ellen

Pinterest Projects

2012-01-21T11:15:00.001-06:00

I've been out of school for about a month for Winter Break. I haven't had this much free time in a while so I decided to see what I could accomplish.... via Pinterest. Here's what I've done...

Old torn TOMS... I loved my TOMS but my toes started poking out and I just felt it was defeating the purpose of shoes all together. I saw a pair of TOMS redone on Pinterest that I loved so I did my best to recreate them. Finding fabric was probably the hardest part for me and then the glue was extremely messy!

Newly covered TOMS - They turned out well and I've gotten tons of comments on them when I wear them.

Old T-shirts - These t-shirts were at least an XL... the bigger the shirt the better it works.

New scarves - I've given these as gifts and it seems that people like them...

Long Scarf - This scarf was given to me a long time ago. I loved the color but it was just super long so I saw that someone made a similar scarf into an infinity scarf. So I gave it a try!

Lie it down and tie the ends together... Then you trim the ends. So simple!

Infinity Scarf

The red is a pair of boot socks from the sleeves of an old sweater. Simply cut the sleeves off and wear them with boots... no one will ever know they were from a sweater.

I've had fun and kind of wish school wasn't starting back next week...

Fun times in Georgia!

2011-12-30T10:35:00.000-06:00

Finals ended then I got on a plane to go to the wedding of my roomie from Peru! It was a whirlwind of a weekend but a great one! Here are some pictures...

All the bridesmaids. We sure did have some fun!

Brittne and I were given a tour of the Battlefield in Chickamauga... 2nd largest battle of the Civil War- 30,000 people died. Sr. Bush enlightened us with this tour and these facts.. :)

Roomies!!

Most of our team from Peru was able to come to the wedding! It was such a sweet time to be all together again. This was the first time in almost 2 years since we were all together. We have a lot of fun together!

After the wedding, all the journeymen got a cabin in North Georgia (that's all I know.. and that we went through 3 states to get there from where we were in N. GA. ??) The time at the cabin was so refreshing. We were able to just really fellowship together. It is so crazy to see where we all are now and all the different stages of life that we are in.

It was a cozy little cabin!!

Coffee

2011-12-22T13:33:00.002-06:00

A few weeks ago Istarted drinking my coffee black. I’ve tried this a few times over the yearsbut just couldn’t do it straight black… I always needed a little sugar orcreamer.. well in honesty, I need a lot of sugar and/or creamer. It wasn’tuntil over Thanksgiving break that I realized a) how much coffee I drank and b)how much cream and sugar I used in all of this coffee. After Thanksgiving Idecided to cut it all out cold turkey style. I did not enjoy it at all. It tooka good 2 weeks of drinking black coffee for me to adjust to it. I wouldn’t sayI have a love of it now but I can drink it without making a sour/disgustingface. Here are just a few things that have changed since I started this littleendeavor…

My sugar intake has drastically decreased.
My coffee intake has decreased. Drinking it black makes medrink lots less. By my coffee decreasing it means…

a. Good news for my tummy

b. Great news for my teeth

c. Less jittery days

d. Less coffee breath encounters..

Save Money

Lesscoffee + no sugar + no creamer = HUGE SAVINGS!!!

Overall drinking black coffee is a WIN-WIN!!

What's in a name?

2011-12-04T16:16:00.001-06:00

Names… They’re a funny thing. We have no control over what theyend up being. It all depends on our parents or whoever names us. When someoneknows our name we feel important or just glad they took effort to remember it.Someone I know once told me that when he was in high school he would go throughthe annual and memorize people’s names so he could call them by name. I always thought that was a little oddbut it makes sense. We like it when someone knows our name maybe even a littleoverwhelmed, especially when we think it’s someone that does not even know weexist. Sometimes we do things to protect our name. There are times I won’t do something because I don’t want myname associated with that. Othertimes I’m just really careful how I handle things. Sometimes I’m not and itdoesn’t turn out so well. At thesetimes, I spend a lot more time trying to make my name right again.

I never realized how hard my name is to say until Peru and the factthat my name was not properly pronounced for 2 years. I often went by Elena (Spanish equivalent) but usuallypeople called me Helen or my absolute favorite was my landlord calling meHellem. Yeah, I lived in the apartment for over a year and when we communicatedthrough email I always signed my name. There was no reason for this Hellemnonsense but it makes for a good laugh. One of my favorite things is when kidslearn my name. It usually takes awhile because my name is not the easiest. There have been lots of little onesin my life lately and hearing them say my name just makes my heart smile!

No matter how great it is to have little kids or that personyou didn’t think knew you were alive to know your name the greatest thing isthat God knows our names. We are known by God! It’s not just a passing by,“Hey, how’s it going?” He knows me! He knows me on an intimate level. He knowsmy life. He knows my deepest desires and secrets. The same way he knew Abrahamand David, He knows me. Wow! The truly amazing part is that he wants me to knowhim in the same way.

By being a believer, we carry Christ’s name. What a privilegeand honor. We are his namesake. There are too many times that I forget this. Iforget that God knows me and I am his daughter. I am no longer an orphan butI’m adopted. I am his namesake. It’s not just my name I need to protect but Histoo. To know Christ is the essence of being Christian.

Help us,O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; deliver us, and atone forour sins, for your name’s sake. Psalm 79:9

Believing God

2011-11-03T00:08:00.000-05:00

I wish I had some great words of wisdom to explain what isgoing on in my head and heart but I don’t. I have Scripture and that will explain it so much betterthan I ever could. I'll attempt to put some words in but if I don't make sense, just focus on the Scripture.

God and Abraham: And he brought him outside and said,"Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to numberthem." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be."And he believed the LORD,and he counted it to him as righteousness. – Genesis 15:5-6

The story of Abraham and his faith has come up many times inthe past few weeks. Over a yearago I claimed Romans 4:20 (pastblog) as my verse for the year but it’s proven to be a little longer thanthat and has expanded to several verses around it.

In hopehe believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, ashe had been told… No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, buthe grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convincedthat God was able to do what he had promised. – Romans4:18, 20-12

The resounding lesson going on with me right now is that ofhaving faith and believing God- believing that he is who he says he is andhe’ll do what he says he will. Faith is more than knowing the right answers and doing the right thing. It’s easy for me say the right thingsbut believing them is a different story. It’s taking it from the head knowledge to heart knowledge. I’m learning that faith is trusting andbelieving God. Abraham is anexample of faith used throughout the Bible. He was not a perfect man but God declared him righteousbecause he believed God. He didn’t waver. He just believed plain and simple.But believing is not so simple for me. Believing is accepting something as true. In all the big picture things, it’s easy for me to believeGod. My life is a picture of hisresounding faithfulness. It’s thesmall everyday things that I find myself doubting. It’s not that I verbally or even mentally doubt God butbased on my actions I doubt Him.

Jesussaid to them, "Do you believe that I am able to dothis?" They said to him, "Yes, Lord." Then he touchedtheir eyes, saying, "According to your faith be it done to you." –Matthew 9:28b-29

And Jesussaid to him, "'…All things are possible for one who believes."Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, "I believe; help my unbelief!" – Mark9:23-24

The thing is that believing God is simple. It’s a choice. Do I choose to believe God or not inthis moment, in every moment? I make it difficult. I just have to learn toimplement the act of believing God into every aspect of my life. I feel this isan ongoing lesson for me. Myprayer is to believe Him and not waver all while bringing Him glory. I believeGod; help my unbelief.

Then theybelieved his words; they sang his praise. –Psalm106:12

***If this doesn't make sense, I blame it on sleep deprivation***

Surreal

2011-10-24T09:14:00.000-05:00

One year can pass so fast that you find yourself wonderingwhere it went, wondering if you did anything of accomplishment or maybe justwondering how you survived. A yearago today I landed in Dallas returning from Peru. A year ago I was excited to be back and see what God had instore. I had very little clue asto what I would do next. I wasexcited to be with family and friends again that I had missed over the twoyears. It was a time of excitement but also complete fear. It’s hard coming back to the Statesbecause I wasn’t the same person I was when I had left 2 years prior. The way I think is completelydifferent. The things I will eat have drastically expanded. I was fearful ofwhat was next but mostly that I might forget what God had shown me while inPeru.

My first journal entry after being back in the States says, “Idon’t want to be here- in the States. I don’t like it at all. “ I kind of laugh looking back at thisnow. I can still feel the things Ifelt when I came back but I can see a little better the picture that God ispainting (not fully by any means). I didn’t like being back in the States because it was a culture I wasn’tused to anymore. There were littlethings that I had no clue about (Twitter, straight leg jeans, lingo/slang, anything political, etc…). “They” say it will take the amountof time you were out of the country to readjust to being back in thecountry. Well I’m half way there!In all honesty, I am starting to feel more and more like my self and a little morecomfortable in the States. :)

It’s been a hard year. God has been teaching me so much andloving me all the more. God is continually showing me that He is truly all Ineed (unfortunately, I seem to forget this too much). He is starting to show me what community really is. He has blessed me with a wonderfulchurch and wonderful friends. Heis stretching my knowledge of Him and everything that entails. Seminary is challenging but mostly ingood ways. There are so manyaspects of my faith that I haven’t really given a ton of thought to before andseminary is definitely challenging that.

A year ago, I never expected to move to a completely new stateonly knowing one person to go to seminary. But three years ago, I never would have expected any of thejourneys that He took me on. I amso blessed and extremely grateful. I look forward to what God has planned for me. I know I’m supposed to behere in Raleigh for now and everything else God knows! :)

Teach meyour ways, O Lord,

that Imay live according to your truth!

Grant mepurity of heart,
so that I may honor you.
With all my heart I will praise you, OLord my God.
I will give glory to your name forever,
for your love for me is very great.
You have rescued me from the depths ofdeath.

Psalm 86:11-13

Conversations with a 7 year old

2011-10-06T12:36:00.001-05:00

Joshua “Where’s your husband?”

Me “That’s a good question… I’m not married.”

Joshua “Oh. How old are you?”

Me “Twenty something.”

He proceeded to guess my age and eventually gotit. Then we continued working onhis homework. A little later he leaned over with complete sincerity says,

“Don’t worry. You’ll get married soon.”

Me “Thanks.”

He is so sweet! Gotta love kids! I love getting to be a part of community and have kids in my life regularly!

Community

2011-09-28T14:44:00.000-05:00

I have been back in the USA for almost a year now. I’ve lived in North Carolina for about 10 months. One huge thing that has been missing is community.

While I was in Peru, I was on a wonderful team made up of great people. My teammates were my community. There were many times I didn’t get to see or talk to them often but whenever we could get together it was always such a great time of encouragement. We all truly loved each other and had a bond that couldn’t be replicated. Even while I was in Jackson I was part of a wonderful group at church and felt so at “home.” Over the past year I have longed to have this community again. Unfortunately community isn’t just something I could make happen.

I won’t lie. I was almost to the point of giving up on finding it. I had tried finding community in various places (granted I definitely could have tried harder in several aspects-so a lot of that was on me). It just seemed like such an uphill battle and never in my life had it been so hard to find community. I was to the point of not knowing what to do anymore. So I prayed – a lot. ‎

"Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, & live righteously, & he will give you everything you need." Matthew 6:33

There is a new church plant in the area and I knew it was happening but I didn’t want to be the kid that just jumped on the bandwagon. I really felt God was telling me to go there. I kind of fought it though. I don’t know why. It was just something new and I didn’t really “know” anyone there. One Sunday I went and I loved it. Everyone has been so kind and friendly (half the group seems to be from Mississippi so that probably helps me to feel at home). I’ve gone to a small group and loved it! It’s been so easy this time and that just assures me that this is where God wants me to be. I am so grateful for this! I know I haven’t really been there for very long but I truly believe that some wonderful friendships have been started and that I have found community again.

It has taken a little while to feel that I’m where I should be and there were many times I felt alone (see previous blog) but I wouldn’t change any of it. Through this process I realized that I have taken my communities and church families for granted in the past. They always came so naturally that I never knew life without them. I won’t do that again! God has been so good to me!

“But I trust in your unfailing love. I will rejoice because you have rescued me. I will sing to the Lord because he is good to me.” Psalm 13:5-6

Long time coming!!

2011-07-29T22:21:00.003-05:00

As anyone can tell I’m not real good at keeping this blog up to date. I’d like to say that nothing has really happened to update but that’s not true.*** disclaimer there’s not really any mind-blowing news below…

Brief recap- I moved to Wake Forest, NC in January and started seminary. I got a job in the Missions Department on campus in February and I love my job! I successfully passed my first semester! Not gonna lie, I was a little surprised concerning one class. Praise God it all worked out! Also, I had the privilege to go back to Peru for about 10 days with Southeastern. It was great to be back! I didn’t realize how much I missed Peru until then but at the same time I know that I’m supposed to be here in Wake Forest. So that’s the quick recap.

A recap on what the Lord has been teaching me is not going to be so quick. There are so many things that He has been showing me. Moving to North Carolina and starting seminary has probably been just as much culture shock for me as moving to Peru (most people think I’m crazy when making that comment but I truly believe it’s true for me).

I continue to learn about surrender and leaving everything up to Him. I read something recently that reminded me of this… “Make your request to God, but put your faith in God that He will give you what is best.” I feel that sums up so much of my life. It is extremely easy for me to say surrender and I honestly try but ultimately I fail because the trusting Him to give me what is best is the hard part for me.

Another concept the Lord is showing me is along the lines of being alone. I currently live in seminary-land, which means people that have similar mindsets and goals, Christians, and just generally nice people surround me. So you might ask why am I learning about being alone when I’m in this type of community. I don’t really know the answer to that. I know that while I was in Peru I felt alone while I lived by myself but I was literally by myself in a city with no co-workers. I think in a way it was easier to deal with in Peru because I was told to kind of expect that to an extent throughout training and such. This really has been a struggle for me since I moved up here in January. I’ve made some friends so it’s not that I’m literally alone but I often find myself surrounded by people feeling alone (cliché, no?). Once I kind of realized a little what might be going on, I really started praying and just seeking God. Since seeking Him, He has begun to show me that when I’m alone, literally or emotionally, is when He can begin molding me into the person He intends for me to be.

But the time is coming – in fact, it is already here – when you will be scattered, each one going his own way, leaving me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. – John 17:32

In the process of sanctification, the Spirit of God will strip me own until there is nothing left but myself… Am I willing to reduce myself down to simply “me”? Am I determined enough to strip myself of all that my friends think of me, and all that I think of myself? Am I willing and determined to hand over my simple naked self to God? Once I am, He will immediately sanctify me completely, and my life will be free from being determined and persistent toward anything except God. -Chambers

Even though feeling alone is incredibly hard and this past semester was pretty tough, I wouldn’t change it. I don’t know that this is something I can learn once and for all or if it’s one of those that I’ll forever be learning. Nevertheless, I’m enjoying getting to know my Father more intimately.

There are more things I’m learning but I haven’t quite figured out how to put it in writing yet, so that means… a future blog! Woohoo!!

my nieces... aren't they cute?!

the "what's next" part...

2010-12-30T12:34:00.004-06:00

Here is just a little bit of a recap of the last 2 months in the States and where I believe the Lord is leading me next...

Towards the beginning of November I was able to participate in a Missions Week at First Baptist in Jackson. This proved to be such a sweet time. I was there with about 7 other missionaries from all over the world. It did my heart so much good just to be able to talk with them. Before and after the week in Jackson, I was able to visit family and friends in and around Mississippi. It was a great time! I was able to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas with family. This was also a sweet time and I am thankful I was able to be with them during the holidays this year.

At the beginning of December I flew to Raleigh, NC (thankful for skymiles!). A friend and I drove up to Richmond, VA for debriefing with the IMB. This was a really great time of encouragement that was much needed. After debriefing we went back to Raleigh and toured Southeastern Seminary. I am so thankful I was able to do this. Throughout the time there the Lord gave me such a peace about that is where I should be. I was even able to sit down and talk with the president of the seminary and hear his vision for the school. It was a wonderful trip and the Lord has worked out so many details already.

So now for the “what’s next” part (if you haven’t guessed yet)… I will be moving to Raleigh (Wake Forest) to attend Southeastern Seminary to get a Masters of Arts in Intercultural Studies (aka Missions). Classes begin the middle of January so I’ll leave in about a week. The Lord has proven faithful again and again. Housing and school has been worked out. He is so good!!

I know the Lord has it all under control and that He will continue to provide and guide. Thank you all again for all of your support and love you have shown me over the last two years. I pray that each of you have had a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year ahead!

Life in the States

2010-12-20T11:36:00.002-06:00

Well I’ve been back in the States for almost 2 months now and let’s just say that life is completely different! It’s not a bad thing but it is an adjustment.

Here’s a list of a few things that are different…

1. Air conditioning – I hate this now (I'm in south Texas so we're still using it from time to time). I’m constantly turning it off in the car and in the house. My mom is probably getting a little aggravated with me (but she’s not showing it). I don’t know why. It’s just something about the cold air blowing on me. I’m only used to outside air now.

2. Prices – Everything here is so expensive. I had a minor freak out when I saw how much a coke was so I’ve been drinking water from the tap, which is also an adjustment – no filter needed.

3. Walking – I miss walking everywhere. Here if I walk everywhere I’ll get some crazy looks. I even thought about walking to the next town when I first got back. It’s a 45 min drive away, which isn’t bad, but I’m pretty sure my mom wouldn’t be too happy about that.

4. Look people in the eye. In Peru looking someone in the eye (especially a man) meant something different than it does here so I got out of the habit of looking people in the eye. I didn’t notice it at first but when I went into a gas station and 3 people talked to me but I didn’t look one in the eye was when I noticed I have a problem. I’m working on this. I really want to look people in the eye again!!

5. Majority of the people being taller than I – it’s strange that most people are taller than I am. I find myself just in awe of tall people… like they’re something strange. I don’t know. I don’t understand it. I guess just 2 years of being one of the tallest people and then coming back to the States and not being that tall anymore is an adjustment.

6. Sleep on most anytime of transportation- I’ve gotten really good and just falling asleep anywhere. Well that’s a good thing when I was in Peru and traveled a lot. Here in the States, falling asleep at any given time is not exactly a good thing. I have gotten pretty good at falling asleep on planes before even taking off. It’s always fun waking up and being in the air and the last the I remember was buckling my seatbelt.

7. Taxes – In Peru, the taxes were included in all prices so there were no sales tax. Now being back in the States, it’s quite strange.

8. Not having to carry around toilet paper everywhere – they always have it in the bathrooms here!

9. Hot water – it’s everywhere!! This is one thing I will never get tired of…. that and showers.

10.Food and drinks – I can pretty much eat or drink almost anything now. Before I left I pretty much had the diet of a 5 year old. My favorite foods were chicken and mac n cheese. They still are but I will eat lots of other things now!

11.Landscape – In Peru, I lived in the Andes Mountains at about 10,000-11,000 ft. I am currently in Texas and it’s FLAT!! Like for real, as far as you can see... it’s just flat! It’s God’s creation so it is beautiful. The sunsets are wonderful! But it’s a little different than my mountains in Peru... :(

Paths

2010-10-11T08:20:00.002-05:00

During my time in Peru I have had the privilege to ride many buses for extended periods of time. It seems that on the bus is where I would do more thinking than normal. See the bus ride can be anywhere from 5 hrs to 24 hrs. They show movies and such but there’s only so many movies one can watch in Spanish…in a row. So I think. A lot.

This one particular trip I was in and out of sleep the majority of the time. This trip was only 13 hours and it was over night. I woke up at one point and it felt like we weren’t on a road anymore so I looked out the window and sure enough, we weren’t. Apparently there was construction all throughout the drive back and that meant sometimes our bus would go a little off-road (good thing it was a mountain bus). As I looked out the window this time, to the right of the bus was a river. It was a strong, fast river with lots of huge rocks and it seemed to be a little closer than is comfortable. It was the middle of the night so the moon was out and it was easy to see because it was quite clear. The way the moonlight hit the river and the rocks was just unbelievably beautiful! I wish I could say I stayed awake and just took it all in, but I fell right back asleep.

When I woke up again, I hadn’t forgotten the glorious beauty I had seen and I began to think more about it all. See there seems to be many times that I think the road is the best way to go- most practical and expected. But when we trust God completely and fully He sometimes takes us on a different road. A road less expected due to construction but this time the construction is within us. Usually these are the paths that are the most beautiful and just simply glorious where everything about us changes. The way we think and see the world may never be the same. These paths may be a little scary but worth it to see how His light shines along the way.

This got me thinking about the story of Moses and the parting of the Red Sea in Exodus 14. The Lord tells Moses what is going to happen and most importantly why. “And once again I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will chase after you. I have planned this in order to display my glory through Pharaoh and his whole army.” (v 4)

Moses does as the Lord told him and takes the Israelites on a little journey. The Israelites realize the Egyptians are chasing them in order to kill them so they freak out a little and start questioning everything they know (vs 10-12). Moses assures them, “The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.” (v 14) And He did. “… the people of Israel had walked through the middle of the sea on dry ground, as the water stood up like a wall on both sides. That is how the Lord rescued Israel from the hand of the Egyptians that day. And the Israelites saw the bodies of the Egyptians washed up on the seashore. When the people of Israel saw the mighty power that the Lord had unleashed against the Egyptians, they were filled with awe before him. They put their faith in the Lord...”(vs 29-31)

I highly doubt the Israelites expected to walk through the Red Sea that day. That wasn’t the typical way to go but God had a different plan, one that would glorify Him and teach the Israelites (us) a lot along the way.

“Show me the right path, O Lord; point out the road for me to follow.” Psalms 25:4

Yucay- English

2010-09-26T16:58:00.007-05:00

Since I last updated you about Yucay, Mandy and I have been going out there and teaching English to some children. We met a family, the Puma family, and they immediately asked us to come back and teach English to some local school children. We began going out there on Saturdays to teach. The students varied. They were anywhere from 5-11 yrs old and mostly boys. We had one girl come the first day. Some of them could only come once because they would have to work for their parents on Saturdays but we had a good steady group of students.

Our typical day would be to leave Cusco at 8:30 am and get on a bus for a couple of hours. Now I’ll admit, these rides were pretty entertaining. My favorite was one day Mandy and I were sitting in the first seat and as we pull out of the bus place, this lady gets on and stands right in front of us. She immediately starts singing… huanyo (pronounced wino – and that’s what it sounds like). It’s bad. And I confess, I can’t sing at all so I really have no room to talk but this type of music is just unfortunate. She continues singing for some time. After she was done she went around the bus collecting money. She wanted us to pay her for singing to us!! I’ll also confess that I could not keep a straight face the entire time she sang. I’ve since repented. Once the bus ride ends, we are in a town called Calca. From here we have to get on a combi (mini van type). These can hold up to 25-30 people and are not built for anyone over 5’3”. After about 30 minutes, we arrive in Yucay at 11:00 am. We go to the Puma’s house and start teaching the kids. We would usually teach for about an hour. When we finish teaching we start walking to the next town, Urubamba. It’s about a 2-mile walk. We would usually get a snack and then start the hitchhiking back to Cusco. I say hitchhiking because that is really what we did. It’s a very common thing to do here. Usually we found something pretty fast. Most of the time they were vans coming back from dropping tourists off. They had to get back to Cusco so they would just pick up people along the way. All of the transportation would cost about $3.

The days were usually pretty eventful and entertaining. The kids we taught were precious and such a joy to teach. They wanted to learn. I mean they were there on a Saturday. We really loved going out there and spending time with them even if it wasn’t for very long. I won’t be able to go out there anymore before I leave Peru. It was truly a blessing. Please pray for the students;

Israel, Paulino, Rene, Donato, Alejandro, and Misae and the Puma family; Javier and Doris.

English Classes

2010-08-30T13:42:00.001-05:00

I have a new story dealing with the school we teach English at every morning at 7 am. Nothing shocks us anymore but we still find it all pretty entertaining!

Well this past month Mandy and I have been discussing possibly not teaching at the school anymore. This would free up more time to go to villages and work there. We hadn’t decided anything definite but Mandy went ahead and told her girls she teaches that we probably won’t teach next month. Well the girls in turn went and told the director, Victor. One day as we were leaving class, Mandy’s students were talking to Victor and he then called us over and said, “Mandy, do you have something to tell me?” -Like we were getting scolded. We told him that we were thinking about not teaching anymore but we hadn’t made a final decision yet. We would let him know first thing the next week.

The day came when we had to tell him an answer. We had decided to just go ahead and tell him no. Well upon telling him this, he then explains that it’s probably a good thing since people were coming around to check out the schools and we were there teaching illegally. WHAT?! We never knew anything about that! He said since we didn’t have a contract we were illegally teaching. Obviously we were shocked and this confirmed that we should quit. We discussed this with one of our Peruvian friends and he said that we really weren’t illegal because we have residency here and Victor didn’t know that but still why would he hire us thinking it was illegal?? Oh Peru!

Yucay Update

2010-07-29T10:11:00.005-05:00

Yucay is a village that was flooded back in rainy season. Since February we have been taking food to the families living in tents in the plaza. This past week we distributed food to those who lost their plants during the flooding. We were there majority of the day and it was a GOOD day! I didn't quite realize how many people there only speak Quechua, which made things a little more difficult but it wasn't bad. I even learned a few more words in Quechua! Mandy, Jim, and I were right there helping and working with them. Here in Peru when they see you are willing to work like they do - it opens up many more doors. They are more willing to listen to you. We plan on going back as often as we can (hopefully at least once a week) to help them plant the seeds or repair houses or just whatever they need us to do. By being there and working with them we also hope this will open up the door to start storying with them.

Please continue to pray for the people of Yucay. They are still in need of help. The government really isn't doing very much to help them so they are a little discouraged. Pray that we will be able to build better relationships with them and beginning storying with them soon. Pray that God will work in their hearts.

Peru-ness

2010-07-13T12:54:00.010-05:00

There are lots of things about Peru that I love. I love the culture and even though sometimes I get somewhat annoyed, I really enjoy the people. Here are some stories…

The other night I was coming home kind of late. It was between 10:30 and 11 pm. I found a taxi and he was taking me home (he only ripped me off a little bit…). When we got into my neighborhood there were 3 guys just roaming around and it was highly likely that they had been drinking (they had bottles in their hands and not walking straight). When the taxi driver pulled up to my apartment building he told me to wait and not get out yet. The guys were coming up to him and wanting his taxi. He told them no and that I wasn’t done. The man then told me to wait in the car until they were out of sight. The guys stumbled away so I began getting out of the taxi. Then the taxi driver said he would stay there until I got in the gate.

Normally, this might not be a big deal but here it is! I’ve never had a taxi driver be so protective nor caring. It was very comforting! Taxi rides can go a number of ways… either they try to kidnap you, hit on you the entire time, ask you to go out with them, or they’re super nice, caring, and even protective.

Another story… We have a good friend here named Omar. He has by far been the most helpful person here in Cusco. I met him my first day here and he’s done anything to help us since then. Well the other night we went to eat and we were talking about various things. Either Mandy or myself must have said something about coming back to Peru or something along those lines. Then Omar says, “You won’t come back. You’re going to go back and have babies.” It was hilarious and completely out of nowhere! Neither of us has ever said anything to him about going back to the States, getting married, or having babies. Ever
And this one might be borderline inappropriate but it's really funny! A different friend, Ernie, gave Mandy and I some type of food for our birthdays. Mandy got something that kind of resembled nutella (but not). I got manjar blanco (I dont know how to explain it). We asked Ernie what we are supposed to do with them because they are spread type and we weren't sure what to put it on. So Ernie tells us, "It's good for spooning." - he meant to just get a spoon and eat it straight but that's not how it came out... ha!

My Latest Work of Art...

2010-07-09T16:45:00.004-05:00

Actually it's my ONLY work of art...

This is a real important verse to me. I've claimed it as my verse for the year but I really feel that it might be more than that. I love how it describes Abraham's faith. He believed God's promise and NEVER wavered! Through that he brought glory to God and his faith grew stronger. That's what I want... to believe God and hold to that always, to grow stronger in my faith and all the while bring glory to God.

Oh Peru... again...

2010-07-01T09:23:00.007-05:00

Oh Peru! So we teach a beginner English class at 7 am Monday – Friday in order to have a classroom for our night Bible Studies with translators. Well at the beginning we met with the director named Victor. He’s a Christian and said if we taught in the morning we could us a room 2 nights a week for our Bible study. Victor had originally told us that the students we would teach would be able to speak English. This first day of class we show up to teach without the book (it was coming.. at some point) and our students didn’t speak ANY English. This was completely a beginner class. The classes last a month so we endured and slowly began to figure out how to teach English. Oh and by the way neither of us have any teaching experience nor a degree in English. So one day Victor comes and tells us that there will be the final exam the next day. We say ok and ask a few questions like do we have to come, etc. He says we have to be there so the next day we show up for the exam or whatever. Upon arrival we find out that not only are we to give the exam but we were to make up the exam. Again, Mandy and I have NO training in teaching! So we find the maintenance guy and ask him if this is for real. (We asked him because Victor is never at the school and whenever we had questions we would always go to the maintenance guy. The only time I’ve spoken with Victor was when he told me to end class early because there was going to be a protest and we might die). So the maintenance guy proceeds to look at us like we are crazy and tells us to go give a test. We explained multiple times that we didn’t have one to give because Victor never mentioned that part, so we improv. We go back to the classroom and started writing an exam on the dry erase board. Yep, that’s what we did!

I should probably be upset about this but it really just makes me laugh. I mean only in Peru would you have completely unqualified teachers expected to make and give a final exam…

oh and... we're pretty sure we are getting fired tomorrow.

**** Update to the story... We didn't get fired but have been asked to teach another class too! ha! ...I'm not kidding...

Absolute Surrender

2010-06-20T14:23:00.005-05:00

The last few weeks have been really difficult for me. It could have been going on for longer but since I came back from a visit to the states things have been pretty off. I couldn’t figure it out at all. I was just really sad most of the time and distant in things. One day I decided to kind of get rid of some things that would distract me. Once I did that, I started to focus more on God. That’s when I realized what I believe I needed to learn: absolute surrender. Sadly, I feel like I’ve been meaning to learn this for quite some time. It just takes getting to a breaking point to where I really look to God and want to know what He wants to teach me. That’s when I’ll remove things that distract me so I can look to Him.

One of the hardest things for me that I have been struggling with surrendering to God is my desire to be married and have a family. If anything that desire has done nothing but strengthen while I’ve been in Peru. For some reason I just felt like if I let go of it, then it wont happen. Like I wouldn’t just be giving it up to God but I’d be giving up on it entirely. I know now that isn’t true.

“I ask, What has God promised you, and what can God do to fill a vessel absolutely surrendered to Him? Oh, God wants to bless you in a way beyond what you expect.” (Andrew Murray Absolute Surrender) “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him. “ 1 Corinthians 2:9 “God has prepared unheard-of-things, blessings much more wonderful than you can imagine, more mighty than you can conceive. They are divine blessings. Oh, say now: "I give myself absolutely to God, to His will, to do only what God wants." (Murray)

“But if we look forward to something we don’t have yet, we must wait patiently and confidently…And I am convinced that nothing can separate us from his love. Death can’t and life can’t. The angels can’t, and the demons can’t. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can’t keep God’s love away. Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:25, 38-39

Scripture so clearly says exactly what I’ve been afraid of. Nothing can separate us from God’s love and He has plans for our lives that none of us can imagine. This past weekend I went to a lake for a day. The beauty I saw that day just blew me away. “Look at the birds. They don’t need to plant or harvest or put food in barns because your heavenly Father feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him than they are.” (Matthew 6: 26) The lake was amazing but the ride home at night with the moon and the stars was just incredible.

“God comes and offers to work this absolute surrender in you. All these searchings and hungerings and longings that are in your heart, I tell you, they are the drawings of the divine magnet, Christ Jesus. He lived a life of absolute surrender. He has possession of you; He is living in your heart by His Holy Spirit. You have hindered and hindered Him terribly, but He desires to help you to get a hold of Him entirely. And He comes and draws you now by His message and words. Will you not come and trust God to work in you that absolute surrender to Himself Yes, blessed be God! He can do it, and He will do it.” (Murray)

I realized that I am in love with God and I know that He loves me therefore I trust Him completely. It’ll be an ongoing process but I can’t wait to see what all the Lord shows me."Come out for God, and say: 'Lord, anything for You.' If you say that with prayer, and speak that into God's ear, He will accept it, and He will teach you what it means." (Murray)

"If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me." Luke 9:23

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

2010-06-16T12:36:00.009-05:00

I realized I’ve never actually put on the blog what it is that I do now. I’ve updated people in my updates and in other places but not here... so here we go!

Since I moved to Cusco (end of September) I have been teaching English and helping with logistical things when teams come through. We have an English Bible Study on Monday and Wednesday nights to help find translators and to invest in the people here. In order to have a place to have our night classes we have to teach Monday – Friday at 7 am. In this class we teach beginner English. We also teach English one on one with people throughout the week. This week are planning on starting a Women’s Bible Study in our home completely in Spanish.

I also work with teams when they come through. I usually meet them at the airport, find translators for them, occasionally find transportation, hostels, etc. Basically I’m here to help them anyway that I can. This is one of my favorite parts of being in Cusco. I have met some amazing people and have been encouraged so much by them.

This month we had a couple of people come through to encourage us, the Barnabas Team. It was a great time and we had a lot of fun together. We went around and took some really crazy pictures..

Some ways that you can be praying…

Women’s Bible Study – all in Spanish. Pray for our Spanish and us. Pray that we will be able to communicate and that they’ll be patient with us.

Monday and Wednesday Bible Study – Pray for those that come. Pray that we will be able to share Christ’s love with them.

Me- Since I’ve been back from the States, I’ve kind of been struggling with some things. I know God is wanting to teach me something so I'm trying. I’ll be fine but I could use some prayer.

Come be the fire inside of me

Come be the flame upon my heart

Come be the fire inside of me

Until You and I are one

Visit to the States!

2010-06-02T08:32:00.007-05:00

This past month I had the opportunity to go back to the States for a visit! It was a great time with family and friends. My best friend (since we were 11 yrs old) had a baby boy that is precious! I was able to visit lots of other friends and even one that had a baby a few days ago! I did fairly well with culture shock… the only a couple of times it got to me.. in Wal-Mart and surprisingly Cracker Barrel. I missed a couple of flights going there but made all of them coming back. Overall it was a great time of encouragement for me.

2010-05-08T22:17:00.004-05:00

Today something happened that shook me up pretty well. Mandy and I were on our way home at about 2 pm. We found a taxi and told him where we wanted to go. We get in and the first thing he said was that the road was closed so he would have to go a different way (we believed this because it was the day before Mother's Day and there were many parades all throughout the city). We go a little bit down the road then he pulls to the side and asks Mandy to go ask someone a question for him and we would wait for her. Obviously, we hesitated and told him we wanted to go home. He proceeded to keep trying to convince her to go. Finally he said that he'd go and we could just wait in the car for him. At this point we decided to get out of the car. We started walking and he followed us trying to get us to get back into the car. We were a little scared so we went into the first place we found and stayed there for a little bit. When we left we decided to walk the entire way home because we just didn't want to get into another taxi. As we walked home we noticed that NONE of the roads were closed. All I could do was be so thankful that we got out when we did. Ultimately, nothing happened and we are fine, but we were pretty shaken up about it all.

"And the Holy Spirit helps us in our distress. For we don't even know what we should pray. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God's own will." Romans 8:26-27

I was pretty upset after this happened because for the first time in Peru I did not feel safe. It wasn't until I came across these verses that I felt comforted. "The Holy Spirit helps us in our distress..." I have no doubt the Holy Spirit is what told us to get out of the car when we did and to not do this favor for him. God was with us and I have no doubt about that. It's so comforting knowing that we have the Holy Spirit to guide us and to go to God on our behalf especially when life as we know it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. The Holy Spirit knows exactly what we need and when we need it. So in a really messed up world this is something that has brought me comfort!

Oh Peru...

2010-03-14T09:05:00.005-05:00

There are so many things about this culture that just make me laugh!

The other day I was buying food to take out to the village of Yucay so I’m buying fruit… these little mangos. The lady gave one to the person with me and then a little later offered me one. Well it was mid afternoon and I wasn’t hungry at all so I told thank you but I’m not hungry. Then she proceeded to ask why. I told her again that I wasn’t hungry. Then she asked, “You don’t eat when you’re not hungry?” I replied, “No.” “Oh, what you don’t want to be big?” Then I replied, “No, not now.” … I forget that being big here is a good thing.

I’ve mentioned before that taxi rides are one of my favorite things. The other morning I needed to be somewhere at 8 am so I took a taxi. The driver started quizzing me… Are you married? Do you have kids? Do you live here alone? Are you engaged? Do you have a boyfriend in the states? Do you have a boyfriend here? Do you like Peruvians? Do you like to dance? Then as I was getting out of the taxi he offered to take me dancing. I repeat, this is at 8 am! One of my favorite taxi rides was when I was on the way to the airport. I told the driver my name and for the entire ride he just kept saying it over and over again.

Another fun issue is with the word ahora and ahorita. Ahora means now and ahorita is like right now. Well Peruvians use ahora for anything within 24 hours and even longer. Ahorita is used for something with about 12 hours. If you do want to imply right now… you say ahorita, ahorita. A friend in Lima sent a text that said let’s do something ahora. Well we knew he had gone back to work for the day but we called and asked. He was at work. He meant later that night. Then I was talking to a different person. He said that his birthday was ahora. So I said happy birthday.. nope he meant his birthday is this month.. in like 20 days. Since I’ve been enlighted with these different meanings, life has become easier. I don’t wait nearly as much if they say ahora…. It could be in several hours or weeks..

Cusco Flood

2010-02-01T16:39:00.007-06:00

In Peru it is currently rainy season, which means it rains a lot! The last week of January it rained a tremendous amount. It rained 10-12 hours a day for 5 days and this was pretty hard rain. As a result, some rivers overflowed and completely devastated some of the area. Many homes were washed away and crops destroyed. Some communities have been completely destroyed. Over 23,000 people were left homeless according to this website. The flood has washed away many roads and bridges making it hard to get to most of the hard it areas. The families that have lost or have damage to their homes are now sleeping in tents or under pieces of tarp. Let me remind you that it is still rainy season and can get pretty cold at night. They have to rely on others for help.

Please remember the people that are affected. This will be a long recovery process. Pray that they aren’t forgotten about.

Pray for the relief effort.

Pray that through all of the hardships and difficult times they will look to God.

Funny story... Crazy story...

2010-01-08T19:34:00.006-06:00

This is a story that happened before I came onto the field. It cracks me up every time I think about it and I would like to share it with the world… or whoever actually reads this…

At my last job there was an interesting lady I worked with. Well I didn’t work with her exactly, just the same place in completely different departments. I had seen her before but had never had a conversation with her. One day I was in the bathroom- this was a multi-person bathroom. Well she comes in and starts chatting with me- not normal first time you talk to someone chatting though. She begins with asking me if I’m married, then if I’m in a relationship, then why not, and then what I was looking for in a guy. Well by this time I’m panicking and just want out of the bathroom and to go back to work. She then proceeds to tell me she has the perfect guy for me. I humor her and tell her I might be interested- primarily to get of the bathroom. Within the next few hours she asks for my bio and picture. Now don’t we all carry around a self-portrait and our bio. She found that on our website and sent it to the guy, all the while sending me his as well. The next several times I saw her she would mention it. I don’t recall what I said but some how I was able to dodge it all.

Now to the funny part... One day I walked into the mail/copy room and she was in there. I just needed to place something in the mail and leave. Well I decided to be polite and say hey- all the while walking towards the door. She decided this was a good time for a conversation. This is how it went…

Lady – “So what are you up to?”

Me- “Oh, not much. Just working.”

Lady- “Well we need to get you out there.”

Me- “Get me out where?”

Lady- “Yeah, you know... get you a man.”

Me –“…oh… I’m really ok…”

Lady- “Well... are you in God’s will?”

Me- shocked she actually said that, “I’m working on that.”

And then I walked out- completely shocked. She really believed that I wasn’t in a relationship because I wasn’t in God’s will. Crazy!

One would think she would leave me alone after that but no. Within the next few days she actually brought the guy over to my office area. Somehow I managed to sneak away and hide until I knew she was gone. A few months later I resigned and started the Journeyman process. Randomly I remember this and I literally laugh out loud, every time! I’m sure she meant well, somehow. I’m still working on that God’s will thing. I know I’m where I’m supposed to be for now and I know He has a plan. I believe Him and I trust Him.

“Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God.” –Romans 4:20

halfway point video

2009-12-05T06:48:00.005-06:00

here is a brief video of life in Peru so far..

if for some reason it doesn't work, you can just click here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNQbdAiyg8A

Trials and Trust

2009-11-14T18:40:00.011-06:00

Trails. "Dear brothers, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything." James 1:2-4 Security: One day someone broke into our apartment building. Praise God they did not make it to our apartment but they did break into two before they were spotted and then fled. That was a little unnerving because I thought where I live was pretty secure and fairly safe. Granted, I completely understand that things can happen wherever you are! Then later on that day, I decided to check my bank account back home. This is an account that I haven’t used overseas and really didn’t check very often. For some reason (God) I checked it that night. I noticed that someone had gotten my information and was having a good ole time in New York and Connecticut. By the time I called the bank the next morning and they put a stop on my card, all my money was gone and I was actually in the negative. So in one day, my feelings of being secure were gone. Naturally I was upset at first. Flashbacks of when my car was stolen quickly came but then I started to realize that there’s nothing I can do. All I can do is trust God.

Trust. This is a hard thing for me. It always has been. But I’m learning! I’m learning to trust God with everything. There are many things going on that I just don’t understand nor is there anyway I can explain them. But what it comes down to is trusting God. Trusting that He is who He says He is. I’m learning to trust God with the here and now. I’m in a new city, starting things completely from scratch, and I have no idea what I’m doing! But I know that God does and that He has a plan! I’m learning to trust God with the future. This one is hard! I have one year left before I return to the states and I have NO idea what that will hold. People ask but I just can’t explain or tell them anything. It is a year away, which is good. That means there is an entire year to think about the possibilities. But at the same time, it’s only a year away! This past year has flown by and I have a feeling this next one will too. But I do trust God. “No eye has see, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9 – so even if I do cook up some grand idea of what I think my life should look like, He has something better. I can’t imagine what He has in store for me because I do love Him! I’m also learning about trusting when I can’t see the big picture, which is quite often! The first Bible study I had here in Cusco was on Matthew 1 where the birth of Jesus is described. Joseph basically freaks out and wants nothing to do with Mary. But an angel came to him and told him not to be afraid but to marry her. So he did. There’s no way he could see the big picture. He just had to trust God. So I will too!

Through the trials and learning to trust more, I'll come to know my Lord better! And that is worth it -no matter how hard or confusing it is! "Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will direct your paths." Proverbs 3:5-6

Cabana

2009-09-12T21:01:00.006-05:00

The first week in the village we set up a meeting with the mayor, and let me just say this was one of the most entertaining meetings I’ve ever been to… First off, we had to wait an hour to meet with him.. gotta love it! We go into his office and start talking to him. We tell him our names and then explain why we were here. He starts off by asking our ages and when he found out mine he started telling me that if I lived in Peru I would be married by now.. Then he asked me why I wasn’t and when I was going to get married. Then he asked if I had a boyfriend and apparently I hesitated (most likely because I didn’t understand what he said). Well since I hesitated he assumed that I was lying. He asked me if I would date a Peruvian. We explained how difficult it would be if two people didn’t speak the same language. Then he asked if I would date a Peruvian that spoke English. Then we explained that we can’t date. After this he proceeded to ask me if I would wait 2 years for a Peruvian guy, which also led him to asking if I would just stay in Peru forever.

At some point during the meeting he also asked us, “why are Americans so tall?” and our response was, “why are Peruvians so short?” Then he asked us how Peruvians could be taller, and we said for them to marry taller people and have kids. He then told us that we were good at volleyball (he hasn’t seen us play or anything.. solely basing this on our height.) After he said that he then looked at me and told me that I was a good spiker…yet again, he’s never seen me play… and I don’t spike!

At the end of our meeting when we were leaving, we were saying goodbye. I said goodbye and that it was good to meet him. He responded with the same but added, “dream of angels and not of your boyfriend.”

And this is what I do in Lima...

2009-08-19T09:11:00.007-05:00

Surfing

Well I’ve always wanted to learn how to surf but just never really had the opportunity…until I moved to Peru! Over the last few weeks we have had a break, which means we were just chillin in Lima and I attempted to go surf one day! It was a lot of fun! I can’t say that I had much success except for the fact that I didn’t die! And there was only one incident that I thought I might die.. At one point Mandy (another journeyman) was taken by a wave and heading right for me… She tells me to get out of the way, but the fact that I had been paddling for 2 hours and hadn’t made it anywhere yet meant I couldn’t successfully get out of her way… basically she ran over me. We got all intertwined… and before we could regain composure another wave came and did the same thing to us… it was interesting! And at some point during that I think a board hit my hand and possibly broke my finger. It’s not bad though, just a little painful, colorful, and crooked.

Mexican Day

There was a rumor on the street that the Mexican Embassy in Lima would allow you to order things from Mexico and have them shipped here for little cost and we all have major cravings for white cheese dip from Mexican restaurants. Then someone else told us that there was a Mexican restaurant in the Embassy. So a few of us decided that was worth checking out! We put on our best Mexican outfits and headed to the Embassy. Now our outfits were consisting of child size ponchos. We got to the Embassy and first off the guard asked us if we were Mexican! Ha! Then he proceeded to smash our hopes and told us there was no restaurant and the only food that people can get there is the name of a guy that makes tortillas. Sad Day! But the guard then told us where a good Mexican restaurant was, so we went! The food was really good! Unfortunately though there was not any white cheese dip. It was a good Mexican Day! Ok so it wasn’t an official Mexican day but we tried to do many things that resemble Mexico that day. And the best part of the day was walking around town in our ponchos! We got so many looks and people were constantly saying things. At one point we looked back and a whole group of people were just staring at us. There was one guy with us and he said he felt like our bodyguard that day! It was a lot of fun and we laughed A LOT!! And yes, this is basically what happens when we stay in Lima for any length of time.

Other things in life…

I leave this afternoon to go to a village for about 8 weeks. I should be back around October 10^th or so. The village is called Cabana. I don’t know a whole lot about it so I will be updating when I get there, hopefully! Thanks for reading and please continue to pray for me!

a little reunion...

2009-08-03T12:24:00.009-05:00

This past week I was able to meet up with several of the girls that I went through orientation with in Virginia. We were all in Lima for once and for several of us this was the first time to see each other in 5 months or so. It was really great to see them and to see how things were going. A few days after we met up for lunch we were going to disperse again. A couple of them went to a southern town in Peru to try and get visas to go into Bolivia. A few are most likely going back to the states to work on things there. And the rest of us are in Peru but in various locations. Basically this was the most likely the only time we could all get together. It was a sweet time together that was much needed, at least for me! They are all amazing girls and I’m blessed to know them!! I literally have friends all over the world right now and I am so encouraged by their love and commitment to Christ.

"For though I am far away from you, my heart is with you. And I am very happy because you are living as you should and because of your strong faith in Christ." Colossians 2:5

Taxis

2009-07-01T19:06:00.007-05:00

Where I live in Lima there are lots of taxis along my street so it is fairly easy to get one. Today I had an interesting experience with this. I left my apartment to head across town to some of the other girl’s apartment. Well I walked to a taxi and told them the location I wanted to go. Then I proceeded to ask the price (this is always key before getting in because they often try to rip gringos off). He told me it would cost 7 soles and I told him no it should be 5 soles. After I said that he began to laugh. I wasn’t real sure why this was happening. Either I offended him and he was about to drive off or I said it wrong. Well he then said it was ok and for me to get in. Once I was in the taxi, he chuckled a little more. He then told me that I’ve learned fast and asked me how long I’ve been in Peru. I told him I’ve been here for 3 months and a couple more years. I wasn’t real sure how to take this. Part of me wanted to be offended that he tried to take advantage of me but the other part was a little excited that my Spanish is ok enough to not let them take advantage.

Other interesting things about taxis here...

there is always room for one more person. It doesn't matter if there are 4 or 8 people already in the car just keep piling them in!
most cars here are standards. occasionally there is an automatic, but don't fear they are still driven as standards. and when you luck up and get in a taxi like this, it's easy to get a little carsick!

Tentatively I will leave July 7^th to head out. I will be working on a Barnabas team with two other guys; Ryan and Creston. Our responsibility will be to travel to different villages where there are summer missions and encourage them and help them out any way that we can. We will potentially be going to 6-7 different villages over the next 3 weeks. So there will be a lot of traveling going on. I am really excited about this opportunity and I think it will be wonderful. This is a summer job that I had looked at before applying to the journeyman program.

Pray for…

travel safety
unity among our team so we can be ready to minister to the other teams we will be working with
for me to have a reckless love
a willingness to go and do whatever He calls me to do

“It was by faith that Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying- ‘suddenly he disappeared because God took him.’ But before he was taken up, he was approved as pleasing to God. So, you see, it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that there is a God and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.” Hebrews 11:5-6

#13 - Flexibility

2009-06-16T23:13:00.007-05:00

For the past few weeks a resounding theme in my life has been that of flexibility! I’ve been in Lima for a while now and everyone else with my job is already out. I’m waiting on a couple of people to get in this week and then I’ll head to the village Huancapi with them for at least a week. The flexibility has come in many different aspects…the first is being in Lima for the first 3 weeks of the summer just chillin by myself and not really having a purpose. I’ll be honest some of those days were pretty hard! But it’s all good.. I’m in love with a huge God that can take care of all things! J well after being in the city for a good week I decided that I couldn’t handle it anymore and tagged along with another team that was going to a village for a few days. This is where the large portion of the flexibility lesson came into to play. We had planned on going to one village, Vilcus but apparently it’s strike season… who knew they had those?! Since there was a strike we couldn’t get to the village.. so we waited until they said it would be over and we still couldn’t get there. After trying 4 times we decided to head to a different village. We went to Ica and from there we had 3 options. We picked the one that seemed best and we felt led to. So we went and we were only there for a total of 24 hours but it felt a lot longer. Things there surely did not go as planned and we had to end up leaving due to a few different circumstances… so we headed back to Ica. There is a pastor there that has rooms for us to stay in so we went there for a few days. There wasn’t enough time for us to go to another village and be there long enough to actually do some work. So we stayed in Ica. This turned out to be the highlight of our journey. There were a few students coming through to go to another village that stayed where we were so we got to hang out with them and get to know them. They are a great group and a ton of fun! It completely lifted our spirits! Then on Sunday morning the pastor and his wife asked us if we could teach Sunday school for the kids. So we did. This was wonderful! The kids were great and it was just fun and refreshing! Later that day we decided to return to Lima. And have now been back for a couple of days. And the flexibility lesson is apparently still going on.. I am still not certain what the rest of my summer looks like. I leave this week to go to a village, Huancapi, for about a week and then we all have mid-summer debriefing in Nasca. Right now I have no idea what I will be doing after mid-summer. I have been told 3 different possibilities and one of them I heard for the first time last night. So who knows! I know that God is in control and that He has everything perfectly planned out. And for that I am so thankful!

“Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see— such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together… But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News.“ Colossians 1:15-17, 23

# 12 - San Damian

2009-05-15T17:30:00.015-05:00

This past weekend was quite interesting. Friday we went to the school down by the river for their mother’s day program. That was pretty interesting. We got there and the principal didn’t even know we were coming but that didn’t stop him from making us the guests of honor, even though we didn’t have any kids and were definitely not mothers! It was a really cute ceremony though. The kids danced some traditional dances and then sang some songs or recited poetry. There was also a raffle and I got to be the lucky one to draw. But they do raffles a little different here. I was to draw 3 names. Well the first 2 were basically, “hey, you almost won because I drew your name but in all actuality you didn’t. Sorry.” And it was the last name I drew that won the prize. I even got to be like Vanna a couple of times and give the prizes to the mothers that won! Ha! It was a fun time! After that was over we went to a trout farm to get some trout to bring back to the school to cook for lunch. The teachers were making rice, potatoes, salad, etc. so we brought the trout. The principal sat and ate with us. It was a really great time! He was asking all sorts of questions and wants us to come back Wednesday to talk with the parents. He was really nice and said that it’s important that the people here get to hear about God. It was a good day and we are going back Wednesday!

Saturday was a completely different day! We woke up early to go to some Inca Ruins that are close by. So we left at 730 am and started walking! Misleading fact #1 is that the ruins were right past this arc way that we had been to several times. Well it was past it but it took about another hour to get there. We got to the ruins and they were really neat. We climbed all up on them… Similar to how I did at the Mayan ruins! Ha! We even got to see some bones that were at one of the burial things. Well after we left there we decided to go to the top of one of the mountains… it didn’t look that far from where we were and we probably wouldn’t be that close again anytime soon. And one of the guys with us really wanted to go to the top of a mountain before he leaves Peru at the end of the month. Sooo we went! We left the ruins about 1030 or so. We started hiking and then this guy came up to and told us that he has some bones and skulls on his land if we wanted to go see them. So we went and sure nuff there were some skulls!

After leaving there we eventually got to the bottom of the top, where the road stopped, around 200 pm… Now by this point we are basically starving because all we ate was a little breakfast and didn’t really bring any other food with us because we were just going to the ruins that were just a little ways away. Well I’m not exactly a good hiker and the entire time I had a backup plan of just turning around and finding my way back on my own. So we are at the bottom of the mountain and it’s pretty straight up. I know my limitations and it wasn’t looking good. One of the girls with us said, “Oh it’s not bad. It looks like it’s just 50 meters.” That is misleading fact #2. So I start going up this thing and the point we all thought was the top because that is all we could see, was not the top at all. Misleading fact #3. Once I made it the 50 meters, I looked up and low and behold, there are about 50 more meters to go to the “top”. So I kept going. I’ll let you in on a little secret… I probably stopped to take a break like ever 5 minutes or so! The air was so thin and it was STRAIGHT up! I eventually made it to the next marker. I thought this was really the top because one of the girls with us stopped on one of the rocks and sat there for a good little while. So when I was almost there, I was getting excited because I thought I had finally made it! Misleading fact #4 – that was NOT the top! There was a lot further to go to the top! I couldn’t even see the top! So I went a little further to some rocks. This was my goal and I made it and looked up and basically decided to give up. I found a nice rock and layed down. I decided that would be a good place to wait for the others to come back down. At this point I was at least 12,000 ft up. It was really nice and surprisingly comfortable! In the distance I could see some snow capped mountains and a ton of other mountaintops that aren’t visible from the ground. It was BEAUTIFUL!! As I was laying there the other girl (only 50 meters girl) came to where I was. Turns out she had given up too! She was WAY ahead of me and said she could never see the top! And shortly after the translator guy came on up to where we were. He was a little ways behind me. So that left this one guy climbing to the top by himself – he was the one that wanted to see the top super bad. Well the three of us sat there and relaxed for a while waiting for him to come back down. Well about 4pm the clouds were coming in pretty fast so we decided to go down to the path to wait for him. We got to the road and waited for about 90 minutes – no show. For some reason I had thought that he came down a different way and was probably back in town but the other people didn’t think that was possible. Then we decided to move on down to the road. We waited there for about another 20 minutes. By now it is getting DARK! And I did have a couple of headlamps so that was good. We had no clue where this guy was or if everything was ok, but we had to get going. On the walk back we met a family that walked with us. I think the total number of the family was 7 and they only had a little bitty flashlight. They were really sweet and we talked with them the whole way back. Creepy fact... the lady walking back with us thought the 4^th guy had “given his blood to the grandfather” on the top of the mountain… yeah figure that one out! Well when we got almost back to town, we see this flashlight blinking at us. Turns out it was the 4^th guy. He had come down the mountain and went to the hostel because he thought we were there. When he realized we weren’t and that it was getting dark, he decided to head back out to look for us so that we would know that he wasn’t out there anymore. It was a crazy day and everything turned out fine! By the time we got back to San Damian it was past 830 pm. So misleading fact #5, we were only going to be gone for a few hours. Our few hour hike turned into a 12 hour hike…. with NO food!!! Ha! BUT it was all worth it to see such an amazing view! God is so GREAT!!

#11 - Matucana

2009-04-27T16:05:00.006-05:00

Life in the village is going great! We are in a village called Matucana. Matucana is a larger village than some of the others that we will go to (at least that is what I have beeen told). It is fairly easy to find what we need here. Internet is pretty good and available when we need it. I’ve been here for about 3 weeks and have about 3 more weeks left. So far things have been going great! On any given day we will meet with people to share Bible stories with, meet with people to disciple them, teach ESL in a local school, attend one of the house churches here or just go visit with people to build better relationships.
There is a family here that we have built a great relationship with. We see them on a daily basis and if we don’t, we miss them! They are Edgar, Karen, Traci (11 yrs old), and Jarrod (2 yrs old). Currently they are not believers but we go and story with them each week. They ask some great questions and it’s obvious that God is working on them. Now Edgar is very athletic and plays futbol (soccer) all the time… he was semi professional at some point. Well one day we started discussing some sports that we liked to play and we all decided to have one whole day devoted to sports. Edgar was hilarious when we were planning the day. He said, “we’ll meet up go play and play. Then when we get hungry we’ll go back and eat lunch and then we’ll go play some more.” Well sport day was this past Saturday. We all meet up about 10:30 am.. finally got to the place to play about 11:45… Peruvian time! Gotta Love it! Ha! We played volleyball, futbol, and ultimate Frisbee. Yes, we taught them how to play ultimate! It was a great day and so much fun! They loved it! After we played we went back to Edgar and Karen’s house to eat lunch that they prepared for us. It was delicious! After we ate we sat around talking and then before we knew it, they were teaching us how to salsa! Haha! This was so much fun! I was SO bad! But we had a good laugh! We had to leave for a little bit to go meet with someone else but later that night we returned to make them no bake cookies and watched a movie with them. We were with this family all day and it was wonderful!

The next day Brittne and I had planned to go to their house to make them lunch. We had planned on making fajitas. We knew they had never had them before and probably wouldn’t really ever get the chance to. We got there and started preparing it for them. It was a lot of fun! Granted we had to get Edgar to cut up the chicken for us (Brittney and I just couldn’t handle having the head and feet completely intact as we chopped it up). Once lunch was ready we served it to them. We had chicken fajitas, guacamole dip, cheese rotel dip, and chips. I wish I had a picture of their faces as they ate it! They loved it so much!! One of the best parts of the day was when we walked in and the first thing that Edgar said was that he was sore from playing ultimate the day before. It’s funny because I was too!! J I think I’ve already said this a few times, but it was a great day and a great weekend!

God is really working here in Matucana and the surrounding villages. We have gone to visit a couple of villages so far and plan on going to another one tomorrow. This past weekend the pastor from a village we visited, Collana, stopped by to meet us. He lives in Lima and is only in the village on Sundays for church. He stopped by to tell us that it would be great if we started working there and going to encourage the believers already there. In another village we teach ESL in the local school and have met people to hopefully follow up with. It is also extremely encouraging being around the believers here in Matucana. They are doing great and probably encourage us more than we encourage them. This is just an extremely brief overview of things going on here! Thanks so much for your prayers and support!

# 10- PERU!!

2009-04-03T22:34:00.005-05:00

this is from a previous journal entry

March 31, 2009

well right now i am currently on a plane to lima. it feels good! i feel like this is something that has been in the making for years- long before i started the whole journeyman process. i'm really excited and have no clue as to what to expect. who knows what will happen when i get off this plane but i have a feeling that my life will never be the same or at least i hope.

today has been a really great day! i started out the morning with my family in San Juan del Obispo. i truly love my family! they are so sweet and loving. they love to laugh and joke around. it is obvious how much they care for each other and i really felt like part of the family. they made my stay in Guatemala completely unforgettable! last night after i had weighed my bags and realized i was 17 lbs over, i went home to repack. well my mom and dad were right there trying to help me. they even went and got a small scale to help (this was a homemade balance scale- they used 3 lbs of rice to judge the weight). they are great! so this morning i was able to talk with my mom some and say goodbye. her sister and niece even came over to say goodbye. well the taxi showed up early to get me.. before my dad and brother got back home. so i was a little upset and tried to talk to them on the phone (kind of difficult) but luckily they were right around the corner so i was able to say goodbye to them. God is good! after that we left for the airport. when we got there we were checking in with our bags. now i knew that one of mine was WAY over weight and was ready to pay for it but i was praying that the other one was fine. i was also praying that they wouldn't even look at my pack (carry-on) because it was huge! well she hurriedly weighed my first bag without actually looking at the weight (this was my really heavy one).. she didn't say anything but then she weighed my second one and told me it was over.. she said some more things but ultimately didn't charge me for it. but as i was standing there, she saw my massive pack and told me i couldn't use that as a carry-on because it was too heavy. she made me weigh it and i was 6 lbs over! she was not very happy and basically told me i was going to have to check it as a 3rd bag which meant a lot of money! we continued to talk with the lady and then she decided that if we went and got them wrapped (basically mummified to protect all the strings and stuff) and brought them back to her, then she wouldn't charge us an extra bag! woo hoo!! GOD IS GOOD!!! so i of course did this and then i started to figure it out.. between all of my bags, i was almost 30 lbs over the limit! not only that but i checked a 3rd bag!! that would have cost well over $100 easily, but i didn't have to pay for any of it! PRAISE GOD!

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- this morning (friday) i found out that i am leaving with a group Sunday to go into a village for about 6 weeks or so. i should be back around mid-may.. i think. one thing i've learned in the 3 days i've been in Lima is that you have to be EXTREMELY flexible and play everything by ear! which is cool..

there are a lot of great things going on in this village. there will be a lot of follow-up, discipleship, and teaching ESL in the area school and possible to some adults. there is even potential of starting a house church. we may even get the chance to go to a surrounding village and talk/start some things there. it's all really exciting and i am truly looking forward to starting my job!

some prayer requests:

- for our team.. there is a total of 6 of us going out. Brittne, Ginny, Tiffany, Ryan, Martin, and myself. pray for unity and love to grow between us.

- for the believers in the village... to understand the importance of discipline and following Christ's example and for them to want to know more about living for Christ.

- for the people that have yet to come to know Christ. that God will be working on their hearts and place people in their paths that will point them to Him.

- for my language.. that it wont be a barrier or hindrance and that i will continue to learn. that God will give me an ability to speak.

- for wisdom and discernment to know what to do in all situations so that i can bring glory to God.

- for me to fix my eyes on Jesus on whom my faith depends from start to finish... and to keep them there!

#9 - go big or go home!

2009-03-10T15:18:00.009-05:00

tuk tuk's seem to be my favorite mode of transportation... they always make for an interesting ride! you never know what is going to happen... granted it probably is the least safe way to travel but hey, go big or go home, right?? first off let me describe what a tuk tuk is.. it's basically a carnival ride (like a ferris wheel box) on wheels... no i'm not kidding! sometimes they are decked out on the inside.. with flashing lights (i've seen red, blue, green...) inside and out, fuzzy dice, etc...

the first time we rode in one it was so bumpy that we couldn't even take a picture without it blurring... needless to say, we didn't really expect that but it was fun! the next time, jess and i almost died... it was kind of late one day when we needed to get home so didn't want to walk all the way across town to the bus place since it was late... we tried to find a taxi but no luck so we got a tuk tuk... this was a crazy experience! first off the guy wanted us to pay double what we had previously paid but with our mad bargaining skills we got him down to a reasonable amount... well we got in the ride and the guy couldn't get it cranked.. apparently he was out of gas... so he pulled out a 20 oz pepsi bottle full of gas... i mean, dont we all carry those?! so we got some gas and we were on our way... at some point the driver decides to cut off a bus.. a bus that is like 20 times the size of the tuk tuk! so the bus was tailing us.. literally i could have stuck out my hand and touched the bus... so the bus driver got a little mad and passed us.. as he passed, our driver decided to show him a little hand gesture (not a friendly one).. so the guy standing on the step of the bus decided to try and kick our driver- as we are driving down the road and the bus is swerving to try and hit us.. yep, it was pretty crazy! fortunately we made it home safely...

well the other night jess and i decided to take one home again.. we thought we needed a little excitement... we asked about 3 people before we found one that would take us for the price we were willing to pay.. so get in... then the driver turns around and says something to me (in spanish)... he had a bag in his hand and i heard caminar (which means to walk) so i thought he was saying he needed to take something to someone real fast... sometimes i respond with si (yes) when i don't fully understand what is being said.. not always a good thing.. well he walked around and put the bag on the other side of the ride and grabbed a tire iron... apparently he said cambiar (to change) not caminar...ha! so jess and i get out while he changes it and i kid you not, he basically pushed it over on it's side to change it.. it was really funny! the funniest part was that the tuk tuk seemed to be fine until we got in it.. granted we did have a couple of cokes and pizza in our hands so he probably thought the tuk tuk just couldn't handle the crazy americans and their food! as you can see, tuk tuk's are always entertaining and a great source of laughter!!

#8 - Pura Uva or Esta Yuca??

2009-02-19T14:57:00.012-06:00

Lots of things have been going on lately!

first off is i had some pretty serious stomach issues all last week with a cold on top of that. i'm feeling a lot better but it's actually a funny story and i definitely learned my lesson! long story short is, i took some medicine that the people at the pharmacy recommended. it was completely the wrong medicine! all my symptoms were from taking a medicine that i did not need nor should be taking. so moral of the story is, always research medicine in a foreign country before you take it!

so the place we live in is called San Juan del Obispo and it's really small, which is generally good! well yesterday afternoon jess, adam, and i went in search of some ice cream. we went to 3 -4 different tiendas (stores) with no real luck.. the first store went to was pretty much the only one in the town with any real ice cream but all of it was freezer-burned... no luck but the craving was so strong (or we were just really bored) so we went back to the first store to get the really old ice cream... as the store is in our sight, so is an ice cream truck! they were getting a new batch of ice cream!! we were all ecstatic! God is good!!

some new experiences so far...

- earthquake (a small ,one, nothing big!)

- tuk tuk ride (seriously sketchy!!)

- spanish speaking catholic church @ 6 am! (i also got another shower that morning!)

- pedicure (i used to have a thing about people touching my feet... well feet in general)

- ride a 4 wheeler on a highway in a foreign country

- first parasite

- to buy a movie in japanese (not on purpose)

- hand wash my clothes

- not to throw toilet paper in the toilet

- to see a volcano erupt

- power outage in Guatemala

- go to a black sand beach (El Salvador)

so a few weeks ago someone asked me what was the best thing i've learned so far... well it's 2 fold... my first answer is cultural... just like any language there are slang terms in spanish as well.. one that someone at school taught me is when someone asks you how you are, you respond with "pura uva". and that basically means you feel like a grape, which apparently means you are doing really well!! ha! the other phrase is "esta yuca" and that means something is really difficult... apparently getting a yuca root out of the ground is pretty difficult! -see, i am learning some spanish!!

the other is something that God has been teaching me for a while now... i can be a little hard headed at times... but it has to do with surrender... one reason it has taken a while to grasp is possibly because it is a hard one to swallow.. i've begun to see God as Yahweh Yireh, which means the Lord will provide, and (trying to) completely trust him to do that! ..."when we put something on the altar, sacrificing it to him, we acknowledge two things: that he is God, and that we are not. This is the worship we need to offer, the worship that will allow us to experience his provision for our lives." (Praying the Names of God) ..i've learned that surrender can be a beautiful thing! it's pretty hard and definitely a daily (if not more) thing to do... but well worth it!

# 7- duchas

2009-01-27T15:42:00.010-06:00

so here's a funny story for ya! let me preface by saying that i love the family that i live with! they are great and so much fun!! and i'm so happy to be with them! but there is one down fall.. they dont have hot water!! initially i just assumed that everyone else was in the same boat.. but no! my showers are almost lukewarm (on the cold side) with a stream of ice cold water shooting out of a leak in the pipe... now if i take a shower in the middle of day when the sun is out and it's really warm, then it's not that bad ..but if i take one at night, it's a little difficult! throughout conversations i've told the rest of the group about my showers and even snuck out and took one at another girl's house once (it was pretty sweet!!) well it wasn't until adam and jess (they live next door) had to use my shower one night because theirs was turned off for repairs... after this experience, they finally believed me and were willing to help! luckily adam is quite the handyman and knows how to buy and install a new shower head for hot water! i thought finally i can take hot showers!! so adam came over one morning to talk with the family about fixing it but the family was not believing that anything was wrong... they told him that if the water got any hotter it would burn me (that's the funny part)!! so that night i took a shower and my mom came and showed me how to turn the water onto hot... well low and behold, it's exactly how i've been doing it.. so it's looking like no hot showers for 3 months... unless i sneak out again! un dia triste (sad day)!!

#6- one week in Guate!

2009-01-11T17:28:00.003-06:00

so i've been in Guatemala for a little over a week now and it's been great! i've already learned a few things and was inspired to put them into a top ten list... so here it goes!

10- if you don't eat everything on your plate- they start to give you less food...

9- it's no big deal to see chickens wandering around the school...

8- pedestrians do NOT have the right away...

7- buses have NO maximum capacity...

6- dogs are everywhere and fight constantly!!

5- if you aren't fluent in spanish (like i) you do a lot of charades to communicate with the people you live with, especially at dinner...

4- as you learn spanish, your english gets worse!

3- fireworks go off often- anytime of the day or night... and sometimes right outside your door!

2- toast is more like a big crouton with jam...

and the most important thing i've learned is...

1- the best time to take a shower is the middle of the day because hot is relative.. meaning it's not exactly a hot shower but more like an almost lukewarm shower (and when i say almost lukewarm- i mean on the cold side...)...

seriously, Guatemala is great! it's beautiful here! and the family i'm living with is really great! i dont have a whole lot of time today to tell everything but God is so good!! He has been teaching me so much!! hopefully i can update later again this week.. i have to go to a nearby town to get good internet service so maybe one afternoon.. but i'd like to close out with a verse i found this morning.. and if you know me at all, you know this is just perfect!

eat whatever is offered to you and don't ask any questions about it. romans 10:27

-this has become my motto! : )

-continue to pray for fluency in spanish! i'm picking it up and can understand a whole lot more than before so that's good!

-my family that i'm living with

-my teacher/tutor- i'll have her for 3 more weeks (then we switch)... we've had some good conversations.. pray that the lack of language wont keep them from going deeper..

-my health... i was sick some last week and feel better but still not great.. it's been about 5 days so hopefully it's pretty much over!

thanks!!! :)

8 days to Guatemala!

2008-12-24T02:56:00.005-06:00

i've been back from orientation for about a week now. it was a great time! i learned a lot and met some pretty amazing people. i learned the most about myself though and i dont even know how to begin to explain any of it. all i know is that i am in love with an amazing God and he has set a task before me that i am completely unprepared for but He is faithful!!

there are a couple of thoughts that have been resounding in my head for the past 8-9 weeks. the first one was pretty much my theme while at orientation. i know i had touched on it in an earlier post but it's still just as strong: the necessity of being focused on God.

"remember that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize. you must run in such a way that you will win... so i run straight to the goal with purpose in every step..." 1 Corinthians 9:24-27

"... let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us. we do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom faith depends from start to finish." Hebrews 12:1-2

seems that there is a lot of running going on (and i'm not much of a runner) but i think it has a lot to do with urgency (something else God is showing me).

the other resounding theme in my life right now is that of having a reckless love: a love that disregards danger and consequences. this is the type of love that God shows us and i want to be able to show others. i'm also reading a book called crazy love by francis chan. it talks about being ridiculously in love with God and i think we have to be in order to have a reckless love for God and others.

well it's about 8 days until i move to guatemala for language school! i'm really excited and completely realize that my life will never be the same! please pray for the family that i will live with for the next 3 months. pray that God will be glorified! pray for my tutor. pray that we will have a bond and that i will be able to share Christ with them. pray for my language learning. i'm a little nervous about that! i know how important it is to learn the language so i can reach the people and i want more than anything to be able to do that! thanks for all of the support! and Merry Christmas!!

#4

2008-11-30T19:07:00.003-06:00

well i'm still at FPO. i have about 3 more weeks here and a little over a month before i leave the country. i'm pretty excited. i'm ready. maybe not fully prepared but i'm ready! i was asked the other day if i was scared, and i'm honestly not at all. i know God will protect me and provide for me. He always has and there is no doubt in my mind that he will continue.

there has been lots of things going on here. some of my favorite things so far were the sessions on tribal religions and the persecuted church. for some reason, the persecuted church really got to me. being willing to suffer for Christ just blows me away. and knowing that it is inevitable just makes me want to be ready for whatever lies ahead.

thanksgiving here was really good. we spent the morning with our small group, which is my region. then had a relaxing afternoon. that evening our small group got together again and had dinner. pretty much everyone brought a dish or something so the food was good! i really love my region. we get along wonderfully and have a bond that most regions dont really seem to have.

friday was another great day! we went to DC and it was for us to be able to be around internationals and hopefully witness to them. we started out the morning going to this massive cathedral. it was huge!! and beautiful!! but so sad.. it was sad because there were so many things that were similar to my beliefs but at the same time so many things that were so different. it was heartbreaking knowing they think they have to go through Mary or a priest to get to Jesus. i had been to a catholic church before but this time was different because i had a different mindset. after the cathedral we went to lunch at a "peruvian" restaurant. this was interesting.. it was called el pollo rico.. the rich chicken.. well everyone ordered the same thing because that was the only option.. ha! it was pretty much an american meal.. rotisserie chicken, steak fries, and cole slaw. the only thing peruvian i had was the drink.. the two options were inca cola (diabetes in a bottle) or purple corn. i went for the purple corn because i had the inca cola before.. the purple corn was pretty rough.. so i traded it off for a coke. ha! after lunch 4 of us broke away and went off on our own. we went to the washington monument first and we being kind of silly.. we ran up this hill to take a picture and saw some guys standing there so we asked them to take our picture. they did and we talked to them for a while. they were from quebec and 2 of them were catholic by heritage and another one was atheist. the conversation started out quite interesting since one of the guys point blank asked us if we were virgins. we answered which led into a more interesting conversation about religion. the atheist did most of the talking. he didnt believe in heaven nor hell but he was scared of death. it was a good conversation. we just went away knowing that God had planted some seeds. oh and one funny thing with that.. i pretty much always wear flip flops and so this day was no different.. well apparently people in quebec dont really wear them so the guys asked if they could take a picture of my feet.. i let them, but it was a little odd! ha!

one thing that i have started doing while here at fpo is more sports. we are suppose to exercise 4 days a week.. well i dont do so well with strictly working out in a gym and stuff so i play a lot. i've taken up volleyball, indoor soccer, ultimate frisbee, and disc golf. i'm not good at any of them.. but it is fun! we had a dodgeball tournament saturday and we won! then we went to a disc golf course the other day! who knew they even had those?! but it was great!! i only threw one disc in the lake.. too bad they sink fast and the fact that it's november..

God is amazing!! he continues to show me that he is in complete control of all circumstances and that makes me glad!! almost daily i'm reminded that i am completely unworthy but so honored that God has chosen me! i know he is working in me and i just want to live a life pleasing to him!

"... you must be even more careful to put into action God's saving work in your lives, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire to obey him and the power to do what pleases him." Philippians 2:12b-13

goodness.. this one turned out long.. sorry about that!

#3

2008-11-01T14:04:00.008-05:00

well i have been in richmond for about a week and a half now.. it feels like i've been here a lot longer and that's not a bad thing. i'm here at orientation for the next 7 weeks. so far things have been good.. pretty intense and extremely busy! but i've met some amazing people here! it's crazy what happens when you get 300+ people together that all have the same heart and passion for God. i'm currently sitting in an ESL class to get certified. i dont have to be in here but i figured it would be beneficial in the long run.. supposedly the certificate is good forever.. the downfall is the class is extremely boring and it's all day today and next saturday. i have learned some pretty awesome things and been reminded of somethings that i shouldn't forget. the main thing the last few days is to keep my focus on Christ. there are so many things going on here that it is easy to get distracted and completely forget to spend time with Him.

".. and let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom faith depends from start to finish." Hebrews 12:1-2

that is a key area that has been coming up constantly lately but something else has really popped out to me. Hebrews 11 is the faith chapter and just the definition of faith being the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen, has been quite encouraging. later on in that same chapter the author is describing Enoch (verses 5-6). He is described as being approved as pleasing to God and in order to be in that same category one has to have faith, believe, and sincerely seek him. so i decided that i want to pleasing to God. i want him to say that he is proud of me or pleased with me and through that i want to sincerely seek him.

# 2

2008-10-05T14:04:00.004-05:00

I love me some Jesus! I've been in Texas now for about 5 days and I'm not adjusting so well.… It's quite strange. But on a positive note, I don't think it will be hard to leave here to go to Richmond and then to Peru.… I think the hard part is over. I've come to a couple conclusions or at least good thoughts for now.… here they are (some of it I came to before moving to Texas but never actually wrote them down)

- I don't want the American dream. I used to think that I did. I thought the perfect life would be to have a great job that paid good, marry someone who also had a good job, have kids, live in a nice house in a city or suburb, and live the dream that so many people would love to have. Well I still want to be married and have kids but I'm realizing that I'm not ok with the American dream. Now it's fine for some people but I don't want to be satisfied with that. I know that there is more out there and I want to go and do my part in spreading Christ's love. I am well aware that someone living the American dream can easily do this also but I just realized it's not me. I was brought up in a single parent home with 2 older brothers, meaning money was tight. We never went without things we needed but we didn't get everything we wanted just because we wanted it. So I learned to do without. Growing up I thought nothing would be better than having and being able to get anything I could possibly want hence why I wanted to be a doctor when I graduated high school and even into college. It took me a while but I realized I have Jesus and He is all I need and I live to bring him praise. So I'll go to the mountains and jungles of Peru! And who knows what He has in store after that! But I'm willing!

-From this point on, my life will never be the same. I kind of touched on this before but it just keeps resounding in my head. I moved 800+ miles away from home. Now I'll be the first to admit that I didn't ever think I would call Jackson home but that was where I felt most comfortable and myself. I have some amazing friends that I met there and they are definitely people I will never forget and will keep in touch with for years. It was a lot harder to leave than I thought. When I moved from Petal to Jackson, it really didn't phase me that much (maybe bc it was still the same state and less than 2 hrs away) but Jackson to Texas sure did! When I left Jackson, I left everything I had. My car had previously been stolen (which was an act of God because I was going to try and sell it before leaving the country) and I left my apartment. Those aren't really big things but it was all I had that was mine. I moved to Texas to a town where outside of my mom, I know no one. Nothing here is familiar so it just doesn't feel like home. It's a strange feeling knowing that I don't really have a home anymore. Yes, I have a place to put my stuff but it just isn't home... I guess I'm kind of a nomad! ha! Well upon leaving Mississippi I realized that there is no going back and even if I tried to after Peru, things just wouldn't be the same. And truthfully I'm ok with that. It actually excites me! It's just kind of hard to swallow. I don't do well with routine nor with being comfortable. I like to be challenged. I know it's all for the best!

For years God has been preparing me for this next step in my life. Many people have seen me through it. Some have been there the entire time encouraging me when nothing made sense and believing in me when I felt as though I had no direction. All I knew was that I was in love with God and wanted to do whatever it was that He had in store for me. For years I thought I was ready but He knew I really wasn't until now. See I had originally applied for Journeyman about 3 years ago. I thought I was ready but ultimately I wasn't ready to leave everything behind. And when I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING! I still wanted control of my future and leaving for 2 years just kind of cramped my plans. Now I know that my plans are nothing compared to His plans for me! I'm so excited about my journeys ahead. Orientation in Richmond will be amazing from things I've heard. I'm a little scared about Guatemala and language school but God will never give me more than we can handle. And I'm incredibly excited about Peru! I don't think my mind has even grasped a small glimpse of what will He has planned but I can't wait to see it and be part of it!!

"Look at the nations and be amazed! Watch and be astounded at what I will do! For I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn't believe even if someone told you about it." -Habakkuk 1:5

the beginning

2008-10-01T19:50:00.000-05:00

hmm.. well this is my first "blog". I'm still not sure how i feel about this.. hopefully it'll get better in time.

The past few days have been pretty crazy! I said a number of goodbyes, packed up my apartment, drove 12 hours straight to moved to texas, and am working on unpacking all my stuff. It was a lot harder saying goodbye to everyone than I had thought it would be. I have some amazing friends that I will miss greatly but it's not goodbye...just see ya later!

What i'm really having trouble with is I packed up and moved from m=Mississippi (my home for my entire life) to Texas (a place I have never lived and know no one) to a house I've never been to. I spent 12 hrs driving on Tuesday and that meant a lot of time to think... I realized that from this point on, my life will never be the same. That's not exactly a bad thing. it's just odd. I've become quite the nomad. I don't have a car (it was stolen a few months ago) and now I dont really have a home. Yes, I moved in with my mom. I love my mom and it is very welcoming but she's the only person I know in this small south Texas town. So it's just a strange feeling. But I also know that I am about to embark on one incredibly amazing journey that God has planned for me. I've been clinging to a verse a wonderful friend gave me a few years ago.. so i'll end with it..

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him" 1 Cor 2:9