Thankful: Day 30

Decorating our apartment for Christmas
We decorated our apartment for Christmas tonight!  Listening to Christmas music always makes my day, not to mention that I have the best roomates ever to decorate with and celebrtae this Christmas season with!  We also made sugar cookies tonight!!  The best part was introducing Sarah to buttercream frosting…I hope it changed her life as it is incredible! It is officially Christmas!!

thankful…
I am so thankful for the Christmas season! I am thankful to have this time of year to remember the most precious gift that the world has ever received.  Being in a country that is not inundated with Christmas on every street corner has really reminded me of why we celebrate Christmas in the first place.  All the reminders that I have of Christmas are in my apartment alone.  I am so thankful for Jesus Christ coming to this world to save us.  I am thankful to be here to learn about Christmas this year!

Thankful: Day 29

Holiday decorating over here
This afternoon, while in a busy center in our town, we found these two men working to put lights up on a tree. They decorate for New Years here much like we do for Christmas in America - lights, trees, etc. This tree was getting trimmed with its lights today! please note the man popping out of the top of tree.

thankful…
I am thankful to serve a God who answers prayers!  I am thankful for this every day, but especially today - God blew me away today in the way that He answered a very specific request that Sarah and I lifted up to Him…it was something that seemed like a little thing to us, but was obviously a big thing to Him because He answered it in a way that we could have never orchestrated - and met every single desire that we had!  He gets ALL the glory because we could have never orchestrated anything like it in our own power or feeble minds.  I am astounded!  Please ask that the Father’s name would be made great!!

Thankful for Sarah

I am SO thankful for my roommate, Sarah!

She has been the single biggest blessing of my time overseas.

Update: Let His Name be Declared Among the Nations

Happy belated Thanksgiving to all of my friends and family at home!

I am so thankful for you!  I trust that each of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving this week this past week!  I was so blessed to celebrate an incredible Thanksgiving overseas, and not just once but twice!  On Thursday, my roommates and I celebrated Thanksgiving with our American friends and had an incredible meal and encouraging time of fellowship and worship.  On Friday, we invited several of our local friends to our house to show them how we give thanks and have an opportunity to share the love of the Father with them in the way that we served them.  It was a lot of work to do Thanksgiving two days in a row, but well worth it!  We have many praises of how the Father answered prayers that we had for each day!

It is so hard to believe that I will be home in 3 weeks!  Looking back, my time here has gone so quickly! I have been blessed with so many opportunities to learn about the culture, travel to see Biblical sites, build relationships with long-term workers who live here, but most importantly I have had many opportunities to share the Good News that gives us joy and hope for each day!  It is such a privilege and every time I have a chance to share, I am so in awe of God's goodness in my life that He has given me a story to tell that can bring hope and life to this dark world!  I am so undeserving of all that the Father has done in my life and the opportunity He has given me to live in a country that the He has given me a love for...I have so much to be thankful for today!!

So much has happened over the past three weeks since I sent an update - the days have been flying by and have barely had a minute to sit down and write a thorough update.  I have been keeping my blog updated so if you want to hear more about what my day-to-day experiences have been and answers that I have seen, check it out.  God is good!

While there is the side of me that is counting down to come home, I also, more than anything else in the world, want to finish strong.  I want to embrace every moment that I have remaining here like it is the only moment that I have to tell what is true!  Would you please ask that the Father would give me strength to run well the race that is set before me right now.  When I realize that the Father sent His Son to pay the price that should have been mine, I know that I have nothing less than all of me to lay at His feet.  To give anything less than all of me would be ungrateful for the price that was paid on my behalf!

Please ask that the Father would continue to open doors to share Truth!  I cannot wait to tell you stories of people that He has put in my path in my short time being here.

Please ask that there would be a harvest of souls in this land.  Many are eager to hear and are seeking Truth.  Ask that  the Father would send workers to share Truth in the native language for hungry hearts to hear.

I am so thankful for each of you! I thank the Lord frequently for your support and your love to me while I have been away!  I pray that the Father will continue to strengthen you as you run the race that is set before you as well.

Thankful: Day 28

Colossians
Today we started studying the book of Colossians in house group. In the past few weeks I have really enjoyed and gleaned a lot from studying Philippians and other books that Paul wrote in the New Testament and am looking forward to Colossians.  Sadly, I will not be able to hear all of the teachings since my time is almost up, but I am thankful for everything that I can learn.  Paul was such a passionate writer and I am so thankful for the words of wisdom that he has left the Church to have to today.

thankful…
I am thankful for two feet to walk everywhere here.  I walk so much and am so thankful to have two feet that faithfully carry me many miles every day!  I have really come to enjoy walking everywhere - to the store, between places around the city, to church, to friends houses, and everywhere in between!

Thanksgiving in Pictures

Thankful: Day 27

homeade vanilla lattes
We have learned, and are still learning to perfect, a homeade vanilla “latte” - “latte” meaning that it is coffee and steamed milk with froth on the top, minus the espresso that actually makes a latte a latte…so really, we have coffee with steamed milk with vanilla syrup pumped in, but it’s incredible and delicious!  I love curling up with a good cup of coffee,a blanket, a movie and my roomates here!  So, cup of coffee in hand, we are about to watch “Scrooged” - our first Christmas movie of the season this year!!

thankful…
I am thankful for an NLH (No Leave House) day today!  After the last few whirlwind days that have been packed with Thanksgiving preparations and late nights, it was incredible to have a chill day with nothing to do today!  I wrote some e-mails, read a lot in Pride and Prejudice (which I am so proud of myself for having the determination to continue to plug through that book), watched a couple of movies, skyped with Michael, and bought some eggs to make deviled eggs for house group tomorrow - which have since exploded in the boiling process, so it is going to be a creative experiment to actually make the eggs tomorrow!  So thankful for days like today!