What's next?

Well I'm in the same boat as last year this time. Choice A or Choice B.

 

I'm beginning to like this boat!



He keeps bring me back to this place of listening to Him for the next step, and I love waiting on Him for direction! It can get stressful when I try to take it into my hands, rush the timing, or something else human. But seeing how God leads me right where I need to be, to be effective is an incredible journey.

 

 

 

It's overwhelming!

 

God is using me! I'm hearing Him!! The Creator of the universe has unique paths for each of us, and they are so personal and intimate no one could create one that fits better.

 

 

 

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard,

and no mind has IMAGINED

what God has prepared

for those who love him.”

1 Corinthians 2:9

 

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Fellowship&&Community

Remember back to when you were little and someone said fellowship. The first thought that comes to mind: after church, mom and dad are going to talk to grown ups for a few hours over coffee and force us to stay in these church clothes even longer!

Maybe exaggerating a little.
















I have come to love fellowship & community.




I have also come to love testimonies.

A lot of times people shy away from giving their testimony but it is so powerful! And God has opened my eyes to the importance of it and I'm so glad.

"They triumphed over him

by the blood of the Lamb

and by the word of their testimony"

This verse from revelations is powerful! It's saying the enemy was overcome by the cross and believers testimony! Must mean testimonies are important...

There's really two reasons for testimonies.

1. Witnessing
2. Building up/Encouragement

Sharing with non-believers is a way to evangelize, give glory to God, show his power, the list can go on and on.




Sharing with believers brings encouragement and life to the body!




When I share my testimony it is also so beneficial for me! It allows me to see how far God has taken me, how He was and is working in and through me. It allows me to give thanks, give the glory to Him, and remember His faithfulness.








I'm understanding how important it is to be surrounded by a healthy community. Without fellowship&community it's SO hard. It makes sense God calls us to fellowship with believers...

You can't be as effective if your empty, and that fellowship is so refreshing

 

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Rest.

My mom and I after picking her up at the airport

View from my bed!

My mom convinced me to go to a Women's Retreat a few weekends after returning home....


Probably the best advice to someone returning:

 

Rest.

 

Which for the first two weeks looked like a lot of sleep! But a different kind of rest, a kind we don't take the time to do enough...

 

Resting in God.

 

It's life changing...

 

 

• Allowing Him to move in you to process things that seem to be flying at you
• Figure out what to do with everything you've been equipped with

The best has been,

• not worrying about ANYTHING but just resting in who God is and what that means being His daughter.

But that ^^^^ didn't come overnight!

This adventure called re-entry is a process!

I went through some horrible times of brokenness, loneliness, boredom, and confusion.

 

 

 

A dear friend told me, Gods being gracious in this time.

I wanted to throw the phone.










 

The last thing this period seemed like was a gift of graciousness.




 

I learned what she meant. This time allowed me to draw so close with my Creator, my Father, my Saviour. It allowed me to reflect and process things I learned during my time away. I didn't always like what I was feeling but I came away with such more intimacy with Christ:

• Brokenness - allowed me to be healed in Him and allowed me to feel the hurt he feels for the broken
• Emptiness - allowed me to be filled by ONLY Him
• Lonelines - allowed me to depend on Him alone

 

But this time was God carrying me close to heart, and I learned so much! It was such a refining time.













 

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Goodbye.

We had a sort of joke around base the last week of DTS - Nigel's iPod had a countdown timer til home set u for multiple people, and randomly someone would yell "Nigel what we at?!" and he'd respond with so many days, hours, seconds, and we'd all chuckle and talk about what the first food we were going to order would be, who we wished was going to be at the airport, how excited we were for snow, etc. It was our way of keeping the atmosphere lighter. Even with the week of debrief, I don't think anyone returned home as easily as we thought it was going to be.

Before re-entry, we had to deal with goodbyes. No easy task! 5 months of being together, being each others support, a hand to hold, a shoulder to cry on, that inside joke, those walks through Recife, long bus rides, late nights, beach days. We became family.

A good looking family too ;)

 

 

One IMF the coolest things that came out of this was all the friendships! We have accountability between each other, keep in contact through Facebook, texting, Skype, etc. I have friends all over the world!!

 

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Coming Home

I'm going to post a little each day about the adventure of coming home!

Adventure:

a bold, usually risky undertaking; hazardous action of uncertain outcome.

 

Yup, that about sums up coming home. I had no idea what was in store for me.

There is a time of debriefing, but I've found re-entry is a hands-on learning type of experience.

It's not something you can define the same for everyone, or something everyone handles the same.

 

For me, it has drawn me so much closer to God. At first it felt like the opposite, but as I look I back I see how tight God was holding me. And I hope to share my continuing journey!

 

 

 

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Graduation!

The best part of this celebration was probably that my mom was able to be there! For such a life changing 5 months, I am so glad I got to share my base and friends with her for a week! And I know she enjoyed the beach and sun with us :)

 

So the night started with lots of pictures!

 

Then we had a big community Dominican meal, and started the ceremony. I got to speak about how God moved in me during lecture phase and as nervous as I was, it wasn't that bad :)

 

After a couple people shared, and videos were shown on the outreach locations we got out 'diplomas' and went into a time of worship. It was so much fun!! We had an amazing worship team!

 

 

 

After the ceremony, a lot of the Dominicans headed home with their families. Goodbyes were hard!

 

 

 

 

 

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Best Birthday

School, Basketball game/practice, maybe youth group. Usually snow and really cold. Subway for lunch, cake with dinner. Lots of family and friends around.

 

That sums up the last 18 Feb 1st.

 

This one was the exact opposite.

Instead of school&bball.....WATER PARK! It was a bunch of pools and a few water slides on a mountain side all filled with all natural water surrounded by bamboo on one side and an alligator pond on the other side.

3 pools this size, lots of smaller ones as well

Arlan

Lindsey, Kadee, Janelle, Me

 

Dangerous slide!

 

 

 

Instead of snow and cold.....I worked on my tan!! Maybe burned a lil.

 

Instead of subway and cake.....I ate prolly the most disgusting food since being here. I'm not sure what half of it was. After tasting it all, I stuck to the familiar cornbread.

 

Instead of friends and family......I got to celebrate with my second family, the awesome boys we live with, and lots of new friends!! IN BRAZIL!

 

It was great! After the water park, Matti(base director) had a dinner set up for us as kind of a goodbye party. Staff and the boys had a time to share and say thank you. They prayed for us, had lots of food, and dancing. It was a great time! When Lindsey and I arrived tot he main house we were the last to get there and there were orange balloons everywhere and they yelled surprise and sang happy birthday to me in Portuguese and English. Then I got a million hugs. I was very surprised!

Samoan Tribal Dance

 

 

 

Little Buddy(can't spell or pronounce his name right) says its tradition to smash an egg on your head when it's your birthday, and he did it to a teammate, Kadee, earlier in December. Knowing this, and having him threaten a few times, me and my roomie beat him to the punch. Lindsey distracted him and I smashed an egg on his head!! He laughed and kept saying tomorrow, tomorrow. While watching some dancing, an unfamiliar guy came up and motioned for me and Lindsey to smile for a picture. Smile.....CRACK. Little Buddy smashed an egg on both our heads. It was hilarious!

Adneilson is the middle (Little Buddy)

Faithful roomie!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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