Blessings come in disguise.

After resolving to take a summer class after no potential jobs or internships in sight a last minute application to AmeriCorps (a program sort of like the PeaceCorps except for in the United States and offers shorter term employments with local community organizations) proved to be fruitful. I was offered a position with the Gardens of the Fox Cities in Appleton, WI (similar to Botanical Gardens) through AmeriCorps. This gave me the chance to drop my dreaded statistics course and instead I will get my hands dirty and face sweaty out in the sun! It will be a great opportunity to grow in so many ways including teaching (little kids… go figure), growing better at the names of flora and fauna, and learning about prairie restoration. Continually I am amazed at how great my Father is and how He cares deeply for those whom are called sons and daughters. Trusting always He is good and in control will remain a lifelong lesson… as my 23^rd year has approached I am reminded that I shall not fear because ‘Perfect Love casts out Fear’…. 1 John 4:18 …. but, more on that later….

“The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold” Psalm 18:2

huh?

A couple weeks ago at church the Pastor started is message with a prompt. He opened telling us that the most talked about emotion in the Bible is Love. Makes sense. He questioned the congregation with "What do you think the second most talked about emotion is?" and prompted us to ask those around us. I asked my friends to the left and they thought maybe jealousy, my thoughts were either anger or sadness. So, I turn around and asked the elderly lady sitting behind me what she thought. She didn't know and asked me "what do you think?", excited to share I told her "sadness". Confident in my response. The Pastor called us back to attention. He gave the answer to the question... which was Regret. The sermon he preached was on Matthew 5: 38-48.. you know love your enemy, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who use you and persecute you.Take home: don't regret tiffs you may have with others or yourself... instead resolve them. (Ask forgiveness... forgive)
At the end we took communion, sang a worship song, the Pastor prayed. A nice church service. Before we sang our last worship song the little lady from behind me gently grabs my arm and asks me " what was the first emotion the Pastor said at the beginning?", I told her " Love", she looks at me with a serious face and says " it makes sense then why you said sex." I looked at her processing what she said, half thinking this lady just said sex in church and then wondering what she must think about me for saying sex in church. I look at her seriously and say " Oh no, ma'am, I said Sadness." We both start smiling and then laughing, extremely amused by the whole miss-communication. The last worship song plays and at the end of service the lady and I exchange names and a genial agreement that we will not forget each other.

I left church that evening amused by how often we must say things that others interpret wrongly either because of bad hearing, words being taken out of context, or just too much background noise. I was glad the lady was not too prideful, fearful, or shy in this situation to clarify. She asked a context question that she had missed and by doing so found out she hadn't heard what I said either. In the end we formed a bond based on miss-communication and walked away a little more joyful for it.

Resolve. Clarify. Communicate.

Chronicalized

There is a little daily devotional book called "Our Daily Bread" that I enjoy reading most days.
A couple days ago the topic was on reviewing the year that will soon be history...
I rarely think about the past because it seems like there is never enough time. The present and future hold more merit, temporarily that is. However, if I were to simply keep moving forward and not remember all the hardships and beautiful moments of my History, there could be no rejoicing and no learning or growth. The age old adage of " You don't know where your going unless you know where you come from..." rings very loud and true this time of year as 2010 is gone, vanished forever from our planners, phone calenders, and checks. I took the time to sit down after reading that convicting little devotional and chronicled my entire year of 2010. I came to find that indeed it was filled with hard moments, laughter, tears, sorrow, hello's, goodbye's, (many)plane rides, joy, a lot of sweat, good music, longer hair, and most of all the fulfillment of knowing I have grown as a person, as a woman of God. So, my life in 2010 is forever chronicled in my new journal and I feel peace about letting it go and moving forward knowing confidently where I have been.




I will remember the works of the Lord; Surely I will remember Your wonders of old.
~Psalm 77:11

Trick-or-Treat...not so treaty

Child Exploitation-Human Trafficking- Slave Labor

Not phrases usually associated with Halloween but the ugly Truth.

Want to know more: Death...by chocolate

This Trafficking is prominent in West Africa. A place I have visited. Children 11-14, boys and girls, are being taken illegally over the borders from Mali and Burkina Faso into Ghana and Ivory Coast and forced to work on Cocoa plantations run by large corporations such as Nestle' and Hershey. They are often promised a payment that... is never received.
There is HOPE. People are working across the globe to end this injustice and you can help. Even if you are not on the front lines fighting, you can do your part by: 1. Learning about Fair-Trade (not Free-trade)
2. Check out your local grocery store, independent co-op, or coffee house and
find fair trade chocolate (or any other fair-trade product they sell) and
commit to purchasing these products.
3. Tell Others-Invite retailers who are not selling Fair trade products to learn
more about them and look into stocking them.
This is a fight that can be won. In Europe due to demand by consumers (you and me) most large companies are selling fair-trade chocolate. In America the demand is not there... yet.
It is not a political movement... It is a justice movement.
"Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." 1 John 3:18



The symbol to look for on your chocolate, coffee, sugar, vanilla, nuts, and many other goods

It has been a while...

I like blogs. They relate real people with real issues (added bonus when there is humor).
I am immersed fully in school at this point. My travels are long over and the reality of being stuck in 'ordinary' has set in. It's been 6 months since returning home, to Wisconsin, from Youth With A Mission. What have I done?
Hung out with my family (built a cob oven), Cut down trees (irony), Road tripped to Cornerstone music festival (slept in hammock), Reunited with 3 of my roomies from YWAM (Sam and Lydia and Angela), visited the University I was supposed to attend in Virginia (did not go), amazing family reunion (had to leave early), moved to Appleton (unintended), started classes at University Wisconsin Oshkosh ( Environmental Studies), Hiked 4 days in Michigan (with Andrea my new roommate).
The highlights in a nutshell. I ask myself everyday ' is this really my life I am living'. Is it what I had planned... no. Am I adjusted? Working on it. Content? Most days.
Returning back to American life has been hard. Why did no one prepare me? Impossible.
Is my heart still overseas? Yes. It is a good reminder of how blessed I am everyday.
Have I learned a lot? Yes. God is at work. Always.
I struggled to know what my purpose was upon returning. Me. Everything was focused on me. Not God. I started a study called 'Experiencing God' by Henry Blackaby. It has moved me away from, well, myself. Now, my thoughts are truly focused on What are God's plans and purposes.... and How can I be involved?
Where is God at work around you? How can you join Him in that work?


"The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold." Psalm 18:2


Also, if you are curious to to see more about what I did on outreach check out this video Anna made:
EDTS Outreach

Fare thee well dear Friends and we are off again

Fox Glacier

Larry, Jenny, and 'the lot'- Me, Sam, Katie, Ben

Rainbow and Me!

Beautiful Sunset in Oxford before Graduation

Sam -my travel companion and me at Graduation- we sure clean up nice :-)

Dear Friends and Family,
I am an official graduate of Oxford…Discipleship Training School that is in New Zealand. It has been a long journey …to the ends of the Earth and back (well almost).
The past couple weeks have been full of re-entry type things. As a team we all talked about what it was like being back in a western country where food costs 3 times as much and there is clean air to breathe and the language is the understood. Yes it has been an adjustment.
We were bogged down with the unusual feeling of not knowing what to do. There was no more ‘ministry’ work to do upon returning to Oxford and many of us fell quite ill because of the cold weather. My dear friend Monja ended up in the hospital and we found out that she had come down with Malaria from a crazy jungle hike she did in Cambodia. She is now well recovered but it was a shock to our team. We had a lovely graduation ceremony with a ‘hippie’ theme and mainly vegetarian food! It was truly special (minus Monja still in the hospital and Seang in Cambodia) we had many friends and special people come to be with us. The night ended with a coffee shop café’ and open mic night where stories, poems and songs were shared.
Goodbyes were not easy but not hard as the YWAM goodbye is if we don’t meet again in this life I will see you in eternity Nothing could be better. Slowly our team has been leaving the island or venturing to their homes on the island. The Lord has been teaching me that Goodbye’s are part of life and they don’t have to be sad but a positive beginning to a new chapter. I am thankful for the amazing people I’ve shared and lived and grown with and it isn’t over for any of us yet.
I have been traveling with Sam the past week and a half with the blessing of using Mark’s cute little silver toyota Caldrea. We stayed at a wwoofing (Worldwide opportunities on Organic farms) house for one week with 2 of our friends Ben and Katie from Oxford. The farm was called Waingaro Christian Retreat and Jenny and Larry were a very unique couple that specialize in Equine therapy, horse riding and have a guesthouse that is sort of a BandB. We mulched their garden and hacked away bushes. I got to canter on a horse for the first time ever through beautiful NZ forest, a dream come true. We said our goodbyes there and were sent off with prayers and small gifts and the encouragement to keep seeking out what lies deep inside and not be ashamed of who we are created to be.
We picked up a hitcher named Alex from Nevada who spent a couple days with us. He played guitar and had his own and we taught him some worship songs which he rather enjoyed.
Easter was a blessing as we got to spend it at the same little Baptist church I spoke at many months ago. Sam , Julie and I gave a short testimony of Cambodia and how their prayers were appreciated. Then we were off again traveling some more and ended up in a little town called Fox Glacier and I along with the others I am traveling with decided to do a Tramp called the Copeland, expecting it to be easy. It was a 2 day 17 mile trek full of rock hoping, root climbing, bridge crossings and natural hot pools. At the end our muscles were aching and Julie broke her thumb (yes hiking). It was memorable!
And this I maintain ‘God Loves Us’.

Hmmm...and then the ocean

So.... I was cool the otherday. I wrapped a hairband around my wrist and Angela told me I looked cool... If you didn't know that is my goal in life, to be cool. (I am just kidding, but it helps sometimes).
Anyways, I spent the last 10 days up in a province called Rattanikiri. This is where all the injustice that is talked about... you know deforstation, unfair working conditions, and illegal trade are all happening. It was pretty shocking to see firsthand. The people there are indegenous tribal people and their land is being stolen from right under them by money motivated 'outsders'. The land is all in ash or covered with rubber tree/cashew nut plantations. It is reminsicent of the same situation that happened in America a many hundred years ago. The people sell their land or have it taken and use the money they recieve to drink, gamble, smoke and the such. This breaks families and pretty soon the are poor again with no land. This is because they aren't familier with living in a $ based system.
We stayed in a village with the the language group called Jarai for a couple nights. We did some research for our leader Rob and a flood-relief project a local church has started. Last October the Dams in Vietnam flooded and broke cuasing many villages along the Saison river to flood. This = loss of rice crop = starving people. The "Project" supplied money and advice on planting dry season corn and other veggies. (This is a big deal for indegenous people). They followed through. We interviewed the elders of 3 different villages along the river and observed their gardens and then wrote up a formal report on the answers and information we recieved.
It was a rare opportunity and I felt like I should be working for the National Geographic not YWAM. We lived above the kitchen and got 'fine' smells often of the drying water buffalo meat... no lie, it was a rancid smell. We stayed with the only Christian family in the village (a young couple with a baby and their brother and the mom). The village people are in a desperate situation but a little corn is giving a lot of HOPE.
It was a hill at the end of a marathon for sure but we gave it our best. I had a great time enjoying the peace and quiet that being in the hills and far away from the noise of city provided. God gave rest to my soul and led me by quiet waters...we had the opportunity to swim in an extinct volcanic lake and in a couple waterfalls. Monja rode an elephant. Things like that were very enjoyable. I will confess that working for God is sometimes strenuous work, but well worth it!

Now I am in Sihnoukville... the opposite side of the country about 14 hours away. A complete contrast and tourist town on the ocean (Gulf of Thailand?). We are debriefing and adjusting to a more westernized place as soon we will be back to New Zealand. It is beautiful here but hard to be a 'tourist' after working. This is a time we are saying goodbye to our dear friend/leader Seang and reflect on all that has happend.

This verse I just recieved and seems very fitting for the time we have had here:
"God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them" Hebrews 6:10