blog by Ashley Jimenez

I don't know where to begin. This trip has been a time of growth for me, not only spiritually but emotionally as well. Scotland is so beautiful, but there are things hidden and buried deep beneath the beauty.  Some of my teamates and I went and picked up trash in the woods off of the main road.  From the street it looked breath takingly beautiful but once we got past the wire fence it was such a mess.  It was devastating.  Mason compared this to a human being. On one side of the fence it was beautiful, but the deeper we went, the more garbage we found.  A person may be absolutely gorgeous and put together on the ouside but inside they're a wreck.  Just like the garbage in the forest wasn't going to get taken care by itself we need help from God to clean the junk out of our hearts.

The second day we were in Scotland we went on a prayer walk through Paisley.  There is so much history here you can see God in everything, but the one thing I did not see God in was the people. When we first got to Paisley we were greeted by twenty-four people that we would be staying with for the next 17 days and they were glowing, you could just see God in them. When you look into the eyes of the people in Paisley you see sadness and depression.  It's like they are searching for something but can't find it no matter how hard they try.  What I've learned is God is always right there waiting to pick us up when we stumble.  No matter how hard we try to run away, He is always there waiting for us to want Him and yearn for Him the way he yearns for us every second of everyday.

I'm also learning it's okay to ask for help.  it is not a sign of weakness.  Everybody needs somebody and it's okay to ask your leader or teamates for help, because that is what they are here for, but ultimately God wants us to lean on Him. He wants us to be able to share our burdens with Him and our teamates and leaders. I tend to take on everyone else's burdens, but bury my own because i feel like they are mine to carry and I don't want to put that heaviness on anyone else. But I've realized I can't carry my burdens and everyone else's as well. I need help. I'm working on giving my burdens over to God and it's getting better everyday.  He is breaking me down day by day and I can't wait until those walls come tumbling down.  Well that's all for now until next time, love you all.

As they say in Scotland,

Cheers!