Great news! Got my visa in today!! Now I'm all set, at least for the next two months. Thank you for all the pr-ers and encouragement!
And more great news - I get to see my family tomorrow! My mom, brother, and grandparents are coming in for the service on Wednesday, and then I'll be headed home for probably around three weeks. Now that we have our visas in, we're working on getting flights booked. This is for real! I'm really about to head to the other side of the world!
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
Call for obedience
Training is winding to an end as we pack and ready for our goodbyes on Wednesday. It's been an eight weeks jammed full of all sorts of information and stories that are extremely beneficial. What it all comes down to, though, is that without Him, all efforts are useless. We're just supposed to be obedient and leave the results up to Him.
He hasn't asked us to move the rock, simply to push.
To Him be all the glory, cause it most certainly isn't anything this weak, inconsistent, simple girl is doing.
"And he said, 'The kingdom of G-d is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.'" - Mk 4:26-29
He hasn't asked us to move the rock, simply to push.
To Him be all the glory, cause it most certainly isn't anything this weak, inconsistent, simple girl is doing.
"And he said, 'The kingdom of G-d is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.'" - Mk 4:26-29
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Who knew visas could be so stressful?
M (my language school partner) and I mailed in our passports and applications for a two-month visa a couple of weeks ago and are still waiting to get them back. Our travel agency has to wait until we have visas in hand before they can book our tickets, and time is getting closer and closer, and so we're starting to get more and more anxious. Please be lifting that up.
Alsooo N emailed me and said he's still negotiating with a university about my long-term visa and requested that we be lifting that up as well. "We'll get you in one way or the other. No worries." Alright.
On a cool note, I found out this week from our big boss that B-town had some really exciting things happen, like starting their first gathering in January! What awesome news!
We've got a week and half left here, which seems absolutely crazy! It's definitely been a very helpful and, honestly, refining time. Thank you all so, so much for your support!
Alsooo N emailed me and said he's still negotiating with a university about my long-term visa and requested that we be lifting that up as well. "We'll get you in one way or the other. No worries." Alright.
On a cool note, I found out this week from our big boss that B-town had some really exciting things happen, like starting their first gathering in January! What awesome news!
We've got a week and half left here, which seems absolutely crazy! It's definitely been a very helpful and, honestly, refining time. Thank you all so, so much for your support!
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
"If our God is for us, who can be against us?"
I survived security contingency training! I now know what to do in case of a robbery, questioning, or whatever else may come my way. Boy, can you say reality check?
It was definitely not a coincidence that the week before we talked about persecuted followers around the world. Father definitely weighed on my heart once again the cost of following that we so often in America don't face. I was reminded of the passage in 1 Pt that talks about resisting our adversary, "knowing that the same kinds of sufferings are being experienced by our brotherhood around the world."
Persecution is normal in over 80% of the world. Normal. Not something to complain about, not something out of the ordinary; it is to be expected. In fact 2 Tm flat out says this: "All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted."
That brings up the question: Is He worth it?
Is He worth abandoning everything for? Is He worth being rejected and being ridiculed by peers? Is He worth risking not only your life but the lives of your family? Is He worth it?
The answer: YES. 100% yes. JC left EVERYTHING - He abandoned GLORY - to redeem His people, a people who ridiculed and rejected Him. And He gave Himself so that we may be made alive and live with Him.
With that in mind, Father gave me strength and peace to sit through sessions about what possibly could happen during service, things that I would normally be freak out about and probably be having nightmares about. Instead, though, in an enormous act of grace, I could sit and tell myself, "He is worth it. He is worth way more than my feeble life can give. He deserves all glory and praise, no matter the cost."
Sorry for the rant. That was definitely not the direction I meant for this post to go. Maybe later this week I can actually talk about what I meant to talk about. :)
Pr--er Request:
It's starting to get crunch time as we only have 2 1/2 more weeks here. We're having to memorize lots of stories and methods. Be pr--ing for sharpness of mind and, honestly, sincerity in my motivations to memorize. I don't want to know these things just because they tell me to know them; I want to sincerely be affected by them and desire to share them with those I encounter.
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? ... No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." Rom 8:35, 37-39
"'Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.'" Rv 4:11
It was definitely not a coincidence that the week before we talked about persecuted followers around the world. Father definitely weighed on my heart once again the cost of following that we so often in America don't face. I was reminded of the passage in 1 Pt that talks about resisting our adversary, "knowing that the same kinds of sufferings are being experienced by our brotherhood around the world."
Persecution is normal in over 80% of the world. Normal. Not something to complain about, not something out of the ordinary; it is to be expected. In fact 2 Tm flat out says this: "All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted."
That brings up the question: Is He worth it?
Is He worth abandoning everything for? Is He worth being rejected and being ridiculed by peers? Is He worth risking not only your life but the lives of your family? Is He worth it?
The answer: YES. 100% yes. JC left EVERYTHING - He abandoned GLORY - to redeem His people, a people who ridiculed and rejected Him. And He gave Himself so that we may be made alive and live with Him.
With that in mind, Father gave me strength and peace to sit through sessions about what possibly could happen during service, things that I would normally be freak out about and probably be having nightmares about. Instead, though, in an enormous act of grace, I could sit and tell myself, "He is worth it. He is worth way more than my feeble life can give. He deserves all glory and praise, no matter the cost."
Sorry for the rant. That was definitely not the direction I meant for this post to go. Maybe later this week I can actually talk about what I meant to talk about. :)
Pr--er Request:
It's starting to get crunch time as we only have 2 1/2 more weeks here. We're having to memorize lots of stories and methods. Be pr--ing for sharpness of mind and, honestly, sincerity in my motivations to memorize. I don't want to know these things just because they tell me to know them; I want to sincerely be affected by them and desire to share them with those I encounter.
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? ... No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." Rom 8:35, 37-39
"'Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.'" Rv 4:11
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