Mission Report!

So, I'm a little delayed writing about it here, but as many of you know, I recently spent 3 1/2 weeks on an overseas mission trip. That month away was truly amazing in so many ways. There is no way I can fully describe it here, but I'd like to at least try to give you a glimpse of it! So if you're ready... hang on because I'm about to take you on a quick trip around the world!! :-)

On July 16-17, I traveled for over 24 hours....all by myself....to Kenya. I came to the conclusion that I do not like traveling alone!! Especially not when traveling such a long way. It's just too lonely!! Yeah, I'll be completely honest, I almost totally broke down in the Amsterdam airport in the middle of the night...not a fun experience! But the weeks following were more than worth it.

Being back in Kenya again after 3 years was great! I lived with the same missionary family who I lived with last time I was there, and got a bit spoiled... my own bedroom, hot showers almost every morning, and delicious homemade food almost every night! :-) There was also another small group staying with us, who all work together at an FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) Camp in Michigan. We all quickly became like a big family! In fact, on the first night the FCA team arrived -- I'd already been there for a couple of days -- this conversation could be overheard between one of the FCA guys and myself as we played a card game:
"You jerk!"
"Wait, you've only known me for two hours and you're already calling me a jerk?"
"Sorry. I go into brother mode quickly."
"That's okay..I'm used to brother teasing!"

Since I was working with the same missionary as before, we were in Orbit Village again, with many of the same children that I met and fell in love with on my last trip. The Orbit Village Project has a Christian school, a church, two orphanages (boys and girls), and a child sponsorship program. <--click on the link for more info! It is a wonderful program that has changed thousands of lives for the better... including mine!!

During the two weeks we were there, we held a sports camp (FCA style, if any of you have done FCA camps before!) for the older kids, and a Vacation Bible School for the kids under 12 years. Nearly 100 kids attended the camp, and around 50 were at VBS each day.
My role? Each morning and afternoon, I led worship for the sports camp by playing guitar and singing. I had been sick for a week or two before leaving on the trip, and with that plus all the dust and dryness in Kenya, I was struggling with my voice the whole time! It took a lot of prayer, a lot of cough lozenges, and some dropping songs down a couple of keys for me to be able to lead the songs!!

One of the ladies from the Michigan team and myself, along with a few of the Orbit school teachers, led the VBS. Fifty children, age 3-11, in one tiny classroom can be a little overwhelming at times!! But the little ones are precious, very enthusiastic, and love any attention they can get from us American visitors :-) Each day, we taught them a Bible lesson and a Scripture verse to memorize, did art projects, sang children's songs, and played games such as the hokey pokey, duck duck goose (rhino rhino cheetah), relay races, and anything else we could think of to entertain them!!

You might notice in the pictures that most of the kids are wearing winter clothes. During our summer season here, it is winter in Kenya. Now keep in mind, Kenya is on the equator, so "winter" there is like spring here in Tennessee. While the kids were in long pants, jackets, and hats, most of the time I was wearing t-shirts!

It was wonderful to get to connect with my "sponsor sisters" again.. these are three young ladies that my family has sponsored for many years. Two of them have graduated from high school now, and the 3rd is a freshman. They are precious girls and SO much fun! :-)

One of the most meaningful parts of the Kenya trip for me was my special bond with "my baby girl." I met this sweet little one on my trip to Kenya three years ago and fell in love with her then. I was sooo hopeful that she would remember me this time, since she was only four years old before. Guess what... she did!! :-) The bond between us was almost like I had never left. We were nearly inseparable for the two weeks I was in Orbit, and saying goodbye to her at the end of those two weeks was heartbreaking. I'd bring her home if I could...

Okay, time to switch gears... after two weeks, it was on to a new country, a new continent, and new people! Making that change was challenging, but as much as I wanted to stay in Kenya longer, Romania ended up being amazing too! Here, I worked with Operation Mobilization, an organization that facilitates mission trips all over the world. This trip was definitely an international experience -- even our mission team was from all over the world!! Our group of about 25 people represented England, Ireland, Holland, Sweden, Switzerland, USA, and of course Romania.

This experience was quite different from Kenya, where we lived in a nice house... here in Romania, we were really roughing it!! We lived in tents, showered from a cold hose, used an outhouse, and washed our dishes in buckets of soapy water. True camping!! :-)

After two days of team-building, preparation, planning, worship, and bonding, we began a week of activities (KidsGames) with the local children. Each day, we ran KidsGames in the morning in one village, and in the afternoon in a second village. These were activities like sack races, tug-of-war, soccer, relay races, etc. Our mission team was divided into smaller teams of 3 or 4, each with a country name and several children assigned to us. It was fun to see the kids get really patriotic with team spirit! Since I was the only one who had come from USA, our small group was "Team America."

The language barrier was a real challenge on this trip, more than I expected. It took me awhile to realize that.... in Guatemala, I could use my minimal Spanish to communicate with the kids. In Kenya, I know a few words of Swahili and most of the kids speak at least some English. Here in Romania, I had NO way at all to verbally communicate with the kids, and it was really my first experience with that. It was a little frustrating at times, but it was neat to find other ways to communicate with them. Smiles, hugs, high-fives, laughter, and team spirit are the same in every language!! (thankfully, we also had our Romanian team members there to translate!)

On our last 2 days there, we got to do some sightseeing, including Castelel Bran (the legendary Dracula's castle), the old city of Brasov, and the narrowest street in Europe. What an experience!! The streets of Brasov were just like I've always imagined European streets to look like...

What was most meaningful on the Romania trip? God really showed me how big He is, how His church has no national boundaries, how HE has no boundaries! Working with the international mission team was truly eye-opening for me. As I listened to the others pray and worship in their own languages, I saw in a new way that God is not limited by language. As real as He is to me in my heart and life as I talk to Him in English.... He is JUST as real in Romanian, German, Swedish, and Dutch. Of course I knew this before, but experiencing it in this way was really amazing. All I could do was just to be in total awe of my awesome, international God!!! :-)

Having friends all over the world is pretty cool, too....here's most of our group...

If you have read this far, props to you!! ;-) Thanks for reading. This trip was an AMAZING experience that I am incredibly thankful for. I love seeing the world, meeting new people, serving God in different places, and experiencing HIM in a way that's only possible on the mission field... Hopefully this little "mission report" has blessed you in some way!

~Ashley

going away...

I leave today for three-and-a-half weeks of mission trips! God has led me to spend time in Kenya and in Romania for the next month, and I'm really excited to see what He has in store!

I don't know if I'll have a chance to update the blog while I'm gone, but I do plan to post updates on Facebook as often as I can. So if we are friends there, you can get the latest updates and the photos of super adorable children and other cool stuff :-) If we're not Facebook friends, then you will have to wait until I get back, and I'll share some of that cool stuff here on the blog.

Either way, I'd love it if you would keep me in your prayers for the next few weeks. Like any mission trip, this will be challenging and adventurous in many ways, but I believe it will also be amazing! Thank you for your prayers... see you in 3 1/2 weeks!!

Ashley

if you're happy and you know it...

I'm happy.
This has turned out to be an amazing summer...it's been a fabulous week...and a wonderful day today! My heart is so full of joy and smiles. God is so faithful and good to me.

I'm thankful for opportunities to be involved in His kingdom work.
I'm thankful for some special people in my life.
I'm thankful that He's been speaking to me through His word a lot lately.
I'm thankful for hope and a future (Jer 29:11)

Life truly is good, y'all, because God is good. And joy is a wonderful thing, too :-)

loooove

I've been reading "Shadow of the Almighty," the biography of Jim Elliot, the missionary martyr - excellent and challenging book! The following is an excerpt from a letter Jim Elliot wrote to his wife Elisabeth....BEFORE they were married, when they were just beginning a relationship:

"...And what [am I] trembling about? Three things: you, me, and God. I tremble to think that forwardness in declaring my feeling to you is actually affecting your entire life. I have an idea that it will be almost impossible for you to discern the Lord's mind for you without struggling through a maze of thought and feeling about me. What if, in the real test, your feeling should overcome your faith? Whose then the responsibility? Not entirely yours. For this I fear - that I, stepping out of the path of the Lord for just a moment, should draw you with me...
There is within a hunger after God, given of God, filled by God...What makes me tremble is that I might allow something else (you, for example) to take the place my God should have. I tremble lest in any way I offend my Eternal Lover."

I love two things about this...okay, maybe three :-) First, I'm a romantic and just love a good love story!! Even though I know Jim and Elisabeth ended up getting married, following the story of their relationship is still pretty great.
But on a more serious note, one thing that grabs me about this excerpt is how Jim's love and hunger for God came first, even before his love for Elisabeth. He had committed his entire life to the Lord, and was concerned that absolutely nothing should get in the way of that. I want to love God that way!!
Finally, it's awesome that both his love for God and his love for Elisabeth combined in his concern that he not be a distraction from her own walk with the Lord. Just this morning at church, the verse was brought up, "Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her." Sacrificial love...wanting GOD's best for the other person...and it goes both ways.

I think this is applicable to ALL Christian relationships and friendships, not just marriage!! What a challenge...to always keep God first in our own lives and to seek His best for those we love. However, it also reminds me, personally, of the verse in Proverbs 31 that says "she does her husband good and not evil all the days of her life." This attitude of seeking God's best for the other person should be part of my attitude toward my future husband even now, while I'm still single.

Any thoughts or feedback on any of the above?

an update that's brief and concise...ish

So... I've been intending to write something here for a while now, but whenever I started to do so, couldn't think of what to write.  Not that there's nothing to talk about.  The question is HOW to briefly and concisely describe everything that has been happening in my life and heart!
A lot of changes have taken place lately.  I'm no longer working at Camp.  God said it was time to move on to something new... I have known that for a year, but just recently has it actually been the exact time that needed to happen.  May 25 was my last day of working - and living - at Camp.  That was a very difficult decision to make, even though I knew it was the right one.  Camp and the people I lived and worked with there became very, very dear to me.  Let's just say that the goodbyes were not pretty!!  But on the other hand, in spite of all the heartache and tears and "oh-my-goodness-what-am-I-doing-I-can't-do-this," those last few days were precious days, in a way.  I felt so loved and embraced by my Camp family, through the words they spoke, prayers they prayed, and gifts they gave.  Those people, that ministry, and the season of life I spent serving at Camp, will always have a special place in my heart!
One day last week, I went back up to Camp to visit and hang out for the afternoon.  I wasn't sure how it would feel to be back (considering how hard it was to leave!), and it was a strange feeling, but not necessarily a bad one.  When I left, one of the camp pastors told me, "It's like sticking your finger in the ocean" -- everything keeps right on moving, like you were never there.  It was good to see everything still moving right along at Camp, and to have the feeling that, even though I miss it, that's not my place anymore.  And that's okay.
So, on to what's next, right?  Whatever that is!  :-)  For now, I have moved back in with my family, and am spending the summer doing ministry work (Vacation Bible School, inner-city outreach camp, etc) and mission trips.  In less than a month, I'll be traveling to Kenya and then on to Romania, to be out of the country for almost four weeks.  I'm very excited and nervous about that!
As I pursue these opportunities this summer, I'm seeking and praying that the Lord gives me direction on what's next.  I've applied for a few ministry jobs, and "waiting and seeing" now.  It's a kinda scary place to be... not just financially because I don't have an income anymore, but also in wondering, what am I going to do with life from this point on?  I don't want to be stuck in a place of feeling like I'm wasting the days.  I absolutely want this season of life, and the next, to count for something good for God's kingdom and glory.  I think He will honor that... I just have to be patient while waiting on Him to reveal His plan.  AND I have to be diligent to seek Him every day, right now, while I'm waiting, and allow Him to be doing His work in my heart and life.

So there's the sort-of-brief, sort-of-concise life update from Ashley!  ;-)  I hope to start writing regularly again now...

the real me.

For some of you, this will be "before your time," but when I was a teenager, I loved Jaci Velasquez's music.  She sang Christian pop with a kind of Latin feel, and hers was the first CD I ever got as the world moved from cassette tapes to CD's.
When I was around 17 or so, Jaci Velasquez put out a new album called "Unspoken," and some of the songs on this album were pretty different from her previous ones.  One song in particular -- track 5 on the disc -- was called "The Real Me" and really grabbed my attention.  The song starts out:

People think I've got it all together
With the show of my sweet, sweet smile
But do they know if I am happy ever?
Pull up a chair 'cause this may take awhile.
I've got my bad days, some are even worse
I can be a blessing and you know I can be a curse..

The lyrics go on as she describes her own issues and insecurities, and says that she won't pretend to be perfect anymore, asking, "Can you deal with the real me?" 

When I heard this song, it grabbed me because it WAS me.  I felt like I could have written every word myself!  Filled with insecurity, I was doing my best to portray a perfect image to the people around me.  At that time, my family was attending a very small church -- one of those where everybody knows everybody and nothing is a secret.  Adults in the church would comment about what a "sweet girl" and what an "angel" I was, and I felt pressured to keep up that image.  I never felt free to admit that anything was wrong or that I was struggling with something, because I had to be the sweet and godly girl everyone expected me to be.  It was exhausting and painful.  Jaci Velasquez's song resonated with me because I could relate as she sang, "This is the real me - am I the girl that you want me to be?" 

Fast forward to yesterday.  Flipping through my CD case, I came across the "Unspoken" CD and popped it in my player as I drove to small group.  It always surprises me, when I listen to those old CD's from my teen years, that I still remember almost all the words.  Singing along with this song, "The Real Me," I thought back to that season of my life, and the hurt of trying to be what [I thought] people wanted and expected me to be.  Then I realized something.  

I've changed.  Sure, I still feel insecure sometimes... maybe a lot of times.  But God has been at work in my life the past few years.  I'm not so afraid to be myself now, and not so afraid to let people see my struggles and bad days.  God has been and is continually breaking my shell, removing masks, and teaching me that the best thing to be is what He created me to be.  

Just today, I was talking to a lady who I've only met a couple of times.  As we parted, she said, "You're just precious."  I thought, Well that's funny, because I wasn't even trying -- I didn't have on my "customer service" front that I use at work, or doing anything special -- just being me.  And that's when God reminded me.... that's the point.  Just being me. That's all He asks me to be.  No fronts, no angelic images, no measuring up to human expectations.  Just obediently being the girl He created and called me to be.  

That's freeing, isn't it? 

"can my child call home if he misses me?"

Talking to parents registering their kids for camp for the first time can be quite an experience.  There are so many different kinds of parents, and different emotional responses from them as they prepare to launch their child into the world of summer camp.  For some, the child has spent a week or more away at Grandma's house before, while others have never been away from their child for more than a day.

Some of these first-time camper parents will give me the needed information I ask them for, pay the fee, and they're off the phone... quick and easy.  Others, though, will give me the info I ask for plus anything else they can think of that I might want to know about their child -- emotional or behavioral issues, whether or not they make friends easily, what kind of activities they like, the fact that they are overweight and need to do something  this summer besides play video games.... etc etc.

Some parents make the phone call with a lengthy list of questions prepped in front of them.  Then it's interrogation time, and I get asked questions about everything from our activities to how many kids are in a cabin to how we screen/select counselors to how much snacks cost to emergency policies to... you name it.  It's interesting to me that some parents just trust what they see on the brochure/website or what they hear from friends, while others feel the need to dig deeper into the details.

These conversations can be enjoyable, difficult, and occasionally a little ridiculous.  But I imagine if I was sending my child to a week of summer camp for the first time, I'd probably be a little nervous, too.  After all, they are handing their most valuable possession -- their child -- into the care of other adults for a week!  In the end, it's always a good feeling when the conversation ends with a relieved parent saying to me, "Thank you, I feel SO much better about this now! I think my child will have a great time!"  I feel like I (and Camp!) have passed the test.  Mission accomplished -- that's one more kiddo experiencing the love of Jesus at Camp this summer!

a woman of God

So, there's always a lot of discussion in the Christian arena about what it means to be a "godly woman." In fact, I read a couple of blog posts on this subject just tonight. It's important, for sure, and it's challenging sometimes - especially in today's American society - to know exactly what being a Christian woman is supposed to look like.

The other day I was reading in 1 Timothy 5. I was actually reading chapter 4, and praying verse 12 for a friend (that's the "let no one look down on your youthfulness" verse, if you didn't know). I decided to keep on reading a little farther, and came across 1 Timothy 5:9-10. This is the list of qualifications for a widow to be "put on the list" to be cared for by the church.

I've read this before, of course, but this time it came across to me a little differently. Obviously, I am not a widow, nor do I ever want to be a widow! But it seems that in Paul and Timothy's time, older widows who were godly women were eligible for the church to provide for and care for them. This little description, then.... describes a godly woman. I don't want to be a widow, but I want to be this kind of woman:

"A widow is to be put on the list [if she has been] the wife of one man, having a reputation for good works, and if she has brought up children, if she has shown hospitality to strangers, if she has washed the saints' feet, if she has assisted those in distress, and if she has devoted herself to every good work." (1 Tim 5:9-10)

Being a woman of God begins deep inside, in the heart of hearts, believing in Jesus. It shows up in the "quiet and gentle spirit" and the inner beauty. And it displays itself to the world in the genuine, sacrificial acts of service described here. That's the kind of woman I want to be, with God's help!

the outcasts.

Thought for the day. "Jesus loves the outcasts."

Last night at small group, we discussed Luke chapter 5. This chapter describes how Jesus called Peter and the other fishermen to be His disciples, then how He healed the leper and the paralytic, after which He chose Matthew - a tax collector - as a disciple and went to a dinner party full of people who were called "sinners." What stood out to me in this chapter.... Jesus was all about the nobodies. The everyday, average-joe folks, who the rest of the world either a) overlooked or b) judged.

Jesus loves the outcasts.

Last week for my college class, we were required to take a spiritual gifts test, then discuss our results on the class online discussion board. My top result was Showing Mercy. As I discussed this with my classmates, one of them brought up a verse from this very story in Luke 5 -- Jesus' response to the leper. "He reached out and touched him and said 'I am willing; be cleansed.'" Loving the outcast. Touching the untouchable. Showing mercy.

Isn't that what it means to be like Jesus?

Whether they are the homeless on the street corner, the orphans overseas, the elderly in the nursing homes, or our own peers...

God, help me see people like You see them... as precious lives, souls in need of Your love, even if the world sees them as ugly or worthless or beyond hope or just a nobody. Break my heart for what breaks Yours. To love like You is what I want, Lord.