Christmas in Rome

Time is flying by! I cannot believe I am two weeks into outreach. We have been in four different cities since I last blogged, my internet connection is extremely limited. But I  would love to share everything that has been happening! On December 24, we left Torino and stopped in Pisa and Florence on the way. I saw the Leaning Tower of Pisa and yes, it is literally leaning. It’s not just fake! It was hysterical to look around at the people all raising their hands to “push the tower over.” In Florence we parked and walked around; it was FREEZING. But we saw some beautiful statues and buildings, so it was worth it. Around 10:00 that night we arrived in Rome and got to the place we were staying. It was christmas eve, and I was really missing my family but I was so blessed to be able to be in Rome for christmas. The next day we got up early and went to the Vatican! It’s one of those things that you know and hear about, but when you get there you’re speechless. The power behind it blows my mind. The next stops included the Coliseum, Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps and a few others. I never thought I would spend my christmas day like that, I am so blessed! That night we had christmas dinner as a team in a tiny restaurant in Rome. Monday morning we left for Naples, and arrived around ten in the morning. Naples was not what I expected, it looked fairly similar to the poor parts in Mexico. They have an abundance of trash, so much so that it piles in the street and pretty much stays there. We worked with a church there doing services and evangelism. The services include testimonies, dramas, sermons, worship and prayer. After the service the church cooked lunch and then took us on a tour around the city. When I say “lunch” what I mean is sit around and talk while eating three courses for two and a half hours. That’s the italian way! Around midnight we arrived at the place we were staying and it was so cold. There is no heating in the buildings! So we pile on all our clothes to sleep. The next day we got picked up by the Pastor and he treated us to “real breakfast,” cappuccinos and pastries. That’s another italian thing, coffee 24/7. But not any coffee-italian coffee, which is just espresso. By the time I leave here my favorite drink will be espresso. Everywhere you go coffee is offered, I love it! We can’t take a trip in the car anywhere without stopping for coffee. After our breakfast we had a time of worship led by the Pastor, he has such a great heart for worship, it was beautiful. We then did ministry on this street, and we really stepped out! Some people went door to door (my group), some handed out flyers to cars, and some talked to passing people. It was the most fun outreach we’ve had! After that they once again treated us to lunch, this crazy huge meal that stuffed us so much that we had to take a nap! That evening we held another service, I gave my testimony and the quote the translator said was “Give me a scottish or an irish and I can translate, but give me a Texan and I can’t.” So his son, Riccardo translated. I don’t even have an accent, just a fast voice! After the service the church went out for pizza, Naples is known for their pizza so they wanted us to experience real pizza. And I did! It was so delicious. I got to know a few of the girls at the church, Martina and Naomi, they’re love for Jesus was contagious! When we had to say bye I was sad, but I had only met them two hours before, that is the power of God’s kingdom. It was such a fun night, once again the meal took us three hours to finish. The next day we got up early and left for Calabria! On the way we stopped for coffee and prayer with the man we will be staying with in a few weeks. He runs a prayer house in Catanzaro and has the IHOP prayer room on a television running 24/7. We then made our way to the place we are currently staying, it is literally in the middle of nowhere in the middle of southern Italy. We are at the top of a mountain and it is freezing! We have those outdoor heating lamps but they can’t stay on all night so we have to turn them off, so once again we sleep in all our clothes. But it is beautiful up here and we are having some wonderful times with God. This week is a preparation week for the youth camp next week! Please be in prayer as we get ready to host the youth, it is our big ministry and we can;t wait for it to actually happen! All in all my time in Italy so far has been amazing, I love talking with the people, there is an openness here that wasn’t present in Germany or Switzerland. The families and churches hosting us have been spoiling us as well. They give up so much to help us, and I just pray that we are just as much of a blessing to them as much as they were to us.

Throw Up and The Alps

The Alps

Well I am here in Torino, Italy! We arrived safely tuesday morning at 5:30 after leaving at 10:20 monday morning. We had to take a few buses and trains to retrieve our van, and a few adventures happened along the way. On the last bus, we were simply enjoying talking to each other when a girl behind me passes out onto the floor! Simon happened to be right there and was able to take care of her. Then, once that was over I’m just sitting there and this adorable bundled up little girl comes and sits next to me, and starts talking away in german. Then before I know it, she’s throwing up all over the place! On the seat, on the ground, and almost on me and Dan! Luckily her stop came up as that was happening, and as it turns out her mom was taking her to the doctor. I certainly know why! Then, Simon leaves us at the bus stop to get the van and as he is coming back to get us, a semi almost hits him! Now we fought and prayed hard for that van, so it was not about to get hit. That would’ve been devastating. But when we saw it we jumped for joy and thanked God, He is a provider! We then began our journey to Torino, stopping along the way to pick up Jayson in Zurich and to admire the Swiss Alps! Which are gorgeous by the way. We were there at one in the morning so we couldn’t see them too clearly, but what we could see was pretty! It blows my mind to see the massiveness of them, and to see the stars right above them and know that our God is much bigger. At home I can see orion’s belt from my roof but I was able to see it in Switzerland above the Alps, man it really touched my heart, it’s the same sky! I am so blessed! 

Once in Torino, Riccardo’s dad and our team leader came to take us to their house. One thing I noticed right away was the crazy driving haha the movies are right! Everyone drives very crazy here. At Riccardo’s breakfast was provided and our team was reunited. After breakfast we spilt up into the places where we are staying and went to sleep for five hours, driving all night is exhausting! Later we had a time of prayer and worship, followed by dinner and a prayer night held by the church.

The Italy/Greece Girls

Wednesday started off with breakfast, worship/prayer and our first outreach! We went to the city center to do whatever God led us to do. A few of the girls and I ended up speaking with these two university students, Julia and Laura. They were extremely friendly and invited us to hang out with tonight! I will inform yall what comes of that situation. Afterwards a few of the guys started talking with this homeless man and praise the Lord, he became saved! He has been coming to the same spot for 15 days, searching for more to life and on the 16th day we arrived! God answered that man’s cries. Afterwards we held a church service, where we did worship, a drama, a testimony and a sermon followed by a full meal. The girls got to know a girl named Sara, we got to pray that God heals her anxiety, which is dear to my heart because I used to have anxiety. She was so touched by our willingness to help her and she invited us to her house before we leave Torino. Amen!

Today has been amazing! It started off with a debrief of yesterday’s outreach, and it was discovered that God had something planned for each one of us yesterday, and it was only the first full day of outreach! What will take place during the next two months? We then drove up to the highest mountain in Torino, it was BREATHTAKING. We were surrounded by the Alps, looking over the city. There is a river that runs through it and it reminded me of God’s never ending love for this city. There is a church building up there so we did worship and prayer for the city, it was a very intimate but powerful time. I am just so excited to see what God has planned for the next few days!

Chaotic!

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Our attempt at resting for a few minutes 

This describes the last few days in a nutshell. We have been running at top speed since sunday evening and it is just now catching up to me! We have had lectures, meals, chores, outreaches and team meetings everyday and on top of everything we are leaving for outreach! So it is time to say goodbye to our fellow students for the next nine weeks. The goodbye saying is "see you in Amsterdam!" because that is where we are meeting up in February. It is so strange to me, I never thought I would be saying that to anyone! Thursday afternoon we left Zurich and got to Herrnhut at 3:00 friday morning. Then at 7 breakfast was served and at 8:20 we left to pick up our visa's. The rest of the day consisted of grocery shopping, unpacking/repacking, team meetings, meals and cleaning. The Italy/Greece girls are staying in the farmhouse with 13 other girls which is actually a relief, because the castle is too empty, the MOTA DTS already left for outreach so no one is there. The weather is freezing and yesterday it snowed! I'm pretty sure I was the only one excited. Most of my team leaves for outreach monday morning, half are already there. To rub it in their face, we took a picture showing how "relaxed" we are! haha It's funny because we forced ourself to relax just to take a picture.


I want to continue to share my notes form outreach with you guys! This week has really changed my life and perspective. Todd was the best speaker we had all lecture phase, and God really used him to "clear up the fog in our eyes." Stuff I have known for years just all of a sudden clicked in my head and so much of the christian walk makes more sense to me. I will never understand it, but the part God wants me to now has been revealed! Wednesday night we held another "know love" evening where Todd spoke and afterward he started healing people. Right in front of my eyes I watched this girl's leg grow, this guy's arm expand and then my own leg was prayed for and it grew! I asked them to not tell me which leg was being prayed for but as soon as they started praying I felt my right thigh stretch above my knee and I looked at my foot, and it was even to my left foot! For a quick second I freaked out because I thought it would be longer than my left, I said "stop!" Now, this is something I have never believed in. I didn't think it was possible for someone to be completely healed from a physical ailment. But having experienced it firsthand I am embarrassed for my lack of faith. My God is bigger than that!


So here are my notes from tuesday:
When you are a sinner, you are a professional-you sin without caring. But when you're saved by grace you are more than a sinner, you're a saint! If you call yourself a sinner you have the faith to sin because that's what sinners do. 1 Corinthians 3:17, you have liberty!   The gospel is about restoring who you were in the beginning.    Sword of truth- go to bed with it so your mind can rest and not worry.    Grace is the fuel that fills my engine.    The highest point of hell is beneath the lowest of us. Deny yourself.    Matthew 6:22-we can't see into people until we see ourself the way God does.    His light never stops shining and His fire never stops burning, this lives in me!    His Holy Spirit in me is enough to keep me running fast.    When I look in a mirror I am looking at the glory of God. I see the law fulfilled and Jesus staring back at me because He likes living in me!    "Justice-" justasifInevermessedup.    Romans 8.    Your past has the ability to separate you from God's love (that's why it is not mentioned in this chapter).    Redemption-when we say "I do," He says "You are." We enter into a real being with life and truthful meaning.    As soon as I step into sin, step out and thank God that's not who I am created to be.    If the Lord forgives and forgets why would He bring it up?    Satan tries to dethrone Christ in me since He can't get to heaven to do it himself.    THE BLOOD OF JESUS IS ENOUGH.    Jeremiah 24.    Your heart can take you places your brain can't.    The bible isn't meant for your mind but your heart.    Jesus not only died for you, He died AS YOU.


The most important lesson I have learned this week is my identity in Christ. The key to a relationship with Christ is finding our identity. Then it becomes so intimate and the way God wants it! I strongly encourage you guys-every time you look in a mirror tell yourself "I am a daughter/son of Christ, a princess/prince in God's kingdom and He loves me for me." You can even picture yourself in the most beautiful dress (guys, I don't know what you would picture yourself in :P) because that is how God sees you. BEAUTIFUL!

2 Corinthians 11:3

"But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." This is why Jesus said to have faith like a child, the brain is of this world, therefore it is corrupt and gets in the way of allowing Jesus to enter fully. "Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it” Luke 18:17. I love this topic, it has been a major eye opener to me. I don't want my mind transforming the gospel to make it fit, it fits already! God is enough. Now, our speaker this week is amazing, he lives and breathes only Jesus. He has an insane amount of passion but enough compassion to cry when explaining his heart to us. The first thing he said to us was "I am honored to be your last speaker before outreach because that means I get to pour gasoline all over you and God gets to light the match and ignite you guys!" In two sessions I have doubled the notes I took allll last week. Crazy! But the topic is all over the place so I am going to post my notes word for word, the way they are in my journal. Spare with me, it might be really random and confusing but I assure you, it is what God wants me to remember and share. Here it goes:

We are to be the Word.    A light.    When you're burning you don't care what people think- you're on fire!    The easiest way to stop receiving God's love is to look back.    Jesus said "It is finished," that means it is finished!    Your heart should be bigger than your mind, otherwise you will lead with your mind.    Jesus's bad day is enough to make your bad day a good day.    We're to become a child-it's simple!

   Psalm 138:2.    Any problem we don't accept God's word on, becomes elevated above God's name.    Don't let feelings determine how much faith I have.    It doesn't say I have to feel God's love, it says "know God's love."    In the world we have to "feel love" to be accepted and worthy.    When you're born again your DNA comes from the Heavenly Father, it means we are "re-fathered."    The bible says "submit to God and the devil will flee from you."    Submission is all it takes.    Ephesians 2:6-seated in Him in heavenly places.    In Him I live, I am my being.    We're seated ABOVE the spiritual realm.    Walk by faith not by sight-no more of "I cant see..."    God loves people-not numbers.    Hebrews 1:3-when you see Jesus you see love.    When you know Him you become love, when you become love it's not about yourself, it's about God's love for people.    People followed Jesus because He is love.    If we don't have true love, we don't have Jesus, and if Jesus is everything then we don't have anything.    That's how important it is!    We believe enough to get to heaven but not enough to let heaven in us.    When there is faith in a seed, it grows!    It doesn't matter if the person doesn't receive it.     2 Corinthians 11:3.    Our minds corrupt Christ's simplicity (childlike faith).    Satan tricks Eve by creating doubt in her mind, by making it complicated.    DOUBT.    God put satan on earth so we can step on him.    Satan can enter a place of peace but as long as my mind doesn't dwell on it my peace will remain.    God told Jesus "You're my Son." Satan then tempted Jesus for forty days asking Him "if you're God's Son prove it." Jesus quoted scripture by saying "By the word of my Father..." How cool!    Qualifications to becoming a son/daughter of Christ: BELIEVE.    You're required to be uncomfortable, how else can you receive The Comforter?    "I want to step out on a branch (in faith) so far that it is bending, about ready to snap and I'm uncomfortable.     Your past has no ability to influence your future, unless you look back.

Last Week

Christmas picture!

I am having very strange feelings about this being our last week in the lecture phase! I am a totally new person but sometimes I lay awake thinking "What have I gotten myself into, I haven't learned anything!" But in reality, I have learned so much that my "old ways" are no longer here. I love it! God is doing some really awesome things, and it's not even outreach yet. Some of us leave thursday for outreach, but some leave later. Hopefully I will be leaving at the beginning of next week.
I have a praise! My outreach team got the van we have been praying for! At first we had it, but last week we found there was a miscommunication and we lost it. But we prayed and fasted and last night at our christmas party Sebastian (our team leader) announced we got it! Praise the Lord!
Last night we had a christmas party and it was so much fun! Everyone (well mostly everyone) dressed up and we had a nice set up with candles and stars. We played some group games including musical chairs to christmas music and we finished the night of with a talent show! Andy and Patrick sang while Jackie stood on her head and Jason and Riccardo did a dance for us. It was such a joy filled night! Sadly it was our last group event until spring where we will be reunited in Amsterdam :( After the party the english speakers wanted more! So we hung out in the dining hall jamming out to country music and playing cards. It reminded me so much of being home! I was a little sad but God showed me how to look at my situation from a different perspective so it wasn't bad at all.
I got to talk with my family as well late last night and it was a funny skype session! I found out my sisters rodeo art piece made top 25 in San Antonio, I'm so proud of her! God has blessed her.
This week is going to look very different then the others. We have outreach meetings in the mornings instead of prayer/worship and lecture is shorter and in the afternoons. Outreach will be in the late evenings. We've been told to sleep as often as we can because we will be pushed hard this week. Our speaker is Todd White, an incredible man of God. I have not yet met him, but just type his name into youtube and you will have a taste of what we will be doing this week. Todd White Healing. God has gifted him with healing, and it is stuff I have always thought was fake. But no! It's real-God is real! So we will be hitting the streets with him and listening to God. I think that is the topic this week, how to do ministry while directly hearing from God. Just going and listening. How exciting!

This is my bible study group! Jessica, Danny, Andy, Chris, Jackie and me!

"The greater the struggle, the more glorious the triumph."

http://thebutterflycircus.com/short-film/
We watched this magnificent clip today called The Butterfly Circus, and I strongly suggest watching it. I posted the link! While it does not have a biblical background, many biblical truth's can be taken away from it. "The greater the struggle, the more glorious the triumph," is the major lesson and I was truly inspired by this. Think of how good it feels when we overcome something we thought was always going to be a stronghold. That strength to rise above it comes from God. It eventually allows us see more of who God sees us as instead of our distorted view of His creation. "He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength...but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint." Isaiah 40:29-31
This week has definitely been tough. The lectures have been beyond my own brain. My beliefs have been challenged tremendously and I do not know what is happening! I am still processing the things I have seen, but I cannot deny they weren't real because I saw it. But above all, God is faithful and He will reveal any type of clarity that I need. 
As for outreach's, they have been very interesting. The first two days were based on Luke 10:1-12, we paired with a church planting team and went out to find "son's of peace." I was with Jonah the first day and we got lost but we kept praying "God this happened for a reason, Lord show us the fruit of this night" and as soon as we turned the corner we ran into a guy our age who "just happened" to be a christian and "just happened" to already be a part of small groups with his friends. It was such a God moment! So we gave him the group's information and hopefully he will help them out! We were the only people out of 50 to talk to a single person. It was amazing. The next day we did the same thing and invited people to a "know love night" that we are hosting saturday night. It will be a night of getting to know people, listening to great music and sharing testimonies! Last night we went into the main strip in Zurich and were told to just listen to what God wants us to. So we got the idea to go to this shop with extremely fancy dresses and suits (that look like they could be mens or women's) and it was a great conversation starter! So we argued about what they were and would ask people on the street to give their opinions, and we were able to talk to so many people! It went from talking about suits to talking about Jesus. Some people God wanted us just to laugh with them, so we did! But some we went further with. It was so much fun! After the ministry time a few of us went to sit on a wall over looking Zurich and we sang disney songs and christmas songs, it was such a cheerful time! I am so blessed to be here. I hope I never forget that, I am only here by the grace of God.

Reality

So this week we have this speaker...and he is my least favorite so far. But nonetheless God has given him a special calling and I respect that. I am having a really hard time listening to the stuff he is teaching so I day dream a lot during lecture.. But something I have found challenging is the question "how big is your God?" Because often times, my God is too small! I put Him into a box that I think He fits in, but God wasn't meant to fit in a box-He doesn't want to be held back by our lack of faith! But we don't believe in how big He really is. Here's a good analogy. If you were to hold up a needle to the night sky and look in the tiny little head, it looks like nothing right? But in reality there are thousands of galaxies! Not stars and planets. Galaxies. The same God who invented galaxies is bigger than them yet He lives in me. Is that how big your God is? I am praying for more faith so I get to that point!
Another topic I liked was our view of reality and how a few things filter out "real reality."

-what we experience

-what we analyze

-what we believe

These all shape how we view the world around us but we don't realize that they also filter a lot out. So when an idea or fact is said, we think of it through these things and when we make up our mind on it we have a lesser reality. I don't know if that makes sense,  it was hard for me to grasp. Our speaker was talking about shaping our reality to view it more in the spiritual realm because that is all that is important. But I do not really agree with him. However, I do think it is important to make sure our reality is God's reality, meaning we live in His presence daily and do what He did when He was on the earth. We shouldn't ignore the people around us because we have God's hope living in us, they need this hope too! God wants them to have it! We are to be witness's.

God's love goes on and on!

One Thing Remains
I just really feel the need to encourage tonight! I am really homesick and feeling overwhelmed so I decided to reflect on how much God loves me and I want to share it with you(: Did you know Jesus died to set you free? Because the freedom He offers surpasses anything any human can feel? Because that's how much He loves you? You are more precious to Him than His own life. You are His treasured child-your father is the King of the entire world! His love goes beyond our ability to love, He loves because He is love. Nothing can separate you from His love-you belong to Him forever. He rejoices everyday you choose to live for Him. You are a dream in the heart of God, He loves to watch you grow and fall more in love with Him. He longs for you to know Him more-He wants to give you the desires of your heart, all of them. You were created in the perfect overflow of love-the joy and love He felt in the trinity He wants to share with you, will you let Him? He has set you free from yourself, you are His. He will never let you go. When you are weak-He carries you. When you fall, He reaches out His loving hands to catch you! Please understand that. What other love will do that for you? He wants to show you His heart for the world, He wants to show you His love so You can offer hope to those who don't know it. He wants to show you His love because HE LOVES YOU. He loves you with a love that will never fail, a love that goes on and on, a love that doesn't depend on your situation, a love deeper than the oceans and higher than the mountains, a love that isn't selfish and a love that will follow you the rest of your life.

10 Weeks!

I left exactly 10 weeks ago. Isn't that insane? Last night I went to the city and there is this wall that overlooks a beautiful river and a bit of the city and I was just in awe of the beauty, and how much God loves me that He would allow me to be here. It looked like something out of a movie. I am so blessed!
We have been so incredibly busy here! We start the day at 7 in the morning, and don't stop until 8 at night, and that doesn't include sermon and dance practices for outreach. So I am very tired but at the same time, energized! A lot of really cool things are happening in Switzerland. We go out for outreach every other day for four hours doing various things, monday we had a teaching outreach about giving our testimony, tuesday we went into the city of Zurich to prayer walk and do what God lead us to do and thursday we are going to work in the Red Light District here, how exciting! We went to the one in Hamburg and now we will go to the one in Zurich. During the prayer walk on tuesday we were supposed to listen to God and see why His heart breaks for this city. A few things I got were :

• riches- Switzerland is the richest country in the world and it is clearly evident everywhere. What do you give a rich person? How do you minister to people who have "everything they want?"
• priorities- people here are so focused on working to earn more money that they lose track of what is important 
• shallow relationships- I really felt that because of the wealth here, many relationships are only surface level. They are focused on the outward appearance, and how good a person can make themselves look.

So while we are here we will be working with the people on these issues and I am so excited to see how God uses us to minister to this area!

Lecture this week has been amazing! Our speaker is Jim Eilson ( I think that's his last name...) and he is originally from America, woohoo! He used to be a baptist preacher and has a southern accent so I feel right at home when he is speaking. He is very fatherly and gentle, the opposite of our last few speakers. The topic is family and how a family works biblically, but many other topics have been involved. He spoke a lot about our testimony and the power of a personal testimony. Something I really liked that he said was "Your testimony is your adventure," and that was really encouraging to me because I consider my relationship with God my life adventure and I never thought of my testimony in that way before! This is also a nice topic because tomorrow night I have to give my testimony to my outreach team, and I am sort of nervous. I mean I have given my testimony multiple times but it has changed so much in these last two months, so please be in prayer as our team goes through this together!

First few days in Switzerland!

We are here finally! Switzerland so far is not that different from Germany. We are staying in a smaller town on the outskirts of Zurich called Winterthur so I haven't really "seen" it yet. On saturday we are going to the city center so that will change my mindset for sure. We are staying in this huge church, four girls to a room, all with beds. Hallelujah! We can also shower everyday! It doesn't get any better than this. There is also the church chef cooking our meals so our cook can have a month's break, not to mention the team we are partnering with has taken care of our outreaches/schedule, so our leaders have a little break as well. Thank goodness, they need it after all the hard work they have been doing for us. Our lectures this week are being done by a guy named Bart ( I don't know his last name, although he is from Holland) and the topic is the Holy Spirit. Now for me, a girl who's grown up baptist her whole life, this is strange. There are new concepts and it's a perspective of christianity I haven't discovered a whole lot of. I know the basics, but I don't realize its the Holy Spirit and not my mind telling me/showing me stuff. Now I know, pheww! But I am learning a lot and praying a lot because some of the teachings go against my past and I have to make sure it is right before I believe just anything. God is really stretching me! I have been pretty frustrated but it is a good frustration. The outreaches have been interesting. We split into groups of four and were assigned a strip of houses/apartments to put letters in the mailboxes talking about a "Jesus film" that we will distribute the next day if they want it. It was very interesting. But who knows the impact we are making! Today we went back to the houses and knocked on the doors to see if they wanted the film. Some people slammed the door in our face, some said no right away, some didn't answer the door and seven people took them! Out of the 50 we asked, seven took them. Thank the Lord! Tomorrow we will do the other 50, my group was overcommitted. The other groups only handed out 30 envelopes. We did 100 haha way to go!

Old place, new perspective

Well we are back at the castle now, some are a little disappointed but I am looking forward to resting for the weekend. It's hard coming from such a big city to a small village. But we head out for Switzerland early monday morning in a bus, thank goodness! It will take us around 10 hours to get there. But we get to drive through the german/czech countryside, it is going to be beautiful! 

I have a few stories I want to share from this past week in Bautzen. First off, we did not have lecture because it was a mini outreach week, meaning we do more ministry stuff. This leaves more room to be open to what God is telling us to do, and we have more freedom to go out to the streets. Tuesday morning we were invited to attend a youth service that only happens twice a year. We arrived and realized there was no translator, luckily I was sitting next to Jona, he volunteered to translate! Thank goodness! However, something I have noticed in Europe is the lack of filter when it comes to profanity, the pastor cussed quite a few times. It is so normal here! They use those words like everyday language and it throws me off every time, mostly because you don’t expect christians to use that kind of talk, but it is so ordinary here. I was laughing so hard during the service. Afterwards we got to hang out with some of the youth, but it was so awkward! Barely anyone spoke english and the room was extremely loud, so any language spoke was covered up by noise. I did get to somewhat talk to three german youth, they were very sweet girls and they thought the service was boring which in a way is a good sign, they are searching for more than the average teenager in their walk with God. Wednesday we had an off day so a few girls decided it would be fun to go to the local community pool (indoor), oh man. If I had known the experience I would have, I wouldn’t have gone! It started off fine, there was this beautiful, shy girl named Goldie who heard about “the americans in town” and helped us get in. Then through hand motions and facial expressions from other germans we found our way to the dressing rooms, lockers and eventually the pool! We swam around for a while, managed to find our way to the shower room and BAM, I’m scarred for life. I forgot how open people in Europe are. There are no such things as private showers! So I manage to take as little time as I could and at the end I notice a towel hanging by my shower so thinking it was there as a hand towel I start wiping off my bottles and am suddenly approached by a angry bare old lady who says “mine,” grabs her towel and walks back. I was so petrified!! But thinking back I laugh pretty hard about it haha good times in Germany! Thursday I got to spend the day working with kids at a day care center and that night we got invited to an open mic night at a youth hostel. It was a very heavy place, as soon as I walked in the graffiti, dark cellar walls and the stench of corn nuts overwhelmed me. We followed the music and discovered it was “devil music” as some call it, an I just couldn’t handle it. My heart was pounding and my spirit wasn’t right. I don’t think it was just the music, it was the overall atmosphere. So Dianna and I stepped outside and prepared ourself for the night. We got to see a few different bands show off their music, and then our guys got up and rocked the house with Jesus music! It turned out that they got to pray for numerous young people and one guy gave his life to Christ! Go God! We were so pumped up afterwards that it was hard to sleep. I think it is amazing how God sets up appointments like that! Early friday morning we took off for the castle and we came right in time for a base picture, there were at least 180 people in that picture, and the three red heads stood together! Front right just in case you were wondering :P 

Bautzen

Hello everyone! I am so sorry I haven't updated in a while, the lack of internet was a a challenge, though it was good for me. We are now in Bautzen, Germany, a town a little bit bigger than Herrnhut. The church we are staying at is surrounded by woods and a gorgeous lake where two of our girls were baptized! This week is like a mini outreach so there is no lecture, which I am okay with, last week was a deep enough lecture to cover this week as well. Our speaker was Sam Hoffman, a very passionate and devout man. He was a missionary to India for 20 years and played  major part in YWAM India. The topic was intercession and spiritual warfare. Monday and tuesday were spent digging into intercessory prayer; the meaning behind it and how Jesus and Paul prayed in the bible. To go along with this topic, Sam encouraged us to attend six o'clock prayer before breakfast (I only went once, I don't do well on only a few hours of sleep!) and he made it in the room where the boys were sleeping, hah! So they were "forced" to attend. We really are blessed with a wonderful group of students. We have men of God who are not afraid to show it, they are the leaders this world needs! The girls here are also an inspiration to me, I love walking around and seeing them in their bibles and deep in prayer, it encourages me to do the same!

Worship at St. Michael's Church

St. Michael's Church

The strip where homeless people live

Oliver and Amber

 Hamburg was such a great experience for me! We got to do so much ministry in the streets and God really blessed the time we had there. Last week Sam wanted us to go to the main strip in groups and kneel on the ground to pray for the city. My first thought was "this man is insane theres so way I'm doing that!" But I prayed about it and God showed me it was going to be a powerful time so I went in joyfully! My group started our prayer at 4:20 and at 4:50 I opened my eyes and literally thought just five minutes had passed, but no! It had already been half an hour, my knees weren't even hurting yet. After that we prayer walked around the city and then I went to an "american breakfast" place, but when describing the food it was "canadian pancakes," "canadian syrup," and "canadian bacon." So I think it was more of a canadian breakfast place. Either way I got pancakes and was very happy. Wednesday we went again to the Reeperbahn and did worship in the plaza (a different plaza than the week before). God used that time to bless many people around us and at one point a group went into a burger king where all the prostitutes hang out and bursted out in worship. The place soon became packed and Chris stood up on his drum and started preaching! There were a ton of divine appointments that night. Thursday was a super intense day,  Sam lead us to the St. Michael church and told us we would be doing worship, intersession and crying out for the city on top of the bell tower. Our mouth's dropped open. The TOP of the bell tower? From where we were standing we couldn't even see the top! So we began the 20 minute walk up 15 flights of stairs, over 200 feet in the air. When we emerged from the stairwell it was so foggy that we couldn't see out of the tower and it was freezing cold! However, worship was amazing and it was a great two hour time of prayer and communion. We were dancing and singing and slowly the fog lifted up and revealed a clear beautiful city night. Hallelujah! Afterwards we got  tour of the church, it was breathtakingly beautiful! Huge organs, paintings, statues, and candles decorated the place and it was so warm and inviting. Friday night we had the option of going to the St. George square, hanging out with the homeless people, interceding at the church or having a chill night and I decided to go to St. George to talk with the prostitutes. It is such a dark place, prostitution is illegal there so even to the world it's not accepted. That's just a glimpse of the darkness felt there. So I bundled up in many layers and headed out!  We met a guy there who works there regularly and he asked if I wanted to walk around with him to speak to the girls so I immediately said yes. I have been waiting for this opportunity for a while! As we walked I realized I don't speak german :( but nonetheless it was a awesome time. He knew all their names and stories and we were able to pray for a ton of girls! I was really inspired by his passion for this ministry, it was so contagious! When I was done walking, Dianna and I decided to "say a prayer like the city of Hamburg ain't never seen before!" Which meant running around the fountain in the middle of the square to keep warm and yelling out prayers. It was so much fun! We started running faster and faster and our prayers got louder and louder! Go God! When it was time to leave I was pretty sad. I prayed that even though we were leaving the next day that God would stay strong, that the seeds planted would sprout and grow deeply into Hamburg and His love would be revealed more and more everyday. At the church that night one of our homeless friends we got to know visited us and Amber sang a song for him, and he asked us all to pray for him, so we did and this man was touched so much! His name is Oliver and if you have a second, take some time to pray for him! He is so close to seeing God :) Also, I got to see my friend Quan again! One sunday I got the urge to go for a walk, and I saw him, but I didn't talk to him because I was alone and wasn't sure if I was allowed. But I felt very bad and guilty, I knew God set that up for me so I turned around and walked back but he was already gone. That night I went to a internet cafe and told my mom that story and how I was so sad, I didn't know if I would see him again. I prayed about it and hoped God would set something up again. So as I left the cafe, I see Quan standing outside the door! Can you believe it?! Of all the cafe's in hamburg, he is standing outside the one I went to! Go God. I was so joyful! I was talking so fast that he could barely understand me, but it was amazing. However, that was the last time I saw him and I won't see him again, so please keep him in your prayers, God is working in him!

Hamburg

I am so sorry I haven’t updated my blog sooner! Between catching trains, random lectures and getting to know the city, there has been no free time! Add in the lack of internet and bam! No blog. Anyways, Hamburg has been interesting so far. We left sunday at 9 and arrived at nine that night. There was a lot of running and missing busses and trains but we still made it! Once we got to the church we were greeted with warm bowls of chicken noodle soup, the only meal of the day. Then we settled in, girls in  one room and the guys in the sanctuary. Why the boys have the huge room I don’t know, but all is good! The girls room is smaller and more crammed, but that just means it won’t be as cold in our room! There is one shower for 50 people and one set of bathrooms, so the rule is two showers a week. Woohoo! I guess in a way that will make us more relatable to the homeless people we’ll be talking to. Yesterday we heard from the leader of YWAM Hamburg and where/what they focus on. After that they sent us out on a scavenger hunt around the city to find the nearest laundry mat, bank, internet cafe, and bakery, and this is really what opened up my eyes. As we were walking around I saw stray dogs roaming the streets, graffiti covering every inch of the buildings, and homeless people running frantically around. There was an area we passed with long sets of stairs and it was covered with mattress’s, shoes, clothes, trash and people laying around. I literally had to stop and wipe my eyes, I was crying so much that I couldn’t see. I am not sure why it hit me that hard, I see this sort of thing in San Antonio all the time, but I think it’s because I asked God to show me His heart for the city, so I felt the same pain He feels constantly. He loves the least of them! After the scavenger hunt we  had a worship/prayer session and covered topics such as, the university’s here, the red light district, the homeless population, church plant, and the church in Hamburg. These are all areas that YWAM Hamburg focus’s on and it is what we will be doing while we are here. This prayer time was so powerful, for everyone! We went on for a over an hour and lifted each area up. Lately God has really been putting human trafficking and child prostitution on my heart, it is something I’ve sadly ignored before, so I spent my time in prayer for this area in Hamburg and soon I became so overwhelmed! It was almost like I could feel their pain and the emptiness they are feeling, and I just began to quietly weep, I didn’t exactly know what else to do. I felt like words couldn’t really express what was going in, it was such a special experience for me, to really feel God’s heart for those lives. Each one of them are so precious to the heart of God, but they only know a life of pain, shame and chains. I am so excited to go down to those areas, I’m ready to see it for real, not just in movies. I want to see the reality so I know how to pray! Today another leader from the base, the one in charge of the human trafficking ministry, came and talked to us about what we can do. So wednesday and friday nights we will be going down to the red light district and praying/worshiping and if God leads us, talking to  some of the girls. Briefly though, otherwise we can get them into deep trouble. So please be in prayer as we go out and do this! It is going to be an intense time of spiritual warfare. Tonight we are going in to the city to do some sort of homeless ministry and I am excited to see what happens and who we meet, I love meeting people! My friend Jonah (a young, super tall, hilarious german) said something that stuck with me, “I hate how I can’t see people in the city-their eyes are so empty. There is nothing there.” And that is why we are here, to fill that emptiness! I’ll update later on what happens tonight!

Can You Say Talent??

For the first time ever the Go Europe: Mobile DTS held it's own talent show!! I am so proud of my fellow YWAMER's, we rocked the house! It opened by the two Patricks singing their own edition of "hit me baby one more time," followed by Andy singing a beautiful acoustic song. Then the girls took the stage; four of us did the hoedown throwdown with intense crowd involvement. They were having a blast! In the next act four guys jammed to "we will rock you" and after we learned an indian dance courtesy of Sebastian-a staff member from India. It consists of picking an apple and itching your armpit at the same time. Quite interesting I must say. A couple other people sang original songs but the important part was that we laughed the entire time!! Everyone had so much fun, and afterwards we had a dance party! Tonight was the perfect way to end our time here in Herrnhut, we will have to start saying our goodbyes tomorrow.

Good evening everyone! Our speaker this week is named Henny, and she is the wife of our speaker from last week. She has such a kind and tender heart, but is filled with passion that is evident in everything she does! She has a slight dutch accent and is so funny when she doesn’t know how to say a word in english. Her topics have covered a range from her testimony to David, a man after God’s own heart. She is challenging and isn’t afraid to pull out the conviction card. I have learned to make room in my heart so I can be like Mary, and fall at Jesus’s feet and be willing to give up a years worth of wages to make Him feel at home. I have learned about longings and desires of the human heart, how God created them for His glory but we often fill them with other things. Something that really hit me yesterday was the fact that this world has dulled my capacity to be fascinated by God and God alone, and I was challenged to take a look at the things I do to see if they need to be removed so God can take their place.

Monday I spent the day in the cafe, and the evening in a bible study in the farmhouse. On my walk to the farmhouse I smelt the overwhelming stench of pigs, sheep and cows and ironically, I felt right at home! Due to my high school being an “Ag” school, I smell that everyday so I proudly took it in and proceeded to tell everyone how wonderful it was. In our study we talked about Jesus turning the water into wine, and afterwards we enjoyed real dutch pancakes made by our dutch friend. They were so amazing that I had two, one with apple slices and one without. I prefer without :P

Tuesday was a heart racing day! We knew we would find out about outreach, but we didn’t know when. So all during lecture we were anxiously awaiting the news, while trying to listen with everything we have to the lecture. Finally at 1:00 Julie stepped in front of the class and announced the locations! She also mentioned we have less than a day to tell her which location God tells us, and that we weren’t allowed to talk to each other about it (a rule only half followed). But I got my answer, talked about it with my parents and handed in my piece of paper this morning! Now it is out of my hands and I’m trusting God will work the rest out, because I know He will. Tuesday afternoon at my work duty we got news that we were to break down a concrete wall, woohoo! But me being the only girl had to mop the hallway. Without a mop. So I pull a cinderella and scrub with my hands and knees until the floor was sparkling! Afterwards Jonah was having some serious hand cramping and literally couldn’t move his fingers, so Andy covers his hand and we pray that God would heal his hand. As soon as Andy said “amen,” Jonah bent his fingers!! He was totally fine, like nothing had happened! We all freaked out and started shouting and laughing, it was the first time I had experienced healing. What a crazy day!

It's sunday and that means another week has flown by! This week was a little easier then the previous weeks, and I am so grateful for that. The topic's were lighter and easier to meditate on, and we found out wonderful news! Stephanie, the girl who left to see her dad, is coming back on tuesday! When she left it didn't seem likely she would be back but alas! God works in mighty ways. We also found what will be going on for a week after outreach; we will split into a few groups and travel to the home churches of some of the germans in our school. So far, all sides of Germany are covered! At their churches we'll share what went on during outreach, where we traveled to, and how God worked in that place but also in our life. The point of this is to reach out to the youth groups of Germany, to strengthen a missional mindset in the churches but also to prepare the "foreigners" (americans, canadians, italians and french) for when we go home and get asked "What did you do on outreach?" I was talking with Amber, a staff member, and she said often times YWAMers blank when asked this question. I have totally witnessed this so I am grateful that we will be learning how to convey what happened. That should take around a week and the rest of the time after outreach is still being prayed about. Your prayers for the guidance of our staff would be very helpful!

Thursday was a pretty ordinary day. Except for the fact that I discovered a mocha milkshake they make in the cafe. Its pretty much the best thing I can drink. I am going to get one today for sure! Thursday night was worship in the prayer room, and it was once again amazing! It was a lot like tuesday's worship only this time was more focused on being joyful so a lot of laughing, shouting and dancing was involved. By the time it was over the room was packed and the chilly breeze of the attic was gone.


Friday was also an "ordinary day." It started off with sleeping in until 7:30 (whoaa) and then attending worship as a school. Then we jumped into lectures where we did this cool prayer from each of us to God about what we want to take away from this week. I want to remember the holiness of God and how I need to continually ask God to reveal more of His character to me. It was really cool to hear what God spoke to everyone and the response from His people. Friday for lunch was this amazing noodle, ginger, coconut milk concoction that I wanted to get seconds on. But I had my first one on one meeting! My one on one is with Amber, a super cool and passionate staff leader. We will meet once a week during the lecture phase and talk about how I am doing, what I'm learning and a bunch of other stuff. I really enjoyed that time because Amber has already been where I am, so it is cool to hear from her. Friday afternoon was a local outreach in a town called Zittau. We got lost on the way there, and forgot a guitar but God provides! We found our way and there was a random girl there who happened to have two guitars. We split into a few groups of two people and went around and talked to people in the street. I got to pray for a blind man and his wife, and Alex my partner, talked to a few people in german. Since I didn't speak the language I prayed while she talked :) Afterwards we gathered in the town square and sang some worship songs and talked to people who came up to us. It was cool to worship God in the open like that, it was so freeing, which is what God wants! Then we decided to get some dinner, as a "family" and enjoyed each others company. That night was also a payer night at the Jesus Haus, so when we arrived at the castle I quickly got out, got ready for a night of prayer, and jumped back in the van. At the prayer night however, I felt very distracted and uncomfortable. I was sort of mad at myself because I really wanted to stay and pray for whatever the topic was but I just couldn't. Finally at 11 I decided to leave. So I trudged all alone through the extremely dark forest singing songs in my head hoping I wouldn't freeze, pee in my pants or fall off the edge of the path with my tiny little flashlight. It was quite exciting! When I got to the castle there was this poor guy just sitting inside and I felt so bad for him, I can't imagine what I looked like barging in beet red and breathing fast! Maybe he was really tired and will think it was all a dream. 


Saturday I woke up and went to dresden again to skype my family! I love them so much. It was nice to catch up there, and I got to drink starbucks again. Sweeeet. A few girls and I stayed later than the others and got pizza and bubble tea. Have you ever had that before? It was very interesting! All in all it was a good week, and it ended with a chill weekend. I am still enjoying my time here, but I am looking forward to having a nice calm day today.

Fig Tree

I never know how to start my blog entry. I could spend hours debating what to write as an introduction in my mind, get mad at myself, but never come to a conclusion. I hate it! But I want to share what has been going on these last few days. We have been introduced to a new speaker; I don’t know how to spell his name but I know you pronounce it like “egg-bird” with more of a dutch under tongue, like in your throat. I would spell it out for you, but that in itself would be a challenge. He is the father of one of our staff members and has been in YWAM for a lifetime, in charge of YWAM Asia. He has a warm inviting smile with crinkles around his eyes and passion in his heart. The topic is simple, to know more of God’s character. How can we be a part of YWAM’s slogan (to know God and make Him known) if we do not know God’s character? How can we fall in love with God if we do not know Him? How can we serve Him if we do not know where His heart and desires are? God reveals Himself to us but it is our job to pray that God gives us more revelation of who He is. This is what I wrote down in my “goal journal.” Later that afternoon in bible study we talked about John 1, when Jesus calls to Nathanael under the fig tree and I asked, why a fig tree? What is so important about a fig tree? The question went unanswered; however, this morning I thought for some reason to read Matthew 25:13, but realized when I got there that really I was supposed to read Matthew 24:32-35. Lo and behold it was about a fig tree! Then in intercession someone felt the need to read a section in the bible, and on the previous page was a story about a fig tree! It was in Matthew 21:18-22. I thought “well God must be trying to tell me something.” So I challenge you to read about fig trees and discover what God is trying to tell you.

Tuesdays lectures were about making God our deepest pleasure and how only He can literally fill the deepest desire’s of our heart. It is something we often fill with human relationships, and eventually sin. The further we try to fill our desires the further God becomes from us. Tuesday afternoon a group of americans/canadians went to the visa office to get our visa’s so we can travel, and it was such a weird experience for me! It sort of hit me, I’m actually in Germany, like I’m here. I’m not in Texas...its raining and cold, I’m in Germany! Then I closed my eyes and opened them again, but I was still in Germany! Its taken three weeks but it has finally sunk in. But a funny story; apparently gas in Poland is cheap, so on our way back we “stopped in Poland!”  So in one day I realized I’m in Germany, but also took a pit stop in Poland. Mind blowing! After our stop in Poland it was time for outreach and our mission was to ask God for an image then go out and “treasure hunt” for that item/person/house and see what God wants us to do. So I got my image-a yellow house with a bronze door handle. So all excited I set out on my mission and get down the street when I look around and realize, every other house is a yellow house! I said to myself “oh man, God what is going on?” I kept walking and felt like I was supposed to simply pray for each yellow house I came across, and that is just what I did! There were three houses I felt lead to leave a track at, so I did that too. It was cool to listen to God and see what He wanted me to do. That night we had worship and it was, once again, amazing. God so wants to make Himself known when His people sing out to Him! Afterwards I tried to update my blog but my mind was running wild with excitement so Rosemary and I went for a walk/stargazing, and talked about what is going on in our life, it was an awesome time of fellowship.

This morning in intercession I walked into the tent to discover a gigantic map covering the entire floor! We were asked to remove our shoes and stand around the outside. Then the guy talked a little about YWAM’S vision and asked us all to stand on a place and just pray for that city/country. When that was done they played music and we danced for the Lord, literally! It was beyond anything I’ve experienced before, but it was a joyful time of praise. The next prayer time was spent lifting up the nations YWAM Herrnhut has missionaries in (Ethiopia, Czech Republic, Germany, India, and a few more) and that was cool! I choose Czech because I know more about their culture and I’ve experienced it before. The next prayer time we were supposed to ask God where to stand and pray and I thought for sure I’m supposed to pray for Egypt-after all that’s where I want to go! But I found myself standing over Ocean City, Maryland praying that there would be more churches than clubs, a wave of strength and courage for the churches already there and a change of heart in the people there. Then I thought oh I’ll pray for San Antonio, but once again found myself standing over Acuna, Mexico crying out for the children I met who live in the streets who may or may not still be alive. I prayed God would touch them with His gentle hands. I prayed justice would be done with the drug cartels taking over and I prayed God would bless those who are faithful to Him there, it is such a dark place. So in all, it was an intense growing experience for me.

Lots of Topics!

Skype saves lives. I was so happy to talk with my family and friends on saturday! Whoever invented skype is a genius. Anyways, thursday and friday were jam packed with lectures and activities and I want to talk about each of them! Thursday’s lecture jumped from hearing God’s voice, making decisions and facing our fears. When hearing from God, one of the biggest mistakes is comparing ourself to other people (regarding how they hear from God). I do this all the time, and I never knew it was a stronghold! God is very personal and speaks to each person in a way He knows we’ll hear Him. How mean and cruel would it be if He spoke to us knowing we wouldn’t be able to hear Him? That is not His nature. Dan told a funny story about wanting to get scripture from God (He doesn’t usually get scripture) so He felt that God said Obadiah verse nine, go ahead, look it up! Did you do it? I’m sure you can tell that it was not from God, just his human mind wanting to try and speak for Him. I was laughing so hard! Dan is such a funny person, and I heard his books are just as funny as he is in person, so I suggest reading them! The next topic was on making decision, and trust me, my ears were wide open because making important decisions are hard for me. He didn’t talk long about it but a few points I got were: 

• Include God in all my decisions, even the simple ones! Then it becomes easier to discern His “opinion” from others
• What would Jesus do?
• Analyzing a past decision often leads nowhere, there is no point worrying about “what could’ve been” because it didn’t happen. We are commanded to give our all, so why would we look back on something we have no control over? God is in control.
• If peace and joy are not the result of a decision, it is the wrong one. However, other emotions can be involved as well. For example, I had to make a tough decision to stop running track my junior year and I was so devastated, I love it! But I knew that God had other plans, which is where the joy and peace came in. It is okay to have other emotions, but joy and peace should be the strongest.
• At the end of the day, when you have strived after God and need to make a choice but He hasn’t spoken super clear yet, trust His character above all else, and do something. Dan told a story about a friend who has a calling for missions that he got at a younger age but to this day has not gone to the mission field because God “hasn’t told him where yet.” We must not waste our entire life waiting for exact confirmation because the opportunity will pass.

The next topic was on fear and I loved this one! Fear is directly related to our image that God is too small, this invites fear into our lives and it takes up the place where God should reign in us. So, fear is also an invitation to run to God. He wants to prove Himself faithful because He isn’t too small. Some fears we listed were:

• the unknown
• failing
• human opinion
• being misunderstood
• being helpless

God does not want us to be fearful, how can we be used if we are scared? So when facing our fears we need to be aware of them by asking God to show us when we are caught in them so we can turn and give the fear to God, He will remain strong when we can not.

Friday was an amazing day. I woke up in prayer, smiling and laughing all morning, I had no idea why! Then worship came. We poured everything we had into worship that morning, God’s presence was so strong! Joy laughter and warmth filled the tent and in the middle of a song, “Your love never fails, it never gives up, it never runs out on me” the electricity goes out buttt there wasn’t even a second of hesitation in our worship! Our voices grew stronger, the praises louder and the love deeper, it was amazing. We didn’t need music, just a reason to sing. Oh man, I wish each of you were there to experience it. Lecture was filled with funny stories from Dan Bauman, a good end to a week full of deep topics I thought. During the second lecture his friend came from outreach in Amsterdam to talk with us about God’s love for us. It was very encouraging, he was only twenty years old. It was so cool to see that sort of passion and devotion from such a young guy, we need more like him! We prayed for each other, that we would gain deeper revelation of God’s love for us and then we were done for the week! That afternoon I went to the cafe with a few girls and we worked on our journals, talked about life and just laughed. It was a wonderful afternoon, followed by a weird evening haha. We played some phase 10 and at 9:30 decided it would be fun to go get some pizza in town, so a few of us did. On our way out we ran into Dan and his friend so we were able to say our goodbyes and a girl with them happened to be going into town, yes for not having to walk through the dark forest! 

Saturday a group went into Dresden, a town around an hour away that is full of shopping and things to do! It sort of reminded me of New York (from what I’ve  seen in movies) and Prague mixed together, city but beautiful buildings. I went there with a mission: Find healthy food, buy a jacket, and find starbucks so I can use the free internet. And I accomplished all three things, plus more! We saw a beautiful church, took lots of pictures and Dianna and I found a cute little coffee shop and hung out in there. On the train ride back we were exhausted but had some good conversations about outreach and what God is doing in our lives, I love the opportunities I have being here.

Well it is a new week and our speaker this week is the father of Jessica, one of our staff members and I am so ready, mostly because we’re back inside! No more cold tent, finally. I am not sure what the topic is but I know it will be challenging! I did find out last night that the father of Stephanie (the girl who went home last week to see her dad) died yesterday, so if ya’ll could pray for her that would be amazing! She is such a strong girl who loves God deeply, but this must be tough. We were sad to see her leave but at least now we can pray for her, thank you so much!