rainy day....

hello from kolkata, India.

how's america treating all of you? wonderful, i hope. i sometimes feel like i'm there in the heat with you... it's probably a lot dryer there though. :)

today is a nice rainy day here. we have the day off today, so this morning i slept in until 8, which is amazing here... then went to a more westernized street here, park street. we went to the bookstore, we all got a different jane austen book & we're going to rotate when we finish. :) i started sense and sensibility this morning. you gotta love some good ole jane austen... just sayin'.

we have had a good tiem in india so far! we spent the first week in delhi... it's quite a long story, but our train ride to kolkata didn't work out. we had to rebook a later ticket & that ticket meant that we had to go to city of Agra for a day, back to Delhi, then on to Kolkata. all of that = a ton of traveling, BUT the TAJ MAHAL is in Agra, so while we were there, we got to see it. it was a once in a lifetime opoortunity. The Taj was super beautiful. it was huge. i have a lot of photos that i will post when i get back. no worries. :)
we went back to Delhi, then left the next day for Kolkata. i can't lie, the train ride was long & sketchy. a man gradded at me, was talking nasty at me & then my shoe got stolen, BUT we sat across a christian family & they were great! it was like God reassuring me that He is working here. he is working in the hearts of these people even if i don't see it. even in the midst of all the chaos & craziness, he is raising up disciples in this nation.

this was our first week in Kolkata. i really like this city! we went to an HIV/AIDS hospice & did a little program & got to meet some women and play with kids. they were soooo cute & responsive. i think we used every form of transportation possible that day! we traveled all over kolkata. :) the next day, i went back with my leader Michele to teach some guitar to a few of the boys there. it was pretty cool!  yesterday we went to Mother House, where Mother Teresa lived, died, and was buried. we saw her tomb & got to see where she did some of her ministry. it was pretty cool... it was weird to see people praying at her tomb. it just reminded me to pray that God would show himself to these people.

One thing I'm learning & I've been challenged by is just counting the Gospel & counting Jesus as worthy enough to sacrifice anything for. comfort, rights, food, health, wealth, time, happiness. do i consider Jesus worthy enough to sacrifice all these things for? absolutely.  i'm trying to remind myself of His worthiness every time i walk the streets. this culture is super different than my own. my rights as a women are different, the weather is different, my environment is different, everything is changed but still, He remains the same & I am choosing to worship & honor, adore & discover Him more here. He is so worthy!! that brings me great joy. I'm learning so much here! that always happens... even when you think you are going for someone or something else, it's really more for you & God ends up radically shaking things up & teaching you so much abuot Himself. i love him.  :)

thanks for praying, i appreciate all that i can get.
please pray for opportunities & realtionships to be formed.

i love you all! missing you...

xo

"Here am I, send me;

send me to the ends of the earth,

send me to the rough, the savage pagans of the wilderness,

send me from all that is called comfort on earth,

send me even to death itself,

if it be but Thy service, and to promote Thy Kingdom."

-- David Brainerd

My team & I head out at 3.45am for India. Please keep us in your prayers. 

Pray that God would keep us safe & work in the hearts of the Indian people.

top-bottom:

jesse. chase. jordan. florentine.

yuni. david. me. stephen. kyla.

katelyn. michele.

xoxo.

take this world, but give me Jesus...

hi friends.

today was my last day of lecture phase, which means i am half way through my DTS! it's so crazy how time flies, seriously... I'm so blessed. People say that it's a huge sacrifice to be here & they pray that we are blessed for giving this time of our lives to the Lord, which is amazing & true, but mostly I just feel that God has blessed me by giving ME this time of my life. I feel so lucky & grateful to all of you who continue to support me.

For me, this school has been all about LOVE so far. Literally. No, I'm not talking like... romance... I'm talking LOVE. Real, pure, true, sacrificial, selfless, unconditional, abounding, crazy, out-of-control, illogical LOVE. I came here with a lot of twisted views of Love; like it was hard, less about a feeling & more about a choice, I thought it was controlling, manipulative, distant, general & broad, logical, passive. I think subconsciously I believed all these things about God. Since being here, my heart has been absolutely wrecked. I've discovered that God loves me individually. He loves my quirks. He loves my personality. Intimacy with Him is unique because we are all unique. I love that. I love Him! I really do. Because I know He loves me, & that demands a response. I respond with love because HE loves me.

So in the midst of learning all of this, I still have a huge call of evangelism on my life. I have known that evangelism was my thing for a long time & looking back to mistakes I made & even in planning my own life, this was the one thing I couldn't ever let go of. Evangelism. I love the Gospel & I love lost people. I was made for it. I couldn't ever forget that dream/desire/whatever you want to call it. No matter what or who came along, I could never forfeit or compromise that dream within me. 

This past week, we had a speaker from South Africa, Jeff Reid, who LOVES Jesus. Man, he does. He actually lives out a lifestyle much like the christians in Acts. Super cool. He just follow Jesus & it's beautiful. He & his family are seeing lives transformed daily & seeing GOD do so many things in this world! I saw videos & heard stories... God is amazing. I am learning that not only does God love me - not only does He still work radically in people's lives today - not only does He heal people, BUT He uses His followers to do those things so that He gets glory for it. & not only all of that, but that I am one that He chose. I have an invitation to be involved in what He is doing all over the world. That's mind-blowing. I don't want to have fear of men keep me from walking in freedom & walking in what God wants to use me for. I don't want to be afraid to look like a fool. I don't want to have so much pride that I don't trust Him to heal someone when I pray. I want to trust & to be used up completely.

It's for this reason, I'm really ready for India. I'm ready to go love on people. Even if loving & serving them ends up being the only thing I get to do, it's enough! I can't wait to see those eyes & those white teeth. I'm ready. God loves the people of India. Just as He loves me. Individually. Uniquely. Wildly. He's crazy about them & I want to be, too. :) 

This blog is pretty jumbled. I'm sorry, but I thought  I should share some HEART stuff. Some of the stuff God's been showing me. 

I love you all & hope you are well. 

Farewell!

India.

F I V E   D A Y S  

   until we head out.

It seems surreal. 

Months & months & months ago, God put India on my heart. I thought it was really random, because I have never wanted to go there before... but about 6 or 7 months ago, God kept putting the people of India in my mind or I would see movies about India... in my heart I knew I would be there one day. When preparing for YWAM, people would often ask me where I was going on outreach. I would tell them I didn't have any idea, but that I really felt it would be India because God had planted this nation in my mind.

...Well, now it's June & I'm leaving super soon for  india. It's so cool how God speaks & works things out. We've been hearing some really intense things about India... lots of hard things, BUT I still have every confident in the world that God has a HUGE plan for our trip & that it is without one doubt the place I am supposed to be.

So we leave @ 4:30am on June 13. We are flying to Seattle. From Seattle to Seoul, S Korea. From there to Delhi, India, where we will be taking a   26 H O U R train ride to Kolkata! We will spend our first couple of days exploring the city & getting familiar with our surroundings. Then we will partner with the base there & come alongside of them & the work they have been doing. The first month will be spent there. I know that we will be working in Mother Theresa homes, in red light districts, & with kids of prisoners. That's all I know right now about Kolkata.

We will spend our second month in the city of Varanasi. This is like the mecca of Hinduism. Lots of spiritual oppression- the Ganges River runs through Varanasi. Hindus believe the river brings healing, forgiveness & salvation. So people offer sacrifices, cremate people on the steps, drink, bathe & place dead bodies in the water. It's super sad, because people are trying to gain forgiveness & be healed in this water that is filthy & filled with disease. Thousands of people go there daily.  I'm not sure of what type of work we will be doing in Varanasi, but clearly there is a great need for the beautiful, free Gospel of Grace in this city & I pray we have plenty of opportunities to love these people.

If you'd like to pray, here are the ways you can:

     / / pray for the safety & health of our team as we travel & adjust to the Indian culture. 

         we've heard that people get super stomach sick in India & that the culture makes all

         of your senses go crazy. smells. sounds. sights. feels. tastes. everything. it's apparently 

         like overload.

     / / pray that God would prepare relationships for us over there & give us plenty of conversations.

     / / pray for boldness for our team. I know I want to be led by His spirit & don't want to doubt 

         what He is capable of doing. I know I want to be used by Him, too. 

     / / Brokenness over these people. Compassion & LOVE. Pray that He gives us HIS heart 

         for this country. He is already working there, we just get to be a part of it.

     / / Salvation. That God would awaken the sleeping hearts of these people & 

         they would understand the Gospel.

     / / Spiritual warfare & oppression.

That's all I know for now.

I'm so so so blessed to be here & to have this opportunity! God is so good & I'm excited to see the ways He is working in India. He has a huge love for that country & I get to somehow see a small glimpse of it. It will be amazing & I can't wait to tell all of you about it!

Thanks to all of you that are supporting me. Thanks for praying. Thanks for reading. I'm blessed by you & grateful for each one of you. Feel free to email me with any questions or comment or whatever...

Love you all.

xo