Well, I am really not in Timbuktu even though it seems like you may be playing the "Where in the world is Emily right now" card. I am going to start being better with blogging so you can keep up with me.
Two weeks ago, I had the privilidge of leading a mission team to Hilton Head Island, SC and I wanted to share with you a couple of the stories from that week. I saw God do some amazing things and here are a couple of them.
Just over five months ago, I came home from the World Race. An experience that radically changed the way I live my life day to day. Since I have been home I have been hearing God telling me to go, to move. But when I would ask where, I would get no answer. This made me frustrated and all too often I was letting the devil whisper into my ear that I wasn't good enough. I was slowly slipping into my old habits and not really caring anymore.
Back in November, I went to Georgia for a wedding and as I was down in Georgia, I was able to talk to some people that work at AIM (Adventures in Missions) about how I was feeling and what I could do next. Life was spoken into me and I was also encouraged to come join the team down at AIM for a season. When December rolled around, I was ready to go, to move, to become more of the person that God created me to be, and to be more confident in the gifts that God has given me. The devil is not going to hold me back anymore because I am God's Chosen.
I decided to step out in faith not knowing exactly what this next season would look like or what exactly I would be doing. On January 6th, I moved down to Gainesville, Georgia and on the 9th, I started an intership with AIM. With a bit of shuffling and trying to figure out what department I was going to work in, I was finally placed in Adventures Encounter. I trust that God has placed me exactly where He wants me.
In the Encounter program, I will be developing short term, family and custom mission trips. The Encounter program gives people an amazing opportunity to step out of the American life style, having their hearts broken for the people of this world. They will find an avenue to explore their calling, passion, experience adventure, and develop a deeper relationship with Christ.
I am excited for what this next season holds for me but I cannot do this alone.
Here are some ways that you can get involved:
1. Prayer: Partner with in prayer, the Lord is amazing and listens when we pray.
2. Support: I will be 100% support raised as an intern with AIM. My goal is to raise $1500 a month in support. This will cover things like rent, food, gas, and other necessities. I am looking for one time donations or if so lead, monthly donors (preferred). Please pray about God's plan for you joining of my team of supporters. Look below to see how you can support me.
3. Share: Share the vision of missions with others, by sharing my story, others can get involved. God may use this as an opportunity to inspire others to explore Adventures in Missions. The organization offers oll kinds of opportunities for those interested in spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
4. Keep updated: I will continue to post blogs on this site. Make sure you check out what God is doing in my life. Post messages to me, I love hearing from friends and family.
Thank you for taking the time to read this post. Please be praying and ask the Lord how you can get involved.
Has God placed on your heart to do something more?
Something Bigger?
The world tells us to go to college, get a job, start a family, and so on. But God has so much more for us and few of us actually reach out for those massive dreams that He has placed in us from a very young age. Sometimes we get stuck in the patterns of this world and we don't even know it.
We all have dreams. One of my dreams as a small child was to be a princess. As I may not be a princess according to the world's standards, I am very much a princess to God because I am a daughter of the Most High King and so are you.
I came to searchlight saying that I know I have a dream but I have no clue what it is or where to even start. Coming to searchlight has allowed me to explore some of my passions by getting connected to other people that have similar passions. My next season of life is going to be partnering with these people so that I may explore my passions and have a better idea of what my dream is to bring God's kingdom to earth.
I believe that we all have a Kingdom Dream and if you don't know what I mean by a Kinddom Dream, I encourage you to check out the Kingdom Dream website. http://www.kingdom-dreams.org/
I also challenge you to step out of your comfort zone and see what God has for you. I consider myself privlaged for be able to go around the world and experience God first hand what He is doing all over the place.
Sometimes I wonder why my mind goes into thinking negatively about who I am in Christ. Satan wants to take my freedom away and I will not let him because I know the truth. I am thankful that God wrote down His promises to us that we can use to fight the devil, to claim our freedom and to be encouraged.
When I was in Thialand, I saw this on one of the walls where we were staying and this morning God reminded me of it and now I want to pass it along to you. Let the truth soak in and say God's truth out loud if you have to. These are just a few of His promises.
You Say and God Says
You say, "It's impossible"
God says, "All things are possible (Luke 18:27)"
You say, "I'm too tired"
God says, "I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28-30)"
You say, "Nobody really loves me"
God says, "I love you (John 3:16, John 3:34)"
You say, "I can't go on"
God says, "My grace is sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:9, Psalm 91:15)
You say, "I can't figure things out"
God says, "I will direct your steps (Proverbs 3:5-6)"
You say, "I can't do it"
God says, "You can do all things (Philippians 4:13)"
You say, "I'm not able"
God says, "I am able (2 Corinthians 9:8)"
You say, "It's not worth it"
God says, "It will be worth it (Romans 8:28)"
You say, "I can't forgive myself"
God says, "I forgive you (1 John 1:9, Romans 8:1)"
You say, "I can't manage"
God says, "I will supply all your needs (Philippians 4:19)"
You say, "I'm afraid"
God says, "I have not given you a spirit of fear (2 Timothy 1:7)
You say, "I'm always worried and frustrated"
God says, "Cast all your cares on ME (1 Peter 5:7)"
You say, "I don't have enough faith"
God says, "I've given everyone a measure of faith (Romans 12:3)"
You say, "I'm not smart enough"
God says, "I give you wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:30)"
You say, "I feel all alone"
God says, "I will never leave you or forsake you (Hebrews 13:5)"
I realized that I have been home in the United States for over 2 months now and I have not even notifed you that I am safely home. How can I forget to inform the people that supported me both financially and through prayers during my entire jorney around the world.
I ask for forgiveness as I have forgotten to inform you of anything since I have been home. Who am I to be worthy of this but through the Father's grace I am forgiven so I hope that you can forgive me also.
The month of August was spent resting, processing the last year, and trying to reacclimate to life back in America. I can tell you that it almost feels weird being back home in America. Life itself is just so much more fast past here and people seem to always be on the go. I miss the simple lifestyle that I saw all around the world. The lifestyle that doesn't require "things" to be happy. The lifestyle of always having time for visitors because everything else will get put aside.
The month of September I went down to Georgia for just over two weeks. I attended the Awakening which was an alumni gathering. Here, my spirit was awaken to what God has called me to do. He has not called me to do nothing but instead told me to move. After the awakening, I stayed for searchlight. Searchlight is a process of helping one move forward in their kingdom dream. To do the things that God has called us to do. During this week, God was telling me to go. Right now I am in the process of figuring out where to go and where to move. I have begun filling out a few applications for apprentiships and mission trips and I am ready for this next season of life.
Pray for direction as I move into this next season of life. That I won't quit moving forward and that God will continue to use me in big ways.
Here I am in my last month in Ukraine about 25 miles from the Russian boarder. I am so excited to go home and see all of my family and friends, but I can not loose sight of what God is doing here in Ukraine.
My team is blessed being in a home of American missionaries for our last month on this race. It has been a blessing being able to talk to the entire family without an interpreter or playing sherades to comunicate. It is also been the start of our transition as we get ready to enter back into America which is now a foreign land to us now that we have been gone for almost a year.
The first two weeks that we were here, we did a couple of softball camps. We brought bats, balls, and gloves and taught people of all ages how to play softball.
As the first week of softball was rained out a couple of days, we still managed to play with the people of the area. Everyone seemed to enjoy learning how to play. We started to teach them how to catch with the glove and while we played catch, we were able to get to talk with the kids that came to play.
We then taught how to hit the ball and run to first base.
By the end of the week, we were able to do American's verses a Ukraine Team and we had lots of fun.
Everyday, we would take breaks and share who we are and why we were here playing with them. Also, every night we would set up a projector and screen and show a movie that has strong Christian values. At the end of the second week we did a chilly feed and invited them out to the church the next day to try to get the young people hooked up with the church. On Saturday, we had invited people to come out to the church, the turn out was great and I give all the glory to God. I pray that these young people that came out to the church will experience God's love.
7:00am - Get woken up by Team Zion running into our room and proceeding to jump on top of us to give us hugs
7:10am - I debate weather or not of going back to sleep for breakfast isn't for another two hours
7:20am - Decide to get up and finish packing for our travels to the Ukraine
9:00am - Devotions done, showered, working on packing and roaming around on the internet
9:45am - Team is deciding to go on a last minute shopping trip for shoes.
10:30am - in a taxi with my
team mates going shopping.
12:45pm - in a taxi on our way home, ended up buying one pair of shoes and had good team bonding.
1pm - other teams have arrived at our house, we greet everyone and I begin to pack for real.
2pm - lunch time
2:45pm - continue packing
3:30pm - attempt to take a
nap because I'm exhausted, fail! the Romanian boys that help out at the
house are coming up the stairs yelling for our attention, I can't ignore
them its our last day with them, they have yet another chocolate bar
for each of us.
4pm - Lacey and I go to the kitchen to pack food for our journey. Our contact did not want us to go hungry and we ended up with more food then we ever imangined.
5pm - the taxis are here to
take us to the train station. I get one of
the boys to help carry my outrageously heavy bag down the 3 flights of
stairs, say goodbye to the other teams, give hugs to all our Romanian
friends and take some last min photos.
5:40pm - we arrive at the
train station and here we are 4 girls with a lot of luggage, including a
huge grocery bag of food each from our contact, traveling on our own
for the first time and already we have drunks trying to offer to help. I
begin praying.
6pm - we make our way with
multiple trips to our train lane after inquiring from a number of people
if we have the right spot because nothing is in English. We say a prayer
for safe travels.
6:15pm - Leyna realizes
she has forgotten her phone charger and the phone is dead. Leyna and I take off to find a place to buy a new one and possible charge the
phone. Lace and Shannon are left with the bags and while sitting there realize
that they both forgot to grab our laundry and are now down to half the
amount of underwear they had.
6:37pm - our train arrives, Leyna, Lacey and I take some of the bags and go to find our car while Shannon is left with the rest of the bags and it takes us forever.
6:50pm - Leyna and I return, out of breath, we are like the furthest wagon away and we
still have 3 big bags and 5 min before the train leaves
7pm - we make it, no thanks to any of the train workers who just sternly told us to hurry as we struggled by. We are all out of breath and sweating buckets, we feel as though we are back in India!
7:20pm - the train is
moving and with much difficulty we have managed to organize our bags and
are now desperately trying to open our window, only to find out ours is
the only one on the whole wagon that doesn't open. We make our way to
another one to cool off and try stop sweating.
8:30pm - we meet our
neighbors, they are a youth group from Ireland heading to Moldova on a
mission trip, their leader is actually Canadian but lives in Ireland
with his family, what a lovely surprise.
10pm - Eaten a supper of
yogurt, cheese, fruit, and crackers from our over sized food bags.
Somewhat cooled off and we decide to put on a movie. I fell asleep
before it even started.
25 June 2011
3:30am - The Irish/Canadian
youth pastor is standing at our door with a man in uniform translating
that they are asking for our passports. We all groggly search for them
and give them to him, he checks them and hands them back.
3:45am - The pastor comes
back and says he's not sure if he got his translation right, but either
we are going to be stopped for 3hrs or we need to show our passports 3
times. we thank him.
4am- Leyna tells Lacey that
Michael had called and the Romanian boys had put a salamander in her
purse, Lacey hears wrong, and says in shock - "there's a sound chip in
my purse? They're recording everything I say? Why would anyone do that?"
Leyna says "No, a salamander" Lacey calms down and
says "oh" as she continues to eat her crackers (I don't even know what a
salamander is but I'm to tired to ask)
8:30am - my alarm goes off,
its time to get ready to get off the train, we struggle to get all the
bags in a place where we can grab them and wait.
9:15am - we are in
Moldova, and its freezing, we thank the youth group from Ireland for
their help carrying our bags off the train and dig for our fleece
jackets in our pile of bags.
9:30am - Leyna and Shannon leave
Lacey and I with the bags as they go try to figure out our next train.
We arrive at the information desk, where we are pretty much rudely
informed that the lady only speaks Romanian, Russian and French and
there is no one who speaks English so no she cannot help us. So we leave
to get our pad of paper with what we thought our train schedule was. We
find a girl that speaks English and Romanian, she agrees to help us.
10:45am - after a very
painful process including withdrawing Moldovian Lei to pay for tickets
that we had already paid for, and a lot of eye rolling by the information
lady we finally have it all figured out.
11am - the train arrives,
Shannon and I, tickets in hand and big bags on our shoulders go to find
our wagon because we cannot read the ticket. We get sent back and forth,
back and forth and finally someone decides on wagon 9, so Lacey and
Leyna make their way over. Only to have 3 or more people (including the
information lady) arguing over what we are actually supposed to be
doing, our English speaking friend has left and all we have is a girl
who just keeps saying our tickets are bus tickets.
11:35am - the train is about
to leave and we are still not on the train and they are still arguing,
we decide just to get on the train, we pile onto wagon 9 with no help
form the 10+ onlookers. Just in time! and as the train is pulling off we
find out we should be in wagon 25!!! We sigh and the we take all the
small bags and start walking to number 25 as Shannon stay with the big bags.
12pm - Leyna and I return to Shannon to say that we only made it to wagon number 16 and think we
should just take our stuff and pick an empty spot closer by then going
all the way to 25, so that's what we do. Leyna stays with the stuff in
wagon 11 and Shannon and I walk to 16 to get Lacey and the small bags. To
find Lacey, talking to some guy who's telling us to go with him to other
Americans. Shannon follows this guy all the way to wagon 25! We arrive and
there are two younger guys one is American, he can speak Russian really
well. We explain our situation for him to interpret and that we would
really rather just stay where we are because our bags are so big and
there is an empty spot. They kindly inform us that we absolutely have to
come all the way to wagon 25 as the train separates and if we are not on
the right wagon we will go to the wrong place. Only to later find out
the not so nice lady at the information booth in Moldova had sold us
tickets to POLAND! and it really probably didn't matter which cart we
were in, regardless they insisted we had to move to wagon 25 The two English speaking guys kindly offer to help us with our bags, we readily
accept their offer.
1pm - we are finally
settled in our compartment - we are all so tired! We take time to pray
and thank God that we have made it onto the train and for all the people
that helped us. We spend the rest of our afternoon reading, sleeping,
eating and just trying to relax. The train stops at the border crossing
we get another stamp in our passports as we enter Ukraine.
9pm - we begin to get ready to get off the train, dreading what this transfer will look like, its pouring rain and its dark outside
9:55pm - the conductor on
our wagon has been super nice and helpful, and he points us in the
right direction as we got off the train. We have managed to organize our
stuff now that we can carry it all in one heavy trip.
10:15pm - We find
ourselves in the same dilemma as the last train station - no one speaks
any English at all and there is a crowd at the info/ticket window. But
thankfully the lady at the window is very sweet and really trying to
help us. Then a lady with very limited English appears next to us. With
a lot of hand and body motions we finally straighten out what we need.
Only to discover they need more money from us, there are no ATM's or
exchange places in sight, we are stuck! The lady with the limited English kindly offers to exchange our USD from her own purse, wow what a
blessing. We think we are all set until we see that it doesn't tell us
what lane the train is going to be on, they kindly inform us we just
have to listen, they will announce it over the PA 30min before it
leaves, this is a huge problem as we know no Russian or Ukranian, so our
kind limited English lady attempts to teach us #1-5 in both languages
to try help us.
10:40pm - we have found some
shelter from the rain right in front of the staff lounge as we pray we
will be able to understand when they call for our train.
11:10pm - we think that we
haven't heard them announce our train yet until a man in uniform
indicates for us to follow him, he helps us carry our bags and takes us
through an underground tunnel to a track that I am sure we wouldn't have
found on our own. We wait for a couple min and the train arrives and
our helpful train worker takes us right to the wagon we need to be on.
11:47pm -The
train is leaving, and there is confusion as to where our beds are,
finally they put us in 3 different compartments with strangers and all
on top bunks that you can't do anything but lay down in. A really kind
gentleman helps us all put our huge, heavy bags on the top shelves, and
then he made our beds.
26 June 2011
12:30am - I curled up on my bed in a compartment fill of strangers with my arms tightly secured around my back pack and fell asleep.
8am - woke up, ate a
breakfast of carrots, an apple and crackers (all that was left in my
food bag) while hunched over awkwardly in my top bunk.
12pm - my book is
finished, I've watched a movie and I have a huge kink in my neck I crawl
out of my bunk and go visit the girls and use the disgusting bathroom
that dumps all the sewage onto the tracks.
3:30pm - we anxiously get ready to get off of the train and to have this journey over with.
4:10pm - Lacey has some
random guy helping her with her bag and we are walking along the
platform looking for our contact. I over hear someone say "Americans?
English?" and turn to see the friendly face of the man who is our
contact for the month.
7pm - we arrive at the
house that will be home for the next month and are greeted warmly by the
family and warm bowl of bourch (Ukrainian soup) and our travel days are finally over for the time being.
When I started this journey last July down in Georgia, I was told, "If you want to change the world, you have to first change yourself." One may ask what this may look like. Well it looks different for each and every person.
"Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, your are the potter; we are all the work of your hand." Isaiah 64:8
When this journey started, I began asking God what He wanted to change with me and that He would bring those things out of my heart and to the surface. I am the clay and I wanted God to mold me into the person that He wants me to be.
The first couple of months, I dealt with some rejection from my past and it was so encouraging to know that Christ was also rejected. Christ knew exactly what I had gone through and He knew what it felt like. I no longer feel rejected and know that I am accepted by Christ.
"But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him." Jeremiah 18:4
I continued to ask God what areas He wanted to change in me and He brought up all these fears that were holding me back. I started laying down my fears to both God and my teammates so they could pray for me. As the month went by, I began to not be afraid of what others thought and started to open up. I felt lighter and more joyful.
"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." 1 John 4:18
Now when things come my way, I do something that we call confuse the enemy and give God thanks for everything (good and bad). The enemy can't win because God is bigger. Jesus defeated the enemy when he died on the cross and rose again.
I can't say that I have it all together, but I can boast in my weakness because God will make me strong in my weakness. God works in us when we are willing to let him and the result will make you a stronger person in Christ.
"Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. " 2 Corinthians 12:8-10
So the choice is up to you. You can choose what you know to be good or you can give your "good" over to God and ask for something better. I challenge you to ask God what it is that you need to give up even if it may already look good from your point of view.
Well, I am now in Bucharest, Romania staying at a place called Casa Shalom ("House of Peace"). It is a home that was founded by a woman by the name of Becky. This home was built for orphans and gave these children a sense of belonging and it was a place for children to grow in the love of Jesus.
Becky has 30 years under her belt following God's call for her life. She has amazing stories and she has been quit the inspiration to me and my teammates as she tells of how it all started. If you would like to know more about Becky and Casa Shalom, please visit http://www.misslink.org/casa/
Our first week with Becky was a busy one setting up for a flea market. On the property of Casa Shalom, there are two freight cars filled with donated clothes, home items, furniture, toys, and much more. Our job was to take the boxes from the freight car and bring them to the respected area to be put on display.
Another job we had to get ready for the flea market was to sort through the boxes. Clothes would be separated into children's, women's, men's, and sorted by pants and shirt. Shoes would just go into a pile in the back for the time being. As we sorted through things, of course we were on the look out for things that we would wear or things that were picture worthy. And of course we also tried to make the most riduculous outfits out of the pieces we could find.
On Thursday, we begin to set things up outside. And we were in charge of setting up the shoes, which meant that we had to find the shoes that belonged together to make pairs. It is not as bad as it seems sorting through about 20 boxes of shoes in all shapes and colors.
Becky's yard soon turns into a giant yard sale. Bikes begin to be lined up, furniture is making it way out, and so much other stuff waiting to be sold and to find a new home.
Inside the shed, there are piles and piles of clothes.
Inside the church is all of the toys and linens.
Friday and Saturday were both good days. The sale brought in somewhere around $6,000. God definately provided for Casa Shalom just as He always has and always will. Below are some pictures from the sale.
