I LOVE MY LIFE!!!!

I have absolutely LOVED pretty much every single day that I have been on campus. Each Day the Lord blesses me somehow, whether it's American students naturally forming friendships with the international students on their floor to show them the love of Christ, or international students saying they want to learn more about God, or even just new Christians going out in the dorms to share their faith with other international students!!!!

God is so good, and I feel so blessed by all that is going on!!!!

I will be sending out my monthly prayer letter soon, with some specific stories, but I hope to post some of the smaller stories more often ( I seem to always say that!!!)

Today I took a girl out driving. we went to a large church in the area to their parking lot and learned about turning, stopping, and parking. we went to a business next door and practiced where there were a few cars around to make things a little more interesting, but I don't think we'll go on the main roads at all, just the parking lots to learn a few basics, I'll leave the big stuff up to the professionals!!! but I definitely had my patience tried a lot today. for some reason she didn't quite get it it I said stop, I meant NOW and if I said turn I meant NOW. she definitely improved greatly, but still I think the language barrier was a little bit of a problem, or maybe she just isn't a good listener!

Thankfully we're still in one piece and had NO close calls!!! yay!

I am glad I can help serve her a little, and maybe be able to share the gospel with her next time. She kept saying "thank you for your patience" maybe next time I can share I can only be patient with her because God is patient with me!

uh oh!

Sorry I have kept all of you in the dark for so long!!!! I guess my life got a little bit crazy after May 2nd.

So most recent update.... I LOVE MY JOB!!!!! I get to meet people from all over the world, practice speaking Thai, make wonderful lifelong friends, and just have fun!

I just got back from saying goodbye to my Chinese friend who came to know the lord this past spring. I have gotten to see her for a few brief moments here and there since then, but saying goodbye was the hardest. I got to pray for her, and she said "God bless you" to me. I am excited because I didn't teach her that, but she is already meeting Christians and going to church without me even helping her. I have just been giving her encouragement. I am so excited for what god will do through that young lady!!!

Just before that we had an ice cream social. well we didn't. the university did, and we kind of crashed it to get to know some students, but it was ok that we were there. Earlier in the day I" realized I had my shirt I got this summer that says "treasuring Christ and making Him known..." on the back, and I thought maybe it's not a good idea to wear that tonight (since some people put up a stick when the "religious" groups show up) but we weren't recruiting people, just meeting them. but anyway, I had forgotten why I was going to change my shirt, and so left it on.

In the middle of a game of "human Bingo" (i.e. find someone who can speak more than 2 languages...find someone who has a younger brother...) a girl walk straight up to me and said "are you a missionary?" Since we don't broadcast that Bridges is actually a ministry - students know we are Christians, but we don't go around saying we are missionaries, I was a little taken aback, but realized if this girl knew what and who missionaries were, and asked me straight up I would answer her straight up. I said yes and she then asked if I knew a good church in the area!!!! I was then glad for my earlier answer and gave her the name of a church I really like that meets on campus.

Later I ended up meeting pretty much the only girl undergraduate student from Thailand.. and guess what?!?!? she became a Christian about a year ago!!!! for a Thai person to change religions, it is a HUGE thing!!!! so not only can I practice Thai with her, but I can encourage her about her faith!

So going back to this afternoon, we had some students that had filled out some surveys we had at the resource fair we had monday and we going back to the students rooms to invite them to come to our welcome party on friday night. Not many people were home, but some of them I got to meet their roommates and one girl said she even wants to cancel her travel plans to Pittsburg so she can come to our party!!!!! I LOVE international students! They are so genuine and real, and just excited to meet Americans! Because classes haven't started and the American students haven't moved in on campus yet, any American that these students meet are like their new best friend!

One girl thought I was a student and was asking me if what she was wearing was ok. she had cross earrings on and I had asked her about it, so I am excited to go back sometime to explain a little more about what is so significant about the cross. :-) I love God! he moves in some crazy ways!

So I am in an interesting place right now. My roommate hasn't quite moved in, and I am in a new apartment. I like having time to myself, and it's so quiet, but I also get lonely too. I feel a lot of freedom though to just get on the floor and start praying anytime I remember some prayer requests ( and I don't need to worry about people walking and wondering why I'm in the middle of the floor!) I also don't get distracted too easily, and so I have been spending me free time at night lately digging into the word.

Our staff team started meeting last monday to start planning for this semester. We will be studying the book of John, and I'm excited to be going through it and get some new insights from it. John and Mark are my two favorite gospels, and I feel like I can never study them enough... actually, the more I study the bible, the more I am ok with studying the same book over and over, I get new stuff every time. In my own time, when I'm not in John, I'm also looking at Ephesians.

We studied Ephesians this summer while I was in Wildwood, NJ and I forgot how much I like the book. Chapter 3:16-21 are some of my favorite verses that have been keeping me company for the past year or so, and so now I really want to dive into the rest a little more.

Well I think that's all for now. hopefully more to come soon, but the beginning of the semester is crazy so I hear, but I'm glad I have one semester under my belt already so I kind of feel like I know what I'm doing!

Lonely lips

Last weekend I finally got to meet a friend of a friend's Thai wife. She is a new Christian and sometimes it's hard to explain spiritual things in another language and so my friend wanted me to meet her and help answer some of her questions and whatnot. The funny thing about most of the Thai people I meet here in America, is that they don't want to speak Thai with me. Either they've forgotten a lot of it, or they want to practice their English. Ben was not shy about speaking Thai with me. She would even correct me too!!! I haven't gotten that since I was in Thailand!!!! my Thai friends would always correct me so I would pronounce words more correctly, or use the correct grammar or whatnot.

So After Ben and I talked for just a few minutes, she turned to her husband and said she wants to stay with me for a few months because she misses speaking Thai so much!!!

Later on as we were talking, she told me about a saying that in english means "lonely lips." She was saying that since she's been here, she's missed speaking Thai so much that her lips feel lonely.

It was so good to speak Thai. I realized how much I am forgetting, but I was glad I could still encourage her and be a listening ear for her.

person of peace

So this past week was the last week we were on campus, and then we had our planning week. It was so good to catch up with students one last time before the end of the semester. One girl I kind of randomly met is from Lebanon. She grew up going to a private Christian school, but her family is Muslim. I got to meet her only briefly for coffee earlier this semester and our schedules haven't worked out to meet again. This past time though, we got to talk about movies we like, and other likes and dislikes, and just get to know each other more in general.

As I was dropping her off, she said "you should meet some of my friends, they ask me many questions about God, maybe you could have a bible study to teach them more!" She also mentioned how hard it is to talk to people about religion when they don't even believe in God. So my Muslim friend wants me to have a bible study for her non-Christian friends! In the bible there is the concept of a "person of peace" in Luke 10:5-6 it says," When you enter a house, first say, 'Peace to this house.' If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if no, it will return to you." In our ministry we usually relate this to a person that is friendly towards us and helps us to meet many new people on campus. I feel like my new friend might be one such as that. She said her family is very open to other religions, and her father even encouraged her to learn more about Christianity.

It was so nice to end the semester on this note.

the bible is like a cell phone!!!

I am SSSOOOO encouraged this past week!

Last week was technically our last week to be meeting with students on campus, and one girl I have been meeting with during this semester, Yunyun, I met randomly at the cafeteria in the international center on campus. Well God knew it wasn't random. I got to share about my faith with her, and tell her about how it has changed my life, and she was so interested!!!! she was excited to meet more to learn more about God and Jesus and ask questions. so every week since before spring break we have been meeting, but the past few weeks she's been busy. so I wanted to make sure I meet with her one last time before the semester ended since she's been so interested I wondered if she was ready to entrust her life to Christ.

Well when I e-mailed her, she was SO excited, because she had just thought about e-mailing me too! we set up a time to meet, so I was excited that maybe she had made a decision to ask God to come into her life. Well, at the time we were supposed to meet, I waited for an hour and didn't hear anything from her. later she told me she messed up her life the day before, and everything was crazy and she was so sorry she couldn't meet

I was so disappointed because I thought this meant we couldn't meet at all, but then she wanted to meet over the weekend. usually I try not to work on the weekends, because I need to rest sometime, but since this is the last time before the end of the semester I decided it would be fine.

well as we met at the coffeeshop I was a little disappointed when I saw she was with a guy also. I thought this might be her boyfriend and I figured she would be more shy to talk about God with him around. As the small talk was getting to an awkward end, I finally asked her if she had some new questions about God for me. well that spurred on a hour long conversation and explanation of the gospel all over again. She then told me she had mentioned to her friend that she was going to meet someone to talk about God and he had wanted to come to!

It was so encouraging because I was disappointed about so much in meeting her, and here she is just excited to know more about this God that loves her and wants her to experience real life. one of my favorite parts of the conversation was when Xiao was asking about why we need to pray. I explained how even as people to have a good friendship, they must talk to one another, so when we pray we are talking to God and how the bible is one way God can speak to us. Well then Xiao replied back, with a big grin of understand on his face and said "oh! so the bible is like a cell phone!"

I loved this and it really made me so excited that he was really getting it. At the end they were asking me about how they can go to church, and what it's like, and yunyun said " I want to come to all of your activities next year!" and xiao said he was going to join a bible study next semester.

Meetings like this where there is just such innocent faith and desire and hunger to know God, make me so thankful and overwhelmed that this is my job I get to do this for a living! I can't believe that I get to do this. God is just so good, and I am excited for yunyun and xiao to finally decide to open the door to let God completely into their lives.

toilet bowl tour!

So I figured I should write about this, even though I don't have pics up. Tonight we did a toilet tour in one of the dorms on campus. I am a part of the community service team(with American students), and we have been thinking of ways that students can do some community service, and so when I was a student at MSU, one of the things our bible study would do once a semester is a toilet tour. you get supplies, and each group of three or four goes around and cleans the bathrooms for people that have their doors open. While two people clean the toilet, sink and mirror and take out the trash, one person explains that we are doing this to practically show God's love to them in a tangible way!

It was so good tonight! a couple students were able to share their faith for the first time, and many of the students that went with us came back and said they had expected this to be awkward going out, but it really wasn't, and it was easy to talk to people about Jesus when you were doing something that is their least favorite chore!

So hopefully this will help get the word out about our group on campus and more people will come to the weekly meeting the American students have. this week and the next two weeks we are doing a big outreach about hard questions people ask. This week is "did Jesus really rise form the dead?" next week is "how can Christians claim Jesus is the only way" and the week after is "is the bible really trustworthy?

so be praying that many new students will come to the meetings and get their hard questions answered!

:-)

conversation partners

so I think I have mentioned my Libyan friends before. Well last Thursday I was meeting with some students for a planning Bridges International events and I saw one of the friends I had met before. He told me my other friend (who is a girl - that I know better than the rest) was there! So I started talking to her and we all ended up grabbing a bite to eat in the cafe together. There ended up being 4 of us eating together. as we were talking, I told them about my time in Chicago, and about sharing the love of God with others, and they whispered in Arabic among themselves, and suddenly my friend turned to me and said "do you like pork?" I mentioned it's ok, and I eat it, and I asked if they eat it(knowing as muslims they don't) and my friend said "we don't like it" and I tried to clarify that they don't like the taste or choose not to eat it, and they said it was the latter. but my suspicions are that they were talking in Arabic about possibly converting me to Islam ;-) little do they know, I had the idea about talking to them first. Not that I am just friends with them to convert them. I don't really like that word, but more, I want them to know the freedom they could have in knowing Christ, and experiencing the love of having a relationship with him, rather than just practicing a religion.

anyway, they are all really nice, and sweet and asked if I would be their conversation partner. So our first lessons was the pronunciation of "cool." The way they said it, it sounded more like "coal" but I really enjoying helping them with their language, and also slipping in little tidbits about how marvelous Jesus is. :-)

Please be praying that I would be bold in telling them about Jesus, and that God would open their hearts and provide a good opportunity for me to speak with them.

Nutritional Science coming in handy!!!

So you may or may not know that my major in college was Nutritional Science. I really loved studying this, and I miss talking about it and using it, because it was really interesting to me

well, during spring break, we had an opportunity to go to the salvation army's "freedom center" in downtown chicago, that can house 198 men who are trying to recover from drugs and alcohol and be rehabilitated back in to society.

While we were there we served food, made meals for homeless people, helped plan an event for them to social more and learn about team work, and also did an activity to help them learn about an employer's perspective.

anyway, while we were there, finishing up one activity, one of our girls looked really tired and then sort of fell on the floor. she didn't pass out, but she just sort of crumpled. I thought at first it might have been just because the room was really warm, but as we moved into another area, she didn't seem much better. She said she had low blood sugar, and so that was why she collapsed. Immediately I thought "she needs some juice!!!!" but when I suggested it, she said juice wasn't good. so I got her some water, and as she was munching on some snacks, she still didn't look good, so I got her some juice, and within 5 minutes she looked 100% better!

A few days later, I overheard some girls say she collapsed again! so I went to check on her, and one girl was holding her head up by her hair. they said she was fine, eating snacks and whatnot, but she didn't look fine, she was very very pale, and I was worried she was going to pass out. again she refused juice. but when I came by 10 min later, and she didn't look any better, I insisted, and within 10 min of her drinking the juice she could hold her head up herself.

I had called a friend who is a nurse just to make sure juice was the right thing. I was worried because she kept refusing juice, but it helped her so much the first time, and I feel like it was drilled into my head that that was the right thing to do.

anyway, when I got home, I looked it up, and sure enough it said juice was the best remedy (less than 4 oz, just to get the system running) Later as I was processing why I knew juice would help, I remembered a situation I came across when I was studying spanish. Some friends would ask me to help them to make sure their grammer was correct, and I would help them out, and they would ask why they needed to change something and I would respond "it just sounds right" It was the same with this situation, it just sounded right. I think when something gets drilled in your head so many times, we don't know where were learned it, we just know it's right, like 2+2=4 we just know it, we don't have to think about.

so I was very pleased that I was able to help in this situation, because no one else had any clue what to do!!! I'm so thankful that God had equipped me for this situation. It's funny how almost every other week, I come across someone with some health issue or nutrition question, like a fellow staff member recently found out he has really high cholesterol, and I am so eager to help others to know more about how they can address these issues, but I feel like no one really pays much attention. I think most people forget I studied nutrition. oh well, at least I can help in some situations!

alone

this weekend I have the house to myself, for about a total of 24hours anyway. It's nice. I love having some time that I can just spread out and not infringe on someone else's space. My house is a little small, so you can hear everything, and I hate to inconvenience others around me, and so I often am just in my room a lot, or I go to a coffee shop.

I like the quiet and the space. I am often around people all day long everyday, so a little time with no people, no one to have to interact with is a little refreshing. recently I have had a lot of work piling up. With the end of the semester coming, I feel rushed to finish some of the little things, and meet with people before the semester wraps up. So my day off I don't think will end up being a day off afterall.

For me rest is time that is unplanned, and I like to accomplish things, as well as hang out with people that KNOW me. Sometimes building relationships with new people isn't as refreshing as simply spending time with people that you don't have to explain yourself to.

So today since I don't have anyone nearby that really knows me, I am just not planning out what things I need to accomplish today and catching up on some T.V. shows in the meanwhile.

I hardly ever have time to just watch T.V. anymore, I might catch something here or there, but rarely do I have time to just veg. So today I am vegging and accomplishing a few unfinished tasks. Like looking for a place to live! My one roommate just got engaged, and the other is moving out, so I need to find either two new people to move in with me, or a new place to move to. so if you know anyone that is in the Lansing/East Lansing area that might be interested in either, let me know!

Interesting firsts

So for the MSU spring break I ended up being the leader of a trip into inner city Chicago. There are lots of things to tell, some of which I will tell in my prayer letter I am sending out in a couple days, but what I did not put in there was I had the experience to have someone throw up in my car! It was like a movie, but usually they don't show the actual stuff coming out of someone's mouth, but I got a front row seat!

not that I wanted it, but I was driving, and she had told me previously that she got queasy if she didn't have something in her stomach, and I should have figured it out when she opened the window, but I didn't quite get until it was happening, and by then it was too late! anyway long story short, most of it was contained to the floor mat, and she was able to put it in a plastic bag and clean it up in the bathroom, and then someone at the place we were at gave me a whole roll of paper towels and a container of clorox wipes, so I was able to clean it up before the sun baked my car. then when I got home later, I used a spot carpet cleaner to go over it all again, just to make sure.

Another interesting thing that happened was while we were driving in the city, I had a car full of students, and just before we were getting off at our exit we were going through a little tunnel part and a car decided to cross three lanes of traffic, and I guess didn't see us, and I screamed! It takes a lot to actually get me to scream, and because we were in a tunnel there wasn't much of a place to go, but God definitly had his hand on us and even though the car seemed more than halfway in our lane, I swerved a bit, but we didn't hit the van or the wall of the tunnel. But I don't think I will ever forget the look of that van inches away from my car, and all I could think about is, "oh no! there's other people in my car besides me! they are going to get hurt!!!!" I think I am so secure in knowing what will happen to me when I die, but I was worried about what would happen to the others in my car. I knew they were all younger than me(not by much) and had lives to live, and I just remember a flash of "no not them!" but we were all safe, so that's good.

but yeah, so those were my close calls/gross stories. I also got to have an interesting conversation with a South Korean women, who has lived in Chicago for almost 35 years. She told me a lot of her life woes, but the highlight of the story was this bird/animal thing that has eight eyes and lives in the himilayas, and that is how she knows a God must exist if he can create things like that! I tried to look up what she was talking about, but couldn't find anything... oh well, it was still an interesting conversation for being on the subway!

Libyan friends

I've recently met a large group of students from Libya. They are all studying political science, and always go around in large groups, so it makes it easy to meet a lot of them at a time! But their English isn't so good yet, so it takes a while to really have a full conversation. But they are so excited to have an American friend! Last satuday before I went to Chicago for the week they invited me to eat some Libyan food with them, but it was the last free day before I left. So after I had already told them I could come, I had to cancel. It ended up being a good thing, because I had so many things to do that day, but I am hoping to have more opportunities to get into their lives and get to know them and share God's love with them!

aagggghhh...

So I know I have been very bad at keeping this updated, so I am going to try to not be so detailed about what I put in here, because I feel like I need to catch up so many things, so I will just put a little at a time.

for example, yesterday we had our life options bi-weekly meeting for Bridges. Well I was in charge and usually we do like a short film and have some discussion questions afterwards to spark some good conversations, give students a chance to get to know each other and practice their english.

Last night, since i was leading, we had had an idea to do many different things besides just short films, but it has been the easiest thus far because it is already set up with questions, so you really don't have to prepare anything. Well at the beginning of the semester I decided I would do something on Shakespeare. Well as I was last-minute putting something together, I was overwhelmed by what to do, I originally thought about doing his poem "all the world's a stage" from the play as you like it, but as I was starting to prepare it, the english is really difficult to understand, and I thought the students would have a really hard time with it. As I was overwhelmed I looked at other options, but I didn't even know what I was looking for, so I decided to just go with it, and see how it goes.

It ended up being a hit! There were a lot of really good conversations about if people thought they were acting/playing a part for people in their lives, and putting on masks, and just getting into some very interesting conversations. I think the American students maybe appreciated it more than the international students (because it was different and they could understand it easier) but I think, based on my group, it still was a good topic.

I really enjoy getting to meet the students at our weekly meeting, but it has been hard to feel very connected with them, because we only get to talk for short periods of time, and I only get to see people every other week, but it does provide a good opportunity for us to follow up with the students that come, and feel out who might be open to further discussion about God.

Love

Today is valentine's day and I am reminded of God's immense love for his children! I am so thankful that I can know him in a personal way. He has changed my life so dramatically and it hasn't left me the same.

It amazes me that the creator of the universe would choose to step down off his throne to come and live with us, but not just that, but to humble himself and take the punishment that all of us deserve. Because he loves us so much he was willing to die for us, take the bullet intended for me!

He cares about us so much that he knows the number of hairs on our head!!! He even knows the precise number of gray hairs I have, and has a name to label the color of my natural hair (sandy blonde? dishwater blonde? mousy brown?) I was not a mistake. I was not just a creation of chance that one guy fell in love with one girl, and I just happened along in time, but god created all the right circumstances to produce me just as I am, and place me in this time and place. He provided the perfect opportunity to show himself to me that I would open my heart to him and let him come and live in me. Not just in me, with me, through me, guiding me, showing me the way that he has planned out before the creation of the stars. He knew. He loves me so much that he wouldn't let me just wander on this spiraling ball of dirt, but that he would plan a way for me to go, that would give me the most life, and fulfillment. He knew what would make me happy, what would make me sad and what I would be good at and what I just can't grasp.

He put people places and events in my life so that I would be able to know him and love him, more and more every day. I am not just another dot. not just another life in the scheme of things. I am not just a creature that happened to evolve out of slime, nor have I just created something in my mind to make me happy. Life with Christ isn't always happy, it's not always easy, but It is more than I could have ever dreamed my life of being. I get to do what I love, and I get to enjoy every minute of it! Even if it means long hours and hard work, at the end of the week, I never feel like it isn't worth it.

Today I celebrate that I am loved beyond compare! I hope you can too!

Here is a gift from my creator to me, and from me to you!

Love ya!

precipitation

So this morning I took a walk even though there was water falling from the sky. I decided I had put off exercise for long enough, and I was glad I had the energy to get up and out, and move around a bit before I got my day started.

I have been having a hard time getting up in the mornings, to work out, spend time reading the bible and meeting with God and then starting my day. When I have a choice, I usually choose God over exercise, knowing that he is so important to me having a good day, and really makes the difference of how my day goes.

So this morning, since I had a little extra time on my hands, I went out. Fortunately the precipitation wasn't the kind that leaves you feeling soaked to the bone. It was too cold for that :-) so by the time I got back, I was cold down to my bones, but I was still refreshed! I felt great that I had more energy, I was just too cold to keep going. but anyway, if you haven't figured it out by now, it was snowing, and not raining, and so it was just peaceful and beautiful. The neighborhood I live in has lots of old houses, and in the snow, they just look right out of a history book!

Hope you had a good morning too!!!

not getting work done

So it's saturday... I just got back from a conference, I have a list of things I NEED to get done, some of which are work related, I also have a list of saturday activities that I wouldn't mind doing today just to relax and chill out.

Decisions decisions.... This week at the conference I was reminded of time management and priorities and all that good stuff, so I am trying to make some good decisions today reflecting that.

I also had a nice start to my weekend, Jessica, my house mate got up and to use some of the leftover bread she had made, she made some french toast this morning with cinnamon apples!!! and invited me to partake as well! Needless to say it was very delicious and very enjoyable.... now I just need to figure out what my week is going to look like.... Happy Saturday!

I don't know why it's so hard for me to post right now... There are so many things I want to post, it's just when I get onto the computer, I can't wait to get off, and posting something just seems one more thing to add to my schedule.

This week I have been at a conference/retreat for newly reported staff with CCC (meaning, just got on campus within the past year) some people have literally been on campus since January, others like me have been interacting with students for only a couple weeks so far.

This was a great opportunity for me to step back from the whirlwind of the past month or two, and get an idea of where I'm headed and what I'm doing. Get some goals in mind, organize some of my thoughts, and really pinpoint what are the important and healthy things I need to put in my schedule, and what maybe I could/should take out

It was really helpful for me to talk to some senior staff and get an idea of what to expect the next few months/years, and hear it's ok for things to be chaotic right now. It will be that way for a while, I just need to keep on moving past it!