Posted in General Articles by Gabrielle Rodgers on 4/30/2008
I can hardly believe it but our final debrief has come and gone!
It was a good time of processing this year and what it means for when we go home, as well as reminiscing. Not that I am done processing, but it was good to get the ball rolling.
We will be boarding our last plane together as a squad in the morning.
I will be spending the night in Ft Lauderdale and will be arriving in VA Thursday afternoon.
It is so odd to think that a year has gone by.
It seems like last week I nervously stepped off the plane in Africa, not having a clue of what was in store for me. This year has been one of the hardest of my life for sure, but it has also bee the best!
As my brother David told me before coming on the race: "Most anything worth doing is going to be hard." How right he was!
It was worth it and I don't regret it for a second!
I am coming back home a different girl. I am coming back home a healed girl.
I am coming home a wrecked girl for the ordinary. The Lord has totally changed my view of the world and my view of him up side
down. I want to come back home a trusting girl who walks in these things and
does not let the familiarity and rehashing of hold crap suck me down. I am
done. For I know anything done on my own effort will fail and I need Him for
everything. If I have learned anything this year it is that I am totally
incapable of doing any good on my own and how much I desperately need Him!
Although I am very very excited to see my family and friends and to catch up with them, it is bitter sweet to leave. But I know that the journey pulls me forward to the next step.
Here is a picture from our final Banquet. (Don't we clean up nice?!)
Each one of these people have a very special place in my heart and I will miss them immensely -- more than they will ever know!
Love you crazy kids -- and know that my door is always open!
My crazy Phoenix teammates! I am going to miss not waking up to these faces!
If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right
mind, it is for you. For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced
that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those
who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and
was raised again.
2 Corinthians 5:13
 
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Posted in General Articles by Gabrielle Rodgers on 3/19/2008
Hey there world race fans. Hope all is well in your corner of the world.
Things around here have been go go go!
So I am about to hop on a buss and a ferry to get out to Omotepe Island (in the south of Nicaragua) -- we will be singing and ministering to people on the island. I just wanted to give a little update about where we have been and where we are going before setting off again.
So here is a life of Gabrielle mini update
The Lord has already shown up in awesome ways. He provided for us free housing in Granada with this really hospitable and sweet Nica family. They have actually been praying the Lord would send them missionaries to come stay with them! We are using Granada as a base to come back to as we go out for a couple days at a time traveling around.
The Lord has also provided us with plenty if places to play. Since we have started this venture we have only had one day without a concert.
Last week we traveled up north to Ocotal where Erick had some contacts.
They kept us busy singing, holding services, preaching, praying for people. Oh and we got to go up into the mountains (SO BEAUTIFUL!!) and one of the pastors took us to a coffee farm. Yes my friends I got to pick coffee on a coffee farm and see how the process all worked!! Ya I don't really have words -- I was just really happy at that moment. The vegetation and surroundings actually reminded me a lot of Colorado -- I miss the mountains!
During our stay we saw many people come to know the Lord as well as be healed!!!
We all felt the Lord moving there in a big way -- especially among the men. It is really exciting!!
With a week of concerts and team dynamics under our belt we venture on South today. We will be visiting some churches as well as just going wherever we feel the Lord is telling us to go. We will also be staying and visiting an orphanage while on the island as well.
The story continues.....
May you have a blessed Holy Week. May He reveal Himself to you and the mysteries of the gospel during this season.
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Posted in General Articles by Gabrielle Rodgers on 3/11/2008
The last 5 days we've spent making phone calls and practicing our music. Our practice location is forever changing. We've practiced in the city park, on the street corner, on the front porch of our host's house, at El Puente (the barn we lived in last month), and at church. I'm sure the list will continue to build as we go throughout the month.
As we started making phone calls to contacts in various cities our schedule filled up quickly. This afternoon we're playing for high school students at a school here in Granada. On Wednesday we leave for Ocotal, a town in the north near the Honduras border. It will take us about 5 hours to get there and then we have a concert at a church that night. We also have concerts set up for Thursday and Friday. We'll want to do some ATLing while we're there as well. Then we leave Saturday to come back to Granada. On Sunday we play at El Puente church for a combined Palm Sunday/Easter service (they only meet every 1st and 3rd Sunday of the month.)
We're really excited about diving into our ministry and seeing what God is going to do. Please pray for us that the Lord will give us unity in our music, the songs to sing, the words to speak, and protection throughout all our travels. Stay tuned... a video update is coming soon!
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Posted in General Articles by Gabrielle Rodgers on 3/7/2008
Here is a blog my team mate for the month Jane wrote about our expience on Day 1:
With 26 hours under our belts, Cinco Che, is
in full gear and fully under the hand of our living, awesome, loving,
crazy about us God. I don't know if I can capture into words how God
ordained the past 26 hours have been, but it has been the most fun, the
most worry-free, the most God is in control 26 hours. I want to share
about how we ended up living with a Nicaraguan Family, btw I don't even
know their last names!
So about 24 hours ago, we sat in this
very internet cafe praying for the Lord to provide for us a place to
stay where we could stay for the month, come and go throughout the
month, and a place where we could cook to save $$$!!! The Lord gave
Brady a picture of a sunflower and told her to follow th star. After we
prayed, we set out to meet with our AIM contact, Carlitos and also one
of our guitarists-Erick. So as we are making our way out towards the
barrios, someone across the street is yelling my name, "JAAAAAAANE!"
and walking towards us. Then we see Ezekiel, a 17 year old brother from
the local church that went to minister with us during February in
Puerto Cabezas. We exchange greetings and he immediately asks us to
stay with him. We'll think about it we say and quickly are on our way
to our meeting. After 5 hours, we are exhausted and just wanting to go
and eat, still haven't found a place to stay. All of us felt strongly
that the Lord was going to provide somewhere for us to stay, that we
didn't need to book a hostel or stay in the barn that some of our squad
mates had spent the past month in Granada. So, we set out, no clue
where we are going to lay our heads that night. And then I hear,
"JAAAAAAAAAAAANE!!!" being screamed from one of the houses and out pops
Ezekiel. He had already asked permission from his family for us to
stay, they have two rooms for us to stay in for the month, a kitchen, a
microwave, a whirlpool washing machine, satellite tv, a fridge. "Do you
have a star?", I ask. Without skipping a beat, he says yes! Inside and
outside their house there are sunflowers and stars basically strewn
everywhere. His mom loves sunflowers and apparently stars, suns, and
moons. Afterwards, at dinner we find out from this 17 year old man of
God that the Lord had woken him up at midnight and put it in his heart
to pray about being able to host missionaries, that his parents had
built two extra rooms onto their house to provide housing for
missionaries, that he had left school early to sit at his house to wait
to see if any of us would walk by his house, and that we had JUST
happened to walk by when he gave up and was going into town. So at the
end of our long day, I found myself sitting on an air mattress that
they had blown up for us, sitting at "home" with our amazing Nicaraguan
family (whose last name i don't even know!!) that loves the Lord. When
we met them, we explained that they were an answer to our prayers, and
they responded that we were an answer to their prayers, that they have
been praying and wanting to host missionaries since they built those
rooms!!!
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Posted in General Articles by Gabrielle Rodgers on 3/7/2008
So we (Jenny, Brady, Jane, and myself) have returned to Granada after a great time of debrief in Jinotepe. We are going to be a traveling music group this month and will be responding to the name of Cinco Che (its a long silly story of how it came about -- perhaps I shall share another day). As the fifth member of the group we have adopted Erick, our Nica translator from last month. He plays guitar and sings. So we are going to be traveling around Nicaragua singing and talking with people and seeing what adventures await us. We have many options but have no solid ministry set up yet. A lot is coming together quickly for us.
So here is a video of our first day as a team. I hope to post frequent video updates... so stay tuned. I love you all and can't wait to tell you all the stories that will surely come from this amazing month. God is already doing some CRAZY stuff for us and it has only been a day!
By the way, we are silly girls and so we come up with silly ideas. We came up with nicknames the other day so in the videos and possibly through other communications you will see me listed as Tiger Lily.
So, the jist of this email is: God is driving and we have no idea where He is taking us. We are just glad to be along for the ride!
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Posted in General Articles by Gabrielle Rodgers on 3/5/2008
"Show You Love"
This video is a little taste of what we did while we were in the Philippines last month.
Music by Jars of Clay
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Posted in General Articles by Gabrielle Rodgers on 2/13/2008
Its 6:45am and I am in my tent being sarinaded by the sounds of "Total Eclipse of the Heart" being blared by our neighbors across the street. To follow the music selection we will inevitably hear "Red Red Wine" and other "great" 80ds classics.
(Those of you who do not know "turn around bright eyes" is a line from "Total Eclipse of the Heart")
Yes it is quite the wake up call! Which actually works out well as I need to be up and running by 7am!
This month we are doing things a little differently. We had two ministry options which each of us prayed about and decided where to go based on what the Lord told us. Seven girls stayed behind here in Granada, Nicaragua while the rest of the squad ventured to the east cost to do hurricane relief work and build houses. Although I am not to sad about missing out on the 13 hour school bus ride (which actually turned into 32 hours!), I will miss the rest of the crew. Please keep them in your prayers as they are building houses and relationship with those who have literally lost everything.
The seven of us will be working with two missionary families who just recently moved and are starting a new ministry serving the poor of Granada and a base to send more missionaries. This base is just getting off the ground, we are actually the first group to come partner with them.
Some of the projects we are involved with this month:
- Renovations
We are helping with renovations of a property which was recently purchased and needs a lot of work. It is located across from the poorest community in Granada. We are actually living on the property for the next month.
 
This is the new base and where we are living this month
This is the inside of the house which we are thinking was once a barn. Back to the tent life for us!
- Hauling wood
Hauling wood scraps from a building project. Wood here is very precious and expensive. The wood will go to a variety of projects from giving those in the poor community fire wood, to building a horse buggy for a local farmer, to building other things for the locals.
We took about four truck loads from the sight and still have more to sort through.
(Yes I will be having some big old guns by the end of this month!)
- Feeding Program
We are also involved with a feeding program, which is serving large numbers of children in the poorest communities of Granada; cooking, serving the food, as well as building relationships.
Neighborhood visits
- Every afternoon we go out into the community and build relationships and share the gospel. We have only been going out for a short amount of time and have already had several people commit to follow Christ!!!!
Street / Community ministry
Every Thursday and Saturday we will be doing a children's program and a teen program.
This Thursday is especially cool because our contacts work a lot with those who have recently come out of rehab, a group of them have become our friends and one of them is going to share his life story and what the Lord has done in his life. I am really excited!
So that is what we will be involved with this month!
The Beautiful city of Granada
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Posted in General Articles by Gabrielle Rodgers on 2/8/2008
Well, four planes, many cars and buses, four major cities, three very distinct cultures, over twenty thousand miles, and four days later we have arrived in Granada, Nicaragua!
First, I just want to say thank you to our hosts who were so hospitable in on our 2 day layover in L.A.! They went out of their way to make us feel at home; as well as cart us around and let us run errands.
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!
You will never know how much it meant to just simply be in a home, let alone be welcomed as part of the family!
I also had the opportunity to go to a friends birthday party while I was there. The night out was an unexpected and needed getaway as well as a lot of fun!
Even though our time would be short, I found I had mixed feelings about returning to the states before our expected finish date of April 30th. I was not sure how I would feel or what kind of culture shock I would experience. We would be experiencing three distinct cultures over four days (Asia, America, and Latin America) and I knew it would be a lot to process.
I am very grateful for my time in the States and I am glad that it worked out for us to have some time there. As enjoyable as it was, it was also a much needed wake up call. It made me realize I am not ready to return to the States quite yet, and I need the next three months. It helped me to realize what exactly I am doing out here and what I need to focus on. Now is not the time to switch into neutral; this is the time to be seeking after the Lord more not less, before the distractions and craziness of "life" take over.
I know there is so much more the Lord wants to do in me and through me before I return.
It also made me really grateful for the life I get to live. Don't get me wrong I love America; and being out on the road makes me appreciate it so much more, but while I was there it made me see who I used to be. I know that when this is all over it is not the end of something, but the beginning and I need to be prepared for it.
The things that I used to want and what I thought was normal have now suddenly changed and faded away.
It's time for me to have a new normal. It starts with trusting the Lord whole heartedly and running after His highest will for me.
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Posted in General Articles by Gabrielle Rodgers on 1/31/2008
Sadly our time in the Philippines has come to an end.
It has been an amazing month and I must say that this has been the hardest place for me to say good bye to!
Tomorrow morning we leave bright and early (4am!) for our crazy journey to Nicaragua.
We we be pretty much going around half the world!
So we first fly to Tokyo and spend a couple hours in the airport before taking a nine hour flight to L.A.!
We will have a 48 hour layover in L.A.!! Which should be interesting for culture shock -- I am not quite sure what to expect. But I can tell you I will be making a stop at Target!!
From there we have a flight to Miami and then hop on a plane to Nicaragua. Whew - I am getting tired just thinking about it -- but I know it is going to be a lot of fun. Is it odd that it has become normal to be in three different countries over the span of only a couple of days? Funny that this is my life this year.
We will be in Nicaragua for the month of February. The majority of us will be doing flood relief work on the coast while a few of us will be staying in Granada doing set up for an orphanage and a AIM base. I originally wanted to go to flood relief but after praying about it I will be staying in Granada. I am looking forward to our time there.
That is the tentative plan but as you may have noticed things are always subject to change.
Please keep our travel in your prayers this weekend!!
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Posted in General Articles by Gabrielle Rodgers on 1/31/2008
There were no flashy lights, no bars, no girls dancing, no facade of "entertainment," it was just an average city street.
This past month four of us World Race girls have been working with an organization called Samaritana (www.Samaritana.org ) which reaches out to women working in the red light district of Manila. They offer the women life training skills and courses as well as counseling, and other services, as a way and a chance at a different life.
Last night one of my teammates, Jessie, and I went out with three other girls from Samaritana to do night outreach.
 Mildred, the outreach coordinator, Laurie, and Rosa Lee; two trainees of Samaritana who have left the streets, as well as Jessie and I all met for dinner and talked about the evening. They explained that when they do night outreach they conduct focus groups in which they get some of the street girls together and have directed conversations on topics such as AIDs, pregnancy, or simply hopes for the future. In doing these focus groups they build relationships and let the girls know about Samaritana. Our focus for the night was going to be reflecting on the past year and hopes for 2008. They shared that they usually meet in a nearby fast food place, but the managers of the restaurant do not want them meeting there anymore so Mildred would have to be resourceful.
We then piled into a taxi and headed downtown. I thought because of my experience doing night outreach in Phuket, Thailand I was pretty much prepared and knew along the lines of what to expect. Little did I know I did not have a clue. As I got out of the car I was surprised at the plain street. There were no flashy lights, no bars, no girls dancing, no facade of "entertainment," it was an average major city street.
We walked over to one girl and Mildred gave her a warm greeting, and then called over about 3 more. Some of the women decided not to stay, while others were curious about tonight's discussion. With the fast food joint unable to accommodate us, Mildred just plopped right on down beside a curb on the street and began the discussion complete with object lessons and materials.
The discussion was continually interrupted with girls coming in and out of the conversation as customers drove up and the pimps calling over to the girls. They would run over to the car, the man in the car would point at a girl and she would get in. No other exchange of words, just a point of the finger. No questions asked they just got into the car seeming excited that they were the one "picked."
It was raw. No facade of "entertainment" here. No bars or bar owners trying to cover up what was really going on. Instead, the pimps were there soliciting business and putting the girls in the cars.
Our numbers continued to dwindle as the flow of customers increased.
With the fast food joint behind me I felt as if it was just a continuation of the drive through. The men can go pick up fries and a girl on the way home. I did not know whether to throw up, throw myself onto the car and beat the guy up, or to cry but in the end I looked to the girl who was on my left and tried to talk with her about her life. Come to find she had a four month old baby at home and was now back on the streets after some time off. I also found out that she is the youngest of six, as am I, so we were able to talk about the plight of the youngest child.
We were unable to get through the discussion as all but one had gone with a customer. We decided to just pray with her and to end as it may be a bit overwhelming with five of us and her. We also gave her a card and invited her to the Friday community meeting at Samaritana. She said she wanted to come.
We then walked down the street a bit more to a group of girls getting ready for the night. They were sitting on some flattened out cardboard boxes primping, putting on make-up, and doing there hair. Their pimps, an older woman and a younger guy, were with them. They knew we were with Samaritana and invited us over. We sat down and talked with them for a little bit. Most of the conversation was in Tagolog the local language, so I did not understand a lot of it, but the pimps knew english and talked with me a bit, while the girls continued to get ready.
 Now when I say pimp and street girls, get the idea of Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman and Gangsta rap videos with a guy sporting a lot of bling out of your head. And instead think of your sister, mother, father, or brother driven into a desperate life caused by extreme poverty. I would say many have come to accept their life the way it is and may even tell me they like it as they make a crass comment about a boy walking past.
What is one to do in these situations? When I see poverty driving people to the depths of desperation?
If I have learned anything this year, it is that I am not here to save the world and have become so very aware of my limitations and how I am absolutely incapable of doing anything. What can I do? Nothing, but listen to their stories with a heart of compassion and know the heart of a Father who weeps over each one of them. What He asks of me is to go and love them with a heart of compassion and trust that He will supply the resources from there.
In the end you have trust that they felt love. real love. For that is the only thing that compels a change of heart, that gives people hope. And hopefully that will compel them to seek help from those who wan to give it.
I don't want to sound hokie, but that is the simple gospel. Its not a ten step program, or a long list of does and don'ts. Love God, love others. I have heard this said all my life but how much of that compassion do I have? I have the do part - but with out love I am only a resounding gong and clanging symbol. The poor can see right through that. Am I there just to get another brownie point, gold star, and pat my self on the back, or do I really care about them. The one.
I asked Jessie as we were leaving if that really just happened. Did I really just do a focus group discussion with girls who were working the streets but should have been finishing up their homework and getting ready to go to school the next morning? Yes I did, and the girls at Samaritana will continue to go back and do it again and again, as they continue to show these girls a heart of compassion and offer them real hope.
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