Worshiping Amid the Mundane
What comes to mind when you first think of worship? For me, it’s music consisting of a modern contemporary style band on Thursday nights on my college campus. Or the Brandon Lake songs that seem to overtake the congregation on Sunday morning corporate worship services. Or even the times I find myself driving down the rainy Washington highways belting out the lyrics to Josiah Queen or Chris Renzema as I drive home from work. For me, my immediate association with worship is music. But worship doesn’t have to be purely music-driven. It’s much simpler than we think. During the spring… Read more
Memorial Stones from Fundraising
My twelve weeks of full-time fundraising are officially behind me. I’m not quite fully funded yet, but I am far enough along where I can look back and see what God was showing me in the process. Consider my takeaways my memorial stones of my fundraising season; reminders of God’s help and goodness. Like memorial stones in the Bible, it’s important for me to stop and recognize all that God has done to get me to this point and give Him praise for it. Here are my three main takeaways from my fundraising experience: God honors obedience. He called you to go overseas with GoCorps and preach the… Read moreWill you step out of the boat?
Months ago I made my way down the dirt road I live on, walking and chatting with God. Am I always such a good multitasker? Absolutely not. But on this occasion one prayer kept seeping through the walls of my mind: "Lord, help me step out of the boat." Do we ever stop to think about what Peter must have been experiencing in the moment Jesus invites him to step onto the water? Imagine boating far from shore under a night sky. The wind is furious, kicking up waves which send the boat moving like a toy in a toddler's bathtub. In a moment like that, I can imagine the awareness of lacking… Read moreThanksgiving - First Holiday Overseas
Thanksgiving in Ecuador Thanksgiving was very different this year. For as long as I can remember, I’ve celebrated Thanksgiving with my family and extended family. Even when I moved away for college, I always traveled back for our family’s celebrations. So by the beginning of November, I was already getting worried about the start of the holiday season. I was prepared for it to be a really sad day, but I was pleasantly surprised! While I was still very sad that I couldn’t spend Thanksgiving with my family, I was so very grateful for an invitation to a friends house for a traditional… Read moreGod's Faithfulness in the Hardships
Honestly, this month was hard After a short reprieve, the drought has continued and then worsened. The water stores in Quito are dangerously low. Now, we are experiencing 12 hours/day of power cuts, and we could also be having water cuts soon too. You can’t go anywhere without people talking about it, and it’s become a hot topic in political conversations as well. Moral is starting to fall, and it’s beginning to feel like things may never change. Please join us in praying for rain as well as keeping high hopes in the waiting. Additionally, work was really busy this month. We started… Read more
One Step at a Time
I want to be honest with you all. I didn’t realize how much anxiety was in my heart until I accepted the job with the ministry I'll be working at and began this process. Throughout fundraising and dealing with all the logistics of moving to Ecuador, I’ve struggled a lot with strong emotional ups-and-downs that come from wanting to control everything to make sure everything goes well. But when I’m hit with the reality that I can’t control everything and can’t make sure everything will go well, I am filled with anxiety and feel paralyzed. The Lord has sustained me and spoken to me through… Read moreDuality of Emotions Pre-Field
As my return to Greece is approaching, I’ve recently found myself reflecting and reminiscing on the three weeks I spent in Athens in May 2023 with a team from APU. Among some of the time I’ve spent reminiscing, I’ve been reminded of one of the themes/ takeaways from this trip— “He can turn mourning to dancing and ashes to beauty.” This idea of the Lord having space for both mourning and dancing, ashes and beauty, was a new concept to me in 2023. I never thought it was possible to hold emotions of the opposite spectrum together in one space. It was, and still is as I remind myself now,… Read more
Refreshing New Year
Happy New Year! This year has been a refreshing reset for me. I feel more at ease, am enjoying Arabic more than ever, and feel excited about the future. (Of course life is also mixed with stress, fears, and new challenges.) My highlight of the year so far has been getting coffee with my friend M (who is also teaching me Arabic). I was able to speak in Arabic the whole 3 hours as we talked about mental health, God’s will, culture vs religion, and doubts. I even got to share about one of my favorite books, Hosea (or hooshi’ هوشع). After feeling intense inner guilt and pressure to appear “… Read more
Launchpad: Islam
Another blog post, another launchpad! This is the last blog post in my mini-series called “Launchpads.” In this series, I have been writing about what God used to draw me to the mission field. My first two blog posts in this series were about missiology and apologetics & evangelism. I am finishing out the series by looking at my country’s main religion: Islam. In 610 CE in Saudi Arabia, a man named Muhammad began receiving divine revelation from God through the angel Gabriel. Gabriel tells Muhammad “Recite!” and Muhammad is given the first surahs (chapters) of the… Read more