Hello friends and family!!!
Welcome back to my blog!! It’s been about a month or so since my last one so LETS CATCH UP!!!
In my last update, you read about my team’s ministry in Africa, with Ithemba (which is the Xhosa word for hope) school for kids around the age of 3-5 years!! It was a BLAST!! We got to love on the teachers and teach the kids basics for life!!
Now, we have been in Guatemala for almost a month!!! WOAH!! God has such special plans for this place!! These past few weeks have been nuts! A few days after we landed in Guate our parents got to visit us in Antigua!! My dad got to visit me and it was a sweet time of catching up, sharing testimonies and wisdom, and growing our friendship. During PVT, I had a lot of battle in my mind about expectations and worries about going home. Don’t get me wrong, I’m excited to be home soon, but also I’ve gotten so used to this kind of community that it will be hard getting back into what is called “real life”. The Lord has stuck with me even though I have been unfaithful in the midst of mental battle. We as believers so often come across war in our minds that we don’t want to wrestle with because of our own pride! This was revealed to me during PVT and debrief. A lot was going through my mind and I realized that I didn’t know how to process. But through sticking to Jesus’s hip and staying in scripture Jesus himself helped me process.
After PVT we had the privilege of the mentors and coaches teaching us through identity, the blood of Jesus, law vs love, and blasting lies!!! It was probably one of the most impactful weeks of the race! “God is a gentleman, he will always knock, it’s your choice to open your heart to him!” – Sydney’s notes from my new journal that my dad got me :)! Thank you God that when we accept Christ, we are hidden away with him. So this means we don’t even have to converse with the enemy that has NO GOOD plan for us! If I could encourage you, reader, is don’t talk to the enemy. He has nothing for you. John 10:10 tells us this and then tells us the promise of ABUNDANT life in Christ.
Now onto our ministry in Guatemala! We are working with Hope ministries, where we get to have bible studies, host VBS for kids, help in the soccer academy, do house visits and be apart of the prayer room in Antigua. This place has a special anointing of intercessory prayer. Which means praying for others. Intercession is so important for us because first, it takes the focus off ourselves and second it lets God open our minds to the big picture. We are now almost in our second week of ministry and we are PUMPED to see how the Lord will move in this time.
a few fun things we have done these past few week!
– got to sail on a big boat with the squad on Lake Atitlan and went cliff jumping!! We jumped off a 40 foot cliff!!
– me and dad drove ATV’s around Antigua and got some chocolate, cool views of churches, made tortillas, and had an awesome lunch after.
– had an activation day with the base staff and shared the gospel on the streets of Parramos!
Thank you for supporting me in this journey. Your prayers and donations always mean the world to me. Please keep interceding for us as a team! Pray for the Lord to work in ways we have never seen! Pray for sickness to be healed! Pray for revival in Guatemala! Revival can’t start until the people PRAY!!! Thank you reading and hopefully I will be posting more soon!! Be blessed!!
Amazing to read! I love the part about God being being a gentleman, he will always knock, you have to let him in! ❤️❤️❤️
So proud of you Sydney!!!!
Guatemala is such a beautiful place!!
I will be praying for you and your teams time down there! Also praying for the Guatemalan community!!