http://saraellis.theworldrace.org Choosing IN - Sara Ellis en-us Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:06:07 GMT 30 http://saraellis.theworldrace.org/?filename=august-update http://saraellis.theworldrace.org/?filename=august-update    August----CICRIN Orphanage   Ministry: We have spent this past month at CICRIN orphanage working along side the tias (aunts), as they look after 30 children and young adults.  CICRIN has been such a blessing to us as they have welcomed us into their family.  With one week left we are beginning to end our time on Ometepe.  I have so enjoyed the times we have spent dancing, singing, painting nails, eating chocolate and doing other "little girl" things.   Tonight is a big church sleep over, and tomorrow night we are taking all the kids to the beach for a bonfire and to roast marshmallows.  It has been great to spend our month helping how we can, loving on the kids, and growing together as a team.  Please join us in praying that our time at CICRIN ends well and we can have closure with the children here.   Personally: Everyday this month has been a decision to walk in the forgiveness to which I have been called.  T Sat, 23 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://saraellis.theworldrace.org/?filename=would-you-like-some-rice-and-beans http://saraellis.theworldrace.org/?filename=would-you-like-some-rice-and-beans It has been 10 days since we have arrived on Ometepe Island in Nicaragua, and made our home at CICRIN orphanage.  At CICRIN about 30 children and young adults live, most are not orphans at all, but children removed from homes where they where abused and neglected.  As we stepped into the lives and homes of the children here, many of us were overcome with a homesickness we could not explain.  At first we attributed it to the downtime, the transition, the endless days of rice and beans, but none of that could explain away the longings of our true hearts.  After several days of this dark cloud, something became clear to me: these children are homesick too.  Homesick for a place they dont remember, a place that never existed, but a place that is very real in every childs soul.  By making me homesick, God could show me something about these children that they could never express to me through their youth and the language barrier, but it is something Sat, 9 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://saraellis.theworldrace.org/?filename=walking-in-forgiveness http://saraellis.theworldrace.org/?filename=walking-in-forgiveness For a long time my relationship with my dad has been characterized by brokenness and pain.  It was at debrief in Antigua where the Lord really convicted me of the bitterness I carry around toward my father.  God asked how I could share the hope of His forgiveness if I do not walk in that forgiveness myself.  I was unsure how to start the process of forgiving my dad, but in prayer I sought the Lord and this is the letter He wrote:   Dear Dad, I have walked in unforgiveness for a long time.  I do not want to any longer.  I have replayed tapes of you in my head for too many years.  Tapes of you saying I didnt matter, I wasnt beautiful, I was unwanted or I was unloved.  But I know that those were lies you told me.  The truth is, I am a daughter of the most high King and He chose me to be His before time began.  He loves me with a love that is endless, unimaginable, unexplainable, and perfect.  He loves me so much He would die for me Sat, 2 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://saraellis.theworldrace.org/?filename=do-you-know http://saraellis.theworldrace.org/?filename=do-you-know We have been in Antigua, Guatemala for 4 days now.  We have had time to relax, explore this beautiful city and spend time with the entire squad.  It has definitely been a restorative time, as well as a great time to look forward to the coming months.  5-Alive is headed to Nicaragua tomorrow to spend a few days in Granada, followed by four weeks at an orphanage on Ometepe Island in Lake Nicaragua.  We don't know yet what exactly we will be doing, but it is exciting to start a new ministry. Being in Guatemala has also given me a lot of time to spend with the Lord.  Since the race started, I have been hearing His voice and recognizing His calling more than ever before.  Repeatedly over the past few days I have sought the Lord with questions and have been asked the same thing by Him in return, "Do you know how much I love you?"  At first a question like this can catch you off guard, especially when you think you know the answer.  But scripture con Sat, 26 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://saraellis.theworldrace.org/?filename=hearts-observed http://saraellis.theworldrace.org/?filename=hearts-observed "Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to Him, for God is our refuge." Psalm 62:8   Her heart aches for places she has never seen.  She risks it all as she steps out in the faith that He will catch her.   Her heart breaks for a boy she just met.  Her brokenness for his heart is visible on her face.  Her tears are as real as his pain.   Her heart shutters as she follows a calling she does not understand, as she steps into darkness trusting His light will come.   Her heart bleeds for a team she is still meeting.  Their pain is real to her as she listens to their stories, as she longs to be known.     These are the four women I will spend the year with.  The four women who have aready taught me more about loving God than I can put into words.  The four women whose hearts break for a world that needs hope, for people that need love.  Four women who are seeking and finding, growing an Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://saraellis.theworldrace.org/?filename=iglesia http://saraellis.theworldrace.org/?filename=iglesia For the past week and a half, my team, 5-Alive, and team Kiatera have been partnering with a local church in Palenque, run by Pastor Noe.  He is an awesome man of God with an incredible gift for music.  We have been asked to teach, sing, and pray with the members of the church.  It is exciting to finally be ministering with a group of awesome, welcoming people.   Nothing about the physical church would remind you of a church in the states; it only has three walls and a concrete floor.  The roof is corrogated metal and the members sit in plastic patio chairs for the service.  But, everything about the sounds of Iglesia Salim sound like the living, active Spirit of God...  the cries of praise, the music of worship, the laughter of children, the chatter of friendship, the tears of the Spirit...   photo by Natalie Montgomery   In a place so physically empty, there is so much life.  After the last week, I am convinced Wed, 9 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://saraellis.theworldrace.org/?filename=utterly-amazed http://saraellis.theworldrace.org/?filename=utterly-amazed Friday night, training camp came to an end.  Our coaches, Seth and Karen, took the evening to pray over us and to let us pray over each other.  In my silence, the Lord spoke scripture to me for the very first time.  He pointed me to Isaiah 12:4-6.   In that day you will say:     "Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name;     make known among the nations what he has done,      and proclaim that His name is exalted.      Sing to the Lord , for He has done glorious things;      let this be known to all the world.      Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion,      for great is the Holy One of Israel among you."   It was immediately on my heart to share these verses with my teammates, Tara.  I wasnt sure why I felt this way, but after sharing Isaiah 12 with her, I found out why God laid this on my heart.& Sun, 6 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://saraellis.theworldrace.org/?filename=the-journey-to-palenque http://saraellis.theworldrace.org/?filename=the-journey-to-palenque My teammate, Natalie, made a great video detailing our crazy journey from Miami to Palenque.  Definitely check it out!   Sun, 6 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://saraellis.theworldrace.org/?filename=a-new-adventure-begins http://saraellis.theworldrace.org/?filename=a-new-adventure-begins So, I have finally arrived in Palenque after 4 planes, 2 buses and a taxi.  The last three days are a blur as we spent almost all of our time in airports or on buses.  There are some great stories from our travels and I would encourage you to explore the blogs of my teammates to read more the fun we had (see links at the lower left).    It is already amazing me how God is working in me.  Since we are in training for about a week, there is more structure than we will have later, so this morning we had some built in time with the Lord and He gave me such a vision for our coming year.  Last night and again this morning I was brought back to the beginning of Romans.  Paul says in verse 5 that "through Him and for His name's sake we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith."  I, as an individual, my team 5-Alive and our entire July squad have been called to be in this place on Tue, 1 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://saraellis.theworldrace.org/?filename=i-am-off http://saraellis.theworldrace.org/?filename=i-am-off So here I sit, way too early in the morning because I cannot sleep. Today is the day, I am flying to Miami to meet the rest of my squad and then we are off to Mexico. It feels like time between training camp in April and now was so short. All of the sudden the day is upon me and I am flooded with a mix of emotions. I am trying not to be nervous, but I am, just a little. I am nervous about what is unknown and unsure. I am nervous about the reality of this community I have opted into. I have committed to spend a year with people I didnt even know 3 months ago. I am excited to see them all today and then to watch them see the world. For me, one of the best parts of travel is watching the looks on the faces of your friends when you see something amazing together. I am excited to finally leave the country and get this journey started. I am excited to laugh and cry with the poorest of Gods children and to yet again discover that many people are rich despite their pover Sat, 28 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://saraellis.theworldrace.org/?filename=aprilmay-newsletter http://saraellis.theworldrace.org/?filename=aprilmay-newsletter Fri, 16 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://saraellis.theworldrace.org/?filename=this-i-believejesus-ruined-my-life http://saraellis.theworldrace.org/?filename=this-i-believejesus-ruined-my-life We were asked to write an essay called "This I Believe" about what really matters to us, as preparation for this world missions adventure called the World Race. This is what I believe...Jesus ruined my life.Before you get nervous, let me explain.I had plans for my life, I was going to be a doctor and live in suburbia; make money and be comfortable, but then I met this guy we call Christ and He ruined my life.He asked me to trust Him for money instead of getting a good ole 9-5.He asked me to sleep in huts and tents and on dirty ground instead of my comfy, clean bed.He asked me to walk into places unknown instead of following the beaten path.He asked me to carry the faces of the hurt and lonely on my heart instead of checking my feelings at the door.He asked me to trust Him with my relationships instead of trying to fix them on my own.He asked me to give up everything I had planned for myself and trust that His plan was better.He asked me to let all my college friends move on with "norma Tue, 13 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://saraellis.theworldrace.org/?filename=world-missionsgod-shows-up http://saraellis.theworldrace.org/?filename=world-missionsgod-shows-up We were asked to share with you why we're going on this world missions adventure called the World Race. I'm going around the world in 11 months, because...I worship a God who shows up. God tells us when we gather in His name He is there, but how many of us really believe that is true? What would it look like if we lived as if we knew God was going to be there, if we knew He was going to show up?God calls us to make disciples of people everywhere and I believe He has called me to go everywhere on a global scale. I believe this because I worship a God who intends to be there. His showing up doesn't just happen in modern American churches, but in huts and squatter camps in the most impoverished parts of the world as well. We don't live in some post-Biblical era where God is silent and miracles are a thing of the past. I believe God shows up today. I am going around the world to be a part of His showing up to people everywhere. Consider this, what if God's words weren't only the wo Sun, 4 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://saraellis.theworldrace.org/?filename=5alive http://saraellis.theworldrace.org/?filename=5alive So, here I am post training camp 4 days and I already miss my squad. How you can come to love and enjoy so many people over the course of a week is beyond me, but it happened and now I cannot wait for launch in July. In all we are 34 and my small team consists of 4 other amazing Godly women. After a course of fun and sometimes frustrating team-building challenges, we are officially a team of 5. After much interesting consideration we chose a name to represent ourselves and that story is literally precious. After learning our new teams, we were told to go and make a memory together, or as Ali would call it a "precious moment." That was the ignition that set off our name hunt. It was suggested we look to scripture (always a good source of inspiration) and we discovered 1Peter 2, which uses the word precious about a thousand times. Based on that, and the fact that the chapter summed up all our hopes for the next year, it was clear that this would be our team verse. As you come to him, the Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://saraellis.theworldrace.org/?filename=and-the-chains-fell http://saraellis.theworldrace.org/?filename=and-the-chains-fell We embraced the worldAnd our hopes fellWe tried it aloneAnd we stumbled and fellWe asked to see HimAnd His presence fellWe asked to hear HimAnd the words fellWe asked to be brokenAnd the tears fellWe wanted to be realAnd the veil fellWe wanted to be freeAnd the chains fellAnd the chains fellNow we embrace the KingNow we are never aloneNow we see His faceNow we hear His voiceNow he heals our brokennessNow we are our real selvesNow we captives are freeBecause the chains fellBecause His presence fellBecause we fell backwards into the arms of the one who can catch us all Tue, 15 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://saraellis.theworldrace.org/?filename=a-new-kind-of-church http://saraellis.theworldrace.org/?filename=a-new-kind-of-church Church has always been a safe place for me, but only safe to a point. Once you cross the line in the sand you've gone to deep or been too vulnerable with the dark places in your life and people don't know how to deal with you're pain. They act like God doesn't want to enter into the hard stuff with you either. I have never had some one say it was okay to put all my pain and struggles out on the table, let alone to encourage me to do so. We say "freedom" in Christ, but only in church does freedom have so many bounds. This week at training camp, everything I have thought about church is changing.Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. 2 Cor. 3:17-18To be able to approach God and community with an "unveiled face" has been lifting a weight off the church experience fo Tue, 8 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://saraellis.theworldrace.org/?filename=the-works-of-our-hands http://saraellis.theworldrace.org/?filename=the-works-of-our-hands Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen trouble. May your deeds be shown to your servants, your splendor to their children. May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us-- yes, establish the work of our hands. Psalm 90:15-17The idea that the Lord is establishing or preparing the work we all do often astounds me. Not only does it show his investment in us, but it also shows his faith in us. The idea of going on the world race still seems crazy to me, but to think that God has prepared it for me and is preparing me for it awes me. If only we had as much faith in what we can do in God's hands as he has in what he can do with ours. So often in life we back down or back off because things seem too hard or scary or just challenging. I often forget that the reason things seem too challenging to do alone is because we were never meant to do them alone. God has established the work of our hands no so our Wed, 19 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://saraellis.theworldrace.org/?filename=the-beginning http://saraellis.theworldrace.org/?filename=the-beginning This is my first official blog. Over these next 10 months of preparation and then the year of the race, I want this blog to be a place where you can read about what our ministry is doing, how God is working, and how I am changing. I will also be putting prayer requests and praises up here for you to check out. To keep really up to date, click the update alert button at the left and you will know when I have posted something new. I have subtitled my blog page "Waking Up to God" as this is my hope and prayer for the coming race. I want to wake up to the reality of the gospel, to God's plan for me, to my own heart, and to how all of these fit together. Until now I have been living life half asleep, but I am ready to be truly awakened. I am excited to find out what that means as I get to see the world that God has created. The September teams head to Thailand tomorrow, so please keep them in your prayers as they make to long journey to Bangkok. Pray that they arrive safely with all t Fri, 14 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://saraellis.theworldrace.org/?filename=support-raising http://saraellis.theworldrace.org/?filename=support-raising Support raising is more like people raising. As I meet people, tell them about the race, and explain why I am going, I continue to see people get really excited. They are excited for me, for what God will do, and about how they can be apart of it all. I am beginning to raise people for my race. People who will pray for me and pray with me, who will support me financially and spiritually as I leave in July. That truly is the gift of support raising: allowing people to be excited with you. With this in mind, I thought I would let you in on why I am going on the world race and how you can be apart of it. As many of you know, I will be graduating from Vanderbilt University this May. My years at Vandy have given me an amazing group of friends, a strong faith in God, and the opportunity to see the world as I had never before imagined. With graduation in sight, I began to explore my options for the coming year. In searching, I came across The World Race and have kept up with where its p Fri, 14 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT