The End of the Beginning

Well, training camp has come to an end, but God has been doing amazing things here.  My team and I have been privileged enough to be surrounded by about 65 other students serving for youth in mission and it has been an incredible experience.  Last night we had what is called a World Feast, where we were placed randomly in four separate groups, all of which were given a different meal, ranging from only a few rolls and water (all shared between the entire group) and a full three-course meal.  These different groups represented the wealthy and poor of the world.  A slide show was playing the entire time that had all of the statistics of world hunger and the number of children that die everyday from it.  Afterwards, there was a lot of discussion about what we experienced and we all shared how God spoke to us individually.  God really moved that night and hopefully the majority of us will take what we learned with us and not forget it.

It has been truly empowering to be in this environment, just keep praying for all of us to hold on to all the things that we've learned and remember all that God has taught us so that we can share that with all of the people we encounter.  It is difficult for all of us to split up, but God has certainly moved in our hearts and I'm so excited to hear all the stories of how He does so.  We leave the church in El Paso at 10 45 tomorrow morning, and after a few stops and layovers we'll be in England! I'm very anxious and not sure what to expect, but I'm so excited to find out.  

Once again, thank you all for your prayers.  I can't express enough how much it means and how much they are needed.  Knowing how much love and support I have at home is so encouraging and has really given me strength as I know it will continue to do so in the coming weeks.  Look forward to sharing wonderful stories!

And The Adventure Begins...

Well, just wanted everyone to know we made it to training camp.  After a couple of flights, we arrived around two mountain time.  They arranged for us to spend some time at the local Nazarene church in El Paso, where they had a wonderful roast beef and mashed potato dinner (always love that!) for us and then we had some ice breaker games and a couple of short messages.  

I've gotten to spend a little more time with my team, and they are really great! Heather will be a Junior with me at SNU in the fall and Dwayne will be a sophomore there as well.  We seem to click very well and I'm really excited to see all we get to do.  

It's been a long day and I'm getting a little sleepy and we have to get up for orientation in a few hours.  Hopefully the next post will be less-surface, just wanted to let everyone know what's going on.  Thanks for all of your love, prayers, and support to start this trip off to the best start I could have asked for.  I thank God for the love I've been shown through all of you and how He has used you to touch my life and now the lives of others through me.  Hope to get a new post up soon! God bless.

Getting Ready and Feeling Grateful

Hey everyone!! Just wanted to put up a post about how things are going. I am so excited and ready for what God has planned in these next couple of months! He has been so faithful and my trip is COMPLETELY paid for! Thank you so much to all who gave. It has been such a blessing and I feel extremely grateful to have such an amazing support system and I consider it a gift straight from God. I cannot thank you enough and words cannot describe how blessed I am.

As of now, I am just starting to finish up some last minute details and trying to get all of my stuff from school in some sort of order so I don't go crazy, haha ;) The big day is in less than two weeks, May 26th! I will leave that Tuesday to go to training camp in El Paso, and on the 31st, we will all depart from there for our countries where we will be serving.

Thank you again for all of your prayers, and please keep them coming! I'll continue to keep everyone posted, so keep checking it out. God bless and have a fabulous week!