Category Archives: Mission Trips

Following His Hands – Straight into Mexico ||

Posted on by

 An update on my heart’s will to travel down to Mexico with Genesis Diez.

Recently I made the decision to travel back down to Baja California, Mexico and work with Genesis Diez for a month! This time playing a different role. No longer an ‘amigo’ but a leader.
The summer after my Senior of high school was when I first worked with this amazing, heartfelt organization (here is a post on my trip). This one week changed my life and my heart.
For awhile now I have felt at a stand still. With a restless heart and a faith begging for a challenge, I was thirsty for Jesus; in need of His refreshing will.

Continue reading →

Katherine’s Mission Donations & Prayer

Posted on by
This summer I will be, once again, stepping out of my comfort zone and following the Lord to Baja California Mexico! For three-weeks I will be leading groups, just like the one I traveled with in 2010, to change the lives of our little ninos.
This truly will be a life changing opportunity for me!
God blessed me, significantly, in previous missions, and I know He will bless me yet again.
I now ask you to prayerfully consider donating to my mission and Genesis Diez directly! All procedes will go to Genesis Diez and my traveling.
I start my training in Mexico on June 20th, and will return to the States on July 15th. Donations can be made at anytime!
& whether you decided to support my financially or in prayer, I thank God for your kind heart.God is so good, and I cannot wait to serve Him this summer! I will keep everyone updated before, during, and after my trip!
Thank you all, again. God Bless! ♥Here is Genesis Diez’s mission-website, as well ||

http://www.genesisdiez.org/mission-trips/mission-trips.html

DONATE HERE:

If you wish to make a donation online, you can simply send a PayPal payment to katherine6410@live.com, or simply shoot me an email for more information! Thank you so much!

So Much Change, or Too Little?

Posted on by

Be The Change You Wish To See In The World.

-Mahatma Gandhi

A year ago this past week I experienced a life changing trip to Baja California Mexico. Within the week my heart for God grew, as well as my heart for serving others. Our youth group of about fifteen traveled down on one bus, took three planes, and then two vans into the heart of Ensenada to work with Genesis Diez on  their Ranch with an all girls orphanage  (twenty-one girls ranging from ages six to eighteen). Who ever knew that twenty orphans and one week could truly change our simple lives.

We attempted to prepare ourselves before departing and even during the early days of our trip, but nothing could have prepared our hearts for what we experienced. With a million mixed emotions on the trip down, the moment we met our Niña’s, was like no other. No words could truly explain the experience. Half the time we were unable to understand them and vice-verse, and this troubled us. We feared that due to this barrier we would not be able to carry out what we came for. Then we remember the still small voice, urging us, encouraging us, strengthening us. We were there for a purpose, whether we saw it actually happening or not. We had to do what we were brought there to do, and trust Him to do the rest. Being able to transform the life of a child, even with so many barriers, truly does change your heart.

Exactly 365 days after this trip started I was preparing for yet another trip. Only this time not to Mexico, but to Gatlinburg, Tennessee; and not for a mission trip, but instead a harmless vacation with friends.

Last year I climbed mountains, swam in the ocean,
watched the sunrise over the mountains, counted the stars,
and played ‘Tiburon’ with our young Niñas.

This past week I white-water rafted,
zip-lined, golfed down a mountain,
visited an aquarium with exotic aquatic animals,
and fed a wild bear.

Yet despite the difference in scenery, I must say the first was the best of the two.

Last year I slept on an air mattress, on solid ground in a tarp tent;
while it got down to freezing degrees at night.
The showers were thirty degrees and we only got one every other day;
not a single day went by that we weren’t covered in dirt, sweat, and paint.

This past week I got my own room and bathroom,
an amazing mountain view, and the luxury of comfort
and endless fun with friends.

Yet what was the greater experience? I must say, yet again, the first.

When I reflect back on the week in Mexico, and this past week, I can’t help but question what I really experienced in the mountain range of Ensenada, what I learned from what I experienced, and how I lived my life for the next 359 days after returning home. Was my life really all that changed? Or was I simply on a Jesus high at the time?

Was I more excited for traveling to the mountains, this year? Forgetting about where I was only a short year before? How can I say my life was changed from my week in Mexico, if only 365 days later I’m moving on and forgetting? Memories slipping, images disappearing, hearts changing. What does it all mean? What am I to think about this ‘change’ I experienced?

I think we all go through this at least once in our lives, if not (many) more. We experience something so life-changing, thinking this is the time our lives will really change, and then it seems to die down as the days, weeks, months, and years go by.

However, I have challenged myself to not let the fire die. To allow the life changing days of yesterday really change me; to really reflect the way I live.

I wrote a post a couple of months back about my mission trip to South Dakota, in the Indian Reservations, working with under-privileged children and poverty-stricken families (post here). Did this trip really change me, as much as I like to say? The things I experienced, the people I met, the poverty I saw, and all the small memories still burn in my mind and throb in my heart. Despite this fact, how much do they really change me? How much of that fire still burns strong in my heart enough to truly be a change to others?

Considering these troubling questions, I have challenged myself to really let these moments transfer from my heart to my life, and my life to my actions. Not just in my mind, but in my life. I want others to see what I have seen, and feel what I have felt. Don’t you?

Just think, you change one life… they go on to change another life… then another, and another. The cycle is forever long. Allow your experiences to change others! Allow your changed heart to change the hearts of others! Be the change, when you see the change!

I challenge you, BE THAT CHANGE! Let the light that shed into your heart, shine into the hearts of those that you meet. Whether a simple night at a convention, a heart warming speaker, a mission trip, or a true life-giving experience… let it be the change; because there is no change if you do not allow it and if you do not spread it.

Even if you’re fearful, a little unsure, or even ashamed.. let go of those burdens, and trust the Lord. He is good, He is so good. Remember, ‘Thy kingdom come, thy will be done’, bring the kingdom of the Lord here to earth. be a part of that change. No fear in life, no doubt in love, beat for His love, and live so.

Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.
Isaiah 40:31

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Eph. 2:10

Continue reading →

Heart of the Reservation;

Posted on by

About a year ago, I was blessed by being able to travel to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservations, in South Dakota. The short time I got to spend there, changed my heart and my life. I was forced to step out of my comfort zone and into a whole new world; yes, despite only being 14 hours from home, it was a whole different world.

Here is a snip from my journal;

“Who are we to be as selfish as we are? We complain when we lose power for a night, when there are people all around us who are never lucky enough to experience electricity. We have become so accustomed to our luxurious lives that we can not imagine anything else. This week I will see the ‘what else’ and the poverty these children and families face. Lead me Lord.”

Needless to say that by the end of the week I had seen, hands on, the ‘what else’ that we don’t have to face day to day.

If I was try to explain to you the things I seen that week, I couldn’t possibly even scratch the surface! One word that we used to explain the week was eye-opening. Eye-opening even being and understatement. We encountered children who had never been hugged, never been loved, and hardly fed. Children who would fight for attention, and fight for food. Children who were satisfied with just a minute of your time, and so much more grateful for a simple hug. Young teens who knew nothing more than poverty and the streets. Teens who thought there was nothing better out there for them- who thought they were forever hopeless. We say glimpses of God in the small things and in the big things. We witnessed a woman willing to sacrifice everything just to support others, others who weren’t even family. Families willing to give it all up, just to provide.

I personally witnessed the hands of God working wonders in what seemed like a hopeless place. People who loved what they had, because that’s all they never knew. They did not complain when they lost cell phone service, or when the air conditioner was broken, or when they had ‘nothing to eat’… they didn’t complain about these things, because they didn’t have these luxuries to being with! They struggled from day to day just to get by, but they did it with an open mind and a willing heart. They loved and cherished what they did have and never even thought about taking something for granted.

On June 9th 2010 we ventured to White Clay, Nebraska. It was simply crazy to see the poverty right here in the U.S.! We were not in a third world country, we were only states away from our own luxurious homes! Yet here we where, in a town whose streets were lined with passed out alcoholics at nine in the morning. A town that knew nothing more than the alcohol it sold, and the poverty it served. Despite the circumstances, God still moved. In that very same place we witnessed a ministry that fought all odds to support the fallen town. We met people who were still willing to sacrifice for the lost, and reach out to the lost. God still moved! Wondrous is the Lord we serve, when in a place like that we can still see His light.

What amazed me most about the children and adults I met during that mission trip, was there hearts. Despite the turmoil their hearts were strong and will was unbroken! They found joy in the simple joys like playing with bubbles, or beading jewelry by hand! Such simple things, yet such BIG things!

One thing I took away from that trip was this;

“We need to remember that this could us but because of God’s grace we are where we are, and are able to help them. No matter how little the help may be. Our life is simple, and our life is precious- let us put it in God’s hands and allow Him to save and protect us. BUT we must be willing to change… I know I am.”

When we allow the love of the Lord to work through our hearts we can truly be changed and we can truly change others. The simplest of acts, like a little game of tag, could change one child’s life. One prayer, could change a whole family. Don’t overlook the power of God in your life. Embrace it. Use it!

Be the servant God made you to be. Pray for the ability to lead, pray for the power to change, pray for the heart to love! The Lord’s work is great, just watch it change you and those around you.

Just remember, you don’t need to go half way around the world to start making a difference. It starts from within. It starts right where you are today. Go make something of it.

 

I pray for your ‘wowicala’ (faith in Lakota), to grow in the Lord.

 

 

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. -1 Cor. 12:4

 

I believe He wants us to love others so much that we go to extremes to help them. -Francis Chan

 

Direct my footsteps according to your Word; let no sin rule over me. -Psalms 119:133

 

Lord, Lead Me.