Following the Leader

Friday, December 4, 2015

November

November.
What a busy month! It stared off with leaving Peru and heading to Colombia for a long layover of 9 hours. It was a huge blessing! Lydia and I met up with some mutual friends there. They took us all around Cali Colombia, bought us coffee and Colombian bread (it was delicious!).
After that awesome time with new friends, Lydia and I got on a plane and headed to NY City. We had another long layover together. So we left the airport and went into the city for our last day together of 2015. It was a bit of a culture shock...! We kept on replying to people in Spanish and whenever we heard people speaking Spanish we got super excited! It was hard to come back and be in a super busy city but we were together and that helped so much! Well, we spent the day together then went back to the airport where I got on a plane to go to California and she got on a plane to go to upstate New York.
I arrived in Long Beach airport around 9:30 pm. My good friend Becca came to pick me up. Wow, had it really been two years since I had been in California, the place I spent the first 18 years of my life in? Yup. It had been a long two years but I was back.
I was so excited to be back and see my family and friends there. I knew a lot of things had changed... The freeway off ramps, the people, the church. But I was eager to see it all, and at the same time I just wanted to rest a little. Well, resting doesn't really happen in Southern California haha! I arrived with no plans at all, but somehow every day was packed full with things I needed to do and people I wanted to see.
It was a huge blessing to go to my home church Calvary Chapel San Juan Capistrano. God is really at work there and it is so evident to see. The church has grown- it really is GOD adding to the church, He get's the glory for that!
While I was there, I got to do a fundraiser for going back to Guatemala. It was cool just to know that people are already praying for me. And now more people know about God's work down there and are praying too! God is good!
Some really exciting things are happening at the church and I was able to be there for them! I didn't even plan it! CCSJC started their first bilingual Kids Club! It's really similar to what Potter's Field does all around the world. I was able to be there for the first one and help out and serve with them! It was a huge blessing! The the next day, the church started there first Spanish service at the church! I got to attend that and it was great to kinda be in my "element" of hearing a teaching in Spanish, worshiping and fellowshipping in Spanish. So keep those things in your prayer s please as I will too :)
So November 16th I got on another plane to return to Maui to be with my brother and sister and their families. It has been a great season of resting and spending time with family. I hadn't seen them for 11 months! My little niece and nephew have grown so much!
As I am here in Maui, I am taking this time to kinda relax and get my health in order. It has been a good season so far. Also, I am taking a Spanish class online once a week and it has been helpful. The more I learn, the more I see I need to learn more haha.
Church has been sooooo good. The messages have been what I need. We are going through 2 Corinthians on Sundays and Psalm on Wednesday night. I keep on hearing two reoccurring words: grace and praise. God has given me so much grace I don't want to receive it in vain. He is so worthy of my praise and my life should reflect that. He is teaching my a lot through my personal devotions too. I am going through the minor prophets and I see His justice and mercy. I see that it is okay to question God like Habakkuk did, but to always wait for His answer because He always answers His children. I see that God is working when we can't see it and that I am to live by faith.
We had our first family thanksgiving without my parents :( so weird! But we did it! We pulled it off haha. It was a good team effort of me, my 24 year old sister and my 26 year old sister-in-law. We felt like a bunch of kids doing grown-up things haha! It was so fun!
Well, I love Maui and always will. But, I am so excited to go back to Guatemala next month. I know this next year is going to be above and beyond all I could ever think or imagine.
If you ever want to get more info or have any questions, you can email me at:
quinceymarie@me.com
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Thanks for reading!
To God be the glory, now and forever!

Leaving Peru

We made it to Colombia!

Cali Colombia <3

Our new friends In Cali!!!!

We made it to NYC!

Guatemalan flag in NYC

Back in California!

Oh how I missed the beach

Jake & Sarah's wedding!

Calvary Chapel San Juan with the family :D

Back in Maui

Missed my nephew Ezekiel

God's creation- so beautiful

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

October, October

Wow! What a month it has been! It went by fast, as always.
This month was kicked off by going to my first Guatemalan baby shower :D it was so fun!
It was honestly the funnest and most entertaining baby shower I have ever been to. There were so many games, it was great- and as always, Lydia and I were the only white people! We are used to it by now haha. Please keep Helbert and Barbara in your prayers as their baby girl is due in November.

The first week of October was a week of goodbyes. The training interns of IGNITE class 9 were finishing up their training and getting ready to head home for 10 days before going to their country locations. We had a special service for them called "commissioning night." Everyone gets all dressed up and we encourage them and send them out. It is always a blessing and it was crazy for me to look back and realize I went through the same thing a year and a half ago.

We celebrated my birthday this year and went to Lake Atitlan on a little vacation. It is one of the most beautiful places ever. I love it there and it was such a blessing to spend time with my family, Lydia and Kelli before we all parted ways.

Once we got back from the lake, it was time to finish out our last week at school. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday we handed in the final grades for each class and spent time with all of our students. I can't believe a year went by so fast! These kids have learned and grown so so so much! And the most difficult classes ended up being the ones I was blessed by the most as students stood up thanking me for my patience and investment in their lives. I was shocked! God works miracles! It was sad and hard to say good bye, but I will see them in January and I am really looking forward to it! And they will be in my prayers and I know God will continue to work in their lives.

I attended my last kids club for the year! It's just super cool to see these faithful kids come every week and I know that I will see them next year. Please continue to pray for the kids programs that go on every week. God is working in their lives and growing them and strengthening them every week.

Well, I left Guatemala with Lydia on October 19, and we arrived in Peru that night. We were there in Lima serving with Calvary Chapel Koinonia. The team we are with are from Rochester, NY (where Lydia grew up).

We have been welcomed into the church here. We are doing projects around the building, we have been doing fundraisers for the church, we have done kids programs and gone to the home bible studies. We made the meals for a women's dinner and a men's breakfast. We went to a new church plant location. God is using this little church in a BIG way! We have been so busy, doing so much. It has been a really sweet time.

Please pray for the church here. It is such a community. Pray that they would keep that unity and be built up. My prayer for them has been Ephesians 3:14-21.

Peru is BEAUTIFUL! We had the opportunity to go to the beach and I was just a little stoked...! I got to surf and it was so much fun! The people from the church have been showing us around and wherever we go we bring tracks and try and evangelize. God has set up divine appointments and we just walk in them.

It has been a great month- really :) God is good and He is teaching me a lot. Mostly just showing me how much He loves me. And as I pursue to know Him, He constantly reminds me that He knows me so perfectly. It's mind blowing and comforting. I love knowing Him, I love following Him, I just want to be where He is.