My Missions Trip this summer

K this is going to be another one of those long posts... lol so much goes on, but I cannot seem to update it everyday. If you are interested in where God has called me to go this summer, read on...

I have always felt like I was one to stay in the states and be the person sending people on missions trips. God confirmed this with me about 2 weeks ago on a Wednesday night service down here during and after the message on doing our role in being a Christian. Everyone has a part to play, -- there are "senders", "goers", "intercessors", "mobilizers", and "greeters". David Hasz went into detail of each of the details and how we are all called to one of these and we need to ask God what are part is to play in the great commission... I know I am called to be a sender and I know I will be going too... but man things are unfolding in my heart that I never knew was there.

Before this service I kept thinking this summer I would be going to a really cool place far away like Australia or New Zealand since I would only get an opportunity like this one time in my life. As I kept trying to pursue one of these countries I just did not feel peace with them.

I was praying for direction and kept feeling like New York was the place God wanted me to go. I kept thinking to myself, no way I am not going to stay in the U.S. where the gospel is preached so freely... but man oh man that thinking is a bit selfish. After much thought, contemplation, and praying I went to go fill out my application (they were due really soon for this summer) and God then showed me to do both New York and Jamaica this summer since they were both 2 week long trips and we are allowed 4 weeks for Mission Trips here in the summer. This is not a very common thing to do here, but I felt total peace with it. The total cost of these 2 trips cost just under the price of going to Australia and New Zealand too! (about $3,800) Man, after I submitted my application for these trips I felt so much peace and excitement but was not sure they would both get approved because of space and the uncommoness of it all. I just figured God would work it out and I did not think about it again.

Until...
Yesterday we had an awesome chapel speaker that was really hardcore and made us all feel like selfish naive Americans (which in essence, we are sadly), but this guy devotes his entire life ministering from the ghettos of America to the garbage dumps of Manila to the sexual slave trade in Thailand. He lives in the ghetto of New York and has been beaten, stabbed and shot in the face. He has tasted death and experienced it and he really opened my eyes just to how sheltered I am, and how so many people need love and get looked past. It was during this chapel God spoke to me about New York again and I knew I was supposed to go to New York. I need to share God's love with the hopeless children in Brooklyn’s projects. I need to love the children and teens that call abandoned buildings their home, face a future of drugs, addictions, prison, abandonment, and even death. I will be joining the guy that spoke in chapel and live where he currently lives... everyday. Wow.

Today, I got the email that I am accepted to both of these trips!!! Man, God is good... He confirmed it so many times and now I am going to go, and I know He is going to provide!!! Ahhh I never thought I could be this excited for a missions trip!

6 girls + 1 mouse = this.

6 So out of all 6 of us girls, we only have one brave girl that is willing to risk standing on the floor while a mouse runs around and hides in our room. All of us other girls were standing on our bunk beds or ladders.... Oh and for the record, we still have not found this bad boy. Ishy. P.S. You may not want to have the volume all the way up... Options View Video Reply to Sender Reply to All Forward Send and receive Pictures and Videos through Picture MailSM. For more information go to http://www.sprint.com/picturemail

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Praise God!!!

Woo hoo! Praise God... I have a fun story about God being so good...

The other day I was at work down here doing my normal youth pastor calling when I dialed this number to a girl that had no affiliation with Acquire the Fire, being a youth pastor, or anything like that. She was just a regular 19 year old girl, and after I called and did my 15 sec. intro she sounded angry and hung up on me (this is normal in the calling world, so I just brushed it off and went on to the next number) or so I thought.... I thought I dialed a new number, but whaddya know? 2 seconds into saying my intro to the next call I realized in my head that it was the same girl and I did not get to dial a new number... I quickly apologized and asked if this was the same girl from just a few seconds ago... she said it was, and I quickly was like "wait! don't hang up!" and I started talking about God and just how I felt like this was a God ordained call... she really started to open up and God totally used me to pour into her life! I found out that she was 19, is about 3 months pregnant, and the guy left her, she felt like giving up on life and was also a lesbian. God totally gave me the words to say to her and pray with her, and she was totally open to receive and totally changed around to a positive attitude. I got the chance to be able to give her 2 free tickets to the Detroit ATF event and she is going to bring a friend! (Talk about a turn around!) Man, God is sooo goood! By the time we ended the call, we exchanged emails, I prayed with her, blessed her w/ 2 tickets to a life changing youth conference, and her heart was open more to God. :) I can not tell you how it brightened up my day, but it did! That is what the Ministry placements we are in are all about... just reaching out to others and sharing God's love. It was just really cool to experience first hand this time. :)

My point? ya never know who you are going to talk to or who God places in your life. Always be ready, always be open, and always be willing. God will do the rest ;)

My favorite weekend here...

So i just heard the quote here the other day that "if you dont like the weather in Texas, just wait a day... " Wow, that is the truth. Texas weather is bi polar... Meaning one day it is hot and sunny and the next it is freezing and raining and dropped like thirty degrees... Seriously. Well i am grateful cuz this last weekend was the best yet, cuz the quad (4 fun girls) went out to the mall in her mustang convertible and def enjoyed the sun with the top down. Talk about refreshing. Man, nothing beats sunshine, bumpin beats Ha, and friends all in the same setting:) Options View Video Reply to Sender Reply to All Forward

Lions, Scorpions, and Bears OH MY!!! a.k.a. the Mountain Climb...

So two weekends (wow, time flies) ago, we drove 12 hours to go and climb the mountain range Big Bend, and in that range, I climbed all the way to the highest peak (Emery's peak) with other interns that were up for the climb. Let me recap the trip in a short version through some pictures :) First we drove 12ish hours to our camping spot in the middle of the desert and nowhere (seriously). Here is the view of where we stayed in tents:

This was from the bottom of the hill in the distance---->

The two pictures are from the bottom of the hill where we camped, one picture is from the top view of the hill, and the pile of scat/feces/#2 is also on top of the hill... I took a picture cuz these piles were everywhere up there and I kept wondering what kind of animal does these huge piles---I put my shoe next to it so you could see how big it is (and this was a medium sized pile) Lion? Goat? Elephant?--no. Bear? you tell me.

Mountain CLimb Pictures

Here are more mountain pictures, cuz I could not figure out how to post alot of pictures in an orderly manner and describe them each. So Here is a summary of them all, and you can just kinda guess what is happening. All I can say is the views were INCREDIBLE and camera's can never capture the real prettiness :) Just to give you an idea tho...

Our Core Advisor was not able to come with us on this trip, so for most of the mountain it was just us 5 girls hiking alone. There was one time in the early morning that we heard a huge animal in the tall grass around us (we thought it was a mountain lion cuz we just saw 2 signs for them) but luckily it was just some deer, but they were about 4 feet away! scary, cuz it was pitch black at around 5:30a.m.

We hiked a total of about 17 miles that day, but it was on rocky terrain... we were exhausted by the end...

Praise God, God gave us girls the perseverance to keep going and going and going... seriously. It felt never ending.

I am glad I did it, it was a cool experience... especially sleeping in the freezing desert at night knowing there were scorpions, and lions and bears ...

Fun at work

Who says you cant have fun at work? Not me. Today while i was making all my calls to youth pastors in detroit, i decided to turn part of my lunch into a little friend:) his name is orange king, and I made him out of my post it notes and tape. What is the most coolest thing you have made at work? Lol

On my mind

Today is my best friend and sister's birthday!!! She is the greatest, most giving, unselfish, considerate, thoughtful, creative girl I know! She has always been there for me and I know God blessed me with her for a reason. I look up to her so much and am excited to see how God is going to use her for His glory even more as she continues to seek for what He wants. Man, I wish I could be in MN for her today. HAPPY BIRTHDAY NIKKI!!!!



Also, I just was thinking this past week how precious my family is to me. Seriously I have not really comprehended how much they mean to me. My parents are the best parents that I know and they are so giving and sacrifice so much just for me and us kids. I am so grateful to have grown up in a larger family too... it has been my favorite part of growing up. I loved being the youngest and having 4 older brothers and a big sister. I love everyone so much and miss them a lot. I also have the awesome priveledge of calling all my in-laws my family too. I learn something new from each one of them and they are so loving to me. I love seeing our family seeking God, it is the most rewarding thing in the whole world. I would not trade that for anything money could ever buy. ... for real I can't explain my love for all my family. They are the best.



This Honor Academy experience has definitely been one that I wanted to give up on after the first week here, but I knew that that was not what God wanted for me. It is not that it is too physically draining, or emotionally draining, or healthyfood draining (although it is), it is more just because it has been a sacrifice for me in every area of my life including spiritually. The devil kept trying to tell me that I was wasting a year and to just go home and not commit, but I KNOW THAT I KNOW that that is not what God wants. I know that God wants me here. I know I am in His will right now and I know that this year is supposed to stretch me. I can already see how I have drastically grown in my thinking, in my walk with God, and just in other areas of my life. I have learned to really just put my trust in God. HE is the only way I am going to make it through here with excellence.


I also can see God moving in me through being the new ACA (despite it being my first semester here, and all the other ACA's are August interns). It is so cool to see how God placed me where I am for a reason. I know that I got placed in the room I am in because God wants me to pour into all of these girls' lives His love and other things as well. It is so wierd, because I can identify at least one thing in every girl that I used to struggle with that they currently are dealing with and may or may not even know it. I know God is stretching me through this experience as well, and I am humbled that he entrusted me to these girls' lives this year. Already I am seeing growth in our room, but I do know it is going to take perseverance and a press. Wow, I am really learning alot though. Basically, I do not even care if the girls think that I am too extreme, or too strict, or too anything, as long as they come out of this year knowing God more. That is truly all that matters. I want to see our whole room come to truly know who they are in God this year, and I know that in Jesus' name that is going to happen! Praise God!
Thank you God, I love you so much.

Lol i guess make that 5 times

Actually this is now the 5th time having the bus break down and I guess they are sending another bus for us. So close but yet so far away... Make that a total of 18 hours on the bus w 44 unshowered and sweaty interns Ha Ha gross

Roadtrip adventures...

Our 12 hour bus ride home from the mountain last night has turned into 15 hours so far... Lol our bus has broken down 3 times so far and now were back on the road and only 1 hour away:) Yay! What an exhausting trip, but worth it. I will explain more later. I now just cannot wait to get back to the Honor Academy to take a shower and sleep.