greetings from guatemala

Hi everyone!!

I’m super excited to tell you that I’m back on the mission field!! (Well, technically our whole life is a mission field, but you know what I mean). For those of you who don’t know yet, I’ve been accepted to go long-term overseas with Adventures in Missions, and spending 2 months here in Guatemala is step one of that journey. 

You might be thinking a mixture of two things: “wait whaaat??” or “ah, it was just a matter of time….”  don’t worry, I feel that way too.

 

Quick backtrack…how did I get here?

At the beginning of 2020, I was happily living in Lynchburg, VA. Lynchburg had become a home of sorts, more of a home than I had felt in a long time… However, despite my love for Lynchburg and the amazing community I had built there over the years, I knew that I wouldn’t be there forever; I knew that my long-term calling was to do missions overseas. So, I wasn’t all that surprised when I began to feel that restless stirring in my heart to “go” in early March. I didn’t know exactly where or when I would be going, but I started to prepare my heart to leave that beloved city. And I started praying.

And oddly enough, around the time that I felt that stirring, two of my closest friends (Jack and Grace Twitty) called me and told me about a similar stirring that they were feeling in their hearts. (Love how God does that.) They told me that they hoped to start taking steps towards long-term missions within the year. This “God-incidence,” as one of my friends likes to call it, was one of many to come. So I continued to pray and began to dream even more.

On Easter 2020, while praying about what was next, I specifically heard the Lord say a few things: “Adventures in Missions”, “Jack and Grace”, and “go home and be with your family–then I will show you what’s next.” 

So, that’s indeed what happened. 2 months later, I found myself packing up my things in Lynchburg and moving back to my hometown in Chicago to spend time with my family. During those weeks at home, I continued to feel strongly that my next season would involve doing life with Jack and Grace, and I had an inkling that it would also involve Adventures in Missions (AIM). Dreams were beginning to take root!

Despite how fun this all sounds, during this time there was also a growing wave of apathy and sadness in my heart that came seemingly out of nowhere. I was trying desperately to hold onto the Lord and His Word, but I would rarely feel anything on the inside, even when He spoke so clearly. And I was growing bitter with doubts and questioning. 

All of this came just in time for a 3-month backpacking trip out west that I had previously planned. I’m not sure about you, but I find that my best times of thinking and revelation come when I’m on the go, seeing new sights, and getting out of the same mundane routine. So I launched on this trip in August 2020 with mixed emotions, yet a determination in my spirit to press on. I can’t say that those 3 months were a glorious walk in the park, but they were extremely transformative, and I got to see some truly beautiful sights. I wound up working through a lot of those built up doubts in my heart with God and learned how to re-surrender my plans to Him. (Thanks, COVID, for allowing me to work remotely during this time!) 

While out west, one of the biggest things I heard God speaking to me was: move with Jack and Grace to Gainesville in November. For reference, Gainesville, GA is where Adventures in Missions (parent-company of The World Race) is located. As much as I wanted to take steps to go overseas, I think a part of me was scared to actually commit. Yet, the more I prayed about this specific step, the more I heard the same answer, loud and clear: move with Jack and Grace to Gainesville in November. 

So, even though it made no logistical sense to move to Gainesville at that time, I chose to trust God and go. And in that decision, I was also officially accepted to go overseas long-term with Adventures in Missions (AIM). In moving to Gainesville, God gave us our next step–go to Guatemala in January. If I wouldn’t have gone to Gainesville in November, I more than likely would not be sitting here in Guatemala right now…so crazy how trusting the Lord in little ways can lead to so much! 

 

Our long-term plans with AIM: 

We have no idea where exactly we’re going long-term yet, but all three of us have hearts to go to places where the name of Jesus is not often spoken, which would likely be somewhere in the Middle East. We hope to start an AIM base in the Middle East, where we can serve the local community, build relationships with locals, and be a safe place to host short-term missionaries. I love Adventures in Missions because they don’t give a cookie-cutter way of doing ministry; rather, they give us freedom to use our gifts and create our own ministry that fits within the context of the country. Our ministry could look like opening a cafe, starting an English club, orphan care, creating sustainable water systems, or something completely different! We get to choose!

 

So why Guatemala? 

Good question. If we want to start our own base, we should probably have some idea on how to run one… The Adventures Guatemala base is the largest AIM base, with 13 full-time AIM staff and a few interns. So we’re here for a two month internship, working at the AIM base alongside the long-term staff, and we’re really excited to learn the ins and outs of what leading an AIM base looks like! From my understanding, being base staff can look like a variety of things such as behind-the-scenes admin work, front-line ministry work (going to villages, serving in the local community, etc), and hosting the short-term missionaries that come through (i.e. Gap Year and World Race squads). 

ALSO, starting in a few days, The Adventures Guatemala base is starting a school to raise up local Guatemalans to go to the Middle East. Which means, there is a possibility that our future Middle East base and the Guatemala base could have a sweet partnership. Another “God-incidence,” I daresay??

 

Prayer Requests:

If you’re still tracking with me, here are some ways you can be praying for my team (me, Jack, and Grace) while we’re here in Guatemala:

1. Clarity on where God is calling us to go long-term. Once we have this, we will be able to really start planning (i.e. ministry, learning the language, etc) 

2. Teammate #4! (And #5 and 6??) We really believe God is calling others to come with us, it’s just a matter of time. So please be praying for teammate #4 and that God would be putting a “yes” on his/her heart! 

3. That new passions and desires would arise in all of our hearts while here. Let us see the Lord in new ways! 

 

All in all, I’m SO EXCITED about what God has done and what He’s doing! I plan to post regular updates on here while in Guatemala and in the months to come, similar to when I was on the World Race. Thank you for following my journey and please, reach out if you want to talk more! I would love to chat 🙂 

Much love, 

Mikayla

 

Me, Grace, and Jack wandering about the beautiful streets of Antigua 

 

 

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