Finally, I blog. I could say that my excuse is important team-leadery stuff, but really I have just enjoyed spending time with my team and I don't want to hide myself away to write a blog. God has incredibly blessed me with this amazing team. When asked by a friend to describe them, I talked about how fun and goofy they are, constantly laughing and full of joy and bursting into random song for every occasion. His response? "That is SO you." I was going to write about them individually but one of my girls, Haille, beat me to it… So please read her blog post http://nicaragua.adventures.org/?filename=team-pies-hermosas to get a better picture of my people.
God has been so good to me… I live in the shadow of a volcanoe, in a tropical paradise where I can chill out in my hammock to watch the sunset. I have a real bed (sweet!) and the cooks are amazing (SWEET!!). Being a leader is so different than I could have thought, and now I realize how crazy I must have driven my team leader on the World Race with all of my questions (sorry Kayla and Aubrie!). But the most amazing part is seeing the Lord work in new ways. Every conversation I have with a teammate, I am so blessed to hear the Lord doing his work in their lives. We have been sharing testimonies with the group, and I have loved hearing the redemptive stories. I don't know if this is cheating or not, but every victory feels like my own victory when I celebrate with them!
In some ways, I feel like a completely different person than I ever have been before… And yet I have never been more myself. God has brought me into such freedom and into a place where I can not only live out that freedom, but THRIVE in it. Please pray for continued wisdom and discernment in my life, and honor and courage in our team. We have called ourselves Pies Hermosos, which is Spanish for Beautiful Feet, based off of the scripture Isaiah 52:7:
"How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
'Your God reigns!'"
Considering my feet that get completely dirty after a day in the dust and the big toe that I have already busted once playing soccer barefoot, that is saying a lot.
