From Scientist to Missionary - Ecuador Style!

The Story of the Little Boy That God Refused To Leave Behind

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 20:51:00 +0000

This is a portion of an interview with one of the Ecuadorian church planters that Stadia is currently working with, along with Compassion International, to plant churches in Ecuador. His story is amazing, and I pray that I have done it justice.

German and his wife Magaly being prayed over by a group of Stadia pastors.

My name is German Campos and my wife is Magaly. We are from the province of Esmeraldas. In Esmeraldas there is a community known as the “low part” where there is much misery and poverty, and in this area is where I began my life. I first came to know Jesus when I was eight years old. It's interesting because a Christian woman came to speak to my mother, but I was sitting right there beside her, listening and when they led my mom in the prayer to accept Jesus, I also repeated that prayer, and that is when I first accepted God.

The church in my community began feeding breakfast to the kids through a program of Compassion International, and there were 200 kids being fed through this program. And of the 200 kids that went for the breakfast, I was the only one that would stay afterwards to listen to the sermon and to sing the songs because these were things that I enjoyed. The rest of the kids went back into the neighborhood when breakfast was over.

I remember one day at the church when they were going to register the children for the sponsorship program and take their pictures, but the lady that was in charge of gathering the children was an enemy of my mother and she came into the neighborhood and gathered and registered all of the rest of the children for the sponsorship program except for me. But it's incredible. Esmeraldas is a province consisting of mainly black people and so all of those 200 kids in the program were little black kids. So it's incredible to me that out of all of those little black kids the project director noticed that there was one missing. I remember that day that I stayed in the neighborhood because I wasn't part of the program and the rest of the kids had gone to the church for the program. I was there by myself in the street playing marbles wearing only a pair of shorts, no shirt, no shoes, when a Trooper full of white people pulled up. These white people were a team from Quito that the project director had called to come and find me, but I didn't know who they were. And I remember that this was just the period of time when there were lots of kidnappings of children taking place, so I was afraid and went running from the street into the house and hid under the bed. And it was scary because they came in and found me and said, “Yes, he's the one we’re looking for,” and then they took me, but just to the church to have my picture taken and to be registered for the program. And it was funny because the project director sent the woman who had tried to keep me from being registered to buy me a new shirt and shoes for the picture. And it's incredible because out of all 200 kids who were registered for the program, I was the first to be sponsored from that project.

When I had grown up a bit, when I was 14 years old, I remember that in my neighborhood there were many gangs and there was a lot of drug activity, and if you weren't involved with a gang, you would suffer abuse and be beaten up. So I became involved with a gang and eventually became the leader of my gang. I became involved with drugs and alcohol, and my life basically lost everything that I considered good. Things got so bad, so bad for me that I basically lost everything. We have a word for what I had become. I had become disposable. I had no home. I lived in the streets. I had nowhere to go. No one wanted me. I had lost all sense of self. I was lost in the street. No one wanted me. I don't know, it was as if I had disappeared.

I know that the Bible says, “Teach children in the way that they should go and even when they're old they will not turn from it.” And I believe what it says because there were many times that I tried to kill other people, and I couldn't do it. And there were many times other people tried to kill me, and they couldn't do it. I never went to jail. Although I was the leader of the gang, I never went to jail. God was always guarding me and keeping me safe.

One afternoon I was waiting to assault someone on a corner, and I remember hearing a car that was going very fast lose control. It hit me and I flew about a block and a half before hitting the ground. I thought I was dead, but I didn't see any angel, I didn't see anything fantastic. When I opened my eyes, all I saw was the feet of the people standing around me saying, “He's dead, he's dead!” But I got up by myself, with no help, covered in blood and went home. So I got home and I was standing in the door to my house shaking, and I was scared because I had no idea what just happened. At that moment, a woman that I knew from the church came to my house. She was the woman who had come when I was eight years old to preach to my mother. She said, “Brother” (she never stopped calling me Brother even though I had fallen so far away from the church), “Brother, what happened to you at 12 o'clock?" and my heart almost stopped because that was the exact time that I had been hit by the car. And she said, "Because I was in my kitchen cooking and God said, ‘Pray for German because he going to die, and his soul is going to go to Hell.’ And so I got down on my knees and prayed for you.” And so that day, at that moment, I finally gave my life completely to Christ. And I have heard that it is usually a process, but for me there was no process. From that day, I never again did drugs and never again drank alcohol, absolutely none. From that day until now, I have followed Christ completely. God gave me my life back. He gave me a new life, a beautiful wife and a beautiful family, and we are happy to be here today sharing it with you.

The Story of the Woman Who Walked

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 03:40:00 +0000

Last week during our vision trip to Manta (the same trip that I mentioned in my last post, "The Story of the Little Girl Who Prayed), our group had the amazing opportunity to take part in a baptism ceremony at the beach. Several of the new churches that have been planted last year and this year through the Stadia - Compassion International partnership decided to get together to have a joint baptism ceremony for the folks that have made decisions to follow Christ. We had the privilege to see 43 people baptized and to share their joy as we celebrated with them.

Note the last photo of the woman in the chair. She has been unable to walk for at least the last four years, but she decided to be baptized, so these four men carried her in a plastic chair all the way down the beach, into the water, she was baptized while still sitting in that chair, and then they carried her back to the shore.

Sister Rosa, the wife of the church planting couple that has been planting churches in this region of Ecuador for the last 25 years or so (and an amazing woman of God), was speaking with another lady after this baptism. In the middle of their conversation, Rosa said, "Excuse me, but the Holy Spirit is speaking to me." With that, Rosa walks over to the woman in the chair, puts up her hand and says, "In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to get up and walk!" And she walked! And walked, and walked.

In case you have any doubt that she really did walk, here is a video (I hope you all can view it - I don't know what permissions might be attached... but if you can't, I've at least added a still image.)

Words cannot fully describe how I feel to have been privileged to have been there, to have been a part (as an observer) of such a miracle of healing. My eyes tear up every time I think about it. The things that we saw an heard and experienced just last week were truly awesome. I'll share more of the stories from that one, single, week-long trip in the days to come - stories of more miracles and joyful, heart-wrenching stories. And this was only the second trip that I've been a part of in the month that I've been here. If that was one week, what do the next 2+ years hold? I can hardly wait to find out.

Thank you, God, for calling me here, for allowing me to be a part of your Kingdom work here in Ecuador. Thank you for the beautiful faith of the believers here. Thank you for their depth of trust in You. Thank you for setting before me such amazing examples of Your disciples from whom I can learn so, so much. Lord, open my eyes that I might see, open my ears that I might hear and understand, grow my faith, teach me and use me in this place. All I am is Yours.

The Story of the Little Girl That Prayed

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 22:21:00 +0000

This is Anggie, a beautiful little girl from Las Lagunas, Ecuador. Las Lagunas is one of the four villages where Stadia partnered with Compassion International and Camino de Santidad (an Ecuadorian church planting organization) to plant four new churches in 2011. The new church has been up and running for a little over a year now. Along with its regular weekly services, the church also hosts the Compassion Child Development Sponsorship Program (CDSP).

Anggie has been registered in the CDSP and has been attending the after-school programs offered through it and the church. Through this program, Anggie receives medical care, tutoring and school help, she learns about God and receives spiritual guidance, she gets hot, healthy meals and clean water that she may not otherwise enjoy without the program. And all of the children in the CDSP receive these things through their participation in the program. As the program has been running for a year now, many of the children in the Las Lagunas CDSP already have sponsors, and they also draw pictures and write letters to be sent to their sponsors while attending the after-school program. This is also where they receive the letters that have been written to them. For the kids, this is the best part of the program. They LOVE to receive letters from their sponsors. Reading those words of love and encouragement gives them hope. It lets them know that there really are people who care for and who love them. But as of last week, Anggie was one the few children remaining in Las Lagunas without a sponsor.

This past week, we (Compassion Ecuador) hosted a group of Stadia church planters on a vision trip, and we had the opportunity to visit Las Lagunas and to meet Anggie. Anggie was very excited to meet us, and she had every reason to be. That morning when she woke up, she shared with her mother that she had just dreamed that someone had finally chosen to sponsor her. Of course, it was just a dream, so she went on her way to school, probably without a second thought about it. Then God rocked her little world. During a regular morning at school, an irregular thing happened - the Compassion project director came in to find Anggie and take her to the church to meet someone.

Debbie, one of the ladies that came on the trip, brought with her a request from a friend back home - "find a child for me to sponsor." The night before we headed to Las Lagunas, Debbie was looking through a few of the packets of children without sponsors, and she was drawn to Anggie's packet. She didn't really know why, but she felt that Anggie was the child for her friend. Imagine Anggie's surprise when she found out that the person she was to meet was going to tell her she had a new sponsor and was going to make her dream come true!

As awesome as that is, it gets even better. Not only had Anggie dreamed of finding a sponsor the previous night, she had also prayed (as she had every night for some time), that she would have a sponsor before her 5th birthday. Now take a moment to look at the above photo again and note the birthdate. August 24, 2007. We visited Las Lagunas on August 21, 2012, just 3 days before her 5th birthday.

What an awesome God we serve who faithfully answers the prayers of little children and makes their dreams come true!

Greetings From Beautiful Ecuador!

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 15:07:00 +0000

I made it! And as I've promised, now that I'm here, I will update this blog regularly even if it kills me to do so. It shouldn't be that difficult really. I already know that I'll have many stories to share, and I can't think of a better place to share them in full detail than here.

My first two and half weeks here have been busy but awesome. People ask how I'm settling in, but I really haven't had a chance to settle in yet. I spent my first week apartment shopping, spending time with the Puga family (my hosts for the time being - and they are amazing people), catching up on emails and updates about the new church plants here in Ecuador and finalizing details for the mission trip team that was arriving a week after I did. Oh, and sitting and watching the hummingbirds at the feeder every morning :)

My second week here was spent hosting my first mission trip team in Manta, which on the coast. So I arrived in Quito on 24 July, flew to Guayaquil on 30 July and then hopped on a bus to Manta on 31 July with a group of 12 other gringos to visit Nuevo Portoviejo, the site of one of the newest churches being planted by Pedro and Rosa del Hierro. To see where in the country these different places are, follow the red lines on the map below. Not bad coverage of the country in two-week's time.

Praise God that even with all of the confusion and last minute changes in setting up the trip, it was successful, and the group seemed to really enjoy the work and treasure their time spent with both the kids in the Compassion project and their own sponsored children. There is nothing better than seeing a child meet their sponsor for the first time. You never know how the meeting will go. Some kids will run as fast as they can into their sponsor's arms as soon as they figure out who their sponsor is...

...while some others are very shy and not so sure what to think.

But what is neat is to watch those shy children open up little by little as the day goes on and they spend more and more time with their sponsors. I wish I had some photos of Nesto, the little guy in the photo above, with Erik, his sponsor, toward the end of the day. It literally brought tears to my eyes to see how hard Erik worked the whole day to break through and gain the trust of little Nesto, and then to Nesto finally smiling and laughing in Erik's arms. I can explain until I'm blue in the face just how special and important the relationship between a sponsor and their child is, just how valuable that interaction can be, even if only through written letters of love and encouragement, but until you've seen how these kids cherish those letters and how they look at their sponsors with such love and admiration, you can't really understand the impact. I'm so happy that there is now a group of 12 more sponsors who truly understand that impact.

Let the Bidding Begin! (Not really... I'm not charging, but I feel like that phrase builds excitement!)

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 16:39:00 +0000

Today, I display things that I cannot take with me and that need a new home. All items go to the highest bidder (that is, the person who claims them first) and are FREE, though I will gladly and willingly take any sort of donation that you might like to give.

I will continue updating this post as things are claimed and more items are added. Keep checking back. You never know what treasures I may post next!

Disclaimer: You must be able to pick up items from my apartment sometime this week.

CLAIMED: First up, a 4-piece 14" carbon steel wok set from Helen's Asian Kitchen, never used.
CLAIMED: A 5' wooden easel, canvas board, acrylic canvas paper, nice artist's box filled with paints, brushes, palette knives and other goodies.

CLAIMED: Set of cookie cutters. Includes an 18-piece set of holiday cutters and a 3-piece flower set.
CLAIMED: Set of cookbooks.

CLAIMED: Item eight, dumbbells for weaklings.
CLAIMED: Rectangular wicker basket.
CLAIMED: Random assortment of batteries.
CLAIMED: Photo mat cutting set.
CLAIMED: Set of four pyrex mixing bowls with lids. 1 qt to 4 qt.

CLAIMED: Victorian style bench/seat.
CLAIMED: Pre-lit artificial Christmas tree.
CLAIMED: Tub o' Christmas.
CLAIMED: Wilton cake dome/carrier.
CLAIMED: Functional hanging wall clock with swinging pendulum.
CLAIMED: Rival 3.5 qt Crock Pot.

Third, Publix's The Pilgrim Pair salt and pepper shakers. Cute for Thanksgiving!

Item six is a backpack picnic set. Everything you need for a romantic picnic for two (except the food and a romantic attitude). Includes:

Silverware set
Small wooden cutting board
2 plastic wine/juice cups
Cloth napkins
Plates
Wine/bottle carrier
Corkscrew
Cheese knife/spreader
Handy dandy carrying case

Knees not included

Wall Art: Street cafe scene, 12.5"x10.5"

Metal sailboat decoration with music box. Plays "Red Sails in the Sunset". When wound and playing music, the boat actually moves up and down like it is sailing :) 11.5" in height.

THE NEXT SEVERAL ITEMS ARE ALL FROM PARTYLITE. I DO SINCERELY SUGGEST A SMALL DONATION FOR THESE. IF YOU KNOW PARTYLITE, YOU KNOW HOW EXPENSIVE THESE THINGS ARE NEW. THANKS!

PartyLite Paris Retro Hanging Candle Lamp. I didn't measure before I boxed it, but it hangs about 15" in length. Includes wall bracket.

PartyLite Paris Retro Tealight Lamp. Holds one tealight. Stands about 12" tall.

PartyLite Antique Brass Aroma Melts Warmer. Stands about 5" tall. Use one tealight in the bottem to heat liquid aroma simmers or an aroma melt in the top.

PartyLite Venezia Centerpiece Bowl and two matching Venezia Pillar Holders. Bowl is about 12" in diameter and pillar holders are 6.25" in diameter. If you want them, you can also have the decorative glass and cranberry pillar that are in the photo (neither is from PartyLite).

White metal, 3-shelf etagere. Stands 6ft tall, 25.5" in width. Shelves are made of glass. One shelf is missing.

PartyLite Sunesta Hurricane set. Hold pillar candles. Bottoms can be filled with various decorative items to jazz up the pieces.

Various baking items. Pick and choose or take them all. 9.5"x13" Wilton baking pan (cuts on bottom, probably from brownies...), ~~set of 3 Wilton Springform pans~~, bundt pan, angel food pan, 2 wire cooling racks, Wilton loaf pan, Wilton 9x1.5in round pan (scratches on the bottom), Wilton 9in tart pan.

Set of 3 casserole dishes. Microwave and dishwasher safe.

A New Year, A New Start

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 20:13:00 +0000

As any of you who had been following my blog know, I've been severely neglecting it for a number of months, and that's really a shame as it's such a great tool for allowing people to stay caught up with all of the advancements that are taking place as I get ever closer to being on the field full-time in Ecuador.

So, since w're into a new year, I have resolved to keep this site updated, even if there are only a handful of you who follow it. Because you have an interest, I will keep you informed, and I thank you for your support.

ONWARD WE MARCH!

I just returned Tuesday from a training course with Team Expansion, which marks one more requirement off of my list. The course I was taking in called Kairos, and while it was pre-departure requirement, it was well worth it. I am so thankful to Team Expansion for requiring it. I wish they could require it of all churches. I really did find it to be that inspiring and that beneficial.

For those of you unfamiliar with Kairos, its vision, in a sentence, is "to see the whole Church mobilized for cross-cultural mission to the world’s least-reached peoples." It gives a great overview of how world mission has been a part of God's plan from the beginning. Though we tend to think of missions as a New Testament thing, the concept of world mission is found scripturally throughout the Bible, from Genesis through Revelation. Kairos also gives a clear picture of the state of world mission today, who is involved, who should be involved, how far we are from reaching the goal, and methods by which we can draw closer to reaching that goal if only we will be obedient to the call. Interested in knowing a bit more? Watch this overview video.

I pray that I can fit in all of the training necessary to actually facilitate the course before I head to Ecuador, because I really, really want to implement this in the churches there. I want not only to play a role in reaching the least reached, I want to be a part of mobilizing the Church to cross-cultural mission as well!

July 20, 2012

I now have a target date for being on the field full time! Woohoo! And I'm getting closer to meeting that target daily. As some of you know, one of my most pressing needs for a while has been a teammate. Well, I'm happy to say that I'll be meeting with a North American couple that is already living in Quito and currently working in a youth camp ministry during a short trip down to Ecuador mid February. They have already expressed interest in partnering with this Stadia/Compassion International/Camino de Santidad project as teammates. How exciting! Please, please, please keep this meeting in your prayers.

Of course then, my next big challenge is raising the rest of my needed support. Currently, I have about 36% of my monthly needs and 25% of my startup needs covered. This is awesome, but I still have a long way to go. Should you know anyone who might be interested in being a financial partner, pass along my info to them. Better yet, pass along their info to me. I know how to be persistent :-D

And I'm almost at my initial goal of 100 prayer partners. Only 12 more to go (though I'd really love to have a lot more than 100 by the time July rolls around)!

Ooo, and I have a fancy new prayer card to send out to all of you who have so graciously pledged to support me in prayer. Thanks so much to Shauna Peterson at Team Expansion for putting this together.

Meeting Deborah Today!

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 17:09:00 +0000

Wow! So if you don't get my prayer newsletter, you have no idea who Deborah is because I've been horrible about keeping my blog updated. I promised you guys on July 20 that I would update soon...I lied. Here we are, more than a month later, and I still desperately need to fill in all of the details because much has happened since I was Launch in July (and even that hasn't really been fleshed out here...ayayay!).

For a quick recap, just before heading off to Launch, Team Expansion's two-week training program held at Emerald Hills, the Team Expansion international office located in Louisville, KY, I was informed that I will need to find a full-time teammate to accompany on my mission to Ecuador. This is not a small feat by any means. How does one go about finding someone with an almost identical vision for missions, someone whose heart has melted for the same people as yours has, someone who is ready to pick up and leave their life here all of a sudden and on short notice? Apparently you go to Launch, meet another couple that is also looking for a teammate, and then have them go back to their church, participate in a Bible Conference and happen upon a young woman who meets the above criteria. Thank you, Anthony and Kimberly, for scouting a potential teammate for me!

Deborah is a young lady from Fresno, California. Her mother was born in Ecuador and moved to the States when she was 17. Her father is from Panama. So she is no stranger to Latin American culture and traditions. She had the opportunity to visit Ecuador for the first time this summer, and her heart grew for the people there as a result.

As an brief intro, I want to share with you some of an email she sent to me (Deborah, I hope that's okay):

Teaching has always been my passion since I was a child. I currently work with kids and have for the past 4 years in an After School Program which I enjoy. I am also a youth leader at my church in Peoples Church. Becoming a missionary has been on my heart for a very long time. And if God calls me to the mission field I am willing to drop everything to fulfill his will for my life.

I would love to partner with you! I know this is God's doing because ever since I left Ecuador I have a longing in my heart to return and share God's love with the people there. The Ecuadorians really need Jesus because I literally felt a huge oppression over the country. I did attend an assemblies of God church there, but there are very few Christian churches. Building churches in Manta is an amazing blessing that the villagers in Manta will surely need. I never had a chance to go to Manta but my mother says it's gorgeous. She was born in Ecuador and came to the states when she was 17. I have been to Mexico, Nicaragua and Panama as well. I went to Nicaragua and Mexico on a missions trip and I went to visit family in Panama since my Dad is from there. So I am Panamanian Ecuadorian.

I love mission ministry. I have been a Christian my entire life but it was only a religion for me not actions, but when I was 18 years old I went to Mexico on a missions trip. God did the greatest miracle in my life. He healed my eyes (I had Lazy Eye). I had worn glasses since i was 4 but one night God touched me. It was our last night in Mexico and our team was having a worship night. That night I felt God's presence like I never did before. It was late so I got ready for bed. I took out my contacts and it was all blurry as usual and went to bed. About 2 minutes later someone turned on the light and woke everyone up. As I opened my eyes my vision was perfectly clear and my eyes felt worm. I couldn't believe that God healed me in my sleep. I was not even asking God to heal my eyes but God works in mysterious ways. That is one of my testimonies of what the lord has done in my life. Since I was 18 until now I have developed a personal relationship with God.

What an amazing story this young woman has to share! She calls it nothing short of God's doing that I am looking for a partner and was led to her, and to further emphasize that point, it just so happens that she is in Illinois this weekend with her youth group for a conference. So, I'll be making the drive this afternoon to meet her face-to-face. Isn't it amazing how God provides? Not that I doubted that He would, I just didn't expect such quick action (though I'm certainly grateful for it).

Will Update Soon

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 00:42:00 +0000

I know I owe you all an update. Things were just crazy leading up to Launch (which I'm realizing now that I may never have gotten around to mentioning in the last update, so you may have no idea what I'm talking about) and have been even crazier since Launch started, so I haven't yet had the chance to catch up. Of course, the farther behind I get, the more there is to write, so I'd better get on it!

If you would like little pieces that will either work to catch you up to an extent or completely confuse you, visit and subscribe to my weekly prayer newsletter (see last update or right sidebar).

For now, I'd better get back to work on my presentation. As part of our training, we're required to put together a presentation that we can use for support raising, and we have the opportunity to practice them and have the Team Expansion folks critique them on Friday afternoon. At least I know I'll be very well prepared when I head out Friday evening. I'd be happy to talk any of you through it at a later date and ask you to partner with me and Team Expansion as well. I know you'd all LOVE the opportunity, so be expecting a phone call! :-p

P.S. This is the AWFUL location I've been stuck at for the last two weeks. I know, I know, you all feel so bad for me... I appreciate the sympathy.

New Prayer Newsletter

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 16:24:00 +0000

I have started a new prayer newsletter that I will be sending out weekly which covers my prayer needs for that week. This one of my efforts to garner support for my missions adventures, and, of course, prayer is really my biggest need, especially at this point in the process. The first issue went out yesterday! Click the link above to view it. If you would like to sign up to receive the newsletter weekly by email, you can do so in one of three ways:

1) Subscribe via the newletter (open the newsletter link, say a prayer, then scroll to the very bottom of the page and click "update subscription preferences - it may give you a funny message, but I'm pretty sure you can still do it that way)
2) Click the link on the right sidebar
3) Click the "Sign up!" link below

Some of you I already added to the email list on my own, so if you go to signup and find out you already have a subscription or profile, that's why. If that's the case but you didn't get the letter, check your junk mail. It will be coming from a new email address that I just set up, so you may need to add that address to your safe list.

Please forward this to anyone you think may be interested.
Also, I have a lot to add to that last update, so I will try to get a new update added this week.

Until then, have a great week and pray! I'll be praying for all of you prayers as well!

Sign up!

It's about time!

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 21:17:00 +0000

It's been over two months since I last posted an update?! Really?! Then I guess it's about time that I let the masses know what is going on in the mission planning process.

I'll start with apologies:

1. for any mistakes or weird formatting - I'm writing this update from my phone while on a bus on my way to a Hillsong United concert (woohoo) in Indianapolis with a group from church (and to steal a phrase from my dear Karen, I love my church!)

2. for my absence, though I realize it has more potential to do my ability to keep people interested than anything

The truth of the matter is that I had no real updates to give for a while. When I left you last, I was in the process of trying to find a sending organization that was willing to work with me and First Christian on this project. I had already been in conversation with Team Expansion, and I believe I had already begun the application process to go to Ecuador with them as what they term a Discovery project. Several weeks after submitting my application, I hadn't heard anything and began to worry slightly, so I contacted them to find out what the status was. Come to find out that they were waiting on one of my reference letters that had not been submitted (*sigh* good bosses are a great thing, but sometimes they're too busy for their own good). After lighting a fire under his rear and pestering him constantly until he submitted it (I can be quite pesky if you give me a reason to be, so watch it!), the application committee reviewed my application and gave the green light for me to move forward! Praise God for His mercies!

The next step then was to set up a meeting with Doug Lucas, the president of Team Expansion, and Tom Chamberlain, their coordinator of Latin American missions, and my church's mission team to discuss the details of my expected role, the church's involvement, Team Expansion's role, the training process, timeline, etc. That meeting took place this past Saturday. To summarize things that I found out:

1. There is some amount of confusion as to whether I should be considered short term or full-time. We finally decided on full-time :)

2. They think I might be crazy and so I need a psychological evaluation. I kid, I kid. I do have to take the MMPI-2, but they require it of everyone.

3. I will need to complete a 2-week training course called Launch at Team Expansion's Emerald Hills facility in Louisville, Kentucky.

4. I need to go through Kairos training, a program developed in the Philipines aimed at training churches for cross-cultural missions work in order to reach unreached and least reached people groups. There are currently still approximately 6900 unreached people groups in the world comprised of about 2 billion individuals. These people would literally be clueless if you asked them what they know about Jesus. They have never heard his name. This is astounding. Upon completion of Kairos training and Kairos facilitator training, I'll be able to come back and lead a Kairos course at church. How cool is that? Very cool! I find it exciting. I love teaching :)

5. After completion of the training, a committee will review my entire package and decide whether to promote my status to missionary recruit or to require further improvements from me before agreeing that I am ready to begin preparing to mobilize.

6. I will need to choose a forwarding agent to handle all of my finances while I'm gone. A forwarding agent would be defined as someone who loves me (not a family member), who won't embezzle money from me, who is a glutton for punishment as they'll be required to keep up with everything and provide frequent (monthly) reports to Team Expansion all out of love for me and for God and for missions and without being paid. I'll go ahead and apologize in advance to the person who accepts this mission...

And I'm not finished, but my battery is dying, so I'll have to get back to you later. This time, I promise it won't be months!

Progress Update

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 16:24:00 +0000

"Full speed ahead!" says Doug Lucas of Team Expansion. "Whooooooooo-hoooooooooooo!" (Also a direct quote from Doug :)

That's where it seems my ship's telegraph has been set pretty much since I decided to take a step of faith in September and start exploring my options for missions in Ecuador. From the time I began asking questions and sharing my calling with people, God has opened door after door with much more rapidity than I ever expected, and it's been such an exciting experience! As exciting as these initial stages have been, I can't even begin to imagine the opportunities that wait for me in Ecuador.

I don't mean to say that we haven't already run into some hangups. We have. Actually, until about a week ago, things were at a standstill. The current phase of the project is to find a missions organization that is willing to stand behind this project and serve as my sending organization. This may leave you scratching your head as I've already thrown out names like Stadia and Compassion International. While both of these organizations are heavily involved in this project, neither is really an organizations that sends missionaries internationally for longer term service. That being the case, Brent of Stadia suggested that we try to partner with an organization that regularly sends missionaries into the field. He first contacted NMSI (New Mission Systems International). NMSI is a missions organization based out of Fort Myers, Florida, whose mission is to "engage, prepare and support people to proclaim Christ and make disciples globally." They currently have about 200 missionaries serving in 28 countries, but Ecaudor is not one of those 28. This may have contributed to the fact that Brent got nothing but negative feedback from them when he approached them about serving as a sending organization. NMSI seemed to be less than excited about our project and even less excited than that to stand behind it. This, of course, was a bit discouraging, especially for Brent, who began to doubt whether sending me was such a great idea. He was very reluctant to agree with NMSI, but as sending missionaries out is part of what they do full-time, it only makes sense that he began to question whether what we were planning was a good idea, so he suggested that I have a "plan B" ready to go...or maybe a "plan A" with the Stadia/Compassion/Camino de Santidad project as my "plan B." And things ground to a screeching halt. But we weren't halted for long...

(Note: I am not trying to present NMSI in a bad light. They are a great organization doing great things for God, and I encourage you to check them out. We were just obviously not meant to partner with them on this project.)

Before plans had really picked up and taken off with Stadia, I had been in contact with another big missions organization, Team Expansion, about serving in Ecaudor as a member of one of their teams. They already have missionaries in Ecuador who have been serving there for over 20 years and are thus very familiar with the culture, region and sending process. When Brent told me about the bad news he had received from NMSI, I suggested that Team Expansion might be a better option as they already have a team in Ecuador and as I had already been in contact with them, filled out a profile, had a phone interview and been invited to apply. I knew that they were excited and eager to work with me when I approached them about joining one of their teams, so I thought there was a good chance that they might also be excited to get behind the new project with Stadia and Compassion. But I had already tried twice to contact them to find out if the application that they had sent previously would still be applicable and to see if they would even be willing to support the Stadia/Compassion project and had gotten no response. Of course, I knew there was the possibility that my messages got lost in the email shuffle, or that people were traveling and unable to respond, or that my messages were sitting in an inbox somewhere, waiting patiently as some diligent worker went about trying to find answers to my questions. But I am not as patient as my messages, so I asked Don, our minister of missions at church, to contact Doug Lucas, the president of Team Expansion, to speed along the process (no, I did not just march up and demand that he contact the president...he had previously mentioned to me that he knew Doug and could contact him for me if I needed any help). And speed along the process it did! Not only was he excited about partnering with us, he immediately contacted a boatload of other people in his organization to get them excited and get the go-ahead, he had already been following this particular project, and he was even more excited that I had already taken steps to get things moving. Hence the quotes at the top of the page :)

So we are back to "full speed ahead!" Now I just need my fundraising effort to start moving ahead with as much steam as everything else is moving along...I'll get back to you guys on that veeeeery shortly :D

If any of you reading this have any experience with deputation (missions fundraising), have any good fundraising ideas, or know people/companies who might be interested and willing to support this project, HOLLA! And pass along my info, please! I will take all of the help that I can get!

Gettin' on my soapbox

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 15:42:00 +0000

Japan after the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami

I woke up this morning wanting to be grumpy and in a bad mood becuase it's cold out again. After last week's beautiful spring temperatures, it was no chore to be depressed and moody about the swing back into winter.

Then God must have smacked me upside the head and told me to get over myself. I realized that I should be thankful that I woke up this morning and that it was just cold. There had been no earthquakes to destroy my home during the night, no tsunamis to tear down and flood what hadn't been completely destroyed by earthquakes. There's no potential nuclear meltdown going on in my back yard. There were no tornadoes that swept through to destroy my home, no hurricanes to wash away parts of cities, no volcanic eruptions, no landslides/mudslides, floods, plagues...it was just cold. Meanwhile, Japan experienced two more earthquakes, still considered aftershocks, last night, and conditions at the Fukushima nuclear power plant continue to deteriorate.

It struck me just how greedy we as a human population tend to be, especially those of us living comfortably in our developed countries and cultures. We complain to no end because the spring weather went away while people on the other side of the world are probably waking in thanks and praise every morning that no more disaster has hit them yet. We go to expensive restaurants and complain because the food was overcooked or undercooked, the meat was tough, it was too chewy, there wasn't enough salt, it was too salty, there wasn't much flavor, it was too hot, it was cold, the vegetables weren't fresh, the bread was stale, the drink was watered down, the coke was flat, and I could just keep going with this list of things which, when you put it into perspective, are completely absurd to complain about. How many people would not fall on their faces in thanks to have the money with which to pay for a dinner like that, a dinner which they would savor every bite of, a dinner which you are eating alone and they would very willingly share with an entire family. We have the resources to get to the restaurant, the opportunity to ENJOY that kind of dinner, the finances to pay for it (or at least the illusion that credit gives us of being able to pay for it). So many people have none of this. Yet we look for every small thing possible to whine about instead of just being grateful for what we are blessed with.

You can apply this to practically every area of life if you stop to think about it. We, as a people, are so selfish! And this sounds like an angry rant, and the truth is that I did get somewhat angry upon thinking about these things because I realized that I'm just as greedy as everyone else. I never would have classified myself as a greedy person, but then I actually stopped to think about it. My most selfish of behaviors of late deals with relationships. I have been down and depressed because one individual has treated me in a way that I consider undeserved and unjust. I've been carrying on in this manner for a couple of weeks. What I have failed to realize is that I'm surrounded by people who do care, who are concerned for my well being, who are always supportive, who don't judge me when I fail but who aren't afraid to be bluntly honest with me when they need to be, who have put forth a completely voluntary effort to point out the positive in this situation. They try their hardest to lift me up, show me my worth, make me smile, and I continue with my Debbie Downer attitude, saying "Yeah, but..." "That's true, but..." "I believe that, but..." And the truth of the matter is that I do deserve to be ignored like I've been ignored. I am deserving of the bad treatment. Maybe not from the person who is dishing it out, but so many times, in carrying out relationships/friendships, I do exactly the same thing to the One who cares about me the most. God tries to bless my life through these people that He puts in it, and I turn around, ignore the rules He has set for proper conduct in these relationships/friendships, put these people in front of Him, and then I am crushed when He takes them away or when they decide to turn around and treat me as I have just treated my Father.

Realizing all of this very quickly changed my mindset for the day. It was a very humbling but very necessary blow. It actually reminded me of Francesca Battistelli's new song "This is The Stuff":

I lost my keys in the great unknown
And call me, please, 'cause I can't find my phone

This is the stuff that drives me crazy
This is the stuff that's getting to me lately
In the middle of my little mess
I forget how big I'm blessed
This is the stuff that gets under my skin
But I gotta trust You know exactly what You're doing
It might not be what I would choose
But this is the stuff You use

45 in a 35
Sirens and fines while I'm running behind

This is the stuff that drives me crazy
This is the stuff that's getting to me lately
In the middle of my little mess
I forget how big I'm blessed
This is the stuff that gets under my skin
But I gotta trust You know exactly what You're doing
It might not be what I would choose
But this is the stuff You use

To break me of impatience
Conquer my frustrations
I've got a new appreciation
It's not the end of the world

This is the stuff that drives me crazy
This is the stuff
Someone save me
In the middle of my little mess
I forget how big I'm blessed
This is the stuff that gets under my skin
And I've gotta trust You know exactly what You're doing
It might not be what I would choose
But this is the stuff You use

I have to admit that I have classified this song as being a bit childish, but it actually sounds like most of the adults that I know, myslef included. Hmmm...something to consider.

Yeah, it's cold outside, but my home is still in tact, there have been no natural disasters, and I'm sitting comfy in a great job. Yeah, occassionally people mistreat me, but I'm surrounded by so many more people who care, who lift me up, who pray for me even when I don't ask, who genuinely love me and have my best interest at heart. Yeah, sometimes my dinner is cold or not cooked to my liking, but I have food and the finances to buy more food than I could ever possibly eat. God has blessed me with more that I might give it to those who have less. So, yeah, it's cold outside, but I'll take it. I'll even send up a prayer of praise and thanksgiving for it. Why? Because it's just cold.

"In the middle of my LITTLE mess, I forget how BIG I'm blessed."

The Story - Long Version: The Final Chapter

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 21:04:00 +0000

Chapter 5: True Calling or Hearing What I Want to Hear?

Many of you at this point may have had a skeptical thought that goes something like, "Wait a minute...she says God is calling her to Ecuador, home of the guy that she admits to falling in love with? I don't know if I believe that's a true calling..." If you haven't had that thought, you should have. I definitely did. As soon as I recognized it as a calling, I began questioning myself: "Am I really called, or am I hearing what I want to hear? Is the Spirit really moving in me?" I love how God knows ahead of time when you're going to question what He tells you and so has already prepared with reinforcements. This time was no exception. He was prepared - doubly.

I mentioned in the last post that I flew back to the states on September 20, a Monday, and I got back to Champaign late that night. The small/life group that I'm a part of with church meets on Tuesday nights, and the following day, we were to begin a new book study covering Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit by Francis Chan. I knew we were going to be reading a book called Forgotten God, and I knew it was by Francis Chan, but that was all I knew. I didn't know the subtitle, nor did I know that the book was about letting the Spirit come to life in you and following its guidance, and I hadn't had the chance to read the first chapter before our meeting, so I was going in blind. Imagine my surprise when we started watching the video intro to the book (see widget to the right) and the intro to Chapter 1, and Chan starts talking about the power that we have through the Spirit and just what God could achieve through us if we'would just let the Spirit move in us. He even goes so far as to say that he hopes that some people don't even finish the book study because they've listened to the call of the Spirit and they've moved in response. I had to chuckle to myself and say, "Now that's a pretty big coincidence. I think the Spirit might be moving in me, and then we start a book study the next day on how we as the church could be so powerful if we'd only stop neglecting the Spirit." And that was reinforcement #1.

Of course, I was still not convinced at this point that I was truly called to Ecuador. There was still a bit of doubt that maybe I was still just trying to convince myself that I was supposed to go there because that's where I wanted to go. And God was prepared for my doubt. The following Sunday, JP, our senior pastor, began a sermon series covering the book of Nehemiah. It was an awesome 8-week series and is available here for your listening enjoyment (click "Launch Sermon Player" and scroll down to 10/10/10, So...What are you going to do - Week 1). As a very brief overview, the sermon was about Nehemiah (surprise, surprise), who was cupbearer to the king. Nehemiah was from Jerusalem and had been informed that the wall to the city had been burned down and the gates destroyed and that the people were in trouble and disgrace. This saddened him greatly, and as he had never been sad before the king before, the king noticed his newly troubled look and asked why he was so sad. Nehemiah was afraid, but he answered saying

“May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?” Nehemiah 2:3

The king asked him what he wanted, and before answering, Nehemiah prayed first. He then asked the king for leave to go and rebuild the wall, and for timber from the king's forest for the wall, and for protection from the king's forces during his travels. Because Nehemiah prayed in earnest, from his heart, God heard his requests and the king granted Nehemiah all that he had asked for. Nehemiah prayed for God's guidance, and I can only assume that it was by the Spirit's leading that he knew specifically what to ask for. Had he given in to fear and not let the Spirit guide, he would not have been able to do a great work for God, rebuilding the wall and restoring community to the people of Jerusalem. JP covers this, and then ends by asking, "So, what are you going to do? Are you going to follow your own will, chase after you own selfish dream, or are you going to do what God has called you to do?" And there was reinforcement #2. My jaw probably hit the floor at that point, I don't know. But what I do know is that at that moment, I said, "Okay, God, I hear you! I get it! You are calling me, and I'm going!"

Not long after, I sat down with the pastors at church and told them about my calling and asked for direction. They suggested that I attend the National Missionary Convention, which was held in November in Lexington, KY. I took the advice and signed up and attended. It was most definitely some of the best advice I could have taken. Besides the awesome speakers and worship during the main sessions, it was a great opportunity to meet missionaries who are serving all over the world, speak with organizations that are involved in sending missionaries and serving worldwide and to just see what is going on throughout the world in Jesus' name. Specifically, I sought out anyone I could find who had information on missions in Ecuador. Having looked up a couple of the larger organizations ahead of time, I knew that Team Expansion had a missionary couple that had been located in Guayaquil, Ecuador for about 20 years, so I wandered the exhibit hall until I found Team Expansion's booth (not difficult since their "booth" was enormous). I ended up begin connected with the director of Latin American missions for Team Expansion and told him about my interest in Ecuador and my previous experiences, and he made sure that I got my name on the schedule for the next day to meet with Bill and Karleen Crandall, the missionary couple to Ecuador.

The next morning I headed in early to meet with the Crandalls prior to the morning session. They were occupied when I got there, speaking with a young man who I later found out is also involved in some mission work in Ecuador as well as in Haiti and some other Latin American countries. It was 'fortunate' that they had spoken with him just before speaking with me because upon mentioning that I had recently gotten back from a mission trip to Ecuador through Compassion International, they recommended that I speak with someone from Stadia because they had just been told (by the young man) that Stadia was starting a new project in conjunction with Compassion International in Ecuador.

So of course, I staked out Stadia's booth. Okay, so it wasn't really a stake out. I went by several times and there was no one there, so I decided to give it one more attempt, and on this last attempt there was a man present, but he was busily chatting with someone else, so I stood and waited. While I was waiting, another gentleman, Brent Foulke, approached. Brent is the Associate Executive Director for Mobilization with Stadia, and he also happened to be one of the main people in charge of the new project with Compassion in Ecuador (note this new series of 'coincidences' that led to me talking to him). I mentioned hearing that they had a new project starting with Compassion in Ecuador and told him that our church has an ongoing relationship with Compassion in Ecuador. We chatted about the project, I was excited about it, he was excited that I was excited and mentioned that he was sure there was some way I could fit in.

During our conversation, it came up that I live in Champaign and attend FCC. Turns out Brent knows JP, so he asked if I thought JP might be interested in knowing about the project. I responded that I was sure he would love to hear about it. Awesome things happen when you take the initiative to talk to people. I am learning that. Not only is Stadia trying to get me plugged into this project in an essential way, now FCC is also backing one of the church plants that will take place as a part of this project! (Yes, I realize that I have left out some details about the project and that I haven't even mentioned church planting in this post, but I will refer you back to my earlier post "The Story - Short Version." More details and a link to document which clearly lays out the project can be found therein.) It truly is amazing how all of the pieces just seem to kind of fall into place when you surrender you heart and truly give God the lead.

The Story - Long Version: Chapter 4

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 20:10:00 +0000

Let me start by mentioning that I fail when it comes to chronology. So much has happened since I got to Champaign that I decided to break the chapters since I've been here into themes rather than to present the happenings in order of occurrence. For those of you who don't like stories that skip around, tough cookies! If you've already read chapter 3, be aware that I was in the process of discovering the Ecuadorian connection throughout the events that will be described in this and the next (final) chapter.

Chapter 4: Why am I here?

I initially never really questioned how I got to Champaign or why I ended up here. It was just a next event in my string of seemingly nonsensical life events, and so I came. Of course, I also had no real reason to question why I was here. I was coming for work, because I was obligated to repay the scholarship that I had received from the DoD by working in civilian service for a year, and CERL was the facility that chose me.

When I started working for the Army Corps of Engineers, I was excited. The research was new, the ideas were exciting and the were very different from developmental molecular genetics training. Awesome! I wanted to expand my skill set anyway. As soon as I got plugged in, I was given the challenge of coming up with a way to couple a cell-based microfluidic system with optical output to create a sensing system to detect cellular stress in response to toxins in a water sample. What?! I'd never cultured mammalian cells before, never worked with microfludics, knew nothing about sensor devices, and had little experience with cell-based optical systems. It was a bit overwhelming, but I took off with it and surprised myself. I actually came up with an idea that my boss went with! And so I was up and off on a project of my own just like that. It wasn't too long before I had received a couple of fairly prestigious awards as a member of a team of researchers. I had been here for less than a year and was already receiving awards! I won't lie. I didn't feel at all like I had done anything to earn a place on that research team as a part of the award nomination package, but my boss wanted to include me. And we were selected.

So, as I said, there was no real reason to question why I was here. It was for work, obviously. Things were going great. Even better, our organization is affiliated with the University of Illinois, well known for their College of Engineering. As I had always planned to be a doctor, it seemed a logical next step to get my PhD. Working at CERL, I was in a perfect place to do that. The leadership at CERL highly encourages advanced education, so balancing work and school schedules is not a problem. As I was already a salaried employee at CERL, I'd also be applying to a PhD program with my own funding. There's not really a better deal for a PI accepting a new grad student...It's a free student! So I started looking into programs that would be most beneficial to me considering the types of research I was involved in and settled on the Bioengineering program. Sure, I was lacking the engineering background, but I had spoken with the graduate coordinator in that department, and he had given me a list of courses that I needed to take over the next year to prepare me to apply for the program. Yes, I would have to go back and take a year's worth of undergraduate courses in math, physics and basic engineering, but I was perfectly okay with that. So next thing I know, I'm registering to take Calculus III...a whole seven years after completing Calculus II. Call me crazy. I often call myself that. So I spent the next year battling through courses like Calc III, Differential Equations, Intro to Computer Programming, Thermodynamics, Systems and Circuits in Bioengineering.

Much to my advantage, about 4 months after moving to Champaign, I met an exchange student (guess where he was from) in Mechanical Engineering. We hit it off and soon after began dating. Having a boyfriend who has already taken all of the classes that you're working on and who has a super smart grad student as a roommate who majored in physics and now studies electrical engineering is a major bonus when trying to go back and fill in the gaps in your basic engineering background. So though the courses were difficult, I had a support system. And I was happy: happy at work, happy with the the thought that I'd soon be starting my PhD, happily in love.

But as always happens, exchange students go home. As if having the guy you're deeply in love with move to another country isn't stressful enough, only a couple of months later, my grandfather died a rather slow and painful death. I started struggling to keep up with work and school, my grades started slipping (okay, I was getting B minuses, which most people would be perfectly happy with, but I was not accustomed to having anything less than an A), relationship issues arose, I started struggling with anxiety and depression. Everything had begun to get so unstable. It was like my whole life had become shaky, but it was still standing...until March 12, 2010. On that day, the waves finally washed my foundation out from under me, and my world collapsed. The love of my life decided he couldn't do it anymore. He wasn't ready for me and for love and for commitment. And I was completely crushed. And my grandfather would have turned 91 that day.

As if that wasn't enough already, the following month I got a letter back from the Bioengineering Department telling me that though they were highly impressed with my application, they had decided not to accept anyone into the PhD program who did not have a degree in an engineering field. So I had spent the last year struggling through classes for nothing, and my research at work had suffered because of it. It was as if I wan't enough for anyone or anything. I wasn't living up to my potential or expectations at work, I wasn't able to keep that most precious relationship together, I wasn't even enough for the PhD program, even though I came free and had taken all of the courses they had told me to take a year earlier. It was like my life had become the perfect storm of disaster, which left me spinning in circles asking "God! Why am I here??? If not for work or school or love, why did you bring me here?!"

I felt as if I was standing in the middle of desert at noon, with the sun straight overhead and nothing but sand in all directions, nothing, absolutely nothing to give me direction or show me which way to go. I couldn't even begin to take a step forward because I didn't know which way forward was. So I finally gave up and resolved to sit and wait. "Fine, God, I'll just stay here and try to survive until you tell me which way to go."

Even through my struggles, as soon as I saw the mission trip to Ecuador in September, 2010 announced in the church bulletin, I knew I was supposed to go. I prayed about it and soon after signed up to go. There was no hesitation. Yes, it was a bit costly, but already knowing how beautiful the country and the people are, and knowing that I'd be going to do God's work, the financial factor was never even a question. So I went on the trip, along with 10 other wonderful people from the church, and we had an amazing time. I don't know that there could've been a better group of people assembled together to experience what we experienced that week. I'm pretty sure details of that trip can be found in some of my earlier posts. If not, let me know and I'll do a post later just about our adventures for the week (Brandi, I count on you for this, and, yes, I realize that I still owe you the racquetball story).

As I stayed an extra week to visit a family very dear to my heart, I did not travel back with the rest of the group. I flew back to the states on September 20, and as I was sitting in Chicago's O'Hare Airport eating my Chicago style hotdog and chips, I felt that all-too-familiar feeling of unease come back. It's a feeling that I've carried with me really since I left for college in 2001 - a feeling of not knowing where home is, not knowing where I belong, of being transient and unsettled. The interesting thing about feeling it come back though is that I had never even realized that it had gone away in the first place. But as I felt it come back, I realized that while I was in Ecuador, I felt at home. Then thinking back on it, every time I have been there, I have felt a certain peace, a certain sense of belonging that I haven't really found here. And so upon feeling that heaviness return, I knew. I knew God was calling me to Ecuador, and I knew why He had brought me to Champaign. It wasn't for work or for an education or even for love, though the love has played a big role in the whole story, but it was so that He could show me where He wants me to go, where I need to be in order to make the greatest impact for His kingdom. How crazy, yet amazing, that He would bring me to central Illinois to lead me to the center of the world.

Rest Easy

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 05:09:00 +0000

My Bible Gateway verse of the day today reminded of a great, old Audio Adrenaline song. Back in the day of cassette tapes (yeah, I know it wasn't that long ago), it used to be one of my favorites from their 1993 album Don't Censor Me. If you can actually find the track somewhere, I hold that it's worth a listen.

1 John 4:18

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

"Rest Easy"

One more mile 'til I lay rest

I have put myself through this rigid test

But the mile has never ended, no distance has been gained

I do not see greatness I wanted to obtain

Where is my embrace

from the race that I have run?

I have kept a steady pace

but still I have not won

Rest easy

have no fear

I love you perfectly

love drives out fear

I'll take your burden

you take My grace

Rest easy

in My embrace

I am such a sinner, I fear my evil ways

I fear my imperfection, I fear my final days

I just want to take control and snap this rusty chain

drop my heavy burden, it seems to be in vain

I am not a bold man even though I want to be

I am just a dreamer with a timid history

Scared of confrontations I fume all through the night

the world has it's hold on me and I just want to fly

The sky, the sky is open wide

but I can't fly 'til I step aside

Rest easy

have no fear

I love you perfectly

and perfect love drives out fear

I'll take your burden

you take My grace

Rest easy in My embrace

The Story - Long Version: Chapter 3

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 21:56:00 +0000

Chapter 3: An uncanny connection

Champaign, Illinois...Had you asked me 5 years ago where I would be today, I never, NEVER would have guessed that I would be here. The Midwest. Not that I have anything against the Midwest, I had just never really even given any thought to moving here. But in late August of 2008, I packed up my belongings, put them in a moving truck, loaded my car with the essentials, Birdie (my parakeet), and myself and headed northwest. I arrived, settled in as much as I could having none of my belongings yest (they finally showed up 2 months later) and started work with the Army Corps of Engineers the following week.

Before leaving Orlando, I had already begun to look up churches in the area and put together a list of churches that I would like to visit in my search for a new church home. I think I had something like twelve churches on my list. Of course, I didn't want to spend twelve weeks visiting different churches. By the time I got to the last one, chances are I wouldn't even remember the first. So started the scheduling puzzle. I looked up service times and geographic locations for all of the churches and, based on these data, began developing what would be my whirlwind, church-filled first 4 weekends in Champaign. It worked out that I could make it to 3 services each Sunday if I timed it right and stayed with churches in the same general vicinity each week. So starting at an early in service in the southwestern most corner of Champaign, First Christian Church received the honor of hosting my first church visit. Little did I know, this visit would not only begin but also end my search for a new church home.

Within the first five minutes of being at FCC, I felt welcomed. I arrived about 10 minutes before the start of the service and made my way to the Connection Point to introduce myself and get some info about the church. I was promptly given a visitor's bag, taken on a quick tour of the facility and comfortably seated just in time for the service to begin. Though I don't remember what the theme of the service was that day, I know that I very much enjoyed the overall feel as well as JP's preaching style. I left in a great mood, ready to head to Windsor Road Christian Church for my next service of the day, but it was pouring rain. I mean torrential downpour. And so by the time I got to my car, I was completely soaked...like the drowned rat, saturated to the bone, just got shoved in the swimming pool kinda soaked. Yeah, I didn't make it to Windsor Road that day.

After I got home, got dried off and changed, I sat down with my visitor's goody bag from FCC and started go through everything. There was info on all of the different ministries that they offer - early childhood, elementary, junior high, high school, adult men, adult women, etc - a pen, a magnet, a water bottle, and...

a coupon for FREE COFFEE AND DONUT at Common Grounds (the little cafe area just outside the worship center) during my next visit! Having just finished grad school and thus still being in a grad student mindset, I knew good and well that I had to go back. One cannot pass up free food! Please...so the following Sunday, you'd better believe I was back again for my free coffee and donut (and spiritual food as well, of course). As I sat at Common Grounds before the service, very much enjoying my FREE coffee and bagel, a very nice older woman, Ruth, came and sat with me, introduced herself, started chatting, asked if I had signed up for the Lady's Night Out event that was taking place that Friday and made sure I got signed up before the service began. So come Friday night, I was back at FCC, again chatting with Ruth and many other wonderful ladies, doing arts and crafts, eating good food, and generally just enjoying my time. Let me mention that this is a church with around 1500 people in attendance each Sunday. I had been to big churches before and had always felt overlooked and unnoticed. At FCC, it was as though people were looking for newcomers specifically to make sure they felt welcome. That or I just looked funny...that wouldn't surprise me. Whatever the case, I definitely felt welcomed, a part of the family, and I knew I was home.

Not long after I began attending, I got plugged in with the lovely and most wonderful Erin Fenelon and the Elementary Children's Department. I started aiding weekly in a first grade Sunday School class, and I quickly learned that the kids in the Elementary department sponsored two children from Ecuador, Jeremy and Eva, through Compassion International with their weekly offering money. I thought that was a neat way to use the kids' tithes, but my thoughts didn't really go much past that until I met Andres. Andres was an Ecuadorian exchange student at the University of Illinois that I met through a mutual friend while playing racquetball one cold January day (there's another fun story of more "happenstance" behind this, but as this post is already long enough, if you really want to know about it, let me know and I'll fill in that detail later). We started getting together quite often to play racquetball, have dinner, or just hang out and fairly quickly found ourselves dating. It must have been the first time that Andres accompanied me to church and back to help with the kids that I recognized that it was a bit interesting that the sponsored kids were from Ecuador as was this guy I was now dating. And through Andres, I met quite a few other Ecuadorians in Champaign. I also noticed that little Issac, one of the 1st graders at the time, would sometimes wear an Ecuadorian soccer jersey. Then there was the announcement in the church bulletin of an upcoming mission trip to Ecuador. Then there was my first trip to Ecuador, in August of 2009, when Andres was going back home,

In Mindo with Andres, his two great aunts, Fabiola and Susana, and firend Diego.

In the historic center of downtown Quito with Andres and his mom, Jenny.

After climbing to the second refuge on Chimborazo with Andres' parents, Fausto and Jenny, and Diego.

and a second trip to visit his family over the Christmas and New Year's holidays.

With Susi, Fabi and Andres in Bahía (beach) at New Year's.

Then the Ecuadorian president, Rafael Correa, came to the U of I to give a seminar in the Spring of 2010. Turns out that he did his PhD here. Then the Elementary Department at FCC began sponsoring a 3rd child, Eric, from Ecuador because their tithing level had increased enough to allow it. Then in June of 2010, I began sponsoring my own child, Dilan, from Ecuador. Then there was another announcement about another mission trip to Ecuador, scheduled for September 2010, and I had the privilege of being one of the team members on that trip (and as it was a trip through Compassion International, I also had the amazing opportunity to meet Dilan!).

With Dilan, the child that I sponsor through Compassion International.

I don't know at what point it hit me, but somewhere along the way, I began to realize that there was a very strange connection between me, Champaign and Ecuador developing. I had never had any connection to Ecuador whatsoever other than to have at some point learned it's location and capital city for a Spanish geography test. Yet, I move to Champaign, Illinois, and find myself surrounded with Ecuadorian people, culture, history, trips, children, missions work. It was as though I had moved to the Midwest to be introduced to one of the most beautiful little countries that South America has to offer. Seems a bit crazy, if you ask me. Or maybe it's not so much crazy as it is amazing...

Give us this day our daily bread

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 15:48:00 +0000

I'm way overdue for an update, and what I really need to put up is chapter 3 of the long story, but I was writing it the other day and got stuck, so I'm hoping this will hold you over until I get it done (hopefully this evening).

I'm absolutely loving the way that the scriptures that I've read or heard lately all seem to either have direct application to my life currently or to situations that friends are going through, or I get a double dose of the same scripture from different sources. So many times in the past I've read scripture and thought "what in the world does this have to do with me? How can I possibly apply this?" It's really neat to see such a stark difference in the way that I'm reading and interpreting scripture today.

Through BibleGateway (link to the right under my favorites), I get emails daily containing Charles Spurgeon's "Morning and Evening" devotional. I was reading through the morning devotion yesterday and realized that it speaks directly to a situation that a speial friend of mine is facing at the present, and I think it really probably speaks to all of us as I'm pretty sure we all tend to struggle at times with fully trusting God to give us daily provisions that will sustain us without wanting a little extra padding just in case. Getting away from that "just in case" is hard to do. But, as Spurgeon so eloquently puts it, "Enough is not only as good as a feast, but is all that the greatest glutton can truly enjoy. This is all that we should expect; a craving for more than this is ungrateful."

Here is the entire reading:

MORNING AND EVENING: February 14: Morning

"And his allowance was a continual allowance given him of the king, a daily rate for every day, all the days of his life." - 2 Kings 25:30

Jehoiachin was not sent away from the king's palace with a store to last him for months, but his provision was given him as a daily pension. Herein he well pictures the happy position of all the Lord's people. A daily portion is all that a man really wants. We do not need tomorrow's supplies; that day has not yet dawned, and its wants are as yet unborn. The thirst which we may suffer in the month of June does not need to be quenched in February, for we do not feel it yet; if we have enough for each day as the days arrive we shall never know want. Sufficient for the day is all that we can enjoy. We cannot eat or drink or wear more than the day's supply of food and raiment; the surplus gives us the care of storing it, and the anxiety of watching against a thief. One staff aids a traveller, but a bundle of staves is a heavy burden. Enough is not only as good as a feast, but is all that the greatest glutton can truly enjoy. This is all that we should expect; a craving for more than this is ungrateful. When our Father does not give us more, we should be content with his daily allowance. Jehoiachin's case is ours, we have a sure portion, a portion given us of the king, a gracious portion, and a perpetual portion. Here is surely ground for thankfulness.

Beloved Christian reader, in matters of grace you need a daily supply. You have no store of strength. Day by day must you seek help from above. It is a very sweet assurance that a daily portion is provided for you. In the word, through the ministry, by meditation, in prayer, and waiting upon God you shall receive renewed strength. In Jesus all needful things are laid up for you. Then enjoy your continual allowance. Never go hungry while the daily bread of grace is on the table of mercy.

Lessons from the trash heap

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 04:46:00 +0000

I received a copy of the winter 2011 edition of Compassion Magazine last week and was reading through it today, and from the very first article, "Lessons from the trash heap," I got teary-eyed realizing the impact that Compassion's programs can have on impoverished and hungry children and families across the globe. What an amazing opportunity that lies ahead of me, to be able to work alongside an organization that has had such a tremendous and life-changing impact on so many people!

For awareness purposes, I am posting that first article and some facts on hunger here, but I also highly encourage you all to check out the rest of the issue for yourselves: Compassion Magazine - Winter 2011

Hunger

"More people in our world are affected by hunger than by AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. Daily, hundreds of millions of children and adults live with the effects of chronic malnutrition, of not having enough food to meet the body's minimum requirements for a healthy, normal life."

The effects of hunger on the body:

Normal growth is compromised
Physical activity is difficult
Resistance to disease is lessened
Learning ability is diminished

925 million people worldwide are chronically hungry - almost one in seven.

25% of the world's hungry are children.

7.7 million children die each year before age 5. In 53% of these deaths, malnutrition is a factor.

Lessons from the trash heap

The daily grind of relentless, abject poverty damages children’s developing sense of worth, smothers their dreams, and far too often steals their health and life. As you will see in this issue, some children grow up where no child should ever be — near the dangerous environment of big-city garbage dumps, scavenging for survival. But Compassion is there — and so are many of you.

I once took a group of Compassion supporters to Guatemala. I knew that visiting the capital city’s huge dump would be a tough experience, but I wanted them to have the opportunity to encourage the children who live there every day — the poorest of the poor.

Our van came to a stop in that miserable wasteland, surrounded by mountains of disgusting debris. The stench was overwhelming in the sweltering heat. Hordes of flies immediately swarmed us, and we could barely hear each other over the roar of the bulldozers. After the visitors had been engaged with the children for a few minutes, I noticed that one person in the group had refused to get out of the van, and he was fuming.

“Wess,” he said, “you told me Compassion’s ministry is about hope and dreams. Then you bring me here. There is no hope here. No dreams are possible. I see only tragedy and despair. Nothing good could happen

here.” There wasn’t much I could say in that moment to calm him down, so I left him in the van and breathed a prayer.

That evening we gathered for a small banquet with formerly sponsored children who had qualified for Compassion’s Leadership Development Program (LDP). We arranged for the visitors to sit at tables with

the LDP students. During the meal, I walked around the room to greet people. I slowly approached the table of my angry friend and tentatively asked, “So, how are things going here?” My friend, who had been so upset earlier, looked up at me with tears in his eyes and said,

“Wonderfully. We have the best table of all.”

“Really!” I replied. “Why is that?”

“Because of her,” he answered, pointing across the table to a radiant young Guatemalan woman. “She is amazing,” he continued. “Ask her where she grew up.”

She smiled at me and said, “I grew up on the city dump you visited today.”

My eyes welled up with tears, and I thanked God for His divine orchestration of the seating arrangements. I asked her name. “It’s Aury,” she replied. “I have been accepted at the university as a

business major.” Amazing indeed.

“Aury,” I asked, “what do you know now from having grown up in that awful place?” I will never forget her response.

“I know two things. First, I know what it feels like for people to look at you and think you are garbage. When I was very small, the dump trucks wouldn’t even swerve to avoid hitting me — the drivers thought I wasn’t worth the effort. If I had been killed out there among the dogs and vultures, probably nobody would have even dug a grave for me. I was already where I belonged — garbage in the trash heap.”

It broke my heart to hear that. “And what else do you know, Aury?” I asked gently.

She beamed and said confidently, “I know that nobody is garbage. We are all loved by God and He has a perfect plan and purpose for every life. That’s what I know.”

By now, everyone at the table was in tears. My friend, his anger transformed to awe, whispered to me, “That’s not all. She doesn’t have an LDP sponsor yet.” By the end of the evening he had sponsored her.

Aury has since graduated from college and started her own business. She owns a store not far from the dump where she grew up. When she’s not working, she often gives back at the Compassion child development

center she attended, on the dump’s edge. Because of her childhood sponsor, she went to school, received health care, and had a safe place to play and grow. She became a Christian and began to dream of a

better life. Her LDP sponsor made it possible for her to attend college, where she developed skills to be self-supporting. Poverty was defeated in Aury’s life because people who cared stood up for her. Now she loves the children at that same center, and to them, she is a beacon of hope.

Some people don’t want to know that children live in wretched conditions like these. Thank you for not looking the other way. Together we are doing heroic things to serve the local church in these desperate places, enabling them to lovingly intervene to save children’s lives and change their futures forever. If you doubt it, ask Aury!

The Story - Long Version: Chapter 2

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 22:44:00 +0000

Chapter 2: That doesn't even make sense!!!

After slamming into the invisible wall that was separating me from medical school, I stood up, dusted myself off, groped along until I found the edge of said invisible wall, and figured out that there was a way to squeeze past it and continue along the path I had set for myself. This small passageway presented itself in the form of an acceptance letter from Ross Medical School in the Caribbean. Heck, it didn't even take a letter. They guy interviewing me practically told me I was accepted before I left...it just had to be approved by the board (note that he was also baffled by the fact that I had not already been accepted to more than one school, even more that I had not even been granted an interview). Mind you, I only applied to Ross after having already smeared face grease all over the wall. As it follows, I only applied after I had already clearly gotten the message that med school was not where I was supposed to be.

As I was applying to Last Chance U (Ross), I also applied to a couple of Master's programs. My thought was that I could make my med school application even stronger by adding a graduate degree that included thesis research and by giving myself ample opportunity to retake and boost my score on the MCAT. So I applied to a program in Cytotechnology at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) and a program in Forensic Science at the University of Central Florida (UCF). MUSC is notorious for being ridiculously hard to get into if you are an out-of-state applicant. As I am from Florida, I fit the out-of-state category. Yet not more than two weeks after I put my application in the mail for the cytotech program, I had an acceptance letter in hand. Seriously?! Did they even look at my application? How in the world was I accepted to a program at MUSC as an out-of-state applicant so quickly??? That did not make sense. UCF was a bit slower in response, but I finally received an offer letter from them as well. I didn't realize it at the time, but that program was also highly competitive as they only accepted about 5 students per year.

So I had a choice to make - should I settle for a medical school that I don't really want to go to when I have clearly gotten the message that I'm not meant to be in med school right now, should I do the Cytotech program which would definitely look good on a med school app later, or should I go for the Forensic Science program which would just be more fun and interesting but not so applicable to medicine? I chose the Forensic Science program. And so you say, "well, that doesn't really make sense. If your plan was to strengthen your med school application, why would not go with the Cytotech program?" My answer: look at the chapter title. Hello!!! Choosing the Forensic Science program fit the theme of my life at that point in time. Not that this fact ever crossed my mind in the decision making process. It simply fits in retrospect. Actually, UCF was closer to family, cost quite a bit less since I was an in-state applicant, and I figured if I was going to spend a couple of years doing a grad program simply as an application booster, I may as well choose the one that I thought would be more entertaining.

Little did I know, the tension between the then new chair of the chemistry department and the head of the Forensic Science Master's program, among other problems, would cause the program to completely crumble about a year after I started in it. Luckily, I was the first to defect to another department simply based on the fact that there were no labs in the chemistry department available to do my thesis research in, and the department chair had changed policy such that students in the Forensic Science program (and maybe the whole chem dept...I don't know) could not complete their thesis research in another department but had failed to inform the program head of this change. This all came to light about a week before the first semester started, so I quietly worked in a lab in the biology department until I could officially be accepted into the biology Master's program the next semester. The rest of the students in the Forensic Science Master's program who were not graduating that year either quit the program, transferred to another department or transferred to another school. Though it was something of a nightmare at the time, I can say now that it was a huge blessing if not just to get away from the cranky pants chemistry department. They were not nice people (with a few exceptions). More than that though, I seriously doubt that I ever would have ended up Champaign, the significance of which will be discussed in a later chapter, had I not done my thesis research under the mentorship of the fabulous Dr. Laurie von Kalm.

And so began my life as a grad student. I actually very much enjoyed my three years pushing flies, fighting with proteins, failing at western blots, wasting a year and a half on a project that went no where (I say wasting, but it was a learning experience) and then turning what seemed like a boring project into something quite interesting. Okay, so the data turned it into something quite interesting, not me. I was just there to translate. Of note, in the summer after my first year, our lab had the opportunity to be a part of a research team at NASA working on a fungus and fruit fly project that would send fungus and fruit flies into space on one of the shuttle missions and then see how the space environment affected pathogenicity of the fungus and susceptibility of the flies. It was a last minute deal that our lab was invited to be a part of the team and we expected to be a minimal part of the effort. Well, we ended up being a major part of the effort, but it only took a couple of weeks of our time. It was just neat to have the experience. Not many people can claim that they are proud owners of a piece of tape that has been in space. Well, I am here to tell you today that I the a proud owner of a piece of tape that went into space! Nee ner nee ner neeeee nerrr! Seriously though, as a result of our efforts, our team was the recipient of 3 different awards from NASA and the NASA Ames Research Center. What?! Three awards from NASA for 2 weeks worth of effort for something that just kinda seemed like a neat opportunity? Yep.

One of the fly cassettes after returning from space. The spots that you see are fruit fly pupal cases.

Standing in front of the space shuttle Discovery after it had been rolled out to the launch pad.

Announcement for the STS-121 shuttle mission. This is the mission that the flies and fungus were a part of.

One of the NASA Ames Research Center awards featuring my piece of space tape.

Close up of my space tape! Don't lie. I know you're jealous.

Nearing the end of year two of grad school, my brother sends me information for a scholarship offered through the Department of Defense. The SMART (Science, Math And Research for Transformation) scholarship, as it is called, was relatively new at the time. It is a scholarship for service that is aimed at recruiting promising young scientists into research careers with the DoD. At some point, they government realized that all of their scientists were dying off, and there were no up-and-coming young ones to replace them, so they decided they should do something about it. The SMART scholarship is part of what they decided to do. I visited the website, looked over the information, noticed that the application and all materials were due in something like one week (one week?!?!) and that it seemed to be focused heavily on engineering and computer science. They did mention that people in life sciences could apply, but looking through the research that the participating organizations do, it seemed like I would be a very bad fit. So I decided to apply. Hey, it never hurts to try! What would I have been losing other than $10 in transcripts and an hour or so of my time? Of course, I never really thought I had a chance. First of all, there didn't seem to be much room for Biologists in this scholarship program. Second, it was stressed multiple times that all application materials had to be by the deadline in order to be considered, and I knew that my transcripts and reference letters were not going to get there in time. But, of course, as is the theme, things that should happen don't happen, and things that shouldn't happen do - I got the scholarship. Even harder to believe, I was actually ranked 1st of all of the applicants in my grouping. What?! How?! What?! Exactly. I have a sneaking suspicion that those 3 awards from NASA did a lot for my ranking.

And so by another exclamation of "that doesn't even make sense," I ended up in Champaign, Illinois, working as a chemist (read that again...yes, it says chemist) for the Army Corps of Engineers.

For I am convinced...that this must be important

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 19:48:00 +0000

Yesterday I was reading through the devotion that BibleGateway emails me daily and came across what has been my favorite passage of scripture for a number of years. And it struck me that this was the third time in less than a week that this passage has come up. The first time was last Sunday as Brett and Brenden Anderson were giving their testimonies during the worship service at church. Brett read it as a reminder that no matter how difficult as situation is, God will never leave us, and we should be comforted by that fact. Then as I was searching for inserts reminding people to pray that will be included with the support letters that I'll be sending out (oh yes, I said support letters, and, oh yes, support letters = fund raising. You didn't really think I was going to avoid that topic, did you? But I'll at least spare you until I finish the long version of my story...), I came across some bookmarks that included the passage. So after the third time, I thought, “this must be important. Perhaps I should share it.” And so I’m sharing. The portion of the passage that has come up thrice is Romans 8:38-39, but as I love the entire chapter, I'm posting it with my favorite of favorite portions, which include the passage mentioned, highlighted :) Enjoy!

Romans 8 (NIV)
Life Through the Spirit
¹ Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, ² because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. ³ For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. ⁵ Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. ⁶ The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷ The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. ⁸ Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
⁹ You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. ¹¹ And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
¹² Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. ¹³ For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
¹⁴ For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. ¹⁵ The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” ¹⁶ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. ¹⁷ Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

Present Suffering and Future Glory
¹⁸ I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. ¹⁹ For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. ²⁰ For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. ²² We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. ²³ Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴ For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
²⁶ In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. ²⁷ And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
²⁸ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. ²⁹ For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. ³⁰ And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

More Than Conquerors
³¹ What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?³² He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? ³³ Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.³⁴ Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶ As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!

The Story - Long Version: Chapter 1

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 06:32:00 +0000

This is the version of the story that I get so excited to tell because it's full of all of the little details, all of the little ways that God has made His presence known in a BIG way. So to be nice to you guys, I'm going to break it up into chapters which will hopefully be a bit more manageable. Here we go!

Chapter 1: Let's take it back about ten years

In 2001, I had the opportunity to go with my home church on a week-long mission trip to Puerto Lempira, Honduras, to aid in construction of a building that would later be used as a training center for pastors from the coasts of Honduras and Nicaragua. Kinda cool - they actually had a training conference going on while we were there, and we were able to sit in on a couple of their worship sessions. But being an 18 year-old female on a trip with mainly older southern men, there was not much chance that I was really going to get to participate in the construction activities, though that was the main objective of the trip. Even worse, there were five young women, ranging in age from 18 to 20 on this trip, and the biggest tool the men would let us wield was a hammer, so we had the great privilege of making wobbly chairs and tables not so wobbly.

My sister, Rebekah, and Sarah making a wobbly table not so wobbly.

Woo. I remember being quite frustrated by this. I wanted to get dirty with the rest of them. Looking back on this, it baffles me that the trip made such an impression on my life...until I remember the people...the ones who should have been the REAL focus of the trip in the first place.

Melissa, a sweet girl that we met as she was tending her parents' clothing shop in town. She came to the airport (dirt runway) to see us off the morning that we left. This picture was taken at the 'airport.'

Lorenzo climbing a coconut tree.

The natives of Puerto Lempira are such a peaceful and loving people. They are so thankful for EVERYTHING that they have, and by our standards they have nothing: a few clothes, no running water, no electricity, tiny houses for an entire family made, quite literally, out of nothing but sticks.

Stick frame of a house.

Family home typical of the region.

But while they are poor in material goods, they are extremely wealthy in spirit and in love, and it is very evident that they understand just how rich they are in God's blessings. They know and understand the value of His saving grace and mercy with a depth that too many North American Christians can not even begin to comprehend. They have little in the way of worldly goods, but their hearts are full of a contentment and joy that only a deep relationship with the Savior can bring.

We had the amazing opportunity to trek for miles along the coast to the nearest church on Sunday to participate in a local worship service. The service was conducted in the native language, Miskito, translated into Spanish, and then translated into English for us. This photo shows the congregation after the service.

And I quickly came to the realization that I could do this. I could easily give up the luxuries of life in North America to live among and serve people with such full hearts. I could easily leave the chaos of life here to live in the peaceful beauty of His creation. I didn't want to leave. I was filled with such a peace and stillness while I was there that thinking back on it even now overwhelms me with emotion.

God used that experience, one that could easily have viewed as a wasted trip, to make a very deep impression on me and to begin preparing my heart for His service. As a response, I decided during my sophomore year of college that I wanted to do mission work as a career. I had also always wanted to be a medical doctor, so what better than a career in medical missions? And thus I spent the rest of my undergraduate career pursuing two degrees: one in biology to prep me for med school and one in Spanish to prep me for mission work in Central or South America. Along the way, I was involved in a number of extracurricular activities, serving in leadership positions in some of them, I was involved in a number of volunteer activities, I served as an active member of the Lion's Club, I studied abroad, I did a summer research internship to boost my med school application, I job shadowed in an orthopedic clinic one summer, and while doing all of this, I managed to maintain a 4.0 GPA in both of my majors and graduate with honors as the "senior with the highest average." Phew! Impressive, right? Apparently not so much. I applied to 11 medical schools and failed to receive even a single invitation to interview. NOT EVEN AN INTERVIEW!!! Everyone expected me to have a choice of schools to go to, and yet I couldn't even manage to obtain a single interview. I even had a professor who was angry because it made no sense! And so I slammed into the first of walls that God would erect in my life. I was running along at a nice pace that I had set, in a direction that I had chosen without really considering God's will. I wanted to do medical missions. Why would I need to ask God's permission to do mission work? Because that's not where He wanted me at the time. So He put up a wall that would knock my off my feet and make me reconsider where I was going and, more importantly, go to Him for direction (I have since come to the conclusion that I must be a bad listener because this seems to be God's choice method for making Himself known to me). And I didn't understand it. It didn't make sense to me that He would not want me be His servant, but I accepted His humbling message and started seeking guidance for a new direction. This was just the beginning to an entire series of seemingly nonsensical events that would shape my life and eventually bring me full circle and lead me to where I am today - sitting here blogging about my upcoming journey to the mission field...

I don't care what they say about me

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 23:55:00 +0000

To steal the words of Hillsong United:

    I don't care what they say about me;
    It's alright, alright.
    I don't care what they think about me;
    It's alright, they'll get it one day.

    'Cause I love You, and I'll follow You;
    You are my life, my life.
    I will read my bible and pray;
    I will follow You all day.

    I don't care what it costs anymore,
    'Cause You gave it all, and I'm following You.
    I don't care what it takes anymore;
    No matter what happens, I'm going Your way.

    'Cause I love You, and I'll follow You;
    You are my life, my life.
    I will read my bible and pray;
    I will follow You all day.

    Anyone around can see
    Just how good You've been to me.
    For all my friends who don't know You,
    I pray that You would save them too.

I heard this today and was like, "Yeah! I don't care what they say about me!" I just wanted to put that out there in case anyone is questioning my sanity at this point :-)

Now, on to the The Story: The Looooong Version...

Come, follow me

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 03:19:00 +0000

I was feeling a bit bummed earlier today, letting my mind dwell on things that are beyond my control (as I do way too often), so I had a good chat with a dear, dear friend and decided that I needed to get into the Word and give my dear, dear friend a chance to chat back. I randomly opened my Bible to Luke 5, looked at the section headers and decided to back up to Luke 4 and then read through Luke 6. Let me just say that I love, LOVE how you can open up randomly and God will put you in a place where He can both comfort your heart, ease your wandering mind and slap you upside the back of the head all at once.

I'm going to start with Luke 5, where I originally opened. In this chapter, we read about Jesus' calling of the first four disciples. I read through the calling of Peter, James and John, and the simplicity of the call both amazed me and made me smile. He simply says, "Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." (Okay, I stole that from Matthew 4:19 just so that it would match the post title. Luke 5:10 actually says, "Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men.") And they take the boat to shore, leave everything behind and follow him. Next, he comes to Levi. Same deal: Levi is sitting at his tax booth when Jesus walks by and says, "Follow me." So Levi gets up, leaves everything behind and follows.

After I read about Levi, it dawned on me that my call happened with pretty much the same amount of simplicity. In my case, the getting up, leaving everything behind and going part is taking a little longer, but the principle is the same. I felt God call me into service, I questioned whether it was Him calling or me hearing what I wanted to, He very promptly provided the reinforcements I needed to be sure I was being called, and I said:

"Okay, God. I'll go, I'll go!" And Jesus isn't physically standing beside me for me to follow, the process of going understandably takes slightly longer nowadays.

Yeah, I haven't told you guys the details behind my calling. Next post! I LOVE sharing the details! The whole story is so awesome to me!

Moving on to Luke 6, Jesus teaches about blessings and woes:

²⁰ Looking at his disciples, he said:
   “Blessed are you who are poor,
   for yours is the kingdom of God.
²¹ Blessed are you who hunger now,
   for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
   for you will laugh.
²² Blessed are you when people hate you,
   when they exclude you and insult you
   and reject your name as evil,
      because of the Son of Man.
   ²³ “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.
   ²⁴ “But woe to you who are rich,
   for you have already received your comfort.
²⁵ Woe to you who are well fed now,
   for you will go hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
   for you will mourn and weep.
²⁶ Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you,
   for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.

Wow...this definitely makes me stop and examine myself. Which of these people am I, and which do I need to become? Am I blessed, or is Jesus saying, "woe to Rachel"?

And He follows that up by reminding me that I need to get down on my knees more often, pray for my enemies and pray for the strength to love them as Jesus commanded us to love them. It's so easy to love those who love us, but what credit is that to us? It's not so easy to love those who laugh in your face or take advantage of the love that you do give. I think maybe I should read this passage more often...

Oh, and I should probably be making an appointment with the optometrist sometime soon to get that plank removed from my eye...

And then we get to 6:46-49, which is the teaching of the wise and foolish builders. The fact that this passage was in what I randomly opened up to read was awesome, one of those God things, because I have recently been thinking a lot about this passage and how the story of my life over the past couple of years gives a perfect example of a life built on a foundation of sand:

49"But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete."

The neat thing about it being in these readings was that I wasn't expecting it because I didn't actually know where it was found (though if I had thought about it, the first place I probably would have looked would have been Matthew, and I would have found it there as well).

And this confession that my life was built on a foundation of sand leaves you aghast, thinking, "What?! Her life is not built on the rock?! But she's going to be a missionary?! Oh no, oh no, oh no, this is a bad, bad idea..."
Well, you'd better be scheduling your own appointments with optometrist, and while you're at it, let me reassure that my life is being rebuilt on the rock which is Christ Jesus! But that is all I'm going to say right now. All of the juicy life-falling-apart-and-being-rebuilt details will be saved for later. It's a teaser so that you'll come back and read my next posts. Plus, let's all just admit right now that I'm long-winded enough as it is. I need to break these things up into different posts...it's just hard because I have so much to share!

And now we move back to Luke 5:16, which says:

"But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed."

Let that serve as an important reminder that we also need to withdraw to our own lonely places as often as possible and get down on our knees and get into conversation with our Father.

One request: Please pray for me on this journey of faith, for all of the others involved in this project and for the overall success of this mission when you withdraw to your lonely place, as Jesus did, and pray.

The Story - Short Version

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 05:29:00 +0000

I promise I'm not crazy! At least, I don't think I am...

As the blog title implies, I'm currently going through a rather drastic transition in career choice - from working as research chemist (though I'm trained as a biologist) with the Army Corps of Engineers to a missionary to Ecuador. And so you ask,

"So, you're just going to Ecuador short term and then coming back to your comfortable job with the

government, right?"

The answer: not exactly. I'm in the planning/fund raising stage of what is set to be a two year mission to Ecuador. And so you say,

"What?! In this economy, you're giving up a secure, career position with the federal government to go to a

developing country as a missionary? A position which you have to PAY to take?!"

The answer, again: not exactly. I may have the option the take these two years as a leave of absence and come back and pick up where I left off, but at this point I have no idea where I'll find myself in two years. Besides, I'm not so sure I like the idea of leaving the mission field and then just "picking up where I left off." I can't really wrap my head around that. Somehow, it doesn't make sense. And also, I wouldn't say that I have to pay to go, but I do have a lot of support raising to do (any of you who have experience with this, I could use some pointers...).

Why? And why Ecuador?

The short answer to why I'm going: I feel a strong, clear calling from God to go and serve. I decided ten years ago that I wanted to do missions work as part of my career - medical missions, to be exact. But God had other plans for me at that time, and I followed the paths that he opened up in front of me, and here I find myself, ten years later, staring missions work in the face once again. The difference this time though is that God put me here. Note that I said earlier that ten years ago I wanted to do missions work. This time God wants me to do missions work, and I can't even begin to express just how amazing and exciting it is to know God is calling you to something big!

Why Ecuador? That's where God is leading me. Besides, have you been there or seen pictures? No? Well, you're in luck! I have been there, AND I have pictures! It's an amazingly beautiful country, very diverse, full of beautiful people, beautiful beaches

Bahía de Caráquez

Click the "read more" link below to expand the post and see more photos!

beautiful sunsets

Cuyabeno

exotic wildlife

Frog (obviously, but I don't know the species)

Birds (again, I don't know what kind)

Alpaca

artisan markets

Otavalo

breathtaking landscapes

Cotopaxi

Baños

On the way to Quilotoa

Quilotoa

Another view of the crater of Quilotoa

View of Quito from el teleferico

Night view of Quito from El Panecillo

the middle of the world (equator)

Mitad del Mundo

and, of course the occasional tree-hanging snake, pirhana, ant the size of your thumb, poisonous frog, tarantula, and spider the size of your hand. C'mon, it wouldn't be an adventure without those...

Ojo de Gato

Piraña

Conga ant

Poisonous Frog

Tarantula skin

Spider the size of my hand (look to the left of the hole)

Yes, I promise this IS actually the short version...So what will I be doing there?

I was fortunate to have a conversation with Brent Foulke of Stadia at the National Missionary Convention in November of last year about my interest in Ecuador, and he filled me in a new collaborative project that Stadia was starting with Compassion International and Camino de Santidad.

A bit of background on these three organizations:

Stadia (www.stadia.cc) specializes "in helping churches start healthy, successful new churches." They have helped to start over 100 new churches in th last decade and have over a 90% success rate. Planting churches. Changing lives.

Compassion International (www.compassion.com) focuses on "releasing children from poverty in Jesus' name." Compassion International exists as a Christian child advocacy ministry that releases children from spiritual, economic, social and physical poverty and enables them to become responsible, fulfilled Christian adults. Today, Compassion helps more than 1 million children in 26 countries.

Camino de Santidad is a church planting movement in Manta, Ecuador, led by Pedro and Rosita del Hierro. This movement has resulted in 59 new churches with 25,000 people attending. Their vision is to plant 100 churches.

The collaboration (pulled from Stadia's website):

This year, Stadia is bringing together people and churches with Compassion International to open four churches in villages near the city of Manta, Ecuador. These villages have approximately 5,000 people each. But NO churches of any kind. Several lack wells to provide drinking water; they all lack schools and health care. The average wage is about $30 per month.

Our Stadia partners will be teaming up with Camino de Santidad to begin a church, drill a well, and provide education and health care for the families in these villages. They will also partner with Compassion International to sponsor children and also to sponsor a Child Survival Program that helps babies make it to the age when they can be sponsored.

For a more in depth read of the collaboration (which I highly recommend), check out the recently posted update from a follow-up trip taken by two of Stadia's leaders to Manta in January: http://www.stadia.cc/pdfs/Ecuador_Trip_Report_Jan2011_Jones%20Foulke.pdf

Where do I fit in? I won't have one specific job; rather, I'll fill a number of positions as I'm needed to. First and foremost, I'll be in charge of coordinating and organizing short-term trips that Stadia churches will be taking to Manta to aid in the planting effort and the start-up of the new Compassion Child Survival and Sponsorship programs at each of the four new sites. I'll also serve as a liaison between Stadia and Compassion Ecuador, will work with Compassion to gather histories and create files for the ~1000 children who will be starting in the Compassion Child Sponsorship and Child Survival programs at the four new sites, and will likely serve with Compassion on an as-needed basis as a translator/facilitator for visiting groups on Compassion-sponsored trips.

I am so excited about this new opportunity that God has put in front of me! Will you prayerfully join with me on this journey?