Hi everyone! Sorry I
have been a blog slacker these past few weeks.
I hope you all forgive me. Here
is a quick update on what has been going on…
After our adventurous bus ride from Montenegro to Turkey we
spent a week in Istanbul. The bus from
Montenegro only ran on Sundays so we arrived a few days earlier than the rest
of our squad who were coming for a large squad debrief. During this time we were able to do multiple
prayer walks, do a little sight-seeing and simply relax and recharge for the
upcoming month. It was so interesting to
be in a country that is about 98% Muslim.
Observing the culture and how people live was incredibly valuable to me
since I have never been in a country that is primarily Muslim.
During our squad debrief we went through a few changes. First of all my team leader, Dan was named
one of the squad leaders along with another team leader, Brandy. Aaron and Caroline (our current squad leaders
who are World Race alumni) will be leaving the field this month and Dan and
Brandy will take over in leading our squad.
This means Dan will no longer be our team leader and is now somewhat of
an “honorary member” of our team. His
time will be split up between all of the teams so he can pour into our whole
squad. I am so proud of Dan and I know
he is going to do an amazing job as our squad leader. During this time, Caroline and Aaron felt
that the teams needed to mixed up a little bit to make our squad as healthy as
possible. All of the teams except mine
had at least one teammate switched. The
only change my team experienced was Holland became our new team leader. She has been doing an amazing job during this
transition and I’m excited to see how our team grows under her leadership.
We left Istanbul on November 1st after an amazing
Halloween party in our hostel full of dancing, a catwalk and of course some
ridiculous costumes. We arrived in
Israel with very little issues and spent the night camping under the stars. (On a side note, the stairs leading into the
airplane were manufactured in St. Paul, MN!
That was random and fun!) Our
first full day in Israel we took a tour around some of the historical Biblical
sites. We were able to visit Bethsaida, the
“Jesus Boat”, Capernaum as well as see the Sea of Galilee. It is so surreal to be in places where Jesus
himself walked and taught and I am so thankful that God has allowed me to
experience this. The gospels really come
to life now after seeing so many of the places with my own eyes. The first two weeks my team and 2 other teams are in Arad, Israel. There is a variety of different things going on with all of the teams but my team will focus on teaching English as well as handing out Bible stories at a local marketplace. After two weeks we will be switching with the other 3 teams and go to another
part of the country to get more experience there.
I wanted to share just one quick thing that God has been
teaching me this week. In Ephesians 3:7
it says:
“By God’s grace and
mighty power, I have been given the privilege of serving him by spreading this
Good News.”
Some days I take what I am doing for granted or worse,
wonder why the heck did I sign up to do this?
But God really spoke to me through this verse by reminding me that it is
only because of HIS grace and power that I have the privilege to do this. The privilege. I honestly don’t know if I ever thought of
these 11 months as a privilege…but it seriously is. God not only called me to this
but he has given me the privilege to serve Him in this way. I have the privilege of bringing the love of
God to people in 11 different countries because of His grace and power. All I can say to that is thank you. Thank you, Father, for this privilege and
please let me not forget this.
Here are some things you can be praying for:
*Unity for our team…for Christ to be the center of our
family and for us to really live life as a family
*That seeds will be planted in the hearts of those we come
into contact with here in Israel
*Health for our squad…there has been quite of bit of
sickness going around
*For me to seek God in a new way this month that will deepen
my relationship with Him
I hope you all are doing great…thank you so much for all of
the encouragement and love you send my way.
Keep in touch! Big hugs to
everyone.
