Hey yall! 

I've sat here, on my bed, for the past couple hours thinking of what my new blog post will be. I've typed many different things up and ended up deleting each one. BUT I think we finally got a topic. Something that I've struggled with time after time. Spiritual Warfare.

Before I jump into the details of what we've experienced, let me give you some back-story. On the 6th of December, my squad had to say goodbye to our beloved team leaders. These are the people who went on the race last year, and joined our race to guide us in the first 3 months. My squad and I grew very close to our team leaders. We lived with these people and welcomed them as our family. So saying bye was rough. Many tears were shed and many hugs were unrelenting. Along with saying goodbye to our team leaders we also had to say a temporary fairwell to our squad mates. Each team was getting sent to different areas all over Costa Rica, for two weeks. So as you could imagine, it was a bit of an emotional time for some of us. 

My team was getting sent to a small town next to San José, called Turrialba. When we were picked up we learned we were no longer staying at a church, but at a lady's house. That was the first, last second change we met. Then almost every plan we made/were told was changed 10 minutes before we were supposed to do whatever task we were previously told. On our free day, our host took us to this farm with a beautiful mountain view. We were spending the night there in our tents. That night most of my team was terribly sick. That same night we also received a video from our squad mentor saying that we were no longer going to Columbia, rather Guatemala. I'll be honest, Guatemala was one of the last places I wanted to go. Some people on my squad, including me, are terrified of the idea of our Race being specifically Central America. So when I heard the news, I just wanted to cry. Columbia has a special place in my heart and I do pray that one day I can go there, but the Lord has made it clear that Guatemala is where I need to be. That night was still rough nonetheless. Sleep was impossible for some of us (mainly because we needed the bathroom every couple minutes). This past week we have felt hopelessness for the first time on the race. Not just because of changes, but because we were truly struggling. Language barriers, sicknesses, and unexpected changes do not make good ingredients for a cake. 

The past couple days we have been at the house, too sick to be useful. In this time we have been able to truly rely on God more. For me, I've been able to figure out how to stand once more and prepare for the next punch the enemy may throw. A quote from my dad that really helped put things into perspective is "Some teams are being blessings while others are receiving blessings." These past couple days have been a true blessing for us. We needed rest and to have time to collect our bearings.

This morning my team had to have the conversation about Spiritual warfare. We couldn't understand why we were suddenly getting attacked. We haven't been doing much work to make a difference. However I realized while reading in Matthew, it doesn't matter what job you're doing. All that matters is that you're doing exactly what the Lord is telling you. What we've done in this small town, is shown the people here that Christanity isn't just for old people. It's not a dying, hopeless, religion. For us it is the one and only way. We're showing the locals here that we believe in the one true God and we are willing to give up literally everything for Him. It took an entire month for me to realize to be content during this time. To just show God's joy and allow that to speak for itself. 

The best part is, this can be done literally anywhere. You don't have to fly overseas or even do a hard labor job. You just simply need to show joy in the moments when it makes no sense to have joy. A simple smile can show the Lord more, in some situations, than a big gesture.

Well that's all I've got. Hope you enjoyed this blog (can we call it a blog or is it safe to just say ramblings??). 

Until next time! -Kaili <3