Image this: You jump down into a cement ditch and crawl through a long, dark tunnel. Once through you come to another dark tunnel -except this one is filled with mud, rocks and scum up to your shins. There are HUGE spiders everywhere, who- knows-what creepy crawly critters in the water/gook you are standing in, and lizards running around.  Now you are given shovels, a wheelbarrow and a pick-ax and told that you are going to clear out EVERYTHING ---What do you do?

              A.) Run Away really fast

B              B.) Cry

C            C.) Look at the person like they are crazy

               D.)   sing merrily while you work away at it

As must as I wanted to do options A, B and C I chose to happily sing my way through it. The people of Mitchelton, Australia have been complaining about their waterways never being cleared out. They are supposed to prevent flooding, but with all the backed up mud it is not efficient. The government has not done anything to help the matter so our team decided to take it upon ourselves to get things done.

Now I am NOT a manual labor type of person. While my family would go outside to do yard/garden work I would alwasy stay inside and do house work. Although the job seemed impossible and the mud was never ending we began to shovel. And we continued to shovel and shovel and shovel and shovel some more. We broke up the monotony by singing, playing would you rather and asking each other ridiculous questions. It was a good team boding time. I got my first blister from shoveling (actually 3 of them).
      

 

      

I have had my share of struggles during the first 2 weeks we have been in New Zealand. First is homesickness. I have been trying to run away from my little town in Shippensburg, Pennyslvania for the past 3 years. I had finally learned to be content...I had a good job, some new friends, and a perfect boyfriend. As soon as I was satisfied, God asked me to abandon my life, pack everything into one bag and travel the world doing missions for a year. Dont get me wrong, traveling the world has its perks...seeing new landscapes, experiencing new cultures, creating new relationships...but ABANDONMENT is a hard thing to do, especially if your life had just begun to FINALLY fall in place.

I haven been batteling homesickness as it hits me in tidal waves. Sometimes I do great, other times I'm an emotional disaster...depends on the day or hour you ask me. The thought of being away for 10 more months is sometimes to much to bear. I have been doing A LOT better due to a lot of prayer and support from my group members. Besides, how blessed am I that God chose ME to be his hands and feet in 11 differnt countries!!

Now about that hands and feet of God thing...that is another struggle of mine. Sometimes I feel like I am not  as "gifted" as other christains.  I've never healed anyone, I'm not good at sermons (or even praying out loud for that matter), I dont have a lot of experience in prophecy and I've never even led anyone to Christ. During the Soul Survivor festival our group was working at one of the sermons talked about ability Vs. Availability.  Look at the people God used in the bible.

Noah was a drunk                                                                           Isaiah preached naked

Abraham was too old                                                                    Jonah ran from God

Isaac was a daydreamer                                                              Naomi was a widow

Jacob was a liar                                                                                                Job went bankrubt

Joseph was abused                                                                         John the Babtist ate bugs

Moses had a stuttering problem                                                               Peter denied Christ

Gideon was afraid                                                                           The disciples fell asleep while praying

Samson was a womanizer                                                           Martha worried about everything

Rahab was a prostitute                                                                 Zacchaeus was too small

Jeremiah and Timothy were too young                                  Paul was to religious

David was a murder and had an affair                                   The samaritan woman divorced more than once

Elijah was suicidal                                                                            Lazarus was dead

I realized "you know what, the same spirit that lived in Jesus Christ lives in ME and God can use me just as well as he can use anyone else." It is not about our perceived ability but about our availibility to God.  I have a calling and God WILL use me this year during the World Race. I will be part of the kingdom and a servant to God. I may not feel gifted but I AM and I know God will begin to reveal more to me as I continue this journey. It might not be an easy road and will be full of ups and downs but its the road God chose for me and I am willing to embrace that. I'm not going to look back but I"m going to look forward at what God has in store for me.

And the journey begins...

We are officially in New Zealand!!!  All of the stories you have heard about the landscape and weather being perfect and beautiful are most certainly TRUE. Is is nice to have summer weather again. We are located in Crystal Springs, Matamata (near where the hobbit town of Lord of the Rings was filmed). It was good to be reunited with everyone again since being at training camp.  We will be staying here in crystal springs until Saturday and then our teams will be shipped off to different locations to begin our ministry!  Being in New Zealand is surreal. I always KNEW this day would come...where I would abandon everything and pack my life into one backpack to travel the world doing whatever God had in store for me...but I never actually THOUGHT the day would come.  As I counted down the days until my launch it became more and more real. Now that I am actually here it is hard to believe that everything is begining to happen. I am sad to leave my friends and family at home but excited to see what God has in store for me.  

I will not have access to internet for the next 3-7 days. I will keep everyone posted whenever I can. Please continue to keep me and my team in your prayers. We all need a lot of strength to get through these first couple weeks of being away from home.  Thank you again to all the supporters who helped make this happen. I would not be here right now if it weren't for you!! 

Hello!

I would like to share with you an exciting new adventure taking place in my life. Since graduating high school in 2006, I have been praying very hard for direction of where to go and what to do. What should I major in if I stay in school? Should I get a full time job instead? I began feeling a pull to do ministry. I found out about The World Race from a missionary friend and my heart jumped when I began researching the program. I began to get excited as I felt God leading me in the direction of overseas missions. The World Race is a missions trip offered by Adventures In Missions. If you would like to know more about this organization you can check out their website at www.theworldrace.org. 

I believe this was God's answer to my prayers and since getting accepted into the program I am feeling like my life is going in the right direction. With The World Race, I will be traveling to 11 countries in 11 months! New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Kenya, Uganda, Romania, Ukraine and two countries that are currently unknown. 

During my time on the mission field I will find myself participating in many different ministries. Working in orphanages, organizing Bible schools , helping young prostitutes, cleaning toilets...only God knows exactly what I'll be doing every step of the way. I am very excited to let His plans unfold and use me in any way He wants. (even if it is cleaning out toilets :)

My desire is to not just go to church every Sunday but to actually learn how to BE the church.  To show God's love through my actions and attitude. I have always had an interest in other cultures and I am humbled when I see people who have nothing still hunger for God. I have a heart for children and can't wait to share a hug with some of the orphans that I know I will be in contact with. I also look forward to seeing a change in my own relationship with God. I know He will stretch, tear, rebuild, teach and humble me. I am sure it will be a challenging adventure but I really believe it will be a rewarding one.

I earnestly ask for your prayers as I "run the race". Prayers for health and safety, prayers for strength and perseverance and most of all prayers for those who our teams will be reaching out to.

Now comes the hard part for me. I have entered into this adventure late in the year and I need to raise the finances to leave January of 2010. That is only three months away. I am selling my car to make the first deposit. However, I will need about $15,000 to cover my expenses for the year. So, I am humbly asking you to consider supporting me for this trip. (See, the Lord is humbling me already.) This money goes directly to Adventures in Missions. You could also choose to be a monthly supporter. (example: if 20 people pledge $50.00 a month that is $11,000.) Not only will you be supporting me, but through me you will be giving to the poor and needy, the fatherless and the widow. That can only make Jesus happy.

I am looking forward to meeting new people from around the world and allowing God to use me to show His love to others. I believe that through this experience He will teach me so many new things. 

I will be sending out further newsletters and information to those who support me in prayer and financially so you can journey with me. If you would like to talk to me or contact me, my phone numbers are 423-5945 and 377-6655.

Thank you so much.

With Love and Blessings,

• To learn how to clearly hear God's voice
• To create a more intimate relationship with God
• To heal the sick
• To play with the orphans
• To reach out to the needy and oppressed
• To teach God's word
• To love other's with all that I can give
• To become the hands and feet of Jesus
• To learn community and how important it is
• To become more selfless
• To build relationships with my team and all the  people I come in contact with
• To be put out of my comfort zone all the time
• To become frustrated at times and learn how to work through my fears and hard times
• To want my bed
• To really want american food and a hot shower
• To experience a bunch of different cultures and learn how to adapt to each one differently
• To be humbled by the poor
• To experience a great adventure
• To become home sick at times