Freedom- Nothing Less

One day left!

As I get ready to leave the country again, I can’t help but remember and think about the last time I was about to get on a plane to visit a country and meet a people that I knew virtually nothing about. It is the most surreal feeling in the world to sit in an airport and wait on a plane that will take you to a place that is so beyond anything you have ever known. New culture, new people, new everything… it’s the most exciting and terrifying feeling ever.

I remember last summer, sitting in an airport, waiting on a plane to go to India and Pakistan and writing a prayer on my journal that basically said, “God, I don’t know what the heck I’m doing or getting into, but if you can use me, then do it.” God used that tirp to completely wreck my heart and soul for people enslaved that summer. People enslaved to false religions that captivated every single aspect and crevice of their lives… people enslaved to poverty dying a little more every day on the sidewalks… people enslaved to disease, like AIDS and leprosy… women enslaved to men as property instead of human beings…my heart wanted freedom for them- nothing less.

I met this girl in Pakistan, and God completely devastated my world with one person. She was about my age, and was going to college to be a teacher. I got to hang out with her for about three days, and talk about Jesus and what He meant to me- and I got to listen to her talk about Islam and what she believed. We became quick friends, and talked and laughed and ate and shared together. By the end of three days, I felt like I had known her a lifetime. She cried as we said our good-byes… and I walked away from her with a burden for her soul like I had never had for anyone else before. I didn’t just see a girl who was just like me, living a half a world away. I saw a soul in the chains of Islam. I wanted freedom for her- nothing less. And I came back to the states not just with the burden for one girl, but with a burden for a nation- for a people that just did not know or have any concept of freedom at all. And I began to beg God like I have never begged God for anything before- for one nation, one people. It changed my whole world. And all it took was one girl…

As I have been preparing and thinking about Guatemala, it’s crazy to me because the Hispanic culture has never been my heart or passion. Since last year, I have developed a love for Pakistan and for the Middle East and for that culture. I have seen the oppression in those areas and want nothing less than freedom for them. In fact, if you had asked me a few months ago, Guatemala and anywhere in the South/Central American region would have been the absolute last place I wanted to go. But it is amazing how God can turn your heart to different people and different things. And I find myself so excited- I can’t wait to go there and to meet people and hear their stories and build relationships with them. Researching Guatemala and reading stories about the poverty and the slavery and the oppression that is taking place there has completely turned my heart to them. I want freedom for them…nothing less. I have no idea what to expect or what God is going to do in the life of my heart and my team member’s heart’s. But I have no doubt that God is up to something big. I cannot wait to see what He will do in and through each and every one of us. But if God can use us, to set one soul free- then it will be worth it all. It will be worth everything.

Please pray for us as we leave. But don't just pray for us- pray for the poeple of Guatemala. Pray for every girl that is being sold for sex. Pray for the government and that laws would be put into place to prevent these kinds of crimes. Pray for every person in that country that has no hope, no peace, no life...

Pray for freedom for Guatemala- nothing less.

Grace,
Ashley