full support!!

"BEWARE OF KANGAROOS". Boy oh boy, I cannot wait to get a photo standing next to one of these signs :) It seems as though that will be happening SOON, because the Lord has provided 100% of my financial support!
PRAISE GOD for His faithfulness and provision... ALWAYS! It has been incredible to experience His strength and sovereignty over the last 8 months as I've been raising support for STINT. I've been so amazed by how the Lord has brought together all these people over the last few months to partner with me in ministry to reach college students in Australia. Right now I've got 125 individuals and families on my ministry team, and several of them I had never ever met (and some that I still haven't met!)

I've been so encouraged by the body of Christ who has totally joined with me and one another to reach the lost. I've absolutely loved raising support, which hadn't expected! I've been able to feel really connected with my family's home church that I once felt disconnected with during college and high school, I've been able to talk with my family about what I'm doing and why, I've seen college students, friends and complete strangers trust God along with me as they committed to give of their finances, and I've truly heard the Lord's voice and felt confident in the direction that He's leading me during the whole process. Its awesome to think that this STINT journey is really only just beginning, and I've been looking forward to it for over a year and a half!

Thanks to all of you who have prayed for me the past few months. The Lord has provided and answered those prayers! I look forward to sending an update FROM Australia, but alas, we're still waiting on our Visas. Please continue to pray for that!

God bless you and have a Merry Christmas!

winter snow

I've had this song on repeat since I bought it 25 minutes ago.

"Winter Snow" by Chris Tomlin, featuring Audrey Assad.

Seriously, give it a listen if you can. its beautiful:

Could’ve come like a mighty storm
With all the strength of a hurricane
You could’ve come like a forrest fire
With the power of heaven in your flame

But you came like a winter snow
Quiet and soft and slow
Falling from the sky in the night
To the earth below

Could’ve swept in like a tidal wave
Or an ocean to ravish our hearts
You could have come through like a roaring flood
To wipe away the things we’ve scarred

But you came like a winter snow
Quiet and soft and slow
Falling from the sky in the night
To the earth below

No, your voice wasn’t in a bush burning
No, your voice wasn’t in a rushing wind
It was still, it was small, it was hidden

But you came like a winter snow
Quiet and soft and slow
Falling from the sky in the night
To the earth below

Visa. Its everywhere you want to be.

Well isn't that the truth! (Not the Visa credit card, of course... the Visa that will allow me to spend the next year as an Australian resident!)

Not only have I grown in my faith tremendously by trusting the Lord to provide for the financial support I need for a year in Australia... I now get to trust Him yet again to provide me and my team with our Temporary Resident Visas on time! We were supposed to mail in our forms by October 1st... but with all of the unexpected medical exams and official immigration documents, we only mailed them last week. Even though we've been told that it will likely take 8-10 weeks to process our Passports and get 2-year Visas, I have seen God do (what I previously thought to be)nearly impossible things in the last few months. It has been so incredible to watch the Lord bring me to new people who caught vision of what He was doing around the world! How could I dare doubt Him now?

Tomorrow is December 1st. Our tentative leave goal was/is January 7th. While I'm hesitant to begin an "official countdown"... Its 38 days!

Would you pray along with me, that our Visas would be processed quickly and that we would get our passports back in our hands within a few weeks? Also, please pray that I would be at 100% of my financial goal by Christmas. I'm at 96% right now, and am fully confident that the Lord will continue to provide!

November already?

Ahoy, Mateys! (Not clever, I realize)

I just wanted to include a snapshot of me in my halloween costume...

Anyway, I can't even believe that november is here already! It is crazy for me to think that I have been looking forward to STINT for about a year and a half now, and its almost 2 months until we leave! I am now at 91% of my support which means I can officially go! I intend to (and am praying to) be at 100% by December 1st, though.

I was able to pick up a copy of "Christianity Explained" which is a 6-week Bible study that we'll be able to go through with our new Aussie friends to explain more about Jesus and what being a Christian really means. Today I read through the first few pages which are meant to prepare the leader for ministry in Australia, and its getting me really excited for next year! Its going to look so different from the ministry I've done in Eau Claire! Its going to move much more slowly and relationally, as Aussies are so apathetic toward Christianity that they will easily blow it off unless they have other reasons to meet with you. I am excited to meet so many students and develop friendships that the Lord will use throughout the year to spread the knowledge of His truth.

This summer I have been soaking up as much knowledge as I can. Since I became a Christian as a freshman in college, I know very little about specific people and events that take place throughout the Bible. Since July I've even been meeting with a retired woman named Kathy, who really loves to teach. She's been pouring out her knowledge on the new testament and its been great to learn from her so that I can prepare for next year.

I'm finally beginning to let myself get EXCITED about all of this! Not that I ever doubted I would be going to Australia, but now that I am at 90% I can know for sure. The countdown will begin soon!

PRAYER REQUESTS:

Please pray for my teammate Nate who is at about 65% of his support. We need to be at 90% by December 1st so he has about one month left. Pray also for the current team in Brisbane who is preparing to take students on summer project to Byron Bay. Pray that those they meet on the beach will be open to hearing about Jesus and why He matters in their lives.

B+

As of sunday I am at 87% of my total support goal! (AKA a B+, if you were to give me a grade)... Anyway, before sunday, I had not jumped up any percentage points in at least 3 weeks.. then BAM! up 6% in a day-- which is huge! Whats even more awesome is that I got an email from a friend who told me that UW Eau Claire's fall retreat had prayed for me and my support that very same weekend! Thanks God!

Prayer requests:

-for quick processing of the documents we (my teammates) still need to get our Visas

-for me and my teammates as we finish up our support

Publish Post

don't waste your time! (or life)!

This morning I prayed that God would allow me to have a spiritual conversation with my workers today, and He completely answered me! Without getting into detail, I'll just say that the guy is challenging to talk to, and he has some pretty disturbing beliefs about satan. He used to be a sadist, he says, about 10 years ago. We chatted, and another coworker joined in who is also not a believer, but this conversation lasted about 20 minutes I would say!

I will admit that I haven't been a good steward of this summer painting job, in terms of really talking with my coworkers about Jesus. I mean, they know that I'm going to be a missionary next year, and they know that I'm a "good Christian girl", but I have not been bold in sharing my faith. So today I just said a quick prayer and look what God did! Its just one conversation, but I pray that its the first of many! At one point the guy, mike, jokingly said "well I guess she wants us all to be Christians by the end of the season!"

There are so many people in our lives that could just slip by without hearing! This hit me first when I was on summer project in Brazil, but I only am recently getting a true burden for the people in my every day life. I read John Piper's book "Don't Waste your Life" over a year ago, and I remember feeling really convicted about the fact that I don't take steps of faith toward friends, family, coworkers and strangers much at all.

I'm in the states for another 4 months and I dont want to waste it!

Praise God!

I have SUCH an awesome STINT team-- Praise God! He provided me with a precious WOMAN to join us next year! So now its me, Nate, Ben and Amanda.  I'm finally back home after being in Copper Mountain, CO for a 6 day STINT briefing conference, followed by a 4 day trip to Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin to visit a friend and have a few support meetings.  I feel like God has blessed me with a week and a half of fellowship, worship, learning, and a whole lot of FUN! I feel so refreshed! Colorado was incredible-- first, we were lead in worship by a band called Page CXVI.  They're an indie/rock band who re-vamps old hymns and a bunch of other awesome worship songs... you should probably look them up.  At the briefing conference there were 230 STINTers representing 33 different countries around the world who are about to receive a team of new missionaries, bringing the Gospel and the Love of Christ to university students!  It was SO incredible to think that within 4 weeks or so... most of the teams will have landed in-country! I, on the other hand... dont leave until around January 7th.  

I've recently begun being discipled by a precious retired lady named Kathy who attends Wooddale Church (where I have started going to the sunday evening service called "The Gathering".)  She is SO wonderful and a huge answer to my prayers! She has taught many adult-education Bible classes and is just brimming with knowledge and wisdom! She's also really spunky and has a great sense of humor :)  We have met twice already, and I have been learning so much from her! 

Today I heard a sermon at my friend Rachel's church on Matthew Chapter 5... being the salt and the light of the earth.  I felt pretty convicted that my "saltiness" is not as life-giving as it ought to be... and i've grown content with my comfortable-christianity yet again.  I am not only saved FROM hell... but I have been saved TO something... saved to be a blessing! I have been blessed to bless others!  Okay God, I'm ready!