You never know ....

So often on short-term trips and with missions in general we "think" we know who we are going to serve, what we are going to do, and have a "plan." It is so important to remember that God is in control and has a plan WAY better than anything we can ever come up with. I love connecting with team's and crashing their reunions to hear about how God has worked in their live's AFTER the missions trip. 

The College Church team had a bit of a scare when they realized one (or maybe a few more than one...) of the kids that they were playing with had lice! There was a little worry and concern until finally they made a comment that really stuck with me "Well even if we go home with lice, I wouldn't change the way I played with the kids this week." I LOVED it. What an amazing attitude, and I thought it was a fun lesson learned because, being the optimist that I am, I was positive that it was all just a scare and that nobody was really going to get lice.

........

So, fast forward a bit to this past Sunday.  I found out that not one, but two of the girls in the group had to get treated for lice when they came back to Wheaton! At first I felt absolutely terrible. But I could see that everyone was just smiling and laughing about it (and more importantly, everyone still had all of their hair!). They went on to tell me that right away they went to this great "lice salon" (yes that really exists!) and got a couple treatments and fully checked out. They went on to tell me about the impact that their testimony had on the ladies that run the salon! These girls had hours to talk about "how" and "why" they got lice and more importantly that even if given an opportunity to go back and change something about their trip, that they wouldn't! Now, I don't know if these ladies' will dedicate their lives to Christ over this encounter with a few of our short-termers, but I'm confident that seeds were planted and that they saw the love of Christ in action both locally and globally. I love my job!

Here are a few pictures that may explain just how they got lice in the first place! (Don't worry I got permission to use these pictures, and I'll state for the record that only one of these girls got lice). You just never know how God will use your story or your experiences, so keep sharing!

College Church STAMP March 2013

Wow. It feels like such a whirlwind since last October when pieces started to move into place for College Church to send a STAMP team down to serve alongside us in Santiago! I was home for a week for College Church's missions festival and had a conversation with the Nussbaums, and next thing you know they are raising money to come down! I love watching how God carefully places a team together, even one on such short notice. This team was special and different in that is was filled with people in very different walks of lives. There were 3 families, some group members were in High School, some in college, some in middle school! Some were just starting to enter the work field, and some were just exiting the work field! But it was very clear that right from the start, God had a plan for everyone who had come down to serve at our site in Hato del Yaque.

One of the biggest blessings for me as I "host" and facilitate short-term teams in the DR, is watching group's fall in love with people and places that occupy a huge place in my heart. This could not be more true about this STAMP team. They came down with no expectations, other than to love on and serve the people of Hato del Yaque, and I know that when they left, they left with Hato del Yaque occupying a huge place in their hearts. From the kids, to the pastor and his family, to the basketball coaches, to the missionaries, this group loved hard and we had to pry them away on the last day!

Here are a few pictures that start to give a feel for what we all experienced together this week. Thank you so much for coming alongside us as we continue to serve together in Hato del Yaque! This was such a special week for me.