Posted in General Posts by Nicole Martinez on 7/4/2011
This is not a reflection of my coffee preference.
Coffee. Coffee. Coffee.
Sleep deprived and spiritually drained the Lord is teaching me who I am in Him, and how being off my guard makes it easy for my flesh to show itself. At camp this past week we had what we call a clopening, basically we close a week of camp and clean the camp then in the same day we open the next camp. It was tough to say the least. I believe I only slept 9 hours total over a 4 day span. It is through the times when we are being stretched that we learn the most about how our flesh is weak, and I was stretched a lot over this past week. Thus, I have had a lot of places in my life that could use a little work revealed to me lately. God has continued to confirm this upcoming ministry experience with me almost on a daily basis. It is so awesome that He is, because I need that support and confirmation. He is beginning to show me places in my life that could cause issues when I am on the race, and living life with the same people every single day. This is every good day, every tough day, every completely horrible day that I might have during the eleven months I will be on the mission field. It is awesome that even now I can see how God is preparing me and my heart for this adventure he is giving me. He is so good to us!
Prayer requests: Continued strength, in sharing the gospel with the students in my Bible study. For my rest that I receive to be multiplied.
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Posted in General Posts by Nicole Martinez on 6/17/2011
This past week at camp, I was assigned to the kitchen. That means waking up at 5:30 and not getting to sleep until around 11 or 12. Long days. I now have a better understanding of what it was like for Jesus and especially the disciples, seeing the multitude of people, hungry people, waiting for their food and not having enough. I got to witness that on a very small scale this week. Kitchen is stressful to say the least.
We would prepare in the morning for breakfast. Serve. Clean the dining hall after. Prepare for lunch. Serve. Clean. Prepare for dinner. Serve dinner. Clean. Prepare for the next morning's meals.
That was my week played on repeat for 6 days. But I got to build some awesome community with the other staffers on kitchen staff this week. God is teaching me a lot about how to manage little sleep and still be an example of Christ. My prayer to myself this week was Philippians 2:14. Which is saying to do EVERYTHING with out arguing or complaining, my nature wants to complain. It seems to be easier that way, but in reality it is not. We are called to be servants, God is showing me this over and over here at camp.
Prayer requests:
My focus here at camp will remain and the students in my small groups through out the summer, will have their hearts softened towards the gospel.
People will begin to pray and think about supporting my mission to further the kingdom of Christ. I am starting to send out letters and plan meetings with people who want to meet.
*If you feel lead to support me financially you can do so by clicking on the link on the left of the page, and any support will be greatly appreciated and important to furthering the kingdom.
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Posted in General Posts by Nicole Martinez on 6/11/2011
Growing up I did not see myself having a calling to do missions of any sort. While I was supportive of friends who said their goal in life was to become a missionary when they became adults. Then after my senior year of high school I went on a trip to Zacatacas, MX. It was there that God began to break down my misconceptions for missions, and started to show me how much love people, who do not live in the US, have to give away. This amount of love was infectious.
I decided on a whim to go to Ecuador over spring break with a ministry on campus. I joined the team at the beginning of the fall semester, and then a girl who went on one of the first WR squads came to our ministry to talk about her experience. It was then that God started giving my breaking heart direction and a path where he wanted me. It was a long process from first hearing about the World Race to actually filling out the application, and then getting accepted, but that is the short story of how God started shaping my heart to have a burning desire to live out the Acts 1:8 command. I really feel like God has big plans when it comes to spreading his Kingdom, and I am super excited to see how he is going to use me to help in some very small way. The rest of the blog posts will begin to further explain how the Lord is planning on using me to spread his gospel to the world...
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Posted in General Posts by Nicole Martinez on 6/11/2011
I found out last tuesday that the course of my next 18 months of my life are going to be epic. January 2012 will be the date I leave for the World Race, and if you are reading this I am sure you already have an idea of what that looks like. For those of you who don't know what the Race looks like, it is 11 months of traveling to 11 different countries and doing so to further the Kingdom.
I am a Junior in college going into Health and Physical education, where I will receive a teaching certificate. I have four semesters left of school then I will graduate with my bachelors degree.
I am currently working a camp for the summer. It is an awesome experience because I get to teach students all about the Gospel. At this camp we were encouraged to learn six points they think represent the gospel so that we will have those tools when we are sharing with the students. This new discipline is awesome, I now have a formulated way to share the gospel, one that can be called on whenever it is needed. This will be awesome to have when on the Race, so I know the gospel inside and out and can recall it in any situation.
If you would like to pray for me in this, I could use the prayer for the people who feel called to support me financially and also those who want to support me in prayer on this journey. Here at camp we get very minimal free time, and with that being said it does not give me much of an opportunity to send out, or talk to people about support. Because of this lack of free time I need to have faith God has this trip financially and as a whole in his hands. Also, prayer for the girls who are in my Bible study every week, that the Holy Spirit will work in their hearts and begin to break hearts and change them for the Kingdom and God's Glory.
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