From Europe to Asia.

I graduate here in four days, and in nine days I will once again be stepping onto a plane headed to the nations to love on people in the poorest places in the world. I have mixed emotions as I try to process all this change that is quickly happening- leaving my tribe here in Spain and stepping into the unknown once again with Jesus. Even amidst all this change I still have my peace and my savior who I can press into in the unknown and trust as my constant.

This trip over the next two months is one that I know is going to be life changing, there is so much depth to God's heart that I want to discover and see His love for new faces and old faces that I love in India. There is so much on the horizon waiting for my roommate Andrea and I and we are ready to meet God in the toughest places and the most hopeless looking places in the world and bring the light and life that we hold.

Here are the where and what's of the trip:

First stop: Phnom Penh, Cambodia

We will be staying in Phnom Penh for a couple of days when we first arrive to apply for Indian Visas and to visit Agape International Missions to see where I will be moving in August. I will get the opportunity to meet the staff I will be working with, see the school I will be working in, and start to build some relationships.

Next Stop: Kampong Speu, Cambodia

The Lord made it very clear that we are supposed to be working with YWAM and in this village. We will be teaching english, leading bible studies and loving on the people in this small village on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. We will be taking bucket showers, catching lice, bringing the presence of God and loving every minute of it.

Next Stop: Andhra Pradesh, India

We will be working with Sarah's Covenant Homes in two locations: Hyderabad and a disclosed town 6 hours from Hyderabad. Both Andrea and I have already worked here and fallen in love with some of the kids there and we cannot wait to see them again! Sarah's covenant homes works with children with special needs that have been abandoned often times for death. I will also begin the process of asking God what squatter camp He wants be to build a school and safe house for trafficking victims at. The disclosed town is where I first encountered trafficking and a squatter camp and where God created the wound in me to show me that I need to do something about it.

Final Stop: Calcutta, India

Andrea and I are teaming with two of our roommates here in Spain (Brant and Josh) to work at the Mother Theresa home in Calcutta. Our heart in this is to not only love on the kids in the orphanage and adults in the house of the dying but to be the life and light of who God really is to those also working with us there. This organization although built on a foundation of Christ, has a variety of volunteers from all over the world that have come to find themselves or something more in life- and we want to be the light pointing them to Christ. I will also visit some more squatter camps and listen to where God is leading, still asking Him what squatter camp He wants me working with long term.

I cannot wait to see where and what God leads us to in these places. This vision trip is vital to what God is leading me into next working for Agape International Missions and for pioneering my own school and safe house in India. The total of this trip is $3000 and I am in need of partners both prayerfully and financially. If you would like to give there is a paypal link in the partner with me tab above, and if you would like to be on my prayer team you can send me an email at hendeesl01@yahoo.com  

I am so grateful for all The Lord is doing in my life and all the people who are a part of this adventure with me.

Wrapped in His Promises

The sights and smells of India are unforgettable.

Burning trash, incense, and exhaust everywhere. Add a downpour of rain to this mix and you've got a smelly wet beautiful mess.

That is exactly where I was seven months ago- standing in an Indian market surrounded by colorful jewelry, trinkets, cloth, and so much more.  I bartered back and forth for a colorful blanket filled with elephants and left the market that day unaware of the significance it had and what God wanted to speak to me about. As we lifted off of Indian ground, my heart knew I would be back and God had spoken that I would be back too.

Fast forward to France this past New Years. I felt a wound begin to reopen that I hadn't realized I had gotten when I was in india. Every day on the train into Paris we would pass a squatter camp of Romanian gypsies living under tarps in poverty and every time we did my heart wrenched. Casually on one of our rides in, our French friend told us they were uneducated and trafficked. My heart instantly thought back to India, where we lived next to a squatter camp where I knew the kids were being trafficked. I had no power to do anything about it while I was  there and it created a wound in me that felt like it was re-ripped open in France. It was in that moment in France where I felt exposed and bleeding that I realized that God was speaking for me to do something about it.

The past month and a half have been a time of me trying to wrap my mind around how all this will be put together and where God really wants me. The days that I am overwhelmed God gives me reminders that I am wrapped in His promises and it's okay that my mind can't wrap around them. I've slept wrapped in my blanket from India ever since I left that land and it wasn't until this week that I realize what words are on the blanket and the further reassurance of His promises to me.

In French, the words read: l'homme propose dieu dispose

"Man plans, God has."

I could have planned a nice life for myself. A nice teaching job, dream home, 2.5 children but The Lord had other plans for me. Plans for me to teach the uneducated and love on the trafficked in places where they are considered less than human. He has called India my promise land- filled with milk and honey or burning trash and beautiful people.

I share my somewhat scattered heart to let you in on this journey with me.

In one month I graduate from G42 and will go to India and Cambodia with one of my amazing roommates. I am going to India to ask The Lord where exactly he wants me to start my own ministry there.

I'm also going to Cambodia to see where I will be living when I move there later this summer. In Cambodia I will be working for Agape International Missions, teaching children who are currently being trafficked. This is just the start of something bigger for me in India and will be a place for me to learn, grow, and serve under a thriving anti-trafficking ministry.

I am still prayerfully and financially in need. If you want to partner in what God is doing here at G42 in Spain, Cambodia, or India you can hit the partner with me button above. I can't do any of this without you and I am blessed to have such amazing supporters of Gods kingdom work through me.

Stay At The Table.

Picture something with me for a moment. Picture a table set for two- candles are lit, flowers in a vase, plates are out, forks, knives, and napkins all folded and placed perfectly in their spots. Being Valentines Day, it’s not hard to picture this scene- its romantic, welcoming and frankly exactly where most people want to be on a day like today. A man can make this all happen- set everything up but it is still the choice of the woman if she wants to show up and partake in what was done for her.

When Jesus walked the earth, He spent a lot of time around tables- making them and sitting at them with his disciples and lots of others. He knew what it meant to make covenants and to do life with others. A couple of months ago I said yes to not only sitting down at the table with God which I have done for quite a few years now- but I made covenant not to leave the table. Something that seems so simple isn’t something that I’ve taken lightly- covenant means forever. Staying at the table means that no matter what, I choose to walk through the plans He has for me- to not look back but to tabernacle with God (or commit to His presence) through it all. That means listening to the voice of God in every step of everything I do. That means intimacy with Jesus everyday, and that means one crazy adventure with my heavenly Father.

Lately God has been beginning to bring out the food to the table, and it hasn’t been scraps or crumbs. It’s been real food. It’s been big promises He’s spoken over me, new gifts, and greater depths of His love and the Holy Spirit and to be honest it has scared me a little. It scares be because its foreign territory to me- I’ve never been romanced like this before or had someone so willing to just sit and be with me, the real me- flaws and all, and at the same time feed me the best of what He has for me. The beauty in all this is that He has been so patient with my heart and just sits with me and talks through it with me. My heart is beginning to love this constant feeling of butterflies in my stomach, head spinning, and heart pumping in my chest as I listen to His voice and grow deeper in love with the one who created me.

“What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” Luke 11:11-13

**Stay tuned here for some exciting news coming soon about more of what God is doing next. 

I Want To Be A Millionaire

I want to be a millionaire. 

This statement looks pretty lofty for a missionary and honestly I never thought it would be something that was going to come out of my mouth. My hearts desire is to be a millionaire but not in the form you are probably thinking. As my teacher here told us a story of a man who wanted to reach a million people for Christ in his lifetime, I found my heart aching to reach out to a million being trafficked.

The numbers in human trafficking are astounding if you sit down and read them- 27 million people are in the bondage of slavery and that number is only growing daily.

Looking at the multitude of the problem I find myself saying, I do want to be a millionaire- saving a million children from the yoke of sex slavery in my lifetime.

Crazy you say? It is a pretty bold statement that honestly looks unattainable. I’ve learned in my time here that if I want to make a dent in this worldwide problem I’m going to have to fight for things that look unreachable. I’m going to have to look past the numbers, past those saying not to bother fighting a “losing battle” and see the hope that I bring to the table for these children. Jeremiah experienced something similar to this when God first called and spoke to him.

“And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” And I said, “I see an almond branch.” Then the LORD said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it.” Jeremiah 1:11-12

An almond branch is something very unique- it blooms beautiful flowers in the middle of winter. In the middle of a time where there should be no fruition at all, no blooming of anything, it stands as a sign for the hope and new life that is to come. Jeremiah looked past what his physical eyes could see and the problem in front of him to see what was coming- and that was hope and life through him. The Lord knew Jeremiah’s heart and in that trusted what He said so much that God spoke that He would make it come to pass. What a crazy amount of trust for a young man, with little confidence being called to something that was going to affect nations.

The same rings true in my own life. I know that God trusts me, and that He trusts my heart with this large of a calling. So I choose to speak out hope and life. I see and almond branch for Cambodia and for India. I see hope for a million children that are trapped in sex slavery right now, and I know that hope starts with me. 

Where do you see an almond branch?

Shaken and Dislodged

This is a recent article that I wrote that was put in the G42 quarterly magazine summing up my last three months here in Spain. 

Shaken: to become dislodged and fall off or down

If you spend more than five minutes in a classroom at G42 you will feel some things being dislodged from you and if you stay much longer than that you will see those things start to fall to the ground. My first three months here at G42 has had a shaking effect on me. What has not been founded on the rock, Jesus Christ has been falling to the ground. Lies I’ve believed about myself, about God, and about others have come off me like dry sand off the bottom of my feet. You see, I didn’t realize that in my three years of really chasing after my King, so many things have stuck to me; so many comments spoken over me, false teachings brought to my ears, and doubts presented to me were picked up by my feet as I walked through them. Hebrews 12:27-28, says

“This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore let us be grateful in receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken..”

The Greek word for shaken that is used in this passage is saleuo and it literally means to agitate or provoke and to cause to totter. Honestly when I first felt things starting to dislodge from me it felt a lot like agitation, questioning and tottering. But in all reality God was shaking the things off of me that were never meant to be there because they didn’t come from Him. The truth is they aren’t going to glorify Him in my future work in ministry either. There comes a point in everyone’s walk with God where they are either going to choose to let those things stay and start to stink on you or let the Holy Spirit remove them and place beautiful garments on you. I’ve chosen the latter and in that He has started to build upon what has remained from the shaking. My foundation is strong now because nothing else is lodged in it that is affecting it.

“Everyone who comes to me, and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house that dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and COULD NOT SHAKE IT, because it had been well built.” Luke 6:47-48

**If you would like to be a part of what God is doing through me here and my future plans you can hit the partner with me button and read more. 

Too Light of a Calling

Teaching has always been my passion from as long as I can remember. As a young child, I used to line up my stuffed animals and play teacher as I

dreamed at what that could really be like. As I went through college and started to travel the world, I found Jesus in the most astounding places and my passion started to shift. To be just a teacher felt like to light of a call on my life and my heart ached for something more- and felt it as I read these verses…

“It is too light a thing that should be my servant,

to raise up the tribes of Jacob,

and to bring back the preserved of Israel;

I will make you as a light for the nations,

That my salvation may reach to the end

of the earth.” Isaiah 49:6

As I left for Spain 3 months ago, I thought that the ache for something more meant trading in teaching for missions- but once again God amazed me as He got rid of that poverty way of thinking. The God I serve is a God of abundance, of increasing favor and power, and a God who personally loves me enough to combine all of my passions into something that glorifies His name.

In my time here God has broken off the lie that I don’t deserve good things or that when good things in my life happen they are only temporal. That’s not in the character of my savior, and I know that He only wants to lavish great things over my life. The favor that I felt for the first time over my life in India has only increased ten-fold since being here in Spain, and I’ve started to see the blessing that is in every situation that I’m in.

God has brought the blessing of teaching back into my life and continually shown me in my time here that He wants teaching to always be a part of my life in some form. For now that means teaching English to two amazing brothers, Julio and Pablo. I have learned more in 3 months of teaching these boys, than I have my entire college career of preparing to teach. Julio has a form of autism and from day one has challenged every part of my teaching. Similar to how G42 has shaken my beliefs until only was is true remained, Julio has shaken who I am as a teacher. For the first two months of teaching him, we didn’t have one day that didn’t end in a tantrum of some sort and me reluctantly giving in so they would “at least learn some English.” But one day I was sick of the tantrums and frustration of not understanding why he was doing it, so I ignored his tantrum and decided to just continue practicing English vocabulary with Pablo. After a half hour of screams, cries, and rolling on the ground Julio snuggled up next to me and started to learn beside his brother. From that point on, the relationship between Julio and I was different because for the first time in his life he realized someone was fighting for him to really learn and grow.

Man has Julio shown me how I’m going to have to be fighting for the girls being trafficked that will be entrusted to me. I want to be a safe place to find peace and freedom amidst the chaos of hopeless circumstances surrounding them. Although daily people are fighting Julio and his way of learning- often calling him disabled and stupid- I get the honor of being a safe place to listen to how he needs to learn and purely create a place of peace for him. Creating a place where He can experiment with his learning without getting reprimanded for it and be the creative, brilliant little boy that Jesus has made him has been vital to his growth. And it’s going to be vital to those little girls’ lives as well.

I am being equipped daily for life on the missions field, and my adventures have already started here in Spain. If you want to be a part of all that God is doing in and through me- you can hit the Partner With Me tab and get further information. I am so grateful to all those out there praying for me and sacrificing time and money to see the dreams God has placed in me come to fruition.