On our first night here in the AIM HQ in Gainesville, we had our first evening worship service. The service was about surrender, letting go of the things in our lives, past, etc., that were looming over us and clouding our spirits. We each received an egg and wrote on it the thing(s) we felt we needed to surrender, and gave up the egg once we were ready to do so. Most only wrote one or two words, I wrote so many that I covered the entire egg. There were so many things that Satan was trying to use to hold me back, from actually being able to give my all and my whole heart to this mission. I returned the egg after a while, but still felt uneasy as I went to bed that night. I remember silently praying to God that if I could just see or hug someone in my family or a dog or something, that I could finish letting go. The next morning, someone in my group said, “Hey, there’s a dog over there.” I nearly jumped! I ran in the direction he pointed in and found this young black lab, whom our group lovingly named Chaco later. I couldn’t get over how great this was; that God would answer my prayer and help me let go by bringing this dog to our camp. No one knows where he came from and he has stayed with us since. Having his company and being able to take care of him (pulling off ticks, feeding him, playing, etc) brought me such joy and such a release from those chains. His joy overwhelmed my spirit and the burden was immediately lifted. Since then, I felt a freedom that I haven’t felt in quite a while. I am excited to see how God continues to work! How encouraging to know that he will even send a dog when he knows I am hurting and needing a helping hand… or paw! Too bad Chaco isn’t “travel-sized,” otherwise we’d certainly hide him in one of our packs for Peru! 
This is Chaco, after getting into some of our paint!
