Tomorrow is only a day away...

This time tomorrow we will be flying over the Pacific... Time at training has been amazing - you wouldn't believe the group that's been called here. PReport: I told my mom I wanted to meet more people who are real for Him (not that I don't already know some ;D), and these are they. I can't tell you enough how, just in this short time of knowing them, I feel like I'm at home with my family everytime we talk. That's so rare and such a refreshing thing. I didn't quite make a list of everyone who may have said they want to be updated with emails...so if you are one of those people, (I don't quite have the time to email everyone again to ask but I assume if you are reading this then you might be a tad bit interested :D), please email me at the new address I gave with your email address, and I'll add you to the currently very short list (so far the list includes biological family...and that's about it :D). So remember us tomorrow: there's been a ton of info for the curriculum, and a lot of us "nubes" (as my brother would call us in the video game world: "nubes" - someone new to the game, having little to no skills or experience) have been fighting the feeling of being overwhelmed. Also, for unity - "...by our love" - I've heard that they'll ask how long we've known each other. How amazing to tell them only a week when they see us act like sisters and brothers by our love! Then they'll want to know why we are so close... Also, ask for open doors, open hearts, and open minds. I love yall a lot, and I miss some of you too. ;) P.S: A team member gave me a verse out of this chapter last night...It wouldn't take long for me to just type the one verse here - but maybe you should crack it open and see for yourself what He has for those who trust Him. (Isaiah 26)

almost there...

I arrived for training yesterday and everything has been extremely exciting. It's crazy to think in very less than a week I will be stepping on China ground. The people here are amazingly diverse, and I am loving how great our Maker is in bringing all these people from around the world - one lady has come from Great Britain! My team consists of 11 people - for one woman on our team, this is her 18th time going to teach!!! The place where we are staying is gorgeous. I can see apart of the mountains from my room, and there are trees everywhere, which is particularly thrilling for me. :) This morning I was reading Philippians 3:13 - "...forgetting what is behind, and straining toward what is ahead...", and that is what I strive to do. Here's a little of what I learned about what it means to strain for what is ahead: 1) you, of course, have to follow the beginning of the verse, and forget what is behind. 2) you have to believe that something good lies ahead!! (Romans 8:28) 3) you have to not allow anything to distract you (Hebrews 12:1-2) 4) you have to know where you're supposed to step (Isaiah 30:21) 5) you have step!!! Just so you know, I will officially be in China on Thursday of next week. You all are constantly in my thoughts. Please be lifting up my team members and I - for unity and the ability to adapt to the vastly changing environments. All I can say for now really is how much I anticipate and absolutely cannot (but for now, will have to) wait to meet my students and see this amazing country. I've been told by several people that I will be a completely different person upon returning in August. I am excited and desperately desire and anticipate for Him to mold me tremendously through this experience. "For the Lord is the Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His likeness with an ever-increasing glory which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." (2 Corinthians 3:17-18)

are You sure I'm ready?...

So I leave tomorrow morning at 6:00 a.m.. Actually, I leave to go to the airport at 3:30 a.m., which is kind of exciting. I just wanted to throw something out there before I leave. Have you ever felt like you are just about to be led up to the frontlines, completely unready? See you can be fully armed and equipped, but we all know when it all begins even if you have the best armor in the world, if you're not ready to boldly step forward and use it then you might as well throw it off and run. I've been struggling with that for quite sometime now - not insecure in my armor but insecure in my ability to use it when the time comes. As kind of a defense mechanism to dealing with this insecurity, I'd chosen to just forget the whole idea of the frontlines. BIG mistake. The frontlines don't wait for you to feel ready. And if the frontlines don't wait for you to feel ready, then that must mean the enemy doesn't wait for you to feel ready! So where did this struggle leave me? Right in the middle of a thick and awesome cloud of power from Him. The cloud swirled around me and I saw in it the times that I've fallen, and He's lifted me. There were the times when I'd been beaten, and He'd healed me - scared, and He comforted me. You know when you look at a picture of you and a few friends? What's the first thing you look at? Somewhere a speaker once said it's most likely yourself. So my choice in looking at these pictures, this reel of my short lifetime swirling all around me was this: to a) look at myself (weak and wounded, inconsistent, faulty, crippled...) or to b) look at Him - mighty...strong...endlessly wise...constant... So, in one of those rare moments in life, I chose the wise decision, and took my focus from myself and put it on the One who has sustained me. You know a garden spade becomes a mighty tool when it is placed in the hands of a strong gardener. How ridiculous would it be for that spade to fear that it isn't strong enough to cut the dirt? See, the strength needed to cut the dirt comes directly from the push of the Gardener's arm. The spade's job is simply to surrender itself to the Gardener's hand, sit back, and find joy in the flowers being planted. "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for [He] will be with you wherever you go." (Joshua 1:9)

17 days and counting...

Our Father is truly in control of all things!!! So something amazing that I have to share: I was calling around to get my passport thing settled, and I spoke to this guy who told me that he'd make a call so that I should receive it the day before I needed to turn it in to apply for a visa. So when that day came and I still didn't receive a passport, I called the passport information hotline for probably the 87th time. I spoke to a woman this time who told me that I would probably never receive my original passport - that when the passport agency gets a passport sent back to them, they shred it - so really, I needed to fill out paperwork to let them know I didn't receive it and fill out more paperwork to apply to have one reissued. So when I hung up with her, I was discouraged and began to think I'd never make it to Asia - that I had heard wrong and I didn't belong across the world this summer. But then when I realized how far He'd brought me through this process I spoke to the Father saying "You have not brought me this far, provided this much, to lead me nowhere." The next day I received a phone call from the Houston Passport Agency themselves. They wanted to inform me that they had sent out my passport, overnighted, and I should receive it the next day (and I did). So all this to say that He is faithful. Over and over again, He is faithful. Too often we forget how powerful and serious He is. He is an unchanging rock, the Author who has known the way from the beginning. I was at the store several nights ago and was struggling with all these uncertainties. As I walked out of the store, the Author told me to look for the moon. I looked, but I couldn't find it. Looking down again, I imagined that I was crazy and had not heard right. But then I looked up again, and there it was in the exact place that I had just searched. It was just a sliver of the moon, but it shone as bright as ever. And He began to speak to me saying, "sometimes you won't see the picture, and sometimes you'll see just a part of the picture, - but realize, I see the whole picture, because I'm the one that created it." After I climbed into my car, I looked back up at the sky and the moon was gone, and I smiled. "Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will stand..." (Isaiah 14:24,26-27)