Hiyas....

just a little note to say...I've started a new blog.  It's on wordpress, and my site name is www.everydaymiracles.wordpress.com.  It's my big girl blog.    I'll try and blog a bit on here for a while longer, but please go there and comment to your hearts content..it's nicer looking anyway.

Mwah!

Currently Reading The Ever-Loving Truth: Can Faith Thrive in a Post-Christian Culture? By Voddie, Jr. Baucham see related

Life here in the UK has been such a roller coaster ride.  When people ask me how the year has been, all I can say is that the Lord has brought me to a place where all I can do is lean on Him.  Oftentimes I find myself worried that I'm acclimating (or, as the Brits would say...acclimitising...)  to the culture, in a way that I never intended.  I'm glad and blessed that the Lord has given me patience in many areas of my life...in public transport, in the way that the culture reacts to certain situations, and in simply understanding how Britain is so different from the US.  But I do worry that this "understanding," can lead to an apathy.  It can lead to a dispassionate heart.  It can lead to that glazed over look that I see on people's faces on the bus.  That overwhelming sense of heaviness that Western Europe has like no other place on the planet has.  I began to question this when I visited London just this past week.  Passing by the homeless, and the poverty-stricken, seeing and reading about the tragedies back at home and reading about other everyday  senseless tragedies here in the UK, I questioned...how does this affect my heart?  How does my mind and what my eyes see really impact what my heart feels?  How can I be changed from the inside out?  How can I walk by people day in and day out and have a sense of passion for their heart...and empathy for wanting them...personally their heart...to know the Lord--not just the students that I minister to in my job?  I realized...the Great Commission is a calling to absolutely everyone.

Living here in the aftermath of the VT tragedy has left me anxious as an American. I want to know more information...I want to understand the details...I want to hear how people are dealing with it back at home.  I have only been getting small bits of it as headlines have been leaked bit by bit through bbc or other news agents, as I've been traveling this past week when the tragedy hit.  The shock, the utter disbelief is the only reaction that many of us, including myself had when it happened.  It leaves me only to pray, trust, and know the the Lord is above all sovereign in the midst of tragedy.  I thank God that we can look through these evils of the world and know that His goodness and His faithfulness is true. 

Thanks to all who've been praying for me lately, for my team and for Liverpool.  It has been a tough road this year and lately it has been a difficult few months, but the Lord has met me with a very refreshing week in London and some great time off.  We start back on Monday and only have a few more weeks until the year is over.  I can't believe that I've been here for almost an entire year already.  It absolutely blows my mind!  I remember back just last year when I questioned if I would even be able to get here.  I even rememeber one day, when I almost gave up all hope...my team had left for Liverpool and I was left at home...maybe not able to go at all.  But the Lord absolultey divinely provided. And here I am.  It is an absolute miracle.  This year has been absolutely one of the best of my life...while still the most challenging.  I've loved it with all of my heart.

Miss you all at home! See you soon.

Currently Listening Twelve Stops and Home By The Feeling see related

I have a prayer request. Please pray for my dear friend Marissa. I met Marissa while I was on Spring Break in Rome last year. She was then STINTing there, and was not only just a joy to be around, but it was so apparent that the Lord's love and grace was so inside of her.  Please take a minute to either read her story or say a prayer for her. She is now battling lung cancer that is extremely rare for a girl her age.

Thanks.

Currently Reading The Search For Significance: Seeing Your True Worth Through God's Eyes By Robert S. McGee see related

No, I haven't dropped off the face of the planet. 

Things on this side of the Atlantic are going pretty well.  We just had an American invasion last week, complete with crazy college students from Miami. It was pretty much totally awesome.  The kids were really encouraging and excited about sharing their faith throughout the week and it gave me a big boost when I know I needed it during these last months.  It was also really good to talk to Lindsey...she's a really good person to process stuff with that's hanging over your head.

My cousin Kim is coming to visit in less than 2 weeks! I cannot wait. I'm SO excited. Kim is totally the coolest person and I'm so excited that I get to show her around Liverpool for an entire week!  I'm really excited too that I get to take her to my church, which I'm absolutely in love with.

Oh, and I have news that's kind of a big deal...
I'm staying in Liverpool next year!

Yes, after some crazy long deliberation and lots of prayer, I've come to the decision to STINT for a second year.  It was actually a really hard choice to make, as I was deciding whether to come home and do ministry or to stay in Liverpool for a second year. I really think that right now the Lord has given me such a passion for this place that I just had to stay another year.  If you'd like some more insight as to why I made this decision, tell me and I'll let you know my thought process...   And sorry if you're a close friend and you're finding out through xanga...I really meant to tell everyone through calling them but it's been a bit difficult because a.) I don't know everyones number.... b.) people are hard to get ahold of....  c.)  i don't have enough money to call everyone I want to call.... So this will have to suffice for now.  

I've begun to read more and  more about the different religions of the world.  Right now I'm reading Today's Religions, and it's really informative (although a bit out of date) about LOTS of different religions.  Just wondering though...if anyone has any good information on Scientology or Kabbalah?  Those two aren't covered in the book but I'd love to know more about them...

I FINALLY saw Becoming Jane. I was pretty much obsessed with seeing it ever since I saw the preview for it about a month ago.  It was good, although I was a little bit disappointed.  I think just because about halfway through the movie I came to the realization that there was no way I was going to like the ending...  It was true.  I cried.  Although, I now have a crush on Mr. Tumnus (James McAvoy)  , not to be confused with his character in the movie, who I definitely do NOT have a crush on...eesh.  Long story short....go see it, although don't have high hopes for it and you'll like it more that way.  I really did like it, but I think it was because after a couple days of thinking about it I talked myself into liking it...it was a movie that made me think.  I like that.

The end.