So blessed

Hey!

   Here is a quick picture tour of some happenings in this past month...

God has blessed me with this new apartment here in the center of town. It is almost completely done with furniture, the last piece of the puzzle is the internet, which due to some Spain difficulties has been kind of hard to get. However, I am praying and believing it will all work out soon. 

I have also been blessed with a new to me car! It was a friend of a friend's car, and had been really well taken care of, so after a lot of prayer I purchased it. It has been such a blessing, I really don't know how I would have got everything done for my apartment and other things without it. 

English Camp came and went and was a wonderful time of making relationships! Each day another worker here and I played Sherilock Holmes and Watson for the skits and it was a great hit! 

Also I recently celebrated my birthday with the rest of our team here. While I looked around I was reminded of so many prayers for more people with open hearts willing to come and serve here and I just couldn't help but praise God for answering those prayers in such a beautiful way! 

Our team of short and long-termers, some that have already left and some that are leaving this next week. I am so thankful for each of these people! 

"I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now,  being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." -Philippians 1:3-5

All People

         Well I have been here officially for a day over 2 weeks, and time has just flown by at an incredible speed. It has been an odd mixture of doing things that seem so natural to be doing again like riding the bus and then doing things that I feel like I've never done before like meeting new people in Spanish.
        I've been so encouraged by so many of my reunions with old friends, by their questions and the opportunity I've had to share with them about my relationship with Christ already! This certainly is a new chapter with all new challenges and opportunities, but the goal still hasn't changed, I'm just excited to see how God will work through my team and I to call people to follow Him.

         Here's a picture of one of my favorite places in Granada, the along river near the Roman Bridge. It is such a busy place and you can see such an array of different people all dressed differently, all coming from different places, arriving to that point different ways, and going into the city for different reasons. I love to be there and just pray for all the many different peoples as they pass, rejoicing in the fact that God has called ALL people to come to Him!

Your Works are Wonderful

So in case some of you haven’t heard, I am flying back to Spain May 31st!! I am so very thankful and so incredibly humbled that God has allowed me to be on this journey, and called me to walk with Him.     
              I feel soo very excited and full of anticipation for all that God is going to do. I can’t wait to see everyone back in Spain, I can’t wait to get to work, I desire so badly to share the love of Christ with these beautiful people, and I am even excited about the challenge of continuing language learning! However, at the very same time I also feel sad and my heart hurts a lot. I will miss my family and my friends more than I can say. I will miss talking and laughing my best friend until the wee hours of the morning and I will miss the laughter and joy of her three wonderful little girls. I will miss my parents, I know I will long for the fellowship of so many other Christians, and I will even miss the beauty and greenness of Ohio. 
It is in this odd mix of emotions I thank God for my training at MTI that really has taught me how to sort through these seemingly contracting emotions that I’m feeling at the same time, and not to think I’m going crazy. 
At MTI we learned about Paradoxes in our emotions during this time of preparing, leaving, and even being on the field. They illustrated it in a very cool way, which originally was used to explain this concept to children, but they liked it so much they used it for the adults too. We learned about Paradoxes through an illustration of a-pair-a-ducks, there was the “Yay” duck and the, “Yuck,” duck. The “yay” duck is the duck that symbolizes all the "good" emotions we are feeling like, excitement, happiness, anticipation, acceptance, joy, fulfillment, and relief. The “yuck” duck on the other hand represents all the “bad” emotions that we are feeling like, sadness, loneliness, anxiety, insecurity, and a sense of loss. 
They stated that it is very normal to feel both, “yay” duck emotions, and “yuck” duck emotions all at the same time. This paradox is normal for not only me, but also those that I love to be feeling as well. They will most likely be excited yet sad right along with me. Knowing that it is ok to feel this way and giving myself permission to grieve and also to jump for joy has been so healing and such a blessing. 
During this time I am sure I will experience a roller-coaster of feelings, but I can praise God in the middle of each and every one, because He is with me and has even prepared me to know that it is alright. I can see looking back now, how He has been preparing me for this moment in time through people, trainings, and life experiences, and I am just in awe of His work. 

“...Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” Psalm 139:14b

This is the Day

     Sometimes it is so hard in the busyness of getting everything ready to go back to Spain to just stop and enjoy where God has me right now. Below I have a of picture that was taken of my little cousins and me on our walking adventure at the local State Park. It was a beautiful day, which in Ohio during the month of March, is like a small treasure amidst a sea of cloudy, snowy, and/or rainy days, and so we decided to take advantage of the sunshine. I had so much fun just enjoying seeing the world through those precious little eyes, laughing, and even finding a stray vine that ALL of us ended up swinging on. (I'll spare you the picture of me swinging :)) It was a day that really reminded me of just how good our glorious God is, in every moment He fills our days with wonder and too many gifts we can't count them all. However, it can be so easy to miss all that He is doing by concentrating on what I'm doing, or should be doing, or could be doing, or even will be doing. I was reminded to look to Him in all things and allow myself just to enjoy being with Him. 

Thank you Father for the beautiful reminder! 

I Want a Faith like Abraham

        

     While reflecting on this whole adventure of being home and support raising I can see it is and has been a time of waiting on God’s perfect timing, of drawing closer to Him, and learning to trust in Him fully.  I  have often had to catch myself as I try to go over things in my mind trying to “solve” the need for monthly support on my own. Thinking things like, "Well if I only could call that person, or speak to this church, or if I was a better speaker maybe I would have all my support." These thoughts try to attack my peace and poke holes in the hope that God has given me, but the truth is even if I was the best speaker in the world or had all the right connections it still wouldn’t be enough. It wouldn’t be enough because this move and mission isn’t about me at all and it certainly is not going to happen through my power. I am learning to let go, and how to really rest in our Savior and watch what His power will do, because it was His heart for Spain that He placed in me in the first place. 

I have been captivated once again by Romans chapter 4 and especially verse 18 which says, 

"Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping--believing that he would become the father of many nations. For God had said to him, "That's how many descendants you will have!" 

     You may think this is an odd verse for me to be captivated by right now, but I think it is because it says that, "Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping." I love this because during this time of raising support and overcoming all the obstacles that moving to a whole new country involves, it can be tempting at times to look at the "facts", throw my arms up and say it's hopeless. However, with no earthly reason to hope I continue hoping, looking at God, the same God of Abraham and the hope that He has given me because He is, was, and always will be faithful. 

Ignite

Ignite Service 

             This past Saturday at the Friend's Church there was a benefit to raise support for my ministry in Spain. It was such a wonderful and humbling evening! I felt in such awe of  how God brings so many people from all different backgrounds together to accomplish His purposes! 

         The night started off with the A Joyful Noise, then I spoke for a bit, and then it was finished up with the Ignite Band. Throughout the whole time, I was just overwhelmed by God's presence, and was so blessed to be able to worship Him with so many of my sisters and brother in Christ. 

        Even though I felt nervous and still am not a big fan of public speaking, I felt so humbled to be able to be there sharing with those people about God's heart for the people in Spain. It is really just another reminder that we really are called to be Ambassadors of God, His mouthpieces and His hand's and feet, whether it is telling about a need and challenging our brothers  and sisters to help, or it is pleading for others, as 2 Corinthians 5:20 says to, "Come back to God!" 

And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. ¹⁹ For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. ²⁰ So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” 

2 Corinthians 5:20