My first post!

Well here we go... My first post on my new blog site! I suppose I will start with the purpose of all this. Many of you know that I went to the Dominican Republic on a missions trip in 2004. Ever since that trip I have felt a call to missions. In 2005 I returned to the DR, but I had the amazing opportunity to visit Haiti. It was while I was in Haiti (for only 4 hours) that I felt God capture my heart with his love for these people. I knew upon leaving Haiti that day that my life was to be forever changed.


When I returned to Las Vegas I hit the ground running as the Office Manager for a brand new church called Soulstice. I prayed a lot during that time about Haiti, but I knew it was not God's timing. My job at Soulstice consisted of pretty much everything "not pastoral" which meant all the office work, and there were only 3 of us on staff... it was a hard year! My passion was never Office work, but it was to see lost people come to know Christ as their Savior. Which meant, if office work was how I served God to accomlish those goals then office work it was.


After about a year, we were able to hire someone to take over my old job and I switched gears to run our Children's Ministry Program. It was an amazing experience and I have gotten to do all kinds of amazing things like take our kids to a local rescue mission,leading kids to Christ, watch movies with our church in the park, plan a fall festival and VBS's.


Amidst all of this, there was something missing. I knew I had to return to the DR and to Haiti. Last January (2006) I began to pray once again about going to Haiti full time, and I heard the Lord whisper Summer of 2007. I couldn't believe it. I thought I made it up. I told one person... just in case it really was God and not me :) I began to make plans to go on a short term mission trip by myself to the DR and Haiti with GO Ministries. And my prayer leading up to the trip was that the Lord would reveal his timing to me. I raised over $4000 for my trip an was able to spend over 3000 on Bibles for Haiti! God is sooooo good!!


While I was in the DR & Haiti the Lord confirmed it was time to pursue this dream. G.O. Ministries mainly works in the DR & they are expanding to Haiti, but at this point they only have the means to take people there for a day. I found out that the expansion would soon be ready and they were going to be able to bring teams there for weeks at at time beginning Summer 2007!!! What?? It's true!! I couldn't believe it. I continued to pray and the LORD continued to open doors.


I came home and met with my Pastor. I felt it was important to be open and honest from the very beginning. And with my Pastor's support I began to make plans to visit the President of G.O. Ministries in Kentucky.


3 weeks later I was standing in Brook's office knowing that my future was about to change,and by the end of our meeting I knew this was it! I came home and prayed about it for a few days and again met with my pastor and with his full support, I am now making plans to begin fundraising and join the G.O. Ministries staff in Haiti!


This is going to require a lot of prayer, preperation, and the LORD's leading... I am a little nervous because this is such a new situation. I have a lot of support to raise and a small timeline. I need to be in the Dominican by May 1st, so I can learn the ropes before all the summer teams arrive. They can sometimes have 3-4 teams there at the same time and it takes every person on staff to help coordinate these teams. They do all kids of things like preaching, medical clinics, teaching soccer to kids, vbs, drama ministries, worship, construction, and so much more. Here at Soulstice, there will be a lot to do in the next couple of months to help ease the transition, and I will be fund raising as well! So I am trusting in God to provide for me, give me energy, and His peace. We serve a mighty God, and he can meet every one of our needs without draining his resources or missing one step! I am so excited and plan to keep everyone updated with all that is happening. Please pray for the beginning of a new journey!