[00:00:00] Walter: The Hearts of Gold Podcast is brought to you by the Grow and Share Network, produced by off the Walter Media.
[00:00:11] Sheryl: Welcome to Hearts of Gold. Today we have Elisa with us. Hi Elisa.
[00:00:16] Elisa: Hi.
[00:00:17] Sheryl: Can you tell us about your Girl Scout Gold Award project?
[00:00:21] Elisa: So my girl, Scout Gold Award project is really with the focus to help teen girls and young adult women to draw closer to their relationship with God and learn more about who they are and especially in regards to their eternal identity and purpose.
[00:00:35] I feel like especially at this age, as we’re growing older, we know that we have a purpose in our heads, but sometimes our hearts like struggle to believe it and it can be really overwhelming sometimes, and there’s so many outside voices and as I’m a Christian. I believe that the voice we should listen to is the voice of Jesus because he’s the one who guides us and gives us strength and wisdom and discernment.
[00:00:59] And so what I really wanted the focus of my project to be about is to encourage girls to learn more about who Jesus is because I believe when you know more about who Jesus. Is you learn more about who you are and your identity in Christ, and that’s the best ide, identity you could ever have. And so I started this and the name of my project is called The Next Generation, and that’s also the name of the ministry I started.
[00:01:25] And my goal is to provide many digital resources and just writing and speaking to encourage girls in the walk with the Lord. Because sometimes it can be really challenging. Sometimes we don’t know what to do. We hear so many outside opinions. And everybody could be saying something completely different and it’s hard to know what to do, how to be obedient, how to be faithful in your relationship with God.
[00:01:48] And that’s really what my ministry is about. And so through the course of my Gold award, I got this amazing opportunity to create an Instagram account to post an, uh, encouraging content for girls to create my own website that has blog articles and. Even just free digital resources that girls are welcome to download.
[00:02:07] And there were so many pro, uh, aspects of my project that I didn’t even plan for, but just spontaneously the right opportunities came up and I really saw how God works through each opportunity, through the connections I made and through the people I was able to impact through this project. And I knew that like none of this would’ve been possible without the help of people and without the help of God.
[00:02:29] And it’s just amazing to see how much this project has gone and even after the project has officially ended. I want to see how my ministry continue expanding over the next few years to my project.
[00:02:40] Sheryl: It is clear you have a very solid faith. How did that faith come about that you felt strong enough to use this as your platform for your gold award project?
[00:02:52] Elisa: So thankfully and blessed with such amazing parents and so ever since I was a little girl, we have like daily Bible meeting times where our family all sits together and reads the Bible and we even just going to church. I, I feel like, especially as we go older, I’ve talked to a lot of my friends and unfortunately their churches.
[00:03:09] Talk mainly to adults, but they don’t have a lot of resources for kids my age and teens and that in between section. And thankfully in my church, I was so blessed to find people who generally care about us, who care about Gen Z, who spend literally every day praying over us that we just use our gifts to glorify God.
[00:03:28] And as an introvert, it’s very hard to find people that understand me and to see how I can use my faith as someone who’s more in the quiet side, but through this process, I’ve just been really just amazed to see how many people and how many relationships I’ve formed, and that’s generally formed the basis for my faith, and especially during covid as.
[00:03:49] Everyone was like isolated from away from each other. It’s very hard to find those connections. And I felt like even through that time, God spoke to me in such a strong and tangible way, and I experienced his love and his voice in a real like clearly the never before. And that genuinely just ignited my faith.
[00:04:08] And even just over the course of few months, I learned so much about who I was in him. And as I gained that clarity, I realized that I had so many insecurities before and there were so many lies that I unknowingly started believing along the way. And there were so many girls who were still living in darkness, who were still living like those lies are true about themselves and it’s not.
[00:04:29] And do that. I was really inspired to start this ministry and it’s amazing how even like one small act can transform so many lives. So the reason for the kind of spark of my project, if you will, is that, uh, during Covid, my church started like this little, um, workshop, if you will, to like encourage people my age to use their gifts.
[00:04:50] And so we had different activities to help us to practically live this out. And so one of them was to use our social media platforms to just share the love of Jesus. And, and as I did this Bible study, what I did is I just read a chapter a day. I wrote down things that stood out to me. And then on Instagram stories I just posted a about on my personal.
[00:05:08] account and it was something that seemed small in the moment, but I remember praying with my mom right before starting that God would just use this to touch the right people and to create an internal impact. And even though I didn’t even expect that, that was really probably the starting point for my Gold Award project because I just had the passion to share my words.
[00:05:29] Because ever since I was little I’ve loved to write and I’ve loved to speak, to use those words to make a difference and. One thing kind of fell into another and I just became more and more passionate about sharing my faith and just realizing how important it is because we are living in this culture where there’s so much darkness and brokenness, especially with people around our age, and I think especially in this age, there’s.
[00:05:54] It’s easy for adults to speak to teens, but sometimes it can be hard to form those connections. But through a teen speaking to a teen, I believe it can be so much more impactful, and I really hope that my project has been able to encourage teens to this platform. But they’re not just that to encourage those teens to encourage, to go out and share their faith and to share who they are and who Jesus is with others in their communities as well.
[00:06:17] Sheryl: You mentioned the resources that you created that are available on your website, and we’ll have the link to your website in the show notes. Can you share what some of those resources are and how you created them?
[00:06:29] Elisa: One of the biggest resources I created was digital affirmation cards. And what’s really cool about these affirmation cards is that girls can just have them on the go.
[00:06:37] They can look at them on their phones, but they can also print them out and keep it carried with them wherever they go. And the basis for this is that, I feel like sometimes it can be really, really hard for us to distinguish the difference between our emotions and validating our emotions, but also recognizing the fact that not everything we feel is fact.
[00:06:57] And there’s like a fine line between suppressing, which is I think is wrong and can be dangerous to our mental health, but also like. Believing every single thought that we have about ourselves, which many of the times is very harmful and even untrue, and that really formed the basis for my affirmation cards because the beauty of this is that it acknowledges a struggle that sometimes it can be hard to understand all these emotions and what God says about.
[00:07:22] Them, but then to go back to the word of God and remember his promises, so that even when it doesn’t feel like we are worthy, even when it doesn’t feel like we are loved or that God has a big plan for us, we can go back to the Bible to a specific voice, because sometimes we don’t even remember the bi Bible verses in the heat of the moment, but just that reminder to just shift our way of thinking to prevent us from spiraling or whether you’re having a bad day or just a really difficult season, and to just encourage girls that.
[00:07:49] God’s promises are true no matter what they face, no matter the challenges. He is good and he is steadfast and he has such an incredible plan for the lives. And what is so amazing about this is that I later got the chance to, uh, work with a local missionary who’s part of my Gold Award team, and she got the opportunity to distribute these cards to Girls Living are in Mexico, which is so amazing and surreal to me that God has just been using these amazing resources.
[00:08:15] And then another resource I did was. The 31 days of like prayers and journal prompts that girls can use because if I’m honest, like I’m someone who, it’s very hard for me to pray in my head because I can get so distracted really quickly and it can be hard for me to fully articulate what I’m feeling.
[00:08:32] But through the journal prompts and prayers, I found that it’s much easier for me to communicate and be intentional about prioritizing a relationship with God, and I wanted to do the same for girls my age and that’s why I created those. And another of my resources is also, um, just a, a worksheet that helps girls in the reading the Bible, because I think sometimes it can be difficult for us to know what we are actually taking away.
[00:08:57] Sometimes it feels like we’re reading the Bible and, oh no, I don’t remember anything I read. I don’t know how to apply this. And so it’s just really simple. It breaks down what you read and asks you questions to help you journal, write it out, and just make your Bible daily, Bible right, reading time consistent.
[00:09:14] And I think that is so, so powerful. And I also have, this is. In addition to the free resources, I also have free small group notes. When our group met for online small groups, I think it’s throughout the school year. It can be challenging to meet up, but I don’t want any girls to like miss out. So we also have small group notes so that girls can always go back.
[00:09:31] They can read alongside us what’s passage of scripture we’ve read, and they can also see the notes. They’re encouraged to, uh, just spend time thinking about the reflection questions, maybe writing them out and just learning how to be encouraged and being poured into their faith, and then being inspired to live it out.
[00:09:48] Sheryl: Who was on your team and how did they help you?
[00:09:51] Elisa: It was amazing. I had so many different members of my team. Uh, one of my members was actually, um, a teacher for my school. Her name is Miss Erica Sabia and she was my project advisor. And my Gold gold award project is actually so completely different from what I originally proposed.
[00:10:09] And it was tied at first because I actually got rejected three times before my proposal was officially approved. But now looking back, I see that it was all god because he placed the right people at the right times and. She’s actually helping me because I originally decided to do like a small business, but that evolved into just being able to share my faith through this ministry and she was really able to help me by encouraging me and we were able to do a see you at the pole event at a school and to start a Bible group and.
[00:10:39] Through that she was able to guide me through this process, to give me the resources I need to even make this event possible, to just finalize everything and every single thing. It’s every single time I’ve created something, she’s been there supporting me, encouraging me, and reading every single thing of it.
[00:10:54] And, and the best part is she’s not even technically my official teacher. She’s just the sponsor of one of my clubs. But she took that time to just point to me, and that’s made all the difference. And then I also have my Girl Scout troop leaders, um, Ms. Anina also, uh, and Norma Fuentes and they’ve been amazing because I started Girl Scouts when I was in third grade, and I didn’t even know I was gonna do the bronze silver or the gold, and life just happened this way.
[00:11:20] But throughout the entire process, Whenever I’ve had a question, they’ve always supported me. They’ve given me feedback, and there are so many questions I had about how to make my project sustainable, how to flood paperwork, how to form a plan, and all of that. But throughout the entire process, they’ve helped me whenever I’ve needed it.
[00:11:39] And they’ve not just done the bare minimum, they’ve gone out of their way to acknowledge me and support me. And I think just having the right troop leaders in your team has made all the difference for me. And another one of my members has been a lot of the people from my church because through my Gold Award project, I was able to do an online conference to equip girls and young women to grow in their faith.
[00:12:03] And so I invited a lot of my team members from my church, including my small group leader, Megan, and. It’s my other previous small group leader, uh, summer. And both of them have been so impactful because they have very different personalities, but because of that, I’ve learned so much from each of them.
[00:12:22] Megan is so, she has such a bubbly personality that whenever you look at her, I think of like a ray of sunshine and she goes out of her way to encourage me to respect my boundaries and to teach me about how to be authentic in my faith, and even through summer and all, she’s been one of the other members and I feel like the moment I met her, we’ve had that deep connection and I knew that I felt so seen with her and before even starting this ministry, listening to her speak, seeing the way that she articulated the word of God so eloquently while also addressing the struggles that people face on an everyday basis.
[00:13:01] That’s also inspired me so much in my faith and has taught me so much about how to teach to people my age, how to share love while speaking truth at the same time. And also my pastor, pastor Convo Trel, he’s been huge because there have been so many times in my faith where I’ve struggled and I was just feeling really discouraged, especially since I started this ministry.
[00:13:22] But there’s been so many times that he’s prayed for me and I even got the opportunity later on to just share some things that I’ve learned through studying the ministry and to just encourage other people my age to draw closer to Jesus and rise up in their faith. And through that entire process, he’s guided me.
[00:13:39] He’s given me advice about how to leverage my story while also utilizing the word of God as the most powerful weapon ever. And just being able to be authentic and acknowledging my weaknesses. The fact that I’m not perfect. There’s so many things I can’t do on my own, but also trusting God through my weaknesses, allowing me to just be an ambassador for Christ.
[00:14:01] And through that entire process, I’ve just gained so much spiritual maturity just by watching the people in my life. And that has been so impactful for me because every single member of my team has been so different, but together made my project so much stronger.
[00:14:16] Sheryl: You mentioned that you had to go through the proposal process a couple of times.
[00:14:20] This can often be a barrier for Girl Scouts, um, in order to earn the gold award. That proposal really, to me is the most difficult part of the project. You mentioned that you started with perhaps a small business and you transitioned to what you, you did. Can you tell us some of the back and forth between you and the approvers that helped move that transition?
[00:14:46] Elisa: Originally, my idea was to have like a Christian Small business and to also have digital resources similar to what I was already doing. And after that got rejected, I was definitely feeling kind of like, like kind of shaky and it was definitely a bit discouraging to put in so much work, especially as it was my first time.
[00:15:06] And, but they basically told me that there’s so many other people out there that I could expand my community to. And a business while it could be beneficial in the future, is probably not the right platform at the moment. And so from there I transitioned into, um, just. Focusing on ministry and using my words and writing.
[00:15:25] And then I spent time thinking about the sustainability about my project because also the entire process, the biggest struggle for me has been trying to make my project sustainable because I think also sustainability will look different for each project. And. The council and the people who approve your project will also view sustainability in very different way.
[00:15:46] So it can definitely be a little bit of tension there and really taking into consideration what they’re saying and using that feedback to make your project stronger while still not losing the passion you have for the project. And. After that, I submitted it again and I got rejected again, and they encouraged me to start a small group, and so I decided to start an online small group, and it was just an amazing experience to starting that because I just realized that I may not get an audience of like a thousand people.
[00:16:17] I may just have an audience of one, but that one is just as important as an audience of like a thousand people, a hundred thousand of people. And just to a small group, I was able to really just grow my own faith as I was encouraging other girls and girls I’ve literally known for years. So throughout the process, something that God really showed me and something I was learning along the way is the importance of trusting that.
[00:16:42] Every change has an impact and every change, even while it will be frustrating and will be discouraging, there’s gonna be so many people that will be benefited through your changes and give yourself space to be discouraged. You don’t have to like always say, oh, okay, let’s move on, and immediately transition, because sometimes it can be emotionally taxing and we can acknowledge that.
[00:17:05] But after you understand that, you can also step forward and be willing to adapt and say that I don’t know where this project is gonna go. And sometimes me and the council will have different perspectives, but that’s okay because I can learn from their perspectives while also forging my own path and trusting that the right people at the right time will be impacted through this project.
[00:17:27] And that’s exactly what happened. Through every single delay, there were so many more people that were able to hear the love of Jesus through my project and even for other girls. Even though you will face delays, keep on going and don’t let discouragement stop you for making an impact right where you are.
[00:17:42] Because I promise you, even though you might not see it in the moment when you look back on this process, it is so worth it and there are so many people that need to hear what you’re saying.
[00:17:51] Sheryl: You also created a podcast. Can you tell us what went into your podcast? How did you produce it? Because it was very well done.
[00:17:59] Elisa: Oh, thank you so much. It’s kinda funny cause. Uh, the podcast probably took the longest for me because there were so many times when I had to like research something cuz I had no idea what I was doing. And I was really just starting from scratch. And what’s amazing is that my school actually has an. AV production class.
[00:18:19] So I was very close to my teacher, Miss Diaz and we have like Yeti microphones and so during Thanksgiving break I spent time, like I borrowed the microphone, I took it home for me and I finally kinda loud, but they’re still amazing. I love them. So because of that, I waited to live fast asleep and then around two to 3:00 AM in the morning, I recorded all my episodes.
[00:18:41] So just goes to show you like making a gold award project is far from perfect, but this. Something really beautiful about those spontaneous, like spur of the moment getting stuff done moments. And through that process I just spent time developing a script. First off, um, I didn’t want everything to be word for word because I wanted to be just let the Lord speak and.
[00:19:04] And just let it to be free and spontaneous. So I just had basically a mini outline. I basically focused on either passage of scripture or a topic, and from there I broke down the topic into different Bible verses that spoke about this topic, and then things that stood out to me or like things that other people might not have noticed.
[00:19:26] And through studying the passages, I then formed the outline and then, I went over it a couple of times, and then I spent time actually practicing with the microphone. I used Audacity to record these podcasts. And then something I also realized is that each episode I learned more and more about how to speak, how to place my mic, because the first time I was super close to the mic a little bit later, I was too far away, but.
[00:19:52] Through each episode, I started learning and eventually I got the hang of it. And it’s something that even though I waited till after my project was done to continue, I definitely want to continue doing this because it was such an amazing opportunity. And after that, I use Spotify and I think there’s like a website called Spotify for podcasters, and you can upload your feed.
[00:20:11] It gives you all the information necessary if anyone’s interested in also using. Podcast for the Gold Award project, and once you go on there, you just create an account, you put in your information and you just upload an audio file and you have the space to design your logo, to write in information, share notes, whatever it may be, to just add to that Spotify podcast.
[00:20:33] And something I really wanna do in the future with this podcast is to invite different people, especially members of my team, because sometimes I feel like when you gain different perspectives, you just learn so much. And there have been so many times where I’ve learned so much, just so I’m listening to other people speak.
[00:20:49] And I definitely wanna interview more people from my podcast and record even more episodes. And. I wanna say like, if you’re doing a podcast, it will take time. I encourage you to research beforehand and even just spend time listening to podcasts that go along with the vibe or the feel of what you want your podcast to be is that it’s really helped me in learning.
[00:21:09] And then be free to make it to your own. And just remember, you won’t be able to see the people you’re talking to, but even if you’re reaching one person, that one person matters and you never know how that could encourage them.
[00:21:21] Sheryl: What was your biggest challenge during your project and how did you overcome it?
[00:21:25] Elisa: Definitely burnout and discouragement. As an introvert, I can get really overly stimulated. So for me, the transition from quarantine to going back to school was extremely overwhelming and I felt really tired. And I don’t know if you’ve heard of this, but there’s a symptom called languishing that my aunt, who’s also an introvert, told me about, and it’s basically what it, you know, that your mental health is not
[00:21:48] at the absolute West Point, but it’s also not the absolute best point. And you just go to life feeling really overwhelmed, discouraged, feeling like you have no purpose. And it can be really discouraging. And that’s something I walk through. And even right now, there’s still some days where I still feel like that.
[00:22:04] And I was really confused because. Literally almost the exact same time I officially began my gold award project and got approved was this exact same time when my school first started. And there were many times where I didn’t understand like, God, why didn’t you let this project get approved? Oh yeah, why couldn’t I just do it?
[00:22:20] When I had the energy, I had more strength. And something I really learned is that it’s okay to grow. It’s okay to be weak and vulnerable, and I’m someone who always feels like I have to like, depend on myself. I have to control stuff in order to be strong for the people. But God’s shown me that I don’t
[00:22:36] always have to be the strong one. I’m allowed to be weak and trust him because in my weakness, that’s when his strength is magnified and people are able to relate with us so much more when we’re authentic and vulnerable with him. And as someone who struggled with vulnerability, um, this is a huge hurdle for me because it’s something that I’ve never done before and I think.
[00:22:57] God used the words that I was speaking to other people to encourage me, myself, and to even encourage people that I ne will never even meet you. I might not even know, but I know that God used those words and even through the entire process, there’ll be days where I’m be able to like share real and it gets like thousands of views.
[00:23:17] There’ll be other days when I did an online small group literally the next day and no one showed up. And it’s important to acknowledge that in your gold award project. We measure results by statistics because we want to take a measure, and I think that’s good to measure accountability, but just remember that your results and your success as well, the connections you formed, even just a simple conversation that you think is just a minute long and doesn’t mean that much, but just someone else who’s having a hard day, just someone else who’s going through exactly the same thing that you are and doesn’t have hope.
[00:23:49] Your words could be exactly what they needed, and for me, just. Realizing the fact that discouragement and burnout are a part of life and it’s okay to struggle. It’s okay to not be okay, and just trust that even in my weakness, God will carry me every step of the way that he’s going to use my words in my time of weakness to encourage so many people who are just living in really broken and dark situations.
[00:24:15] Mentally and spiritually and emotionally, and just trusting that it’s every step matters. So often we think of the journey of the gold award because we look and set five goals, but accomplishing those goals begins with just a step every day. And in the moment, those steps might not seem like much. It can be really discouraging, but just remember that what you’re doing matters.
[00:24:37] There’s so many people out there who are waiting to hear hope, who are waiting in a really desperate situation, and. The issues you’re addressing, the change you’re creating, it all has an eternal impact in ways that you can’t even fathom. So acknowledge the fact that it’s hard, but also keep persevering and trust that you are creating something that’s so much bigger and better than yourself.
[00:24:58] Sheryl: What is a special memory from your project?
[00:25:00] Elisa: As I mentioned, like in the last question, I was in a really, uh, burnt out and discouraged place, and that is around the time I was also posting Instagram and I was kind of taking a break from other stuff as well because it felt like I wasn’t doing anything that mattered, even though now I look back, I know that’s not true, but in the moment I was just feeling really discouraged, but I still kept on posting in the hopes that maybe someone will just reach out, someone would need what I have to say.
[00:25:28] And in January, I think of 2022, um, I just posted that says a post about nine things you need to remember about your purpose, which is kind of ironic because I was struggling with that myself. And I used hashtags when I post to reach more people. And that same day I got, um, uh, just a message from this account called a J and K.
[00:25:48] And they just told me that. Basically that the, what I posted was exactly what they needed to hear, and it was just the perfect, um, opportunity to just connect with them. And I just scrolled on their Instagram page and they had a lot of amazing content, especially for creatives. And so we just got to connecting.
[00:26:07] And it turns out that we were both in really similar situations, but, um, what is amazing is that God just spoke to us and what I didn’t know in the moment, but what I really found out later on is that one of the girls, um, Kaylee, she spent time praying and she said, God, please use me to connect with the right people.
[00:26:26] And she’s scrolling through a hashtag and she and her account and my account both use the same hashtag. And through that we’ve connected. And now Kaylee and Aaliyah, we both sisters, we’re literally one of the closest friends we’ve ever met. We have tons of deep convos. We’ve literally one time zoomed for eight hours.
[00:26:44] And the best part is we’ve never even met in person. They live in a completely different state. Both of them are older than me and. This connection shouldn’t have made sense, but it did. And ever since I met them, I’ve lost that feeling of hopelessness. I’ve lost that feeling of constant discouragement, and I’ve just gained an amazing perspective because of them.
[00:27:05] And. The way I look at life is so much better and so much of our conversations have translated into the content. I’ve produced Foreign as it’s as the generation ministry, and that just goes to show you that you might not think you’re making an impact, but there’s that one person and that one connection, no matter how crazy, no matter how impossible that one connection is all it takes to transform life.
[00:27:28] Sheryl: What other girls scout experiences have you had that you’d like to share?
[00:27:32] Elisa: So I was also able to earn my Gold award, but because of that, my silver award and my bronze award and my silver award was extremely beneficial because it really prepared me for the project and how to plan and how to organize. I think sometimes we have these big, exciting visions, but we don’t know how to break it down into tangible steps.
[00:27:51] And so what the Silver Award reallyky’ showed me is how to start a website and to how to start a blog and to use my words, because the . Focus of my silver award is to have adoptions, so that they would visit their local animal shelter, they’d adopt their foster, even just volunteer. And so one of the aspects was creating a blog that educated audiences about this.
[00:28:10] And also to just make dog toys that we distributed to my local animal shelter. And through that process, I learned. So much about how to organize what I was doing to break the steps up into manageable pieces so that even when the day was busy, even when I didn’t have an hour, maybe I just had 10 minutes, but that 10 minutes every single day made a huge impact and I was really able to learn so much also.
[00:28:36] Also about how to draft the proposal in preparation for my gold award proposal and how to ensure that everything I was doing was meeting all the requirements, which really helped me. And also for my bonds award, we learned about how to just form a team together. And so for that, we sanded and made these benches for our troop leaders, um, local element chief that her daughter was in.
[00:29:01] And through that I was able to learn how to just. Budget correctly, how to make a plan of action and involve people so you’re not just carrying off the work, so you’re distributing everything correctly. And through that process, I just gained so much knowledge from that. And even though I didn’t realize it in the moment when I look back, I see that both my silver and my bronze word helped me a lot in learning how to be a good leader by not just.
[00:29:27] Talking, but also by listening, by taking direction, by gaining fellow team members who encourage you, who will challenge you and push you, you beyond your limits in order to make your project the most effective it can be.
[00:29:40] Sheryl: What is in your future?
[00:29:41] Elisa: I definitely hope to expand my Esther Generation Ministry.
[00:29:45] Something that I’ve really been passionate about is, um, being able to just use my words and encourage people to use their gifts and their voices. And so I mentioned earlier that we were able to host an online RiseUP conference, and that is such an incredible experience. But something I also want to do is, To make it in person this year.
[00:30:05] I haven’t had all the details out. I still have to plan and organize, but I think that just involving my team members, again, to get the chance to talk to people face to face, to worship together, to have a question, a that’s live and so many other incredible opportunities. I think the in-person aspect will just add a whole lay of depth and it’ll just one day write my own book.
[00:30:26] And I definitely don’t know how that’s gonna happen, but I’m just gonna keep being faithful. I’m gonna keep writing for my ministry and my blog, and I definitely wanna keep, uh, recording more podcast episodes and maybe even creating like resources on Etsy so that other people in other areas, they might not know me, but they could be able to purchase a product and just have daily resources.
[00:30:50] To encourage people and their faith, and I’ve really just learned about the importance of communication. And no matter what I do in my future, I definitely wanna use my gifts of speaking and writing to just touch the one life, because I think that one life and just living from an audience of one can make such a huge impact.
[00:31:08] Sheryl: Is there anything else that you have to share with the audience?
[00:31:11] Elisa: The importance of just finding the beauty in your project? I think sometimes we can be so busy just going, going, going, try to get the work done, try to meet the deadlines, try to bond school and. Projects and so much more, and it can get overwhelming and it’s so easy to get discouraged.
[00:31:28] But I just wanna encourage you that even when it doesn’t seem like it, take the time to rest. Take the time to acknowledge the fact that you’ve made so many, prog so much progress since when you first started to celebrate every step and trust that you have a purpose and you are encouraging other people to pursue your purpose right here and right where you are.
[00:31:48] There have been so many times. When I’ve just been really just low and heavy and people have told me that what I posted or what I shared was exactly what they needed to hear, and I truly believe that when you are pursuing your Gold Award project or any other project in general, that you will do the same.
[00:32:04] That. Through your gift, whether it’s singing or writing or dancing, whatever it may be, keep on doing that. And remember that you are sharing a light, a light that cannot be extinguished, and people need to see that light because you never know the challenges that they’re facing. And when you’re able to find the beauty in each moment, the way you live and the perspective that you have is so much greater, and you’ll be able to find joy even in seasons or moments of hardship because you know that what you’re doing matters.
[00:32:34] Sheryl: How do you make your s’mores?
[00:32:36] Elisa: I have them with chocolate traditional. I love to melt them, but I also like to burn my marshmallows. I know that some people have like different instances about how much to burn a marshmallow, but I like my little bit crispy and I think the chocolate and the burned marshmallow is a nice contrast with each other.
[00:32:54] And then with the traditional graham cracker, and I’ve also had them with sprinkles before. Which I like and yeah, I love to have them. And also the Girl Scout cookie Small. I love to have those with ice cream.
[00:33:07] Sheryl: Well, thanks for joining us today.
[00:33:09] Elisa: Thank you so much. It is such an amazing opportunity.
[00:33:12] Sheryl: Make sure to click, follow or subscribe so you always know when new episodes are released.
[00:33:17] Power your passion and conquer your challenges.
[00:33:21] Walter: Thank you for listening. If you’d like to be on the show to share your story of how you earned your gold award, reach out and send an email to growandshare@outlook.com. Be sure to catch up on our previous shows on any of your favorite podcasting platforms, as well as view the full video versions at youtube.com/SherylMrobinson.
[00:33:44] Thanks again for listening and we’ll see you next time.