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! :)

Letter of Reflection

During debrief we had this lovely family of missionaries through Campus Crusade in Australia host us. They had a section of celebration, conflict resolution, encouragement & applying what we had learned here back at the States. During one of the sections, they had us reflect on what God has taught us & what God is calling us to take out of this trip. We wrote it on this paper that they would send back to us in 3 months. I wanted to share with you guys what I have learned.

When applying for Australia summer project, I didn’t even understand how much God would change me in the course of six weeks. I remember praying that God would reveal himself to me & change the areas of my life that He wants to make more like Him.

Before leaving for this trip, I had a fear of randomly sharing the Gospel with strangers. I felt like a secret agent looking for people are sitting alone so I can attack. Kind of lame picture to illustrate but I just really wasn’t comfortable with just going up to people even if it was to say the Gospel. However, since God is mysterious in His ways, I was given Outreach leader at UCLA. The upcoming sophomores can apply to a couple of different leadership areas and outreach was definitely not on my list. However, the staff that was choosing the leaders saw something in me. They saw my love for others and felt that I would be perfect for outreach. I prayed about it a lot and felt like God was saying “Trust me, I got this.” So there ya go! I accepted to be outreach leader despite my fear of actually doing outreach – crazy huh?

Oh don’t you worry, it gets crazier. So with being afraid to do outreach I apply to a summer project aka six weeks of doing outreach. God put Australia on my heart & by the grace of God I got in! Support raising was a huge trusting discipline that God has definitely taught me. You can read my other blogs to see how that process was (: Now back to Australia.

This has been the biggest amount of growth in faith since I decided to take my spiritual walk seriously in high school. These past six weeks will affect the rest of my life.

In Australia, I have learned the importance of keeping Him first. This might seem like a simple concept, but it definitely isn’t. I have realized that I have made so many idols in my life. What hit me is that God has blessed me with good things even biblical things – but those have become idols in my life. Friendship, biblical knowledge, relationships, academics, etc. All of these things are good but not better than God Himself.

Through putting Him first multiple truths and disciplines have been applied to my life. Most importantly for me, I have learned the power of prayer. Prayer has been a constant theme even starting at the support raising process. On project prayer has been key component of our spiritual strength as a team and myself as an individual. This summer when I earnestly prayed with my whole heart – He answered. I prayed for support to come in and money from people I least suspected came in. I prayed that He would reveal a glimpse of Himself to me and when He did I suddenly had this craving to read and study the Bible. I prayed that my fear of evangelizing would disappear and He gave me a new heart for the lost, gave me an eternity mindset and gave me courage to go up to random people to share the Gospel. I prayed that I wouldn’t miss my family, friends and boyfriend as much as I was and He reminded me that HE is my home, my father, my husband and my friend. I prayed for salvation on La Trobe campus and through His power four people came to Christ! I prayed for lasting relationships to be created on this trip and He blessed me with Pauline, Jerusha, Nina, Michelle & EVERYONE on my team. I prayed for Him to reveal to me what surrender looks like and He is current revealing that to me. He has shown me that I can dedicate my time at UCLA to striving after Him through outreach team, classes, working at Jimmys coffee, my relationship with Nate, with the freshman class, with my family & so much more.

This is just a glimpse of the things God has taught me over this summer. Not to mention all the things I learned about my faith when I was sharing on campus, organizing the One Question event, worshipping with my team, reading the Word in my bible study, studying the Word during date nights with Jesus, etc. This trip is so hard to put in words and I know that even if I was more eloquent with my speech – no one else would be able to understand how much God has shaped my life through this project.

It doesn’t stay here in Australia. I now have this new heart for the Lord. A heart that craves for Him. A heart that earnestly wants to strive after Him. I know that I’m not perfect & I will slip up – but now I have this new mindset. A new mindset regarding my personal faith & regarding my relationship with others. Through seeing so much apathy in Australia, I am urged to break down that apathy at UCLA next year! I know I can’t do that on my own strength, but the Lord is with me. If God is with me, whom shall I fear?! This project has created a fire within me – a fire burning for Him. I know I’m prone to wander, Lord knows I feel it, but I pray that He takes my heart and seals it with His. God is my FATHER, PROVIDER, and FRIEND. He is even more than just that! But that is what He has shown me in this short time.

I am sad to leave Australia but I’m more excited to apply all of the things I’ve learned to my home in California.

Supporters, family & friends – I can’t explain my trip with simple words. Just know that I am truly thankful for all who supported me. You not only changed my life with a simple donation but you have helped me to plant a seed in over 50 people’s lives. With my team we had around 250 spiritual conversations and saw 4 people come to Christ! Praise the Lord! Thank you so much for all your prayers and your donations. The Lord sees that and looks down on you with joy!

Our God is great! Please continue to be in prayer for Australia – there is still a lot of apathy in this country.

I will never forget Australia.

Prayers Answered!

Thank you all so much for your prayers this past week! I cannot even begin to explain how grateful I am for your assistance through prayer! The ONE QUESTION event went wonderfully! Seven people at different times came to the event from completely different walks in life. They were all non-believers and the Gospel was presented each time. Overall, it was a very encouraging event and it was definitely an answer to many prayers. I seriously felt the Holy Spirit in that place during the event – it was so great! So much rejoicing and praises were lifted to our king that night!

Our team has been actively praying for salvation & many other things. We have prayed that our friend Mike would contact us back (He went a week without responding to anything), we prayed that our friend Will would respond back to a guy on our team & finally we prayed that lives would be saved this week!

This blog is called prayers answered for a reason – OUR GOD IS AWESOME! First of all, Mike responded with a joyful heart! He wants to hangout with us one last time before we leave! Will ran into us at La Trobe & we got to schedule a time to hangout with him as well & tell him the Gospel! And finally – the greatest news of all!!! Today (August 16^th, 2011) 3 people have came to Christ in ONE DAY. Talk about prayers answered! One girl Tan was a girl that two of our members met today – she prayed to receive Christ & she wants to actively walk with him each and every day. Another girl Lily who a couple girls have met before prayed to receive Christ & will actively be meeting up with a STINTer every Tuesday to make her faith in God solidified. Finally, a girl Ashlie that has been hanging out with all of us for 3 weeks finally has accepted Christ as her Saviour! Talk about beautiful! We all were rejoicing, laughing, crying and praising our God! He is so amazing and really does answers prayers!

SO KEEP PRAYING! (:

Pray for more lives to come to Christ! We only have two more days on campus. Pray that God will use us! Pray that we will find more brothers and sisters of Christ!