Update: Merhaba

Merhaba!!

I realized that it has been several days since I sent out an update so I wanted to take a few minutes this afternoon to share with you a few highlights since I last wrote!

First, I would love to encourage each of you to take a minute to read Isa. 12 when you have a few minutes.  It has been a great encouragement to me this week.  It reminds me where my focus needs to be and who it needs to be focused on.  There are so many promises in these six verses that we can trust in our Father because He has rescued and saved us from the path that we once walked on.   I am learning that His joy is sufficient for me each and every day.  His mercies are new every morning!

Each day is a new adventure...some are easier than others but I am thankful for each one as I learn so much...whether it is through frustrations or joys.  Just after I sent the last update, my partner, Sarah, and I left to go to an orientation with six other students for a week!  It was incredibly encouraging as we sat and discussed many issues regarding our work here over the next few months.  It was so refreshing as well as each morning one of the leaders opened up and shared from the Word for about an hour and really challenged us and encouraged us with what he has learned from living on the field.  It was a really great week to build unity among us all as students and between partners.  I am so thankful for my partner, Sarah, who has been a great encouragement to me and we are able to laugh at ourselves so much...which is definitely key to survival here when everything is so unfamiliar.

We also met a couple of girls that week that we are asking the Father if He would be willing to let us go further in those relationships and get to know them better.  Please ask that the Father would continue to bring relationships into our path that we may be able to grow and have the opportunity to share Truth with them.

This week, Sarah and I are being sent into different areas of the city to familiarize ourselves with the layout and to be p-walking as we go throughout our day.  There is so much to do and see here...living with millions of people around you is a bit overwhelming at times!

Please join with me in lifting up the following requests for our time here in central asia:

• Please ask that Sarah and I would grasp and understanding of the transportation system here.  It is very challenging and frustrating at times in such a large city to not know how to get places.  Communicating is challenging but all of it is a great way for us to learn to trust!
• Please lift up relationships that we have made and will soon make that our Father would receive all the praise from each conversation that we have.
• Please lift up the people of this region of the world.  There is so much darkness around us and opportunities every minute to be light - ask that we would be bold and shine brightly, reflecting the radiant light from our Father!

Thank you all so much for your love and support! It is so encouraging to hear from you - I really do love hearing from everyone at home and how you are doing!  Please let me know how I can be lifting you up as well!