Hey everyone!
As month 6 comes to a close, I can’t help but look back with so much pure joy over what an absolutely INCREDIBLEY BIG month this has been!!!
So much freedom. So much adventure. So much Jesus.
I’m so excited to let you guys all in on some of the exciting details of it all, but first and foremost – FUNDRAISING UPDATE!
In order to be able to continue on the field, and travel to the next 5 countries I still need $1,955. Which means I still need YOUR help. $10 will cover my toiletries for a month and allow me to shower and save my teammates noses. $35 will cover my meals for a week. And just $150 will cover my lodging for a whole month! Will you consider continuing to partner with me, any way that you can, to help me continue loving people all around the world?
All you have to do is click the orange “donate” button above!
Not able to donate at this time? That’s okay! Do you have a coworker, friend, or family member you would be willing to share my story or link with? I can use all of the help I can get!
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Now for the fun stuff:
BIG NEWS – TEAM CHANGES
For the last five months I have been living, working, and doing life with our little clan we’ve called the Rak Pak (Jenn, Jess A., Jess V., Kim, and Alyssa). We have laughed, cried, grown, challenged each other, and loved hard in our time together. But with this next leg of the race comes new challenges and new teams! I was a tad anxious going into team changes because I have come to know and love these five women in such big ways, but I am so very happy to announce that the nerves have been put to such peace. You guys, this new team of mine is something stellar. So without further ado, let me introduce you to team TLC (or as you’ll more often hear us refer to ourselves as – Team #GetPsalm). Paige, Vanessa, Grace, Annie, and Jess V (back again!).
This month we have been living on an island of Indonesia called Sulawesi, in a little mountain village called Toraja. We’ve been staying with our new pal John, a local tour guide, in his AirBnb and helping out where we can around the property and with the locals. This has looked like working in the rice fields, cutting down bamboo and putting up a fence, practicing English with some of the village kids (bananagrams style), playing with the kids in the river, weaving baskets with the locals, having worship jam sessions, and just pouring out our love and aid to everyone around us in any way that we could!
What you mostly need to know about Toraja though is a) There are water buffalo EVERYWHERE, and taking selfies with them is what all the cool kids do b) The locals here think our fair completions are outrageous and when we travel anywhere outside our little mountain village it’s like stepping into Disney World, except we’re the characters and everyone is lined up down the street to get pictures of us (no joke, one little girl actual even had a Minnie Mouse ear headband on for the occasion, lol)
As many of you know, June is ALSO my birthday month (don’t worry, if you forgot, I’m openly and gratefully accepting donations as late bday presents as well ?? haha!) I got to spend this crazy cool day, hiking through the mountains, laughing with my team, having coffee out of cups made of fresh bamboo stalks overlooking the most incredible view, soaking up the warmth of a fire by the river, and being filled with so much love by the flood of videos from so many of my friends and family members back home. I really could not have asked for a day filled with anything I loved more!
BUT IT DOESN’T STOP THERE..
Part of being in our teams and living in community means knowing each other deeply, so we can love each other deeply. This means cultivating an atmosphere of vulnerability and safety within each other, which in the first few weeks of being together means sharing our life stories/testimonies with each other. As our team dove into this intimate space with each other and opened the doors of our hearts to each other, I felt a calling to go deeper and to share more than I ever have. Fear of rejection is something I have struggled with deeply in the past, and believing the lie that theres something about me, about the things I have done, about the decisions I have made in my life that makes me unlovable, often causes me to hide huge parts of myself. But Jesus tells me I am loved for exactly who I am. And not only am I loved, but I’m CHOSEN, I’m TREASURES, I’m ADORED. So after sharing my story, all the raw ugly parts I so badly wanted to shove back down inside, I decided to commit to lay them down for good. To lay down the lies. To lay down the fear. To lay down the hiding. To lay down my flesh. As I prayed through this, as I prayed over how desperate I was for freedom from the weight of all the pain, I grabbed my Bible and it fell open to the book of Acts. I looked down at the thin white pages in front of me, and noticed there was but one verse highlighted on the page. “What are you waiting for? Get up and be baptized. Have your sins washed away by calling on the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16). So that night, under the dark of the night and the twinkling of the stars, in the freezing cold mountain river, I was (re)baptized by two of my absolutely favorite people in a spot more gorgeous than I could have ever imagined for myself. Not only did I get to celebrate one birthday this month, but now I got to celebrate TWO.
That concludes my June recap for now, but don’t fret, there’s still five months of adventures to come – next up, THE PHILIPPINES!
I am so proud of you! Keep up the good work!