Announcing: ACTION project!

Baby dolls. Such a simple item that can be found in almost every home in the United States. When I was in Mexico, I held a little girl as she received her very own baby doll. She was the only one of the girls to get one and all the others gathered around to gently touch her new "baby." The wheels in my head started to turn as I saw the desire in the other girls eyes.

About a month later, cleaning out the "toy bin" at home, I found five baby dolls that no one wanted any more. We have lots of girls and dolls in abundance, not to mention most of us are past the age of actively playing with them. What if we reached out to our sisters all over the world with something as simple as a doll? What if we could take our unused baby dolls and send them down to the little Mexican girls as a ministry? What if we could use that which we never use to change someone's life? What if God could take out "trash" and use it to bring treasure?

I talked to the missionaries down in Mexico and they thought that the dolls would be a great blessing to the girls down there!

The project: Collecting baby dolls cleaning them up and shipping them to Tucson AZ where they will be brought to Mexico and given to the girls.

Girls: Go through your closets and boxes! Get your friends involved! Make a day to clean and dress all the dolls for delivery. Just imagine what a blessing we could be to these little girls and what fun we could have while doing it!

Guys: Okay, so hopefully you don't have any dolls in your closet, but that does not mean you cannot be involved! Spread the word among your sisters and female friends! We will need some funding to ship all the dolls; perhaps your little sister is getting a box together; perhaps you can help her with the postage! If you don't have that option, I am sure there will be sisters with out brothers, you can sponsor a box for a sister in Christ that you may not even know!

Please feel free to email me at miakalista[at]hotmail[dot]com, if you have any questions or would like to contribute. =) On the right hand side bar is our Facebook group if you would like to join!

Love,

Hillary

Note: This is a call just for baby dolls, not for barbie dolls or stuffed animals ♥

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Heart Musings

Here I am, sitting on my bed, alone in my room. On the wall across from me are four cork boards with pictures and notes from my family and friends back home and abroad. As I peruse my eyes lazily over them from picture to picture one catches my eye and suddenly the room around me melts and I am in jeans and a “Do Hard Things” T-shirt, sweat is building up on my brow as I shovel rocks on to the driveway.

I am in Mexico, and my thoughts are wandering as I work. This is our last day here after eight of the most incredible days of my life. I muse over the last few weeks and being amazed at how incredible God was. * I shoveled with more vigor as I thought over it all* He had been working in my heart intensely for several months now as I had fervently been praying that he would be lighting a fire for Him inside me. I wanted to be consumed by Him and a passionate love for Him… “Hey Hillary..”

I was suddenly jolted out of my thoughts by one of the young men on the team. He held out his hand, “May I have your shovel, and do that for you?” I smiled and gave it one final thrust into the rocks before giving him the handle. He offered an amusing comment about how I was making them look bad and I backed away thinking again. We were so blessed, with so many true gentlemen on our team. More than once I was amazed by their kindness and consideration.

As I continued musing, my thoughts turned back to Mexico and the trip in general. Here I was with several other young people who shared that vision, it was surreal how we all got along so well and all knew exactly what our focus and missions was here. Why did God choose this group from around the country and why did He choose me to come along as well? Either way I was insanely happy that He had! My heart was broken at the migrant camp when I was faced with the reality of the “children on the other side of the world”, my soul was lifted in the morning bible studies, and evening praise. God was so good! Life was so perfect! And the passion I had been praying for was growing.

Suddenly, Mexico faded and there I was again in my room, there was the picture of the boys shoveling that I took only a few moments after my musing. Here I was halfway across the country from home, with no friends anywhere within an hour’s drive, and not a Christian in sight. There were no gentlemen in this “every man for himself” city, or at least in nearly a month of being here, I had yet to meet one. My days are filled with walking dogs and bouncing a teething baby. Thirteen weeks and three days ago I was standing on the Coult’s porch feeling the salty ocean breeze on my face, watching the boys work, and praising God for the work He was doing in my heart. This was not exactly the grand plan I had when I came home.

A little truth began to creep over me and fill my heart. My heart was breaking again, but this time for a different reason; my heart was broken because I was not. I was breaking… but not broken. I was still holding on to a little. I wanted to be sold out for Christ without selling out! I had been feeling His gentle tug as He pulled me nearer and nearer in my loneliness. I had nowhere to turn but for Him, and suddenly when I did turn to His arms for comfort, I did not need anything beyond what He had already provided.

I am not in Mexico, I am in Washington State. God is still in Mexico, but guess what? God is also in Washington State. I am not left, I am not forsaken, I am still growing, God is still here, God is still working!

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Mexico 2010 Video

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Hola!

Hello everyone from Mexico!

it is rather late and I only have a minute or two but I am posting some pictures that will give you an idea of what we are up to.




Taking off from Tuscon our team.
Back Row left to right: Daniel Osborne, Mr. Logerstedt, Christian Logerstedt, Mr. Coult, Mark Hutchins, Alex Poythress, Middle: Sarah Coult. Front Row, Beth Magnuson, Me!, Joanna Rust


Riding the bus for 14 hours we made it across the border safely and with no hassle!


I shoveled concrete into buckets they passed up with a rope. ;)

In process...


Here is the house. We are finishing the second story up there.


Alex and Mark moving a rock and sand pile to another place.


This adorable little girl's name was Amy and she climbed up in my lap and chatted at me in Spanish while laughing at me for not understanding her.

This gas station cracked me up :-P

Love y'all! <3

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Adventures

Greetings to all my faithful blog readers!

I hope this post finds you all warm and enjoying the family togetherness of the season. :)

God has been doing some exciting things in my life in the past few months and drawing together the strings of two dreams of mine.


Over a year ago I sat down with dad and made a list of the things I wanted to do with my life, near the top of that list was going on a short term missions trip. I started praying that God would open the doors and send an opportunity my way if it was His will for me. For about 6 months nothing happened until I read about an opportunity on the Rebelution Forum to go to Sinaloa Mexico and help put the roof on the Coult Family's house. Long story short I leave a week from today for almost two weeks in Mexico! God is so good! I have been continually awed at the precision of His ways and how He has brought every little detail together so perfectly!

Three days after I return home from Mexico (Jan 15th-16th) my church is hosting a Rebelution video conference of which I am the head coordinator. Ever since I got involved with the Rebelution in 2006 I have wanted to bring them to Omaha. When Dad and I went to their conference in Des Moines, IA the summer of 08 I was completely hooked! When Mr.Nelson asked me to coordinate the video conference at Millard Alliance Church I was excited and very nervous. Once again God took my original plan, tripled it, and then sent it far and wide. He provided willing volunteers and people to help me plan. ( I never knew how many details went into these things!)

By the way...there is still room to register for the conference and we would love to have you! It is $10 per person at the door and you can RSVP to: omaha2010rebelution@gmail.com . If you would like to come but cannot afford the fee just let us know and we are happy to offer assistance. :) (*shamless plug..I know I know*)


God has been so good to me this year and as it ends I am excited to see what lies beyond the sunrise!

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