This past week was a pretty busy, but productive week. In the garden, we planted squash, weeded, started the mural, and burned trash. It’s become very clean compared to what it was at the start! On Friday, some of the boys came over to help us with tilling up the boxes and mixing together the soil and compost. They were so motivated to help with whatever they could! Seeing how hard they worked to make this garden become real made me happy and encouraged me to work hard without complaining. I’m excited to see more progress as we keep on planting vegetables and herbs and to watch the hard work we all put in pay off! 

Over these past few days, I’ve encountered learning more about the backgrounds of the kids in Mexico and where they came from. It’s devastating to hear about the experiences they have been through. A lot of the kids here have really heavy stories including sexual abuse, lacking resources which resulted in stealing for food, and aggression. It makes me tear up thinking about the trauma they now have from what they were born into, but it makes me want to love them even more than I already have. Many of the kids don’t even have a solid idea of what love is, so it's evermore important that we show and exhibit that love to them. The overflowing love of Christ. 

I’ve also been learning a lot in the nutrition courses I am taking. The more I learn, the more passionate I become about taking care of my health and wanting others to do the same. There is still so much I want to learn and I can’t wait to explore it more! It’s truly amazing how the human body functions and how it can repair itself through simple daily practices of treating your body well. 

The other day, I led a Bible study within our group of taking care of your temple and stewarding your body well. It’s such an important topic that is often swept under the rug and not talked about enough. The Bible mentions time and time again the value of the human body comparing it to temples built in the old testament. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit within us and that we were bought with a price so we should glorify God in our bodies. If our bodies are as valuable as temples built with precious materials such as gold, that took YEARS to build, and where God mentions his holy presence dwelling in, we should be making an effort to not ignore or abuse our bodies, but care for them.  

If you read my last blog, you most likely saw my announcement about committing to Journey School Year 2! As I mentioned last time, I want to tell you all about how I came to that decision. 

It started when Jackson, a mentor with the job of being in charge of the World Race social media, first announced the route to us. All it took was for him to announce the countries and I was hooked. Every day after the announcement, I prayed multiple times a day asking God if this route was for me, in HIS plan for me. The fact that the route was still in my mind should have been a hint to me already, but I wanted actual confirmation. And that confirmation didn’t come until about a week after. 

Originally, when just mentioning the list of countries to my parents, they said they expected more opportunities like this to come up and said that they would support me if I decided to go. To be honest, it surprised me that they were so quick to say yes to me wanting to go on the route, considering how protective they are of me, but I also took the peace they felt about me going as a saying yes. 

One night, I was researching (through Chat GPT) if taking my gen eds while traveling through a missions gap organization like Journey School would be a possibility. That is a big driving factor in me saying yes to the program: being able to take classes and get an education on top of doing missions. That way when I return, I can go straight to college and start my education to get a bachelors in nutrition. It said that yes, it would work and that I would be able to take my gen eds online. 

Then, I researched more about the specific countries, purely out of curiosity, asking how the countries relate to the future career I want, which is something related to nutrition and naturopathic medicine. For every country, it gave information on how they use food as medicine and the different types of medicine that they emphasize. Immediately, I thought of how cool it would be to become my own sort of journalist on the different types of medicine and practices I see and experience in these countries. I find it fascinating how different each country in the world takes care of their bodies through various types of foods, beliefs, and customs based on the distinct climates and plants their country has. I would love to take notes and learn more about how the cultures of these Asian countries as well as Australia practice natural medicine differently and how I can incorporate that for myself and others one day. 

On top of this, when thinking about the possibilities Seth mentioned about the route, I remembered a ministry he brought up called Bella Goose. They are a coffee ministry that works in both Thailand and Wisconsin (how crazy is that?!) and they work to give their profit and help those who were or are victims of human trafficking. Human trafficking is an issue I have been passionate about helping with for a while. Back in Albania, a small group of us were working on a project involving how we could help those in the sex trade, but it sort of fell through. So hearing about this opportunity also sparked my interest. 

I looked up the name of the ministry and clicked on the first link that popped up which was a news article explaining the ministry and what they do. Crazy enough, a woman from my church named Beth Williams that runs another ministry helping with human trafficking called YADA was in the interview! I got in contact with her a few years ago when I was working on a civic action project for school with trafficking. She owns a thrift store that provides clothes for women that were trafficked and gives them a place where they can work to earn an income. To see her in that interview made my stomach churn. How wild it was to see her featured in this interview, especially someone from my own church that I already knew and spoke with talking with the CEO of Bella Goose! 

I went further in researching the ministry and they have coffee shops only 40 minutes from my house! My mom told me she has been to them multiple times as well. It seemed like piece after piece of the puzzle went together. No matter how much I researched and looked into if being a part of this ministry and embarking on this route could be a reality, yes was the answer for every question. By the time I had looked up most of my questions, I knew there was no way I could say no. God was obviously guiding me onto this path and I knew if I were to say no to going, I would regret it. I would hate not knowing what God could have brought and flourished from this. 

Shortly after I discovered the information about Bella Goose, I emailed Seth Barnes, telling him how I am saying yes to the route and how I am interested in doing ministry with Bella Goose. He answered very quickly and told me he asked them about internship opportunities and partnering with them over this next year. The way that everything seemed to happen so fast made me even more sure that this is what God wants for me. 

Obviously, I can never be 100% sure. Sometimes where we expect God to lead us is not his designed path for us at all and he ends up directing us on a totally different path. He’ll shed a light on one direction and then will give us even more directions to choose from out of free will. God is amazing like that, always giving us the ability to choose. I love the freedom in deciding how I can live my life, but it also can be nerve wracking trying to decipher the “right” path and finding exactly what God wants for me. I think it comes to how often you are willing to say yes to God, the risky vs. the safer path. Neither one is wrong or “incorrect” to follow, but depending on which one you choose, God will push you harder or teach you different lessons so you can grow. 

Making the decision to commit to Journey School Year 2 is a HUGE act of faith. I pretty much know nothing about the route besides the countries and very minimal information about the ministry. Even with the very small amount of information I have, I KNOW that God is opening the door for me to go and I just have to obey him in that calling. Past me before this trip would have needed all the nitty gritty details to even consider saying yes, but now, I am following the Holy Spirit more and laying down all my worries and anxieties because I trust the Lord. I know that whatever he has planned for me will be good, will grow me, and will help others. This past year is exact proof of that, so why would he not do that again? 

I’ve realized throughout this past school year that I have been living an answered prayer. God has given me SO many things that I have asked for in prayer. Asking to travel the world. Asking to build strong Christian friendships. Asking to have an opportunity to partake in helping victims of human trafficking. Asking for the ability to use my Spanish speaking abilities. God has answered all of my prayers and continues to answer more, giving me even MORE than I could have wanted. It's so beautiful to see God answering my prayers one by one, even though I never would have expected him to do so. He is so gracious and kind. Thank you Jesus. 

I haven’t officially committed to the route yet because World Race just posted it on their page, but as of now, I am going on the route. I’m excited to see how God works in fundraising for the trip, opportunities that may present themselves with Bella Goose, and the role God wants me to follow in these countries. I know this next adventure will be great and am ready to take on whatever God wants for me in this next season. 

Prayer requests: 

• Determination and work ethic to get tasks in the garden done before we leave for Guatemala! 

• Growth in the kids relationship with God and in their faith

• Focusing on the present in Mexico while receiving direction for this next year 

• Growing faith in the Lord’s plan for my life 

• Spiritual maturity in our team in learning what the Lord wants us to know 

Jesus, 

Thank you for being so gracious. The way you are working in our team and in these kids is so evident. Thank you for filling me with compassion and a desire to learn more and do more. I thank you for the ways we have grown as a team and in leadership. I’m so grateful for the direction you have provided me and can’t wait to see how else to work through that. Help me to put in my all throughout the rest of Mexico and to live in the present with where you have put me. Help me to use my God-given talents to further your kingdom and to help those around me. I thank you for the growing love you have put in me for you and I ask that you continue to make that love even stronger. I love you Lord. Amen. 

Blessings, Hailey