Mission Update 4 – Placement!!!

Brothers & Sisters,

The News We Have All Been Waiting For

It is so good to share with all of you how my three-week mission trip to Mexico went and where the Lord has called me to serve for (at least) the next year of my life!!! For about 5 years I have been asking the Lord what it is He would like to do in my life. I cannot believe that after all these years, all the prayers I poured out to the Lord before Him in chapels (along with heavy discernment between being a foreign missionary, stateside missionary, or a nun), has finally come to me finding out exactly where the Lord is calling me to go out to. I am more than excited and at complete peace to share that I will be making real friends with the poor and bringing the Gospel to ECUADOR!!!!! Since placement day I have been overwhelmed with joy and utter conviction that Ecuador is the country the Lord has planned for my life since the day I was born. There is no fear or confusion in my heart at all that this is His perfect plan for my life. I am being sent with two other single women, Bonnie Butler and Lauren Dorsett and will be meeting the Kiehl family once we arrive. Please pray for team Ecuador, the poor and friendships we will make, our ministries, our housing situation and all the logistics, and for my personal transformation during this time.

Mission Trip to Mexico

My time in Mexico overall was incredibly blessed. Our drive on the way to Mexico ended up being a 24-hour drive because we got stuck at the border for about 6 hours. There were unnecessary complications with our rental van paperwork, but as we waited and waited we sang out in praise and worship in the parking lot. What could have been a frustrating and anxious-filled experience turned into an opportunity to call upon the Lord. I was amazed at the faith of the other missionaries and how we all, without hesitation, leaned into the Lord. When we finally arrived to General Cepeda, which is where one of the mission bases is located in Mexico, the missionaries posted there welcomed us with cheering, hugs, and exuberant joy.

General Cepeda has a special place in my heart now. Our Mexican missionaries at the mission house prepared us delicious, traditional meals every day, the local people you walk by greet with you beautiful smiles, the little stores blasted Mexican music, stray dogs would get excited to see you pass them by…it was as if every part of Mexico was rejoicing over the Lord’s goodness and glory. I could go on and on about how beautiful the people and the country of Mexico was (and how the locals love helping you with your broken Spanish), but what I would love to share above all is how the Lord was preparing me for placement day and all that He revealed to me leading up to it.

(Streets of General)

(Our view from outside our apartment)

Praying For a Sign

Prior to Mexico I was getting nervous because I knew all of us missionaries were inching closer to finding out where we would be placed. Because I struggle with patience, I begged the Lord in prayer to give me a clue as to what country He was going to send me to. I was in our chapel at Big Woods, closed my eyes and saw an image of me approaching a tent in the wilderness. Throughout Intake I have had a lot of moments in prayer where I saw myself approaching a tent in prayer and Jesus was inside of it, ready to console me. I found that this imagery of tent was like a safe place for me to retreat to. Here I was outside of the tent again, but this time, pouting. Jesus came outside of the tent, found me pouting and said, “Kellie, what’s wrong?” In my stubbornness I replied, “Jesus, I am tired of waiting. I just want to know where you are calling me to serve.” Next thing I know, I am inside the tent and see the flag of my country strewn everywhere. All I could make of the flag though was that there was a red, long stripe across it, but nothing else. I had a feeling though the other colors were more vibrant and festive. I left the chapel that night even more curious.

Ecuador Revealed

Another glory story and answered prayer happened during my time in Mexico. When I discerned between being a nun and a foreign missionary about three years ago, I prayed a novena to St. Therese of Lisieux and asked for her intercession. My request was that if the Lord was calling me to be a nun, St. Therese would reveal to me white roses somehow, but if I were to be a foreign missionary, she would reveal to me sunflowers. On the last day of my novena a coworker of mine at Dynamic Catholic told me she had flowers for me. It was a picture on her phone of a field of yellow flowers she had stumbled upon on a hike and felt like she needed to take the photo for me. My heart already felt more called to the missionary life at this point, so this was a confirmation from the Lord.

Fast-forward to the second week of Mexico and before Mass one day a group of us missionaries walked into the church. We had just come from a coffee shop and I had just shared with the missionaries my testimony and my story with St. Therese and the sunflowers. We walk into the church and everyone said to me, “Kellie…look…look at your flowers!” I look up and see three bouquets of yellow flowers up on the altar. During Mass, I heard the Lord whispering to me saying, “These flowers will follow you wherever you go.”

(The flowers in the chapel)

The morning of placement day all of us missionaries had morning worship together. While praise and worship was happening I found myself reflecting on this vision of me following behind Jesus’ feet as we both were hiking for miles. I couldn’t see anything else other than the ground He was walking on and His feet. At first, I was following Him as He was walking through a desert, next it was a bustling city, to hiking up a mountain, and then I found myself seeing us walk through a jungle. When it came to the jungle, we stopped. I didn’t think much of it, but I could tell the Lord wanted to say something to me but was going to wait until later. After worship we hopped into four or five vans, drove for miles into the mountainous desert for “Desert Day” (which is a day we have once a week where we have an extended period of prayer time to ourselves in silence), and the whole entire drive to where we would be stopping there were patches of yellow flower fields. Every inch closer our van drove I heard the Lord tell me, “Kellie, come follow me. I have exciting news to share with you.” My heart was racing, but the peace and excitement I had was indescribable.

(A low quality photo on our drive)

We get to our picnic spot and leadership passed out envelopes to each one of us with our country’s name and team members’ names listed inside. I ran off with my letter, found a place to pray near the mountains and waited an hour to open it. I knew I needed to eat first and prepare my heart in prayer before opening it up. As I began to pray, the vision of following Jesus’ feet in the jungle resurfaced. This time, we were in the jungle, we stopped walking, and I saw a waterfall nearby. I looked at Jesus and He told me, “Kellie, look out at this view.” In the midst of this jungle I saw a field of yellow flowers. Jesus whispered, “Kellie, come lay down with me in this field, let’s open up this letter together.” I started to open the envelope. Jesus with enthusiasm repeated over and over, “Don’t be afraid! It’s good good news!”

I opened the letter and saw Ecuador written boldly and the flag printed colorfully on the piece of paper. The names of my teammates (whom I love so so much) were also written out. I laughed out loud with joy as I saw the Ecuadorian flag and a huge, red stripe on it. I also burst out laughing because my team members hold a special place in my heart and I couldn’t help but laugh about how much I worried the whole time when there was truly nothing to fear. I looked closely at the flag and saw that on the left of the emblem, almost hidden amidst the yellow stripe of the flag are yellow flowers. Again, I laughed with joy and heard the Lord say, “My flowers will follow you wherever you go, daughter.”

(My view when I opened the letter)

Preparing Our Hearts

The Lord is good and keeps His promises. That is what I learned from my time in Mexico, especially on placement day. My team is so excited, but we are also preparing ourselves for the great hardships and difficulties before us. We know it won’t be easy, but we do know it will be a sanctifying time. What we do know about where we will be sent to will be about 5 minutes away driving distance from the Kiehl family, a priest is coming to reside in the area permanently (which is huge for this village), and we will be living in the heart of the jungle. Our housing situation seems to be coming together and we have heard of various ministries we could possible be diving into. One that we are especially excited for is to literally trek through the jungle for hours, starting with canoeing and then hiking, in order to reach villages in Mango Playa which are remote and a place thirsting for the Gospel. I never would’ve imagined the Lord would entrust me with such a beautiful task as this, but He has and how beautiful and humbling that is!

I have returned to Big Woods and am here for two weeks. Our Commissioning Mass will take place in two weeks and my parents will be flying out to meet my fellow missionaries and the home I have established here in Louisiana. After that, I will be headed back home for Christmas break, spend a month at home, and then leave for Ecuador sometime in late January or so. Thank you brothers and sister for your prayers, your love, and your amazing support as I have been eagerly waiting to hear where I will be going. More is to come of me writing about my time in Mexico and the ways we served for three weeks.

May the Lord Bless You & Praise Be to God,

Kellie

(Team Ecuador!!!! Bonnie on the left and Lauren in the middle!)

(Some of the single missionaries in Mexico)

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“I am ready to build the Kingdom of wildflower fields for the Lord” (Journal entry on June 4th, 2018)

“For the Lord Your God is bringing you into a good country…a land where you will always have bread and where you will lack nothing” (Deuteronomy 8:7)