Month 8, I went home. Up til that point, the race had been a lot of growing experiences and I have been stretched a ton and learned more about myself than I ever thought possible. I felt this crazy anticipation in my spirit that something big was going to happen after month 7, I just was not quite sure how big it would be. Month 6 and part of month 7 was very difficult for me as I had two members of my family pass away within a few weeks of each other and I was not able to be there for either of their funerals. I missed home a lot and was really heart broken not to be in the states to be with my family during these times.
But God was really good at walking me through the grieving process and He blessed me with so much more than I could imagine. I just had to hold on.
So when month 8 came around, I knew we were going to a new continent, which meant new beginnings, new culture, new language, and new climate. It was finally going to be cold! Right before we left the Philippines in month 7, I decided to finally fully surrender all my plans to God and stop trying to control them. It may seem like I did this at the beginning of the race and although I thought I had, there were still many things I tried to take control over again. But it started to consume my mind and so I just decided I was done. I told God I was moving forward and if he wanted to change my direction then He was going to have to make it really obvious.
It always amazes me to see what happens when we fully surrender things to God. Also when we give him ultimatums. Somehow they don’t scare him and he still meets us right where we are. And man, did he meet me in that place.
My whole life changed month 8 in a way that I could have never expected or planned on my own. Month 8 we spent in Argentina. I say that I went home because from day 1 of arriving there I felt like I belonged. The amazing people that greeted us at the airport stole my heart from the beginning. I immediately felt like family and each day I spent at the foster home I fell more and more in love with the people.
They immediately welcomed us into their family, and I knew I had to soak up every minute with them that I could. Our ministry for the month was to help out around the home however we could. It is a large property filled with several different houses for the kids and the staff that volunteer there. There is also a large dining hall where we enjoyed meals together everyday and also where we spent a lot of our time hanging out together.
Most of the people who volunteered there were around our age so we were able to make many new friends, and for me, friends for life. The presence of God rested on this place like no place I have ever known. I could feel His pretense everywhere and I could immediately tell these kids were so extremely loved. It is the kind of place I had been dreaming about being a part of for a long time and the entire month I was so overwhelmed by God’s goodness that he gave me more than I could have every wanted.
Our month consisted of painting, cleaning and organizing, playing lots of volleyball and soccer out on the fields, loving on the kids, and playing a lot of music. There were many very talented musicians and lots of musical instruments here so I was in heaven! Any moment I wanted to play someone would be around to want to play with me. All of my favorite things were wrapped up into this one month and I got to see what life looks like with all the desires of my heart filled.
The main gathering place that we helped to paint.
Noah’s ark mural
Worship session with my team! I loved to soak up the sun any chance I could get.
I don’t even know how to put into words how sweet it is to be loved by a God who is SO good, and to feel like all your dreams have come true. Actually I just wrote a song about it instead.
This month I got to learn what just doing life with people looks like. I learned how to just be, and how to serve out of pure love and not expectation and obligation. I was so filled with love it just poured out of me. I didn’t have to work for it. And through all of that I gained a new family who will forever hold such a big place in my heart!
I even got the chance to share a piece of my own family with them and was able to make my grandmother’s homemade gnocchi recipe for all 45 of them! It was quite a feat, but some of my new friends helped me and it was such a sweet thing to be able to cook together and share my culture with them as well.
We made about a thousand Gnocchi’s for 45 people!
These two are my favorite and helped me make Gnocchi. They are rockstars and I could not have done it without them!
It was a huge success!!
Sometimes the missionary life can be really hard, especially with traveling so much for a long period of time. Some months are really really hard and there are moments I want to quit. But I am so glad I held on and pushed through because God gave me the best gift I could have ever imagined. He blessed me with an amazing 3 weeks of love, adoration, joy, family, rest, and service in all of my favorite ways, painting, dancing, sports, music, and kids.
In month 8 I got to go home, to a place that rested and restored me so now I can be sent out again to serve and love on people and see what else God has for me, until He brings me back again.
Until then, Argentina, Te Amo. ??
