Giving My Bible Away

Stepping out side of your comfort zone is a little scary.. actually really scary, but the crazy thing is… thats when God uses us most; or so i've learned. 

A few days ago, I did something i've never done before.. gave my favorite Bible away. The story started about 3 weeks ago. I was at work, i had no customers so i decided to pull out the Nehemiah Bible study I was doing with some girls from church. After a little bit of time I had a customer come up to order, she ask me what i was studying and I told her the book of Nehemiah. She ask me what it was about so I tried my best to explain to her what the story was about. After I was done explaining I ask her if she had ever read it, to which she replied "no, i've never read the Bible before….isn't that terrible!!!!" I told her that a lot of people haven't but that it was never to late to pick it up and start. She said, "I've been wanting to go get one, but i always forget.." By this time i had a few more customers and that was the end of our conversation. My heart was a little anxious after that conversation and I didn't know why.. So i went home a prayed about it. I went to Guatemala and she completely slipped my mind. I had forgotten about our conversation completely. Until, 5 days ago,

  I was sitting in the same spot as 3 weeks ago except I was on my laptop, Cathy walked up and was her perky encouraging self. She ask me how I was doing and if my summer was going well. After a few moments I started speaking… I didn't even know what was coming out of my mouth.. as weird as it sounds my body felt like it was paralyzed, what am i doing? what am i saying? is this me talking? these are the things rushing through my mind….

All I can remember is asking her is she had the chance to get a Bible sense the last time we talked. She responded with "No I haven't!! isn't that terrible?" I stopped what I was doing, and told her I had something for her. I walked to the back and grabbed my Bible, pulled all of my notes out of it and handed it to her and told her I wanted her to have it. She looked stunned.. I said "Cathy I want you to have my Bible if you promise to read it." she said "oh I can't take yours!!" after a few moments of telling her I WANTED her to have it, it was a gift to her she finally took it. Right then and there she started crying.-which made me cry as well- Through her tears she said, "This is the sweetest, and most meaningful gift i have ever received. I don't think i can thank you enough." Those words will stick with me forever. I will never forget that hug she gave me while crying into my shoulder thanking me. 

I don't tell you this story to say "oh look what I did! i'm such a good Christian."  No, I tell this story to say that when you step outside of your comfort zone and let God work in you, you'll be surprised what he may do. 

I never expected I would have given my Christmas present away, but if that means I have one more sister in Christ, than it was totally worth it.

All I can say is Expect The Unexpected when you let God use you his way.

Guatemala Day 7

Today started with a 5am wake up call. what is it with these early morning flights? geez! We got to the airport and were getting ready to board and every part of me wanted to turn around and run out of the airport. I didn't want to go home. I was able to sleep on the first flight to Dallas. Praise the Lord. Once we landed I got some Starbucks and chinese food and life was looking a little bit better. That was one good thing about being back in the states. Starbucks. Soon after we got our food it was time to board our connecting flight to Nashville. It was a short flight which was nice, But yet my heart was and still is sad. Every time I think about Guatemala or my amazing translators I get really emotional. I've already cried like 3 to 4 times. We got home in Nashville around 4:30 to 85 degrees and lots and lots of humidity. I wish I could go back to Guatemala and take the weather home with me. I hung out at home for a little bit with my sisters and then I came over to my best friend Alli's house. She and I got to catch up on life and just hang out. It was so good to see her and hear how her life is. Once I got home I got ready for bed and called it a night. 

I never expected it to be so hard to come home. I don't like being here. I want to be back in my favorite city with people I love. It never was this hard in previous years.. trying to figure out what God's trying to teach me, or show me. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

    All I can say is Expect The Unexpected.

Here are some pictures from today and the night before-

Cesar and I

Pablo and I

Julia and I

Happy to have Starbucks

Alli and I- I'm so thrilled to be home, as you can tell.

Guatemala Day 6

    Today is our last day in Guatemala. We got to sleep in till 8am and then we had breakfast and hit the road to Antigua. On the 2 hour bus ride there I sat with one of our translators, Cesar. I have known him for three years ( as well as Pablo, another translator) and have had the privilege of having him as my translator every year. We had a fun time goofing off, sharing music, having mini dance parties, and just being together. Around 1-ish we went to an all girls home called, "My Little Treasure" to have lunch with them. The house only took in teenage girls, they only had 14 girls living there currently but are wanting to expand. These girls were so sweet and even though we stayed an hour for lunch it was hard to say goodbye because they would attach themselves to you as soon as we walked in. I hope I will be able to go back there someday. Once we left "My Little Treasure" we headed to Antigua to go zip lining and shopping. Not everyone on the team when zip lining but those who did had a blast. The zip line is over an old coffee plantation, the location was breath taking. I went 2 years ago but since then they built another course and thats the one our team went on. My dad and I went together and had a great time. He's not one for heights or anything close to this but he came along and enjoyed it himself. I don't think he's ever going to do it again but at least he can mark it off his bucket list. Once we were done we had about an hour to meet up with everyone else and do a little bit of shopping. After we rushed through the market to get everything we needed to grab for friends and family members we loaded back on the bus and drove an hour to Guatemala City. 

We got to our hotel in the city and once everyone got to their rooms we went down to have dinner with everyone for one last time. Once dinner was over they gave everyone the chance to share something that was unexpected to them or something they learned this week. After hearing the amazing things God did in peoples hearts this week it was time to say goodbye to the translators and head to bed. Everyone cleared out pretty fast because they wanted to get a good nights rest before heading home the next morning. I didn't want to; Cesar, Pablo, Julia, Sarah and I hung out in the lobby till about 11:30pm trying to put off goodbye as long as possible. We talked about what it would look like for Sarah and I to come in September and see them, or next summer living with them for a couple of months. It was finally time to say goodbye, and I couldn't. My heart was breaking and I didn't know why. I still don't know why. I know I will see them again, but saying "see you later" was to hard for me. It was probably the hardest part of this trip. They all mean so much to me and I love them so much. I finally headed up to bed because tomorrow, I have to be up at 5am.

I never expected to have so much fun with Cesar on the bus or that Goodbye would be so hard. 

All I can say is Expect The Unexpected.

here are some pictures from today-

Goofing off on the bus ride

Lunch at " My Little Treasure"

Cesar, Pablo and I

The view for zip lining-unbelievable 

The zip lining group!

Guatemala Day 5

Today was our last day at the orphanage. Just like the morning before we all got up and went to breakfast, loaded the bus and then headed to "The Little House Of Refuge." The painting team finished up within no time on arriving at the orphanage, which was great. The sewing team finished everything right before lunch, and the construction team. Well lets just say theres always work to be done, but we were able to accomplish what we set out to do with our time here in Guatemala. After Lunch with the children we did VBS and had lots of free time with the kids which was such a blessing. I got to spend most of my day with Julisa reading books, doing puzzles and just walking around laughing smiling and barley even talking. After VBS we had a big game of volleyball, which everyone played and had a blast being a part of. Around 6:30pm we left but before that we had to say goodbye. There were many tears involved and it was so tough to kiss and hug them goodbye wondering if it was your last time to see them or if you could say "see you next year." After at least 30 minutes of goodbyes we went to the hotel and had dinner and then ice cream at an ice cream shoppe next to our  hotel. It was so good! 

       Earlier I mentioned I got to spend a lot of time with Julisa today. I barely know any spanish and she only knows about 3 words of english, so she and I don't' do a lot of talking. Just laughing and pointing, but what I realized is that when you are with someone you love, you don't always have to talk. Just being in their presence is enough. I know sometimes, depending on who it is, you can talk and talk and talk and talk and never get tiered or run out of things to say to the person you love, but also within that silence is good. When you are with the person you love being around, silence isn't awkward; for me, being around Julisa and not talking, actually makes me happy, and joyful. My heart is content just sitting with her, holding her hand and kissing her on the forehead. Saying goodbye to Julisa wasn't easy, and I knew it wasn't going to be, but I knew I had to until next year. Loving someone like her makes me want to try even harder to make it back each year because I know that the 3 short days of seeing her, holding her, kissing her is totally worth it!

I never expected to feel like a mom, to love someone so deeply that it hurts to drive away, and know you won't see them for 365 days. I never expected that sitting in someones presence would bring so much joy.

 I'm so thankful God has shown me how deep you can love someone and relate it to how much he loves me. God doesn't always ask us to talk to him, he calls us to sit in his presence which is something I've learned just by being with Julisa.

All I can say is Expect The Unexpected

Here are some pictures from today-

Julisa and I

Love that little smile

What most of today consisted of.

Everyone from "The Little House Of Refuge" plus our team. 

Sarah and I's Ice cream

Guatemala Day 4

      Tonight I'm not going to write about what I have experienced today, but what my team has. Today was a normal day for us. No one woke up at the wrong time, everything was great. We ate breakfast and then headed to the orphanage, when we got there everyone knew where to go and what needed to be done. Just like yesterday we had a construction team, a painting team and a sewing team. The construction team worked just as hard as yesterday. Moving rocks, clearing land to build on and preparing to build stairs. Tomorrow we will start laying concrete for the stairs. The painting team has done a great job painting the house. They have worked very hard and are so close to being done. It isn't easy working in those fumes the paint contains. so kudos to you! The sewing team has had the peddle to the floor. They have been working on curtains for the boys rooms and they look great. Everyone here is heathy and doing well. Everyone is getting along and having a blast! I know that was a quick overview but i'm excited about what I have to share next.

I wanted to keep this post similar to what my blog is about, expecting the unexpected. It's still going to be about the team and not myself. So tonight at dinner I ask a few team members questions and here were their responses. 

"What is something that was unexpected to you?"

One person responded with, "I never expected to become attached to the children. I knew I was going to love them, and love being around them, but I never thought I would become attached so quickly… like their my own children." Another response was, "The children's eyes have so much hope. Thats something I never expected. This is my first missions trip so I didn't really know what to expect. I've only seen children in orphanages in movies and pictures and they portray them as sad children with no hope. When I saw these kids I saw hope in them, I saw Joy, especially in their eyes. These kids come from hard, sad backgrounds and have every right to want to give up, but they still hope and care for the future. That was something I never expected."

"What themes have you seen in the past few days, or things God is trying to teach you?"

"I am a Type A kind of person. I have a list for everything and a time to get it done. If there is ever stand still in one project, why not do something else off my list till I can continue my other project and get one more thing checked off my list. I really feel like God is teaching me to live. I know they could use some help here, or I could go work on this and mark that off the list or should I play with this little girl tugging on my pant leg wanting me to play? He's teaching me to take those moments when I do have a break and could fill it with something else and instead hold this little girl in my arms, see her beautiful smile, hear her joyful laugh and see God in the moment. Taking time to live and love and not be so busy is what God has been teaching me." that was the first response is got. The other was, "Flexibility. Everyone on the team is very flexible. From delaying our trip a day due to the plane difficulty to changing up small stuff within the day, everyone is so chill and able to go with anything. No one is set in stone, we have to do this, we have to do this..which is such a blessing."

It was such an amazing time hearing people share tonight. God is already doing great work in peoples lives and no one is ever going to be the same. I know these were just a few examples but I thought they were good and powerful. 

All I can say is Expect The Unexpected. 

Here are a few pictures from today-

The sewing team

Preparing lunch

Construction team

One member of the Painting team

Guatemala Day 3

     Well today started out just like the past 2 mornings. early. We needed to be down at breakfast at 7:45am, so my mom set our alarm for 7am. We get up and dressed while trying to stay warm. The hotel has no air conditioning which also means no heat; the low for last night was around 52 degrees, so thats about the temperature of our room. We are finally ready and go downstairs to breakfast only to realize... whoops, my moms phone hadn't changed time zones, so it was really 6:45am. After killing an hour on my laptop waiting for the team to wake up and come to breakfast, my mom and I realize yet again, we have the wrong time. Forgot about Guatemalan time change. So that really means, my mom set her alarm for 5am. which means 1. we woke up 2 hours before we needed to be and 2. I got 5 hours and 15mins of sleep, that is more than I got the night before but a lot less than what i was hoping to get.
    Once 7:45am rolled around( for real this time) we went downstairs and enjoyed some nice, hot Guatemalan coffee. By this point I was very much in need of a cup.... or 4, which is the number of cups I consumed within 30minutes. I greatly enjoyed my Guatemala breakfast, my favorite meal every year. We loaded the bus and headed to "The Little House Of Refuge" the orphanage we would be working at. By the time we got there the temperature had warmed up a lot, the sky was crystal clear and I was ready to see Julisa.
    After a nice welcome and tour of the place we broke up into teams and got to work. We had a painting team, a construction team, sewing team, and VBS team. I wasn't put on any team in particular so I floated from team to team, but ended up spending most of my day with the men on the construction team, and man did we work. From digging trenches to moving bolder's we did not have an easy job to do. Did I mention I had on skinny jeans and toms? yeah not really construction attire. I have blisters and skin rubbed off my hands from shoveling and digging so much, but I had a great time getting to know some of the guys from my team and feeling a sense of accomplishment once the work was complete.
    I finally got to hold Julisa in my arms and see her smiling face. I had been antsy all morning waiting to see her and the time finally arrived. I saw her walk past me and I couldn't help but smile. I hesitated to go see her, Sarah told me to go but as strange as this sounds, I was almost scared, well, nervous is more the word I should use. I hadn't seen her in a year! I was nervous she wouldn't remember me, nervous she would want someone else to hold her. I finally went for it. Ask her if she remembered me, she smiled, her big brown eyes looked up at me, and said "Si!" I wanted to cry. I was so happy. That big knot that was in my stomach from fear fled. For about the next hour, before she went back to school she wouldn't let me put her down, which I was totally okay with. Once school was over she and I reunited and were inseparable from pretty much the rest of the day. I walked around the orphanage with her in my arms, not ever wanting to put her down. I walked up to my dad and started talking to him. He got one of the translators to tell Julisa that he has a picture of she and I hanging in our house. Her little mind was blown. She didn't know how to respond. He told her she was bigger now and more beautiful than the picture. He looked at me and said "She really is so beautiful." once again, I wanted to cry. It was weird, I felt like a mother, proud of her child. Wanting to kiss her face, give anything for her, never put her down, never wanting her to grow up. I felt (i think) like my mom. It reminded me of how much my parents love me, how much they give for me. It made me appreciate them even more.
    So much more happened during day 1 at the orphanage, but those are stories for another time. We left the orphanage around 6:30pm and went to dinner. It was, just like every meal so far, fantastic. My favorite... Nutella Crapes. yup, thats right. What a good way to end a good day.

    Never expected Julisa to remember me, or to have wanted to cry- of happiness/joy- so much.

All I can say is Expect The Unexpected

Here are some pictures from today-

Holding Julisa for the first time in a year!

Painting team. Abby and Ragan

Part of the construction team

Working on the bolder.

Nutella crapes-soo good!

Guatemala Day 2

        I was glad to go to bed at a decent after a long and eventful day but due to a long over due late night talk with Erin (my sister) that decent hour was no more. Realizing i had to be up in 2 and a half hours, I went to bed hoping to sleep a little, but my 3am wake-up call was not a good start to the day.  

Day 2 started with my feet hitting the floor at 3am. We needed to be at the airport at 4:30am but needed to pick up Cindy and Sarah Easley first. We had no problem getting our bags checked but yet once again.. I got in trouble at security… not for Sarah's water bottle but because I didn't take my laptop out of my backpack. wow. smooth move Jordan. We board our plane at 5:30am after getting Starbucks, again. The flight was only about 2.5 hours to Miami, so once we landed it was about (with time change) 8:45am. We walk to our other gate and wait to find a seat, at this time it's 9:30am and we are so hungry because we had been up since 3, so the only thing we could find to eat that was open was a chinese restaurant. Eating Chinese food at 10am is the weirdest thing ever but it was good. I don't know if that was because it was actually good food or if I was just so hungry that dirt would have tasted good. 

After chilling for a little bit catching up on the social media my mom, sarah and I decide to walk around; As we are heading back to our gate I see a group of teens heading our way, and who do I see with them? my good friend Mackenzie Kern. WHAT?!?! Mackenzie use to live in Brentwood and we use to go to school together but after her family moved to North Carolina about 12 years ago, i only get to see her maybe once a year now. We both were so shocked to see each other in the Miami airport, out of all places. We sat down and caught up on life for about 20minutes before she needed to get to her gate. She is on her way to the Dominican Republic for a missions trip as well. Crazy how God will put surprises like that in your day. If we had made it to Guatemala yesterday, i never would have gotten to see her and hear about her life. 

We finally board our plane heading to Guatemala at 11:30am, once we take off at 12:30pm Sarah and I watch "She's The Man", it took every muscle in our bodies to try not to laugh out load and be annoying to people around us but if you have ever seen She's The Man you would understand how hard it was to keep quiet. Once the movie was over I figured i'd try and take a nap because i was running off of 2hours of sleep from the night before and 6 from the night before that. Right when I get comfortable and put my iPod in to drown out the world around me of babies crying, children playing with iPads and having the sound effects all the way up, parents chatting very loud; the flight attendant tells everyone to turn off all electronic and sit up properly. well…. there goes my nap. awesome. We finally landed in Guatemala City at 2:30pm. PRAISE THE LORD! we had no trouble getting our bags or getting through customs, once we walk out of the airport I see the sweet welcoming faces of our amazing translators. we load the bus and finally meet the rest of our team. wow.. their are more people then i thought there were going to be. At last we are on the road heading to Xela. For the first 2 hours of the bus ride i was able to sleep for about 20 minutes before i got a rude awakening from Sarah saying we were stopping for dinner. 

When I stepped off the bus i was refreshed by a beautiful Guatemalan sunset over the mountains and a nice temp of 74 degrees. which was so greatly welcomed after being in 100+ degree weather in TN. We had an incredible meal of steak, chicken, sausage, pork, rice, guacamole, black bean soup and fresh salsa. After dinner we got back on the bus for another 2hours before we reached our hotel. This is the first night i have ever seen a crystal clear sky with the stars shinning so bright in Guatemala. Sarah and I also got to watch fireworks be shot off in the city while we were on our descent  from the mountain we were driving down. I will never forget this night. Thankful for a shower and a bed to sleep in for more than 2 hours. 

    This country is more Beautiful than I remember and I cannot wait to see what we have planned for tomorrow. 

Never expected to see Mackenzie in the airport or to have my breath taken away again by how beautiful this place is. All I can say is Expect The Unexpected.

Here are some photo's from today-

waiting to take off

window view

This is the position i got my 5 minute nap in. 

Guatemala from the air. Breath Taking

two of our amazing translators.

Guatemala Day 1

      Today is July 14th, The day I was suppose to leave for a missions trip to Guatemala. I got about 6 hours of sleep last night so when we arrived at the airport this morning I wasn't feeling to perky. After getting in trouble at security for my friends water bottle she had put in my bag I thought the day couldn't get any better. I finally got my Starbucks and life was looking up from there. We finally boarded the plane, I got a seat next to my best friend, Sarah Easley and we were as giddy as could be. I'm pretty sure everyone sitting around us wanted to punch us in the face and tell us to shut up because by that time my venti iced coffee and her grande frappuccino were starting to take effect. About 20 minutes after take off we experience some turbulence but didn't think much of it. Suddenly the flight attendants frantically start moving about the cabin, opening and shutting compartments, moving swiftly up and down the aisle but trying not to create a panic. The turbulence kept getting worse and worse and  Sarah was becoming more and more afraid. She grasped my hand and put her head on my shoulder while trying to catch her breath. She kept saying, "oh my gosh were gonna die, were gonna die!!" I notice that something isn't right and so do the passengers around me. A few minutes later a flight attendant comes on the intercom and explains how they are having technical difficulties and that the pilot will be on in a moment to explain what is going on. Sarah is still freaking out and passengers start mumbling under their breath while watching the flight attendants move around like bees in their hive. Finally the pilot came on the intercom and and explained how he had smelled something burning and wants to land back in nashville to have the plane checked out. As we get closer to the airport the turbulence gets even worse than before, the plane would drop a couple of feet every few minutes or so, and you could tell we were flying faster than normal speed. Our landing was rough but we finally made it to our gate. Everyone was ask to get their carry-on's and leave the plane; once we were off the plane we talked to some passengers around us about what was going on. One lady said her son was tracking our flight from his phone, as he looked at his phone he realized the plane was turning around. He looked to the sky to see if he could see the plane and he did, not only did he see our plane turning around be he saw smoke pouring from not one, but BOTH engines. After trying to see if we will be able to make our flight from Texas to Guatemala we realize we will miss our flight in Texas and would have to spend the night in the Dallas airport. The next flight to Guatemala City is tomorrow the 15th around 11:15am from Miami, our flight to Miami leaves at 5:30am tomorrow morning. 
     So here I am, at home. Waiting to go to the country I love, waiting to hold sweet little Julisa in my arms, waiting to see how God is going to use me. Its been a crazy day and  today did not go as planned, but I'm trusting the Lord has a plan. 

What else can I say then, Expect The Unexpected.

Eliana

Eliana Wheeler is a Sweet, adorable little 4 year old girl from Guatemala. Her Dad, Chris use to be my youth pastor and her mom, Lindsey, is one of the Prettiest women i know. To give you the short story Eliana has a hard time going to sleep, she doesn't get sleepy till around.... 2am. Chris and Lindsey have tried everything possible to get her to go to bed earlier but nothing seems to work, so every night the Wheeler family goes to bed around 2am. As you can expect Lindsey and Chris are very, very, very tiered but each day they get up to serve the Lord and continue to love Eliana. My Best friend Allison McLeod and I decided to give them the night off so they could go on a "mini vacation" to celebrate their 8th Wedding anniversary. Allison and I got to experience what they go through every night with Eliana, and realize how little sleep they get. :) 


The video Below is of the "all girls sleepover!!" we had. - I, (and i hope you will to) continue to Pray for the Wheeler family, and that God will continue to give them strength and that whatever is keeping Eliana awake at night will leave her so their family will actually sleep like normal people:) 


Wheeler family, I love you so much and i can't thank you enough for all that you've done in my life. i hope you enjoy the video as much as we enjoyed sleeping over with your little girl.