Week 1: Faith, Trust and Pixie Dust

What a whirlwind! I cannot believe this week has come to an end already. I feel like I’ve been living in a time warp. This week has been long, hard, and exhausting. But, more so than tiring, this week has been FREAKING AWESOME!

I am feeling so blessed, words cannot even explain the things going on this week. But- I’ll try!

This week our team of 12 missionaries and our 1 fearless leader have been located in Muenster, Texas, about 2 hours north of Dallas. We are staying in Steve’s Mom’s (aka Momma Nasche) ranch style home located on 180 acres of beautiful Texas land. 

 

Our focus the week has really been about getting to know each other and learning to trust and work with each other.  In addition to team bonding and cohesion, we have been working towards growing spiritually with each other. To accomplish these goals , we have been at a conference center all week on Turtle Hill. At the center we have had team games and different activities to get to know each other better. As for the spiritual aspect of this goal, our team says the Liturgy of the Hours together at the same times for the morning, evening and night time. In addition to praying daily together, we go to daily mass together.  It’s really cool to be surrounded by only Catholic people because we all share that common part of ourselves which makes it really easy to share our faith stories, lives, what we are struggling with and even just brining God into all that we do and say. It seems that even though we all come from different backgrounds, we all have a common goal, getting to heaven.

 

Our team is pretty incredible, I feel overwhelmingly blessed that everyone gets along so well. Community living is not always the easiest as there are several different personality types. We sometimes feel like we are in the MTV show, Real World. Especially when there’s one bathroom to share for five girls! But, praise God because we all get along.  Who would have thought that 12 strangers could get along so well and so quickly. I feel like I’ve known these new friends for my whole life, we are all so comfortable with each other. As I reflect on this aspect of the group, I really feel like God is so visible with the choosing of these people. If His hand didn’t hand pick us then I truly don’t think that we would have such group cohesion.  He is truly amazing.


In addition to working through the program and running through youth ministry games, we played around! We have had a blast exploring this beautiful land and going to local restaurants and churches! A favorite thing that we have done so far is riding around on their land on their gator (john deer ATV). The other day a bunch of us jumped on it to go and herd the cattle that they own. When the guys jumped off the Gator to chase the cattle, I took the back and drove towards them…we herded them to what we thought was the next gate entry. But…once they got to that gate corner, the gate was closed and they all turned around and charged at us!!! So, we all jumped on the gator and drove away. That was such a blast/scary!

Another interesting thing that happened this week was on Monday. Right after the tornado hit Moore, OK, we got weather alerts on our phones and tvs and even heard the sirens for tornados that were in the town next to us. The day was kind of funky, it was greenish/yellow outside and had low lying clouds. The world just had an eerie feeling. So once we had heard that the tornado was close by and needed to take cover and embrace for impact…we ran to the main house and all huddled around. Well, everyone was just so calm and even tempered. I had no idea why…Crazy Kayla came out. I was totally freaking out, hiding in the bathroom while everyone else was just chilling out. One of the missionaries, Mel, told me to stay calm, cool and collected. Like that would help!? Uh-no! That made me freak out even more. Well little did I know that the whole team had heard this amazing story about Muenster , Tx.

Steve’s hometown where we were staying, Muenster, is a 99% German, Catholic town (I felt right at home). The founders of this town decided that the town needed to built on the fundamentals of God and faith. So, they built the church as the town center and then built the town around the church. Well shortly after this was built, a tornado knocked the church down. Then they quickly rebuilt the church and again for the second time the tornado was knocked right down. And for the third time while they wanted to rebuild another church, the town decided to have a devotion to St.Joseph the Carpenter to help with the safety and secureness of the church. They all prayed to St.Joseph while the church was being built and since that day it was rebuilt for the third time, not one tornado has entered into the city of Muenster. It’s crazy, like the tornadoes come through the surrounding towns but never dare to enter Muenster. So, Steve , Momma Nasche, Mel and all the team had heard about this story except for me. So that was why everyone was so confident that the Lord will provide and St.Joseph will protect our town and us. What amazing faith of the people in this town and in my team. Actually, it’s kind of cool, every year since the church was rebuilt, they have a whole day where they shut the town down and have a big celebration for St.Joseph’s feast day in honor of his protection. That is just one of the many stories of faith and trust that I’ve heard this week.
               

In my blog I will write my “high and low”/ “pit and peak”/ “valley and mountain” for the week.  So, my pit or low for the week would be that I am pooped. I am so exhausted, as we are running on about 4 hours of sleep a night. But- this just makes us truly rely on Him for strength. My peak or high for the week would be that as a team we were able to find housing, food, and work sites/organizations to work with in Oklahoma where the tornados hit. This was very difficult…we actually called over 45 churches and schools and were able to have two “yes’s” to come and stay with them! What a blessing! It was clear it was meant to be.

Please keep my team and I in your prayers as we travel to Moore, OK tomorrow morning. We will be there from tomorrow until June 14^th. Here are the names of the missionaries:
Kayla
Mel
Chris
Toni
Sandy
Claire
Mike
Brigid
Sarah
Kathryn
Kevin
Lauren
Steve

I hope this message reaches you well and that your heart and life is peaceful in this crazy season of life! I’ll keep you posted and will keep you close to my heart.

In His love,
K xoxox