Friends! I have an announcement!! I'M GOING TO ECUADOR!!!
You may or may not have seen my social media post, but I wanted to make a blog sharing more of my heart behind going on this mission trip, as well as a bit more details for those interested in being supporters. The Lord is moving, and I am so excited to share this with all of you!
For about 4 months, the Lord has been speaking of a "Go" this summer. I took suchhhhhhh an interest in this trip with a group called EveryHeartMovment (definitely check them out-they're amazing). At the end of December, I went through the entire application process and was accepted! Despite the excitement, my Spirit just felt a bit hesitant. If you read my last blog, there was sooooo much the Lord was doing behind the scenes in the month of December. I put a pause on any decisions I was going to make and completlyyyyy saw the Lord lay things out before me.
"Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." PSALMS 27:14After a lot of prayer and waiting on the Lord, I realized that EveryHeart wasn't what God had for me this summer. Though serving with EveryHeart is a good thing, it just wasn't the good thing God had for me...and that's okay!
Something I've learned this year is that walking in obedience requires sacrifice, but God ALWAYS honors sacrifice. I saw that! His "no" led to a greater "yes"!
As I sat with all of that, I still felt this "go" in my spirit for this summer. I just hung on to it and trusted that the Lord would open doors. As I continued with life here in Colorado, my heart began to stir for victims of sex trafficking. I often found myself praying and interceding on their behalf. Around the same time as well, I began to have this huge desire to go to Ecuador. I often get random bursts of "I WANT TO GO THEIR" but it's usually nothing too deep LOL. Interestingly, going to Ecuador has been a longgg time desire. I choose the route I did on the World Race because Ecuador was one of the countries.
All of this was coming up and I wasn't thinking about this summer at all. I was seriously just doing my thing, trusting that God would lay it all out. I also was praying about what "go" could look like for me here in Colorado Springs. At this point, I was literally up for whatever God wanted to do.
In early February, I got off of work and jumped on Facebook for a bit. I saw a post from one of my World Race homies, JP. He's on staff with a ministry called Dunamis in Ecuador and they're looking for people to join them on a 3-week trip this summer! I immediately called him up to let him know I was interested. We planned a call to talk out a bit more of the details and by the end of it, I was pretty sure it was a yes. I took a few days to pray about it. I was met with peace and God saying, "go"! So, here I am!
I'm going to Ecuador!!
With that, I wanted to share some more details and answer some questions you might have.
What is Dunamis?
Dunamis is a non-profit organization in Quito, Ecuador serving underaged girls who have been rescued from sex trafficking and sexual abuse. Dunamis started in 2010 with the mission of helping under aged victims of sexual exploitation, abuse and violence. The greek word "Dunamis" means "power". This word embodied the mission God was creating through his servants; who after an experience of serving a small group of three girls, knew God was calling them to serve Him in a more powerful way. Dunamis now serves girls who have been victims of sex trafficking, sexual abuse, neglect and abandonment. They reside in Zoe’s Home where they learn the Word of God, receive counseling and learn life skills such as sewing, beauty and tagua workshops. They also continue their education and have medical and psychological help. The young ladies are exposed to a Christ-centered holistic development program while staying on an 11 acre compound under the care of Boris, Fernanda, and a specialized professional staff. You can learn more about Dunamis Foundation by going to their website HERE.
When is the trip and what will you be doing?
I leave May 26th to train in Georgia for 3 days and will be in Ecuador May 29th-June 13th. While there, the team I'm with will be doing a variety of different things. A focus for us will be working to create an "alumni home" for women as they transition out of Zoe's home. The day to day will be full of different ministry work like manual labor, teachings, worship, outreach, etc. For more details about the alumni house click HERE! I'd love to share more about it via phone as well!
How can I support you?
There are two ways you can be supporting me and this mission trip.
The first and most important way is by prayer! You can be praying for me, the staff, and the Dunamis foundation in the preparation of this trip. Pray that God would continue to prepare our hearts, and ready the work before us.
The second is by financially supporting me. I have been asked to fundraise $700+ for the trip (not including flights). This will cover food, lodging, and transpiration while in Ecuador. Please pray about financially supporting me. If you would like to donate, you can donate by pressing the donate button down below. It will take you directly to my PayPal account. You can also Venmo me @KourtneyVitera.
Thank you so much for reading and being apart of this journey with me. It really does bring me so much joy inviting you all into what Jesus is doing in my life and the life's around me. Please reach out with any questions you may have, or if you just want to chit chat. I'm always down for a good phone call.
You are loved, valued, and worthy! His grace is so sufficient! Continue to trust in the Lord with all your heart!
Blessings, my sweet friends!
--
Kourtney V.