He hasn't forgotten His children

In just 25 days I will be on the other side of the planet. Woah. For the first time I'm not going to be home for the holiday season. And in some ways that makes me quite sad, but then I remember what I'm doing and more importantly WHY I'm doing it. I do like to try to think I'm ready for all God is going to show me there in Asia; that all I have left to learn will come in these last few weeks here in Las Vegas-that I've seen it all. But if I'm being completely honest, I'm not. Not in the slightest bit. I don't know what to expect at all. God will be teaching me until the day I die. And when I see the multitudes of children being treated like dirt in India and the countless women stuck in a life of prostitution and all around me are people feeling like there is no way out, I'm going to break. I'm going to cry and it's going to hurt. But if I've learned anything at all it's that God is so much stinkin bigger than all of that. No matter how hopeless I begin to feel, God will be with us and He knows what He's doing. He LOVES these people more than I ever could, and He will not forsake them. 

Be Still

And know that I am God -Psalms 46:10. This verse described my weekend perfectly. I made it my goal to do as little as humanly possible. This past week here in Vegas has been AMAZING weather. 70’s and sunny. Of course that didn’t last too long, we’re back up to 90’s tomorrow. But that’s not the point; I’ll continue my story now. A few of us decided to sit in the grass at the park across the street from the base and just chill. I read, listened to my iPod, and people watched like it was my job. Before I knew it I was praising God for the sun, the cool breeze, the grass, the park, the little kids, the puppies running around, the homeless people taking naps, and pretty much everything I could think of. After a while, I lay down and just existed in contentment. I really couldn’t remember the last time I enjoyed doing that so much. Back home I didn’t lay down unless it was midnight and I knew I had to get sleep before work at 5am. Resting was a foreign concept, there was too much to do, too many people to have coffee with and not enough time in my day. How many of us fall into this cycle of day to day life? I know I do. And how many times did I end up flaking on someone because I overcommitted myself that day? Too many to count. And God was the one who I flaked on most of those days. Over packing our schedules doesn’t help our relationships; it hurts them. No one likes being flaked on. I don’t want to fall into that anymore. These passed 2 ½ months have definitely taught me that I’m not as special as I think; I don’t HAVE to do everything TODAY. The world will not end. God wants time with us so bad, He longs for it. Do we give Him that time? Or are we too busy making sure we see everyone else in town first? I know it will be a process to snap myself out of this habit, but I so want that time with God too.

Moving on..

Sitting in the park on Saturday led to a great conversation with a man named Mark. Mark came up to me and Abbey (at this time we were the only two left at the park) and just simply said in his Spanish accent, “Christians?” We looked at each other confused for a second and said, yes. He sat down and said “Can we talk about salvation?” What was happening? Divine appointments are so cool! Anyway, our conversation lasted over an hour. We told him what we are doing here in Vegas and where we will be headed in just a matter of weeks. He was very encouraging and then he went on to tell us how he came to find the Lord, why he moved to Las Vegas from Mexico City, how he overcame a gambling addiction, his kids and their lives, pretty much everything. He also told us how he feels that God seems to be calling him back to Mexico to preach when his last son graduates high school. He wants to wake up Mexican culture from their Catholic ways that are “full of rules and punishments and no love.” In Mexico a lot of the Catholic religion is just tradition, what they’ve always done. Many don’t actually have a relationship with Jesus. So this excited me. Mark is so very passionate about this; I can tell God is working on preparing him for something awesome. He and some guys play soccer at the park every Saturday. He wants to introduce us to his kids. So next Saturday we’re going to hang out with some new friends. :)

My Many Thoughts

I need to start posting more often, maybe then I can get my thoughts straight..maybe.

Mind blown! That has become my sentence these last few weeks. Everything God is teaching me, everything my eyes are being opened to leads to me exclaiming in a rather loud voice “Mind blown!” And most of it is stuff I’ve always heard that is just now registering in my stubborn self. Morgan Perry spoke two weeks ago about what it means to love God and love others; in that order. We also got to watch her teams’ documentary, Sex & Money, about minor sex trafficking in the United States. She and her team are traveling to all 50 states doing two screenings of this film in each state. The screenings are accompanied by a panel of experts, law officials, and previously trafficked victims who answer questions at the end of the film. The film ends with a very tangible way for people to get involved and do something to help. The Sex & Money Film team has recognized their talents God has given them in film, journalism, public speaking, etc. and used those talents to make this awesome documentary and share it with the people of the United States. In doing this they have started so many fires already under people all across the country. Movements are starting. And it’s dang cool.

Morgan being here that week really got me thinking, about a lot. Not everyone is skilled in those areas-yeah, and not everyone has been called to anti-human trafficking (heck, I’m still not even sure if it is my calling) but we all need to recognize God has given us each special gifts and we need to use those for what matters. Everyone is passionate about something, but so many people go their whole lives without doing anything with that passion. God gave us talents, desires, and a voice for a reason; how beautiful of a world it would be if people realized they CAN do something with all that. America is so set in their ways of living the “American Dream.” We all know the American dream: a college degree in something like business, an office job that you actually hate (but hey, it pays good), the white picket fence, and 2.5 children. Don't get me wrong, not all that stuff is bad, its pretty great actually. But who says this is the American dream? I know when I was growing up I never dreamed about that. Did you? If you did, well, I guess the American dream is for you. Kudos to you for being average. But ask a kid what he/she wants to be when they grow up, listen to their answer. What happened to “you can be anything you want to be.” Is that only something we tell kids until their 13? Then the hoping and dreaming is done and we say “welcome to reality kid, start saving up for your retirement fund?” We forget about the second part of that saying “you can be anything you want to be if you try.” We’ve stopped trying. We find it’s easy to live an average life, why would we strive for anything else? That’s not safe, why would I risk my comfort? We need to wake up from this sleep we’ve been in as a Western culture and start hoping again, start dreaming big. Besides, what good is all that money you make from that job you hate so much when you die? Nothing if you haven’t spent it on the right things. You can’t take that stuff with you. People have tried. Why do you think people have mid-life crises? Because we’re not meant to live a life of comfort, of extreme routine, of boredom. Do something! Get involved. Jesus said He came to “give us life and life to the full.” Are you living that full life? Or are you following the narrow path of what we have been taught is a successful life and not finding satisfaction in that? God has so much more for us than this, just ask Him. I’m sure He’d be happy to give you some direction, remind you of those dreams you suppressed when the world told you it wasn’t practical. Now, the question is, are you willing to follow those directions?

I tend to rant a lot. My bad.

Other stuff I’m doing:
The Shade Tree: The excitement they have when we show up is so amazing. I look forward to their stories, to their smiles. Each week different women make it known that they tell us how happy they are we show up every Thursday. These women are just like you and me, they’ve just taken a wrong turn and don’t exactly know how to fix that. Hopefully by the end of our time here they’ll understand that God has the answer to their questions.

The past two Fridays we’ve gone to the Strip. The people I meet capture my heart every single time. It truly is amazing what happens when we take the time to care to listen to people. Last night we did something a bit different than we normally do. We stood on the sidewalk and played guitar, worshipped, and then some of us gave our testimonies and others told about God’s love. Now I can’t count how many times I’ve seen people on the corner of streets preaching “Repent or you’re going to burn in Hell.” I didn’t want to be that guy. I didn’t want to scare people into believing in God. So naturally, I was dreading this-absolutely dreading it. And of course, I was the first to give my testimony. I was so nervous, but God was totally there. I know I wasn’t being that guy because I spoke about how there is a God who loves me and how that changed my life. And surprisingly, people listened and people responded. Great conversations were birthed out of each person’s story. I only know of one person who gave their life to Christ right there last night, and God is throwing a party for that man as big as it would have been if it were 300 people. And I’ll never know how many seeds were planted in hearts last night. That’s for God to know. It was also raining on us during this so I’m amazed that as many people stood around and listened that did.

Funds for outreach to India and Nepal are coming due pretty soon. Half of the $3,500 is due October 14th so we can purchase plane tickets and visas and get the ball rolling. The whole $3,500 is due November 14th. If you would like to support me, let me tell you, you’re dang awesome. Really, no amount is too small, or too large. You can go to PayPal and send it using my email address: ariellegomora@yahoo.com or you can send a check made out to YWAM to this address:

YWAM
C/O Arielle Gomora
P.O. Box 36606
Las Vegas, NV
89133

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