Faith, Hope, and Love

"I've been around the world, they say that love is blind, but I love you cause I've seen you a hundred times So amazed at the world that You made"    -- Jimmy Needham, "How Great Thou Art" That's exactly what I think when I reflect on my trip to Peru. From the ocean to the mountains and valleys. The salt mines and ancient ruins. I was constantly in awe of the beauty this world holds. And how can we live in a beautiful world and doubt that there is a God? It's hard for me to fathom because I couldn't help but give glory and worship God as we drove up mountains, took trains and boats along the riverbed, and trekked through the rain forest. Peru is a fabulous place. When I first decided to do this trip, it was solely to see Macchu Picchu. I read some National Geographic article about "Places You Want to See Before It's Too Late," and they implied that the government might shut Macchu Picchu down to help persevere the archa...

All throughout the day, I find myself writing mini-blogs in my head. But somehow these blogs never make it to the actual web. I tend to put things off and then it slips my mind altogether, or feels too late to bother. It's why there was one mega-blog about my California trip, and why there has yet to be any post about my adventures in Peru (they are coming, along with some epic photos). The plan is to do a lot better... especially while I'm in India. I hope to write a few times while I'm there. Well, I actually, I feel honor-bound to write. You see, last year, I did a run for As Our Own . My I put off really training (although I did run about 4+ of the 6+ miles I was supposed to), I put off writing thank you notes to all the people who supported me. And I put off raising money for the mission trip I am about to depart on in a little over a week. Just before Peru, I finally sat down and sent out a few letters to my childhood church families, and then wrote out letters ...

School got out at the end of May and the first chance I got I started my vacation off in style with a trip to CALIFORNIA! I had been to California once before. I was four and all I remember is going to Disneyland. And all I remember about Disneyland was a yellow submarine ride and being upset that Mary Poppins looked nothing like Julie Andrews (I mean, what four-year-old likes impostors?). So when I won a free ticket last year and had to use in by this June, I figured I'd squeeze in a trip to see some friends and explore the West Coast. First Stop: Carlsbad/San Deigo, CA When planning my trip to Cali, I decided on the location because of my good childhood friend, Valerie. Val is an absolute doll. She moved to Nigeria in '95/'96 and I remember down the long driveway to her house, knocking on the screen door and introducing myself within days of her family's arrival. We became fast friends and even when we both moved back to the States and lived in different state...

As I mentioned in my last post , I'm going to India this summer! This is the first overseas mission trip I've taken (I did go to Mexico sometime in college, so I suppose you can say its my second) and I'm excited, but also know that it's going to be work! I've been praying non-stop, as has the whole team that's going, and I know people at church have been praying. If you're a praying person (or even if you're not), I'd love to have your support through prayer too. As I said before, prayers is what I covet the most. Below are some of the main prayer points (and verses to help guide your prayers). PREPARATION: Please pray that God would prepare the eight of us who are going for the journey ahead. "The Lord replied, 'My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." Then Moses said to him, "If your Presence doesn't go with us, do not send us up from here." -- Exodus 33:14-15 UNITY: For the team and the nati...

This summer, I have the opportunity to go to India and serve with As Our Own , an organization that rescues young girls from the sex trafficking industry and raises each of them as their own daughters. The provide for all their needs and they remain a part of their family even after they go to college, get married and have daughters (or sons) of their own. As part of our preparation for the trip, each of us going had to share "our story." What pivotal milestones had led us to where we are now? How had God prepared us for this time and this place? I was very hesitant to do this, and struggled for a week and a half, trying to decide what to share. I've been a Christian more or less my whole life. And yes, I do know that you aren't born  a Christian. At some point each person has to answer God's call on their own. I just don't remember exactly  when I did that. My dad is a clergyman and started a church the year I was born. I was always involved in things ...

My time in Ghana is wrapping up. Just a few more days. And for the most part, I've had a blast and I'm a little sad about going home. I love, love, love my host family and I'm sad about saying goodbye. And I've begun to build some very good friendships that I want to continue to build. But there have definitely been times when I have really just missed home. Missed my everyday life, or just missed having someone who really knows and gets me around. The week in Cape Coast was especially tough. While I enjoyed the slave trade, batik and dance lessons, I just felt extremely homesick that week. I not only missed my life in the U.S., I also was missing my family in Accra badly. Oddly, one thing that got me through was listing to Todrick's single "It Gets Better." It was nice to hear a familiar voice in my ear, and the message of the song was always nice. No matter how tough things got, things do get better. (He coincidentally updated the song while I was ...

As part of the "study abroad" portion of our AFS trip to Ghana, the students and I got to participate in Batik lessons. Batik is a wax-relief way of creating fabric design. It's quite popular in a lot of African cultures. The process itself is simple enough, although we learned quickly that there is a high level of skill needed to achieve the perfection you ultimately would want. But, it is something that I think I'd like to try on my own at home. Or just do again as part of a workshop/class. For those of you who are more into arts and crafts, here's the process if you want to try it at home. Step 1: Concept Creation First, you need to do a bit of sketching to come up with possible designs you want to see on your fabric. It's best to come up with at least two different ones. Something we didn't realize as we were drawing is that you want these to be bold and be able to be somewhat large/big. If it's too small, it because an issue later. Step 2: ...