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Posted in The Journey!!! by Traday Caufield on 7/23/2008
hey there yall!!
well, here we are, our last night here in nicaragua. i went and had dinner tonight with megan, pam, danny and colleen at a place called "pasta pasta!" we had a great time sitting and thinking back over the course of the year and cuttin´up, laughing and having a great time.
i´ve said it before, but it seems like just yesterday the squad and i (although we didn´t know each other at the time) were on our way to swaziland, africa. how the time has flown...and now it´s time for us to go our way, to take what we´ve learned and live our lives in the knowledge and fullness of God. whether it is to rest, to hit the ground running, or somewhere in between we have been equipped to a degree that will help to lead us into the next season of life...whatever that may be.
it has been quite a journey! and to be honest, some of the days in this journey were a dread...i must admit that. but at the same time, most of the days i wish would have never ended. as there is an end to all journies, in this life, it is my ambition to always see where the wind of the Spirit is leading me as i press on to the next season...and it will be amazing to see where the wind of the Spirit leads each of the squad members.
i thank each and every person who supported me, prayed for me, and encouraged me. thank everyone for supporting the people on my squad. thank you for all the blog comments and emails.
much love and many blessings to you and your family!!
so here we go...the next season of our lives and of this journey in the earth!!
hope to see everyone of you on the squad at some point, but if not...
enjoy the journey!!
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Posted in Birthday wishes!!! by Traday Caufield on 7/19/2008
Hey there Family!!
This is a note to my dad!!
Tomorrow (Sunday the 20 of July) is a special occasion!! I would like to take the time to tell Daddy HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! It is an honor to have you as a father, a friend, a fishing buddy!! I look forward to seeing you and hanging out with you!!!!
I pray that this year is the best year of your life...atleast until next year!! Be blessed!! I love you!!
See you soon!!
xoxoxox
Traday
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
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Posted in Real Life by Traday Caufield on 7/10/2008
Hey there Everyone!! Had a little time so I thought I would let you know how the day went today...
 Some of the other racers have already been to this dump...but today was my first time. I had heard how the experience was, but as we walked into this dump land, filled with trash heaps taller than most of us...some of them burning, some of them smoldering-putting off all kinds of terrible fumes, and the rest just sitting there, wet and most likely being a home for breeding bug creatures, all I could think about was the people who called this place home. All I could think about was how a person could survive in a place like this.
We took the opportunity to go around, meet some people, pray with them, sit with them, hold their kids and bless them. Which all of this, for me, was a blessing to do. There was a lady we went to pray for. She wanted prayer for her health, for her economics, and for her family. We took the time to pray for her and talk to her and let her tell us how her life was.
After praying with her a man walks up and begins talking to me in Spanish telling me how his body hurts...his stomach, his legs, his chest. How he keeps vomiting and that he has a lot of pain in his head. He had on an open button shirt with pants and some heavily soiled and muddy shoes from walking around in the dump. As I looked at his face, it was clear that he had been vomiting. It was still in his beard...a yellowish-green color. So I translated to Jill (Caitlin´s mom) and Kari what was wrong with him. I asked him if he wanted us to pray for him and he gladly said yes. He took off his cap, threw it to the ground and bowed his head. While we prayed, the children threw rocks at him, pelting him in the legs and back. I don´t know why. He had walked over with a large jug to get some water. After we finished praying with him, he walked away, not with water...but still the empty blue jug he walked over with. As he walked away, he never looked back.. But he seemed thankful for us to pray for him.
 We moved on to another part of the dump. It seemed endless. People were everywhere sifting through the trash, collecting what they could to sell...collecting what they could to add on to their houses of tin and children´s swimming pools...collecting what they could to have a meal. It was quite the eye opener to see kids all dirty living in trash, playing in trash, and knowing nothing but to enjoy it. 
I thought to myself, when I saw these small children, what if it was my niece and nephew, who are ages 4 and 3, respectively...what if this home was theirs? There was no answer I could come up with in response to this question. I just couldn´t imagine it. So as we would go to these houses, all I had it in me to do was to hold these kids, hug them and communicate with them that they do matter. Smiles and laughter radiated back and forth from us to them and from them to us. And for the most part they were too glad for us to be there. This place wasn´t nasty to me. It was a place that PEOPLE called home. And if this is where lives are changed, I would rather be here doing this than cooped up in a building with people playing church, people only attending to tick church off of their ´things to do this week list´.
 Life is too short, people are dying every day. People are hoping everyday that people will show them something other than the hopelessness that they are dying in. Today I was priveleged to be in these trash heaps. Not so that I could feel good inside for doing a good deed, but because God was there today. God is there everyday and I want to be where God is.
And who knows, Hebrews 13:2 says..´Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.´ I believe this. If God is in the Dump Grounds, I´m sure His angels are too.
Peace and Love to you all!!
ENJOY THE JOURNEY!!!
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Posted in Real Life by Traday Caufield on 7/9/2008
 It was a sad day indeed... I was messin around with my camera, pushin buttons and trying to figure out some of the other features that it had (without reading any directions)...and as it would happen...
are you ready to know what happened???...
are you sure???...
yep, you probably guessed it...I deleted all my pictures...from the time I left El Salvador a few weeks ago up until 2 days ago.
But all is well...to be honest, except for pictures from the 4th of July, I really don't have a clue what I lost so the day that this happened, my real response was: 'oh well, you win some, you lose some'.
But all is not lost. I suppose I still come out on top of the situation... We have about 2 more weeks and I have about 2055 pictures that I can take...
So I guess I'll get to snappin away.
Peace and love to you all!!
Enjoy the Journey!!
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Posted in The Journey!!! by Traday Caufield on 7/4/2008
Hey there Family! How is everyone?!?
Well...just wanted to have a chat with ya.
In one of my previous blogs, I wrote about some of the things God had been teaching me at the time: His faithfulness in keeping His promises whether we choose LIFE or DEATH.
Well...since then, I have not stopped learning. I have not stopped seeing. I have not stopped hearing. I have not stopped reflecting on my life and how He has carried me and brought me to the place I am today.
I would say that the things I'm learning now are still on the topic of His faithfulness, but I guess from a different perspective. Before coming on this race, it was so easy for me to fall into a state of worry...even to the point of unconciously worrying. It was easy for me to conciously or unconciously dwell forever on something that was bothering me. And although I would pray concerning these things, I never would actually give these worries to God in exchange for His peace. And naturally, I'm a layed back and easy going person. It was on the inside that all the battles and turmoil would take place. I would never let on because of my 'lack of trust' issues that anything was wrong with me, because then I would worry about what whoever I told was REALLY thinking about me.
Since I have been on this race, living in community with team IGNITE mostly, we have become family. We have had our times where we needed to just pour out what was raging on the inside. We have had to get honest with each other. We have had to be vulnerable with one another. We have had to trust God that the people He put each of us with on this team was actually in His perfect will. And this has never been easy for me...not for a long time!
I used to think I could make it on my own.
I used to think I didn't need too many people in my life.
I used to think that having too many friends was not worth the trouble...the ups and downs and shakiness of relationships.
I used to think life for me would always be like that.
But then God put me in a land far from my house on 11th Street...far from my room that was my hiding place and "safe zone". He put me in a land where I had to get aquainted with 26 racers who arrived in Swaziland, Africa the same day I did. He put me in a land with a new family (Gary and Lisa Black). He put me there...but not before I took a step of faith in "trusting" God, in walking in obedience, and in trusting my spiritual parents (Mike and Patti Paschall).
Sure, these last 6 months have been filled to capacity with being open, being vulnerable, and letting God do what He wants to do in my life in order that I can walk in freedom, in faith, in life. And I have had moments where I would fall into that relapse mode and not want to be open with them about what was going on spiritually or emotionally with me.
But through it all, it's been quite a thrill of a journey!
Time is drawing near to when we return back to the States, to when I return back to my house on 11th Street, to when I have the luxury of going into my room...my safe haven.
But I believe now that when I get there, things won't be the same. I believe that they can't be...atleast for me. I've seen too much...too many hurting people...hurting in too many ways. If I stay in my safe haven with answers to problems that people have, how can they be healed? how can they be free? how can they know that life doesn't always have to be the inward battles of the soul?
This is just a piece of one of the testimonies of my life.
God is faithful. God is aware. God is the answer.
Be blessed!!
Enjoy the Journey!!
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Posted in El Salvador by Traday Caufield on 6/30/2008
Hello Family!!
Another new day indeed. We are here in Jinotepe, Nicaragua going back and forth from here to Diriamba to minister. We have been here for a few days now...somewhere around 5 days or so. But more about that later. I wanted to share some pictures with you of some of the other things we did while in El Salvador. Hope you enjoy them...
This is a Friday night with Silvia and her family celebrating her mother's birthday. This was our first night here in San Salvador, El Salvador. Victor, the guy in the white shirt, Silvia's friend, picked us up and brought us to the restaurant. Little did we know that this was only the first of all the acts of service Victor would do for us.
So this is day two in El Salvador. They thought that after so much traveling we needed to take a break and have a little 'R and R'. So once again, Victor picked us up from the Tica Hotel, we had all our beach going things, suits on and ready to go. We made a day of it. Afterwards, we went to the arcade at Multiplaza Mall. Intially we were searching for bumper cars, which they didn't have. I saw this boxing game and thought...'I think I can take him!' So I slid the game card through, my round started and we were at it. At first he was hullin me out, but then I got my left hook in. Shoot...the right control didn't work...so all my shots were left hooks. By the end of the game I had nearly won, but my time ran out. As tempting as it was to put the coin in to finish the game, I could not. I had sustained muscle failure from all the repetitive left hooks. When I woke up the next day, I couldn't pick up anything heavy or flex my left arm. From my elbow to my wrist is where most of the injury was sustained...but in my mind I was still the winner. HA!! Looking back it took about 1 week for my arm to completely heal.
I talked all that noise about how I would eat some frog...you know, try it out, see how it tastes. But when we got to the food section of the market...I looked at this frog meal and couldn't do it. I think it was because of all the leg action...I mean...look at it. Look at the feet.
But I hear it tastes like chicken...and since I know what chicken taste like I decided I would take their word and leave it at that.
Another day at a different beach--Playa El Tunco. At this beach the waves were coming in big, and they were crashing down hard. The tide was rising...the surfers were doing their thing and I enjoyed it all. I was standing on a rock that later was submerged when I took this photo. Heather and I were fascinated by the rocks, the waves and the beauty of the creation of God!
Look at it!! I had so much fun...not necessarily in the water...I didn't really get in. I did get my feet and legs wet when the waves came rushing in, but I wanted to enjoy the black sand, the blue sky, and the fresh air.
Here is Puerta Del Diablo. The very top peak up there is where we climbed 225 steps to get. To look out and see the tree covered mountains, the lake in the distance with the volcano behind it, and a small city like gathering of houses in the valley was amazing. We carefully walked back down the steps and went up another 129 steps on the other side where there was a cave like area. From there you could get a different perspective of this beautiful area. This is where I took the photo from.
 These were our last moments with Victor...I mean this dude catored to us. He expressed infinate patience with us...especially when He would take us to a store to get a few items. For some reason it took us forever to come out of the store...looking at things that we knew we were not going to get, picking it up and putting it back down, going back to the first item after looking at 5 different items, forgetting one thing once we got through the checkout...ya know...silly things like this. We had so much fun with him and his mother. She was amazing as well. Whether you were hungry or not, you were going to get food when you went to her house. One day, upon walking into her house, I guess I had some sweat beads upside my head. She rushed to the refrigerator and got a bottle of water out and gave it to me. She insistantly told me to drink it. So I opened it up and drank it. The reality was, yes it was hot, but I had just opened a bottle of water in the car, drank some, left in the car so I wouldn't forget it. Of course, she didn't know this, but this just goes to show you her amazing hospitality towards us.
And finally, this is me opening up a gift that Victor gave each of us. In my last blog, I wrote about how I have a family in El Salvador...the Chavez family. After these days, I now have two more families. Victor and his amazing mother is now a part of my family as well as Silvia and her family.
So this is only a glimps of what we got to do and see while we were in El Salvador. We came to minister and to bless and we did, but in turn we were ministered to and blessed abundantly by the people. Nothing like love, and nothing like knowing that the Spirit of God is with you in the midst of it all!!
I hope you enjoyed the pics!
Be blessed!
Enjoy The Journey!!!!
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Posted in El Salvador by Traday Caufield on 6/29/2008
What´s goin on Family?
Well today is a brand new day...Sunday. It´s about 4pm now, and since I have the time, I want to tell you how my adventures in El Salvador went. First, it was Molly, Jeanette, Heather and I who chose El Salvador while the others in the squad split up and went to wherever they felt like God was leading. The most thrilling news went through my ears upon arriving in El Salvador. You want to know what it was? Alright, I´ll tell you..
The news was from Silvia, our friend from Costa Rica and our contact in El Salvador..."Yall (meaning the four of us) will be split up and will be living in separate houses with 4 families that I have chosen. They are my friends and they are very nice." That was all I needed...you should have seen the kool-aid smile I had. We all had one. We were filled with joy and laughter at the thought of us with our minimal Spanish living in the homes of people who we thought only spoke Spanish.
As for me, my home was located directly across the street from the U.S. Embassy, so it was about the safest place of my life. Cameras posted up all over the place, guards decked out in black and white uniform with huge, intimidating guns and they themselves being scattered about always watching and waiting.
This is my family, the Chavez Family. From left to right: Jaaneth, Francisco, Tikva (5), Asael (7) and Meshak (9). I can´t express the gratitude I have towards them for taking me in and treating me like family! After spending these days with them, I know that I have a home in El Salvador.
The days were spent having great conversations with Francisco, walking to the mall with Jaaneth and having conversations with her, playing games and having movie nights with the kids, coloring with them, going to the park one day, watching soccer on TV and getting krunk when goals were scored, and my favorite...sharing meals and icecream together. For the most part, we always ate as a family...breakfast, lunch and dinner.
It didn´t take long for me to mesh with the kids. They were very shy at first, but it didn´t take long for them to get over it either. My favorite memory with them is hard to call because there were many. But I think I can narrow it down...it was the day we played ´hide and go seek´. Tikva would count and as Asael followed me, I thought he was going to hide with me, which was cool...I was all about it. But as I hid, I noticed he just stood there watching me and when Tikva got to 20 and came to find me, Asael would yell out "She´s here!!, she´s here, she´s here!!" Then I would break out in laughter and say to Asael, "Come on now...how can you just throw me to the wolves like that?" Asael and Tikva would be in the heat of laughter as she was on her way to tag me. She´d tell me to run to base and so I did and the game would start all over again. I picked one good hiding spot one time though...upstairs and under the bed that I slept in...perfect hiding spot...until they found me. But I managed to last a while up there. Fun times indeed! If I had to name a second, which, now that I think about it, really ties with first, it would be watching movies and having ice cream with them. We watched great movies like "Spirit", "Cinderella", "Shrek 3", and "Valiant".
There´s probably a short book I could write about this family that I have learned about them in these few days. Things like their kindness and hospitality, about how they are quick to serve, about the love they have for their kids and for humanity, about how they teach their kids to pray and believe God for the things that they want, about their truly living a life of faith and trusting in God. I was priveleged to hear about many stories where God proved Himself in their lives and that in itself was a huge encouragement. It gave me the opportunity to see from a different perspective the faithfulness of God.
This, really, is a micro summary of all the fun adventures I had with this family. I do miss them. But, maybe one day, hopefully sooner than later I will get the opportunity to see them again, to give them all the hugs we shared daily, to catch up on how life is going with them...maybe share a meal together. Yep, that would be nice!
So, this is only one side of the adventures I had in El Salvador. Much was crammed into these ten days. Much, much more. I´ll letcha in on it a little later though...I´m outta time now.
Peace and love to you all!
Enjoy The Journey!!
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Posted in Real Life by Traday Caufield on 6/25/2008
Hello to All!!
We are fast approaching our last month here on the race. As a matter of fact our bus will be here in a few hours around 5am. Right now it's a little after 2am here in San Salvador, El Salvador and much has been on my mind and heart lately. When I go to bed, I find that in my heart there are lots of questions, lots of ideas, and lots of concerns. I'm not overwhelmed by them, they are just there.
To name only a few, it seems that a day doesn't pass where I don't think about the experiences God has blessed me to have and to thank Him for them. A day doesn't pass where I don't think about my family (not only my biological family, but my family at ECF). And lately the days have not passed without me thinking about how God knew the day I was born He would put me in a place like this at a time like this.  The Word of God says, "The plans of the Lord stand firm forever; the purposes of His heart throughout all generations." I try to wrap my mind around it...the generations past...and it's hard. A couple of days ago, as I was thinking on the Lord, I began the futile effort of trying to imagine what heaven is like...and even more, I began trying to imagine what "ETERNITY" was like. I'm not sure how long I sat there pondering on these things. I finally snapped out of my day dreaming and thought to myself..."Traday, the most beautiful thing you can imagine won't almost or remotely compare to the glory of the Kingdom of God."
Take, for example, this picture to the left here. I was fascinated with it. I had never seen such a sight. We were coming down from the volcano in El Salvador and I was taken by these clouds in the sky. I had to have a picture of such a sight!! I was fascinated at how God in this dark world gave me something so awesome to behold.
As I thought about eternity and the Kingdom of God, the reality of being in the presence of a King, a God, an all powerful, all knowing righteous KING brought to my mind and heart how much I NEED God. I need His mercy, I need His forgiveness, I need His love, I need HIM. I began thinking about how He is a just and fair God and because He is fair, when He judges, we have no room for argument...which led me back to examining my life. Yes, I am forgiven, yes, I am saved, yes, I believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that He came and died for all humanity because of the sins of the world, yet at the same time I question if I am REALLY being who He created me to be. No doubt that I am saved, but am I walking in fear rather than faith? Am I living for Him only SOMEtimes? Really, am I selfishly wanting to see in this thing we call Christianity "what's in it for me?" Amazing how we go in and out of these phases of how we label ourselves on where we stand in our confidence in God...the mountain vs the valley, being on fire and being ice cold, be sure and having questions.
As for me, I haven't arrived...I'm still in the earth...I'm still learning...I'm still getting to know God, I'm still getting to know His Holy Spirit and how to live life in communion with the Holy Spirit. When I fall, I get back up. I have to. It's a learning process. It's a humbling process.
This is a big world that God has created with all kinds of people. All kinds of people who have all kinds of needs who serve all kinds of gods who are given all kinds of answers except the one and true ANSWER. I pray that your life and my life will always be an example of faith, and example of love, an example of forgiveness, an example of obediance, an example of a son and daughter of the KING. Enjoy it! Have fun with it! Get with God. He is not far from you. He is not unaware. He is not powerless to help you or to save.
Enjoy the Journey!!
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Posted in The Journey!!! by Traday Caufield on 6/11/2008
So here we are back in Costa Rica for a night before catching the bus early in the morning. As we move forward on to the next country, (whether or not I post a blog about it) I always take time to remember the things we did in the previous country.
 These memories are a range of things really...the weather, the people, the ministry, the sunsets and sunrises, the bathroom conditions, the laughter and conversations with my team, the time we take to pray together...anything. I love remembering these things and going back through the scenes of them.  I love to look at the faces of the kids, see them laughing and remembering what triggered these hilarious moments. Life is too short...I can see that as the time is passing by so quickly and the months that I have spent with my team are dwindling to weeks. So we have to make the most of these times, doing our best not to forget them...atleast that's how I feel about it. But you can ask
my team...I usually don't remember things well...details of what's going on when or who's supposed to be doing what. I thank God for these SD memory cards in my camera so that I can keep the photo's. Lord know's I probably wouldn't remember too much of anything.
I love to remember people like my little friend here, Frankilin. There were tendencies in him that clearly showed that he had temper/anger issues, but that didn't stop us. The best way for us to break through to him was to love him anyways. He colored a picture and gave it to me. He sat by me at church. He would sit with me and talk to me the best he could (language barrier) and I would talk to him. He really is a good kid, but he's one of the many kids in the world who needs LOVE and assurance.
 Then the silly memories where we pose and have someone take a picture of us. Goofy times like that are hilarious sometimes. But the memory of us going swimming, the memory of the salt water splashing onto us en-route to an island...and for me, my lips...the salt water making them all chapped and what-not while the wind is beating on them and the sun blasting on them...not a good combo...but I would do it all over again...sho nuff. Yeah, so these are just a few more pictures mainly to show you different scenes of Panama.
And, usually, this is how I will always remember it...one big kool-aid smile and two thumbs up. Sure we go through the tough times, dull times, sorrowful times, but in the end, the things God teaches you through them are phenominal! And in the best of times, God's still teaching us! I love it!Panama was great, the people were great, the culture was different, but hey, that's the way I like it. It get's boring being the same all the time. So God bless ya! Thank you to all who support me financially!!
Enjoy the Journey!!!
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Posted in Thanks!!! by Tracey Caufield on 6/10/2008
Back in May, during the Mother's Day holiday, I didn't get to post a blog saying how much I appreciated my mother--Petelia Caufield-- or all of the mothers in my life. But I was blessed to call and talk to some of them.
I want to take the time to write this blog for the Father's Day holiday. I know it's early, but I don't know what I'll be doing when the actual day gets here. I don't know where I'll be. Also, for every spiritual father, thank you for being a part of my life, for depositing nuggets of gold within my spirit, for praying for me and supporting me as your own. Thank you for lifting me up when it seemed I was in the valley of death. I love you all so much and think about you daily!!
So, I was laying in the bed...still am...when I began thinking about how the Father's Day holiday is coming up. Right now it's about 4am. I'm not terribly tired so I want to take the time to thank my dad--L.A. Caufield, Jr--or what I call him--Chalie--and tell him how much I appreciate him.
 So, Chalie, I first want to thank you for your commitment to Mam. I thank you for your heart to give. Thank you for loving me and Gerald and Anthony. Thank you for the wonderful times when it was just me and you going fishing in the Heavy Chevy. I look forward to this when I get home. Thank you for taking me to church with you when I was little. Thank you for sitting up late at night with me putting jigsaw puzzles together. Thank you for helping me get my papers wrote while I was in Bible college. Thank you for every year you cook the turkey and dressing during Thanksgiving. Thank you for blessing me in my endeavors and encouraging me in my dreams. Thank you for remaining calm in situations that needed peace and calm. Thank you for playing basketball with me and catch with the football. Thank you for letting me put rollers in your hair when I was little. Thank you for all the knick names. Thank you for flying the kite with me...that like to killed us both that one day...remember that?!? Thank you for going riding on the bikes with me. Thank you for trusting me. Thank you for your sacrifices for me. Thank you being patient with me and Gerald as kids when we would sneak into the van just before it was time for you to go back to work from your lunch break and you would get mostly to work before you realized we were in there. Thank you for sitting and watching the clouds with me. Thank you for your willingness to help. Thank you for your wisdom. Thank you for the road-trips, ensuring that I knew how to ge to a particular place. Thank you for teaching me how to change a tire, to put oil in the car, put anit-freeze and water in the car, how to properly wash a car. Thank you for the days we spend listening to oldies in the back yard playing dominoes drinking "soda".  Thank you for taking William-Williamson-William-William or rather Wilson (aka The 3rd) for walks and for going out to see what in the world he be barking about late at night.Thank you for going walking with me around town sometimes. Thank you for having faith. Thank you for the memories that are deep within my heart that I have forgotten about and have the opportunity to remember all over again. Thank you for all the times we laughed way, way too hard. Thank you for teaching me about how faithful God is. Thank you for buying us fire crackers for new years and the 4th of July when we were little. Thank you for praying for me whenever I was sick. Thank you for praying for me when my heart was hurting. Thank you for praying for me when things were just fine.
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!
I love you so much and will see you in a short while.
Blessings to You!!
Love,
Traday/Beautiful Black Alf/Chalie
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