Three years. Three years is a very long time, especially for a developing girl like myself. Three years ago is the last time I posted on this blog. It was a little over three years ago when I first left my home country to travel abroad. It was three years ago when God first started changing my view of the world and shaping my view of Him. It was about two years ago when I started my official blog, and it was about the same time that I left this blog in the dust to be forgotten. I have considered many times whether I should renew this blog, and it wasn't until now that this question has been answered.
You see, the person I was three years ago is very different than the person I am now. Teenage me was very different than early twenties me. God has done a ton of work in my life since I first left the country. And when I first abandoned this blog it was because the focus was far too narrow for what I intended t blog about as a whole. But that is because this blog's purpose is different than my official blog. And while different, that purpose is still relevant to my life today. Therefore, after three years and being forgotten in the tangled knots of the interwebs, I revive this blog and give it a fresh start as this new year begins.
I won't go into painful detail, but since the last blog post, my life has changed dramatically. I went back to Costa Rica during my first year of college to fulfill an internship. I have the wonderful privileged of working with the same people I had worked with in my prior trip and learning a ton from them. This internship changed my life. I grew closer to Jesus and got a greater understanding of who He is and what His life looked like on earth. I grew in my understanding of the world and intercultural communication and ministry. I grew in my understanding of the church worldwide and the greatness of our God. And best of all, I grew in my understanding of how Jesus made disciples, how I can make disciples, and how to be a better disciple of His.
It was during those trips abroad, and through the many Spanish classes I took in junior high and high school that God began to grow a passion in me for Hispanic people and cultures. I had heard that many people who had done the same ministry trip and internship as me had grown a passion for Costa Rica and had eventually gone back to minister there. I however, had a passion that was a bit more broad. My passion was not limited to Costa Rica and it's culture specifically. While this country will always have a special place in my heart, my passion pertained to all Spanish speaking cultures. It was much more broad.
This passion was apparent every time I walked into Spanish class at my university and excitedly threaded Spanish words together to hold conversation, and it was apparent in the way my eyes lit up every time I had the opportunity to worship our Lord in Spanish. It was apparent in my eagerness to learn about and participate in any possible facet of Hispanic cultures, cuisine, or conversation.
One day I was pondering this passion of mine and reflecting on the fact that all my other passions, talents, and desires seemed to fit together, but this one seemed odd. I finally prayed that God would show me how this one fit. That he would give me opportunities to pursue it and explore it. I asked God if there were any ways I could do that now. He answered by encouraging me to volunteer with a ministry that worked with this demographic. I pursued this by inquiring into ministries in my area that fulfilled this requirement, and got plugged into an Awana program and church that served a mainly Puerto Rican neighborhood. And as I volunteered at this ministry, I waited for God to show me what my next step was.
In the meantime, I continued to eat Hispanic food, occasionally brush up on my Spanish, and even explore Hispanic music and make playlists of it on Spotify. Then one day I was sitting in a chapel meeting at my university and they were explaining different ministry trips offered. I had never been very interested in these trips before and didn't have any more interest now - until they introduced the trip to Ecuador. As the trip leader explained the trip, my heart began to pump just a little harder and the pace of my breathing got just a little faster, and I felt God knudge me and say "This is your next step." So I met with the trip leader to talk. And as he explained the trip further, it became less and less of a thing I wanted to do and more and more of a thing I had to do. So I filled out the application and waited. After many weeks, I got an email telling me that all I had to do to lock in my spot was to give in a deposit for the trip. I was thrilled. It was really happening! I was going to Ecuador!
And that's pretty much where I am right now. I am so excited to follow God in His "Next Step" for me. I have a few more months before I leave for this new adventure, and my current endeavor is raising the $1600 needed to cover the costs of the trip. If you're interested in helping with this cost, you can check out this website: https://www.moodyradio.org/giving/pcm-trips/
When I first created this blog, I was a puny little 16 year old girl who was excited to go on a trip. Little did I know how God would use that first trip to launch a passion in my life. Little did I know how much my heart would swell and my eyes would widen every time I heard a Spanish song or saw a Hispanic culture represented. I thought that it was my own clever brain that named this blog. But now I realize it was the Lord who gave me the title and that it wasn't until this moment that I truly understood what it means. The Lord met me in Costa Rica three years ago, but what He started in Costa Rica goes far beyond that little country. God has called me beyond, to my next step. So that is where I go now, and who knows where 'Beyond' will take me in the future.
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