hooray, it's a beautiful day in LA

(title credit: Blindside)

note: the following may seem a lot like rambling. however, this post means a lot to me anyway.

So this week I went on a mission trip to so cal as a sponsor for New Hope's youth group. I won't give you in depth details of the whole trip, but rather a highlight for me (BUT if you would like to hear about the trip, let me know and I'd be more than happy to share with you =]). So when we were in so cal we worked with the Dream Center who focuses on reaching out to the homeless in the LA area. The whole trip was incredible, but more than anything I LOVED working with the Hispanic communities. My heart's passion is Hispanic ministry. Every time I do it, God reminds me that He is not only the God of middle-class white girls from OK (uh, me? haha) but rather that He is EVERYONE'S God. I also love that despite the fact that my life is nowhere close to the type of life that these people live, we have the commonality of God, which brings us together. The day that we worked with the children I made a new friend named Carlos (about 5 years old). We began to play ball and I spoke with him in Spanish. We went over to hear one of the leaders give a short message (only after I promised him that he would receive a free hot dog after it was over). The woman was speaking in English so I translated her message to Spanish for him. It came to the time when the woman gave an invitation to accept Christ. I told Carlos what she had said and he looked at me with a smile and simply said that he knew Jesus. My heart nearly melted. This wonderful child, with so little, displayed such great happiness and delight in the Lord. The next day we gave out food to the homeless in two other Hispanic communities. The first stop we made I spoke with some elderly Mexican women. As I spoke with them I said "God bless you" (in Spanish, of course). The women's faces lit up and said that I'm a beautiful, wonderful young woman and they pray that God pours blessings into my life. And quite honestly, the fact that it was said to me in Spanish meant more to me than it would have if it were in English. It's just amazing to me that these women who barely know me blessed me in that way. After that we went to the next community to pass out food. After everyone had received food we all joined hands and prayed. All at once everyone began praying aloud in Spanish. I nearly cried-it was honestly one of the most beautiful things I'd ever heard. And the amazing thing is this-while everyone was crying out to God because of hunger, homelessness, deaths, and other tragedies, they NEVER ceased to praise Him. I loved the spirit of Job that all of these wonderful people had. In everything, good and bad, they praise the Father. This trip was such an amazing experience and I loved serving God's people. I love the way that God chooses to use me for His glory, even though He really doesn't need me. I'm so grateful that I have a God who loves all of His people =]