How You Can Pray for Me

Please join me in praying that

-the Lord will prepare the hearts of the girls in Deborah House and Lois' Lodge for me;
-that they will be receptive to building a relationship with me;
-that the Lord will provide opportunities for us to talk about Him and what following Him means for their lives;
-that the girls will be open to talking about their past and present lives;
-that the Lord will provide ways for us to relate to each other;
-that the Lord will prepare my heart for these girls, giving me compassion and love for them, as well as the words to speak to them;
-and that He will give me patience and confidence in own abilities so that He can use me this summer.


THANK YOU!

It Has Begun

Last Monday, Dad and I left the house at 8:00 in the morning to drive the 1,000 or so miles from Texas to Charlotte, North Carolina. We drove as far as Knoxville Monday night and arrived in Charlotte late Tuesday morning. When I say "we drove," I mean Dad drove the whole way while I operated the radio. Thank you, Dad.

I went through training the rest of the week with a few awesome girls from all over the U.S. who are going to various places in Ethiopia, Paraguay, Nigeria and East Asia.

Amidst all the training we received, we ate at a local Ethiopian restaurant, The Red Sea, for a bit of a cross-cultural experience. It was absolutely delicious! More to come on that experience later.

Today is my first official day of work with SIM. It began with me sleeping past my alarm clock (nothing new there), but once at the office my day brightened up.

This morning I poured over the raw video footage of the girls living at the Deborah House in Addis. This is a ministry that has literally saved the lives of some of the girls they take in. For the others, their lives are infinitely better - filled with opportunity for spiritual growth, formal education and so much more.

After seeing them on tape, I am so anxious to meet them! I will be flying out of the states around July 5. Until then, I will be working on the girls' benefit concert at the SIM USA office.

Praise God!

Tonight - the night before I leave for home and dive into a crazy summer - I'm close to exhausted and unwilling to say goodbye to my friends for nearly three months. But overpowering those feelings are those of uncontainable excitement and humbling gratitude. As I look around my room, at empty drawers and packed suitcases, I am so thankful for my friends and family, everyone who has supported me in going on this trip. I stand in awe that God would not only hand me this incredible opportunity to serve Him this summer, but would also tenderly prepare me for it. Praise God for providing for me!

Thank you to everyone who has prayed for me. You have been an integral part of my preparations. Please continue to do so. I promise to keep you as up-to-date as I can manage.

I am so grateful to each person who donated to my trip. You have made a significant difference in helping me to achieve my goal and shown me what gracious giving looks like.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you.



Tomorrow I will post my schedule for the next few weeks as well as a few prayer requests.