Road Trip!!!

We are on our way!

to Seattle!

with three interns!  (SJ is hiding in the back making faces.)

But it's hard to get the camera right when you're shooting it from the dash of the van.

But here we go!!!

Preparing to fly

Graduation was tonight for Jes and Cas and now they're busy packing their bags. Jes has an early morning flight out and Cas will also be leaving early to start the drive back to north MI. (Her mother is traveling with her, but you can still pray for safety as they travel through the snow storms.)

Me? I just finished my weekly IT report and am now finishing up Helpdesk tickets. Tomorrow I'll finish Christmas shopping, pack, sign newsletters, and maybe even play Cricket!

I'm also really excited about my Frisco church and the GFA Christmas Catalog. Pastor John challenged the church in his weekly to pitch in this weekend and raise the money to buy a house for a family in India who has lost everything in a natural disaster. Launa and Pastor John - you're amazing! Thanks so much for your help in sharing this opportunity with the church. I can't even tell you the extent of the lives that will be changed in Asia because of this!

GFA School of Discipleship

Quick note. The Road to Reality Intership is changing names, so I'll be referencing things a little differently on the blog.

Road to Reality Internship --> GFA School of Discipleship
Intern Discipleship Team/IDT --> Discipleship Team
interns --> students

Yes, I still work with the program. Yes, I still have two students living with me. They graduate from the one year program in December. Please pray for us to end the year well!

Camping, Catching, and... some other C-word

Okay, so alliteration is not my gift this evening. I'm not sure I have a gift this evening -- besides procrastinating my outline of II Timothy. Apparently my computer is in league with me because it is refusing to read my brand new SD card. My camera reads it. But my computer won't. And it has camping pictures on it...

The R2R interns and the IDT went camping this Saturday/Sunday at Beaver's Bend State Park in southeastern Oklahoma. We had a great time of canoeing and camping and hiking. It was a delight to wake up in the cool of the morn ("cool morning" doesn't exist in Dallas) and have quiet time by the lake, watching the fog drift gently... We saw lots of wildlife - deer, a walking stick, praying mantis, lots of spiders, and a crow that served as an alarm clock. Too bad he was sitting too far away for us to hit the snooze button!

Work at the office is busy as usual, but I was able to get some work done today. (On days that I don't get "work" done, I'm usually working on emails or phone calls as they come into helpdesk. That really is work too! I guess I need to figure out a better way to word this...) I love my job as helpdesk, but we really do need more staff! I can't keep up with it all.

Persecution and events in the world: It's overwhelming to me. Orissa is still suffering violence against Christians with other 13,000 refugees now in relief camps. Persecution is spreading to Chhattisgarh and other places. Flooding in Bihar, Orissa, and Uttar Pradesh has killed 200 and displaced millions. Today's media reported the killing of Christians in Mosul, Iraq. We've received so many updates and stories that they're all beginning to sound the same. I need a fresh heart.

Want to help? Sign up here to be part of the GFA prayer team!

Stirring up gifts - without fear

We're all familiar with 2 Timothy 1:7 which tells us that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love, of power, and of a sound mind. What caught my attention this weekend while listening to 2 Timothy on mp3 was the combination of verse 6 and verse 7. What does Paul tell Timothy in verse 6? He says to "stir up the gift of God that is in you."

What gifts or calling has God given me? Am I not using them because of fear? In my case, yes. I had to stop and ask what the Lord was asking me to do and remind myself to do that without fear. God has given us a spirit of love, power, and a sound mind. He says it. I get to believe it. (Oh, Lord, help me believe!)

On regular news: my interns got back from India yesterday about 6pm. They went straight to bed last night and slept almost non-stop until 3 this afternoon. I napped, read, visited Auntie Candy, watched Mulan with a friend, took a bike ride with Jes this afternoon (to make sure she was tired enough to sleep tonight), and am now catching up electronically.

Auntie Candy had surgery Friday to repair a torn rotator cuff. So when I visited her and her sister Jacy, she was hooked up to a fancy cooler ($250!!) that was running cold water to the shoulder aircast.

Candy: "My last cooler motor died after only two surgeries and they wouldn't repair it. They made sure to tell me this one only had a 6 month warranty."

Jacy: "My rice cooker has a longer warranty than that!"

<poke>Update</poke>

Okay, okay! I'm updating my blog.

I left prayer meeting this evening and dropped off a couple friends at their home before randomly stopping at my favorite coffee shop. I stop there about every 2-3 months, so not real frequently. I ordered a cup of chai and curled up with a copy of Touching Godliness Through Submission. I wished I had my laptop so I could blog. It was that kind of feel-good, relaxed, thankful evening. I think I felt more like "myself" today than I have in a long time.

A 20-something girl stopped in to order a drink and I couldn't get her out of my mind. She sat down outside with a male friend, so I stopped to talk to them on my way out. We started talking about spiritual beliefs and in the next hour, Sara and Brandon and myself transitioned from strangers to friends. They are seeking spiritual truth and know much about the Bible and even more about other religions. I think both (or at least Brandon) were raised in church, but they aren't following the Lord right now. Please pray for them.

Other random prayer and praise:

• Jes and Cas are in India right now. They left for India on the 13th and return this Saturday. Pray for grace as they arrive back and re-adjust to the internship stateside.
• Both Jes and Cas are praying about the Lord's will for them after internship graduation in December. You can pray for them about this too. Hey, you can pray for me about this too.
• Persecution is sky-high in different parts of India. And it's not just a random case here or there - it's highly organized and damaging. Here's an (incomplete) itemized list of damage in Orissa, India. Churches burned and bombed, dozens killed, thousands forced from homes into jungles and refugee camps, nuns raped, orphanages destroyed... The mainstream media has overlooked this is now reporting that things are calming down, but it continues. Here's today's report from Mission Network News. Persecution in pictures.
• The planned evangelism outreach didn't happen due to Hurricane Ike moving in, so we volunteered at Mission Arlington as they were helping house Hurricane Ike evaccuees. You can see our shining faces here. :)
• Post too long. Bedtime too late. Ending now.
• After humorous link of the day. Etiquette rules for traveling by stagecoach.

Three days...

So thankful for a three day weekend about now...

Saturday: We had a great time volunteering with Mission Arlington. They actually gave us fliers and sent us out to an apartment complex to invite the kids to their after school program AND they asked us to do a Bible story and activities with the kids that day! Wow! Three other teammates and myself planned the songs and games and Bible stories while the other team members went door to door and helped with a free give-a-way of household items. Pray for Chris and Alena and Melissa and Taiwan - a few of the kids we met that day.

Saturday afternoon/evening: Mow the lawn, lay out soaker hoses, do grocery shopping...

Sunday: Church with three of the new interns. It was a wacky day to have brought young, single visitors. Pastor was talking with a local counselor about marital counseling. Hmm... But we had a great time of conversation afterwards at a local coffeehouse: witness, testimonies, heart adjustments. God's amazing. I baked up Amish Friendship Bread this afternoon, changed the dirt in the turtle house, and took a nap before cleaning my room (prep for laundry tomorrow) and heading to a friend's home for an all-GFA get-together.

Now: Procrastinating working on Bible Study. 1 Cor 3. Thankful for my new, blue spiral notebook to help with inductive Bible study notes. (Carly, you're a blessing!) And thankful for God's faithfulness!

Tomorrow's list: Breakfast with cousins, laundry, truck to move tables and chairs, work at office, crockpot meal for lunch?, bake more bread, and...I forgot. Oh yeah, get splitters for soaker hoses. Misplaced my last ones in the move.

Another late night post

I'm off to bed, but I just had to post. Thanks for your prayers for Thursday! The Lord answered prayers in so many ways!

• A friend invited me to lunch, rescuing me from working through lunch hour (my all-too-often tendency that gets me a friendly lecture from my co-workers). That lunch resulted in someone to help with the punch for the intern graduation and cake plates for the reception (tomorrow)!
• Our desktop assistant and our IT summer intern were both amazing blessings on Thursday. Between the work they did then and the last two days, we're actually ahead of schedule on login preparation!
• I had a great trip to IA for family reunion and got to visit with college friend Liz on the way. She took time off work just to pick me up at the airport, eat brunch with me, and drive me across KC to where my family could pick me up. THANKS, Liz! I'm so glad I got to see you!
• My time with my family was good and I got to hear my sister's engagement story and visit with great-aunts and uncles and a few first cousins-once-removed and several second cousins. And I got to meet my adopted Russian second cousins for the first time. We had lots of fun together.

A quick prayer note: Caz - one of my interns - left the internship Monday to pursue other ambitions. Caz leaving partway through the year like this has been a little hard (okay, a lot hard) for myself, Jes, and Cas. Please pray for the Lord's guidance in Caz's life and for the Lord's grace for Jes, Cas, and myself. I know God doesn't waste anything - please pray that he will use this for his glory and that we have our eyes fixed on Him. THANK YOU!

Too crazy to post

It's almost too crazy busy to post, but I have to keep you updated 'cause you guys are my prayer warriors.

• Thanks for your prayers for GFA's RYP conference! It was amazing. And all the name tags got printed and assembled and the registration computers worked! We did have an interesting time since the registration printer insisted on sending out puffs of smoke about twice a day, but nothing burned up. That's a good thing.
• I'm heading to Iowa this weekend for a family reunion. Yay! for getting to see family and Uncle Stanley and the rest of the crew! And yay for getting to see college friend Liz on the way!
• Continue to pray that I would have the Lord's wisdom on how to lead Bible study here at the intern house and what we should do our next section on.
• I got to spend time with Steph, Sara, and Dani - the interns that lived with me last year. It's neat to see how God has worked in their lives through your prayers! Steph has started a Bible study for her co-workers and has led one of them to the Lord. Considering at the beginning of last year, she had never really read the Bible for herself...
• I had my weekly fellowship time with Auntie Candi this evening. She bought yummy chocolate chewy cookies just for me....
  

Busy (Fun) Weekend

Let's see... Saturday morning was errands and cleaning. Saturday afternoon at Celebrate Freedom, we handed out Free Books and talked to people about child sponsorship. There was a steady stream of people for our three hour shift -- it was good we didn't have to talk much longer than that. We almost went hoarse from trying to yell over the noise of the bands. I shared the story of Nibun with two ladies that visited the table. One of the ladies sponsored a Bridge of Hope child and the other sponsored a native missionary. Praise God!

Sunday morning, I ran a 5K with my coordinator's 14 year old son. I hadn't trained at all and hadn't run since the last 5K on the 4th of July, so we took it easy and finished the race in about 31:29. I'll still be sore tomorrow. But it was a good race - ran solid, didn't walk, kicked it at the end... they've tagged me in some photos on facebook.

I attended late service and had an awesome conversation with my pastor. It seems the Lord had been teaching us the same lesson from the same verse during the last two weeks! We were pretty amazed.

We had a pool party at a staff family's home this evening - soccer, tetherball, hamburgers, pool... I tried playing basketball in the deep end for a while - and that completely exhausted me. And I was reminded: "The Lord is in control." It's basic, I know. But I needed to hear that.

Next week is the RYP conference - you can pray for me for details this week as we get everything set up to print and assemble the thousand+ nametags. I get to coordinate that and then I'll be helping with registration/general information during the conference. Oh, and please pray that my local pastor will be able to attend the conference!

Bible Study Thought

1 John 5:3. And this is the love of God that we keep his commandments.

What? God's love is for us to keep his commandments? How about something like, "This is love for God - we should keep his commandments."? That I can get.

Pastor Damian Kyle shared about how God's love really is shown to us in that He set up commandments to guide us and help us know and do His best. And like a parent enforces a rule because they love their child, God disciplines us in his commands because He loves us.

I liked the idea and understood it better than I can type it. Oh well. Maybe it's just something to think about.

Lightning Flashes

I'm working on supper plans for tomorrow (bierocks) and watching the lightning out my window. Jes and I walked to the post office this evening - just so I could watch some more lightning! I love to see God's power in nature! (Oh, and Big K - thanks for the surprise!)

We had all the interns at our house this evening as one of the ladies in the ministry shared her testimony and some things the Lord was teaching her.

*pauses to stir the cabbage and meat*

One of the verses she mentioned was Jonah 2:8 - Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.

It made me think. What worthless idols am I clinging to?

...

Ouch! After so much regular blogging, I let you go a whole 10 days without a post? Yikes!

Life... Cas is in the kitchen making sponge cake for tomorrow's supper with friends. Jes is trying not to get sick. Caz is on her cell phone in the "chill room." I've been staying off my computer in the evenings to try to help me get to bed on time (ha!). So much for that tonight...

Prayer... reminded of something the Lord was teaching me about a year ago. Asking Him what He wants me to pray and believe for. This time? Love. Love for me to share with others. To truly have God's love.

Office... training tomorrow is on how to keep your pdf filesfrom printing out with red coloring when you use the color laser printers. We had two new summer interns start this week and another one starts next week. Meanwhile, we've been enjoying "Grey" - our IT intern from LeTourneu U. Praise God for all his help in updating the printer drivers. He's making this thing happen!

China... 77 survivors discovered in the last 36 hours! Death toll is over 41,000. Pray for the Christians there to boldly share their faith in the midst of tragedy.

Myanmar... We've got relief supplies going into the country - thanks for your prayers! You've got to stop by and see the latest updates and prayer requests here.

ICCM... The annual International Conference on Computing and Missions is happening June 6th - 10th. If you're a techie who loves the Lord and has a heart for missions, you should go! Deadline for registering is... Friday. Sorry for the short notice. www.iccm.org

Note to self... You're tired. Go to bed. Yes, ma'am!

Happy Mother's Day... to me?

Seven minutes...

I've got seven minutes before I'm out of my allotted computer goof-off time this evening. Maybe bullet points will work best.

• Caz arrived (two weeks ago. Did I tell you that?) and then headed back to CA for the weekend (and only the weekend) to attend a friend's wedding and then share about GFA at a friend's church. PLEASE PRAY for God to provide the financial support she needs for this internship year and for God to give her the words to share at this church.
• I had much fun this evening with three friends at It's a Grind in Frisco. It was good just to hang out and laugh at Jen's cutest-nieces-and-nephew-in-the-whole-wide-world tales! I love Logan stories!
• IT is busy at the office with incoming summer interns. We've got 15 college interns that will be coming at different times during the summer for about 4 weeks each. Lots of details to get lined up.
• Gujarat, India has passed an anti-conversion bill. Pray for the missionaries and pastors working there.
• For my college friends - pray for Jeni and Michael Helms. Michael is going through some severe health problems that they haven't really been able to diagnose. You can email me for more details and I'll send you a copy of Jeni's email.
• I was reading my journal this evening and a common theme keeps coming up. I'm really self-centered. Pray that I would be content to wait on God's promises and wait on His timing.
• And praise God for YOU!

11:15pm. Made it!

Praises!

Here's a few praises for you!

• Matt's dad came home from the hospital today!
• Matt is back in the office after being out for close to two weeks!
• Caz - my third intern - finally arrived on Friday evening!!!
• Jes found rollerblades for free at a yard sale!
• Chris the Mac guy at the office answered my iPhoto questions!
• I got 7-8 hours of sleep on Saturday night and Sunday night!
• Co-worker Eric has been a huge blessing to me. He heard today that I was craving almonds, so he bought a bag of trail mix and emptied out everything except the almonds and gave the almonds to me.
  
• Overwhelmed, yet not despairing (at the moment).

Thank you for your prayers!

Wiped

I'm pretty wiped this evening. Life has been slower, but full of things to work through. Here's a few updates:

• We attended the St. Patrick's Day parade in Dallas. This wasn't the "official" Dallas parade, but there were supposedly close to 100,000 people attending. Most of the people I talked to were either Wiccan, Goth, or drinking beer. It's perplexing and sad--this day commemorating someone who spent 30 years of his life spreading the Gospel and standing up against the evil of the Druids was mostly celebrated by people through drunk orgy and indecent fantasy. Pray for those people who received tracts or had personal conversations with us. Pray for Rachel and David and Caleb and Cordelia and Shana to know the Lord.
• Praise! My newsletter is 2/3 done! Hopefully I can get it finished up tomorrow and mailed out before this weekend.
• I leave for KS and Easter in three days. My two intern girls Cas and Jes will be coming with me.
• Pray - that I would awake and pray and have time with the Lord in the morning. And for wisdom in preparing for Wed. Bible study.
• Pray - for those I share with to know my heart and that the enemy would not be able to twist my words.
  

Blog updates

Well, my life is feeling a little overwhelming at the moment, so I'm doing two things (among many). I'm signing off of facebook for a time (too time consuming) and more frequently updating my blog.

Does that sound contradictory? Well, the main reason I've been using facebook is to keep connected and leave random notes for friends. The main (stated) purpose for my blog is to keep in touch with my supporters and let them know how they can pray. I know, I know. I can use facebook for that too. But there are a whole lot of other things I can get distracted with on facebook as well. Why am going to update my blog more often? Because I do covet your prayers.

Random updates:

• I'm using Google Reader to check my friends blogs...and loving it! Very easy to setup!
• Congrats to Me on her new house and phone.
• Congrats (belatedly) to LT on her recent birthday. As soon as I can find those earrings that I bought, I'll mail them to you - I promise!
• Persecution is picking up in Asia. Sign up for the urgent prayer emails to hear about stories as they happen.
• Bhutan is about to become a democracy instead of an absolute monarchy! Elections are scheduled for March 24th. Pray that this will lead to a new openness to share the Gospel.
• Due to recent staff changes in the GFA IT department, I'm taking on additional responsibilities. We need additional staff desperately!
• Pray for: My newsletter to get done, my work to be timely, my focus to be on the Lord, Cas and Jes to grow in the Lord. And (me) not to be overwhelmed!
  

Me Sick

Well, I came down with the yucky stuff this week that a good portion of the US has. High fever turns into congestion stuff. Yuck. Trying to get better.

Whee!!! Lowry's are in the area next week for a visit. Lord willing, I'll get to have supper with them.

Prayer: Persecution is on the increase in India. Pray for steadfastness for the believers.

Pray for my house as we have extended time with the Lord this weekend. Wouldn't you know - the weekend we decide to spend extra time with the Lord is the weekend everyone holds movie parties! A good contrast, perhaps? But it really has been a long time since I've seen Inn of the Sixth Happiness.

10 days later

My computer battery just said it's about to die, so this may be shorter than I planned.

We had a great time at Mission Arlington last weekend -- we handed out fliers door to door inviting people to attend a free Valentine Dinner. It was a pleasure to hand these out because I knew that the Gospel would be shared with each person that attended. Even as we handed out the fliers to the apartment residents, they were already commenting how much the Mission Arlington staff and family has meant to them. Praise God for this ministry that is planting churches and discipling new believers right here in the US!

Jes and Cas are doing well as the internship starts. Caz is still delayed, so you can pray for her soon arrival. These next two weeks will be busy for us. Between prayer meeting and classes, we're usually at the office from about 8 to 5:30. Plus evening stuff these next few weeks...

Monday Night: House Meeting
Tuesday Night: GFA Prayer Meeting
Wednesday Night: House Bible Study
Thursday Night: Special speaker at GFA.
Friday Night: House cleaning and grocery shopping
Saturday: All day at Challenge Course
Sunday: Free!
Monday Night: House Meeting
Tuesday Night: GFA Prayer Meeting
Wednesday Night: House Bible Study
Thursday Night: Free?
Friday Night/Saturday: Weekend (as a house) to spend in prayer/solitude.

Thanks for all your prayers! I'm so grateful when I picture your faces and know you are praying for me. I can't really express it in a blog - maybe I should call you. =)

This morning at church, I was hit by a wave of "me-ism." I've been doing that a lot recently--allowing myself to get tied up my own wants and thoughts, even when I know the Lord's promises. Right on cue, Aubrey and the worship team started into the song "Lead Me to the Cross." I needed the chorus:
Lead me to the cross
where Your love poured out
Bring me to my knees
Lord, I lay me down
Rid me of myself
I belong to You
O lead me,
lead me to the cross.