"So How Was It?"

(A recap on the 5 week Papua New Guinea mission.)

(Children's faces are covered for privacy)

It was great.

This is a word for word retelling of what I've said in almost every conversation I've had for the past month. Papua New Guinea was amazing, but for so many reasons I couldn't have predicted.

Working alongside Kellan and Grace to serve our kids was a joy. While it wasn't always easy, we had a blast with our little ministry. When we had planned for the trip originally, we had a very structured and organized agenda of what we wanted to do with and teach the kids. But within the first couple weeks we realized that our plans were not Gods. Over and over Dan Bushey, our leader for the LTS, told us that Children's ministry in other countries was not like how it is in America. We had just assumed that's because the classroom didn't have our typical toys or the typical instructor taught differently than how an American does.

No, the kids are just very different.

Community is something we begin to talk about with teens and young adults, establishing a good community is important to your walk with Christ. Everyone who is pursuing Jesus should be pursuing Him alongside others with the same goal. (2 Timothy 2:22) I'd never thought about this in the context of kids though. We had 9 children to look after. Mind you, a majority of them were toddlers, so still your average pandemic baby. These are also missions kids who are always with family, and rarely experiencing hours and hours everyday with other kids their age. The overwhelm was immediate. And that is why our plans changed so quickly.

We soon realized our focus with these kids wasn't going to be curriculum, but community.

Our days were spent doing crafts and coloring pages that had a Bible story linked to them. We were often building forts and dancing to music just having a fun time. Though, my favorite part of every day was probably check-in time. We had 4 little girls specifically, two sets of sisters who were 2 and 4. Every day they would just be SO excited to see each other and play together. Watching that joy, that gentleness, that genuine love they expressed for each other was a blessing in itself.

Outside of ministry, working with YWAM was amazing. The structure of an LTS is something that I really love and would recommend participating in if the chance arises for anyone pursuing leadership. While I didn't get to experience any of the lectures, the parts of the LTS I participated in still made an incredible impact. The prayer, the worship, the offering, all done with incredible intentionality. The thanksgiving, the praise, the gratitude, all done with a full heart. One of the biggest moments for me was when my small group prayed over me. Mind you, at 17 I am by far the youngest in this group. The entire month I was battling thoughts of being inferior and insignificant. They all raised me up. They poured scripture over me and lavished Gods love and purpose on my heart. Because of them and that time they spent interceding on my behalf, I felt excited to come back to America as I knew my place and purpose in God's kingdom.

Everything about this trip was amazing, even the things I hated at the time.

When I had arrived in PNG I was struggling as I had been taking an antimalarial that made my anxiety spike. A huge part of my testimony is that when I was 13 I gave my life to Christ and He healed my panic disorder. When medication, therapy, breathing techniques, journaling, etc. didn't work, Christ did.

But here I was, across the world from home and experiencing panic attacks for the first time in 4 years. I had no idea what was happening, I felt so distant from God, I felt like He didn't want me in Papua New Guinea, I felt abandoned.

And that is when God began to teach me one of the biggest lessons I have yet to experience:

My feelings do not contradict God's faithfulness.

When I felt like God wasn't near, when I felt like I wasn't where He wanted me, when I felt like I had made a mistake in pursuing this mission, when I felt like I'd lost His love, those were just feelings.

Now it was time for me to stop focusing on my feelings and start turning to truth.

Scripture tells us that we are not forsaken (Psalm 9:10)

Scripture tells us that we are always loved by God (Romans 8:35, 37-39)

Scripture tells us moreover that God can't- not love us because He IS love (1 John 4:16)

But I think what really caught me and made me realize my position in my relationship with God was 2 Timothy 2:13

"If we are faithless, He remains faithful- for He cannot deny Himself." 2 Timothy 2:13

The truth is that even when you let your feelings get the best of you, even when you forget about God, even when you abandon your faith, He does not abandon you.

The God we serve loves us in a perfect, undeserved, and unwavering way. Even through experiencing panic attacks that I hadn't had since before I knew God, He used it to get me to know Him better. To know that I am not unknown, that I am loved.

That same love is extended to you and I just want to lift up those who have been generous to me and my team through prayer. Because of those who took the time to consider us and intercede on our behalf, you helped support us to support young missionary families. They were incredibly deserving, and more than grateful. Let my appreciation not only be from me but from the families in Papua New Guinea we got to serve.

Larissa's youngest and I

"We were so thankful to have Sarah, Grace, and Kellan come all the way to Papua New Guinea to serve our family (and other families) for five weeks by providing loving child care to our kids. Our kids fell in love with their teachers and loved going to “YWAM daycare”! My husband and I could give our full attention to our classes- knowing that our kids were safe and well-looked after. It was a huge blessing to us. These young women have sown into our family and have made an investment into our ministry to

others by enabling us to fully partake in the equipping and teaching times with the other delegates.

Thank you, Larissa"

A small testimonial from

one of the moms we served

Again, thank you for your support in our trip.

PNG was great because God is greater.