First pre trip update!!

Hello to all my friends and family! This update is for those of you who received my letter (or those that didn't!!) and are checking for news!

So far, I have booked both my domestic and international flights. Those two tickets combined were quite expensive parts of my trip, but God is faithful to me and I am confident that He will provide for what He has called me to do this summer for Him! I am leaving home on June 29th for Minneapolis and will be there until the 2nd of July when we'll fly to Beijing. 36 more days!! How exciting!!!

There are several big prayer points for right now;

• That the visa process would go smoothly and that I would get my visa on time
• God would constantly be preparing my heart for what I'm going to be a part of while I'm there.
• The hearts of my sisters who suffer emotional scarring from abandonment would fully grasp how much I love them and that I will be coming back even though I'll be away for a long time.
  

• God would prepare my heart and the hearts of my precious friends for coming together to live as one family and that there would be a general peacefulness between the five of us.
  

That's all there is to tell (and ask) for right now, but I will update the blog frequently with any new information. If anyone would like any additional information about the trip, feel free to email me or leave a comment requesting it! Thank you so much for taking the time to read my blog! God bless you! Have a great day!

Hannah

Extraordinary sacrifice

Dictionary definition of extraordinary: Beyond what is usual, ordinary, regular, or established.

Life could be so much more extraordinary if I lived with the mindset that in order to live a life that would count for God, I would have to look for ways and be willing to step outside my comfort zones. I wish I was like that. I wish that I could say that I have been faithful in looking for a way to do something that would make a difference even if it was awkward or uncomfortable or frightening to me every single day, but if I was honest, I would say I definitely haven't. This week I was at a conference and Heidi Baker, founder of Iris ministries in Mozambique, was speaking. She asked the question, "What would YOU do for God if the inheritance He says He promised you was actually real?"

What's the answer to that question? I think for each of us it's different, and yet as Christians we all SHOULD have one thing in common; love. The person who resonates the love of the Father towards His children is attractive! If the name of Jesus never came out of my mouth without someone prompting it, would the world be able to tell that *I* were a child of God? Does MY life mirror the heart of my heavenly Father in a way that would make people want to be around me because I'm different than the others?

I'm stepping into a new season. Since the time that I was 11, my social life has always been number one. Friends, parties, movies, the next social event. Hands down, it was always the most important thing to me. I thrived off of interactions with my friends. Surprisingly, when I moved back to being right down the road from them, THAT'S when I started changing. I can honestly say in a million years I never thought that NOW would be when I'd have my "social crisis," but slowly I find myself coming to all these unexpected conclusions. Slowly, little by little, God has begun to strip away my attachments to my precious social life, and He has begun to impart into me an understanding of how important my time is to Him. He's jealous for MY time. He wants MY time. For HIS purposes. A friend of mine once made a really amazing yet extremely simple point that has stuck with me for months now. She said, "Jesus DIED for YOU. He went through the most excruciating pain, and all He desires, is our time. How dare we have the GUTS to tell him NO?"

Powerful words. Sadly, I forget them all too often. My prayer for my life is that I would start remembering more often that every second of my short time here on this earth counts either for something or nothing. Time is too short to waste.

Dictionary definition of sacrifice: the surrender or destruction of something prized or desirable for the sake of something considered as having a higher or more pressing claim.

THE definition of extraordinary sacrifice? The cross. The reason for it? The holiest purest love anyone could ask for.

So what does extraordinary sacrifice look like for me? Living outside my comfort zone. Simple as that. God didn't ask me to die on a cross. He did that for me. His one greatest desire is for me to understand how much He loves me, and then for me to be able to take the joy and beauty that comes out of that knowledge and spread it to the people around me and around the world. That's what my extraordinary sacrifice looks like. If every Christian would strive to love the way Jesus loved, even in our humanistic imperfections, how much better would that make the world? Perhaps 32% of teens wouldn't attempt suicide, maybe kids in Africa wouldn't be mercilessly made into murderers, and just possibly, it would be easier for broken hearts to heal. There will always be pharisees, there will always be Sunday school Christians, and there will always be people hurting people, but MY goal for MY life, is to do my best to mirror God's love to others. I'll never be a perfect person, but God sees me as beautiful. He is pleased when His children desire to walk out a life of love.

The smallest and unworthy sacrifice I could ever give in exchange for the greatest most extraordinary sacrifice of all, is my life for His purposes. I know I'm not super woman. I know I can't save the world, but God can change it, and He can use me to help accomplish that. In the words of Helen Keller:

"I am only one, yet still I am one,
I cannot do everything, but still I can do something,
and because I cannot do everything,
I will not refuse to do,
the something that I CAN do"

Be looking for more blog updates soon as I am preparing to head to China for two months this summer. Today was just my two cent's worth. :)

With Love,
Hannah

Monday- The universal languages of Love, Laughter, and Tears

So I JUST realized that I never published this post!!! Goodness!! Well here it is! This was one of my favorite days so enjoy!

Monday. Monday was incredible. The Lord did so much in my heart and in the hearts of the children the Lord allowed us to love on. We woke up very early excited about our first day of ministry. We got to spend the whole day at CIPI, the orphanage for babies, toddlers, special needs children, older girls, and pregnant teenage moms. For the first part of the morning, we just got to love on these kids. I spent most of the morning playing with the toddlers out on the playground and then feeding lunch to the special needs children. It was so amazing to see how much they lit up when you would just simply call their name to ask them to come and join in a game. There were two kids from that morning that I just fell in love with. One was a little four year old girl named Ete' and the other was a special needs boy named Antonio who was eight. Ete' was shy but extremely sweet and just dying for attention. She came up to me and just wanted me to touch her. At first she was too shy to even tell me her name. She wouldn't let me take any pictures of her and when I would snap one anyways, she wouldn't smile. When the kids wanted to go out to the play ground, she grabbed my hand and led me to her favorite swing. She stayed on that swing for nearly the entire time that the kids were allowed to be out on the playground. She kept asking me to take pictures of the other kids and then show her and then she would laugh as I tickled her. I FINALLY got one good picture of her showing me this little half smile and it is so precious.
She showed me how much just a little love can transform someone if we would just take the time to give it.

Antonio, now that little boy, he melted me from the inside out. He was just so cute!! I got to take a ball and toss it back and forth with him and see him light up when he got to play the guitar we brought with us. Even though he didn't talk much, his smile told me how much he loved what he experienced that day.

I thought that I had experienced all the universal languages before lunch time!! What an incredible beginning to an awesome day!! but there were a few more things I had to learn about. After lunch we had the privilege of spending time with the older girls who ranged in age from about 11-17. We first did some crafts together and taught them a few songs, but then our translator got the greatest opportunity we had had yet! She got to share the gospel with them!! She spoke about how many of their families had left them, abused them, and done things to hurt them; especially their fathers. At this point many of the girls were already crying at the painful memories of what had brought them to live at CIPI in the first place. As our translator continued to speak she told them about a Father who could give them hope, and peace when they were going through the many hard things they all had to go through. She told them of how much He loved them and wished that they would let Him be their Father so that He could hold their broken heart in His hands and begin to put it back together piece by piece. Monday, six girls accepted Jesus, and a seed was planted in the hearts of many more!!! As they cried, I cried with them. I cried for all the hurt they had experienced in their lives. Most of the girls were younger than me, and yet they had known more horrible things than I could imagine. At no point in that day could I see more clearly how much God loves each of His children and desires to heal them through love than I did in that moment. I didn't have to speak Spanish to communicate or understand the tears that were shed there that day.

After such an amazing and yet very intense few minutes of crying and praying together with the girls, we got to play a game with them. The language barrier was once again broken by the laughter that we shared as we tried to untwist our huge human knot. We spent 25 minutes attempting to not fall on each other as we stepped through arms, over heads, and under everybody laughing the whole time. The memories of my first Monday in El Salvador will never leave me. At the end of the day as I reflected on all the awesome things God had done in my heart and in the hearts of the kids we got to spend time with, I realized that He had shown me one of the most important things I would need to know in future ministry times; I didn't need a translator to communicate the most important things in life. Love, laughter, and tears, are a language that can be understood by all, and God's love transcends every barrier we could ever come across.

Sunday- first time meeting Ana Julia

We woke up at 3 am on Sunday to head to the airport. The whole team was more than ready to be in El Salvador already. This time everything went as planned. The flights went out at their scheduled times and after an uneventful day of traveling, we finally got to El Salvador!! We all got through customs without any problems (thank the Lord!) and everyone's luggage was where it was supposed to be. My luggage made it to ES the day before I did and it was a huge relief to find that it hadn't been lost. (thanks to everyone who prayed for my safety and for the luggage!!) It was so good to see our missionary friends again and I was more than happy that we were getting to stay at their house. We had a short orientation with our hosts and then another with the directors of La Casa De Mi Padre (the orphanage where my sister lives) before breaking for dinner. We had pizza hut and I think that was about the best pizza I've ever tasted! Then came my favorite part of the day; I got to meet my little sister for the first time. She's too cute, but she's a little stinker. We got to watch hotel for dogs in Spanish with English subtitles with all the kids at La Casa, and my good friend translated for me. Here are some pictures from our first meeting.
The matching flip flops I bought for the two of us before the trip. Isn't that just adorable?


Meant to be sisters. Forever!!!!!

Hope you are enjoying the updates so far!!!

Saturday Didn't go as Planned

On Saturday I was up at 4:45 am and completely ecstatic. Today was finally going to be the day I would meet my little sister and I couldn't wait. I got to the airport, checked my bags, and right as I was saying goodbye to my family, I got a call from my leader who was in Nashville with the rest of the team waiting to board their plane which was delayed. I flew out to Miami anyways but when I got there I had a message on my phone from a team member telling me that their flight to Miami had been canceled and now I needed to get a ticket and fly to Nashville to stay the night with them so we could catch the first flight out in the morning to San Salvador. I was so sad. I got everything straightened out and then watched the plane to ES, the one I should have been on, board all its passengers and take off before I headed downstairs and flew to TN. A girl from my team met me at the airport and we drove back to the hotel. In a way, it was a blessing to have some time to get to know the team before we started ministry together, I got to hang out with the other teens on the trip and we had a great time. We really looked forward to getting to El Salvador the next day.

I am back!!!!!

I'm extremely sorry that I didn't get to update on my trip so I'm going to create posts for each day with pictures and snapshots of everything that we did. In a general synopsis of the trip; it was incredible. The Lord did so much in each and everyone of us and it was such a blessing to work with these kids. May I just say, I love El Salvador! It is a beautiful country with such warm welcoming people and breath taking views. Here are a few pictures of the city. Hope you enjoy the updates from each day!!!!!

My first glimpse of El Salvador from the plane window.

The street our hosts lived on.

The volcano. We visited it yesterday before we headed out for the aeropuerto. :)

God bless and hope you enjoy the new updates from the trip!!!!
<3's,
Hannah

Less than 24 hours to countdown!

I can scarcely believe how fast time has flown by over the past few weeks and yet how slow it has seemed to go!! It is now less than 24 hours until I take off and I am beyond excited. The Lord has made way through brimstone and fire for this trip to happen in the past few weeks. For those of you who don't know, my trip has changed leaders and locations of the place we are staying all in about the past week so there have been many new challenges in packing, plans and preparation for the group as a whole. My team is leaving Kentucky this afternoon at five to drive to Nashville where they are spending the night to catch the first flight to Miami in the morning. I leave my house at 5:30 a.m. tomorrow for my flight which leaves at 8 and arrives in Miami at 10:25. My team leader is supposed to be at my gate to pick me up as soon as I step off the plane then we will travel on to El Salvador together. I cannot believe it is finally so close!! I know the Lord has amazing plans for everyone on this trip this year. A few prayer points that I would like to put out there are:

• No flight delays!! that all the flights would be on time due to short connections in Miami which is a very stressful airport to navigate with a team of 18.
• Luggage- the team is carrying two suitcases a piece full of supplies for ministry time and personal belongings pray that ALL of the luggage would get to ES safely at the same time as us so that no one is without the stuff we need for ministering and taking care of ourselves.
• Health- Pray for the Lord's covering over the whole team as we minister in the rural areas and orphanages
  

• Safety- The new government took over less than a week ago so pray that the Lord would guide us around any sticky situations that we aren't supposed to be in.

I want to thank all of you for your prayers over this next week. I can't tell you how much it means to me and my team!! I will update as much as possible with pictures and stories of all the awesome stuff that the Lord does through us on our trip. God bless you all!!
Much Love,
Hannah

p.s. The next time I update I'll be in El Salvador!!!!!! It's so exciting!!!!!!!!!

The time is drawing closer....

I am amazed at how quickly the time is passing before my trip to El Salvador and as each day passes I get more and more excited. In the past week I have been feeling like the Lord really wants to use this trip to give me so much more clarity in my life for my future and the call He has for me. I can't explain why, but I can feel Him preparing my heart for this drastic change, and I cannot wait to see what He wants to do within me.

For the past few months leading up to the trip, I have struggled with the fear of illness, which, for me, can be serious, but each time any doubt has tried to creep into my mind, the Lord has spoken to me and reminded me that HE is the one who called me to go. There is an amazing purpose in this trip that I have yet to discover. Even if I only reach out and show His love to one child, it would be worth every hour of my time I spent pouring into the trip before and during.

Each night before I go to bed I pull out my bible and spend time reading it. Over the past couple of days I have felt that the verses the Lord has given me have been specifically to pray over the country of El Salvador and over our team for the trip. Last night, the Lord laid on my heart Jeremiah 33:8-9 and it says:

"I will cleanse them from all the sin they have committed against me and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against me. Then this city will bring me renown joy, praise, and honor before all nations on earth that hear of all the good things I do for it; and they will be in awe and will tremble at the abundant prosperity and peace I provide for it."

I sat there chewing on this verse and just had this revelation of the Father's love specifically towards this beautiful country and all the beautiful people in it. This small little country tucked away in a very small section of Central America, is so very important to the Lord. He loves each and every child, woman, and man, He knows them each by name, and He has promised blessing to them.

I have been blessed beyond measure in support from my family and friends and have raised a huge majority of my funds. The time for my trip is getting closer by the minute and I am quite sure that I have over shared my excitement about it with nearly everyone I know. :) For the next few weeks, this blog will become more of a place to check for updates on my trip and for pictures of me with these precious kids I'm going to work with. Two and a half more weeks!!!! I am overjoyed that the time is getting so close now!! As always, I can't express how much everyone's prayers for this trip and for my team mean to me and my family. I look forward to posting more updates soon!!

God Bless,
Hannah

Being Who God Made Me in a World Where "Love" Isn’t Free

I am not understood by the world because although I am in the world I have been called to not be OF it. Sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever find even one person who will understand my unrelenting passion for children without a voice. My passion for victims of abortion, trafficking, slavery, and poverty. I didn’t choose that passion. God gave it to me, and I treasure it with all my heart. My friends are supportive. They love me even when they don’t understand me, but it isn’t about being understood, or about if I will ever find someone, anyone, who can relate to my heart. It’s about loving my father and following Him where He leads me, it’s about stepping outside my comfort zone even when I really don’t want to, and it is about becoming the daughter of my Daddy who loves these children more than I ever could. I was made to love Him and to praise Him every day of my life. “For whatever you have done unto the least of these, you have done unto me.” The next time you look into the face of a child what will you see? They are the least of these. They are Jesus, and sometimes they cannot speak for themselves. They cannot be their own advocates. Once aware of a situation, we are responsible to act. We are responsible to LOVE. We are responsible to be the voice for the voiceless. Through our obedience to his call on the church to care for the oppressed and poor, we find meaning and joy in our own lives.

Isaiah 58 says this;
Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen?
To loose the chains of injustice
And untie the cords of the yoke?
To set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
And to provide the poor wanderer with shelter?
When you see the naked to clothe him
And not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

It later goes on to say:
Then you will find your joy in the Lord
And I will cause you to ride on the
Heights of the land
And to feast on the inheritance of
Your father Jacob
The mouth of the Lord has spoken

Our JOY is in the Lord. What a profound, awesome statement. “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will make your paths straight.” He’ll give you everything you need. He’ll fill that void in your heart that the things of this world cannot fill because He called us to something more than that. We were made for intimacy with our Father. If you pressed your ear against God’s heart, what would you hear? He loves us all with a passion that we’ll never fully understand. He wants us to feel whole and happy and joyful inside even when the world is looking for contentment in all the wrong places. We’re surrounded by materialism, conditional love, and hypocrisy. It makes the Lord so sad when He sees that. His children are called to so much more. This morning while I was reading my bible, I came across these verses in Jeremiah chapter 9: 23- 24;
This is what the Lord says;
“Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom,
Or the strong man boast of his strength,
Or the rich man boast of his riches
But let him who boast boast about this:
That he understand and knows me
That I am the Lord who exercises kindness,
Justice and righteousness on earth
For in these I delight” declares the Lord.

The Lord delights in justice. He delights in His people who walk uprightly with Him. Everyone has a calling on their lives for which once they know they are responsible, do you know what yours is?

How it all started......

Two years ago, when I was thirteen, I took a trip that changed the way I viewed the world. Before my trip, I was just a normal teenager living a normal, American life. The only life I knew was one of comfort. Of course I had heard the stories of the children on the streets and in the orphanages, but none of it seemed real to me until then.

In May of 2007 I traveled with my family to China to adopt my little sister. I had the chance to hold children who had once been on the edge of death, see kids who were beggars on the street, and to witness the lifestyle of people in a country where 15 million children have no family to call their own. It changed my life. Perhaps it seems hard to believe that some one's life can change all within a day, that their perception of the world can almost suddenly become one that you never expected them to have, but one look into the face of a precious child with no mommy or daddy makes all those stories you've heard become a reality.

I can't describe the feeling of that one day I spent at the foster home. I couldn't grasp how in the world anyone could stand to give these children up, and my heart broke for their birth mothers who couldn't take care of them. All of them were special needs children, but when I looked at them I could only see them the way Jesus saw them, they were beautiful. Each and every one of them had so much to give the world and one look into their bright eyes would melt your heart. I left the foster home that day with a purpose for my life that now, almost two years later is still my strongest passion.

Looking back on that trip now, I still marvel at the mark it left on my life. Ever since then, my heart has been in a constant state of brokenness for these children everywhere. Exactly one month after I returned from my trip to China, I left again to travel to the Dominican Republic where I spent two weeks working with impoverished children living in the dumps. Poverty became more real to me on that trip than it had even in China. These children lived in homes smaller than my own room made out of scrap metal from the dumps they lived in. After that trip I never took hot showers, air conditioning, or even a real home to live in for granted ever again.

For two years God has broken my heart for these children. He has used the adoptions of my sisters to help me learn how close the helpless are to his heart, and to reveal His plans for MY future as well. I am only fifteen years old and yet I know He has great plans to use me to reach His precious children with His love. I started this blog to record my journey to El Salvador this June, and for the trips I look forward to taking in the future. I pray future posts (especially from the trips) will help you to see the invisible, hear the silent, and remember the forgotten. If you want to follow my journey I would be honored to have you do so.
Blessings,
Hannah