Thankful for the people in my life

Today hits the 4th week of my stay here in El Salvador. Just think, if I didn't extend my stay I would be coming home this weekend. I'm so glad that I'm staying an extra month. I'll be coming home April 7th (12am-ish). So far I'm enjoying every moment here.

As each day passes, I'm getting to know each and everyone of my missionary friends more and more. We just added a new missionary to our house and her name is Ashley. Honestly, I couldn't be more happier. I have such a great team! When I first met each and everyone of them, I knew they were God sent. I was talking to one of the leaders here and they mentioned how the El Salvador base rarely receives missionaries. Maybe 5-7 people a year and a few teams. I was thinking to myself... Well that must mean my team was hand picked from God because all 6 of us broke that record in FEB. Plus, we just had a team from New York come and in a few weeks we have 2 more coming. God is blessing the El Salvador base and I am so bless to be apart of the blessing. :)

Meet Jimmy, he is such a Man of God. He has such a great passion for soccer and kids. He's always filled with words of encouragements. Never have I seen him frustrated (only when he misses a goal), he's always seeing things on the positive side. He's a great leader to our mission family and I'm so honored to call him my brother.

Meet Lauren or Lorena, She was the first person I met when I moved into the Mission house. Right after I met her, I knew she was someone I wanted to be friends with. Not trying to say I didn't, but I wanted to get to know her. She was very welcoming, bubbly, and just full of life. She is such a woman of God, her thoughts, her prayers and her love towards others. I'm so thankful to have met her.

Meet Ashley, the youngest of the group with the most experience of life. Honestly, if she never told me her story I would have never guessed it. One word to describe Ashley: Survivor. Ever since meeting Ashley, her life proves that God can make the impossible the possible. Even though she's gone through a lot, I'm so proud of how she reacts towards things. I'm so blessed to have her as a room mate, a friend and a sister.

Meet David or Tio David, the oldest of the group. Tio which in Spanish means Uncle. The oldest and the wisest. If it wasn't for Tio's help, I wouldn't have known how to save $$ with my extended stay here in El Salvador. He's so nice! Every time I listen to his story of how he went from having everything to giving it all to the Lord amazes me. Our God is so big and when he calls, he calls. It's either you go or you miss the opportunity that He has for you. Plan A is always better than plan B. I'm so glad Tio is with our group.

Meet Ashley B, can you spot her? Just kidding. The newest and the latest addition to our group. The nurse, the one with energy and the one with the craziest ideas.. However, when she speaks about Jesus, you can tell her love and her passion is placed in Him. Friendly, outgoing, and caring is definitely what describes Ashley.

Don't I have a great crew? I'm so thankful for the people the Lord has placed in my life right now. I honestly did not know I was going to be down here with these amazing people. God is so good at hand picking His people at the right time. Thank you Jesus for the people in my life! 

He's speaking, are you listening?

I am so happy that I was able to recover all my previous post. I literally cried the night I found out that everything went missing. Glory to God.

This week was hectic. We had a team from New York come to do some service work here in El Salvador. When a team comes we usually stop our normal schedule to work with their schedule. Everything was great but we were always on the go and always in the sun. By the end of the week I was exhausted AND very dark. Yesterday we went up to a village in the mountains where there was no running water, no electricity, and no visitors. If you were to walk up or down the mountains it would take 2 hrs. Going up or down by a car was roughly 45mins. Lets just say, It was not safe nor easy going either way.
While we were going up the hill with a bus it was getting hot, the girls on the bus were screaming, and I had to use the bathroom. I was getting so frustrated and upset. I was complaining to God that I should have taken the day off because everything was getting on my nerves. As I looked around, I started to realize that God created everything with His hands. The bright blue ocean was to my left side, ahead of me was nature (birds, trees, dirt etc) and I realized that God was all around me. I started to hear the Lord speak to me. It wasn't an audible voice but it was definitely God. He was reminding me of the time when I prayed about going places where no one wants to go, helping the needy, showing love to those who rarely ever receives it. etc I was so shocked! He reminded me of my prayers. After that, I had to start asking the Lord for strength now that my prayer was being answered.
Once we made it to the top, we were invited by a lot of the villagers. They were so welcoming. We had a clinic station set up for the people so they could receive help if needed. I was apart of the skit/drama team. Oh my word, was that a lot of fun. My friends and I were clowns. The message of the skit came across perfectly, some kids even came over and told us that they were happy that we performed the skit. Afterwards we had a pinata party for them and then it was SOCCER.
Not trying to brag but we are 3-0 when it comes to facing other teams out there. I really enjoy playing soccer and just meeting new people. I love my team. Who knew I would have such a great group to work alongside with.
I'm starting to realize that the Lord really does speak to us. It's just who is listening? I've had a few moments where the Lord would have me get involved with people I don't even know and before leaving, I would get this tug in my heart to pray. Having me pray for them. Stepping out with boldness was never something I had when it comes to prayer. The Lord is definitely stretching me while I'm away from everything that makes me comfortable. It's been good I'm learning that the Lord knows us way better than ourselves. It's been a great learning experience and I'm glad I'm staying another month or else I'll be home this Friday.

Retrieving Data- DEC 12,2011, 3:52pm

 Here is where it all begins

Not really... Welcome to my first Blog Site. Please ignore my grammars and all the little details that you catch. I haven't written a paper or letter in a long time. Anyways, I am so excited to share with you the latest news! However, I'm not sure where to begin. Stay tuned for my next update. - 3:52pm


 Back on track:
My Name is Doua Che Vang, it means "Sunshine". Truth is, I grew up disliking my name for many years. It was very frustrating to hear my teachers pronounce my name wrong every time; especially the beginning of the school year. That was my fear. The name "Doua" was once called "Doug".  Oh man, that marked history for me.
As I grew older, I learned to embrace my unique name. I slowly started to like how no one that I came across had my "one of a kind" name.  In fact, I slowly started to enjoy the name that the Lord gave me, very prophetic I would have to say ;) This I can testify. He states; "I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations." -Jeremiah 1:5, I like the meaning of my name.

Once I understood the meaning of my name, I started questioning what my purpose was for this life. I knew time was limited. I knew that it can also be taken away in a blink of an eye. I came across Isaiah 61:1 "The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners." After reading this, somewhere inside of me started to grieve for those in need. And the more I dwell on this, the Lord started to reveal that one day the desire of my heart, which is to travel and to help those in need, will be fulfilled. But right now, I was to focus on what was happening around me.

I graduated from Minneapolis Community Technical College in their Dental Assistant program back in December of 2010. I knew the Lord had greater plans for me, so I didn't rush to start looking for a dental job. After finishing school and not knowing where life was going to take me, I said a short and simple prayer about asking the Lord to use me. You know how some prayers take time to be answered and other times it gets answered right away? Well, my prayer fell under the category of being answered right away. So, I decided to take a year off of school and job seeking to pursue ministry with Young Adults Koinonia as their Administrator. And honestly, I have never regretted that moment when I said yes to volunteer my time to help with YAK.
The Lord brought our team up to Grand Rapids, MN in January of this year to host our first Rally. That was a great experience. I met a lot of people and was surrounded by great men and women of God. Then the Lord started calling us to Mexico, Two Harbors MN, Life Light SD, Bemidji MN and to even host our first Young Adults conference. The Lord has been stretching us and stretching me in ways that I could have never thought of being stretched.

As I reflect now, the Lord has been preparing me till that day He releases me to go out to the nations to preach good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners. - Ever since I went to school, I questioned myself as to why I'm going. I didn't want to go into a field that I couldn't use to glorify my God. So... I've always had an interest in the Dental field and Missions. So you know what I came up with? Dental Missions. I wanted to go out into the Nations to provide care to those who lack the knowledge of oral health. I have ALWAYS had an interest in that.
Just recently in September, I applied to Christ for the City International (CFCI), El Salvador. This is a ministry that helps with the community in Central America. It has mission opportunities in Dental/Medical care, Soccer Ministry, Community Development, and Church outreach. In October I found out that I was accepted to go El Salvador. I am so excited, filled with joy knowing that I can go and help bring my joy to them.

The Lord knows our heart, our desires, and his timing. He has a plan for each and everyone of us, but only in his timing will he reveal his plan. I am so pumped and ready to go on this mission trip. Please keep me in your prayers as I start working on the logistics of trip.

Retrieving Data- DEC 15, 2012, 10:00pm

 Lets rewind the story

Back in September I was given an opportunity to go to Life Light. If you don't know what Life Light is about, it's an outdoor christian music festival that has 4-5 stages and a whole load of artist who come to lead worship, perform their songs, and to promote themselves etc. While I was there, organizations and ministry people were handing out their flyers from right to left and of course, you can't turn them down. Pretty much anything that was handed to me, I took it. Truth is, I usually toss them away (sorry). In my mind, i'm already jumping a head of time and saying "i'm not going to have time to look at these anyways." Well this time, it was a different story. Without realizing it, I tossed the flyers in my backpack.

A few weeks after the trip to Life Light, I started to clean out my backpack. And oh my goodness, I had so many random papers, Life Light booklets, and of course the flyers. There was one brochure that caught my attention. It was filled with bright colors, font that was hard to decipher, it was so unattractive that I had to give it a shot (You can't judge a book by it's cover). And that was the beginning of the new chapter in my life.
As I was reading it, it had everything that I could possibly ask for in a mission trip. The part that shocked me the most was when I found out that I could assist as a Dental Assistant in a few countries in Central America. This was so cool because I can go and be a Dental Assistant and a missionary all at the same time and yet, still have everything Christ centered.

I prayed about this because it freaked me out. This was something I have always long to do. This vision was place when I first made that decision to go to college. And yes, and so I prayed about it and the Lord gave me peace. I emailed the short term missionary leader and asked about the organization and how I could possibly get involved. A few weeks later, he emailed me back and gave me information and had me fill out a "Get to know me" application. After I filled that out, I was a little hesitant and afraid that this wasn't something I was ready for. A few days later, I received an email stating that I was something the organization was looking for and if I wanted to move forward with this, I was to fill out an application. And that was exactly what I did, I filled out an application.

Retrieving Data- DEC 22,2011, 7:51pm

•  PRAYER CARD - Check
• SUPPORT LETTER - Check

I'm so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just purchased my prayer cards and they should be arriving next week sometime.

I also finished writing my support letter, WHAT A RELIEF! 

So be on the look out next week for my Card & Letter. 


The high light of the day;
If you didn't know, I actually enjoy working out. More like... staying active and productive. Anyways, So with this trip coming up I wanted to let the gym manager know that I was leaving so I didn't have to pay for the month that I was gone. We were talking and he found out why I was leaving and he said, "You know what, when people go on a leave it's usually a $5.00 charge to their account, but since you're going for a good cause, i'm just going to write down 'medical leave'".  In other words, I don't have to pay. WHOA, FAVOR. Another confirmation from the Lord.

Retrieving Data- DEC 22,2011, 11:23am

 Spanish 101

I decided to start learning SPANISH today. My plan is to take 30 min of my time to learn Spanish on YouTube. For those who are reading this, from now on please speak Spanish to me. That's if you know how to speak in it. It'll help keep me accountable. 

Retrieving Data- DEC 26,2011, 7:51am

Hooray!!

I just bought my plane ticket to El Salvador! YAY!!!

Retrieving Data- DEC 28,2011, 10:38am

 My Prayer Cards are in. I feel more and more like a Missionary. I remember when John and I were working on the cards, man did they take forever. I was having a hard time picking out the colors and the design. I'm satisfied now. I have roughly 1,000 cards to give away. So if anyone is interested in praying for me, hollar!! I'm more than willing to give away my cards.
Now that these are here, I am ready to send out my support letters.