Hey friends!! As I write this blog, I am sitting in a coffee shop in the middle of Siem Reap, Cambodia. Crazy, right?! We, as a squad, had been talking about and preparing for ministry overseas for so long that it was honestly beginning to feel as though it would never come. But, here we are! After much training, we are finally bringing God’s love to the nations. He has been so incredibly faithful to us in our time here so far, and I cannot wait to see all that is to come in the next month!
For this blog, I am FINALLY getting around to giving y’all an update on our time of domestic missions in North Carolina!! I thought I would switch up the formatting and post some pictures with descriptions, hope y’all enjoy!!
*For frame of reference, the girls and the boys on our squad split up for domestic missions! In years past, the entire squad has partnered with Samaritan’s Purse and gone wherever was needed. This year, however, we were told that they would not need all of us due to a lack of natural disasters in the area. So, our guys went with Samaritan’s Purse to Jackson, Kentucky, while the girls went to Black Mountain, North Carolina, to partner with a local college!!
RIGHT BEFORE WE LEFT:
For those that haven’t heard, right before we left for North Carolina I got a pretty bad spider bite… I don’t know how or where it happened, but it really took me out! Definitely the last thing I expected to end up in urgent care for during the race, but I’m so thankful that it wasn’t anything worse. It ended up being a three week ordeal of taking multiple antibiotics and shots, but thankfully it’s almost healed now!
My sweet friends came along to support me!!
ALSO! I got my first tattoo!! ‘Selah’ is a word that was placed heavily on my heart throughout our time in training camp and something I want to carry with me in my day to day. It’s a reminder to pause and reflect on the goodness of God and exalt His name no matter the circumstances or my feelings.
ON TO NORTH CAROLINA:
Pretty views and our new home for two weeks!
Alexis channeling her inner Parker
Throughout our time, the four teams of girls rotated through multiple ministries. The first group we worked with was Black Mountain Children home and we got to do some property maintenance for them!!
The first of MANY trips to Dripolator. By the end of the two weeks the staff new us pretty well haha! If you are ever in Black Mountain please do yourself a favor and stop by this coffee spot, everything there is AMAZING!!
The night we found out Hurricane Ian was coming through
Mornings in North Carolina were freezing!! Temperatures were down into the upper 30s / low 40s
Back at the Dripolator!!
We also had the opportunity to partner with Camp Ridgecrest and help them with campus cleaning and preparation for a staff wedding!
Featuring the one and only Libby Kramer!
The Band Camino happened to be in town and had a show on one of our nights off, so of course we had to go to the concert 🙂 A few of us and our leaders bought tickets and had a night out in Asheville!!
A happy Libby moment while setting up for a birthday celebration!
Dripolator… again 🙂
Cold, rainy ministry day!
Shepherd’s parents brought us an AMAZING brunch! (Thank y’all SO MUCH if you are reading this!!)
Morning quiet time with Ella
Kids ministry with Libby and Anna!!
On our last day, we were able to volunteer with the children’s home again and help run the community’s fall festival!
Sunrises and sunsets
And on the way back to the Adventures in Mission base in Georgia I ran into my sweet friend, Ella, from home!!
I am so thankful that I am able to share these highlights with y’all and I hope that it gives you a little glimpse into the domestic missions we did while in the States! Not pictured are countless hours of manual labor, children’s ministry, community gardening, teachings, and so much more!! We are so incredibly grateful for all of the fun times and blessings we’ve received, but I do not want to give y’all a false impression of what our day in and out looks like! It is a LOT of work, physically and spiritually, but so rewarding and worth it. As in North Carolina, pictures of ministry in Cambodia may be lacking because of rules around what we are allowed to post and whether or not we have our phones on us, but I will do my best to keep y’all updated!! Thank you again for your continued support. I LOVE YALL!!!
His love and mine,
Lydia Grace
Love seeing these pics of how you were/are doing life! Love you sweet girl and you are always in our prayers.
Thanks for the update!! Still praying for you!!
lydia grace. i’m so happy to see your servants heart in practice!! praying for you always.
I love seeing that part of y’all’s journey in pictures??. Thanks for sharing! Praying for you
The ?? Was a heart, but I’m guessing you have figured out that question marks are emojis at this point!