Darkness will not win

The past couple of weeks have been hard.

The reality of this world's brokenness, of my own brokenness, weighs heavy. And they only seem to be becoming more clear as times goes on...

Last month, I met with the local pastor (Pastor Yulier!) and told him about my experience in working with high school girls in a small group setting. I asked if he knew of any needs that I could attempt to meet with my experience. His eyes lit up.

Since that conversation, I have started going with him and his family to work with some of the indigenous communities around Misahuallí. Thursday nights, I have been leading a 'small group' of sorts with the girls 12 and up in Kachihuañusca. I will start alternating Thursday nights between that group and another in Ahuatino. Next week, we are hoping to start a group Tuesday evenings for the girls in Misahuallí.

It is absolutely amazing to see the work that Pastor Yulier and his wife do in these communities, as well as my own. They have such a passion and a love for the people they serve and their Savior that they talk about. It is a privilege to work alongside them and I am eager to learn more from them.

It has been so good for me to begin working outside the school a little bit. While I really like my job and love the students I work with, it can be difficult to live and work and do most of life all within a one mile radius. I enjoy being able to get off of campus for a while each week and invest in the community I am now a part of.

However, going beyond the school makes something much clearer: there is a great need. And it is a need that I cannot satisfy. I am out of my depth and not quite sure how to go forward. I am clearly not in control and completely without power. This brings me, far more often than I'm comfortable with, to the foot of the cross, feeling helpless. So how to move forward?

Two things come to mind: a sermon and a Disney song... and not necessarily in that order...

Disney song: The Next Right Thing from Frozen 2, pretty self-explanatory,

"I won't look too far ahead / It's too much for me to take / But break it down to this next breath, this next step / This next choice is one that I can make / So I'll walk through this night / Stumbling blindly toward the light / And do the next right thing"

Sermon: One blessing I have found from the year-that-shall-not-be-named is how much more accessible things are online. Specifically, my home church and its sermons. It is wonderful to still receive the Good News from none other than Don Pearson in the comfort of my own jungle home.

We have started a sermon series on John. This particular sermon is entitled "Darkness Will Not Win," and if I'm being completely honest, just reading the name almost made me cry. What a powerful reminder.

Don started by establishing the sheer power and wisdom of God as a Creator. To have orchestrated everything around us, not to mention inside of us, to be in such a perfect state. Not only is it all functional for physical life, from microscopic ecosystems allowing us to breath and move to our place around one of billions of trillions of stars, but also he decided to make is beautiful. Not just beautiful, but absolutely and reverently stunning. He is a loving God.

This is easy to see here.

We had a couple days off last week, so I went on a couple hikes to amazing waterfalls, experiencing the exact awe Don was explaining. Only a God of infinite power and beauty could have made something like our earth.

We then moved into the reading.

"Through him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome {or understood} it." (John 1:3-5)

He is light. He is life. He illuminates. He cannot be overcome.

Darkness will not win.

Amen and amen.

Thank you for continuing with me on this journey. I value you prayers and am so grateful.

I ask for your prayers for continued energy and strength, especially as I move forward working with these three groups of precious girls.

Pray for continued encouragement, moving forward boldly with the knowledge that He is light and He will not be overcome.

Bendiciones! -Katie