From darkness to light

Sitting here this morning i've been thinking, reminiscing, over everything that has happened since ive been here. My mind is completely blown that i only have 8 months left here in this beautiful country. My eyes have seen so much and my heart felt so many different emotions. A lot of the emotions made me want to pack my bags and go home. But Father always pounded on my heart with His words, "there is a reason, you can't see now but keep trusting. I am faithful." Everyday I have this as my constant reminder to keep going. So many days have been hard, its lonely, especially this time of year when there's no school and no students. Father is my constant strength each day.

Father has done some incredible things since I've been here. He's brought some amazing young girls into my life who were broken and living in complete darkness but now have found light. Some days it's challenging to answer the questions they come up with, i rely fully on Father to guide my mouth and speak the words out of me. The one who breathed life into me is breathing it out of me and into my sweet friends giving them this same beautiful life.

Marina is a sister. I began hanging out with her after meeting her at a local HC here. We started meeting after class having lunch and talking. She had lots of questions about boys and relationships. She is desperate and wants to find the right guy. Hahaha don't all girls. We looked into the Word and helped her to find out to be patient and trust inFather that He would give her he disires of her heart. For now while waiting she can sere Father and remain obedient to Him. She is growing so much in walk and is sharing her love of Father with others on campus.
(Pic below, Marina is on the right black and red dress)

Alice is a new sister I met last May while some volunteers were here. She became a sister while that group was here and i continued to meet with her. We meet every Friday night and study the Word together. She has so many questions. Each week she comes to my home and has read chapers and the word and has pages of questions about what certain things from the book means. Together we seek more and pr@y together for Father to reveal the meaning to her. Soon she will be partaking in getting "washed!!"
(Below Alice is on the left in black.)

Jennifer i recently met. She attends English corner that i teach each week and is a very close friend of Marina's, who i talked about above. She has been hearing about Father from Marina and myself. Recently while a volunteer group was here she was able to hear so much more than she had heard before. She came to my home with two other, marina and a girl from the volunteer grop and we wathced a film about Father. After watching we asked questions and she said, "i see that living a life following this Father seems like a much better way to live. It seems like a happoer life." Se went on talking about how Marina has been a big influence on her. That made me so happy to hear! She is still seeking and is not ready to make a decision. Please join me in pr@ying for Jennifer that she will fully trust in Father and give her heart to Him.

I am not looking forward to these months going by fast, i want it to be slow. This place has become home to me and I look forward to the many blessing that will come in these next few months. We have 2 more volunteer groups coming soon. One in March and another in June. One group from my University in Mississippi and the other my old student leader back in Florida. It does my heart some good having these groups come in and does it even more good when they are close friends of mine. Please pr@y as they prepare to come.

I leave you with this quote that i read when i first felt Father telling me to "Go!"

"God uses people. God uses people to perform His work. He does not send angels. Angels weep over it, but God does not use angels to accomplish His purposes. He uses burdened broken-hearted weeping men and women". – David Wilkerson

Locked Out!

Monday night I was hanging up Christmas lights around my apartment while jamming to some sweet Christmas tunes. I decided "Oh my lanta, I'm going to hang some outside my door!!!" As I was standing on a stool hanging the lights around part of the door frame tragedy struck, DUHN DUHN DUUUUUHHHHNNNN!! My door slammed shut. Now normally this wouldn't be an issue because some friends here have a spare key, but I did not have my cell phone. Then I though I could just go to their house and get it, realizing I was wearing house slippers and my and one layer of clothing this would not be a good idea. The temperature outside was way too cold for what I was wearing. I then began to panic and then process my options. I knocked on my neighbors door but there was no answer. I walked down the stairs to the family who lives below. "Yaaaay they answered," I thought. So I began to try and explain what happened and when I started to hear crickets I began to act out what happened. In my head I was praying that they would understand me and be able to help. Their son then came to the door who is a senior in high school and spoke a little english. So they made some phone calls and invited me in to wait. During my wait I played some video games with their son, which turned out to be  fun. They laughed at me and the situation I was in but I didn't care, it was pretty funny and I was just very thankful that they were able to help. The locksmith arrived and was able to get my door opened!!!!! Now anytime I step outside my door I take my key. They will be getting a loaf of banana bread this week :)

"You're not American... Your English is bad"

Funny little story. A few weeks ago while getting into a taxi the driver began to ask me the question that is always get, "are you Russian?" I said no I'm American. I was blown away by His response, "no you're not America, your English is bad." I was blown away because of the fact that I wasn't speaking English. I just gave him a look like really,are you kidding me. I don't even know. I got a good laugh out of it when ingot out of the taxi.

A little trip

Last week I went to Taiwan for some meetings and a few days of vacation. I was deeply encouraged in so many ways which challenged me to push harder in language learning and in my walk with Father. While there I got to experience a lot of things that I miss a lot. One of these being eating American food!!! After our first day we went to the second tallest building in the world, the Taipei 101 and then headed to Chilli's!!! I was so excited to have the taste of those dang good southwestern egg rolls,my stomach was satisfied after leaving. I spent each day from 8-5 in meetings and then went out after with everyone. We did everything from movies to food to night markets to food and food, food, food. Did I mention Mexican food, because ya that happened! My most favorite part was spending time with friends who I hadn't seen since last summer. We shared so many stories and had a lot of good laughs which did a lot for my soul. After the week ended I stayed with a few friends for some action days where we relaxed at the beach and did some shopping and just hung out watching movies. I was so thankful for the time I got to spend with my friends. On Sunday we went to a gathering and I was hit with so many emotions. My heart was so overwhelmed to be a part of service with the locals worshipping in their native tongue. I couldn't stop crying thinking how I wished it could be like this where I am. I hadn't been to a service like this in a year and to see and here how the Sp-rit was moving was a beautiful thing. My hearts cry is to see the people of my area be moved by Father and to fall on their knees before the one who is greater. All I could think of was "my heart is overwhelmed" by Hillsong "Your love has set The broken captives free Your love released The chains once binding me I'm found in grace In love's embrace My heart is overwhelmed I stand redeemed Your spirit now alive withing my heart I walk with you all of my days I shall live to glorify you G-d Hear my soul rejoice." I cry out that the people know of His love that will set them free.

CB WHAT CB WHAT!! CBU

Recently we had a team come to our city for three weeks. There were nine of them who came all the way from California to teach english at the University. I cannot express how thankful I felt to have them come, not only was it a blessing to me but to a lot of the students they came in contact with. They had a loaded schedule set before them and they worked extremely hard to be the hands and feet that Father called them to be. I had the opportunity to hang out a lot with them and meet a lot of the students that they met. They were able to meet about twenty seven students and spend a lot of time with them getting to know them and sharing the love of Father. Some of the students were very receptive and wanted to know more. Two students came to trust in Him during their time here and one other after they left. During the three weeks after they headed back home I had the opportunity to meet up with about half of these students and get to know them a bit more. One friend in particular who came to trust Father after the group left was RM. i met her while the team was here and after they left contacted her to meet again. She was very different from the first time I met her. A few of the girls from the team left RM with a DVD which she watched on her own and after watching chose to grab ahold of the "fishing pole" and cling to it for dear life. When I met with her there was a difference in her. She was extremely happy and ran to me and hugged me, (which is something that they don't usually do here.) we went to a coffee shop in the library and she began to tell me of what happened while watching the film. I got to talk to her a lot about what she experienced and she immediately shared of how she wants to share this with her friend and family who don't know. I was so excited for her and so thankful the Father moved in her heart. We will begin studying together when she returns for the new school year!! Father is the ultimate Author of our lives and I'm so thankful that He moves in mysterious ways. I'm thankful that I can serve Him and be a part of His journey. Instill have many more students to meet with and continue sharing this great love with. Thank you CBU for your hard work! "What then is Apollos? What is Paul?servants through whome you believed, as the L-rd assigned to each. I planted, apollos watered, but it was G-d that gave the growth.so neither he who plants or he who waters is anything, but only G-d who gives the growth.he who plants and he who waters are one,and each will receive his wages according to his labor.for we are G-ds fellow workers. You are G-ds field, G-d is building." 1 Cor. 3:5-9

Been A While: Random Happenings

I have been really horrible at keeping up to date with how life is going here. Lots of things have been going on the last few months. I started school and it has been going pretty good. Most days I'm completely lost and confused but I'm getting through it. At first it was real embarrassing when I would get called on and have no clue how to answer but that feeling has faded and I press on through those moments. Today in class we finished one of our books and I had a test where I had to meet my teacher 1-on-1 and she asked questions and I had to answer. I did fairly well only missing 3 questions. Getting around town has definitely been really easy and I can do just about anything by myself now without the help of others. Recently I got a bike from a friend here who just had a baby and can't ride for now. Riding it for the first time along the river was so freeing. I can't tell you how much I miss driving and this is the closest I have come to it and it was the greatest feeling ever and surviving the roads was a big accomplishment 8^). A  little over a month I had to take a 3 hour trip to see a dentist for a tooth ache and wound up having to get 2 teeth pulled which were baby teeth and under one had an infection which was causing my pain. It took me about a week to fully recover because the infection got pretty bad. I recently went back and had to have braces put on my teeth which I'll have to wear for a year. It's almost been a week and I'm still getting used to them. Trying to eat has been a task. Well that is about all the new things going on. My life for the time being is wrapped around language study and will be the case for a while. The weather is getting so much warmer and everything is starting to blossom which I'm loving.

I am about to hit the 7 month mark. I can't believe it has already been half a year since I arrived. Time is flying by fast. I have had my ups and downs and it has been incredible seeing how Father has pulled me through and revived my spirit. I am excited to see what Father is going to do through this next month and the many more that are to come. I have 2 friends I've been meeting with, I'll call them J&J, and we've been going through T4T which is teaching them about how to walk with Father. We just went through pr@yer and they learned what it looks like and what the Book says about it. They have prepared a topic that they want to talk to me about so keep this in your thoughts as I meet with them sometime next week. It is amazing seeing how they are growing and reading the Book. Well that is about it for now, I am going to try and do better at posting more, I know I know, I say this all the time.

Blessing to y'all

Hardships that come and go.

I know I know, it has been an extremely long time since I last wrote on here and I apologize for my laziness. Most of you received my monthly update through email so I will steer clear from writing about what you already know. I am going to be completely honest wit you and say that I have been having a hard time in this last month or so. My heart has just been overtaken by missing the comforts of home. Students are gone and have been since the end of December and my mind has been processing so many things like missing family and friends and missing the comfort of being home and my everyday life back in the states. Don't get me wrong, I know I am where I'm supposed to be and am so thankful for that and for Father. I'm not trying to complain or anything but just want to get how I really feel out. I miss seeing my friends everyday and making funny videos with them, I miss the feeling if sitting on campus on Thursdays after dinner and feeling the air around me as I sit outside as the sun is going down. I miss the sound of a lawnmower (yes a lawnmower) and the smell of fresh cut grass. I miss hanging out with my family and most of all I miss driving. That feeling of driving for 10 hours with my music blaring and my windows down. I have recently found out that these feelings I'm having are normal. For so long I didn't want to say anything because I thought I was being selfish in some way but I know that I am not. Some nights I don't sleep very well because I have been having so many horrible nightmares that I feel completely exhausted the next day and all I want to do is sleep. Father definitely has reminded me of his steadfast love and protection over me while I sleep. These thoughts will not keep me down but push me to going forward. Father has a huge task that is at work here and that is what drives me and keeps me going. Life will be better once my friends return for the 2nd term here in a few weeks. A verse that has helped me is from 2 Cor. 12:9-10 "But He said to me, My grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Ch-ist's power may rest on me. That is why for Christ's sake I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak then I am strong." My heart will gladly rejoice in my Father in all of my days.