IGNITE Training Experience

            In January of 2013 I found myself brokenhearted, depressed, and empty. I was searching for something, anything, that would get me out of the hole I found myself in. Fortunately, in the depths of my heart I knew what the answer to my problem was. I had grown up Catholic and began attending a non-denominational church in 2007, so I had the knowledge in my head of Jesus. I knew it was time to let that knowledge travel the fifteen inches from my head to my heart and begin to follow him. So in March of 2013, I picked up my cross and began following Jesus Christ with all I had.
That following July I was offered the opportunity to be a counselor at my church's high school youth camp in Whitefish, Montana, at Potter's Field Ranch. There I met Jordan and Meg, two staff member's of Potter's Field and recent IGNITE interns. They both told me about their experience in the program and encouraged me to pray about applying. Before I even left Montana that week, I knew God wanted me to come here. I was very excited to put hands and feet to my new life I was living. I finished college and prepared to be apart of IGNITE Class 7.
I'm now here in Guatemala, fifteen months later, finishing up my last week in the training phase of the IGNITE program. I have had the opportunity to work with children in the Potter's Field Kid's Club on a weekly basis, participate in several community outreaches, visit patients at a local hospital, and help with various events held on the property. In the classroom I have learned the Inductive Bible Study method, studied the Book of Acts, read many books by authors like Warren Wiersbe and Roy Hession, and studied the lives of various missionaries, just to name a few things. I also was exposed to many hands on types of ministry like miming, puppetry, and skits. All of these different experiences gave me the opportunity to grow and trust in the Lord in ways I never had before.
When I first arrived here in Guatemala, one of my fellow classmates asked me, "What do you expect to get out of this program." All I could answer was that I knew God was going to blow me away. I didn't know what He had in store for me here but I knew it would me more than I could imagine. Sitting here reflecting on my experience, He did just what I expected. I was stretched more than I had ever been stretched. I learned more about Him than I had ever learned. I prayed more than I had ever prayed. I was exhorted more than I had ever been exhorted.
He used all of this to teach me two very important lessons. First, He is sovereign over everything. He has control over every single intimate detail of what goes on in the world and in this, He always has our best interests in mind. I can let go of all the anxieties caused by my fleshly desire to control my life. His way is always the best way. Second, I learned I must die to self on a consistent moment to moment basis. Nothing in me is good so I must find myself broken before Him every morning I awake. This brokenness is one of the most beautiful states we can be in because we can then be filled with the Holy Spirit. When we are filled we are ready to go and do His work. These two profound lessons have radically changed my relationship with Jesus. With the understanding of His sovereignty and my brokenness, I'm prepared to go out onto the field and serve the Costa Rican people. Even more importantly, no matter where He sends me, I know who He is and who I am in Him.