HD mino

I just ordered an HD Mino Flip Video today for the trip to Accra.  I don’t know about any of you, but sometimes new technology intimidates me!  I love capturing stuff on video- but i’m not always great at getting footage of myself that is any good.  Hopefully I will be able to in Africa- some moments are iireplacable and I don’t want to miss them!  So, not only will this be an adventure for me technologically, but it will challenge me mentally as well- You’ll be getting it all, first hand, off of the new piece of equipment-I hope you like it!!!

I’m planning to get footage every day and try to post it as soon as I can get a chance to edit it and have it up online- Make sure you are keeping up with me!!!

PS: Thanks for all the extra encouragement last night- Many of you didn’t know I was going and today you are reading this blog for the very first time!  Thanks for supporting me!  I know Ill get to know a lot of you better just from this blog- and youll get to know a lot about me!

TaTa for now.

 

2 week countdown

THE COUNTDOWN FOR THE TRIP TO AFRICA HAS OFFICIALLY BEGUN!  It’s like this strange, almost surreal state has come over me.  I think the truth is that I won’t believe that it is actually happening until I am getting on the plane to go to Accra….

Some of you who are reading this are my family members who got my support letter in the mail, or you may be a leader who has been trying to keep up with all that is going on, or simply you are a student who is just browsing the Detour website, seeing what’s going on.  Either way, I want you to know that your support of this amazing opportunity DOES NOT GO UNNOTICED.  Every day I gain more and more affirmation of this being a “god thing” from your encouraging emails, sweet notes, and just knowing that you are praying for it all.  I don’t do this often (often ENOUGH) but I wanted to take a few lines just to share some of my thanks to certain individuals who have been there throughout this entire process:

1. My immediate family|| Each of you have taken the time to ask me how things are going, listen to my fears, concerns, and yet you have still pushed me to do what God wants, not what is comfortable.

2. My wonderful boyfriend (Matt) and his family|| He has gone the extra mile to make sure that I know he is behind me in all that I do! He prays for me, reminds me of my goals, and helps me to set new ones.  Not only has his family been there for me, but his mom (many of you may know her as Mrs. Shell Ann) is also making this a mission for her.  We joined the Bissa Mission Team together and have been eachothers study partners the entire time!

3. Detour Staff Team (Jon, Joey, Matt); Detour Volunteers; My AWESOME roommate:  The Detour Staff have absolutely surrounded me with support in prayer as well as inspiring me to look at new and exciting ways that I can make this mission trip translate better for Detour students.  Matt Holland bought me a web cam (though i haven’t quite seen it yet )), Joey is helping to get video and info aligned so that all of you can know whats going on while I’m gone, and Jon not only encouraged me to take this step but is trying to provide an awesome camera to take with me! Tons of the families that Volunteer with Detour have been offering to take care of things while I am gone and have then offered financial support on top of it! My roommate, Elizabeth, has been keeping me excited and has insured that when i get home all of my things will still be there as well as not finding a new roommate to replace me (ha ha). 

Overall, God has absolutely stretched my understanding of His power and I am deeply in prayer for the Bissa people of Accra, Ghana.  We will be traveling for many hours a day, sharing Christ’s love.  I’m scared, but it’s a good scared (if there ever was such a thing).  What can you pray for? Pray for the work that has already been done in advance of this trip to be softening the hearts of those in Accra.  Pray for a mighty stirring in the hearts of men, women, and children who have never heard of God’s unending grace.  Pray for assurrance of salvation for those who are new believers…many of them have been cut off from their families for denouncing their faith.  Pray that we, as a team, are strong in body and in mind (100+ degree weather and miles of walking can do a number on anyone!).  Pray we don’t forget our central purpose for being in Accra…pray for a great revival!

A big thanks to all of you!  Try this fun little thing- go to google earth, type in “Wilmington, NC to Accra, Ghana” and watch is fly across the earth and zoom in to a whole other continent- It reminded me of just how far away I would be!

 

africa update. . .

The preparations for what is to come in only a few short weeks has been well under way, and now I am beginning to really feel and see some things in my life where God has been confirming that the calling for this was totally His doings.  You know, a few weeks ago when I blogged about going to Africa I was still in a state of shock that I had actually taken the task and claimed it as my future.  Today, with our meetings winding down, the scriptures riding on my every thought, and the joy of this chance to be able to go to another nation in Christ’s name is all very heavy on me.  We haven’t even left and I am already learning so much more than I was before I agreed to be a part of all of this.  I don’t think I realized how much energy it would take, nor how often I would be praying for wisdom and diligence- I know that none of this is me.  I mean, I know myself….I get scared of the unknown, I worry about things, I think too much into little details, etc etc.  I know that none of this can be because of anything I have done, or anything that I am capable of.  It’s gotta all be God because I think if it had been left up to me, I might’ve thought I couldn’t do it and would’ve possibly backed out.  Isn’t that the frailty of man though?  I mean, I have the tendency to stop doing something if I don’t think that I can succeed at it….but being that God is in FULL control of this entire trip and all of its details, He has ALLOWED me, PUSHED me, and PUT A BURNING DESIRE in my heart to keep going, even when I don’t think I can anymore.

Anyway, I know that this trip will be physically challenging as well as spiritually (it will be only the SECOND TIME I have been out of the country).  I nervous yet overwhelmed with passion for the people of Accra, Ghana and I don’t even know them.  As the days grow closer and my time here winds down, I’ll be certain to continue sharing with you my thoughts, my prayers, and what we are doing in getting ready for the trip.  In the meantime, be praying for the people of the Bissa Tribe of Accra, Ghana!  Thanks for all of your support!

 

WCA homecoming court winner goes to…..

My vote went for this great gal!Well, here she is, THE "SHOULD-HAVE-BEEN" Winner of the WCA Homecoming court (except that only Seniors are suppose to get it...)SUMMER SAUNDERS!If you were there, you know that it was a tight game, but we had a blast!We were the supporters SCREAMING for her!

 

Yay for new shirts!

It is official, the NEW T’S HAVE FINALLY COME IN!  Here is a quick pic of the new girl t-shirt design!  They’ll be on sale starting NEXT wednesday night- so don’t miss out on them because they’ll go super quick for only $12!

 What do you think?

 

snow :o)

You know, its EXTREMELY rare that Wilm. NC sees snow…but yesterday was ONE OF THOSE DAYS! I was pretty upset when I woke up yesterday morning and hadn’t seen any snow, but what a JOY it was to get to work and have the chance to watch it fall ALL DAY! 

I don’t take it lightly that snow happens.  Scripture says this about snow:

Psalm 147:16

 

 16 He spreads the snow like wool
       and scatters the frost like ashes.

Did you catch that?  God controls the snow….and allows it to fall where He wishes!  Which obviously means that he was thinking of my yesterday at about 9:45 am when he allowed it to fall right here at the office!  You know, thats how amazing our God is….this ALL-POWERFUL God can not only control the weather, the sun, the moon, the stars etc, but He is capable of hearing each of us and being present in our daily lives.

Check out this piture of the scene here at Detour offices: Needless to say, we didn’t get a whole lot done once it all began!  I finally got home, curled up with a cup of coffee (my new favorite thing to do) and watched TV….What did you do on your day off while it was snowing? 

 

unchristian

So, I’ve been asked to put together some monologues for Sunday morning’s new series called “UnChristian.”  Like anyone who writes, you gotta get your inspiration from somewhere- and I have this amazing book by David Kinnaman, UnChristian, but I also love the stories and inspiration of those that I love around me. 

Got a story that you wanna share?  Here’s what I’m looking for: An experience you may have had before you were a believer of your perception of how “unchristian” Christians appeared, OR an experience you have had since your time of salvation where you encountered someone who expressed how they thought christians appeared unchristian.  I hope that makes since- Though its a bit of a glum subject, its something that we have all seen, heard, or dealt with.  Tell me what’s on your heart- ’cause I wanna hear…..

 

ghana trip

What a crazy couple of weeks it has been!  If you’ve been keeping up on here you know that a few months ago God really pressed my heart to listen for an opportunity to serve Him in a different way.  It wasn’t but a few weeks later that the opportunity to go to Ghana came about.  I wasn’t expecting it and it appeared to be a greater task to take on than I thought I could handle. Sometimes the packaging to a gift is not at all reflective of the gift awaiting inside.  That’s how this whole ordeal has been.  Preparing for this trip has proved to be such a blessing! I didn’t think that I would be able to find the time or energy to learn all that I needed for this trip.  But it’s strange how God will stretch your understanding of what you are capable of and stretch your former understanding of how powerful He really is.  He’s shown that He is in control and no matter how much I think I am, He always reminds me of the opposite. 

Today I’ve been reading through the book of Mark and seeing the life of Jesus and His ministry through the eyes of a whole different writer.  You know, the gospels may all be about the same relative story, but each writer comes from a different background which in return makes for different styles of writing and different details being paid attention to.    Anyway, its been amazing reading all of the information on the Muslim faith and taking in the creative ways of sharing Christ with them.  I’m so ready to already be there….

 

and the grand total is….

all 6 buckets filled with MOSTLY SILVER change!

So for many of you, there has been great anticipation for the final total raised through the Rice Bowls foundation.  If you’re a little bit confused about what I’m talking about, Rice Bowls was an organization that we decided to use for the Re[Act] Series this year.  This is an amazing group of individuals who decided that they would impact the world through providing food for the hungry.  They’ve partnered with tons of orphanages across the world to provide meals for children who would otherwise be left without.  This year when we agreed to be a part of this ministry, we had high hopes and expectations for what would come as a result and so we ordered around 100 of these “rice bowl” looking mini penny banks.  Before even the first night of Re[Act] was over, we were totally out of them and so we REORDERED another 50 to have them quickly taken over the course of the rest of the series.  Well, would you know, I have had here on my desk for a few weeks, a growing pile of of those rice bowls.  Every week as students have turned them in I have just added them to the pile and my office table had even began to sag in the middle.  Finally, last week Mrs. Kristy Ingalls and myself got together, broke them all open with a hammer, and poured them into buckets to be counted.  Here is the turn of events as we went along:

All 135 Rice bowls returned and emptied!

It was pretty difficult, if you can imagine, to sit on the floor of my office and smash each and every bowl open, but we managed to make it happen with only a few bruises and loud bangs.  It was pretty incredible to open them up and some of you totally went beyond what was asked of you to fill them with all quarters or even dollar bills.  How encouraging that you as students could have chosen the easiest route (all pennies) but instead some of you filled those babies up so far that they could hardly be opened!

 

So what was the grand total? Well, its pretty amazing- so brace yourself: We raised (in less than a month and a 1/2) $1533.96!  That is amazing- and I can tell you this much, we had high expectations, but you guys BLEW US OUT OF THE WATER!  Imagine what you could do if we did this every year, all year ’round- That could be more than $15,000!  Think about it- and if you put it in this respect- in third world countries where this money will be sent, WHOLE FAMILIES eat off of about $1 a day- We could be feeding at LEAST 1534 mouths, or if you think of it in families who have about 3 in each that could eat off of $1 a day- that could be 4,600 mouths fed!  So, never think that the impossible isn’t possible or that your work isn’t helpful- thanks to all who joined us in this service project! love ya!

 

christmas break officially over…and a NEW YEAR begins!

my sis, myself, and my cousin Katy

my sister Erika and I

Hey everyone!  It’s been a few weeks since I last got on here and put you up to date with things!  Hopefully that won’t happen again- but you know that things do get pretty crazy around here!

On another note, just to bring you all up on what’s been going on around here- Christmas break was definitely a much needed break- being that the Detour team has worked some super crammed weeks for a few months now.  I went to Florida, that’s something I do twice a year- sometimes more if I can.  My grandparents and dad live there- we are very close.  Everytime I visit I leave refreshed but wishing I could stay longer.  They are so special to me- there is nothing like FAMILY TIME!  Maybe sometime Ill have a chance to share my dad’s story on here.  He is such a brave man- so strong and has been through a lot for a man who hasn’t even met 50. 

my daddy and my sis

 Being around them reminds me of why I am so blessed!  Anywho, I stayed in Florida til Christmas Eve and then drove back home to spend Christmas Eve with Matt’s(my boyfriend) family.  Christmas day was a day mixed with my own family and then I rejoined Matt’s family to have a group christmas gathering with a few AWESOME people (the ingalls).  Overall, I LOVE CHRISTMAS.  It means celebration of Christ, celebration of family, and reflection on all that we have been given!  Here are a few pictures of the time I spent with my family in Florida:

my and my grandfather

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas break- What did you do?  What’s your favorite thing to do with your family at Christmas time?  Hopefully all of you have thanked God for all that you’ve been given!