How I Landed Here

It’s been 4 years since I first ventured into the Peruvian Amazon for the first time. Having gone on mission trips to both Honduras and Mexico, I had begun to develop a heart for missions work in Latin America. After watching a video of a Blackhawk team that went to Peru, I knew I had to go. That trip in many ways was the beginning of an adventure God is still taking me on. Among the things that greatly impacted me were: seeing adolescent males in a culture saturated in machismo leaving our week long camp with tears streaming down their faces while they said goodbye, the unbelievable generosity and gratefulness of those who are significantly less materially blessed, meeting the boy I sponsor (an incredible story but too long for this post). My heart was torn open to the social injustices of our world, thankfully never to be closed. I returned again in 2007, excited to deepen the relationships I had formed two years prior. As soon as we landed in Lima it was clear that God’s plan was different. But once again He blew me away. Due to strikes in Pucallpa (the city we fly into to get to La Merced), we were unable to go to La Merced as planned. We spent the first week working in various communities throughout the slums of Lima. Fortunately, the strikes ended and we were able to cancel our trip to Machu Picchu and make it to La Merced for a few days. (Again, much more to this story.) It was on this trip that I really began to realize the crazy ways in which God works and learned that if I surrender my life, He’ll undoubtedly blow my mind. Throughout the past two years God has been literally pushing me (at times against my own selfish desires) into youth ministry. Two years ago, I’d never thought of a future in youth ministry, and now I find myself in the midst of a yearlong internship with the high school ministry at Blackhawk, but I wouldn’t change any of it. It’s unclear where God is taking me with all of this but I’m confident of one thing, it’ll be a wild ride but ultimately more rewarding than I could have ever imagined. Thinking about this trip and all the roadblocks we’ve hit in preparing and the unknowns ahead, it would be natural to be fearful of what is to come. But because of my confidence in God’s faithfulness, instead of anxiousness and fear, I’m simply excited for the ways in which God is going to pull through and knock us off our feet. He always does.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7