100 Days with 100 Joys

Wow… we have now been on the mission field for 100 days! What a celebration, am I right? While I sit here and try to come up with only 100 blessings, memories, and laughs from the field; I am taken back to a year ago when COVID-19 was sweeping across the world. A year ago all squads were pulled off the mission field, any and all classes were forced online, and many people were sitting patiently in their homes for life to go back to “normal”. It is only by the grace and power of God that we are on the mission field continuing to hop from country to country. Please enjoy these wonderful 100 dedications for the past 100 days!

1. Launching onto the mission field… internationally.
2. Not having any positive COVID tests!
3. Living surrounded by active (and non-active) volcanoes.
4. Community outreaches in Mixco: handing out food and setting up clean water filters in homes.
5. Starting a scrapbook.
6. Losing my Airpods… but finding them (may or may not have been mistaken for floss).
7. Pollo Campero’s (fried chicken restaurant) unexpected and delicious ice cream.
8. Midnight chocolate rice cereal as a team.
9. Having church in a parking garage.
10. Learning how to make tortillas with Maria.
11. Buying hair loss control shampoo without knowing it until I got back home.
12. Getting to celebrate my 21st birthday!
13. Eating the best strawberry ice cream cake for my birthday.
14. Crushing a watermelon with my thighs… kind of.
15. Purchasing a cozy sweatshirt because I was on the hunt.
16. Traveling to the local market and learning how to negotiate in another country.
17. Doing alphabet morning workouts with some of the girls.
18. Grasping what it looks like to be a daughter of the one true King.
19. Sitting with Alex, Clarita, and Maria learning/reenacting the Last Supper.
20. Giving Madison a hair wrap and bonding together over To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before.
21. Having a personal Uber driver (aka Fernando) and praise the Lord for “good” brakes.
22. Understanding the wild freedom God provides and just how intentional He is with us.
23. Going to Antigua Cerveza, all the while finding a piece of Asheville in Antigua.
24. Hosting Beauty for Ashes events in a chocolate shop.
25. Attending funerals unknowingly.
26. Drinking unnecessary amounts of coffee.
27. Playing thumb wars with kids.
28. Getting fresh flowers from the market.
29. Fighting for and choosing each other daily.
30. Playing soccer on the side of the mountain with Guatemalan kids. 
31. Washing over 1,000 guisquiles. 
32. Having many meals around the table with my team leading to unforgettable quality time.
33. Riding the chicken bus to Antigua.
34. Watching Rachel dance from room to room in our apartment.
35. Late night conversations with Elizabeth and Jenna about anything and everything.
36. Seeking and deepening my relationship with the Holy Spirit.
37. Taking communion every day at debrief and training.
38. Baptizing everyone on the squad for seven hours!
39. Having incredibly talented songwriters on our squad.
40. Hiking up to the heart of Antigua – the cross.
41. Running (literally) to the store but didn’t know I needed my ID to check out.
42. Doing ATL (ask the Lord) and seeing how God will always follow through.
43. Learning what interceding prayer is and how it works!
44. Enjoying one on one dates with some of the gals.
45. Joining one of our teams at an insane worship night outside! 
46. ATV rides through Antigua and up into the mountains.
47. Riding in the bed of trucks up to a volcano.
48. Hiking an active volcano with the squad.
49. Being a witness to Abbey’s broken foot being healed!
50. Taking hot showers… rarely but are always a blessing.
51. Hiking Acatenango in the middle of the night while gaining over 5,000 feet.
52. Riding in a tuk-tuk with a tray full of coffees.
53. Loving the many phone calls with those that I love back home.
54. Barely making our flight to Costa Rica.
55. Having the opportunity to capture memories that will last forever.
56. Sketching and painting light poles – using gifts given by God!
57. Teaching kids how to surf.
58. Learning to live without – this applies to many things but brings such joy!
59. Getting kicked out of hotel pools.
60. Working with the recycling center.
61. Walking through what forgiveness looks like for me, others, and accepting God’s forgiveness. 
62. Running four miles with Mary.
63. Soaking in outstanding sunsets while swimming in the ocean.
64. Learning how to sabbath and sitting with the Lord in complete peace
65. Watching all of The Chosen in one day (if you haven’t watched it stop reading and go do it).
66. Trapping dead rats with a trash can.
67. Worshipping, praying, and interceding during night ministry on the rooftop. 
68. Hosting squad church on Sunday nights!
69. Drinking a smoothie a day, no joke.
70. Surprising my squad with a candlelit charcuterie board dinner.
71. Washing laundry in a five-gallon bucket. 
72. Learning how to work slides for church service.
73. Riding a broken bike seat for months.
74. Taking communion on top of an abandoned restaurant with Chiky’s (only the best cookie ever made).
75. Keeping an Indian restaurant, Hola India, in business – our squad would visit weekly.
76. Watching movies all night with five different flavored popcorns.
77. Learning how to surf myself… then trying to surf six to eight-foot waxed which was a major fail and danger.
78. Riding razors/ATVs in Jaco through the rain and into a river.
79. Face painting kids at a family fun day. 
80. Living with 42 people all in the same house.
81. Doing life with part of a gap year squad… super sweet!
82. Spontaneous ice cream dates!
83. Air conditioning nights.
84. Sharing twin beds being all cozy.
85. Fully realizing how much my family and friends mean to me back home.
86. Jenn and I riding one singular bike almost like a motorcycle.
87. Continuously handing things over to the Lord that are out of my control.
88. Trying boba tea for the first time in Chinatown, San Jose.
89. Participating in dance classes as part of ministry.
90. Building everlasting relationships.
91. Adventuring to the one and only Starbucks coffee plantation as a team.
92. Crying tears of joy for the generosity of people and the faithfulness of God.
93. Expanding my knowledge of Spanish.
94. Fasting coffee for almost a month and enhancing my relationship with Christ.
95. Cleaning out the enemy of our house through prayer.
96. Spending late nights getting to know new people.
97. Drawing closer to the Father during trials.
98. Swapping clothes and trading outfits.
99. Eating peanut butter like it’s going out of style.
100. Finding out that we are traveling to the Dominican Republic and then… TURKEY!

Praise the Lord for the past 100 days and praise Him even more for the next 100 to come. We are now around one-third of the way through with the race… it has gone by so fast! Every moment is one to cherish and enjoy, even the difficult ones. I am so beyond blessed for this Kingdom journey and couldn’t be more ecstatic to see what else God has in store during this season. I would like to ask you to partner with me in prayer over our squad and for all the changes that are ahead. Thank you all so much for your constant love and support! I’m still fundraising and only have a little over $300 left until I am fully funded; please pray that the Lord provides and every little bit helps.

with all my love,

PJ