Panama for Holy Week

Our mission trip to Panama was AWESOME. For several reasons.

But I feel like it would be redundant for me to write about it here .... given that I've written about it all over Facebook, Alonso has written two blog posts about it, and I've created a newsletter all about it.

So instead of me just blabbing on and on about things you may or may not already know, I'll just direct you to the places where you can know more! How's that?

1. Alonso is a great writer and the fact that he's expressing himself through his second language says a lot. He is so wise and I love the way God speaks to him. With that said, you should really subscribe to his blog. He's got a lot of good things to say and he ain't afraid to say them. You can click here to go to his blog and check out the goodness over there.

2. I try to write a newsletter when big-ish things happen to keep everyone informed. You should subscribe to it so you won't be left out of the ballgame. Don't worry, I'm not overly ambitious when it comes to creating newsletters so you don't have to be concerned about me flooding your inbox with SPAM. You MIGHT get one once a month ... and that's "on a good day." You can click here to subscribe or click here to view the latest newsletter about Panama.

3. PHOTOS! Everyone loves a good photo albumin detailing the events of life, right? So you can click here to view my Facebook photo album of all of our Panama pictures! Enjoy!

Until then, I'll give you a sneak peak! 

See ya on the other side, 

Ashli 

Provision : Not the Prosperity Gospel - Part 3

April 3rd ... I started thanking Jesus for the small ways He's helped us lately.

Thank you Jesus for sending Mrs. Lena by my apartment this morning who gave me a free ride to school.

Thank you for the microwave.

Thank you Jesus for having Jonny ask if I needed a ride after school. Another free ride.

Thank you Jesus for the $88 flight refund. And so on...

{Several days ago I made a silly post about not having a microwave and it being #firstworldproblems and how #idontliveinafirstworld. It was online for no longer than 5 minutes when I got a message from an old college professor of mine wanting to buy me a microwave. "Before you agree to this you should know that the cheapest one I've been able to find here is $50 and that's for a used one," I told him. He said he has too many luxuries not to buy me a microwave and that he was sending me $200. "Buy yourself a new one. Not used, new. And use the rest for popcorn."}

{When I flew home in January for Poppy's funeral, my flight from Houston to MS was canceled for days and a friend of the family had to drive me half way to Ellisville to meet my sister who came to get me. Soon after, I applied for a refund for that leg of the trip that I missed. It took them a hot minute but I got that refund on April 3rd. Why did it take so long? Who knows ... but the timing of the Sovereign One is pretty impressive.}

• Also on that day, I received a message from a family in Natchez wanting to financially support our mission trip. 
• A couple days later I received a message from a lady. She's the aunt of one of my World Race squad mates and said she loved following my blogs during the race. She wanted to support us and sent a check the next day. 
• After a conversation with her, she informed me that she was sending another check (apart from the mission trip donation) to help with our needs here in CR. 
• A friend of my parents who followed my race wrote me saying that when I was on the race she could not support me financially but now she has a little extra and she wants to help so she sent us a check. 
• The next day, a very sweet lady from my church back home sent me message asking how to send me a donation for our mission trip. 
• On April 7, I got an email from my Internet company saying I would receive a 25% discount on this month's bill due to an outage last month. It saved me $20. 
• That same day, I got a message from an old friend who I have not talked to in years. He and his wife wanted to donate to our mission trip but I told him we actually had JUST met our financial goal and thanked him for wanting to help. He then told me that they wanted to help anyway and asked how they could donate.
• Alonso used to work in sales for his dad's company. A commission from one of his sales came in late and his dad gave it to him yesterday. The sale was MONTHS ago but we are just not getting it because ... God's time is brilliant. 

Now remember that I'm not sold on the idea that IF, I do (__fill in the blank__)  THEN, God will provide. So I'm not trying to tell you that my thanking Jesus made anything happen. I am, however, saying that something happens in your spirit when we make the choice to praise Him for the small, daily things that are easily overlooked.

I think we get it backwards sometimes. It's not that we have much faith, therefore God provides. It's quite the opposite.

God provides, therefore we have much faith. 

Every time He blows my mind, my faith grows more and more. He is the author of my faith. He is the perfecter of my faith. I need not be concerned with what I can do or give to make myself worthy of His provision. I need simply to just be.

Be with Him.

Be his daughter.

Be with all His is, and share that with the rest of the world.

To read this blog series from the beginning, click here. 

Provision : Not the Prosperity Gospel - Part 2

Ya know how we ask God for these things and sometimes in the back (or front) of our minds we're like, "Oh shoot I hope this prayer works!" Maybe it's just me. And maybe you think it's a lack of faith. Maybe you would feel better about my blogs if I said things like, "I'm believing God for big provision." Because that would make it sound like my faith is really strong and I would never, ever doubt that He's going to give me what I want.

Well, I'm here to write the truth and the truth is that sometimes I pray things to God and hope in my heart that He's actually going to do it.

So with worry on my mind and prayers in my heart, I began to tell the world about a mission trip to Panama that Alonso and I would go on this month.

What am I doing? I don't even have enough to live here ... much less travel to another country for a week to do mission work there.

But some little whisper in my heart told me to try anyway. To go for it ....



I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. It had been so long since I had fundraised. For the World Race I had lots of supporters and many of them were committed to monthly donations so I didn't have to 'beg for money' very often. But now with an upcoming mission trip I would need to, not only support-raise for myself, but for Alonso too.

{Just so you know, their culture is very different in that they do not do a great job of sending out missionaries. They don't send support letters and watch as the checks pile in. They don't mention their calling to someone at church and have church members beg to support their work. It's very different. So any and all of support comes from the States, with the exception of the pastries I sold at school.}

The more I thought and prayed about it all, the more I hoped the funds would come in so we wouldn't have to cancel our trip. I'll be honest and say there was this part of me that truly wondered what would happen with all of this. So on April 1 I posted a blog about our trip and the ministry we will be serving with .... hoping .... waiting .... wishing .... praying that donations would roll in easily.

April 1st ... nothing.

April 2nd ... nothing.



To read part 3 of this blog series, click here. 

Provision : Not the Prosperity Gospel - Part 1

Let me preface this post by saying that I do not support this "prosperity gospel" I so often hear preached by Christians who, I really do hope, mean well. We can go circles around the theology of it all OR we can just settle in on this: I've been to too many countries and seen too many people living with nothing - yet having more faith than many of the people I know preaching this idea. They have zero material things that we would term "blessings" yet they praise God with a fierceness. So if, according to this doctrine, strong faith = financial blessings, these people aren't getting it right. Something inside of me just won't let me believe that my love relationship with Jesus is conditional. If, I pray/have faith/give to a certain religious institution/etc. then, God will bless me financially. I just can't quite buy into that.

With that said, let me continue this post with you knowing where I stand on the sovereignty of God and the belief that He will have His way, regardless.
________________________________________________________________________

Let's begin.

It's been kind of tight around here lately. And by kinda tight, I mean extremely tight.

My two roommates just moved out and I've acquired about $250 extra each month covering their part of the rent and bills.

Alonso is not working right now because we need him to finish school before we move to the States to get married. On top of that, he's devoting much of his time to ministry.

I don't have a paid position at the school in which I teach so it's just me, Jesus and those of  you who support me financially. (Thank you so much, by the way. You're amazing.)

My stressful thoughts about money were affecting the rest of my life, the most concerning part being my relationship with Alonso. One night we were walking home and I told him, "When I was in college I learned in a class that the number one reason for divorce in America is financial stress. I don't doubt it one bit. I can totally see how that happens to people." You're probably thinking, "Geez what a great way to start a fresh engagement, Ashli!" But just hang with me, it gets better.

Worried about groceries and and budgets and finding ways to cut costs, I kept telling God this one line. All throughout the day or night, any time I thought about it I just said it. Sometimes in my head and other times out loud.

"God, please provide. Please give us what we need."

In the shower I would beg Him to take care of us. Walking to the bus stop I would remind Him how bad we needed Him to come through. Sitting in my classroom waiting for my students to arrive I would be all, "So God? I need You to figure out a way to help us."


To read the second part to this blog series, click here. 

#JohnnyRocketsCR

Today Honey Buns and I had to go to San Jose to get some documents needed to for our visa junk. It's quite the trek to get where we needed to go so if we must make the trip, and we do, then we might as well make it worth it. 

Enter: Plaza Lincoln. 

The mall nearest to me with things like Forever 21, Express, .... CHILI'S. 

Chili's. Need I say more? 

But since we are suuuuuper tight on funds right now, I sacrificed my craving of chips and salsa and compromised with Alonso to grab a bite at Johnny Rockets. We have these in the States so maybe some of you are familiar. It was SO. MUCH. FUN. and just what I needed after having quite the day at school. It reminded me of my high school best friend having a birthday party at Xan's Diner. It was the best hula-hoop contest ever. 

I really wish my parents and sister could be down here because they would love this place. 

We danced and sang and ate yummy burgers.

They play all the best 50s songs on their jukebox and every 15 minutes everyone who works there does a little dance out front so the shoppers can see. 

Every time they played a new song I couldn't help but do a little jig myself. One time, Alonso caught me on camera. But I didn't mind, everyone needs to let lose every now and again. 

Hooray for an afternoon well spent. 

What did you do today? Have you been to a Johnny Rockets or something similar? 

Ashlonso's Going to Panama!!

Tonight we received some really awesome news and confirmations that I couldn't wait one more little second to share with you. Here's the thing: From April 13 to April 20 in Central and South America its Semana Santa - probably better known to you as Holy Week. Because Catholicism is the predominant religion down here, the whole latin world shuts down and everyone flocks to the beach by the herds. This year, there just so happens to be another holiday on the Friday before Holy Week, giving me 11 days off from school. 

Can I get a HALLELUJER? 

So what will I do with all my glorious free time, you ask? I've contemplated several options but my favorite idea was to lay in my bed for a week straight watching movies and eating cake icing and brownie mix. Because I care so much at least a little about my figure, and the fact that I might get bed sores, I've decided to go another route. 

And by another route I mean bus route. 

That's right, people. #Ashlonso is going to San Felix, PANAMA!! 

We are more than excited to partner with this really cool ministry there called ICJesus. They are near the Costa Rica/Panama boarder and they work with .... well, like many missionaries ... they do a number of things. But one thing we're SUPER STOKED about is that they work in local villages with deaf children and Panamanian Sign. 

Ooooo weeee!! I can't wait to get my hands back on some Pana-babies!! 

Another thing Danny and Heather (the missionary contacts) do is work in conjunction with a Pastor and Missionary named Alex in supporting 12 local indigenous churches. They equip them with the Word of God and material resources in order for the local pastors to better minister to their people and reach unreached people.  
 

We've been asking God to show us what to do with this week and how to spend it serving Him better. Yay for heavenly answers, amen? I cannot tell you how excited we are about this mission trip. 

Another really cool thing about this opportunity: Last month Alonso and I got really close to the Passport team who was serving at our school. The girls helped Alonso propose to me, remember? Yeah ... those girls. Well, we get to see and spend time with them while we're in Panama! How great is this? 

Now I know you're just dying to know how you can help us get there ... weren't you? ;) So I'll tell you. 

1. We need all sorts of prayer. 

(A) Boarder crossing is never fun, easy, or safe. So we need protection for    traveling from here to there. 

(B) We are trusting that the Lord has gone before us and prepared hearts and minds to receive our message. 

( C ) Prayers of provision. This mission trip will, obviously, take money. So we're believing God to provide exactly what we need to make this happen. 

(D) Prayers for the Holy Spirit to lead us in every conversation and interaction - that HE would be glorified above us. 

2. You can help us financially.

We've estimated this trip to cost us a total of about $480. We're rounding high because we want to be able to bless the heck out of some people while we're there so we're believing God for His provision. 

So this is how it breaks down:

Transportation costs: $180

Lodging costs: $100 

Food costs: $100 

Misc. costs (boarder taxes, offering to the churches we're serving, etc): $100 

If you feel like you want to help us out (in ANY way) please send me an email at ashliblackwell@gmail.com or feel free to Facebook message me. 

Can't wait to blog about our time there and show off some pictures of ultra-cute- kiddos! 

Catch ya on the other side, 

Ashli