A house "guest"

So as many of you know I have been taking care of my parents house, and most recently I have had some company. but it's not exactly good company. Actually I could do without.

It all started one night. I was just on the verge of falling asleep when I hear a small scratching noise. I am thinking, maybe it is an animal outside. I try to ignore it. but th emore I listen, the more it sounds like it is scratching on the drywall on my ceiling. Well let me share with you about my house. our house is set up so the attic is right above my room. So by now you have probably figured it out. Yes. There is a mouse living in the attic above my room. And it liked to keep me company at night by scrathing a little, just as I was falling asleep, so I would remember it is there. Well after lots of counsel and mustering up my courage I got the ladder out and stuck a sticky trap up there. Thinking I would try a sticky trap with bait like I did when we had a rat in our back room in Thailand.

So I stick the little trap up there and lo and behold, I climb up a couple days later.... and much to my surprise, the box wasn't where I left it. no, it is almost falling out the attic door (which scared me) and of course I let out a little screeam and slammed the door shut, and then proceeded to control my breathing and try to open the door again. after getting a better look, this is what I saw:

yes.... the mouse chewed its way free.

So then I resorted to the more tradtional trap that snaps shut and will get your fingers if your not careful.

Well, after continuing to hear scratching, I bought another sticky trap and went to put it up there, and what did I see.... the mouse stuck in the trap !!!!! yay!!! and Major EW EW EW EW EW. now I needed to find someone to dispose of it for me.... well I had some offers, but they all fell through, and I knew this thing would start to smell if I didn't do something soon, so I used many pastic bas as gloves and threw it all away.

YAY!!!!! no more mouse..... or so I thought

the next night.... what do I hear??? more scratching.... it seems like Jerry had a friend up there. so I had to start the process all over again... what fun!

fellowship

Fellowship:
Dictionary.com says :
1.the condition or relation of being a fellow.
2.friendly relationship; companionship.
3.community of interest, feeling, etc.

I have come to find how precious fellowship truly is. My first two weeks after coming back from Florida were a little rough on me. I didn't realize just how much I really need people. I mean I have always realized I need friends, but I just didn't realize how edifying friendship can really be, and as Proverbs 27:17 says "as iron sharpens Iron, so one man sharpens another."

God has definitly blessed me the past couple weeks with new friendships and bringing me closer with a coupole older ones. As well as helping me reach out to those I haven't gotten a chance to talk to sinc eI was in Thailand, and it has been refreshing. I am just so thankful that I don't feel like I am all alone anymore. When I first got back from Thailand, everyone wanted to see me and hang out and catch up, but shortly after, everyone was too busy with their own lives. I felt totally out of the loop. Like I didn't belong. Like I belong overseas and I should just come home every once and a while, so I would have friends to hang out with. but that's not really friendship. not the deep kind.

so after being in Waterford, the LONGEST I have ever lived here. like lived lived here, not just been home from school for the holidays or weekends. I have finally felt like I have some community... it is still young, but at least its a start.

reflections

so the reflection on Jesus' words that I read for today was based on Mark 8:1-2
Jesus called his disciples to him and said, "I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat."

the Reflection said:
" But that is the lesson Jesus taught on the day he fed so many. Rather than deny the compassion he was feeling, Jesus took what was available and passed it out to the people. Provisions would be multiplied to meet the need. As you feel your heart filling with compassion for the great needs around you, ask God to show you what you can do to meet the need.... Then pray that God will bless and multiply your efforts on behalf of a needy world."

I feel like this is so relevant to me, my life, and many around me right now. So many people see needs around them, and feel helpless to make a difference, but what they don't realize is that just giving what you have or a small piece can really make a difference, God will multiply it. For me that gives me hope that God will multiply what little has been given to me in support already.

my story

so, after writing the post below, and while I laid awake last night, I thought about how to better describe what God has offered me.

When I was a senior in High school. if you had told me I would be a missionary in Thailand one day, I would have said you were nuts, off your rocker.

you see the way I see it, it was like I was at a ball, a wall-flower with no partner to dance with, not really sure if I wanted to dance.

and then I caught His eyes. the most eligible man in the room. everyone was staring at him as he crossed the room. and He! He was staring at me. I looked around me to see if there was anyone nearby that he could be staring at. He couldn't possibly be looking at me. Who was I?

He came closer and closer, and as he stood in front of me, he offered his hand to me and asked do you want to dance?

This was no ordinary dance. This was leaving behind everything I knew and trusting him. I had no idea how to dance, but he said he would lead me. and be with me every step of the way.

I was very unsure, knowing this dance would change my life, but the look in His eyes, the way ?He looked at me, like he was madly in love with me, and would give me eternity if I asked for it, how could I possibly refuse?

So I decided. I would take his hand. I would follow Him to to floor and see what this dance was all about. I took a few tentative steps forward, and before I knew it, I was swept off my feet, doing circles around the dance floor. it was like my feet weren't even hitting the ground. and I never wanted them to.

This dance He was offering me, He really was offering me eternity with Him!!!!!! and HE CHOSE ME! I couldn't believe it. He never said the dance would be easy, and it has been very difficult to stay in step at times, but He was always there if I ever fell. He has NEVER left my side. this dance is the best thing that has ever happened to me, and I can't imagine NOT dancing. the love He has in His eyes for me, is worth every single step. Even if the steps are painful at times, it's worth it.

I want to spend the rest of my life dancing with Him. I want others to feel the joy to know what it means to dance with Him as well.

So will you Dance?

Vonnette Bright

Wow, last night I heard Vonnette Bright, the late Bill Bright's wife and co-founder of Campus Crusade. It was so amazing to hear her story.
She grew up in the same small town as Bill and even as early as 7th grade, Bill was in love with her. After they were engaged though, Bill's letters took on a different note. Vonnette said before he was very creative and cute in his writing to her, but now all his letters contained scripture from the bible and prayers and things of that nature, that was all over her head. She was very worried about him being involved with a group a fanaticists and went to where he was living to help save him from these strange people.
The only problem was, that Bill shared with her wha he now believed about God. Vonnette had never seen anyone with that much enthusiasm for God before, she grew up going to church and decided that these people were having too much fun for being Christians. and they really needed to tone it down a bit, God really wasn't THAT exciting. but Bill shared with her, about God's love, and how God really wants to know us personally and surrender our lives to him that we might have a full and abundant life. He said that if what he said was true about God, then you had to either truely believe it, or that it was all just loony. Well Vonnette decided to give her life over to Christ, but the story doesn't end there.
it's amazing how much has happened in the past 50 years. God used two people to start a ministry that reaches thousands of people all over the world. in over 190 different countries and 20,000 staff members.

more about bridges

Now that things have calmed down slightly, I will tell a little more about the bridges conference. It was so cool to meet so many new Christians. many of the students were chinese, and the few I talked to seemed to have very similar stories. one students had been here since august, and started going to Chinese church with a friend, and prayed to have Jesus come into his life in
September! another student had been here since May with a similar story, and has been a Christian since July. one girl I walked up to who was by herself later told me, I should do what you are doing. if I see someone by themselves, I should go and say hi to them. I think what you are doing is very good to make people feel welcome. I felt so blessed that this girl, a very new Christian was so excited to start serving and meet others.

Over and over I got to meet people who were volunteering to help out with bridges, or were new Christians, or were just checking out who God is. It was such an amazing time to see so many nations together, and working together.

I feel so blessed that I was able to experience that, and even more excited that this is my job! and I will have many more conference like this in the future.

I am very sad I didn't bring my camera with me, but it seemed like it would be more of a burden on my trip (which in full will last a month and a half) with limited packing space, and not too much time to use my camera, I opted out of bringing it. but fortunately, some pictures from the conference will be posted soon, and I will share soem with you.

Vision 08 Bridges Conference

I have so many stoies from the past couple days, I don't know where to start. so I guess I am warning you this will be a little bit of a longer post. :-)





So Dec 28-Jan 1st was the vision 2008 Conference for people involved with Bridges International. This included undergraduate and graduate students, volunteers with the Bridges Program, and Bridges staff. There were about 800 international students who are studying at schools all over the US that attended the conference, as well as about 50 American students and volunteers. About 500 of the students were Chinese, and in total, 50 different nations were represented at the conference.





The conference was held in Washington DC and Bridges Staff, and new staff (like me!) arrived a day early to talk logistics. Actually most of the planning was already finished, but it was good for me to start meeting people who are a part of Bridges who work all over the country. One of m y biggest highlights was meeting up with staff and interns from MSU!!!! Currently there are two interns working with Bridges at MSU, (who studied my year) and two full time staff, although, one of them is from Turkey and she will be leaving next fall to return back to Turkey.



It was so nice to see all of them from MSU, as I have been home since I was in Thailand, and have not actually been able to help out at all at MSU until I have all my support raised. I also got to meet up with some friends I met at New staff Training I had back in September. I am so excited that I am getting to know more people my age, and making new friends, I feel like I live in a cave in Waterford half the time!



Being in DC was pretty cool to me. I have never really been to DC before (except to spend the night) and so I never got to see all the touristy things. I really enjoyed seeing the Mall area, with the capitol building, the Washington monument, the lincoln memorial and the National Archives. I didn't get to really walk around these sites, I just walked by them. It was super windy on the day we went and too cold to stay outside long, so a group of us hung out in the National Art Museum all day. I LOVED IT!!! I secretly have this love of studying fine Art. so I really enjoyed being there.



But now onto the good stuff!!! My favorite part of the conference ended up being a random night for me. We had these things called "coffee house" it was a time to get to know other people. I met a group in the children of Abraham track. It included people from many muslim nations. I played blackjack with a guy from Saudi, a couple Kazaks and some americans. Well we ended up near a guitar and one of the american girls wanted to hear a russian song some of the students were singing earlier.

so with that group and the help of a chinese guy, and a russian, they taught us this russian song. then, invited those of us who weren't involved already to join their group to sing an african zoolu song in the talent show. At this point I thought one foreign song was enough for me for one night, so I politely declined, but wanted to watch them practice. well, as they were almost finished practicing, the girl leading it said the altos needed to be louder. they were trying to figure out how, and then I volunteered to help them out, since it was a pretty easy song, and I had already picked it up just from listening. I was pretty nervous to be in a talent show in from of over 900 people, but I decided I needed to get out of my comfort zone and just enjoy it. I had a great time overall and just enjoyed seeing the harmony (literal) of so many people from different nations working together. It was great!

more to come soon!