Heart Surgery & Ecuador

Love, support and friendship.. I'm blessed to say I have felt all three poured out on my family this week, even though our support system is back in Tucson. God uses people in our lives to bless us, encourage us and point us to Him. 

For the past 8 days I've been here in Los Angeles with my family. My brother, Jake, had open heart surgery last tuesday to replace his pulmonary valve at LA Children's hospital.. My return flight is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. But Mom and Jake are staying till next Saturday, waiting for his post op visit with the nurse practitioners on Friday before they can return home.

Speaking for myself, last Tuesday was a very stressful and nerve wracking day. I'm sure my parents would agree. 

Since the beginning of July I had been praying that whatever the outcome of my brothers surgery God would be glorified. God knew the outcome of this, Jake's 4th open heart surgery - before we ever knew he would need it. I took comfort in God's provision for this surgery & his plan for my brother and my family in the bigger picture. 

Truth be told my family and I are very little in God's greater story of the universe..  Even with social media and smart phones our sphere of influence is actually very small.. But that small amount of influence can have a HUGE effect on someones life. 

God's opened an opportunity for me to go to Playas Ecuador in November and share in the ministry sponsored by Compassion International, Pantano Christian Church & my home church, Elements City Church.  I'm not sure exactly what God has planned for me on this trip. But starting now until the beginning of September I will be fund raising the 2700$ needed to make the trip. Please see the "Ecuador Support Letter 2015" on the left side side bar for more information about the trip and becoming a partner with me on this trip. 

Six of us from Elements City Church will be part of the team head up by Compassion International. 

Mission trip in May

The support letters are in the mail! This is the first time in four years that a mission trip has even been a possiblity for me. Even though I'm happy to be in college, finding time off for mission trips out of country is hard. This semester I'm taking the EMT program at school. I needed a filler between my last semester of prerequistes and nursing school next semester. The EMT program has a different schedule than all the other classes at school. Most classes run January 20th - May 20-ish. Where as the EMT program runs January 20th - May 6th! Is that not awesome how God works things out?!? The mission team is supposed to leave May 9th from Tulsa.

I'm excited! Not sure what exactly to expect. Maybe it's just better to have no expectations. Now I need to check into shots. Oh how I hate shots. It takes me a while (like a week!) to psych myself up to even get blood drawn. Funny, no? I'm going to be a nurse. It's okay to stick someone else with a needle. I just prefer to not be stuck. :)

This year I'm really learning the hard way just to step back and trust God. He's God and I'm not. It's both comforting and very hard to do. I'm a planner. I like to know the game plan six months ahead of time. Trusting God one day at a time is a challenge but He always exceeds "my plans".

The reason I started this blog is to share with ya'll what God is doing. You who are supporting me by lifting me up in prayer or financially supporting this trip are just as much involved in this mission trip as I am! I can't do this without YOU! That is why I started this blog. :)

A New Year with a New Blog..

Hi Everyone,

I decided to start a missions blog! My desire is to share this adventure God has me on with each of you. This blog will be where I'll post pictures and share stories.