The past 24 hours have been a whirlwind. On Friday, we arrived at our new and last location of where we are staying in Mexico: a YWAM (Youth with a Mission) base in a downtown city area of Tuxtula. I was excited to hear we would be staying at a YWAM base, considering I was thinking about partaking in a YWAM program before I decided on World Race. 

Saturday, we spent the day exploring the city. Karen (a mentor staying with us for 6 weeks), a couple other girls, and I hung out together. We went to a coffee shop that has 3 different levels! Their coffee, and the coffee in Mexico in general, is on another level! If I had to choose between Mexican and Italian coffee, I would choose Mexico 100%. 

After that, we went walking on the busy streets. Colorful walls, music in the distance, people having conversations in Spanish around me, the bright, hot sun hitting my face. I loved it all. The amount of pictures and videos I took on my camera was lets just say a lot. The culture is just so beautiful to me. I find it fascinating how different people live their lives around the world, but how they are still just humans. Just people like us living in a different place. 

We stumbled across an art studio where they have sessions to make clay mugs, to paint, and to draw. The pieces of art were so unique and detailed. Walking in there and seeing people spending their time in this way, just to make art as their job, opened up my eyes to new possibilities. I sometimes feel like my mind is so closed off to having a job like something as simple as owning an art studio and making art for a living. I’ve always been taught to think I should become a doctor or lawyer or someone big in the world. I know that whatever God has in store for my future will be good, no matter how big or small it is. It made me realize that no matter how big of a job you have or role you play in life, you are still making an impact in some way and that is what matters. 

That night for dinner, we all ate authentically made tacos with fresh tortillas, pork, cucumbers, radishes, jalapeños, and salsa. When I tell y’all, they were some of the best tacos I’ve ever had. Especially since they were made by our kind hosts with love and compassion, it made them so much better. 

I slept well that night until I woke up at 5 am not feeling great at all. I went downstairs and sat on the floor outside of the only 2 bathrooms the 30 of us have to share. This may be TMI but I had diarrhea. I went back out to sit on the floor again, this time because I felt like I was going to vomit. 5 minutes later, my friend Hahna comes out and sits next to me. 

“I feel like I’m gonna throw up,” she says to me. 

Okay, that’s weird, I thought, but didn’t think much of it. We laid on the cold, concrete floor talking to each other and trying to distract each other from the nausea we were both feeling so strongly. After 20 minutes, I went to the bathroom because I knew I was about to vomit and sure enough, I did. The first time since being on this trip surprisingly enough. 

I groggily walked up the stairs, taking the bucket from my room I was sharing with 4 other girls to an empty room with a large world map painted on the wall. Or empty so I thought. I looked down to see my leader Amanda laying on the couch. She asked me what was wrong and I told her and laid down on the mattress set on the ground. I was feeling so many feelings at once, it was terrible. My stomach ached, I shivered in coldness, my head hurt, and I felt more coming up my throat. I started rocking my body back and forth just to give me comfort, but ended up beginning to cry. Amanda prayed for me at that moment, and when she was done, we laid in silence. But not even a moment later, Amanda jerked up, grabbed the bucket, and vomited. 

Okay, this is REALLY weird, I now thought. How did three of us get the same kind of sickness in the same time period of almost 10 minutes?! 

One by one, more and more of the team got sick, like dominos hitting each other and tumbling down together. Some of us were sicker than others, but for the most part, a lot of us did not feel well. “Maybe it's the cucumbers we ate at dinner or the water we have been brushing our teeth with,” were some of the theories that people came up with, but still, none of those reasons felt completely right to me. I think it was something more, something deeper. 

On Saturday, I was in the map room the entire day, literally coming out only twice to use the bathroom. Karen and Alyssa came in and prayed for me, laying their hands on me and singing worship hymns to comfort me. I began bawling my eyes out as they sang Hallelujah over and over again, just praising the Lord even through my horrible condition. They hugged me tight and rubbed my head as tears fell on my hands curled up in front of me. I never felt more loved in that moment, being comforted in that way even when I felt like I was on my deathbed and could also get them sick, but they didn’t care. They just wanted to be there for me while I was down. That Christ-like love shown through them so strongly, I never felt happier even though I didn’t feel good physically. 

We began talking about what we think the reason is for everyone getting sick and we think a part of it has to for sure due to a spiritual attack. More than half of our team either got sick or didn’t feel well all around the same time. Also, for many of us, people at home are also sick with the same symptoms as us, including my sister. Leading up to the sickness, I felt very anxious and fearful about the future and with fundraising for Year 2 of Journey School and going around the world for another 8 months to live out of a backpack, still not knowing my purpose in this world. So that alone already opened a door for the enemy to come in and attack me even more. 

However, I know the Lord uses the bad to transform it into good and I believe through this sickness spreading through us like wildfire, it has helped us to grow closer together. We have been checking in with each other more, caring for each other, and really demonstrating the love of Jesus to one another. We also have been praying for one another MUCH more for healing and restoration and for protection and strength within us. It's so good to see us growing closer to the Lord even though the enemy is trying to take us down. He knows we are impacting the kingdom here in Tuxtula for the kingdom and he HATES that so he will do anything in his power to try to defeat us and take us with him, but he can’t and he never will because the Lord is SO much more powerful. Praise the lamb forever and ever! 

Now, I am feeling almost fully better thank God. Many others are also feeling a lot better but are still recovering. Please pray for healing for the team and protection against the attacks of the enemy over these next months that we are together on the field spreading the good news of Jesus. 

On Monday, Karen gave a talk about the topic of community, relating it to a garden and asking us what we desire in our community? Some of us turned our heads quickly to look at each other since just before she announced it, we had done ATL and had gotten the word community. She told us to draw or write whatever we wanted in our community and what we thought it looked like. The first thing that came to my mind was a flower that I had been seeing for a couple weeks now. It is the flower from the movie Tangled which is known for healing. I kept drawing it, not fully knowing what it represents or helps with. 

After I had finished drawing, I looked up the actual flower it was inspired by in the movie. It is called an Oenothera fruticosa or sundrop flower and it represents sunshine, cheerfulness, and new beginnings. They thrive in hot, dry conditions and symbolize endurance, strength, and finding happiness in the simple. It’s also associated with nostalgic, heartwarming memories of childhood. 

Then, I researched the medicinal usage behind the flower and you will never guess what it treats! Digestive and stomach issues and diarrhea! I couldn’t believe that this very specific flower that I can’t stop seeing can be used for the very issues we are dealing with among our team right now! 

Tammy came up afterward and mentioned how many spirals are in the movie Tangled, saying that maybe the spirals and these flowers are related. I hadn’t even thought of that, but I became curious once she mentioned it. Tangled has been a movie that is constantly brought up again and again in my life. It was the first movie I watched in the theaters and I always come back to watching it when I’m bored. But what is the symbolism behind the movie and is God trying to teach me something through the message it portrays? 

When researching it further, it says the movie represents self-discovery, breaking free from forced confinement, and finding the courage to pursue personal dreams. It also refers to personal growth and finding your true self. Looking at my life right now, I honestly believe this is the state I am at. Figuring out who I am and what my purpose is in the world, gaining the courage to step out in faith to what God calls me into, and breaking free from what I already know to walk into the uncomfortable in pursuit of growth. 

The core message and call to action behind the movie is also that growth and fulfillment requires stepping out of your comfort zone to pursue your dreams rather than living by someone else’s rules. Rapunzel staying in a safe, familiar environment (the tower) is not living, but merely surviving, teaching that “life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” It highlights seeking your own personal passions and “light” rather than living in the shadows of other’s expectations. It emphasizes making your own choices and embracing your own identity, defying, if necessary, those who seek to control your life and trusting your internal calling, being the Holy Spirit, to guide you. 

All of this is to say that God is continuously guiding you and showing you the way, even if it is through childhood movies like he did with me. He knows what’s best for you and you should trust that and follow through with what the Holy Spirit is nudging you to do, even if it's scary and going against other’s wishes because at the end of the day, you have to ask yourself, who are you living for? Are you living to other’s expectations for how you should live or are you living according to the path that God is directing you to follow? And let’s be real, God’s plan is so much better and fruitful than any plan anyone else could try and direct for you. 

I’m still beginning to fundraise for Year 2 of Journey School. If you are interested in learning more about it and would like to get connected, reach out to me and I would love to hop on a call to talk with you! 

Blessings, Hailey