The Lord is SO GOOD!

I am going to apologize from the beginning if this blog post is kind of sporadic, but I am just so completely overwhelmed with how much the Lord is working and moving on this project so far. He has revealed himself in mighty ways and I am getting blessed beyond belief to experience His clear love for the lost. Also, I would like to apologize for not blogging as much. Life on project goes by so fast and with being a leader I feel like it goes by even faster. I rarely have downtime from ministry, but the Lord is working in my heart so much!

So here it goes :)

My team is THE BEST. I am so in love with our team dynamic. Every woman and man on this trip is so clearly walking and loving the Lord that it is so clearly shown in how we all interact. We have been blessed with so much unity, it's crazy! I am so encouraged by my team and leaders! The Lord has overwhelmed me lately in regards to how great my family is here. I am so grateful for my brothers and sisters in Christ!

This past week we had our first discipleship time, which was amazing! Like I touched on before, the Lord is teaching me to make Him my comfort. I have been meditating on some great verses that are creating peace within me. The Lord is blessing me with His Holy Spirit and I can feel it within me, producing unexplained joy, happiness, and peace. The Lord is making me more dependent on Him and less dependent upon myself and others. I am falling back in love with the Lord and I am LOVIN' IT! :)

As many of you know, I went on this project last summer. I actually went to the same campuses that we are on. But man, it hit me on Monday when I stepped on that LaTrobe campus. This is the campus that I had my first evangelistic experience. This is the campus where I have had my most challenging conversations. This is the campus that I have seen people come to Christ. This is the campus where I made lasting friendships. This is the campus that God has placed me at once again. AH, I can't put it into words how I felt, but I basically felt the Holy Spirit living inside of me. Stirring in me a heart for the lost once again. Breaking my heart for what breaks the Lord. Giving me a vision of missions. It feels so great to be back and to be back to do His work for the Kingdom.

So day one of evangelism on LaTrobe went so great! For the first talk, I prayed over Carly & Nina who had an amazing conversation with a girl Vee who expressed interest in meeting up again and potentially joining Student Life. After this conversation, Carly & I had a semi-difficult conversation with a girl named Monty. Her responses to the survey were short but we were still able to shed some light on Christianity. She didn't want to meet up another time, but I know that the Lord is working in her heart and I just pray that something I said resonated within her heart that night. The next conversation we had was with a girl named Maddy. She alluded to some background in Catholicism but she was still seeking for community in her faith. So then we were able to talk about Student Life and how great a community that is! She gave us her contact info and we are going to be following up with her about getting involved! :) And our final girl that we were able to talk to was the most encouraging.

The Lord clearly had this conversation divinely picked out because we randomly didn't talk to 3 other girls before her. We then approached a girl and asked to do a picture survey with her. At first, she seemed to be just plainly answering the questions, not really giving any vibes that she wanted to have a longer conversation of any sort. But then, we had her pick a picture that represented her spiritual life and she picked a picture of nature. At this time, the Holy Spirit made us all of a common ground of seeing God's glory clearly in nature. After having this in common, Kat was able to open up to us more. Towards the end of the survey she started as questions about us and her attitude and vibe completely changed. She was so joyful and happy and excited to be talking to us. She expressed great interest in meeting up again, hanging out, and potentially joining student life! This was such a great encouragement to Carly and I. We just walked away from that conversation with huge smiles that stretched across our whole face. We are hoping that we get to hangout with her soon and just show her the love of Christ!

So this leads into today! Our second day evangelizing. Again, I was placed on LaTrobe's campus but with different members of our team. I went with two people, Blake and Emily. So typically when we go in a group of three, two people talk and one person prays, so that we don't overwhelm the people we are talking to. So as Blake and Emily approached a group to do a survey, I went off and prayed for their conversation. I love praying over people's conversation, I feel like a prayer warrior, fighting off the evil spirits that are trying to enter into their interaction. During my prayers for them, I felt this tug on my heart from the Holy Spirit. He was telling me to just walk and talk to someone on my own. I was super nervous, but I follow the Spirit to guide me and to give me the courage to just talk to someone. As I walked, I sat next to a girl who was reading. After I prayed for a little, I started conversation with her, letting the Spirit take the rest, and He totally did! We got in a great conversation, just about fashion, college, life, etc. Then her friend came up and continued talking to me. It was natural and fun! I was enjoying getting to know them both so much! Then Blake and Emily came and found me and we all continued to talk for about an hour! They wanted to meet up again and hangout and I am so excited to show Christ's love and joy to them again as well!

After that great conversation, I went and visited my friends who own/work at a coffee house on campus. After that, Blake & Emily had another conversation that I prayed over. Just as we were walking to talk to more people, we were actually given the best surprise of the day. WE were outreached to! Four Muslim women were doing a survey outreach and asked if we would like to do it! Of course we said yes, and after the survey just sparked a great, respectful, fun and loving conversation. We talked about Islam and Christianity and it was not in an argumentative environment at all! Blake was asking a lot of great questions regarding their faith and it was such an amazing time being able to hear their responses. One of the girls, Nisa, was like "Blake, you think you have a lot of questions, I have so many for you guys!" They were so excited to hear that we are free every day to talk. They gave us all their contact info and are very excited to meet and talk about Islam and Christianity again. Blake, Emily & I are so excited as well to get to know them and be able to profess our passion for Christianity. Overall, today was such a spirit filled day! The Lord was so present today! I am so excited for the rest of our time here!

Evangelism Day 2

What I love about all of this is that these are just highlights of my stories. And that my stories are just highlights of my WHOLE team's stories. There were so many beautiful and amazing things that have happened on this trip, and it's only been two days of evangelizing! The Lord is doing mighty mighty works in Australia!!!!

Prayer Requests

• Pray for endurance for evangelism. It is so easy to get burnt out or tired even during the day, but pray that our team will push through those feelings and continue to see the need on the campuses that we are at. Pray that we will see the need and importance of what we are doing.
• Pray for a continued love, respect and unity amongst our team. Pray that we point one another to Christ. Pray for our individual walks with the Lord, that they would continue to seek the Lord for our comfort and strength.
• Pray for the campuses of LaTrobe Bundoora, RMIT Bundoora and RMIT Brunswick. These are the three campuses that we do evangelism on and all are in major need of prayer. Pray for those in Student Life (Cru) and those who do not know Christ.

First blog of the trip!

Hi loved ones!

This is the first post that I have done since briefing and sing arriving in Australia. To first catch you all up on briefing, it can be best characterized by “unforeseen stress.” I knew going into this leadership role that it would be difficult and stretching, but briefing definitely put it into a realistic perspective. However, this unforeseen stress was a direct result of me relying upon myself to accomplish all my tasks. During our leadership training, they described some characteristics. They asked if anyone was feeling stressed, anxious, worn out, etc. All of these would have directly reflected my heart. As the talk went on, the speaker than began to tell that these are all results of a person relying upon their self rather than the Lord. I was immediately woken up to the reality that I was not giving my work unto the Lord and that was why I was feeling instantly drained.

After that message and time of reflection, there were still many things to do, but the Lord had given me a new spirit, one filled with His Holy Spirit. This has been a concept that I have been learning about while being here and I’m so excited for the Lord to reveal to me more about the Holy Spirit. Already since that meeting, the Holy Spirit is giving me peace, joy, and assurance. I am still feeling drained and tired, but the Spirit is getting me through each decision and each day. The Lord is providing in mighty ways and it took me to stop relying upon myself to really see how the Lord can practically guide my work.

He blessed me with a smooth airport experience, safe travels, and has given me wonderful Cru staff and STINTers (1yr missionaries) that have helped immensely since we’ve arrived. God is filling me with His Spirit, because we both know that when I depend upon myself for this work, I instantly feel overwhelmed, which is not what God wants me to feel.

I am writing to you during my “Date Night with Jesus” which is an extended time on Tuesday nights that we get to spend solely with the Lord. I am loving this time because these are one of the few times I have to think about financials, planning, etc. Many of the free times that the students get are instead filled with planning and figuring out our money. God has quickly revealed to me the differences in this time of ministry as compared to my time last summer. I have grown in my walk from last summer, and the Lord is teaching me new things this time around.

Right now, he is teaching my what a servant’s heart looks like. How I as a leader always have to look after the concerns of my team before my own. Also, God is showing me that I am also a servant to Nate and Jenn who are the two leaders above me. God is filling me with His Spirit which then makes me be reliant upon Him in times of decisions, conflict, my selfish nature, etc. I am learning how to find comfort in the Lord and how to find strength in His power. The more I follow God’s will for my leadership position, the more He can show his wisdom and power to me. So yeah! The Lord is doing great things in my heart and walk with Him already, and it’s only the third day! Bless the Lord, oh my soul!

The practical breakdown of my last couple days have been this:

- Sunday July 15^th: Flying in around 8:30am, finally getting out of the airport around 10am, having a surprise friend of mine Ashlee visit me right when I got out of the terminal, traveling to the Space Hotel, going on a scavenger hunt in Melbourne, having dinner with my team, grocery shopping for the week, and making myself stay up until 9:30pm in order to break jet lag (:

- Monday July 16^th: Sleeping in (becausemy body needed it), having a cultural/evangelism training by the STINTers and an Aussie that is on Student Life (Cru) staff, going to Costco with the cook team, making dinner, having a great bible study with the women, and going to sleep early!

- Tuesday July 17^th: Waking up and having a great quiet time, enjoying a wonderful devo from one of our students, traveling to RMIT Bundoora to get a tour from one of the Aussies involved with Student Life (Cru) at the Uni, doing a prayer walk around the campus, seeing kangaroos (woo!), helping the cook team prepare dinner, having date with my man Jesus, and writing this blog to update all of you wonderful folk (: When I return to the hostel we get to have our first worship/prayer session. Boy I amexcited! Nothing better than worship and prayer!

Prayer Requests:

- Pray that our team continues to bond under the common love of Christ and that no one feels excluded or left out. Pray that our team individually focuses their time this summer on their personal relationship with the Lord and falls more and more deeply in love with God. Pray that our team will continue to be vulnerable with another, edifying, encouraging, helpful, and loving. Pray that we all get our joy from Christ and continue each day with the mindset that we are His workers!

- Pray for my strength and energy level. Pray that I lean upon the Lord throughout the day and not on my own energy. I can already see how this trip is going to be tiresome, but pray that I find rest in the Lord.

- Pray for the students that are already involved with Student Life on the campuses we are going to (RMIT Bundoora and LaTrobe Bundoora). The total number of students involved at these campuses combined is less than 15. This stat breaks my heart, but it wasn’t until I heard it from our guide’s mouth today during our campus tour. Knowing that our tour guide, Bec, joined Student Life when it was 4 people shows how much encouragement these students need. The movements at these campuses are so small, and it reminds me that we are not only here in Australia to seek the lost, but to also encourage, affirm, and help the already committed.

- This week we really want to focus on team bonding and creating friendships with the students involved with Student Life already. Pray that our event with them is successful and that our team would make great relationships with the students in the movement.

Thank you all for reading my blog & taking the time to read and pray about the things I mention. I cannot thank you enough for your support in my mission’s trip. I love you all!

Here's a picture of my wonderful team!

Preparation Prayers!

Hello everyone!

I am writing this from my fellow co-leader's apartment in LA as we take a short time to be with the Lord & update our supporters on how our planning has been. Yesterday, today and tomorrow we are doing our major planning sessions and nailing down a lot of little details for our trip. I am so incredibly excited to go back but I can't help but feel overwhelmed sometimes with all the details we have to figure out. With me being the Operation Project Director my main focus is the finances, which primarily is support raising. This is definitely a stress producing task to take on but the Lord gives me strength each day to fulfill my duties. I am so blessed to be a child of God and to have a relationship with a Father who provides, guides, and fully satisfies all my needs.

You all have financially supported me and I can not describe how thankful I am for that. You all have taken steps of faith and followed the Lord's will in assisting me in my work for the kingdom. From the bottom of my heart I thank you all so much. During these final weeks of preparation, lots of prayer is needed. So another way I want to ask you to partner with me on this journey is through prayer. I am going to need some major prayer warriors before and during my trip. This blog will be a way that I can update you on specific needs for prayer. Prayer is such a powerful thing and it would truly bless our team if our trip was covered with blessings and petitions lifted to God.

Right now there are some things you can be praying for:

• That our leadership team would be fully rooted in the Lord and that God would guide our every step according to His will. In every detail, whether major or minor, pray that it would be what the Lord wants and not what our human nature wants. Pray that you would instill within the leadership team a peace that calms all anger, nervousness, and anxiety. Pray that we would take our leadership seriously and know that we are God's workmanship and that we want to surrender everything to Him.
• Pray for the few students that have not fully finished support raising. There are a few students on our team that have been immensely struggling with finishing their support. They can use all the prayer that they can get. (Also, if you would like to support them, please just let me know - any amount would help!) Pray for them to not give up, to lean fully upon the Lord and to take active steps in raising support.
• Pray for all of our team as the nerves and lies from Satan start to filter into our thoughts. As the project date gets closer, Satan tends to fill our minds with insecurity, fear, and anxiety. Pray that our team would know that the Lord we serve has power over Satan and that the Lord instills within us courage, peace, and security. We have a powerful God and pray that we don't forget that as the departing date comes closer.

There are many more prayer requests but those are the three most crucial in this time. I appreciate your active support in my missions trip and I am truly thankful to have supporters along my side to help and encourage me.

I leave for briefing on July 9th and I leave for Australia on July 13th. The day is getting closer to when I arrive back in that Aussieland and I can't wait! Ah, I love my God, He is so great and wonderful in giving me this opportunity. Thank you again (:

Cheers!

God's blessings!

"God can work, if you give him a chance." 

               Throughout this support raising process, the Lord has been teaching me a very valuable lesson: Don't limit God. What I have noticed is that I limit God daily, not just in this support raising situation. Day to day there are instances that I don't let God take full control in, there are areas of my life that I try to run myself and there are actions that I could take that I don't let the Lord guide me in. In this circumstance I'm referring to support raising. 
              Now if you didn't know; support raising is the scariest, most vulnerable and faith-testing experience that I have ever experienced. Through this time around, I have been challenged to give out more support letters before, to personally ask more friends, to ask my home church and home-away-from-home church, and to make phone calls. All of these test my in drastic ways, but God has definitely worked in each and every one. 
             My support raising goal is still very far away, however the Lord has given me little victories that make all of these struggles worth while. That's the crazy thing with support raising. Right when you feel like you have no hope, there is no way you are going to raise this much money - the Lord provides! And he doesn't do it in a way you would expect. He chooses the way you LEAST expected. The Lord is funny that way (: 
             I am seeing his blessings pour in and I am so thankful to serve a God who cares and loves me. With my church at home supporting me and my church at school supporting me, he is reminding me about the loving family community that he has immensely blessed me with. By seeing friends come alongside me on this journey, I am able to clearly see God working through them in amazing ways. With seeing my family willing to give and support me and grown me closer to them and to the Lord as a whole family. Seeing support trickle in here and there gives me the motivation to keep going and to not limit God because he can work in MIGHTY ways... if I give him a chance. So I am going to give him a chance to work in my life!
            The next practical step for me in phone calls. This is definitely not my strong point and it is the most nerve-wracking experience I have been through all of support raising. 
            Please be in prayer for the couple weeks as I continue to search for support. As one of my teammates said it "I know Lord you have that $5,200 sitting somewhere, I just have to take the steps of faith in order for you to provide it." I know He will provide, but not without effort from me as well. Please be in prayer for my fellow students; some have very little support and are in desperate need of prayer. Please be in prayer for the next weeks of planning as we start intensive planning as a leadership team! 

In a month & a half --- I'll be in Australia. 

Ah, crazy!

Hallelujah

Hallelujah what a Savior! 

Hallelujah:

Exclamation:	God be praised.
Noun:	An expression of worship or rejoicing.

"O my Strength, I sing praise to you; you, O God, are my fortress, my loving God."

(Psalm 59:17)

Lord, I praise you! You are God, you are Mighty, you are Strength, you are Love, you are Wisdom, you are many things Lord! I praise you in the time of working on Australia budget issues. I praise you in the midst of struggle, I praise you during this time because you are Worthy! 
"Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!" (Psalm 66:20)
You have not left me, you have not rejected my prayers. You have given me peace, strength, and the will to keep going. 

I love you Lord and I take this short moment in the day to say Hallelujah to Your Name! God be praised! There is no one like you God! 

Online Giving

Hey all! 
       I didn't take advantage of this last year, but there is an online way of giving directly to my Summer Project fund for Australia! Just go to this link https://give.ccci.org/give/5594860 and press give a gift! 
      The goal is still around $5,000 and I would be lying to you all if I didn't admit that it is definitely harder support raising this year. Doubts have filled my mind and stress has began to settle in my heart, but it's during these times that I'm desperately trying to cling unto the Lord. When these thoughts creep into my heart, I practice by setting my mind on things above and setting my heart on things above. I know that God is a MIGHTY God and that through my mere human eyes, yes, this goal seems impossible. But the Lord can work in amazing ways and I have to just rest on that truth that He will have His will be done. 
     I pray that those considering to give would give cheerfully and only if the Lord has placed upon your heart to give. I didn't mean for this post to be a time for complaining or begging, but rather for you all to see what truly lies in my heart. The Lord is giving me peace and rest through this process :) 

Bible verse for this post: 
"Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:6-7)

And I'm going back!

Hello to all of you who are looking at this blog for the first time! Please feel free to read past blog posts from my experiences last summer! There are options on the right-hand side of the page that give lists of months & blog posts you can read! They're filled of stories of my decision to go, my struggles & praise reports from support raising, my time in Australia, prayer requests during the time I was in country & my letter of reflection. If that sounds intimidating, please try & read the latest post Letter of Reflection.

It sums up my experience & my continuing heart for the country. The Lord left a lasting impact of Australia on my heart and now I'm getting the amazing opportunity to return! Now some of you may be asking, how did this all happen? My general answer is that it was all in the Lord's will! It was unexpected, a crazy leap of faith for me & ultimately revealed God's plan.

It starts of during Christmas break when I got an unforeseen phonecall from a staff member, Kathryn. She starts off by asking how my break is going then jumps right into the real question. She said that Cru (the Christian organization I'm involved in at UCLA) was looking for an Operations Project Director for the upcoming Australia Summer Project. I was so shocked that I didn't even realize that she was asking me to do it until she continued to say that staff had prayed about it & wanted me to be the first student that they ask. Now, let me remind you that this is during Christmas Break, aka I am NOT thinking about my summer at all! I mean I had some plans about going to Boston to earn money at a summer camp with my brother's church, but I had not seriously thought about my summer yet or made definite plans. (God's timing)

After the phone call, I prayed. I prayed for days. I prayed for clarity from God to show me what he wants me to do. At first, I was completely excited about the opportunity to return to Australia! I felt like God has kept it on my heart for a reason, but I wasn't sure why. But then, the emotions started to flood my mind. (Sorry, I'm a girl. I have to talk about emotions.) I instantly felt afraid, inadequate and lost. I felt afraid because now I was going from summer plans filled with earning money to summer plans that require me to go through the long and scary process of raising $5,000! I felt inadequate because this leadership job is in charge of all the finances and major details, (and I mean a lot here) from booking plane flights, to getting passports, to making sure all the students raise their money while at the same time I'm raising my own! I felt lost because there was absolutely no clarity in this situation. Both decisions sounded good to me, sounded like I'd be glorifying the Lord. However, Australia stuck in my mind. It was the one that was less comfortable and more of a leap of faith. (Now, I'm not saying that Australia is more spiritual than going to Boston, or that you always HAVE to pick the more uncomfortable option, but for me, I felt like God was nudging me towards Australia.)

So I did it! I accepted the position after days of praying, crying and praying again. (Remember, I'm a girl = emotions.) But now I am filled with this ambition to do this job! To lead these students and help them lean on the Lord for their financial worries. I still have many many many moments of inadequacies. There are so many forms, legal issues, contracts and excell documents that I have to learn - but it's a constant reminder that I definitely cannot do this on the Lord. It forces me to cling unto God for everything and I am incredibly thankful for the helpers he has given me in this life! (aka staff members in UCLA Cru)

So there it is! My mini-version of my story of how/why I'm going back! The Lord has given me a passion to return to Australia, to break that apathy and share the Gospel in a very spiritually dark nation. I'm still nervous about support raising, but prayer and through my work, I know He will get me through! God is SO GOOD! :)