God is in the Dominican Republic!

Over spring break I was blessed with the opportunity to travel to the Dominican Republic on a mission trip with Campus Crusade for Christ!  The University of Santo Domingo has 171,000 students, many of which do not understand the love of Jesus or the free gift of eternity that we can have through Him.  We went on the campus everyday and shared the gospel with students.  The entire trip was completely moved by God and so I want to give Him glory by sharing about my week.  


Saturday March 5, 2011 (Prayer from a week before the trip)


God, thank you so much for this trip and the opportunities you have given each of us.  I thank you that you are faithful and we are believing that all of the money will come through because it is your will for the gospel to be delivered around the world.  I thank you for the deep friendships that are going to be made on this trip and that we will build one another up and encourage each other.  I pray for the staff in the DR, that we would just bring them an ocean of joy and encouragement that only comes from you.  God I just want you to use us to do great things for your glory.  Your word says that you open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing.  God our desire is to know you in a deeper way and to be used to further your kingdom.  So use us and blow us away!  You are so great and we can't wait to see what you are going to do.  We declare safety and protection on this trip because we know that no weapon formed against us shall prosper.  I thank you that people are going to come into your family and have a personal relationship with you.  I ask for boldness and speech that does not falter.  We rebuke the devil in the name of Jesus because we know that when we resist him he has to flee.  Thank you for your grace and mercy.  Thank you for providing a way for us to live eternally with you because we know that you are the only way, the only truth, and the only light.  Fill everyone with the power of the Holy Spirit and the ability to live a victorious life that only comes from knowing you.  Give us opportunities to truly love your people the way you love us.  Show us a part of you that we have never seen before and stretch us to a point where we are uncomfortable for you.  It wasn't comfortable for you to die on the cross, so help us learn to be uncomfortable and radical for you.  Make us radically in love with you and who you are.  Make us more like you because we are so awful without you.  Thank you that you know the number of hairs on our head.  Thank you for knowing what we are going to do in five years, and when we are going to take our last breath.  You say that where 2 or 3 gather together in your name, there you are in their midst.  Well there are 35 of us gathered together so I pray that you would be with us and in our midst the entire trip and before and after.  Please humble me and help me to know how worthless I really am and how much I deserve death even right this second.  Give me a new understanding of what your love is and how much it cost you.  Lord it was free but it wasn't cheap.  Your sacrifice was, is, and is to come the greatest sacrifice.  You are the name above all names.  You are Yahweh, El Shaddai, El Roi, The God who sees us in our pit and picks us up out of it.  If all of these things are true, then who can be against us?!  You are the creator of the universe and you are on our side!  We love you so much!  AMEN!

The trip stretched me in many ways.  I learned to be willing and obedient in my faith and I saw a boldness in myself that I had never seen before while sharing my faith.  I learned that success is not necessarily getting someone saved, it is being willing to be used by God and leaving the results up to Him.  I learned that my words are powerful and my prayers WILL be answered when I ask in faith.  In Matthew 21:21-22 Jesus says “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to this fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done.  If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”  I lived off of this verse that week and it has changed my life even today.  Every morning I prayed in faith that God would do great things through me and let me lead people to accept Him.  I had the opportunity to lead six college students from the Dominican Republic to Christ, and talked about Jesus with countless others!  God is always faithful and He never fails to blow me away.  Its so cool to know that God WILL do exceedingly and abundantly above all that we can ask or think! ALWAYS!

Another thing that was so cool was how God tested our patience and trust in Him through time and money.  We were supposed to be home Sunday night and we weren't expecting to have and money left on the last day of the trip.  But on Sunday when we walked into the airport, we found out we wouldn't be home until Monday night.  The cool thing was that for some reason we had a ton of extra money left over- out of no where!!  We spent the day at the aquarium eeeekk fishies!!!

Basically God is AMAZING and this trip rocked my world!! Start praying for BIG, SPECIFIC things and watch God move in a way exceedingly and abundantly above all that you could ask or think! Love you guys!