Flores & Faith

Today is my anniversary of serving six years on the mission field. As an organization, we mark and celebrate missionary’s “hire” date. But for me, this day deserves to be marked, too.  January 24th, 2017 is the day I got on the plane in Indianapolis, IN and moved to Santiago in the Dominican Republic. Six years. Next to some of our faithful missionaries who have served 10 or 20 + years, six years might look and feel quite small. But it is not small. So much has happened, so many lessons have been learned, and so much growth has occurred. Thanks be to God! As I reflect over these years on the mission field, I selected six texts from Scripture and have attempted to summarize a lesson or a story for each that are tied to these past six years serving God and His people in Latin America.  There is definitely not a blog post - not even a well-organized one - that can sum up these past six years, but here is an attempt. It serves as more of a reflection as opposed to a year-by-year summary.  

This post is part of our Flores & Faith devotional series, a gathering of original devotional material.  Each devotion will be published in both english & spanish.  | Esta publicación es parte de nuestra serie devocional en Flores & Fe, una recopilación de material devocional original. Cada devoción estará disponible en inglés y español. Lift Your Eyes Psalm 121:1-2 I lift my eyes to the hills, from where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. Too often it is easy for me to relate to the psalmist in Psalm 42 and ask myself, "Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?" (42:5). Too often my eyes are cast down and I focus inward on my own problems, big or small. Have you ever felt that way? In Psalm 121, we can join with the psalmist and be reminded to lift our eyes up - from our troubles, ilnesses, guilts, grief . . . In lifting our eyes to the hills we are reminded that our " help comes from t

I’m coming up on my six year anniversary of deploying to the mission field (January 24th). Looking back on six years can be overwhelming. A simple reflection leads to reminders of all of the things that God has done, all of the ways I have grown, all of the battles, all of the hard seasons, & all of the joys and blessings! To think back to this time six years ago, I was in a season of waiting. Waiting for paperwork to process. Waiting for the missions’ “greenlight” that my support network was strong enough to deploy. Waiting. The irony is not lost on me that six years later, Rafa and I find ourselves in much of the same place. Waiting. So much has changed, but a lot stays the same. We find ourselves in another season of waiting. Waiting for paperwork to process. Waiting for the national church of Chile to say it is time to come. Waiting to start the next chapter of our life together. In a lot of ways, it feels that we have been waiting for this move to Chile since we started dating

    This post is part of our Flores & Faith devotional series, a gathering of original devotional material. Each devotion will be published in both english & spanish.  |  Esta publicación es parte de nuestra serie devocional en Flores & Fe, una recopilación de material devocional original. Cada devoción estará disponible en inglés y español. Who Ya Gonna Call?  written by: Jamielynn Tinkey Flores Psalm 116:  I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live. The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me;     I suffered distress and anguish. Then I called on the name of the Lord: “O Lord, I pray, deliver my soul!” Gracious is the Lord, and righteous, our God is merciful.   The Lord preserves the simple; when I was brought low, he saved me. Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. For you have delivered my soul fr