*in the details

The only one who can truly see the depth of my heart is The Lord. On the outside I do look like I’m focused on the details and background things – but God made me detail oriented for a reason. I like background things and like to recognize the needs of others before they can ask for something themselves. This is how God made me. Being front and center, in the spotlight, isn’t really my thing. I love doing things for people that not another soul knows I did. I like it when the person receiving a blessing doesn’t know where it even came from. I like finding and focusing on the ones who stay in the shadows and won’t come and ask for help on their own - - sometimes these are the ones who need the most help! Teams come and go and only hear bits and pieces of the story God is writing in me and sometimes I think it’s hard for them to actually understand my heart. I’m detail oriented, but I don’t think it’s a bad thing. In fact, I’m just realizing it might be one of the reasons why God has placed me here. People who stay in the background need to be noticed and loved just as much as those who come front and center asking for love and help.

I have also realized that no one can fill me up like Jesus can. When teams come down they are encouraging and it’s nice to hear a few pleasant words here and there. But my precious, loving, and mighty Savior is the only one who knows how to fill me up until I am truly overflowing. No matter what praises I do (or don’t) hear from people on earth, I know that my Heavenly Father is up there smiling down and I cannot wait until the day I see Him and He says, “well done, good and faithful servant!” The only thing that matters is that God knows my heart, He sees everything that goes on, and He has the power to fill me up every hour of every day. He can fill my cup like no one else can. I cling to this thought daily. What I have been called to do isn’t easy and shouldn’t be taken lightly. God never promised it would be a piece of cake though. However, He did promise to be with me always and that He would never leave me. That makes this crazy life a little easier to take!

Watch this video. It makes me want to melt into the arms of my Savior when I have had a bad day:

I Need Thee O I NeedThee - Acapella Arrangement - YouTube

Now, for what I have been up to while being in Haiti for 3 months now – CRAZY right?! Our Thrive for 5 program in Savanette is going SO well! I cannot express how cute and lovable the 120+ kids in our program are. They are beyond adorable and it literally makes my day to see their little faces. Cassidy and I have known all their names for a while now. The mothers in the program are so excited we know each of their children by name. The mothers and children trust us more and more each day and it feels so good to have such a wonderful group to be connected with. When someone has a cut that needs some attention, the children are not afraid anymore to come up to the front and show it to us. J We are becoming quite the little “nurses.” Every day we are beyond blessed to be part of this program.

When we are telling the Bible stories, sometimes I feel like it might be a little boring the way we present it because we are literally just reading from the Bible. In America we have Power Points, like five handouts, a project, a verse with actions, and a video to tell a Bible story. It’s not like that here. J I got to thinking the other day and it doesn’t really matter how we present these stories. We are sharing BIBLE stories with women and children who might not know how to read, or even own a Bible! It’s a huge deal! This could possibly even be the first time some of them have heard these stories, and that’s pretty awesome to be part of. I find one person every story that looks like they “get it” and if only one hears the story of the day and “gets it,” that’s enough for me.

We started an after school program and ran it for a month. It honestly got to be way too out of hand for 3 of us to handle so it has been stopped for now and will restart in January. It was huge and we weren’t able to go “an inch wide, and a mile deep” like the projects in Savanette are supposed to be. We have learned what we want to (and don’t want to) do next time, so it should be much better the second time around. Trial and error here folks!

We are also still teaching English and the hospital staff is still loving it. Good news is – since the time change 6AM class means it’s light out the whole hour we teach! J

And some even BETTER NEWS – my ringworm is practically gone!! J YAY!! Thank you Jesus for healing me! And thank you all for the prayers. I literally could not be here if I didn’t have the support and prayers of each one of you reading this. You have no idea how much I appreciate it and how thankful I am for you! J

XXO

Tampico 

#LessonsLearned

I’ve now been here for over two months and I am growing and being stretched every day. There have been two main things God has been teaching me that I just realized the other night as I was journaling. God has been more than faithful in answering my prayers to be challenged every day. In my “answered prayers” journal, #62 and #63 (from a while back) reflect this:

#62: God has answered my prayers to be challenged every day here. He pushes me to see the best in people – the way He sees them – even when I don’t feel like it. He continually nudges me to see people through His eyes. I need to remind myself to take a time out and think about how God sees them and pray about it. He is molding me into the person He wants me to be.

#63: I’m thankful God has answered my prayers and has been pushing and testing me in things like forgiveness and patience. I’m learning to put my faith in Him no matter how big or tiny I think something is. He will always fill me up with these things if I ask Him to.

Having my parents here from October 21-31 was exactly what I needed. As most of you know I’m super detail oriented and sometimes I really need to be reminded to step back and take a look at the big picture. The little things don’t ALWAYS matter. My mom and dad could not have been more encouraging in helping me see the big picture and how some of those little things I stress about, really don’t matter. I had really good talks with both of them and could not be more thankful for them! My dad said, “well if you would have opened one of my blessing cards, it would have had some of these encouraging words in it!” I told him I only picked them randomly. J  A night or two after they left, I decided to open a card that just said “encouragement” in the bottom corner of it – I thought that was fitting for the time. And who did it happen to be from? My DAD! J It said a lot of encouraging things like, “when opportunities knock her down, she’ll never let them keep her down for too long,” “a girl who truly knows the value of faith, family, friendship, and the gift of time,” and “who puts aside all judgment to share her unconditional love of the Lord.” I’m clearly human and I have a lot to work on, but I do want to strive for things like that. I want to remember daily to fully appreciate my family, friends, and to put my faith into action. I want to put my judgment aside and see people how the Lord does. I also want to cherish my time here, although it’s challenging, I would rather be pushed to my limits daily than live an easy life where I don’t have as many chances to put my faith into action.

Some days I’m exhausted and my fuse is shorter than ever and it’s hard for me to take the time to look at someone and see them the way Jesus does. But God has been working on my heart and I am constantly reminded throughout the day to see people with His eyes. When things annoy or frustrate me (and I actually take time to stop and think about it), I have lots of ugly annoying things inside of me as well, but God still loves me and sees the good in me. I want to have eyes like Jesus and see people the way He does, all the time. I’m a sinner and I focus on the wrong stuff at times, but I’m being taught to see the good in people every day here. Everyone has good in them, it’s up to me to have that attitude and look for it if I can’t see it right away.

God has also been showing me that patience is so important, and every day I need to be refilled with it by Him! It takes a lot of patience here and on days when I’m running low, I still have my bracelet on to remind me to shut my mouth and pray about it. My bracelet is actually a pretty helpful reminder, most of the time. I also made a new bracelet that is all purple – 4 shades – for every shade of patience/peace that I need. A light shade for when I just need a little prayer to help keep the peace with the team and relax. I also have up to a really dark shade of purple for when I need to pray for a huge amount of patience/peace when I’m going crazy. It has already made me stop and think – is this really worth getting upset about, or is keeping the peace and not worrying about details a better solution? Things don’t always have to go the way we think they do. Sometimes we take the longer route, but get to the same spot and I just have to be okay with that.

I moved here knowing it would be a challenge and I still want to be growing every day. I want to be pushed to grow in my faith and trust God more with big and little things. I want to be challenged to see the good in people even when I don’t feel like looking for it. I want to be reminded every day that life isn’t about having and keeping a schedule. I stop and think a lot more about what really matters in life and “sticking to the plan” never hits the top of my list. Life is about treating others the way Jesus would, sharing the love of Jesus with them, and it’s about making the person the priority – not the plan. Some days I’m tired and I really don’t feel like stopping at one more place to be a blessing to someone. But I am reminded that God always stops for me, and God has done more for me than I could have ever dreamed of. Learning lessons isn’t always “fun,” but throughout this journey God has been/will continue to mold me more and more into the person He wants me to be, with a heart like His – ultimately that is what I want too. I’m excited to grow even more from this beautiful, crazy journey.

Below is a picture of my beautiful parents and I at the top of the Citadel in Milot, Haiti. I couldn’t have been happier to share that experience with both of them! J

xxo

Love,

Tampico

P.S. I have a small case of ringworm on my arm – I would appreciate the prayers so it goes away! J Just general prayers for Cassidy and I would be great à to stay healthy as we work with so many people throughout the day that have illnesses. J God is stronger than any illness we run into, but prayers are always comforting too!!