God always goes before us.

Deuteronomy 31:8   "The LORD is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed." God ALWAYS goes ahead of us… He has a plan, He just wants to know if we will step out and trust Him, even if we don't see all the provision and pieces. It's truly amazing to me STILL that God performs miracles. Everytime it happens, it surprises me. And yet His word tells us that we should expect to do even greater things. JOHN 14:12-14 "Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it." AND WON'T HE DO IT!?!... During the revival at my Church a couple of weeks ago, I felt like the Lord put on my heart to tithe from the amount I had raised for the year to live in Guatemala. My first thought was "No, I need all of that!!!" And then I was reminded that I have never been able to out-give God, He has always provided for my every need, and this time wouldn't be different. The Lord placed on my heart for me to give it to a small Church in Guatemala, where I had been introduced to the pastor and his wife in April. (2016) So I put the 10% aside in an envelope to take with me when I moved in Sept! Little did I know this pastor, his wife & their congregation had been praying for provision in an area of their church. A team had raised enough money to build an Alter at their Church, but then they had too big of a gap between the alter and the roof, so they needed to build a wall. This would mean more fundraising and they knew it would take a while here in Guatemala. When I came to Guatemala, I gave them the envelope with what God put on my heart to give… Apparently it was the EXACT amount they needed to build the wall & therefore could make full use of the Alter that had just been built by the other team. Someone had just told them "To thank God for the unseen" & that He would provide for them. I had no idea of their need and they had no idea that God spoke to my heart weeks before. WOW… only God. If you listen…and obey… He will use you in unimaginable ways!!!!

Copyright © *2016* *Soul 139, All rights reserved. www.SOUL139.org Our mailing address is: PO Box 470252, Charlotte, NC 28247 Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list

Day 7 in Guatemala

Day 7... Last night I didn't sleep well, I ended up going back to bed and sleeping until 12. I think my body is worn out from all the walking I'm not used to doing, and my brain is tired from processing all the Spanish I'm not used to hearing all day, everyday! I am taking today to get situated and hopefully finish unpacking . (I've been here a week and still haven't done it!) And since it's national coffee day, I came to get coffee at my favorite little place in Antigua. Yesterday and the day before I went to serve at Village of Hope. The first day I did about 14 haircuts but the second day I only did 3. My friends are here serving also and I wanted to help with them instead! So I got to sweep out water from a storage room so they could paint in there, use a machete and cut down weeds, have lunch with the kids, take a tour around VOH, meet the nannies and see the property. It was a good day! People here have jobs with intense physical labor AND they walk to and from work, sometimes in the rain, and sometimes climbing on a packed bus with 60+ other people. All of which I have experienced this week. It makes me grateful for having a car in the states to get to work and home in a timely manor without getting soaked from rain or sweating my bum off from walking and sitting on a bus packed like sardines. At the end of my first week, I can say I have a lot of respect for the people here. My feet hurt from walking so much, my back hurts from carrying my things with me, my knees hurt from sitting so squished on the bus and they live this day in and day out. And my life is STILL so privileged here. I have a bed to sleep in, hot water and food to eat. Some people don't even have that. And yet, they still have so much joy! I can learn a lot from them. I am looking forward to the day that my Spanish is enough for me to have proper conversations with people to ask questions and talk with them about their lives. Right now I speak enough to get by and it's getting better every day. When you're in a store with no one that speaks English and you need to buy something... it's amazing how your brain figures it out!!! Tomorrow I am meeting with The Parkers (my friends from home that came to serve here) and Pastor Cesar and his wife, Amy, to spend the day with them!

Copyright © *2016* *SOUL 139*, All rights reserved. *www.SOUL139.org* Our mailing address is: PO Box 470252, Charlotte, NC 28247 Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list Psalm 139:14 "I am fearfully wonderfully made, I know that full well."

First day of cutting hair!!!

Today is my 5th day in #Guatemala & my 1st day of cutting hair! Today & tomorrow I will be serving at Village Of Hope. This morning I got up at 6am and walked 20 mins to get the bus, then get off that bus and walked another 30 mins... then got on another bus and then walked about 5 more minutes to get to VOH. People do this every day to get to work! Who needs a gym!? Thankful for a beautiful day today so that I didn't have to do it in the rain!!!! Yesterday it was like a flood!!!

I'm not lost, I'm exploring Today is day 4 ... I went for a little stroll this morning, got lost, but made it back to where I needed to be. Sometimes getting lost is the best thing that can happen, because you find things and places you didn't know were there. You expand your knowledge, you grow your comfort zone, you lean on God and you learn how you tend to respond. You also may learn what NOT to do & how far your legs can actually take you haha. These first few days here have been challenging and overwhelming, but without those things there wouldn't be any growth. I have to say, I am VERY thankful for the people God has placed around me to help me! ...After writing this post I was walking back to my apartment, after picking up my laundry once I figured out where on earth I was, and on the back of a truck there was a sticker that said: "IM NOT LOST, IM EXPLORING" And it just made me smile after the mornings adventure!! It was a little God wink 😉 Let's see what today brings! #Guatemala

Thoughts along the way

THOUGHTS ALONG THE WAY…

Just sitting reflecting on all God has done this past year is amazing.

Being on the other side of it by a year and looking back at all the things I was so afraid of, doesn't even matter at this point because it's all taken care of. 

That's just like Gods character. 

Which means all the things that I am afraid of when I look forward, will be taken care of too, and I will be able to look back with a smile at how God accomplished it all...again.

There have been a lot of things I didn't anticipate dealing with during this transition. 

One would be figuring out what to do with the projected fears others throw at me when I tell them what I'm doing. 

I didn't anticipate the amount of fear I would feel listening to other people's fears. 

But the thing I need to remember is, God didn't call them to do this. Some of them have never even left Charlotte, North Carolina, of course they would be afraid to go to Guatemala. Some have never even left a country, and splurt out:

"Do you know what it's like to move to a different country!?!? I couldn't do it!!!" 

Umm…hello, I am from a different country. I've done it once, I can do it again.

"Do you know how unsafe it is there!?" 

Yes, yes I do, thank you for the reminder. It's actually not that safe here at the moment either if you look at current affairs. And if God is asking me to do it, He will protect me and has a purpose for me there. I could quite easily have something happen to me here in the states too... God has a plan and a purpose for each one of us, He doesn't intend to take us home until that is finished. When it's your time to go, it's your time to go and there is nothing you can do about it. 

So, I've learned along this fun journey, how to battle through fears, of mine and others. How to trust that if Gods called you to it, He will provide for it. Financially, the people, the connections and everything in between.

It's still so amazing to me when He does.

I had two clients sit in my chair 30 minutes after each other and tell me of the SAME ministry and the SAME lady's name. They did not know each other but they had both worked with Lemonade International and wanted to get me in touch with "Tita". 

If that wasn't clear, I don't know what was! I'm paying attention God!

I spoke to Tita and we will get to meet in September when I get there & see what God has planned for us!

There have been so many things along the way that God has confirmed that this is the way I should go...So I'm walking in it. I'm grateful to be on track. 

To read more and if you are interesting in donating towards this journey you can do so here:

BE THE CONNECTION

SOUL 139 & Love Week

SOUL 139 & LOVE WEEK SOUL 139 & LOVE WEEK 2016 - Together we served a total of 115 hours at our 3 events!!! Our Church has a week called "LOVE WEEK" where collectively as a church we serve our community! This year SOUL 139 got to participate with 3 different events. One at Planet 21 salon, serving Rebound and Hope Haven. One at the Hope Haven facility and one at Doves Nest. Providing a total of 62 haircuts and serving a total of 115 hours. We are thankful to all who gave their time and services to bless the people in our city!!! "Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace." 1 Peter 4:10 A big THANK YOU to Planet 21 Salon for allowing us to use their salon uptown every other month to serve our community. Also a big THANK YOU to Elevation Church for supporting SOUL 139's journey to Guatemala. What a blessing to be supported by our Church family. Not only do we get to serve those in our back yard, but also in another country. If you would also like to support our journey to Guatemala you can do so by giving a one time gift or signing up to support monthly on the links below. DONATE ONE TIME MONTHLY SUPPORT

MOVING TO GUATEMALA...

SOUL 139 GUATEMALA  Well... As most of you are aware, at the beginning of this year I decided I was not going to do the non-profit side of SOUL 139 anymore. It was honestly getting a bit much for me to handle and so I decided to make SOUL more of an outreach program instead. We kept the events and even increased them to every other month. Sonshine Britton & Megan Cheves have been doing a wonderful job planning them. We found a more productive way of doing the events and funding was not needed for them. So with that we were able to donate all of SOUL 139’s funds to Gods work in our city, through One7. They are a partner of ours that we still serve outside of events once a month at their facility; Sonshine & I (Kat) go and cut hair for the kids. We are grateful that we could be a blessing with the donation to help fund some of their projects that are growing in our city.  If you’d like to learn more about One7 you can go to One7.org   As for SOUL 139, it is taking on a new shift and aside from the outreach events here in our city, I am going to be doing SOUL 139 in Guatemala. (I know…Gods got jokes!) There had been talk of this last July, but things didn’t pan out as expected in that time.    Now, the plan is in place and I intend to move at the end of September. I am planning for a year and will see what God does during that time. If all goes well, it may end up being longer.  I have connections with two different children’s homes, Casa Aleluya, and Village of Hope. I will be going to cut hair at these homes on a regular basis. God has also opened the door with two other ministries in Guatemala, Lemonade International & Light of the Nations. I plan to go and meet with the founders once I get settled. We have already discussed me serving their people with haircuts, but also getting to teach the skill of cutting hair, so that they can make a living and provide for their families. They can do hair anywhere!    My long term goal is to provide hair starter kits for the people that I teach. And to have stylists raise funds through SOUL 139 to come on missions trips and do hair with me! So although SOUL 139 is still an outreach program, it will now be a fundraising tool to cover program expenses for teaching, hair supplies, starter kits, living expenses (as I will be working as a missionary!) and other bits and bobs as needed.  As well as a means for people to fundraise their missions trip!    I didn’t expect to pick SOUL 139 up again, but God has placed a new vision in my heart. Our mission is still the same, the way we are going about doing it is different & much more sustainable! Pastor Steven said in one of his sermons recently "A seed has to go in the ground to die before it can burst forth into what it was meant to be."  I think that's what had to happen with SOUL 139! I don’t know what the future holds, but I trust that God has a purpose for moving me half way across the world for a season! For 9 months now this has been on my heart, and I’m finally looking forward to what is to come!   I hope you would consider supporting me in this journey, whether financially, or prayerfully! Both are needed!   This is the link if you would like to donate: www.Crowdrise.com/movingtoguatemala1/fundraiser/soul139   Thank you for being a part of my story and getting a front row seat to see what God can do through an imperfect person :)   Kat Crawford