I leave for Chile in 50 DAYS!!! I am so excited for the experiences I will have soon on a totally different hemisphere of the world! I think the opportunities that I've had to travel are what started my fascination with culture, and I've loved studying it more as I've been at college. The coolest part about everything I've been learning has been understanding more about God through the people He has made. Something our Intern Coordinator explained to us over the Intern Training Weekend that really stuck with me was the idea that just as each individual person has characteristics and traits that reflect the image of God, so does every culture on earth. I found this to be so interesting, and it made me even more excited to experience a new culture this summer and seek to find Him in it!
Something else I've been learning about has been the cultural contexts in which Jesus interacted with others while he was on earth. I've been reading a book called Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes by Kenneth Bailey, and in it the author brings so much added cultural information that has breathed new life into stories that I've read countless times. Knowing what words actually mean and the context in which they're said adds so much significance!
One chapter I just finished reading dissected The Lord's Prayer, which is something that we also looked at a lot over my spring break trip to New York. This chapter specifically talks about the phrase "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
The hardest part about living on this broken earth is that we see fleeting glimpses of the way the world was supposed to be - without pain, without suffering, without shame - and we can never truly experience this perfection until we are fully united with Christ. But despite this separation, we can be used by God to represent this coming Kingdom to the world right now, wherever we are. We should desire to close the gap between the realities of earth and the realities of heaven - because the perfection of heaven is SO REAL!
This is what Zion means to us now - building up God's Kingdom on earth in anticipation for Christ's return by attempting to represent Him to all we encounter, in any and every circumstance.
I am SO thankful for the support I've received thus far! But I still have a log way to go to reach my financial goal - $4,625 is the most I've ever had to raise and that number seems bigger now more than ever! I would so appreciate it if you took the time to pray and consider supporting me. Prayer support is just as important to me!! I know it will be more difficult for me to see where the Lord is working if I am not seeking Him through this process and while I'm gone this summer. Please be praying that the Lord would provide financial support, and that He would prepare my heart and the hearts of the people I will meet!
Here is the link to my donation page! Thank you!
http://www.whm.org/give/give-to-a-missionary
Monday, April 22, 2013
Thursday, April 4, 2013
OVER 50% FUNDED!!!
I HAVE OFFICIALLY PASSED THE HALFWAY MARK!!! Over 50% of my support has been raised - Praise God! I am SO humbled and grateful. Thank you so much to those who have made the decision to partner with me in this. I know you have made sacrifices in order to support me, and I cannot adequately express how much that means to me. Thank you for trusting in the Lord!!
IMSOEXCITED :)
IMSOEXCITED :)
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
68 days and counting...
Okay, someone please tell me how it's already APRIL and in one month I'm going to be a SENIOR. IN COLLEGE. I never thought about what it would be like to actually be this old... and I remember thinking as a 6th grader that the 8th graders were so much older and wiser. Well now that I'm not only an adult, I'm 21 and only one year away from graduating from the awesome yet strange thing that is college into reality, I can't help but laugh.
And if you really stop to consider it, you'll realize that college is a strange thing. Think about it: for four years, you're living in a world where you're constantly surrounded by people who are all the same age as you (besides professors), and you're all doing the same. exact. things. Yeah, we all might be majoring in different things, but we're all going to class, studying, eating at the same places, and doing the same activities. For four years. I found, especially while I lived on campus, that interacting with a human being that is outside the age range of 18-22 becomes a rare occurrence.
I definitely laugh about these strange aspects of college life, but sometimes I actually struggle with them as well. It's so easy to feel so removed from what's really happening in the world, and become so inward-focused and tunnel-visioned. Our culture encourages us to focus on ourselves during this time in our lives, to "find ourselves" and "discover who we really are," but I've learned that when I try to do that on my own without Christ, the more lost and confused I become.
Because of my heart for missions and the past experiences I have had abroad, I cannot WAIT to get to Chile!!! I've come to love adventure and risk-taking, because those experiences are where I've so clearly witnessed the Lord working in my life. When I force myself out of this strange world I'm living in, God does nothing but bless me. So, living in this pseudo-world of college has really been a constant struggle for me - I just want to go!! But through all of this, I've been so blessed by the people the Lord has placed in my life to encourage me.
One quote that a friend of mine sent me in regards to this was -
"Wherever you are, be all there." - Jim Elliot
Despite my huge, numerous dreams for my future and all of the crazy awesome things I want to do, I can't forget that God is HERE and is working in my life right now, even if things aren't new or exciting all the time. He is shaping me and molding me day by day through seemingly unimportant things to be the woman He wants me to be. That process is precious to Him, and should be precious to me.
And here's something that my mom has always told me that I will never forget -
"Bloom where you're planted."
I heard this SO MUCH growing up, and most of the time when I heard it, I probably followed it with an eye-roll or a snarky comment because I was unhappy with some (probably) silly situation in my life. But it is so, so encouraging to me now. I am where I am for a purpose, and although I can't always see His work while it's happening, I know I will be able to look back and see where His hands have been.
Thank you so much to those of you who have been sending financial support!! I have been raising funds steadily, and I will need 50% by next week to stay on track! I'm not quite there yet, and I still have the majority left to raise. I would love it if you would consider supporting me!
I value your prayers too! It means so much to me to know that there are people in my life who are lifting up this trip in prayer - not only for me, but for those who I will get to know as well!
Here's the link to the donation page!
http://www.whm.org/give/give-to-a-missionary
And if you really stop to consider it, you'll realize that college is a strange thing. Think about it: for four years, you're living in a world where you're constantly surrounded by people who are all the same age as you (besides professors), and you're all doing the same. exact. things. Yeah, we all might be majoring in different things, but we're all going to class, studying, eating at the same places, and doing the same activities. For four years. I found, especially while I lived on campus, that interacting with a human being that is outside the age range of 18-22 becomes a rare occurrence.
I definitely laugh about these strange aspects of college life, but sometimes I actually struggle with them as well. It's so easy to feel so removed from what's really happening in the world, and become so inward-focused and tunnel-visioned. Our culture encourages us to focus on ourselves during this time in our lives, to "find ourselves" and "discover who we really are," but I've learned that when I try to do that on my own without Christ, the more lost and confused I become.
Because of my heart for missions and the past experiences I have had abroad, I cannot WAIT to get to Chile!!! I've come to love adventure and risk-taking, because those experiences are where I've so clearly witnessed the Lord working in my life. When I force myself out of this strange world I'm living in, God does nothing but bless me. So, living in this pseudo-world of college has really been a constant struggle for me - I just want to go!! But through all of this, I've been so blessed by the people the Lord has placed in my life to encourage me.
One quote that a friend of mine sent me in regards to this was -
"Wherever you are, be all there." - Jim Elliot
Despite my huge, numerous dreams for my future and all of the crazy awesome things I want to do, I can't forget that God is HERE and is working in my life right now, even if things aren't new or exciting all the time. He is shaping me and molding me day by day through seemingly unimportant things to be the woman He wants me to be. That process is precious to Him, and should be precious to me.
And here's something that my mom has always told me that I will never forget -
"Bloom where you're planted."
I heard this SO MUCH growing up, and most of the time when I heard it, I probably followed it with an eye-roll or a snarky comment because I was unhappy with some (probably) silly situation in my life. But it is so, so encouraging to me now. I am where I am for a purpose, and although I can't always see His work while it's happening, I know I will be able to look back and see where His hands have been.
Thank you so much to those of you who have been sending financial support!! I have been raising funds steadily, and I will need 50% by next week to stay on track! I'm not quite there yet, and I still have the majority left to raise. I would love it if you would consider supporting me!
I value your prayers too! It means so much to me to know that there are people in my life who are lifting up this trip in prayer - not only for me, but for those who I will get to know as well!
Here's the link to the donation page!
http://www.whm.org/give/give-to-a-missionary
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