in the quiet i know You are God.

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

-John 14:27

a picture i took at the cavern in Camuy, Puerto Rico

(this picture reminds me of God because once we were in darkness and when we have God, the light shines in and we are no longer in darkness but in light. Read Psalms 18:28)

It has been quite a few weeks since i have written last and i apologize for the delay in my updates. The verse i put above, John 14:27, has brought me through some tough times these past two weeks. The Lord is good and His peace brings strength to me. He reminds me not to be sad when things happens but to TRUST HIM. As i hold on, i am grateful to see all of HIS works and what HE can do. I am so blessed that God has brought me to Puerto Rico and how He has allowed me to experience many things. My Father in Heaven protects me, teaches me, and guides me. He loves me and He loves you more than you could ever fathom.

I am in awe of all of His works- the CODAs that i am working with each week truly bring joy to my heart. I see them and i see how much they are growing. How much trust they are putting in me. My friends that i have made in this ministry will last a lifetime and i can see the impact God has done in their lives. There is one CODA in particular that i would like for you all to pray for. We just discovered she will be having a baby soon and she is still a teen. I was in awe when i heard this news and i waited for her to tell me in her own time. She finally did and she is finally now accepting the fact of real life. Pray that God uses this to BRING her closer to Him. This girl comes from a broken family, experienced many trials, still trying to find her identity, and she has been hurt. When i first met her, she was so tough, so hard to get to know, but then later through retreats & events we began to grow closer. I could see her walls that she had built up was starting to crumble down. She began to see there was hope and that she has so much to offer this world to make it better. She realized all the mistakes that was done and began to open up her heart then she receives this news of having a child. Pray for her as she continues to seek after her Heavenly Father. She is incredible and i am so blessed to see how God is working in her life to bring her to HIM.

here is a picture of one CODA i have been working with lately.. she's beautiful :)

This past week i had a friend from Gardner-Webb come and visit me. She is a "world traveler" and started her traveling after she experienced her first mission trip in Honduras (we went together through our Campus Ministries at Gardner-Webb). It was such a treat being able to be with an old college friend. I hosted her and it felt so good to be a "tourist" for once here. We got to go to a few places: the beach, caves, Old San Juan and just show her around in Ponce (where i live). She got to meet some of my amazing CODAs and go to the churches that i work with each week. Robin was even lucky enough to meet all of my wonderful friends here.

The last day, was not what i expected, we were sad because of course it is typically normal when you bring a person to the airport to say goodbye but we got into a car accident :(

I was driving on the highway taking the exit for the airport while all of a sudden we got slammed into from behind pushing us forward into the SUV in front of us. The SUV hit the van in front of it and experiencing this for the FIRST time i was in shock. I got out of the car and didn't even see the car who hit me, we discovered it was a hit & run. It was crazy trying to speak Spanish, trying to figure out all the facts, my friend needs to be at the airport so she won't miss her flight, and so much more. I just praise God that everyone was safe and no one was truly hurt. I only am experiencing whiplash and that is no fun. God is so good and He protects me. I am so thankful that He was taking care of us yesterday. There was a witness of the whole accident and thankfully they were able to get the license plate number of the person who hit me and caused this. Pray for us as PRDM as we try to get insurance and etc settled. We are one car down and i mainly use this car for the ministry. We are not sure if it is considered totaled yet or if it can be repaired. Pray for us.

It has been quite an eventful time since the last blog- there will still be more to come soon. Continue to pray for us as we minister to the CODAs and the Deaf here in Puerto Rico. I love it here regardless of experiencing things for the first time such as earthquakes, almost hurricane, & car accidents ;)

God is good and i am so thankful!!!! oxox