheduled until next fall, or I had to gather a whole group of people to go with me. However, I knew that because God called me to stay a year and serve Him through mission work, that there was a trip for me somewhere.

I quit searching the Internet and began praying. The next day, I told my pastor that I would be taking a year off from college and explained what God was calling me to do. His eyes immediately lit up and he told me about a mission organization called e3 ministries. He wasn't sure if they did mission work in the US, so that afternoon when I got home I once again searched the Internet. Much to my delight, e3 offered two US mission trips this fall. After reading the first, I thought "well this is neat", but I didn't feel that was where I was supposed to go. Seconds after beginning to read the description of the second trip, my heart quickened. I began searching the website, trying to find their age requirements... I couldn't find it anywhere! I saw a box that could be filled out if you wanted more information, I filled it out quickly and submitted it. I wouldn't allow myself to feel too excited, because I just knew that they were going to tell me I was too young.

I received an email back within minutes. I assumed that the email would be an automatic, standard, cookie cutter email that was sent to everyone who submitted an interest. Much to my delight, it was a real person! I scanned the email to see how old I had to be to go on the trip, and once again I couldn't find it anywhere! There was a number posted at the bottom of the email, so I called it. 20 minutes later, I had finished a great conversation with Mike and Mary (the team leaders), found out that my age was perfectly fine, discovered that the first teleconference with the team was only ten days away, and heard all about the purpose of the trip. I wanted to go more than ever! As I hung up the phone with them,  I told them that I would continue praying about it and let them know as soon as God let me know.

I spent that afternoon just spending time with God, praying to Him, singing to Him and reading my bible. I asked God to reveal a bible verse to me that confirmed if I should be going to Nashville or not. I was almost done with my devotion and about to leave, so I opened my bible app on my phone to check a verse out in another translation. As I opened my app, a verse popped up. That verse was in Colossians 1. I decided to read the chapter and discovered that Paul was writing a letter to fellow Christians.. he was telling them that because we are Christians we have hope for us stored in heaven. He shares that we learned of this hope when we learned of the Truth (Jesus Christ) which is the Gospel. I just sat there for a minute and re-read and re-read this passage of scripture. I couldn't believe it. Since I was young, God has called me to bring hope and comfort to the hopeless, and our youth pastor has encouraged us to always find biblical truths (scripture) that supports everything we do. I had become frustrated because I couldn't find a bible verse to support this calling in my life.

Here it was- all in one. My life verse, and God's answer. I was overjoyed! I was on my way out the door to attend our Sunday night church service.. so  I told my mom on the way and also got a chance to share with my church family that evening!

After the service that evening, my best friend came to me with tears in her eyes and shared a moment from our past that I had forgotten about. At one point in my life, I doubted the love and salvation of Christ.. I attended a summer camp where they had us make "card board" testimonials at the end of the week... you write one word that describes you from the beginning of the week on the front, and one word that describes you at the end of the week on the back... my word on the front was "doubting" and this... was the back of my sign...

Which brings me to my second point about why I am going to Nashville- The people who live there. 

A lot of people do not realize that Nashville is the fifth fastest growing metro area for foreigners. There are 87+ people groups living there, and every day 137 different languages are spoken in this city. 50,000 Muslims live there, along with 10,000 Somalis and 15,000 Kurds. Out of the Kurds and Somalis, there are only one or two known to profess Christ as their Lord and Savior! These people need hope, truth and the gospel!

Because God has blessed me with His hope, I can bring the comfort He has brought me, to others! I am beyond excited for this amazing opportunity to serve God.. and to love others. I will be spending a week in Nashville in October. I will keep blogging to keep you all updated on where God is taking me, what He's doing, and how you can help! In the mean time, I will be staying here (in my home town) and sharing the hope with people I meet and work with on a daily basis. 

I am in love with people I've never met, in places I've never been!

May the hope of God be in your heart today,

-SaraKate

The Journey Begins

Hi There!

For those of you who don't know me so well, my name is Sara and I live in a small town in central Florida called Avon Park.. I have lived in this area for my entire life. I have also attended the same church for all of my life, and accepted Christ as my Savior on July 9th, 2007. Since then, God has given me a passion for broken people. That same year, my mom began homeschooling me and soon after we began volunteering together at a local faith-based Pregnancy Center. During the last few years I have served God in many ways, including volunteering at the pregnancy center, being a student leader in our youth ministry, helping with after school Christian clubs, running the sound booth at church, singing on a praise team and many other odds and ends. In May, I completed my freshman year of college and graduated high school at the same time.

About two years ago, my best friend and I came up with an idea called RACKing. (That stands for Random Acts of Christian Kindness) When we RACK, we fill a van with some of our church youth and our youth pastor, then we engage any random form of ministry, including but not limited too: giving random kids in the park a toy, giving the hot construction workers a cold bottle of water, helping the elderly lady rake her lawn, etc. We would then ask these people if there was any way that we could pray for them, and we would be able to evangelize to them and share the love of Christ with them.   

This awesome form of ministry snowballed into a week long summer camp called Mission Frostproof. (Frostproof is the name of the city where our church is located) We learned that there were several needs in our community that we could not meet in just an hour, so we designated a week out of the summer to focus on those projects. A couple weeks ago, we officially had our second Mission Frostproof, and God blessed me with the opportunity to help lead it. The week was the best week of my life so far, full of constant evangelizing and focused time to relish in God's presence with my brothers and sisters in Christ. During that time, God revealed to me that this form of ministry is what He wants from my life right now- for me to be serving Him actively, passionately, daily. He revealed to me that He brings comfort to me, so that I can bring His comfort to others. (2 Corinthians 1:4)

I was planning on attending Trinity College of Florida this fall to earn my degree in Christian Counseling. I will still be attending college next fall and earning the same degree, God willingly. For now, I will be taking the next year off and devoting it to serving God in my youth ministry and through some US mission trips. My first mission trip is to Nashville, TN in October! Tonight I will be having my very first teleconference with the trip that I will be going with, and I am excited to meet them all! I will publish many more posts to this blog over the next year to share what God is doing!

Thanks for reading!

With love and Christ's blessings,
Sara