Aisha's Journey

One of the downsides of living in a tropical climate is missing the change of seasons. It’s been a gift this past week to take a family road trip up north and enjoy cooler weather and colorful leaves. There have been warm days and then some cold ones. The trees are still in that strange transition from green to yellow and red. And although the changing of colors is a beautiful sight, they’re a reminder of the death that it brings. Slowly these trees will soon be out of leaves and bracing themselves from the winter cold. Currently it’s springtime in Chile. After a cold and humid winter, the sight of blooming flowers and bright colors are painting the landscape. Life has begun. How beautiful to be in this in-between, between death and life, the end and the start. I guess that’s the beauty of the seasons, there’s a transition and a hope of the future that makes the present worthwhile enjoying. The last time my family and I were able to enjoy fall up north was when I was just starting ...

I’ve really enjoyed this practice of looking back at the previous month in perspective. Especially in times of quarantine with the days and weeks all losing their distinction, it reminds me of God’s faithfulness even in my confusion. June was a hectic month full of videocalls and virtual trips to Chile and back. Florida Was excited to co-teach the final section of the Nicene Creed for our summer cohort of Ancient Voices. We had tons of fun putting together the material for eschatology, the study of last things. I truly enjoy making the connection of faith and work, knowing that our work here on earth has eternal weight. Together we read Revelation 21 and analyzed this “New Jerusalem”, a city in which God will dwell with his people. How interesting it was to see human inventions and structures, such as streets and gates, in this city. However, many creation elements like the sun and moon won’t be found there. It certainly challenges our concepts of “heavenly” and “earthly” things as...

Truthfully, this reflection should’ve been written a while ago. Yes, maybe it’s a combination of procrastination and trying to get used to this new reality of living under quarantine. But as I sit in front of my laptop and try to find the words to describe EFO, I realize that beyond it being a training event, EFO was a time of testing, polishing, resting, and finding comfort of living in the tension.  As many of you know, for the month of February I was in Colombia for a month long training called EFO. Every 3 years, IFES gathers new staff from all over Latin America for an intensive training equipped with 1 week of missions locally. To learn a little more click here to read my previous posts about EFO. Although coming from Miami means I have friends that come from all over Latin America and the world, there is something entirely new in being immersed in a foreign country. To be honest my first thought about Colombia was coffee, music, and warmth. And although I wasn’t e...

The month of February I was in Colombia for a month of training along with staff from all over Latin America. It was a time full of joys, difficulties, and learning. The first 2 weeks were training and full of plenaries and biblical readings. The 3rd week was missions and we were divided into groups that would go to different cities within Colombia with the local movement, UCU, Unidad Cristiana Universitaria. I was assigned Bogotá with team members and was mostly in the Universidad Nacional. One of the activities that we had was "Desahógate", where we invited students to share things that worried them in a sticky note or to talk to one of our team who would be blindfolded. This was an activity UCU had done several times before, but for me it was the first time. The idea was that sometimes it is easier to be vulnerable with strangers than with those around us. Since our eyes can sometimes judge others, being blindfolded aimed at creating safe spaces for dialogue. It ...

El mes de febrero me tocó ir a Colombia para un mes de entrenamiento junto con obreros de todo Latinoamérica. Fue un tiempo lleno de alegrías, dificultades, y aprendizajes. Las primeras 2 semanas fueron de entrenamiento y llenos de plenarias y lecturas bíblicas. La 3ra semana fue de misiones y fuimos divididos en grupos que irían a diferentes ciudades dentro de Colombia con el movimiento local, UCU, Unidad Cristiana Universitaria. A mí me tocó quedarme en Bogotá y trabajar más del tiempo dentro de la Nacho, o Universidad Nacional. Una de las actividades que nos tocó ayudar fue “Desahógate” donde invitábamos a estudiantes a compartir cosas que les preocupaban por escrito o hablando con uno de nosotros de los que estábamos vendados. Esta era una actividad que se había hecho varias veces anteriormente, pero para mí fue la primera vez. A veces es más fácil ser vulnerable con extraños que con quienes nos rodean. Dado que nuestros ojos a veces pueden juzgar a otros, tener los ojos vend...

Wow, time flies! Just a year ago I was walking through the streets of St. Louis, MO going to the different seminars and sessions for InterVarsity's Urbana Missions Conference. What an experience that was! Urbana is the largest student missions conference in North America which takes place every 3 years hosting more than 10,000 participants from all over the world. Apart from offering hundreds of different seminars on a variety of topics, there's a huge exhibit hall of missions organizations and Christian universities sharing opportunities and information. Although I had attended the previous Urbana in 2015 as a student, this Urbana I was going with both my sister and mom. It was so much fun to share with them an experience that had been crucial in my time as a student, I'm really grateful to have gone with them! Urbana offers different tracks, one being the business track. My mom and I signed up and enjoyed Bible studies and seminars focused on business and entreprene...

On October 18-20 I had the privilege to go to InterVarsity's Fall Conference for the Florida region called Meta. It's an annual conference bringing around 300 students from chapters all over the state for a weekend of training and fellowship. This was the second year that we were having the conference in Orlando hosted by Calvario City Church. As a volunteer from FIU, we were able to bring 4 students, one of which gave his life to Jesus on Saturday evening! We traveled together with Miami Dade College (MDC) and I was able to help with driving to and back from Orlando.  Meta brings such great memories from my time as a student, it was a break between the hectic semester to reflect on how our chapter was doing and be trained to continue working on campus when we went back. I was excited to go back and to participate this time as a staff. October 18 happened to be IFES World Student Day . World Student Day is an annual celebration where we pray for other sister movem...

Hard to believe it’s been a month since my time in South Africa for the IFES World Assembly! As many of you may know, InterVarsity USA is one of many chapters under the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students . With over 170 countries represented at this once-every-four-years event, it’s been a blessing to go over notes and videos of our time together. It was exciting to go as a delegate for GBU Chile and receive materials and training that will be useful for my time there. Even though I went representing Chile, it was great to be included in the debriefs and information for the USA team as well as reflecting with national staff and reconnecting with my Link family. Every day was packed with devotional, worship, seminars, plenaries, etc. However, my favorite time by far was small groups and meal times. Now you might be wondering, was the food that amazing? Yes it was, but beyond the tasty flavors, the conversations that happened around the table are ones I will cheri...

After facing the computer for a good 5 minutes trying to figure out a short and concise title for this post, I figured that there couldn’t be a word to describe this trip. I’ve realized that for many, this is madness. For those that know me for a while, this is also a bit out of character. So apart from doing a little bit of reflecting on my time here in Chile, I will also answer some commonly asked questions. Why 3 months? Well, 3 months seemed like a good start at staying somewhere internationally on my own. Also, it was the maximum amount of time allotted for a tourist. Why Chile? As many of you know, my parents are from Chile. Throughout my childhood we came every 4-5 years to visit family and friends. This time though, I would be coming on my own. Thankfully I have stayed with family and friends, but it’s been exciting to interact with them first-hand, see and learn from the culture through a different lens, and improve my Spanish (although some might disagree,...