Photos from Home

This is actually an old pic of me and Bri at my going away party. I told her I would post it on here!

This is Noah getting baptized! I'm so proud of him!!

Brinks and I had a photo shoot, I don't think he really liked it...what do you think?

Harrison and I attended Ranger's Opening day..it was so much fun but cold!!

Jodi, Gage, me and Addi at Granny's house. Jodi and I look so much like sisters, but we're only cousins! This is what I've been doing while home, just trying to fill the time before my visa comes in for Russia. Hopefully, I'll be able to leave within three weeks!

Home

Well, my time at home is going to be a little longer than originally planned. I was supposed to leave yesterday, the 9th, for Russia, but I've yet to receive my invitation so I'm still here in Texas. I'm trying to make the most out of my time, and so far I have. I've gotten to speak to several groups, and I've been able to take care of extra paper work, like obtaining a 2nd passport. Yes, I said a 2nd passport, which it is legal by the way to have two active passports, but it's a pain to figure out how to get a second one issued!

Words that I've heard a lot and I've said this a lot the past two weeks are about this all being a part of His plan. I know this is all a part of God's plans. He has a purpose for allowing me to stay longer in Texas than originally planned, but I'm ready to go! :)

So, I do NOT ask for prayers on patience, because I believe that I am already experiencing enough situations that are teaching me patience. I would rather ask that you pray for me to use this time wisely, and that when I do finally leave, I will be completely ready to go, without any unfinished business or things completed half way. Please also continue to pray for the three people that God has for me to initiate and cultivate relationships during the next two years. Pray that I will be able to determine who those people are, to find the ones that are truly seeking from those who only want an American friend to teach them English (aka English Leeches).

BTW, if you are close to me in Texas, and you have a group that you would like for me to speak to, within the next two weeks, please feel free to email me southernbelle_729@yahoo.com.

The End is Near...for training anyway

Here are just a few pics from training, I have like 100 pics, but too many to post on here. So these are the ones that make me laugh or remind me of something good. These are friends I've met here at training, and there's also a photo of when it was really cold with snow and ice on the lake!! Yay for coldness, ice and snow!! Oh and the photo of just myself was one of the pics I took for my p cards...but it didn't make the cut.

Habits

I realized just the other day that I only have 2 and a half more weeks of training and I could stay here for longer than that! I do want to get to Russia, but I love it here. Our Father has shown me so much the past couple of weeks, and I have been watching and listening.

Something He revealed to me is that this time has been a chance to break old habits and start new ones. It's not that I had any bad habits(ie:smoking, drinking, drugs), just not ones where I used my time productively or ones that helped me grow, you know things like vegging out in front of the tv, spending way too much time on the internet, or reading my fictional books. Those things are fine, but when you spend too much time on any of them, it's not good. So these past few weeks have been a great time of evaluating my habits, changing them for the good.

Overall, I am ready to come home for a few weeks, but I could stay here for a while longer. God has been good, and to tell the truth, the person I miss the most, is my dog, Brinks. Yes, I did say person. :) I can easily make it through the next two plus weeks, and I am still asking for prayers to help me continue to be focused and listening.

Church

Today I visited a church, it was really interesting and it made me thankful for my church family back home. I sat in a pew in the back watching the congregation “worship”. I couldn’t understand half of what was being said, it was a Greek Orthodox Church, and even the English part was hard to understand because they sing it all! As I sat there, I watched this lady to the far left of me and noticed that she not only knew most of the prayers by heart but she even knew the hymns in Greek and Russian, and she crossed herself frequently. I would say that in an hour and a half service, she probably crossed herself 50 times! I understand the meaning behind crossing yourself, but sometimes I wonder when it becomes a habit or an everyday ritual and not something that is a meaningful symbolic reminder of the cross? When we arrived at 10 am the service was just starting. We walked into the sanctuary and less than a fourth of the pews were filled. Throughout the service people continued to file in, and fill the pews. By the end of the service, right before communion, the place was packed. I wondered why they didn’t arrive on time so I asked around, here’s why. For them, salvation comes in fulfilling the sacraments, i.e. communion. It doesn’t matter if you miss the “preachin” and the “singin” and you arrive two seconds before communion, as long as you are there to participate in communion. It’s all about the works and good deeds for attaining salvation.

While sitting there I couldn’t help but critique them, and that’s when the conviction happened. How many times do I do the same thing in worship? How often do I sing a song and not take the words to heart? How many times do I say “amen” or nod my head in agreement, but not really listen to the words being prayed or preached? Do I rush through the motions, arriving late just to check another thing off of my spiritual to do list?

I am thankful for my experience today even though I didn’t walk away encouraged or inspired by the Word, I did come away from that experience evaluating my heart and actions.

God Provides

God is so good to provide for me girls that I can just sit back and laugh with a recklessness, which is something I haven’t done since I left home! I love that and I’ve missed it so much. It has been a little hard here for these past few weeks, but like always, God provides. He has provided me lifelong friends, and I know that I will always keep in touch with these amazing godly women.

This week in our sessions, we are focusing on church planting. It is so true that God has called us to be fruitful and multiply, but so many times, we are just complacent and satisfied with our lives and happy with our casual addition to our numbers. We do not go out and reach the lost. I realized today that I have just been sitting back, and my short little two-week trips are nothing. Yes, they are great, but I feel like most of them only boosted my knowledge, self-esteem, or pride. Of course, I came away with a greater awareness for missions, and God can definitely use those trips for mighty ways, but many times, I think I’ve used them as a chance to see the world, not reach the lost. Yes, I have already answered the call, but my previous trips were nothing compared to what needs to be done. There are so many lost people groups, and not many church members are answering the call to reach them.

What are you doing to reach them?

The past couple of days I've felt like Bella in the Twilight series when she has to constantly drink out of her cup…all my avid Twilight buffs know what I'm talking about. Anyway, I felt like her in the sense that she has to have that cup of liquid to sustain her and to give her energy. Well, the past couple of days I've been living in a dorm type setting, and I forgot how hard it is living without a kitchen and frig, and with a big glass to fill with water. So, anyway I've been really thirsty so I got a styrofoam cup, with a lid and straw, from the cafeteria and I walk around all day long with this cup filled with water. I've been extremely thirsty, and I'm not sure why. I drink water at breakfast. Water at lunch. Water at dinner. It's water, water, water, yet I thirst for it all day long.
I can't help but think that as a Christian I should be just as thirsty for Him, and His living water. So many times as Christians we walk around all day long with a thirst for Him, but we do not always fill that thirst with the much needed liquid. We fill it with dr pepper or my favorite diet coke, when truthfully the only thing that will make the thirst lessen is water. How many times do I need Him, but fill myself with the diet coke of the world, and not His word, and seeking Him daily in continuous prayer?