Tomorrow I’m jumping on a plane to Nicaragua, where I’ll be serving for the next two months. Tomorrow!! I am so unbelievably excited to see how God will move and use me during my time there, and the past few days at training camp have completely reaffirmed why I am going. My purpose in life is to be more than just a “friendly person” but to be a godly person that is here to share His love and hope with everyone I encounter. I now, more than ever, am confident in my identity in Christ as His beloved daughter. He made me special, beautiful, and worthy. The people and children in Nicaragua deserve to know that they can feel the same way, and that they have an awesome Savior waiting with arms wide open to tell them so! These next two months are going to be fantastic.
Training camp has done more than open my eyes to God’s influence in my life, though; it’s given me a new family. Although Nicaragua has the largest team here at camp (30 altogether!), I feel like we are one of the closest, despite the fact that we’ve only known each other for a couple days. We are completely open with one another, aren’t afraid to laugh and have fun, and grapple with the spiritual issues that we each face. Some of my favorite moments with them have been: Amanda’s first sighting of a firefly, never ending games of ninja, late night talks under the stars, unashamed worship times, and our willingness to do anything for each other. God willing, we are going to accomplish such great things in Nicaragua.
Still curious about my title? Another of my favorite memories with my team was when we made banana boats our first night here. When you make a banana boat, you eat the top half of the banana, fill it with delicious chocolate and marshmallows, cook it in the fire for a bit, then enjoy! The best way to do this is eat the top half of your banana horizontally. One of my teammates, however, ate her half vertically- like you would normally eat a banana. After a good laugh, we all helped fix her boat, and it turned out as wonderful as all the rest. While this may sound silly, I think that banana boat could definitely represent my life. I have a tendency to mess things up sometimes, and I’m a broken person, but I have a God that fixes that and loves me just the same.
