happy saturday.

i'm enjoying a chill day here in little Lakeside. i'm doing some homework & thought i'd catch you up.

life is good.

this past week on relationships was WONDERFUL. our speaker was just a wonderful, wise woman & i can't even begin to explain everything i got out of the week. it was great.

i almost forgot to tell you all that i am going to india in june!! whoo hoooo! i'm blown away by how crazy clear god was about wanting me there. most of you know that god really put india on my heart months and months before i left Texas. it's crazy. i know without one single doubt that it was the right choice, and i can't wait to see what god has been preparing for all of us there. the other half of my school will be going to Dominican Republic, so please keep them in your prayers as well!

for this school, we all choose a track to focus on while we are here in Montana. i chose the music track, i'm with 9 other people from my school. yesterday was track day... we had to write a song. so we all wrote down 2 rhyming words on a piece of paper and then got someone else's paper/words. then we had to make up lyrics for those 2 words. after that, we formed those lyrics into a whole arranged song. we split up into 2 groups and put all these random lyrics to music. it was really funny and interesting to see how different both songs came out.  i'm really excited to play music with everyone in the track and considering i've never written any music, i really can't wait to be stretched in that area.

last night the majority of our school went to help out at an all-nighter for middle schoolers... so the dorm was super quiet. the rest of us went for a walk in the rainy mountains, and then we made a late night mcdonald's run. :) fun fun times with my new friends.

anyway, next week starts a week of GRACE & HOLINESS. whew! i'm very very excited. be ready for some meaty blogging. i love you all & appreciate each one of you. thanks to all of you that are supporting me. blessings.

 making the walk to Lakeside.

 home. for now.

 soccer.

 transportation at it's finest. there are 2 people in there. just fyi.

yooni & florentine. (s. korea & switzerland)

 sarah & mary.

 good times. not sure what yoonie was doing...

 new friends. :)

my roomie, florentine.

 caleb.

 our late night mcd's run.

 florentine & david.

 montana night.

 tug of war.

sarah.

xo xo.

week 1.

hey there, friends!

much has happened since my last post, but i'll keep it short and sweet.

last week was pretty much all introductions and orientation type stuff. a good week! 

i went to a church this past sunday- cool church. it reminds me a lot of my church back home. I felt at home there. 

  
the way that Discipleship Training School (DTS) works, is that they have a different topic and a different speaker each week. this week's subject is relationships. just relationships in general. 

wow. it's been a good one. funny, because i feel that god is re-surfacing some things i thought i'd dealt with over this past year... they kicked the week off talking about how in order to have any type of healthy relationship, we have to understand and know WHO WE ARE. this has to be our foundation. which is also funny, because the past year has been a year of God telling me around every corner that i turn that I am complete in Christ alone. how many times have you guys heard me say this in the past year?! haha. for real! but still, God is speaking this to me. over and over and over. it's something i can't get tired of hearing. it's something i will always need to believe, that i always need to learn. 

i think this is the beginning of something. i really believe that God wants me to be free from this. some days i wake up and think that i'm still the same girl i was a year ago, even though i know i'm completely different. god is renewing my heart. reviving me. he's showing me the ways i've let my past hurts affect my life today. i'm sure it's affecting me in ways I still don't know yet. but PRAISE GOD. because i AM His. i AM complete in Him. no matter what happens with people or circumstances, that still remains. He adores me. & i am His girl. i'm worth something to Him. He won't use me. He won't manipulate me. He loves me. i'm believing this today.

that's what's on my heart today. 

learning to forgive daily. not only others, but also myself.

praise god.

The Lord is compassionate & gracious, slow to anger, abounding in Love.

He will not always accuse, nor will He harbor His anger forever;

He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him;

as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.

As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.

psalm 103

guess where i am?

Yep.
YWAM.

My dad flew up here with me, we left yesterday morning, flew to Salt Lake City. From there, we flew to Kalispell. I was so anxious & nauseas the whole way, & when we stepped foot in Kalispell, it all went away. This is where I am supposed to be. It was snowing & we got picked up at the airport by my DTS leader. When he heard I was from the south, he mentioned one of his favorite churches was down there. & asked if I'd ever heard of The Village Church?? :) We are going to get along.

    Got here to the base around 1am. Woke up my roomies... poor roomies. Even though I was exhausted, it was hard falling asleep last night- overwhelmed by God's faithfulness & how clear He'd been about this. I just laid there thinking about how I'd made it there & that God had prepared me for this. It's humbling & extremely exciting.

    I'm rooming with two girls, Sarah, who is from New York & Flourentine, she is from Switzerland! They seem really nice. I also met a few girls while getting ready this morning. There are people from all over the place! South Korea, Thailand, Switzerland, South Africa, Canada.

     Since there is nothing planned for today, my dad and I walked a mile up the road and shopped, got a view of Flathead Lake (gorgeous!), ate some really grood food. The people are so friendly & this is one of, if not THE, prettiest places I've ever seen/lived. I am taking pictures, don't worry. Hopefully you will see them soon. The snow is already melting from last night. It's cold, but not unbearable...

 Salt Lake City from the sky:

Flathead Lake:

I love you all & hope you are doing well. We start school/training tomorrow at 8am, so if you think about me around 9am your time, could you pray? Really want to dive in & soak everything up. Also pray for relationships to be formed. :)

love. thanks for everything.