Happy Blogging

Because my sister Jenny is a wise woman, I've once again followed her suggestion by starting a blog to keep anyone interested current on the happenings of my life while in Germany. I'm hopefully leaving sometime around July 14th to serve as the Personnel Officer at Black Forest Academy (BFA) in Kandern, Germany. I'm really excited to get there and hit the ground running, but right now my to-do list is pretty overwhelming. I'm currently in the process of raising up a support team and looking for some CFC support team captains. I cannot leave the states until all of the required finances (I'm at about 50%) have been received. The half already in amazes and humbles me, but getting the other half in such a short time is what's really going to blow me away. Good thing we serve a big God! It's incredible to know that God is going to let me be a part of shaping the lives of students at BFA...and not just let, He actually wants me there!

I went to Canada last week for new BFA staff members' orientation and was so blessed by meeting other people who are thinking "what in the world have I gotten myself into?" Getting ready for long-term missions is a lonely, draining process, but being able to call those new friends this past week and count on them being in the same boat has been quite uplifting. Despite meeting so many fantastic people and learning about the German culture, my favorite part of orientation week was the plane ride back from Winnipeg to Chicago. I couldn't go to sleep (even though I was dragging...), so I got out my prayer journal and started reading. Everytime I read an answered prayer, I circled it and wrote ANSWERED. After about 10 pages my hand was cramped, and I was seriously considering shorthand. But, I wanted to feel that pain in my hand from writing ANSWERED so many times. There were 100+ pages with that about 10 times on each page. Wow. I'm much better at asking than looking back, thanking, and sharing His faithfulness with others. A verse I've had on my heart lately says to "devote yourselves to prayer being watchful and thankful," and that impressed the verse on me even more. I'm so thankful for His faithfulness and encourage eveyone to devote some time to prayer, being watchful and thankful.