Writing My Testimony

The leader of the Ecuador trip gave us a challenge. He wanted us to write a 3-5 minutes speech on our testimony. I had written down my testimony before for other classes but those were short and not in detail. I have also told people my testimony little by little but I do not think I have ever sat down with someone and told them my life story at one sitting. This was my first time really sitting down and writing my whole testimony down. I am happy that I did it because I was able to see how God has been the one person who has always been there in my life.

If you have not written your testimony down, I really encourage you to do it. I think it help me to see how much I have grown as a person. Also, it showed me that change is possible. When I finished writing it I noticed that there is still so much more things that I can talk about. Also, it help to see that I can always add a new chapter to my testimony. Because, I keep on growing as a person and growing closer to God.

The reason why the leader wanted us to write our testimony is because when we are in Ecuador we are going to be able to share our testimony with the local. If we never thought about our testimony then we may not know what to say. He just wants us to be prepare.

Every Wednesday the team is going to meet for we can prepare for the trip. At every meeting a couple of us will talk about our testimony. This will help us to bond and grow closer to each other. I am excited to hear about how God has changed their lives.

Found out a little bit more about what I will be doing

As most of you know I will be going to Ecuador on March 8 for ten days. I am slowly learning more about Ecuador and what I will be excepting there. The airport that we are going to arrive at is Quito. We will be driving and staying at Cayambe. Cayambe is in the mountains and the altitude is going to be 9,300 feet above sea level (much higher than the Liberty mountain haha). We will be staying in a hotel the whole time when we are there. The air is going to be thinner there and the sun is going to be more intense. When we are there all of our meals are going to be provided for. But if I want to by snacks and gifts I have to buy that with my own money. Thank goodness that they accept US dollars. As I learn more about I will keep you updated about it. The more I learn about the more excited I am getting.

Team Meeting 11/28/11 Part 2

We talked about the unreached and about the lost. In the world there are five different types of religions (other than Christian) that impact the world. A helpful way to remember it is THUMB. The T stands for Tribal and they believe in spirits and animists. The H stands for Hinduism and they believe in polytheism and reincarnation. The U stands for Unreligious and they believe in their self and are atheist. The M stands for Muslim and they believe in works. The B stands for Buddhism and they believe in no soul and no God. When go to Ecuador I am going to come in contact with a lot of different people who will have different beliefs then me. Learning about THUMB has help me to learn more about the different religions. Also, they wanted to make sure that we know what kind of people we may come in contact with. I hope this has help you to learn why sending missionaries to different countries is so important.

Team Meeting 11/28/11 Part 1

I hope everyone is doing fine. I just wanted to let you know what we have been talking about in our team meetings.

This week we talked about the difference about a typical Christian and a world Christian. A typical Christian is someone who is not worldly minded and that they do not stand out in the work place and may be a Sunday goer Christian. A world Christian focusing on God's words for guidance and for strength. Someone who concern for God's world and for the lost. Someone who does God's work, like going on a mission trip. Every Christian should be a world Christian. Something that we talked about is that you do not have to go a mission trip in order do God's work. There are many ways that you can do God's work. You can be a goer who does go to another country (me). You can be sender who supports the goer (you). You can be a welcomer (people of Ecuador). You can also pray that the goer raise the money that he/she needs and pray for safety (everyone). Or you can be a mobilizer (the leaders of the trip). I never thought about it like that. Something else that they said is that when I will go to Ecuador, I will be bring you with me because you have made it possible for me to go on this journey.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers

Thanksgiving

As Americas, families gather around on Thanksgiving to show how thankful they are for each other. But sometimes I like we forget about  that. I had the opportunity to go the beach for Thanksgiving and I was on the porch looking at the ocean and it just dawned on me that I have so so much stuff to be thankful for. Some things are my family, friends, being able to enjoy God's creation (ocean), having a place to lay my head, food to eat, and clothes to wear. It is only a small list of things that I am thankful for. I also was thinking about how I can take those things for granted. Take the ocean as one, there are people who have never been to the ocean. Also, I do not know how many more times will I be able to see the ocean. So, when I do go I should be thankful that God allowed me to see the ocean one more time. (If you have not figured it out I love going to the beach, it is a place where I can get away and relieve stress.) When I was finished thinking about that I started thinking about the people I am going to meet when I go to Ecuador. Most of them are not going to have the same opportunities that I have but they still find things to be thankful for. When we think of people who do not have a lot that should help us to be more thankful for what we do have.

Today, I was in car listening to the radio and they were talking about being thankful. Thanksgiving is a time for us to be thankful but that should not be the only day when we tell God what we are thankful for. The lady on the radio said that we should always give thanks to God because it helps us to remember who God is and help us to remember that he loves us. The verse that she used was Philippians 4:6-7. Please be thankful for what you have and do not take things for granted.

Team Meeting 10/31/11

The people that are going on the mission trip are meeting together every week for we can have a friendship before the trip and that we can be prepare for the trip. I am going to try and update you on what we do at the meetings.


This week we watched a video about the missionary that we are going to help out when we get there. It was nice learning about the culture. The video is..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCWgIjYpNFw. I would recommend you reading it.


After that we played Catch Phrase. We had so much fun playing that. Sad to say the team I was on lost :( but it was a great way to get to know each other.

Support Letter

Dear Friends and Family,

Hola! Most of all of you know that I am a student at Liberty University. I am a senior and will be graduating in May! My major is Family and Child Development with a minor in Psychology and Biblical Studies. After I graduate, I am planning on returning to Liberty for I can get my masters in Family Counseling. I am so thankful that God has allowed me to go to Liberty University all four years of my college life. I would not change anything about my college experience, even the ups and downs, is because I have grown so much in my education and most importantly in my spiritual growth. The best part about Liberty is that they make sure that God is the center of everything that they do.

            Liberty offers countless of opportunities for students to be part of and in these past four years, it has been an adventure. One thing that I really want to take advantage of is going on a mission trip that through Liberty. Light Ministries is an organization that sends people on short term mission trips all over the country. After going to a mission trip information meeting, I felt like God was calling me to go to Ecuador. I will be going there in March for eleven days with fourteen other Liberty students. Some of the things that we will be doing are teaching English as a second language, working with young adults, and ministering to local communities.

            I have learned that one thing I am passionate about is helping other people. However, I realized that I do not have a lot of experience working with different cultures. I chose this trip because it will expose me to a different people group, a new language, getting outside of my comfort zone, and wanting to make an impact on a team. Also it will help me in relating to people better. Being able to help people will open doors for me to be able to share Christ with them.  What I learn on the mission trip can also help me decide on what I want to do as a career. As of right now I think that God wants me to be a Christian’s counselor for adolescents or another thing that I would not mind doing as a career is working in camp ministries.

            I would like to personally invite you to join my team and me on this wonderful experience that we are going on. A couple of ways that you can help is by praying for my team daily and helping with financial support. I will need to raise $2,900 in order to go on this trip. Please pray that God will provide the funds needed for my team to go through the support of our family and friends.

            Most of you have known me for many years and I am so thankful that God has put you in my life. Your friendship with me is so important. I hope and pray that our friendship can grow and that you will be willing to join me on the path that God is leading me.