Ministry in Georgia

Howdy friend!

Now that our squad has been back for about three weeks in Georgia, I’d love to share some fun updates and testimonies the Lord has gifted us with. There’s so much to share so put your reading glasses on. I know that Gap K Squad is 100000000x better off because we got to transition back to America all together. The Lord has been moving his body close together by putting so many believers in our path so that we can be encouraged by a simple testimony given to us by strangers we meet in passing.

5/4 – Team Selah & Bethesda traveled to the Gainesville town square to begin our first day of domestic outreach while being back. This day happened to be National Day of Prayer so tons of people where already gathered to pray over eight general categories; for example, there was government, education, life, family, church, media, etc so we got to join alongside the body and lift these areas up to the Lord! We had the pleasure of meeting Becky Maddox who was a woman full of the spirit and spoke words of encouragement over each one of us in the group. She prophesied I would go to India and that she might tag along because she’s been there multiple times to pursue the Lord’s calling on her life. She has crazy stories to share from her time in India & the Lord shared with her that one day I’d be there myself which is super cool.

5/5 to 5/6 – A group of fifteen racers hiked the Appalachian Trail to meet some people and hear/share stories of the Lord’s goodness. One fun adventure we had was around mile four when it started to rain a little and a shelter had appeared so we took a break and rested for a moment. It turned out that Noel & Susan where also taking shelter at that same time so we started to introduce ourselves. Both women had been strong believers for a while and after a bit of small talk we began worshiping together on this mountain singing hymns to praise our Lord! One of the woman in our group had a abnormally high heart rate so with the name of Jesus, Noel commanded her heart rate to recede and return to a steady pace and it did just that. The Lord was so present in that small shelter and was moving towards each of us in those precious moments.

5/7 – Had ample time to rest with the Lord on this low-key Sunday! To be on staff at Deerfoot Lodge, you must memorize eighteen fundamental scripture verses that play a huge part in understanding the Gospel. So, for most of the day I spent time memorizing Isaiah 53:6 & 59:2, Psalm 51:5, John 3:16-17 & 10:10 & 14:6 & 17:3, Acts 4:12, Romans 3:10-11 & 3:23-24 & 5:8-9 & 8:1 & 10:9-10, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 2:8-9, 1 John 1:9 & 5:11-13, and Revelations 3:20. What better way to spend a day then to dwell on scripture and to keep on repeating the words of truth into your head over and over again.

5/9 – Went into a city called Dahlonega to hand out fliers to spread the news about a worship night we were leading at Canopy and the Roots that same night. We were trying to reach the students who attend North Georgia University but most of them were gone because the semester had ended. We still reached a bunch of the local community in Dahlonega! Once the worship night started, some of the community of Dahlonega started trickling in. It ended up being a beautiful time to fellowship, share the name of Jesus, and meet people from Dahlonega:)

5/10 – Helped out with homeless ministry at a church called Good News at Noon where I met Elizabeth. This women has an incredible story of reaching people in a place called “murder town.” Elizabeth chooses to live a homeless life to love on the homeless population! Later that day, we helped out Rodney by picking up trash near his tent where he lived. Rodney was sharing how he had just spent time with the Lord and saw the Lord walking in this patch of grass near his tent. There was a ton of peace in this place where Rodney laid his head because he knew the Lord was covering & protecting him at every moment.

5/11 –  Each day of the week, the squad had six people stay back at base to help cook meals for the entirety of the squad. Lexie bakes as a profession back at home and fun fact she baked/served a croissant for Leonardo DiCaprio! So she took charge on baking lemon poppy seed scones for breakfast. And for dinner we baked and cooked meatloaf, mash potatoes, gravy, green beans, & sugar cookies (the sugar cookies were from the store)! It was a slower paced day which was restful and I continued to memorize the scripture Deerfoot had challenged me to study!

5/12 – We had most of the day to spend with the Lord and then at 5pm we went into Clarkston to serve with an organization called Friday Night Light where high school aged refugees from all over the world come to spend the night and get discipled by leaders who are alumni from the program. I got to briefly meet one guy who moved from Ethiopia when he was 10 to America and I sadly forgot his name already but it was so cool getting to talk with him. Our squad split up into two groups because we were huge and a bit overwhelming to the staff. The group I was a part of got to intercede for all the students who attend the biweekly event.

5/13 to 5/20 – SharpTop Cove Young Life Camp work week!!! The squad spent a majority of the time mulching the property to prepare it for the 4,000 high schoolers that are coming in the summer months. We blew leaves to clear drainage systems and planted flowers to create a natural beauty for the camp. We got to swim in the lake and I got to lifeguard which was so awesome! Not one life had to be saved in the water:) What made SharpTop Cove even more exciting was how college students from Ole Miss & LSU where helping out that same week. Our squad got to share some overseas experiences with them and I met this one woman named Blake who just finished her junior year at LSU. We talked about travel – how she wishes she traveled more – and family life and how we both play volleyball which was super fun because she was a setter in high school so that made hitting a lot easier:) On the last night at camp we had a worship night that was super intense! The Lord made his presence known and freedom was in that room as Sydney’s ankle was finally healed from all pain. The picture at the top is of this night after we had worshiped!

5/21 to 5/25 – Final Debrief has come which means all the squads have collided and we get to share testimonies of how the Lord’s moving all over the world! We have sessions or teachings or whatever you call them led by squad mentors who share words of encouragement & wisdom from their hearts! Bill and Katie just shared about how to go back to family in a health manner when we return home! We’ve had so many beautiful worship sessions where the Lord’s presence is so evident and freedom is in the air. I’m having some one on ones with coaches/mentors in my life which has been a huge blessing as I process what it looks like to return home to New York in a couple days.

Travel Day

My two best friends in the whole wide world Grace Ockrin & Maggie Schultz will be driving 16 hours to pick me up Thursday morning around 9:30AM. After that we will drive to Washington DC where Grace’s roommate also named Grace (nickname is G2) lives. We’ll spend the night at G2’s house and drop off Grace Ockrin who is traveling to Italy for a month to study. Grace is flying out to Italy on May 30th to study so if you could be praying for safe travels and for an ability to retain new information that would be a blessings for her! Then Maggie & I will drive back up to Rochester where it will be snowing… wait just kidding, where it will be sunny and hot! Excited to see friends & family soon and to give/receive so so so many warm HUGS from loved ones.

I’ll finish up this blog with a favorite verse that I’ve been memorizing Romans 3:23-34 – “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” We learn more about Jesus once we’ve accepted we are fallen and have an honest conversation with the Lord about our priorities. We will lean closer to Jesus because of his everlasting redemption that calls us higher.