mexico city updates

keep updated on our days!

different team members have blogs specifically for the mexico city trip...

katie's blog

"official" mexico city blog

off to mexico city!

please pray for our team!

- open hearts of children, families, everyone we encounter to the Gospel
- we would be a blessing to our missionaries and the local church
- health and safety
- team unity

by God's grace and for His glory alone! :)

my Christian testimony

true freedom in Christ alone!

I have always thought that my testimony is very boring. My story does not involve a dramatic, Pauline conversion nor have I dealt with narcotics, sexual immorality or jail time. On the contrary, it is simple and basic. My life has been filled with much joy, many blessings and minimal suffering. Through the years, I have come to fully realize that everyone’s story of saving grace is unique; preordained by God Himself and tailored to glorify Him the best through that specific individual in that particular fashion. I am truly grateful and humbled that despite all of my worldly stability (not unlike the Rich Man detailed in Matthew 19), I have been allowed to see my sin and repent of it, to acknowledge my need for a Lord and Savior and to be able to proclaim His infinite grace and mercy even now. In Matthew 19:24 it says, “Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

I grew up in a Christian family, and I accepted Christ at a young age, though I never have been sure of the exact date. I attended private Christian schools from Pre-School through high school, and I went to church regularly with my parents. I always attended Sunday School with the occasional visit to my youth group. I went through all of the motions and was a very well-behaved and moral girl by worldly standards. Despite those seemingly robotic and routine things, I always had a deep understanding of sin. In Romans 3:10, 23 it states, “There is none righteous, not even one… For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” I knew that I did not want to spend eternity in hell (Romans 6:23). God commands everyone to repent of our sins and to turn to Christ as our Lord and Savior (Isaiah 55:7, Luke 9:23, Acts 17:30 and Romans 10:9). The beautiful fact that Jesus Christ, God’s only son, died on the cross as a perfect and blameless sacrifice for our sins (2 Corinthians 5:21) was instilled in my heart early on, but I did not really grow to understand what it meant to be under His Lordship until Junior High. I was genuinely saved but bearing little fruit. It was during 7^th grade that my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, and my world was turned upside down. It was a severe trial for everyone, and I learned to trust in the Lord and rely on Him for everything. I started to see God’s sovereign hand in every moment of my life. My mother’s example of pure faith and genuine joy amidst her suffering was inspirational. With a new desire to submit to Christ’s Lordship, to further my walk and be in complete obedience with God’s Word, I recommitted my life and was baptized during my Freshman year of high school.

I abandoned the Christian school track after high school and decided to attend UCLA. I was surprised that I was accepted to such a prestigious school, so I thought that I should give it a try. I went in Undeclared and “ready” to take on anything that would come my way. It would be a completely new experience, and I love new experiences. I was definitely not ready for the new path I had chosen. The culture shock was indescribable! I was not used to being around so many immoral people on a daily basis, and I had big adjustments (in every respect) to make during my first year there. My Christian bubble had run into a huge thorn, burst, and my world was in proverbial chaos. My parents had divorced the summer before, I was not enjoying the random GE classes that I had chosen, and toward the end of my second quarter, I started missing music. My grades dropped immensely that first year, and my mother and I contemplated switching me to another college. I knew at this point that music was a gift that God wanted me to use in the future, and I even made a trip out to St. Olaf College to visit and see if that gift could be cultivated there. After some searching and much prayer, I decided to stay and become a Music Education major at UCLA. That was probably one of the best decisions God has led me to make. Through the experiences I had and the people I met at UCLA, God has molded me into the person I am today.

The entire struggle with future direction led me to a deeper understanding of what was always in my heart to begin with. The struggle was indeed of my own flesh (pride and selfishness) battling with what I knew to be true of God. 1 John 2:16 states, “for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.” It was and is never about me and my own desires. As soon as I submitted to God’s poking and prodding, it all became clear to me. The words from our junior high class’ graduating verse echo in my heart today (Jeremiah 29:11-13): “For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. (29:11-13)”

My passion for teaching developed as I took the various required courses and started to delve into student teaching, and now I have finished my fifth year of teaching at Paul Revere Middle School. I know that God has placed me in the public school system to be an indirect and direct witness to all those I come into contact with. God also led me to start attending Grace Community Church in Sun Valley regularly when I started working at Revere. The teaching at Grace is deep, thorough and very sound, and I am learning and growing so much from being there. I am no longer sitting on the plateau of complacency in my Christian life. I joined the worship choir, am involved in the Foundry fellowship group, and I love serving the Lord with the people involved. More recently, the Lord has blessed me with a Godly fiancée, Brian Dokko, whom I will be marrying this coming November. He is everything I need and want, and I look forward to serving the Lord with him for the rest of our lives.

Since the beginning, my spiritual journey has seen its share of trials and blessings, and I know that nothing is out of His hand and everything is playing out according to His great plan. My life verse is 2 Corinthians 12:9-10. It states, “And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.” I wish this to be true of my life. How amazing to have been chosen to know the One and Only Creator God who sent His Son to die for us on the cross and rose again after three days! Praise God for the Holy Spirit that is living inside of me to guide me and help me grow every day of my life. I live my life daily only for God’s glory knowing that I am a sinner deserving nothing more than hell. I desire only to see His face and have Him say to me the words expressed in Matthew 25:21: “…’Well done, good and faithful slave You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.'”