Hola Hola, amigos!

Ohmigosh ohmigosh ohmigosh…IT’S HAPPENING! Our patience, prayers and faith have paid off! I am headed to San Salvador on …JUUUUST KIDDING!

Wait, no, that was a bad joke. I mean, I am actually moving to San Salvador and I DO actually have a plane ticket! But guys, I have been waiting for just the right time, over a week! to share this information with you. So if even I can wait to tell you my moving date, you can wait just a few more paragraphs to read it. 😜

(Or you can be like Instant-Gratification-Ashley and scroll to the bottom now. Choose your own adventure, friends 😉)

When I entered into this season of uncertainty, I knew that my faith would be strengthened. I knew that God was asking me, When all your plans fall through and you can’t see past tomorrow, do you still trust Me to take care of you? Most days, my head says Yes, I trust God to care for me! His Word says that He cares and provides for even the birds of the sky, so why wouldn’t God take care of me as well? But my heart…my heart is a more difficult sell. My heart says, Yeah, God will most likely come through on this one, but better have your own plan in place just in case we don’t like God’s plan. And because I love making plans and knowing exactly how I am going to get from Point A to Point B, my heart often wins out. My heart is where Instant-Gratification-Ashley lives.

These past four months have been a weekly, daily – and most days – hourly battle between my head telling my heart to take a Xanax and calm the freak down, God’s got this! and my heart telling my headthere’s a huge life change about to happen! We need to have a plan in place! Honestly, I’m not sure who’s winning right now!

Here is what I am sure of – I am sure that whether or not I believe it in my head AND in my heart, God is in control and He knows exactly what He’s doing. God used every moment of the past four months for eithermy good or for His.

A few moments of good:

• Four, FOUR! major holidays spent with Dad
• Spending my birthday indulging in some of my favorite things
• Living with my best friend, Kristen (I’d been asking since college to be her roommate!) for a month and my discipler, Pam for the rest of my time here
• Extra time with my girl Ali. Once I leave, it will be months before we are reunited in San Salvador, so the extra time together has been a huge blessing
• Spending time with Amanda in her office learning the ins-and-outs of youth ministry and smiling. I smile a lot when I’m with her and I got a whole lotta extra smiles in over the past few months.
• Everything Rock City Youth.

I know the wrestling between my head and my heart will be a constant struggle, but today, my head is storing up extra I told ya so’s for my heart.

ps…if you made it this far without cheating, bueno for you! I leave for San Salvador at 6am on Thursday, April 21^st!

“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
2 Peter 3v9

At the end of November, when I was initially delayed, waiting an extra week, an extra month, an extra four months, seemed impossible and cruel. But now, I am so glad that decision was made for me. I would not trade these past four months for all the pupusas* in the world…probably 😉

Please Pray:

• That these last 3 weeks would be filled with good goodbyes with all my friends and family
• That I can condense all my belongings into 3 suitcases!
• That God would protect my heart from any negativity that Satan might try to plant.
• For mi amiga Ali as she continues her support raising. I selfishly want her to finish quickly so she can get to San Salvador this fall!

* Pupusas are a Salvadoran food – corn tortilla, cheese, chicken/beef/chorizo, and more cheese. And they are delicious.