Before I even start to type anything, I let out a big sigh. I question at first why? At what that sigh was saying and I think it's just a sigh of relief to finally write a post about this and a sigh of understanding that this post opens the gates to a lot more letters to write and trust to have in the Lord's provisions. So within the last few weeks I have totally been at peace with the way the next year is going to unfold. It's already November and in 11 days I leave for the Middle East. The trip to Moloka'i was amazing and totally rocked my world and I'm so ready for another outreach to rock me even harder. I've been so stoked for the Middle East trip for months now and the one and only time I doubted whether the Lord had blessed me with this trip or I had selfishly wanted to travel and picked this trip for myself the Lord pushed those doubts aside. I was sitting on the bus on the way to the beach and while discussing with other STN'ers about the upcoming trip, I was held back by thinking for the first time my motives for the trip. The minute I doubted someone tapped my on the shoulder. Miss did you just say you are going to Israel? I was sort of taken back - we are on the bus in Oahu and some lady is asking me about Israel... she later tells me that she lives in Israel (specifically in a town we will be spending time in) and wants me to make sure I find her when I'm passing through. It was just so cool how for that one moment that I doubted where my heart was within the Middle East this lady just totally eased that with a total divine appointment on the bus - it was great. That was the only and last time I ever thought twice about this amazing trip I'm going to be blessed to go on.
Now a little fast forward to where my heart is now. Within the last few weeks I have been overwhelmed with the decision to follow the path the Lord has provided. It has definitely not been a path easy to choose, or a path I would have ever expected but non the less the direction the Lord is leading me. During my time here at Surfing The Nations my life has been radically changed. I have had been blessed with not only an epic family(ohana) here on property but also been totally amazed by the town I live in. The community here is so mind blowing. The outreaches that we have each week have allowed us to dive deeper within our friendships with the community. I have been overwhelmed with joy the amount I get when we are doing our outreaches and the Lord has totally taken my passions and talents and put them to use here. Just yesterday we had our surf outreach and the kids are learning so quick. This outreach goes on every week and it's pretty amazing to see the kids start to open up and trust. They are all at risk youth and are all pretty much under the age of 14. It's amazing to see how God has used a passion of mine (surfing), a job of mine (teaching), and the heart I have for children to put me in a position to be involved in this specific outreach of ours. This is one of the many outreaches we have been involved in and each week it changes and grows. Today we have the Feeding The Hungry outreach and I know I've posted a lot about that, so hopefully you have gotten the image of love and grace and total blessings. So this new path I talk about, the tough choice to make I'm addressing is the fact that I have decided to stay. Deciding to stay was super hard and a choice I know was right but it doesn't excuse for the fact it will continue to be hard. My stay is a minimum of one year and within that one year I will doing a program called SLS (Surfers Leadership School). The rest of the nine months will be filled with finding where the Lord draws my heart and where there is a need to be met at Surfing The Nations. My heart tells me to go - go - go. I hope to find myself in Sri Lanka for a good amount of time, as well as Indo and Bangladesh. I know this next year will bring so much joy but with coming a full time missionary, comes the stress of not having control. Join me as I pray for provisions to allow me to stay as well as the strength and endurance I will need this next year. Thanks to all of you guys who follow my blog and keep updated on what is going on. Your thoughts and prayers are felt.
Stay tuned for more!
YES!
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