exhaling the silence // update

i've been off the grid for awhile, been in a bit of a writing slump for much longer, and quite honestly every time i tried to write this blog post it just didn't come out sounding the way i wanted it to. this post probably won't either but it's time to write it anyways. :)

a month ago, i served my last day at Esperanza Viva with Living Hope International. it was tearful yet hopeful, as often are the new adventures that God calls you to. the day was bittersweet, finally arriving at the culmination of my past five years there, knowing that my last page in that chapter was being closed, the period drying and no longer able to be smudged into a comma.

like any end of a chapter has, there was backstory, some of it intentionally left out by the protagonist (yours truly) and other parts written between the lines, but to boil it all down for you: alexis and i knew there was something dawning on the horizon even before we got married, however we were unsure of exactly what was arising. with the passing of time and as we talked with God, what we began to see coming into focus was the closing of a season, namely, with EV and the community we had built; and that doors were being opened for us to enter into a new season with another local church and ministry.

you can imagine our discomfort and hesitance at first as we thought through all we would leave behind- serving alongside beautiful friends, serving on an awesome multimedia team at church, interacting with broken yet beautiful children, a wonderfully built and organized organization and community that loves God... all to head into the [semi] unknown and basically push "restart" on all the aforementioned. but God continued calling, continued confirming, continued encouraging, and continued loving. so we made the decision to leave EV in late March and begin attending a new church, Generation of Impacting the Kingdom, to continue sharing God's love, investing in His Kingdom, and preparing and equipping ourselves to be the missionaries he's called us to be!


what has that looked like for us in the past month? semi-wild, to be honest :) a few highlights were:

-a good friend from Sauk high school came to visit us for four days on spring break (less than a week after i left EV!). the whole visit was completely orchestrated by God, and the last night we were all in tears as she accepted Jesus and He spoke words of life over her

-we've been attending Biblical leadership classes each Saturday as we prepare ourselves to become small group leaders in the next few months (the super cool thing about it is that you have to evangelize to others who you then invite to your small group and follow up with, thus reaching out to more and more people in your community and neighborhood with Jesus' love and power!)

-we've also been attending weekly family/marriage classes that emphasize and focus on strengthening the family dynamic and all that God intended it to be!!! (i added so many exclamation points because i just really enjoy it)


alexis and i have had extra time (which has been very special!) to be together and pray, read the Word, and prepare ourselves for what is upcoming this year. we are trusting God and are confident that we are in the right place at the right time to continue being missionaries and lovers of God just as He's called us to be. as we become more involved in this ministry, we are hoping to open a small group in the next couple months, serve more in our church, travel to outlying communities more often to share the word of God with small groups linked to our church, and dedicate more time reaching out to and investing in the people around us (which really means- old friends from Alexis' past that are lost and searching in the wrong areas; people on the street that need a transformation that only God can give them; spending time with and encouraging new and old believers alike; etc). i will continue to be operating as a full-time missionary and we're praying over a part-time job for Alexis as his heart is deeply rooted in serving God as well.

this new adventure is just beginning and already we've been so blown away by God's grace, love, and power this last month. <3