The Best Is Yet To Come

Long time no see. 

The last time you saw a blog post from me was me telling you all that I was going to spend a month in June in the Philippines which I was so excited about. 

Well unfortunately that is not the case anymore. Wednesday morning we got an email and the phrase was this: “we have decided to cancel your trip at this time” a week ago my team and I was on zoom talking about the trip. Not even a month ago we were going to start the process of purchasing plane tickets. When I got that email I was CRUSHED. 

Why did it get canceled? You guessed it.. coronavirus. I kept thinking that I should have prepared myself more that our trip was going to get canceled, but I had tricked my mind into thinking it wouldn’t and man oh man did it bring all of the emotions up. 

Confused + upset and having all of the people in the world telling me to think positive things knowing that they had NO IDEA what it was like having your trip get flat out canceled from a virus that NOBODY saw coming I decided to DM on Instagram (the power of social media) a girl (shout out to Leanna) that JUST got off the mission field and was sent home early because of corona and the one thing she told me that stuck with me was this:

“give yourself time. give yourself space. it’s hard and it’s okay that it’s hard. it’s a process so let yourself go through the process. keep seeking the Father’s heart. He’s proud no matter what.”

And man did that hit me. I am the type of person that just likes to bottle all of her emotions up and not feel them because it is always how I did things. It hit that the team I felt like I was JUST NOW starting to get closer with was pulled away in a heartbeat. And I realized that it is okay to process everything that just happened. It is okay to feel all of the emotions in the world because it does suck, but Jesus is proud of me whether I got to go on this trip or not. 

To my team: I love you guys more than you know. You all are some serious world changers and I so so so wished I would have gotten to launch with you guys, but just know that I am so thankful for the friendships, advice, and love that was shown from all of you. Thank you guys for making me a better me even if we didn’t get to meet.

PLEASE pray for Kids International Ministries with me. That was the ministry that we would have been at in June as so many teams are canceling trips with them and the mission trips and stuff is where a good bit of their money comes from. This country has a special place in my heart and maybe in the future I will be there.  

I know God is working in the midst of this. The title of this blog post is something that we always say at my church and I firmly believe that the best IS yet to come. 

ON THAT NOTE:

I have exciting news so we could defer and go on a later trip and that is just what I decided to do! With that being said – in the Fall of 2020 I will be going on a THREE MONTH TRIP to Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua! It is really crazy because when I first got accepted to the World Race my advisor wanted me to go on a month mission trip in June and if I liked it I could go back on the mission field in the Fall and do a three month trip. I do believe that God had a plan for me after all and that plan was to go on a three month trip this Fall. I will launch on August 31st and will not be back in America until November 23rd. When I was looking at the trips I had my mind set that I was going to go to Peru for three months, but God had me looking into this trip and I felt Him nudging me towards this trip. I am so beyond excited and will have fundraising stuff coming up REALLY soon! Be in prayer for me not only as I get prepared to go on this trip, but also that I can make the transition from a one month trip to a three month trip!

Have Your way, Jesus. The best is yet to come. 

See you soon, 

Ash