Last week we went to a safe house. This mission has had the biggest impact on me thus far. For legality reasons I am not allowed to share the girls names I spoke with. So, for that reason I will name the girl I will be writing about, Bella. My ministry leader, Emmy, and I met Bella about 30 minuets after we had arrived to the facility. Bella is 16 years old. She lived in Texas for nine years of her life and then moved back to Guatemala to live with her biological mother. How she ended up in the safe house or back in Guatemala I am uncertain. Bella is very mature for her age and is...

Near the beginning of my mission trip I had come to the realization that I was having a hard time discerning between my subconscious speaking to me and God’s voice. Satan was definitely trying to win that battle, but I was not going to let that happen. I spoke with one of my ministry leaders, Emmy, and she told me to ask God to share his voice with me and show himself in little things first, then work up to bigger things. I remember before launching for Guatemala looking up what kinds of exotic animals live here. I have never seen an iguana in the wild before and thought it would be...

Near the beginning of my mission trip I had come to the realization that I was having a hard time discerning between my subconscious speaking to me and God’s voice. Satan was definitely trying to win that battle, but I was not going to let that happen. I spoke with one of my ministry leaders, Emmy, and she told me to ask God to share his voice with me and show himself in little things first, then work up to bigger things. I remember before launching for Guatemala looking up what kinds of exotic animals live here. I have never seen an iguana in the wild before and thought it would be...

  Joy. The word that God keeps revealing to me during this entire trip. The word I grew up with and was given the name of as a little girl. Because my middle name is Joy, people use to call me Katie Joy. Why did I stop having people call me Katie Joy? Because it was an expectation I didn’t believe I met. One of my leaders of this trip asked me the question of, “What is one thing you have that you can give your team?” That’s when the word “Joy” popped into my head. I stood there and told her my answer but added how I didn’t believe it myself....

  Joy. The word that God keeps revealing to me during this entire trip. The word I grew up with and was given the name of as a little girl. Because my middle name is Joy, people use to call me Katie Joy. Why did I stop having people call me Katie Joy? Because it was an expectation I didn’t believe I met. One of my leaders of this trip asked me the question of, “What is one thing you have that you can give your team?” That’s when the word “Joy” popped into my head. I stood there and told her my answer but added how I didn’t believe it myself....

Hello from Guatemala! We arrived safely in Guatemala City on July 6th! We are staying at a YWAM base and doing ministry with them. Today, we went to church at a church called Access Church, and it’s a “missionary” church. After church they had baptisms and one of our team members was baptized and asked the team leaders to baptize her. It was so powerful! This week we will have orientation and start to do ministry! We are so excited to be here and are so excited to see what the Lord has in store for this month!