Help!!!

Hi friends!! So, I have a dilemma. I am supposed to leave for a missions school in Belize in one and a half weeks, and I am short $2,743.64 exactly. I am going to be bold here. I am asking you to prayerfully consider pledging money to me, whether it is just once or monthly. It doesn't have to be much, but every bit adds up. I feel God is calling me to the missions field and I know He has great plans in store for me. I will be learning about His word, and growing closer to Him in the first few weeks. Then I will be taking what I have learned to the field, in an outreach. I need to raise this money in a week and a half, and I am calling upon you, my family, for help.

Your money will go directly to the organization that runs my school, Destination Paradise, which is a branch of Youth With a Mission (YWAM). Whatever funds I acquire will go towards missions and my schooling in the missions field.


If you want to keep in touch with me, or if you have questions, please e-mail me at:  friedchicken177@gmail.com

Sunshine Fills the Shadows.

One week. Six days. 8 hours. Thats when my flight leaves, with me one it, carrying me to Belize! Well, L.A., actually. But Belize isn't far ahead of that. These past few weeks have been full of fundraising, and getting everything together to head down to Belize. I turned 18 on the 10th of April, and my parents bought me a beautiful Healy backpack from Cabelas to bring down to San Pedro with me. I have flip flops, shorts, teeshirts and tanktops to bring with me.... and I think I'm basically set, except for a few select things.

I went to the health department last week and got my immunizations, along with some Typhoid pills that I took. I still need to get $2000 dollars to pay for the first phase of the school, but I am confident that it will come...and my friend and I are organizing a coin drive to help with that. Despite the money situation, I am so ready to go! I have become restless in waiting, though I know that I need to treasure every day home, since I am leaving in less than two weeks. God is so good!

I was reading Psalms 19 today, and it was saying how everything speaks of the glory of God. The sun is radiant in the day, the moon shouts it from the evening sky. If the SUN and the MOON can speak God's glory all day and night, if they proclaim His name for all to see, every day, tirelessly, why do we not? I am guilty of forgetting my own God. I become caught up in getting ready to go to Belize that I forget to read my Bible or pray, or just spend time meditating and listening for His voice. I'm working on not letting everyday life get in the way of being in the presence of my Creator. He deserves my all, and that is what I am working towards giving Him.

Smoothies.

It is almost time! Jusrt a few short weeks seperate me from Belize, and I still feel as if it's all adream. I know that it's not, however, because my friend Louise is heading back to Belize today and we didn;t say goodbye. Just a "See you soon!" hug was passed between us. How I love her! She has encouraged me and I am that much more excited to head to Belize because of her.


Well, here is an update on my activities of late: Saturday, the 26th of March, I hosted a rummage sale at my church to raise funds to head to Belize. It went extremely well, we sold over half of the things there, and I have the rest still sitting in the back of my truck, waiting to go to the thrift store. The rummage sale brought in enough money to pay for my acceptance fee, plus add to more of my overall fee! Praise Jesus!!!

Monday, the 28th, I headed over to the Everett Post office with my mom and Carly Simmons to apply for my passport. After waiting for two and a half hours, and listening to the remarks of one hilariously flustered passport agent/post office lady, I was informed that my passport would come within two weeks. Hurrah!!!

It's incredible to think that just a little while ago, it was December and I was just turning in the first part of my application, and now I am only a few weeks from leaving. I have four more sundays, four more youth groups, four more small groups. And I am completely, incredibly excited. I love that I am feeling no stress, I am feeling no worry about this, because I know that God is pulling everything together and knitting it together how He wants it to work out...and that is more comforting and exciting and thought-provoking that anything else.

Drive-Through Carwash.

If I ever doubted God and His intentions before, i definitely do not now. This past week has been such an eye-opener for me! Last Wednesday I had my phone-chat with Alyssa (the DP Registrar), and that went incredibly well! I felt confident, though I was nervous, and I got my acceptance letter soon after the chat, which was the most exciting thing ever. Then, right afterwards, my youth leader Sherri Simmons, who is basically another mom to me, told me she was going to use her and her husband's air mileage to get me to Belize, so I wouldn't have to worry about the airfare....soon after that, I talked to a friend of mine and she said she was going to pay for my passport! All I could do was jump up and down and yell in excitement.

God! You are SO GOOD.

Money for the trip has been pouring in this whole entire week, from different people in and out of my church. I am so incredibly thankful to God and for all that He has done for me! He orchestrated everything so I could get my passport and my flights taken care of, and He has given me a peace that I don't even understand. I'm not stressed a bit.

I'm going to Belize! I still can't believe it. This is incredible. I know this all sounds incredibly unorganized and scattered, but this is my excitement pouring into words, and excitement isn't organized, thank heavens.

I will write more tomorrow, when I have time to think. For now, sleep beckons, and my joy will have to pour out into more words tomorrow. Good night :)

Treadmills and Ramen.

My week is getting fuller and fuller every time I step back and look at it. I finally have a phone interview set up with the registrar from DP (Allyssa), which is throoughly exciting because I have spoken with her so much over e-mail that I feel like I know her, and am excited to hear her voice. It feels like someone is almost a dream until you hear their voice or see them in person, you know? So that has me excited. So excited, in fact, that I was checking out plane tickets today, and Tickets to Belize City from Memphis are cheaper than tickes to Belize City from Seatac...so I think I am going to go visit my sister and her family in Tennessee for a few days before heading into paradise, but that is still in the works so it's not a final decision.

I'm so ready to head to Belize. I know I am not physically ready, I don't have everything together yet, but I feel like I need to be there and I am so ready to leave. I can't wait to go and to learn more about God and read more of the bible and hear the different speakers lecture. I can't wait to grow in my relationship with Him and learn how to explain and defend my faith, my morals, my convictions. I am so ready and willing to be His hands and feet, his eyes and ears and mouth on the outreach and internship, to be able to communicate for Him and be in His will.

I get goosebumps when I think about Him, think about the work that He is doing around the world and in the hearts of people nad I cannot wait to be a part of that work in a drastic way. I know I am already part of that work on the Island, but I am excited to expand my heart and be able to minister in another country, in another way. I want to pour out my love for Him and for others onto His people, onto the hurt and weary, the broken and the wealthy, the lame and the strong... I just want to be helping them, picking them up and singing into them a song of hope and renewal.


God is going to be my strength when I am in Belize and I will pour myself out for Him... I can't wait :)

A Prayer for Japan

I can't even imagine what is going on in Japan right now... the tsunami and earthquake that hit have devastated so much of Japan that it's hard to know where to start talking about it. I'm looking at pictures taken of the people and the devastation in Japan and my heart is breaking for these people. I can't fathom being that broken, that terrified.

Japan, there are no words to express the sorrow. All I can do is pray.

Falling Slowly

It's bizzare to think that if everything works out soon enough, I'll be leaving in less than two months. Time goes so quickly! But I am confident that God will provide for me what He wants. It was so incredible, I was at church yesterday and I was stressing over money and worried that nothing would come together in time, and a man came up to me amd started talking to me. He just walked up and smiled and said, "The money will come." And I looked at him and smiled and said "..." to which he replied, "Don't worry. I'm not just saying this; the money will come." and I said "Thanks, that makes me feel a lot better about this, I am kind of stressed," And he just kept repeating, "The money will come. God will provide. Stop worrying."

It was so encouraging to have someone who I hadn't even confessed my fears to confirm that they were not well founded fears. He drove home the point that God was putting on his heart, and it encouraged me and lifted my spirits so much! I'm so thankful for everyone who has come along side me to help me plan fundraising and say an encouraging word to me.

I met with a few friends (David and Lennox) tonight to play music together. We all play guitar and sing, David also plays drums, and Nnox also plays piano. I can't express how muc I love the feeling of sitting down with a guitar in hand and belting out music for God, figuring out strum patterns and different chords, notes, and harmonies together.

It's hard to understand how some don't believe in God when He is so evident in things like music. He has created voices as instruments to blend perfectly and created the ability to learn to play guitar, drums, piano, any instrument. He is so incredibly AMAZING. I love Him. :)