How I stay Sane

Remember back when we got this cute little puppy?



Ok, he looks big here... but he was really only 20 pounds

And I believed that he would not shed due to him being part poodle?

Well, maybe he didn’t shed ONE hair when he looked like this…

Or This...

But now that he looks like this, well, my not shedding dog is no more.

My new solution? (instead of getting a no-shed dog…)

Yes, it works wonders not only on my wood floors but my sanity as well. Thank you Target for selling such life savers!

My Rebellion

Today I decided that I have had enough, enough winter that is. So despite my yard still being covered in snow, and a weather forecast that calling for more snow, I am determined to scare winter away.

I can not handle one more day bundled up, so today I say no more.

Yes, I am wearing sandals, yep, I am also wearing a short sleeve shirt. And YES, I am wearing my cute spring jacket.

Take that winter! Will you please leave now?!?!

Changes

It’s funny to me that the moment you feel like life has settled down a bit all the sudden everything seems to be in the air again. When we found out Phil got the job, my initial thought (besides being so happy) was, “finally, some stability!” Obviously I am eating those words.

I have been very content in my position at Northwestern College, but also know that it was not what I wanted to do forever. In the end of February I was approached about a position that had opened in Graduate Studies at Northwestern. So I applied just to see what would happen and was offered the job a few weeks later. It was a really hard choice for me, but after a lot of prayer and thought I accepted the position. I am very excited for what I will be doing and the change to come. Both Phil and I start our new jobs on April 11^th… I guess we will have a lot to talk about that night J

It is crazy how God plans everything out in such a cool way. He has answered so many prayers in our lives these past few months, I am really blown away at all he has done. Even though I was not praying about my job or a new job, God was still opening doors.

These next few weeks are continuing to be crazy. This last class we are in is completely overwhelming me. I know that it will get done, but right now it is hard to even find the brain space I need to think about it. Since Phil is leaving for Germany, he has one week less to do this class in. We only have four weeks left, so I guess I will do my best and just be happy to be done.

I am finding that every moment Phil and I are together I want to enjoy and appreciate. I know that the time he will be gone will fly by and it helps a lot that I will be able to visit him while he is there. I am just sad to not have him around! The past few weekends Phil has been gone teaching a lifeguarding class all day Saturday and Sunday and I keep on thinking that this is what it will be like when he is gone. Its lonely without him, even doing routine chores around the house is just not as much fun without him. We decided that we wanted to be intentional about spending time together until he leaves so we have been enjoying going out on more dates and just spending more time together.

 This week hopefully will be productive or at least better than last week. I was on jury duty all week making it a very frustrating week of sitting in a room unable to get things done. The few weeks I have left at my current job are going to be really full and I am excited to start transitioning! Monday here I come, ready or not!

Ramblings of Life

·         Ok, I love our dog. He is so sweet, cute, smart, snuggly, protective… all the things a good dog is. HOWEVER… lately I want to scream at that cute little puppy face… and maybe have… You see he learns really fast [most of the time]. But there is one thing that is driving me nuts and his price tag is quickly going up. He LOVES shoes. LOVES! Like there is nothing that will stop him from having a nice little snack from our shoes. I am ready to string the little guy up. We are really careful about not leaving shoes out, but whenever we forget they are GONE, like totally destroyed. So far he has destroyed at least six pairs of sandals, three pairs of shoes, and two pairs of slippers, and two pairs of dress shoes. SERIOUSLY, he is going to need to get a job to pay for all of this! I am literally running out of shoes to wear! HELP! We have tried two different types of sprays that are supposed to keep puppies from chewing, and they have not deterred him one bit. (and trust me, they taste bad, I accidentally got some on me… yuck!) Whenever I find he chewed another, I yell at him like a crazy women, and he sulks and pouts for like a minute and then moves on. Anyone have any better ideas to help end this REALLY BAD HABIT?!?!

·         I am fairly sure that we are going to go crazy… We were reading a book together the other night that said if you are committed more than two nights a week your are overcommitted… So what does that mean if you have every night committed? Oh wait, I know… CRAZY KATIE! The problem is right now there is nothing to cut out, so we will push through… only 5 weeks more of grad school…

·         After a lot of discussion we decided that Phil will not be able to come back from Germany for graduation… super sad! We would have to pay for the ticket (they are around $1,500 right now) and he would only be here for less than 48 hours. Needless to say, we decided that though we really wanted him to be able to be at graduation, it was not worth the cost and we would rather spend that money on a ticket for me to come see him in June. We still do not know the details of when he is leaving or coming back, so we are waiting to book my flight until we know that. It looks like he will either leave the 17^th or 24^th of April and will be there 6-8 weeks. I am seriously going to miss him!

·         I have the house remodeling itch again… I am well into the process of planning our summer projects! I only wish we could start sooner, however with Phil gone, it’s just not practical. Maybe while he is gone I will start on some small things… We are planning on re-finishing all our hardwood floors along with all our trim, I am so excited for how it will look in the end!

·          I am once again training for a race. This time I am running a half-marathon on June 5^th. This week was the first week of training and started off pretty rough, however my run yesterday went really well and it is great to be working toward a goal again! This weekend I have my first “long run” (or not so long) of 4 miles. It should not be bad, and I am hoping to be able to do it outside. Emily is also training for the same race, its nice to be doing it with another person! Phil wanted to as well, but Germany just got in the way.

Ok, I think my rambling is done for the day. Hope you have an awesome weekend!

Freedom

Freedom I think is one of those things that we just take for granted in America, we all know how our freedom was fought for, and sometimes, maybe appreciate what that means for us. Honestly, I think most Americans (including myself) totally forget the sacrifices that were made so we can live in a country like America.

While living in a free country is awesome, and I am so thankful for our freedom, I think there is a freedom that most of us have not experienced or even know about. Our lives are full of things that take our freedom away without us even realizing it. Though we live in a free country most of us are carrying around heavy chains without even the slightest realization of them or how they are tearing our lives apart. Obviously I am not talking in a literal sense, but the chains we carry are no less real or damaging.

In Exodus, most of us are probably familiar with the story of the Israelites and how they were enslaved to the Egyptians. After this has gone on for a long time, God called Moses to free His people. So after a lot of trepidation Moses went to Pharaoh (the ruler of the Egyptian land) and asked for his people to be freed. I can just imagine Pharaoh laughing in his face, why would he do this? The Israelites were hard working slaves and there was no way he was going to let them go. So Moses along with God sent ten plagues to the land of Egyptians. Each plague was worse than the next, but still Pharaoh would not let them go. Finally, God said that after the Passover he was going to send the tenth plague, this was by far the worst and hardest one. Moses directed the Israelites to put blood over their doors from the sacrificed lamb so that they would be spared; if this was not done Moses told the people the first born would die.

Exodus 11:1

Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will strike Pharaoh and the land of Egypt with one more blow. After that, Pharaoh will let you leave this country. In fact, he will be so eager to get rid of you that he will force you all to leave.

Exodus 1:4-8

Moses had announced to Pharaoh, “This is what the Lord says: At midnight tonight I will pass through the heart of Egypt. ⁵ All the firstborn sons will die in every family in Egypt, from the oldest son of Pharaoh, who sits on his throne, to the oldest son of his lowliest servant girl who grinds the flour. Even the firstborn of all the livestock will die. ⁶ Then a loud wail will rise throughout the land of Egypt, a wail like no one has heard before or will ever hear again. ⁷ But among the Israelites it will be so peaceful that not even a dog will bark. Then you will know that the Lord makes a distinction between the Egyptians and the Israelites. ⁸ All the officials of Egypt will run to me and fall to the ground before me. ‘Please leave!’ they will beg. ‘Hurry! And take all your followers with you.’ Only then will I go!” Then, burning with anger, Moses left Pharaoh.

This seems pretty extreme, hu? Honestly, how could my loving God do something like this? It just seems crazy. It says later on in 12:30 that not a single house was left without someone dead. That is a lot of grief and loss. Finally, after this Pharaoh let the Israelites go.

As I read that recently, I was struck by something. God wants our freedom. God wants us to live lives that glorify Him completely. In fact, he wants our freedom so much that He sent His one and only Son to give us that freedom. So why are we still walking around in chains?

I think we have settled for a religion that fits our needs when we want, and might satisfy us some of the time, but the chains we carry around prevent us from really getting to know our Savior. We believe that we are helpless to change and that no amount of will power or trying will help, we are stuck so we settle. Yet, what I see in this story and the story of how Christ came to die for our sins shows me something different. It shows me that God WANTS to give us freedom, and is more than WILLING to do what it takes for that to be accomplished. If he wasn’t, the whole dying on the cross was a waste of time.

So what are we missing? I think we settle for ok when life can be great. Taking the chains off can be painful, so we would rather carry around the weight then deal with the healing that needs to take place in our lives. But you know what I have discovered? When I reach out my hand to God and ask Him to help me remove the chains, he is so faithful to do just that. The key is us moving, Christ is already there offering His hand to give us freedom, we just need to take it and allow the process of change to take place.

In the Beth Moore book I am reading, she put it this way:

“God surpasses our dreams when we reach past our personal plans and agendas to grab the hand of Christ and walk the path He has chosen for us. He is obligated to keep us dissatisfied until we come to Him and His plan for complete satisfaction” from Breaking Free

I am determined to live a life free of the chains and bondage that is so easy to fall into and grab hold of the hand of Christ to find my deepest satisfaction in Him alone.

San Diego and Beyond….

It’s me again; hope you enjoyed hearing a different perspective from our trip! I know it was really fun for me to read what the students had to say and how they were processing!

The trip was so amazing, not just the things we got to see or the sunny 70 degree weather, but the relationships we formed as a team. I was truly honored to lead such a great group of students. Their lives and stories challenged me and it was an honor to walk beside them through this trip. More than ever I feel like God showed me where my calling and passion is through this trip! Working with college age students is where I feel all my dreams, gifts, passions and abilities align. It was very sweet to have that shown to me again.

Though I missed Phil a ton and was super happy to be with him again, I miss the craziness of all the people together and the memories we created. The house we were staying in was super small for fifteen people and the bathrooms even smaller for that large of a group, but we all got along so well it worked out well. I seriously feel spoiled to have a whole big bathroom to myself now… I keep on waiting for someone to knock on the door and ask to come in J

Being home, reality has hit me like a ton of bricks though! These next three months are hectic and crazy, especially these next six weeks. Tomorrow night Phil and I start our LAST class for grad school that will last six weeks. Though it is only six weeks it will be the hardest class we have taken so far, so I am a little anxious to get it started and know what I need to do.

The biggest news in our life is something that I have been really excited to share for a while, but we were not able to, until now! Phil has been in a temporary work position for about two years and has been applying for many jobs over this time. He has had countless interviews but nothing has panned out. Through this whole time, our faith and trust is Christ has grown SO much and we are very thankful for that. However the job search has now ENDED because Phil was offered a position at a company that seems like an awesome fit!

When Phil called me to tell me they offered him the position, I just cried. This road has been so long, but we see so clearly how God lead him to this position now. We are both so happy about this change and know God’s plan is so much bigger than ours! Because we did not want his current employer to find out until he gave his notice we had to be fairly careful about who we shared with, however now his employer knows and he has signed his contract!

There are lots of details that we are working through, the biggest however is that because the new company is a German company, Phil will be going to Germany for 6-8 weeks of training starting end of April! I am so excited for this opportunity he has but will miss him a lot! Our plan is that in June I will go over for a week or so to spend with him and explore Europe. Though it will be hard, we both see so clearly God’s hand guiding us and are so excited for the future and what that holds!

A Post from David

(Sorry this was not posted DAYS ago... my internet stopped working in San Diego, and I am just getting to it now!!)

Today we went over Marnie’s house and mainly worked on her garden while finishing up some undone works on the house. We had a beautiful blue sky accompanied by a bright shining sun, which burned my skin. I signed up for this trip at the last minute, but still expected the leader to tell me important facts about the trip, such as me being the ONLY GUY in the group!! You would think that I was about to live every man’s dream (warm weather, beach, women…) , but after knowing that I became really close to quitting the trip. I now am really glad I came to experience this because I have absolutely loved every single day of it. It humbled me down, and allowed me to see God work thru so many different ways. I am mainly introverted but feel like I met the most people out of this group; I never knew how impactful I could be in someone’s life. I felt favored by all the children I worked with and easily conversed with the other college and high school students I encountered. I met a kid next door, played basketball with him a couple of times and his mother already told me of how much he talks about me at home.

One of the hardest things might be leaving the kids I met. They already cried when they knew I’d leave and be back the next day so I can’t imagine their reactions when we leave them on the last day of this trip. I got to share the gospel with a lot of people and think that I’ve planted some seeds; I now pray that God would water and maintain those seeds to turn them into big trees, bearing fruits for the glory of God.

A Post by Nicole

Hey, my name is Nicole. I am a freshman and Elementary Education major. I have absolutely loved our time in San Diego. I think today is day four of our adventure, and we were blessed with rain. We were supposed to work at a high school cleaning wrestling mats but God had different plans for us. The high school had testing in the wrestling room and said we did not have to clean. Instead we were given the opportunity to tour the area where we are living. First we stopped at a Mexican Market. The produce man was so kind to us, explaining what everything was, and even he opened a palate of fruit candy for us to try. We then went to Sea Port Village, a touristy spot, to discover some of the shopping spots. This was a great team bonding time, we all learned new things about each other and the surrounding areas.

                My favorite part of the day was teaching the Kidz Klub. The little children flocked to us and were so excited to play the games and learn the Bible stories. The kids, especially the boys, clung to David. I am so excited to have him in our group. Anna and Jenna worked really well in the kids, keeping them settled and listening. God has blessed us with a team that works wonderfully together. I loved the children that God brought to us. They were so willing to listen, and they wanted to tell the whole story for us and wanted to answer all the questions.

                As an Elementary Education major I get excited to spend time with any children. I am praying that God shows me where He wants me in my studies. I also have an emphasis in English as a Second Language. I don’t know why God has put that desire in my heart, but I do know that I am supposed to work with people struggling to learn this language. The more I spend time with these kids here, the more God puts these inner city families on my heart. I grew up with inner city kids, and when I see their situation now, my heart breaks. Please keep praying for these kids.

                I love our team so far. I have made so many new friends and learned about so many different backgrounds and situations. These girls are so willing to open up and share their stories and experiences. David and Andrew are so willing to listen to us girls be girls. They are extremely patient and understanding to our issues. God has truly blessed us all with such a great group.

Keep us in your prayers,

Nicole

Day Re-Cap!

By the Girls!

Today we went to Harbor which is a Spanish and English church. Half of the worship was in Spanish while the other half was in English. It was really cool hearing everyone worship in their own tongue. The message was about stooping down to receive the gifts that God has in store for us rather than trying to achieve them and be the best. The verse was Luke 9:48, which talks about whoever is least among us is greatest.

After the church service we went to go pass out fliers about the Kids Klub. It was fun to see where the kids lived and where we will be having each club. The kids seemed to remember the Kids Klub from previous years and were very excited to go. Afterwards, we ate lunch and got prepared for the next three days of Kids Klub. Later our team went to the beach and had a bonfire with hot dogs and s’mores. Everyone enjoyed putting their feet in the water even though it was pretty cold. While sitting around the campfire we were able to hear a couple more stories from each person and how they are growing in their faith. It was a good time to share and pray together about what we are learning and about our next few days with work projects and with the Kids Klub. We are excited to see how God is going to work through us for the rest of the trip.

Thoughts from Elizabeth

It’s amazing just how refreshing nature can be. Especially for us snow-bound Minnesotans, sunny San Diego is a sight for sore eyes.   Lush green grass, mountains on the horizon, palm trees, vibrant flowers…it’s just so recklessly beautiful.  

Today was our third day in San Diego.  Each day is full of so many experiences, though, that it seems like it’s been much longer than that. 

                It was our first work day today. We split up into groups to help two different World Impact staff/families with household projects. My group went to work on the house of Marnie, the future principal of a new World Impact charter school.  Consistent with World Impact’s focus on incarnational ministry, Marnie has purchased a house in the same inner-city neighborhood that she wants to serve.  It’s definitely a fixer-upper.  The shingles that had originally covered the small building had had to be torn off, leaving rough, bare wood with numerous holes all over the surface.  Most of our group worked on plastering the holes so that we can paint the building sometime later this week. Two of us worked on indoor painting.     

                Before we started on our work projects, Marnie shared some of her heart and ministry with us.  She’s a Harvard graduate with a passion for inner-city students and other cultures.  Last fall, she learned about the tremendous needs in City Height’s educational system.  She shared statistics about how the majority of Jr. and Sr. High students (percentages in the 80’s and 90’s) fail standardized reading and math tests. Many students also spend a lot of their time riding the bus out of the city to other, better high schools.  This leaves them little time to do or get help on their homework or participate in after-school activities.  This also makes them feel that they have to leave City Heights to have any hope of a successful future.

­­It’s inspiring to see someone who doesn’t just see a problem, but is doing something about it—something drastic and big.  So many times, it seems like we get together in our little Christian circles to talk about the poverty and injustice in our world, but don’t do anything about it.  Marnie dreams big—and has the perseverance and faith to see that dream become a reality.  

As she was talking, it also really stuck out to me the way that she said she’s seen God “bring together the different pieces of her life.” She sees God bringing together and utilizing many of her different experiences and interests in this ministry.  In college, she took several short-term missions trips to Africa and Southeast Asia.  She loved these trips, but wondered if they would serve any long-term purpose in her life.  Now, she finds herself surrounded by neighbors from African and Southeast Asian countries.  She now sees that those trips were preparation for ministering to neighbors from these countries.

This was especially reassuring to me because I also often feel like my life is just these fragmented “pieces”—different interests, abilities, experiences, hopes, dreams—and I’m struggling to see how they could ever all fit together into a life’s calling.  Over our lunch break, I talked to another new staff member with World Impact who, without having heard Marnie’s testimony, said almost the same thing—that she could see God bringing together her different passions and interests in her new ministry.  Both of these women are such beautiful reminders that God can and will use any and every facet of our life that we offer to Him. 

Marnie is such a loving, selfless person.  She has already gained the trust of the neighbors around her.  While we were there, the children next door came over to her home, walking straight up to her for the hugs and affection they knew they would find there.  They stayed with us throughout the day, helping our group with weeding and plastering…and keeping us all entertained!

This evening, we had Rich and his wife Karen eat dinner with us and share some of their experiences leading up to and work with World Impact.  Like all the other World Impact staff, I was just really impressed by their heart and great burden for the city.  They also express genuine joy and pleasure in what they’re doing, though.  It makes me want to have such passion for and joy in serving God.

After dinner, our team went down to an island near us for a team outing and group time near the bay.  We stopped at the Moo Time ice cream shop and sat by the bay for a while— and saw tons of silver fish swim up onto the banks for spawning (apparently, this only happens twice a year).

Like the other days of our trip here, we ended the day by having two more people share their stories with the group and praying for them.  It is just so incredible to see how God has worked through each person’s life—we all have different backgrounds and experiences and struggles, but God has worked so greatly through all of us.  It’s so powerful just to share and hear how God has worked in our lives.  We all have the same mighty Savior.     

 

   

               

Day Two

Merissa here. We just finished our first official team meeting in San Diego, though we’ve had some great other bonding moments the past few days. This afternoon we sat on the grass (green grass!) and sunned ourselves while starting to share our life stories with each other. The more time we spend together, the more excited I am to be working with this team. Today, our orientation and training day, has been very encouraging and empowering.

                One of the first things I noticed in driving through the city -- other than the palm trees, warm breeze, and beautiful sunlight, gifts from our Creator especially for us Minnesotans – was several buildings advertising psychic readings and holistic healings. There is also graffiti promoting violence or human-made peace. That, even more than the bars on every window, made me pray for God’s Truth to be revealed in this city. There are so many temptations and falsehoods to lead people astray, and it seems like in cities these things are condensed into a smaller area and more loudly advertised. San Diego, like every other place on earth, needs the light of Christ. The city looks beautiful and colorful and vibrant, which makes a jarring contrast with the spiritual blindness and oppression and futile idolatry that entraps too many of its people.

                On our first day it seemed that, for me at least, it was easier to zone out than to step out of my comfort zone. The travel and novelty of day number one was somewhat exhausting, and it wasn’t always easy to work on connecting with people or investing in relationships with strangers whom we may never see again after this week. Yet, when we were welcomed into a group called College Life at the church where a lot will be happening this week, it was so beautiful to see God’s hand in the lives of all of these very different people. The devotion time and interaction with college-age people from West, Midwest, and East was so encouraging. Our great God, the Lord of the past and the King of our future, the one who brought us all here for this week and enables us to do any of what we do for Him, is the one we’re all living for, and He is always faithful. Hallelujah!

                Today has been a wonderful preparation as we’ve laid the groundwork for the week. We were blessed to meet with the leaders of World Impact this morning, sitting outside the church in the sun. They shared World Impact’s vision with us and helped us understand why what we’re doing this week is important. By interacting during the Bible club with the children of these communities (and the youth, in the evening programs we’re invited to attend), we are helping them become a little more familiar with Jesus and what a life of discipleship is like. Also, helping them build relationships with each other and the Church, which is an amazingly valuable gift. Missionaries with World Impact have been living in the heart of cities for the past 40 years, focusing on evangelism and discipleship from within these neighborhoods. Their Christian schools, Bible clubs, inner-city seminaries, and church planting movements seek to spread the love of Christ by laying a foundation that gets families connected to the body of believers. Something that really stood out to me is the statement that the nations are coming to our cities. So by caring for our cities, we are reaching the nations. World Impact’s strategy is to build a foundation through evangelism (with missionaries living in the city, ministering to the whole family and ministering to the whole person), equipping (through fellowship, discipleship, and training church planters and pastors), and empowering (through establishing church plants and training people from the city to do what God calls them to do for the city).

                This week, we are blessed to have the chance to build trust, not to be rich benefactors from a snowy land far away. We will have the opportunity to share the gospel about our Savior, not to be saviors. We are ministering to the poor, yes. (The apartments where we will do our Bible clubs are somewhat typical inner city projects, I guess. We won’t have a very good understanding of what the environment is like until Sunday, when we go out after church to talk to them and promote the clubs. The kids know World Impact is coming back, and they’re excited for Bible clubs to start up again.) But I think our understanding of poor will be challenged this week, since “World Impact defines the poor as people who turn to the Lord as the source of resources.” If that doesn’t make me poor, it makes me want to be!

                We also had the chance to hear from Debbie, a representative of KidsGames, a worldwide movement to reach children and help them develop friendships through sports and relays, in prayerful hopes that that will get them and their families to want to come to church in order to see their friends. By giving these kids opportunities connect with each other at the same time as showing them the love of Christ, we will be helping them build friendships within their communities that could lead them to become involved with the Church (capital-C Church for Christ’s body of believers, since congregations often come together for activities like KidsGames or our Bible clubs this week). This is one of the best things we can give them this week. We’re praying for the chance to explicitly share the Truth with these children, since so many people make the initial decision to live for Christ when they are younger than 12 years old. But we’re also praying to be humble in knowing that we may just plant some seeds, or work some soil, or act as just one step on their way towards more familiarity with Jesus, the acceptance of Christ, and the Spirit’s ongoing work of sanctification. We’re all somewhere on that journey, and it will be up to the Lord how people will grow closer to Him this week.  

                Tonight, after a long day of planning, having fun and relaxing, we got to go to a Spanish service at the church. Half of us played with the kids outside during the sermon. The rest of us tried to understand the service (with the help of a few pseudo-translators) and were able to worship with the congregation. It’s powerful to see God at work in people who know Him by a different name, and we were all so blessed by the sweet and welcoming congregation members. In everything we’ve done so far, it has been so great to see how the people here welcome us and how God is giving us grace to be very loving with each other as well. Some of us are out of our comfort zones, some of us are exhausted, some of us are unsure of how we’ll be able to serve these kids. The good news (“gospel”) is that Christ has redeemed us and will be equipping us to glorify Him this week. That’s what matters, and it is humbling and exciting to know that He will be using us in ways that we can’t even imagine right now.

In preparing for the lessons our teams will lead at these clubs on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, I was reading the Passion narrative in the gospels and I was struck by how Jesus’ purpose was very clearly to do the will of His Father. This week, we’ll get to teach the kids about the Easter story, play games with them, make crafts, love them, listen to them, pray for them. This, by God’s grace, will be our way of doing the will of Him who sent us. Please continue praying for us as we come to mind, that the Lord’s will would be done and that the children and families who are touched by World Impact’s ministry would have softened hearts to know our great and mighty God.            

San Diego!

Well, we made it! As I think I mentioned a few posts ago, I am leading a trip of thirteen students on a mission’s trip to the inner city of San Diego for a week. We left snowy Minnesota yesterday morning and arrived four hours later to 70 degrees and sunny! Apparently for the people who live here it’s “cold” we obviously don’t think so!

While we are here we are working with an organization called World Impact doing VBS and some work on a few of the staff member’s homes. When we arrived yesterday we picked up our two vans and made it to the house we are staying at. There are only four actual beds so many are sleeping on the floor, but everyone is being so flexible!  Since we are also in charge of all our own meals, we also took a trip to the local Wal-mart to get a TON of food! It was a blast shopping with the whole team, I gave each person a few things to get and it went fairly fast. It’s amazing how much money you can spend on groceries for fifteen people… and we only got enough for a few days! After our shopping trip we were all starving, so we headed to this little hole in the wall taco stand. It was amazing! If we had taco stands all over MN like they have here, I would be one happy girl!

Today we are headed to training where we will learn about what we are doing over the next few days. So far we know roughly what we will be doing, but not many specifics. We just keep on telling the team it’s all about being flexible! Seriously though, they are an awesome bunch, and I am very excited to have the privilege of getting to know them!

Over the next few days, we would love to have your prayers! Here are a few things to pray about:

-         - Team unity! Though we are all from Northwestern, many of us do not know each other well and I am praying that we will be able to build strong relationships and have great team unity not just for us, but so that we can serve more effectively!

      -Health, a few of us are struggling with colds, so I would ask for prayer that the rest of the team stays healthy and that those of us who are sick will get better soon!

-          -Safety as we are driving in the city and also on work projects

-           - For true life change to happen and our eyes to be open to things greater then ourselves!

I am hoping to update frequently and have asked the team if they would like to write about their experiences as well!