FPO!!!

Well I made it here to VA. I've settled into my "apartment" for the next two months. I'm sharing a "house" with three families and I also have a roommate. I have class all day everyday except weekends, and we're fed three meals a day for free! Life is great! :) Except that this whole experience is intense and overwhelming. haha so maybe the food is a treat for putting us through everything else.

I am enjoying the community here and am excited about what lies ahead. God has already begun to stir deep in my heart and I've only been here two days. So much has been surfaced in my heart already and I know it is only the beginning of what God is doing. I know at times it may be rough but I am welcoming His work in my heart.

Pray for the long and intense days of training and teaching. Tomorrow we have a personal retreat, pray that God would move in my heart and open my eyes to what He is doing.

Let me know what's going on with you and how I can pray for you!

The Beginning

Well I leave tomorrow for training in Virginia. Just the beginning of my new life I guess. Not really sure what is going on in my head right now, but I'm sure I'll freak out at some point very soon!

Everyone made it back from Brazil safe, but not before we all got sick. No telling what we had but we all came down with some kind of sinus stuff. My whole Rio trip was kinda stinky because of it. I ran a high fever and had all the sinus junk. But I am getting over it now so I can't complain.

These last few days at home have flown by. I had my graduation/going away party Saturday. It was great to see family all together again. And of course it is always interesting. I enjoyed my last Sunday here at church. I'm really going to miss it. My church has been such a huge part of my life in the last three years; it will be hard being away from it. AND I held off the packing until today. :) It wasn't too bad, but I'm sure that I am bringing too much stuff. I hate to have to think about actually packing for Italy. But at the same time I think I am ready to be packing for Italy.

Be praying for travel tomorrow. Not just for me, but for all of us traveling to FPO! Can't wait to see everyone!!!!

Back in Belo

well we made it to Belo on Saturday. It was way too much traveling for me, but i'm thankful that we all made it here safe. Sunday morning we had a great time of worship, much needed to start off a long week of hard work here in the city. It's great to be back here in Belo, I remember now how much I love this place.

Yesterday and today we did basketball clinics in a male prison. Some of our team members were nervous about working in the prison but it has been great and we have seen God do amazing things. We did four different sessions with almost 20 men giving their lives to Christ in each session. We have watched grown men weep and cry because of their brokenness before God and it is amazing. The Lord has really done huge things through our team. Today I shared my testimony with the men. I would not have thought that my testimony would be effective with men in prison, but then I was quickly reminded that it's not about my story, but about how Jesus changed my life. And those men needed Jesus to changed their lives. I'm so humbled by what God has done in the last two days. And I pray that He continues to do the same in the days to come.

Pray for strength and energy for our team, and all of the teams, as we work hard each day. It is very tiring to play basketball and soccer all day, everyday. Pray that God gives us the strength we need. Pray that we surrender ourselves to what God wants to do!!!!

the time is now

Well we leave for Brazil this week. I have a ton of stuff to do and haven't started any of it. I need to get all of my packing done today because I'll be gone wednesday and thursday. I'm just a slight procrastinator. I would much rather update this post than do things around the house that need to be done.

I'm excited for Brazil and the work we will be doing there, but Brazil makes me excited about Italy. I'm just excited to see what God is going to do. I like watching the big things happen that force me to step back and be humbled. This trip will definitely be one that I step back and let God work, because so much is out of my control.

Speaking of being humbled by God.... Yesterday we had the Lord's supper at church, and I was thinking about how faithful and loving God is to us when we choose to do whatever we want. It doesn't seem to matter which unwise choice I make on a daily basis, His love and faithfulness always exceeds my expectations. And it is always extremely more than I will ever deserve. I will never fully understand it, but I'm sure thankful for it. God unexpectedly provided for me yesterday, and I couldn't help but be overwhelmed by it, because I'm a punk but He still loves me!

I have little time left to prepare for FPO and a lot to do! I haven't started my visa process for Italy yet, mainly because I need my passport for Brazil, but I am hoping to get that started as soon as I return. And I'm praying to not run into a lot of trouble with it...

So a busy week ahead. I need to learn to not be lazy. I dislike laziness very much, yet I seem to fall into it often. I'm praying this week for Brazil and our time there. Praying that God would prepare our hearts now for what is to come there. Praying for flexibility and patience, but most importantly a Christ-like attitude. Things will not go our way and some things will be hard, but I'm praying that through it all my eyes would be fixed on Jesus!