Gratitude

Hey Hey...

So it's been awhile now, I think two weeks. Heidi and I had our first fundraiser together this past Saturday and it went soo well!!! I had the wonderful opportunity to meet so many new faces and welcome old ones to me. Although I was exhausted the entire day from being up until 1am and waking up at 5:30am it was worth it. Thank you everyone who came up and supported us. You totally made it worth while and your reward is in heaven with just one more jewel on your crown :)

Although the Le Cafe De Africa went better than I had expected, this past week was tough. I just received a phone call from the Journey Corps office in Colorado and found out our money was due extremely soon!! With about $700/month due still I was FREAKING OUT, and for the first time I actually felt the erge to give up. (Which is odd, since I have never felt like that before in my life). I've also been feeling things so not of the Lord such as impatience, anger, and frustration. In the midst of an amazing devo time at the beach, I realized that if I let these feelings that aren't of God take over and control me, then I let satan win. And we all know who really wins in the end : ) So I can't let that happen. Needless to say God is still so overwhelming good and patient with me, that there are no words or actions I could take to express my gratitude. He is still providing every day in the craziest ways too! Just two weeks ago a random lady from my catering said she wanted to support me and this mission! What an amazing God moment..haha..I left feeling super confused about what had just happened. So all in all life is good, hard and difficult at times, but it is still a gift from God and thus making it good!

So again thank you for your prayers, words of affirmation and support! It means way more to Heidi and myself than you know.

Prayer Requests:

~Preparation of my heart, mind, body and soul
~Preparation of my leaving speaks to those around me who do not yet know our Saviour Jesus Christ
~Financial support still
~Emotional and Spiritual support!

Some encouragement to those of us feeling overwhelmed:

"But as for you, be strong and courageous, for your work will be rewarded" 2 Chronicles 15:7

"Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6

Thanks for caring! Love you guys, and I know that there's tons of stress and worries this time of year, so if there are any prayer requests or words of affirmation, please let me know!

Home Sweet Home : )

Wow oh Wow...

This is my first day being officially home for good (well until I leave for Africa). I have been traveling and working on the road for the past three or something weeks. I'm tired but there is no place like home and I cannot wait to finally sleep in my own bed.

High school camp was truly a joy and very refreshing. God is totally doing wonders in our high school group. It was amazing sitting back and seeing half of the group stay back for first time commitments or renewing old commitmentss, others making commitments to go into full time ministry. Oh wow! It was awesome!

Then there was the houseboat trip : ) So fun! I'm going to try to put a link at the bottom for you to check out. Anthony Seacrest made a quick video for everyone and it turned out great. There seems to be a theme that God is presenting to me in both high school camp and houseboats, not to mention my devotionals. Basically God has been saying that I need to surrender to Him, EVERYTHING! Which is difficult, especially since I'm not exactly sure what or how to surrender the things that I have yet to surrender. haha. but God is amazingly good and there's no need to worry.

The day we got home from the Delta I left with a few friends to Palm Springs to catch up and relax. We haven't seen much of each other since we graduated high school and it was nice seeing them. Then to Georgia to see my brother Jeff and his family. It was amazing and Georgia is so beautiful.




Now for the Africa updates!!!! ; )

Due to financial support the team has decided to postpone departure to Ivory Coast until late October. Such a blessing/bummer all in one. (mostly blessing) Collectively we were not where we needed to be financially and they would rather us all go together and learn and grow and enjoy this support raising, because there is so much to learn even before we leave. However, it's a bummer, because I have to wait another month :/ BUT I am one of those kids who still need the financial support, so again a blessing haha.

-The Silent Auction/Game Night fundraiser was originally supposed to be this Friday August 20th but due to traveling and my lack of calculating it will be postponed and the new date will be up as soon as I have one.

-T-shirts are in!!! they look so sweet it's unreal. Billy Morris designed it so it is a one of a kind original and then Brandon Le (like he hasn't done enough already) had the hook ups to get them nicely printed thanks to Jack's. They are now on sale with more to come and are $10 each

-Bracelets just came in about an hour ago : ) Right now there are only Adult sizes with Youth on the way. It has the Ivory Coast colors around the band and is printed "SHORTY GOES TO AFRICA" how perfect is that? Again these are on sale if anyone is interested $3 each

All in all life is good and God is better! A challenge for you and I this week, read Ecclesiastes. It starts out sad and depressing and turns out good. However, there is so much truth through and through. Basically everthing is meaningless and you wont know why until you read : ) Something my brother Jeff reminded me to "Stop telling God how big your storm is and start telling the storm how big your God is." Amen? Let's put faith in Him and know that we're in this for a reason.

Well please let me know if I can pray for you and have an amazing week!

Prayer Request:
-For me to surrender ALL.

-Financial support and peace

-My sister in laws mom just had surgery this morning on her spine (i think that's where). Pray for a quick recovery and God's healing touch since after all He is the ultimate physician.

Video:
htt://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=4256712185158ref=mf

I'm not sure if the video works because I am not tech savvy, so if it does not it is on my facebook. Enjoy