Throughout the year El Faro has teams travel from the United States to serve in different villages that El Faro has an active presence in. One of the goals of hosting these teams is not only to help the villages and to meet their needs, but also to influence the team members to return home to influence their own communities.
A beautiful example of a person who has come to El Faro and went home changed to continue to impact people is Amanda Secor.
My name is Amanda Secor. I am 24 years old. I grew up in Valparaiso, IN around cornfields & straight roads… boring! I’ve lived here all my life. I grew up in church, accepted Jesus when I was 9, but have felt a life change and spiritual growth mature the most over the last year. I went on my first out-of-country mission trip (to the Dominican Republic) my Sophomore year in high school where God broke my heart for people living in poverty & began to stir a love within me for Central America. Since then I graduated college within a minor in missions & a heart to reach the nations. I am married to my college best friend, Tyler, & have been for 2 years. You can find me as a special needs assistant during the day & a blogger at night. My blog is called “my love for Lyla” and can be found at www.myloveforLyla.blogspot.com
My mom went on several trips to Guatemala and I sat home envious that I wasn’t going as well. After going to the Dominican Republic in 2006 & Honduras in 2009 my heart ached to be back on the foreign mission field. She came home from one of her trips and told us all about this beautiful country and how it was impacting her heart. I knew that I too needed to experience this place. God called Tyler & I on a trip in June 2012. I immediately fell in love with the people, culture, El Faro, & ministry. I knew it was a place I would return over & over. It’s easy to come home from a mission trip & hurt for a few days but quickly fall back into that similar way of living. I came home from Guatemala in 2012 with a broken heart & a renewed spirit for missions and helping the less fortunate. Unfortunately I fell back into my comfort zone, but God rocked my spirit again when He called me back to Guatemala this past July. I came home changed, renewed, & broken.
As our group in June 2012 rode away on the boat my heart was broken. I longed for the day I would return again. When God called me back in July I was absolutely ecstatic and couldn’t wait to return. After returning it felt like I was coming home. Riding in on that same boat was overwhelming and brought me to tears. God was finally bringing me back to the place He had branded on my heart 13 months before. The missionaries, kitchen crew, grounds people, & staff of El Faro welcomed me with open arms and cheerful smiles. The work of the missionaries is beautiful and challenging. Each of them are answering God’s call on their lives & it has challenged me to search for my call and live it out. And that is exactly what I’ve been doing since returning to the states 3 months ago.
On my trip in July we visited the dump in Puerto Barrios. I had heard about it before & seen several pictures, but those things didn’t do justice to what I would experience for myself. I will never forget what it was like pulling into the dump & seeing mounds of garbage surrounding me. Amidst the garbage were beautiful children running without shoes & strong adults sifting through trash to find treasures to mend and sell. In those first moments my heart broke & was shattered for life. I had never seen anything like what I was seeing before me. I had the most incredible, heart & life-changing experience. I met a beautiful little girl named Mirna who will forever be imbedded on my heart & mind. Her joyful spirit and infectious smile warmed my heart and changed my heart. Upon leaving the dump my heart broke over and over. I felt like no matter how long I stayed it would never be enough time. I came back to the states and KNEW I had to do something about what I had seen. There was no way for me to see what I saw & do nothing. To me, that would be like looking at the face of God & saying no to His Voice. I had seen paper beads before and thought they were beautiful but didn’t feel a need to learn to make them. That was until I watched a video & realized that something as small as a bead made of paper can change the life of someone who is living in poverty and brokenness. I told my husband about the idea to start making jewelry & selling it to make money for the people in the dump. A few days later I watched a how-to video & began rolling beads. I haven’t looked back since.
When I decided to start making beads & had the idea to make jewelry I had no idea what I was getting myself into. But it’s a beautiful concept really. God is using these beads to mend my broken spirit & bring hope to my life. I’m so excited to see what they do for others.. both here & abroad. I am in the process of turning this idea into a small business & then into a non-profit. I want these beads to bring hope, healing, & love. I have a name picked out, based upon a beautiful verse in the Bible, & a piece of Scripture lined up to support my vision. Eventually I want to raise enough money to go to Guatemala and teach the women in the dump & whoever is willing to learn, how to make paper beads & jewelry and use the resources they have (cereal boxes, juice cartons, magazines, etc) to make a living. My vision is to see the people of the dump live prosperous, purposeful lives that involve hope & healing; because Jesus sees them where they are & desires for them to know His love for them. I also intend to use the raised money as a means to support those who are adopting abroad as well as other mission fields God places in my path. I am SO EXCITED to see where God takes this ministry and look forward to sharing more as it unfolds.
To see all about what Amanda is doing and learn more about her beads, follow her on her blog at: www.myloveforLyla.blogspot.com
Comentarios Recientes