Hello and happy fall to you! It's great to finally be able to connect with you and send you an update about life and work here in South Los Angeles. The past few months have felt like a whirlwind! We finished the spring quarter of the internship, had a month off from meetings, worked on our gifts projects, completed personal development plans for the coming year, and finally restarted our regular meetings just last night! I also had the incredible blessing of a great visit from a Colorado friend and a trip home for yet another friend's wedding and my nephew's 3rd birthday! There are so many stories I could tell, but unfortunately time and space is just too limited. Please read on to hear about some incredible and exciting plans for the coming year of the Servant Partners internship, including a quickly-approaching site visit to Bolivia!
Unlocking my Giftedness...
We spent the majority of the summer working on our gifts projects. Our investigation involved reading a book about spiritual gifts, taking several personal surveys from the book, asking for input from close family, friends, and ministry partners, writing up our findings, and meeting with SP staff and selected teammates to discuss our projects. The whole process was very helpful. We determined that my most prominent and utilized spiritual gift is that of mercy, which is often accompanied by whatever other behind-the-scenes gifts that are necessary to love people well, meet felt needs, and respond to situations of pain and injustice. I was also pleasantly surprised to discover a deep desire and bent towards a few of the word-focused spiritual gifts - especially exhortation, pastoring, and possibly teaching. I realized, while I love being present to people in pain, I really desire to be able to increase my care for people through words of truth and encouragement. While this desire exists in my heart, I am often hindered by a lack of confidence and authority. A reorientation of my mindset is required in order to step into my God-given authority.
In response to the many discoveries of my gifts project, I have put together a development plan for the final 9 months of the Servant Partners internship. You can read more about the specifics of that plan on my blog, but it heavily focuses on a few areas - growing in spiritual disciplines of abstention/rest, stepping into teaching and leadership opportunities in order to grow in confidence and authority, and an intentional investigation into post-internship overseas ministry opportunities in Bolivia! I am so grateful for the structures of this internship which are very specifically designed to allow me the time and space to address areas of needed growth in my life and pursue whatever plans the Lord would have for me in this life.
In July, I joined a few of my teammates for an adventure to Sequoia National Park. It was so refreshing to get out of the city for a couple of days and I was blown away by the wonder and beauty of the mountains. Reminded me of home...Yes, BOLIVIA!!!
Since first traveling to La Paz, Bolivia with a short-term team after high school, the place and people of this very special South American country have held a prominent place in my heart. I've journeyed back to La Paz 3 times since this initial visit, including a 6-month stint during college. And no matter where I've found myself over the last several years, the hope to return to Bolivia always seems to be present. I am happy to say that the time has come! As part of my development plan, I have set the goal of completing a "site visit" to Bolivia and considering a possible long-term call to ministry in Bolivia! Yes, very exciting! I feel very blessed to tell you that one of my teammates, Keo, has decided to join me on this reconnaissance trip. It has been a great experience to be able to pray, plan, and process everything with her. We've also been able to connect with a good friend of mine in Bolivia who has been a HUGE help in terms of establishing contacts and a schedule for our time in La Paz. All this to say... we have purchased our tickets to Bolivia and we will be leaving in about a month and a half (traveling November 11-24)!!!
We plan to meet with a hand full of ministries in La Paz that are already ministering in some capacity to the urban poor, but we are also going with the intention of getting a feel for the spiritual climate of La Paz, identifying a few of the biggest felt needs of the poor, and visioning whether or not it might be appropriate to lobby for a future Servant Partners site in La Paz. There are many logistics to pull together in a short amount of time and we would greatly appreciate your partnership. We would invite you to support us during our trip through specific and faithful prayers. If you would be interested in partnering in this way, please contact me so that I can send you a couple of very specific prayer requests. I would also be very blessed if you would consider partnering with me financially in this endeavor. Including airfare, travel, food, etc., we are estimating a total cost of about $1,500 for each of us to participate in this site visit. If it is on your heart to give in this way, please let me know. Please contact me so we can talk about the logistics of your gift.
Me and my teammate Keo! We have lots of fun together and I am so excited that she will be joining me for our site visit to Bolivia. Partnership is such a blessing!It's surreal to think that this trip could lead to, not just another short-term missions "experience", but a long-term commitment to a country and a people for which I feel such deep cariño y compasión. Thank you for considering partnering with me and my teammate Keo, in whichever way you are able, in this exciting and humbling endeavor.
Gratefully yours,
Ali Fraze
Please pray for:
- Logistics of trip to Bolivia (visas, accomodations, schedule, finances, etc.)
- Rest and solitude in a very busy season
- Growth as a teacher and a leader
- A good semester with my students at the tutoring center
- Follow through on development plan
- A good and fruitful last year of the internship
- Logistics of trip to Bolivia (visas, accomodations, schedule, finances, etc.)
- Rest and solitude in a very busy season
- Growth as a teacher and a leader
- A good semester with my students at the tutoring center
- Follow through on development plan
- A good and fruitful last year of the internship
Am so excited for you, Ali! When I was with you in El Salvador, I could sense your deep love for Bolivia. When you spoke of if, you managed to both "light up" and "ache" at the same time. I will be praying for your time there and would love to know some of your specific requests. Shoot me an email!
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