Interview with Isabella Morganthal // Part Two

Welcome back!  It’s time for part 2 of my interview with Miss Isabella Morganthal!!  I hope y’all enjoyed part one and was encouraged by what she had to share, and I hope that you are further encouraged by what you read again today.  Another big thank you to Bella for joining me for this interview!  *Round of applause* It was tons of fun, Bella, and I really enjoyed it!! :)

Sour Cream Girl:  I know that on top of being an author, writer, blogger, YouTube-er, and local Bible Bee host, you also have several other things you are passionate about and other ways you are making a difference and using your talents for God!  I’d like to take a moment and ask about a certain one in particular: your calling to Africa.  When did God first burden your heart for Africa?

Bella: Oh, yes! My beloved Africa. =) It was March 9, 2008…a day I will never forget as long as I live! I was almost eleven years old on that day when God changed my world and asked me to follow Him into a country I knew nothing about. I didn’t know then the way I would fall in love with the people, culture and place of Africa over the years to come. =)

Sour Cream Girl:  When did God show you that Uganda was the specific place He wanted you to go?

Bella: On March 9, 2008 when God first called me to Africa, I just heard Him calling me to Africa, not a specific location in Africa. A couple days after this was when I was trying to process everything, I held a globe of the world in my hands. I was praying and had my eyes closed and I was spinning the globe around. When I opened my eyes my finger was placed over the beautiful country of Uganda. I can still remember the exact way that moment felt. It was as if God whispered into my heart that this was the place I was created for. And then I fell in love with this place. ;)

Sour Cream Girl:  How did you respond when God told you to go to Africa?

Bella: Haha, well my first reaction was a mixture of anger, fear, uncertainty and “You’ve got to be kidding me, You obviously called the wrong person, God!” I was angry because this interrupted the plan I had for my life (from the well thought out mind of a ten year old, might I add, haha :P) and I didn’t want to leave everything and go to someplace I knew nothing about. I rejected my calling and if I could do anything over again, it would be to embrace it right away and realize that it wasn’t a burden. It was a blessing and I had been chosen for this task.

Sour Cream Girl:  What has God taught you/been teaching you along this special journey?  What are some key things you have learned on the journey?

Bella: Oh, He has been so faithful to teach me so much! He taught me patience and what it means to wait on Him and His perfect timing that is never early and never late. He taught me to trust Him, even when it hurts and is hard and scary. He taught me to embrace change and His plans for my life that are so much greater than my own. He taught me courage to push through my fears that held me bondage and follow Him into the scary unknown. The most important thing I think He taught me however is that this journey He led me on wasn’t so much about me going to Africa, as it was me falling in love with Jesus so deeply that I would follow Him anywhere.

Sour Cream Girl:  When are you going to be able to go to Uganda for the first time?  How are you preparing for this new step?  How can we support you in this?

Bella: By the grace of God and Lord willing, I plan on stepping foot onto Ugandan soil for the first time in July of 2017. Right now I am preparing by remaining faithful to the tasks God is asking of me right here and right now. I am also preparing by getting my passport in the next couple weeks and I will probably begin fundraising by January. =) Thank you for asking how you all can support me on this! Please keep me in prayer that God would grant me wisdom to know His will and that I’d remain faithful to it, even if its so hard. Thank you!

Sour Cream Girl:  We will be praying for you! <3   Another one of your ministries has been with your sister, correct?  Can you share a little about it with us?  How was this ministry born?  What types of things have y’all done?

Bella: Yes, Times Two is a special ministry my twin sister and I share! In 2011 my sister got creative and started learning sign language to songs and performing them in blacklight which was really awesome. In 2012, a friend asked us both to perform with him for some things going on at church, so we did. My sister and I realized that we could perform the two of us and we could do it out of blacklight too! So basically what we do is we take a song, learn it in sign language and add choreography to it which adds the drama. Being onstage performing, especially when we do worship, is one of my favorite things ever. :) We officially began calling ourselves "Times Two" in 2014, although we have been performing since 2012. We have done popular songs like "I Can Only Imagine," "Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone)" and "Holy Spirit." We have been requested to perform at talent shows, churches, and other events. :) To God be the glory for that!

Sour Cream Girl:  I also have seen that you have a huge passion for fighting human trafficking.  In what ways have you been able to do this?

Bella: Oh, yes, my passion is definitely to see human trafficking ended once and for all. I have been able to fight this crime in several different ways. One year I had family and friends sponsor me to stay silent for 25 hours and I raised $125 for child soldiers/human trafficking victims in Central Africa. I have used social media presence as well on both my blog, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to spread awareness of human trafficking. Friends and I performed some songs about freedom and fighting human trafficking at a human trafficking awareness rally one year as well! And probably the biggest way I have been able to do something about this was by sharing about this, modern day slavery, in my book "I Dare You" :) One of the smallest ways I do this is to eat only fairly traded cocoa and try to buy other things fair trade :)

Sour Cream Girl:  Have you ever felt like you were alone in this, or wanted to give up?  What kept you going?

Bella: Oh my, yes, so many times :) I have been told that certain things I'm doing to fight human trafficking are too small and make no difference at all. People have discouraged me and I have felt terribly alone. There was one time when I honestly considered giving up because I also believed I was not making a difference. But then I think about a candle. It's only one small flame, it doesn't seem like it could do much at all. But in the dark, it lights up a whole room. I also think of the story in the Bible when Jesus fed the five thousand with a little boy's lunch. All that boy had was five loaves of bread and two small fish. I wonder if the boy told his friends he was going to give his lunch to Jesus. I wonder if they laughed at him and told him it wouldn't make any difference. Yet that little boy gave his offering to Jesus anyway. And what happened? Jesus fed five thousand. In the hands of God our dreams and our offerings can change the world. And that is why, even when it's hard, I never give up. :)

Sour Cream Girl:  You’ve definitely been a huge inspiration to me for using my talents for the Lord, Bella!  Who first inspired you?

Bella: Thank you, I'm so glad to hear that! :) Wow, there have been so many people who have inspired me over the years. But the one person who not only inspired me but also gave me the knowledge of human trafficking which showed me my passion, was teenage author Zach Hunter. At only 12 years old he started a campaign collecting loose change to fight modern day slavery and he called it Loose Change to Loosen Chains. He wrote four books  as a teenager and young adult and reading his first book is how I first discovered modern day slavery. His passion and the way he actually stood up and did something inspired me. And I decided I needed to do something too! So I'd say Zach Hunter was the first one to inspire me to fight human trafficking. As far as writing, I have had so many authors influence and inspire me as a writer: Ann Voskamp, Leslie Ludy, Holley Gerth, Lysa TerKeurst. But the very first person who encouraged me to write and share that with the world was my mom, so she has inspired me too! :)

Sour Cream Girl:  How would you encourage us to use our talents for the glory of God?  In what ways can we make a difference?

Bella: I would encourage you by telling you to never doubt what God can do through you when you allow Him to use you. If you live your life as if every moment is an opportunity to change someone's life, He will give you divine encounters and miracle moments that do make a difference. Live like today is your last day to do something big for God that would make Him proud. What would you do? You can make a difference by praying, sharing your story, being a friend to someone who doesn't have any, smiling at a stranger, buying a homeless person lunch, or going on a mission trip. The possibilities are endless! When I was young I used to be so angry and upset because I never thought anything I did made any difference and I wanted to change the world, but I didn't feel like I was. And then God showed me the people I'd impacted without even knowing it and that stunned me. You never know who you may be impacting or inspiring so just remain faithful to what God is asking of you right now and let Him take care of the rest. :)

Sour Cream Girl:  To wrap up the interview, do you have any final encouragement for us?

Bella: I would leave you with the thought that your life is a candle. You can either hide the light under a shade and blend in with the darkness of the world around you. Or you can raise your candle and let the light flood the darkness to reveal all the other candles around you that need lit. And then light those candles with your love, your smile, your inspiration. And that just might change the world. ;)

Sour Cream Girl:  Thank you SO much, Bella, for joining me for this interview!  I had a ton of fun, and I think I could continue on forever with questions… :)  But thank you for taking the time to do this with me!  You are such a blessing, and I thank the Lord for your friendship!!

Bella: Thank you so much for letting me join you for this interview! It's been a joy!! :) I thank the Lord for you and your friendship as well! You are such a light!

And that concludes our interview!  Please comment below and let us know if you were blessed by this interview, and make sure to thank Isabella for what she had to share! :)