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May 27thLeave a comment
MOVED BLOG
Wordpress made it easier for me to categorize pictures, posts and videos, so I moved my blog there. Come check it out at:
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Serving in Thailand
You might be on my blog for the first time because of a status that someone has put up about making a donation to send me to Thailand to work with human trafficking victims*(see definition below)* and want to make sure that this is legit. Rest assured that this is a real cause. In light of that, I want to give you a brief introduction of myself, this trip and what it would mean to me and the people I am going to serve.
For as long as I remember, I have been passionate about serving and helping others. I have a heart for wanting to see positive change in people, but always
remembering that life change (or any change for that matter) is not something that can be imposed on someone rather, change needs to come out of the individual who wants it. This is what I will be partly doing in Thailand - offering an alternate way of living and weighing the pro’s and con’s of living a life of prostitution and offering the Thai women and children a way out - a change in life style. I will be going with a faith based organization Adventures In Missions. Our main goal is to provide the Thai women and children with the gospel;to build deep relationships with them and to offer them tangible concrete ways to earn a living. Our team consisting of 21 college aged women who will be sent out to the island of Phuket, Patong. Prior to this, we will have training in the states for 4 days.
I am going with arms wide open expecting the unexpected. I am nervous and yes it will be somewhat dangerous, but I have no doubt that this is where I am suppose to go at this time in my life. I’m hoping and preparing to gain insight on my life, on my faith and to wrestle with cultural shock, emotions, my values and ethics; to struggle with God and question Him.
Some may say that doubting God is the negligence of faith, but on the contrary, I believe that if we don’t question what we believe, it is bound to be weak and be broken. I will never claim to know all the answers about God or Scripture. What I can tell you is that my personal experience and encounters with God has been moving to the point of surrender. The intellectual aspect of my faith has been challenged numerous times. From what I have studied, too much evidence presents itself with and without Scripture that depicts the God that I serve and know to be true. I am a follower of Jesus. Not Christianity. Not religion. I am a “following learner”: a person who does as Jesus did - following and learning by Him and Him alone to the best of my ability.
I am humbled by His grace and mercy and I by no means place myself higher to anyone. I am no better than the prostitutes that we will encounter and interact with. This is the beauty of our God. He reaches down to us to lift us up. This is why I am going to Thailand. I want to tell them about this God who is not exclusive. We often misinterpret God in so many ways- myself included. It has not been until recently that I have seen how my frame of thinking about God has been distorted in different aspects of my life through Scripture.
In short (or maybe not so short), I am not a savior for the Thai people, but I know of someone who is. This is my reason for going along with other reasons. I know that during these two months I will learn much from the Thai people.
I hope that this gave you some sort of insight of myself and why I am going. I appreciate your time in looking at this regardless of your decision to donate. You are welcome to look at other previous blogs. I have a support letter that I wrote earlier if you are interested in looking at that. Again, thanks for your time!
-Sara
**In the case that you might not know what human trafficking is, here is a brief explanation given by United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime website:
“Elements Of Human Trafficking
On the basis of the definition given in the Trafficking in Persons Protocol, it is evident that trafficking in persons has three constituent elements;
The Act (What is done)
Recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons
The Means (How it is done)
Threat or use of force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or vulnerability, or giving payments or benefits to a person in control of the victim
The Purpose (Why it is done)
For the purpose of exploitation, which includes exploiting the prostitution of others, sexual exploitation, forced labour, slavery or similar practices and the removal of organs.”
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Summer is here!! Time to move…again…
This past school year has passed by so quickly! Many of my very good friends are graduating today and tomorrow. I am very happy for them! It’s sad however to know that they won’t be coming back next year. I truly wish them the best. (I will be one of the graduates sitting in those seats next year!)On another note, things seem to all be falling into place for my trip. I have all the necessary vaccinations, medical insurance, my visa and am lot closer to my goal! I can’t believe how everything seems to be working out. We got our packing list yesterday. This seems to be coming all so soon. I am less than one month away! Can you believe it?? The more I think about it, the more excited that I get! I can’t wait to meet the women and children; to see and experience a new culture and most of all getting to know my savior in a deeper level. I honestly cannot wait!
But, before I can go, I need to move…I recently figured out where I will be living. To be more specific I decided today just a couple of hours ago. Although I won’t be as close to campus for next semester, I have a very good feeling about moving where I am; especially living with such a great friend. I’ll be moving twice next year, but hey, it’s worth it when I compare it to the rent I am currently paying now. Let’s just say there is about a $300+ difference. Hopefully I can buy a bike and get a job for next year. I’ll only have class once a week next year so going to campus won’t be problem. All the other days I’ll be at my internship.
There are so many good things that are happening, I am just so excited! I’ll keep you all updated more as my trip keeps coming closer!
published May 6th 2011
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[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.] 5:19 by Matt Wertz
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When I hear this song it makes me think of how so many people rush into relationships, marriage, love only to have someone next to them rather than committing themselves to the other person and having a healthy balance between giving and taking. So much goes into relationships and it bothers me to see young women my age wanting and seeing them get married only to have the title and ring without considering that problems don’t go away only because they are now married. Problems need to be worked through and if two people can’t do that before they’re married, what makes people think that it will automatically go away?? And then we wonder why there are so many divorces, children in single parent family homes, physical and substance abuse. Everything we do now affects not only you, but the people in your future.
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Late night ramble
More than often, I contemplate on what my life will be like even 1 year from now. I don’t understand how, for so much of my life, I looked forward to being able to be where I am now, but as I am in the present I don’t see what my life is going to be like in the future. I don’t have a plan. It scares but also excites me. I at least thought I knew who I would have in my life for years to come, but it turned out differently. I truly wish him the best. There is so much more I could say, but I’ll spare you the sentimental. There you have it. My current thought. You’ll probably find more and more random posts here and there. Sometimes it’s good to simply just write…
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Inserts of reclaiming the mind: Learning to Live with Your Doubts
Doubting our faith can facilitate one of the most emotionally traumatic events in our lives. Whether it is doubting your salvation, God’s love, the accuracy of Scripture, or the very existence of God, doubt can wreak havoc on your emotional well-being and stability.
Before, they simply believed Jesus rose from the grave without any need for a critical defense. Before, they believed the Bible was true because that is what mom and dad told them. Before, they had not even read through the entire Bible. Now they are reading it for themselves and finding some things that are disturbing and hard to reconcile with other sources of knowledge. Now, when they watch the news and hear stories of murder, rape, holocaust, and tsunamis, they have to reconcile it with their passion for a sovereign God. For the first time, they begin to approach the throne room of God with questions and a confused faith. As they seriously engage their faith for the first time, they begin to realize how weak their faith really is. They find it wanting.
People react to this in many ways:
1) They begin to think that they never really believed to begin with. Sometimes this is the case. Sometimes the cultural Christianity which they adhered to before, was nothing more than a flash in the pan. When challenges come, both experiential and intellectual, they abandon ship.
2) They fall into depression and despair only wishing to return to the “childlike” faith from before. But the sands of time cannot be turned back.
3) They see their doubt as being from the Lord and make any and all necessary adjustments. God is exposing how much they need to grow. As a result, their faith begins to grow significantly.
Emotional/Experiential Doubt
I was listening to a guy on the radio the other day. He was experiencing significant doubt in his Christian faith. His knowledge was keen and insight very deep. He was not lacking at all in the intellectual aspect of his faith. His faith was a very rational faith. However, he explained how he was in severe depression because he could not “feel” God’s presence at all. He wanted to walk with Jesus, not just think rightly about him. He wanted his faith to be more holistic, but he could not find a way to get his emotions and experience of God to catching up with his intellect. The doubts produced were from his desire to grow. If he did not desire to grow, he would not have experienced doubts. Ironic, eh? This is how his faith looked:
Intellectual Doubt
This next person is just the opposite. He has experienced God all his life. His emotional connection to God has been very strong. During prayer, he can feel God’s presence. Every experience in his life is interpreted though the grid of his faith. God’s subjective presence could not be more real. However, he has just begun to challenge himself intellectually. He desires to be a greater witness for Christ and begins to engage in apologetics (defending the faith). He is now studying the theory of evolution, other religions, and the accuracy of Old Testament history for the first time. He finds the study very disturbing for his faith and begins to experience significant doubts. Once again, his faith has not necessarily changed, just his capacity for faith has grown. With the growth in capacity comes the growth in requirements to be content with our faith. He interprets his doubts as from the devil and attempts to go back to the faith he had before. But he can’t. Pandora’s box has already been opened.
In both cases, faith has been challenged. In both cases, doubt has surfaced. In both cases, if the desire to grow was not present, the doubts would not be either. However, in neither case is this evil or, necessarily, from the devil.
I think of the faith of the Apostles’ faith when Christ was here on the earth. Early on it was very naive. The capacity threshold had not risen much and they were ready do anything for Christ, even die with him. Remember the story when Martha and Mary sent word to Jesus that Lazarus had died. The disciples told Jesus not to go back to Bethany where Lazarus was since there were people who would stone him (John 10:8). When Christ made clear his purpose to go there anyway, what did the disciples say? “Let’s go with him so that we can die too” (John 10:16). I love it! Childlike faith. They thought their faith capacity was filled to the full. However, what happened when push came to shove? What happened when Jesus was arrested and crucified? They all ran and hid. Life’s experience showed them that their faith was small. Life’s experiences put their doubts on display for all of us to see.
God wants our faith to grow. But he cannot grow it unless our lack of faith is revealed. When our lack of faith is revealed, yes, doubts will surface. But take heart. None of us have perfect faith. All of us have room to grow. Whether the doubt you are experiencing is emotional, experiential, intellectual, or (as is sometimes the case) based on wrong information (bad theology), God exposes our doubt for one purpose: to grow our faith. I know its hard. I know its painful. I know it is often traumatic. And I know you would often rather go back to the “little” faith you had before. But don’t. Work through these doubts. Don’t let them control you. We will overcome so many of them, but don’t think your faith will ever be without some doubt. We have to learn to live with our doubts. But doubts don’t mean we don’t believe. They just reveal the imperfection of our current faith.
Just as we have to learn to live with our sinfulness in thought and deed, we also have to learn to live with how sin affects our faith.
Taken from http://www.reclaimingthemind.org/blog/2011/04/learning-to-live-with-your-doubts/#more-7611
Currently, I am the person in the last picture with the sad face…
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This is a video that shows what another group from AIM went to do in Thailand. It makes me excited as I prepare for the next couple of months.
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This video is a song that talks about the hunger, need and the cry to be close to Jesus. This goes perfectly goes with what is going on within my heart. I want Jesus. I need him. I need him to take me to places where I haven’t been. He’s not done with me, but I need him to cling on to me because at times, I feel like I can let go.
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Do I know?
As I am getting things together for fund-raising, I am realizing more and more where I will be in just 2 months. I am looking at articles that give me a little more insight of what I am going to see there in Thailand. More likely than not I will see women and men prostitutes, women only clubs, gay clubs, young girls providing entertainment, many tourists looking to have some fun….who knows what else I might see. I don’t think that I realize the magnitude of sex trafficking. I don’t think I know what I am getting myself into, but I want to because I know that this kind of life is reality for millions around the world. I like being idealistic, but I don’t want to be oblivious and deny reality. I still have so much to learn. Going into this half blind is scary.
If anyone ever reads this, I would ask that you would pray for me. As this semester is close to ending, I feel myself wanting to drift away from God. I am constantly being pulled and torn both ways and I sometimes don’t know where to stand. I need God but so often I feel like I don’t need him. So I ask you to please remember me in your prayers as I constantly am being torn with leaving Christ and living for Christ.
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"I cannot wait to be on the other side of the world!"
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Support Letter for Thailand
Dear Friends, Family and Community,
I hope that this letter find you well! I am writing to you to tell you about the new and exciting things that have been going on in my life. Over the course of the last several months, I have had a desire for change in my life while finding a new appreciation and perspective for my faith and for people. Since the missions trip to the Dominican Republic this past summer, I came to the realization that I am continually being drawn to the international world and the people who are captive, hurting and in need. In prayer, I have sensed that God does not want me back in Chicago for the summer but rather in another country serving a population that has been oppressed and in my heart ever since I learned about the underground black market of human trafficking.
This summer I am going to Thailand to work with the women and children who have been or are currently in the sex trafficking industry with the organization Adventures In Missions. Adventures In Missions has a program called Real Life which provide college students with an opportunity to go into short term missions around the world. Before going to Thailand, our team will have training for a week in Tennessee to prepare for our team’s ministry. During our time in Thailand from beginning of June to the beginning of August, our current team of 18 women will come along side of these women and children to help rebuild and restore their lives and provide other means of making money other than prostitution. We hope to bring Christ to the women and children who are hurting; who may see themselves as having no value; who are struggling to live life every single day knowing that they will be used and abused for hours and hours upon end.
This is going to be a life changing trip and I am very excited to have this opportunity to experience something new. Our world is so much larger than we know and I want to be able to know that God transcends culture – especially the culture that I grew up in. I have every confidence that God will provide for this trip. However, I would like to ask you for your support both in prayer and financially. I need $4,900 to go on this trip and am raising all of this money on my own. If I can have 100 people give $50, I would have more than 100% of my funds provided for. I believe in the power of prayer and if you are not able to contribute financially, I ask that you partner with me in prayer as I try and find ways to finance this trip. If God has put in your heart to give, I have enclosed a response card and pre-addressed envelope, inviting you to share in this ministry. Please make checks payable to Adventures In Missions and return the response card with your donation to Adventures In Missions, PO Box 534470, Atlanta, GA, 30353-4470. The response card will provide AIM with the information necessary to send you a receipt for your donation. If you would prefer to make your donation online, you may do so by visiting my blog site at: capturedrenaissance.tumblr.com. Click on the blog titled donate and complete your donation as instructed.
I am ready to be challenged, changed and renewed. I know that God is going to do incredible things while we are there. It is extremely exciting to wait in expectation for the Lord to move in not only our lives, but the lives that we will come in contact with. I want to thank you in advance for any prayers and financial support for this trip. It truly means more than words can describe! I hope to have the opportunity to contact you within the next couple of weeks to tell you more about this trip and what God has been doing in my life. May God continually bless you with all you do.
Seeking the Kingdom in Him,
Sara Hernandez
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Donate
https://www.adventures.org/give/donate.asp?giveto=partFund&multi=
This is a link where you can donate to my trip to Thailand this summer. Where it says choose a program click on Real Life. Enter my full name as: Sara Hernandez then fill out the rest. Thank you SO MUCH for any donation that you are giving. As of now, I only have $142.50. I need about $2,500 raised in 2 weeks (April 1st). If you have any questions or want to help, please don’t hesitate to ask.
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Moved for Something Greater
It’s humbling to know that there is a God who is immeasurably more than I will ever need….
Rough Spots
Pain that strikes the heart strikes a change. Currently, I have been working on that change. I am going to live in another country for 2 months this summer. For the past couple of months, I have had a sense that I should not go back to Chicago for the summer. I have been longing to go some place where I would be stripped of everything that I have ever known and be removed; to be transformed in the way that I think and act; to know God and see God in a whole new light and say - this is not my life to live God….
My heart is longing for such a change I can hardly bare it. I can say that my
spiritual walk has not been a “walk in the park”, but rather that it has been a struggle because I have felt torn. Torn because of what Paul says in Romans 7 “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do”. I want to serve the Lord with all of my heart, soul and mind, but I am constantly choosing not to. Why? Because I would rather stick to what I already know which is being self-seeking, proud and lazy. It’s comfortable there. Yet, I find myself not wanting to be there but still am. To serve the Lord with all of my heart, mind and soul would be to die to myself. In the words of Ravi Zacharias:“Anytime truth involves a total commitment in which you bring yourself to complete humility, to the surrender of the will, you will always have resistance. Christ violates our power and autonomy.”
That power and autonomy should belong to Christ in my life. I don’t want to be passive anymore with my faith. He should be my reason for change. He should be my soul desire. He should be the love of my life. My life is absolutely meaningless and my time here on earth is worthless if I do not have Christ being at the center of it all. My life purpose should not be about getting the best education; helping other people; getting the dream job; traveling the world; no! But in everything seeking first Christ and the Kingdom. Having Christ as the foundation will then be the motivation to do all of these things because of Christ.
I am by no means perfect. I am striving, struggling and painfully running the race until it is finished. I am choosing to leave the country this summer first, because I feel that this is where God wants me. Second, I want to be changed and challenged and third, because I want to encounter God with the women who are in Thailand.
Yes. Thailand is where I will be going to work with women who have been in sex trafficking industry. We will be building relationships with the women who are in prostitution and offering them alternative ways of making a living. I don’t know much more than that because the details of the trip are still being planned. We will most likely be in one of the tourists cities of Thailand. The organization I will be going with is Adventures in Missions (if you would like to know more about the organization you can click on the link at the bottom of the page). This has definitely been a leap of faith, even to just sign up. The cost is $4,900 for the whole summer which includes lodging, food and transportation. If you are interested in donating, I will post something on here as soon as I figure out how to set up an online donations.
http://adventuresinmissions.org/trips/mission-trips.asp?locID=421&tripid=3934
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Thailand?
I got news today that I will be going to another country this summer with Adventures in Missions! Unfortunately, I won’t be able to go to Goa, India because the spots are filled, but I still have options to go to another city in India to work with orphans and special needs kids or to Thailand to work with human trafficking victims. I’ll have to pray about it more, but I’m thinking Thailand. I’m very excited, but somewhat nervous just for the fact that Thailand is one of the largest places in the world for human trafficking. In spite of that fact, it will be an opportunity of a lifetime and this will definitely help me for my internship next year (hopefully working for an agency that works with women who have been sexually assaulted/abused).I have to call A.I.M. on Monday to tell them what my decision is going to be. I will definitely be asking them a lot of questions before I fully commit. I’m so thankful that God has given me this opportunity! By the way, another girl that I met during the trip to the Dominican Republic will be going with AIM to Thailand as well….she doesn’t know I might be going there too. This is crazy and so very exciting!
