There is Always a Reason

Wow! I can't believe that we have been in La Paz for 5 days already! It feels like we have been here multiple weeks. We have built relationships with the Gatto's and the other interns and also have builded upon our relationship with God in this short amount of time.

God ceases to amaze me. He is pushing me mentally, physically and spiritually on the Ranch. In the beginning of the trip, I was convinced that being on the ranch was a mistake and that God wanted me to have gone to work crew which is working at a YoungLife camp for 3ish weeks. I felt vulnreable and I didn't know why God wanted me here. I knew that He wanted me at work crew, so this was obviously a mistake and I had disobeyed God. What a horrible feeling it is to know that you have disobeyed God. But work at the ranch still needed to be done, so I brushed this off and kept focused on serving Him... until last night's devotion time. Peter was talking and he said that everyone is here for a reason and it is no mistake that we are here. God wanted me at the ranch for a reason and putting me here was not a mistake. Peter said that we are all apart of the plan for redemption and eternity. That God wants to use me, plain and ordinary Meg Schmalandt, to change eternity. How crazy is that? Crazy doesn't even put come close to how- ugh! There are now words to describe that! God wants to use ordinary people to change the world! How awesome is that! He chose us to do his work and wherever we land is not by mistake but for a reason. Wherever we go, whether it's to the coffee shop down the street or to school or to Turkey or the Baja, that it is for a reason and God wants us there to change eternity. My mind is completely baffled by that but it's so amazing. Wow.

Well sorry that there now pictures, but there will be coming soon. Thank you so much for your support and prayers. We all have been getting a lot of messages about prayer requests so here are some of them:

-Tomorrow is our first team, so that we would be able to get along with them and get a routine going with them.

-Next week when we go to Marcus de Leon, that we would be able to show them a lot of love.

-To continue growing our relationships with the Gatto's, the other interns, and all of the other people we meet. That we would be able to show God's love to everyone.

Con much amor,

Meg

It's Tomorrow!!!!!

Tomorrow, June 26, may seem like an ordinary summer day to most people. However, for me, it is the beginning of a journey that will change my life forever! As we finish packing up all of our things and work on our devotional book, Called and Accountable, our excitement begins to grow bigger and bigger. It is hard to believe after waiting for so long for tomorrow to come, it is finally here! It just amazes me that God would let such an incredible trip like this be carried out in my life. I am looking forward to glorifying God with the service that I will do in the next month. I am feeling a little nervous right now, but I know that as long as I keep trusting God, as I have been throughout this whole process, things will all work out. A verse that was in our devotional book that I found very reassuring is Romans 8:28: “We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

There are just so many reasons why I am excited to get to the ranch! I can’t wait to get to meet the interns staying there for the summer. I am excited to see the Gattos again, especially the kids! It will be really cool to see all the progress that the ranch has made since our team from church went last year. I am looking forward to working on the ranch with all the new projects. The thing I think I am most excited about is to see all the bright and smiling faces of the children at the nearby village that we will be doing a VBS. I can’t wait to see all the kids that I got to know from last year and how much they have grown as well as build relationships with the children that I didn’t meet last year.

Thank you so much for keeping us in your prayers. We are looking forward to updating you once we get to Mexico!!! YAY!

Prayer Requests:

Safe Traveling

Team Unity

Nerves

Love,

Delaney

3 Days to Go!!

We are down to the three day mark before we leave and I can't believe that it's almost here!! Yesterday, Katie, Delaney, Colby, and I went to TEAM (the missions organization that we are going to La Paz with) for our orientation.
One thing that has really stood out to me throughout this entire process is that God is faithful. Throughout this entire year, God has been faithful. I remember the car ride home from the airport last year when I got home from La Paz and I was telling my parents about this internship and they were definitely not listening. At that moment in time, I thought that I wasn't going to be able to return the following year. But I kept praying and kept bringing it up to my parents and God has been faithful. Even during the times when I was doubting that I should be going because I wasn't mature enough or God wanted me somewhere else, He has been faithful in showing me that He wants me there.
So here we are: three days until we leave and I am super excited to go!! We would all love it if you could pray for us in these ways::
-unity for the interns
-that we would be able to adapt to the culture
-to stay open minded
-to be able to receive love as well as give it out

Thank you so much for your support. We really appreciate it a lot!!
Con mucho amor,
 Meg

Getcha game face on! (I really didn't have very many good title choices so I thought I'd make it a tad bit exciting at least)

Hello everybody,
Two weeks left before we go!! I'm so thankful that God was able to provide the oppurtunity for all of us to go to La Paz and work with Peter and his family there. It really means so much to all of us. Well since the Meg, Katie, and Delaney told how they came upon this oppurtunity I suppose I should tell my story. It's probably the shortest out of the 4 of us because there's not much to it. Last year when we landed in Houston, I got off the plane and said to myself 'I want to go back.' But this time I wanted to go back for a longer period of time and for a more in depth spiritual experience. And boom, internship. That's pretty much it. I'm excited to be going on this trip because I like manual labor and working with my hands and I'm sure there's plenty of that to go around at the ranch. I am also looking forward to less limitations than we had last year with the youth group. We don't always have to be in the group of 26 or have a certain schedule that we have to go by (although I'm okay with the planned beach days). All in all this is going to be a great trip!