Stateside

     Now that we are all back in Madison -and have been soon for a week now (has it really only been a week since we got back?!?!)- we have been preparing for the stateside portion of our outreach. During stateside, we travel to different churches and schools in America and present on our outreaches and just raise awareness about human trafficking and other injustices we have witnessed. We have been split into 5 new teams, with at least one person from each outreach team. So I am now separated from all my Mexico team. But I am on a pretty terrific stateside team! Kenzie, Britta, and Eth are our leaders (I'm so glad to be with Kenz! When they announced the teams we just grinned at each other) and the others on my team are Laura, Charity, Jordyn, Melree, Amanda Canada, and I. Yes, I am now on an all girls team. Its quite the change from team Mexico, but I will admit that it is nice to have girls around :)
     Our team is actually not travelling far for stateside- unlike some teams. One is going to West Virginia, and another to Nebraska. Our team, however, is staying here in Wisconsin as well as going to Illinois and Iowa. It is nice because other than two nights, we will get to just sleep here at the TC.
     So that's what is happening this coming week. This past week, we spent preparing for our stateside presentations. We were told to prepare at least one creative piece. And I am not very creative. I do not dance. I don't paint. I really had no idea what to do. But I felt like I had to do something with worship, because for me personally, worship was a big thing on outreach. Id spend a good amount of time playing guitar and singing to God by myself. But I don't do that in front of people! However, I felt like God wanted me to take a step out of my comfort zone and sing in public (its different from worship team because on worship team, there are always at least 2 others singing plus the congregation). So Kenzie learned how to play a song called Make Us Ready on the guitar. This is a song that my team learned in Cancun, and we sang it a lot on the rest of outreach. Just about being a light and being prepared for what God has for us and for when He comes again. Anyway, the chords are not ones that I know, so I cant play it myself. But I am singing the song, maybe with Kenzie but she has a hard time singing while playing since they are harder chords.
     I'm super excited, though, about some of the other presentations on my team. Its going to be super powerful! I hopefully will have a video copy of most of the presentations, so that'll be awesome!
     In two weeks, it will be March 13. The next day will be DTS graduation day. And then it is over. This whole crazy adventure will be finished. That's crazy! How did that happen?! Where did the time go?!
     Then I come home. For now. But Madison, I'll be back :)
     Blessings,
          Katie

Madison

    We have been back in Madison for a day now. After 3 flights, we finally arrived in Chicago at 1:00am on the night of Thursday/Friday. After customs and the drive to Madison, we finally got back home to the TC in Madison at 4:30 in the morning. Just as a few people were beginning to get up for the day, and food, thanks to jet lag. So I got to talking to people, and long story short, other than an hour in the car and 15 minutes during the day, I didn't get any sleep until Friday night. After like 35 hours of being up. I was tired.
     It is SO good to be back here and see everyone again. I missed my friends. It is, however, way cold here. Yuck. Not fun! I haven't been actually cold in quite some time! But here, in the TC, it is cold cold cold. I didn't miss this at all!
     Now we are debriefing and telling everyone our stories, and on Monday we will begin to prepare for stateside, which we leave for on Friday. Three more weeks and I'm home, folks. Its crazy!
     That's all for now. I guess I just wanted to let y'all know that we made it safely back to Wisconsin. And I no longer am in the warmth and sun. Which really is tragic.
     Blessings,
          Katie

Where Did The Time Go?!

     Today we leave Mexico. I'm going to be trading tank tops, shorts, and flip flops for sweaters, pants, and boots. I'm going to be trading sunshine and warmth- which has resulted in a beautiful tan, I must add!- for snow and cold. I don't really know how it is already time to leave... Didn't we just arrive in Mexico?!
     But it will be good to be back in Madison, with the people who I've missed so much over the past 7 weeks (don't worry, I have missed y'all too, but I don't get to see you quite yet). I'm excited to hear their stories and just to see them again.
     Outreach was an amazing experience. Starting in Cancun, where we did a lot of skit and testimony evangelism. We went to a couple rehab centers and spent time at the Kingdom School in Cuna Maya. After our 3 weeks there with Tree of Life ministries, we went to Tijuana, where we built a small house, handed out food at a dump, and helped out with painting. Week 5 was spent an hour away in Carmen Serdan, at The Mission, a special needs orphanage. Those girls really worked their way into my heart quickly... I miss them! I miss their laughter and smiles. The sass of some of the speaking girls. I miss colouring with them and just hugging them.
     Anyway, after The Mission, we traveled for 35 hours -27 of those hours on one bus- to get here to Mazatlan, where we did evangelism at the annual Carnival. We saw numerous healings and salvations. I know I've said it a lot, but I'm going to continue saying it, because it is true: God is good.
     So after today, we will be in Madison for a bit, and then we will be travelling around the nearby states to talk at churches and schools about our time overseas. Our graduation is on March 14, and then DTS will be over. THIS time in Madison will be done. And then I will be headed home.
     Blessings,
          Katie

Our God is Greater

     Well, Mexico. Its been real. Today is our last full day here in the warmth and sun of Mexico. Tomorrow morning, we leave to return to the cold and snow. I'm excited to see everyone in Madison, but I'm definitely not looking forward to the snow!
     This past week was quite challenging for me- evangelism is not my favourite thing to do. I have a hard time walking up to random people and talking to them, especially through a translator. But it was also a good week, because we saw God moving!
     One awesome story about what God did at Carnival was this. On Sunday night, my group decided to end the night treasure hunting. We asked God to describe who He wanted us to find. We got a man with a big mustache and that he would have back pain. We also got these big colourful water fountains close to the entrance to Carnival. So we decided to head in that direction.
     About halfway to the fountains, we spotted a man with a big mustache. However, he didn't have any back pain. So we kept walking. About 2 minutes from the fountain, we saw another big mustache. This man was working at one of the mobile restaurants along the street. We stopped to talk, asking him if he had any back pain. He lifted his shirt to reveal a back brace. When we asked him if he wanted freedom from the pain, he was suspicious. He thought we knew he had back pain because we saw the brace, but that obviously wasn't the case. You couldn't even see the brace.
     When he realized that all we wanted to do was pray- and we were asking for nothing from him- he agreed. He pulled us away from the tables and across the street to where it was quieter and more private. There, we prayed. And he said his back felt a little better. When we asked if we could pray again, he said we could pray one more time. That was it.
     We prayed, and his pain was gone completely! He was so grateful, and amazed. He asked us to then pray that he would have a good sleep that night, because he hadn't been sleeping well in the limited time he had to sleep. He also said to come back the next day.
     On Monday, during our prep time, it was decided that we would have the same teams that night- the first time we had done that. So we actually were able to return to this man, Roberto, on Monday night. When he saw us, his face broke into a smile. He said he had had an excellent sleep. And he showed us that he was no longer wearing his back brace! God is good! And then Roberto gave us free food, cause it turns out that he is the owner of the place, so that was an added bonus for us!
     This is just one of many stories of healings from this week. This is just one of many stories of God at work this week. We saw so many salvations, healings, and just cool ways that God works! God is greater than pain and sickness! He is greater than anything!
     Blessings,
          Katie

Carnival: We Went In!

     Last night was the second night of Carnival. This time, we all split into our different groups. My group, the inside group, got our tickets and headed into the party!
     We split into smaller groups once we were inside and split up. My group of 5 held a sign that said tells us your story (in Spanish, of course). We weren't sure how well it would work, but the people were decently receptive to it! We first talked to an extremely drunk man who actually knew some English. We got to talk to him about God, and pray for him.
     We talked to and prayed for a few others, all of whom spoke English. Which was totally unexpected, because people who have been there before have rarely seen many English speakers.
     The only people we talked to last night who spoke only Spanish were 3 guys who came over together. And even then, one of them spoke some English.
     They came over joking around and telling us that their names were crazy things and that they were from different places in the States, which they obviously were not. But after talking and joking with them for a bit, one of the people in the group felt like we needed to pray for them to feel the Holy Spirit. They held out their hands and we prayed.
     They described the feeling as goosebumps in their hands, and then inside of them. And the one who spoke some English said he felt peace.
     When we told them that that was God, His spirit, and that He did that because He loves them, the one guy said he wanted that. His English speaking friend stayed and listened as we explained how to accept Jesus, while the third said he wanted nothing to do with it and walked away. But he kept coming back and listening. A seed was planted there!
     So last night, we received a new brother in Christ! And that was just the one salvation that my small group saw- others also saw people come to Christ last night. Praise the Lord!
     Please continue to pray for is and for Carnival! Pray for boldness and fearlessness and for God to continue to create divine appointments, to give us a supernatural ability to be able to communicate without needing translators, and for Him to show up in really amazing and miraculous ways (there were also several healings last night)!
     Blessings,
          Katie

Carnival 2015: The Treasure Hunt

     We arrived here in Mazatlan on Sunday evening. While we are here at our final outreach location, we are doing evangelism at Carnival, the big event of the year. Carnival is Mazatlan's Mardi Gras, and it is apparently the 3rd largest Mardi Gras party in the world. The past few days, we have been preparing for Carnival with worship, prayer, and planning in our groups.
     There are 5 different groups for our Carnival outreach: Intercession, cafe (just a free little coffee shop outside the gates, so people can sit down and talk), and 3 evangelism teams- inside the gates, outside the gates, and women's. A couple days ago, we all prayed and asked God what team He wanted us on. I was personally hoping that I would end up on intercession. I like praying, and I do not enjoy going out and talking to people, you know?
     Well, of course God told me to join the inside evangelism team. So thats what I will be doing for the next week.
     Last night, Carnival began. We started our evening with worship, and then, since it was the first night and not many people go to Carnival that night, we all went in the gates and prayed and spoke to people. By "we all" I mean all 100-150 of us. Besides my outreach group, there is another Madison team (this one from the GMC, the other Madison location), and several other teams. One from West Virginia, one from Texas, two from Australia.... One from Mexico City, the Mazatlan folks, and there might be a few others.
     So last night, I walked around with Michele and 2 other girls, one a translator. We were looking for who God wanted us to talk to, but none of us felt anything about any specific person. So we stopped and prayed for anything He wanted to show us.
     I got a pink shirt. Nicky, our translator, got frizzy hair. Indra, the other girl, got the name Michelle. And Michele got a red hat and plastic toy.
     So we did what we call treasure hunting- look for the person matching the description God gave.
     About 5 minutes later, Indra and Nicky pulled over to chat quickly with a woman sitting on the curb with a sleeping little girl in her arms. Her name was Jasmine. "What is your daughter's name?" We asked.
     "Michelle," Jasmine replied. We all grinned and looked excitedly at each other. Little Michelle was wearing a pink shirt. Her mom was wearing a frizzy Mexico flag coloured wig- with red. It was so cool!!
     We talked to Jasmine for over an hour. 2 year old Michelle woke up at some point and I mostoly just played and "talked" to her- she was chattering away, it was just in Spanish. During worship that evening, one of the GMC girls had given me a glow stick, and when I suddenly found it in my hands, and not on my wrist anymore, I felt like I should give it to Michelle. We realized later- there was the plastic toy.
     We prayed for Jasmine before we left. It was a really good night!
     God is good, all the time!
     Blessings,
          Katie

Cherished

     This past week, while we served at The Mission, we had quite long days. Shifts with the kids began at 7:30 in the morning, and the last shift ended at 6:30. We would be working 7 or 8 hour long days with the kids, and while it wasn't HARD work- mostly just hanging out and colouring, to be honest- it was exhausting.
     One thing that I struggled with all week was our early start- we gathered for worship at 6:30 every morning. At first, I really wasn't very happy about that. I am definitely NOT what you would call a morning person ;) But that half hour each morning turned out to be some of the best times of each day! I would sit there, on the couch, listening to the ipod playing and just talk to God. And He talked to me about things that I never expected, and hadn't even been on my radar!
     One major thing that God told me during these quiet moments with Him was that He cherishes me. He's talked to me a lot about His love for me during lecture phase of DTS, but this is different. A few years ago, being cherished was a big thing for me. I really wanted to be cherished. Its different from just being loved, you know? (Goodness, I have clearly spent too much time with Keisha. She always ends her sentences with "you know?"). So I honestly haven't thought about the being cherished thing for awhile, and when God said it all of a sudden, it was so cool! I'm cherished by the King of the universe. How awesome is that?! And then God told me how he also cherishes each one of those girls that we were talking care of that week (the boys, too, but I didn't really have any contact with them). So that day, I looked at each girl differently. I searched for the thing that God really cherished in each of them. For the talking ones, it was easy. But for the non-verbal ones, although I loved them, I had to really ask God what He cherished about them. Sela, who basically can't do anything, He cherishes because she is simply so sweet and patient. I can't explain exactly how I know that, but I do. He loves Jena for her joy-inducing laughter. I could go on, but really, the point is how precious each and every one of us is to God. Even those who society rejects, who society has no use for.
     The fact that God really loves those with special needs isn't new to me, of course. You all know how much I love Andrew and Bob (btws I totally miss them!)- special needs people have always brought me a lot of joy! It has always been easy for me to see His love for them. But last week, it had been challenging for me to see what He loved about certain girls, like Sela, because they are so disabled. So it was awesome to have the opportunity to see them through His eyes.
     As Aaron or Jack said, it really was a privilege to serve these girls and boys. It was a privilege to dress them, to change their diapers, to feed them, and to just hang out with them.
     Oh, and I'm not going to hog God's cherishing for myself and the kids at The Mission.... He cherishes you, too! ;)
     And look at that! 2 posts in 2 days. Pretty impressive ;)
     Blessings,
          Katie

Everything Not Cancun

Well, hola! Long time no see! Sorry I have been rather absent from here... Lack of time and internet is what is to blame! However, now I am sitting on an extremely comfortable bus with mega leg room as well as free wifi, on my way fromiee Tijuana to Mazatlan. And the bus ride is about 27 hours, so if I don't manage to write a post that will be rather sad.
     So. Goodness. I guess I shall just sum up the past 2 weeks, since we left Cancun. I don't think I told y'all much about Cancun, but you can ask me in real life when I get home in March, okey dokey?
     Well, we left Cancun bright and early on Saturday, the 24th of January . And by bright and early, I mean we left the house in the dark and rain at 5:30am. We flew to Atlanta, had a layover, and then flew to San Diego. From there we drove over the border to Tijuana. Crossing the border into Mexico was kind of a joke.... We literally just drove through! We didn't speak to anyone or pull out our passports!
     Anyway, we spent a week in Tijuana. While we were there, we built a home for a family of 4- this home was a 12 by 12 room. But the family was so grateful and blessed by it! We also went to the dump and hands out hot dogs and water to the people who live and work there. It was so heartbreaking to see the conditions and squalor that they are living in, yet at the same time, I didn't feel despair.  I could totally feel God's presence there, which was so cool! While in Tijuana, we also got to attend a class at a school that prepares people to go out as missionaries to unreached people groups. And we painted. And on our day off, we got up at like 5 in the morning to climb a mountain. I nearly died cause it was steep and I'm not exactly what you would call "in shape" ;) But the beautiful sunrise that we watched from the top was worth it. Amazing view :)
     Last Saturday, we bused about an hour away to Ticate, where we spent the next week helping at a special needs orphanage called The Mission. It was amazing there! They have 16 "kids", ranging in age from 8 to 46. Most of then are in their 20s. They have 12 girls, although we only met 11 of them since DiDi, the youngest, is in the hospital for surgery. Of those 11, only 5 could speak. I miss those sweet girls! And even the ones who could not talk really find a place in your heart quickly! We left them at 7:15 this morning, and I already miss them to pieces!
     Now we are on route to our final destination here in Mexico- Mazatlan. We will be doing evangelism at the Carnival. Prayer for boldness would be appreciated!
     Blessings,
         Katie