Volunteering!

Hey everyone!
It looks like we'll be volunteering at The Sparrow's Nest on February 18th! We can all meet up at 9:00 that morning and help paint furniture until 2 or 3 that afternoon. Please bring a sack lunch and water along if you want to have something to eat :) Also wear paint clothes! Afterwards we're going to Purple Cow for shakes (my treat) to celebrate my birthday! If you guys could give me a head count of who can come by Thursday, that would be great so that I can let Jojo (one of the volunteers) know. Thanks girls!
Love, Bethany

Basketball 2.0

Ok, Rachel told me that the game is at Bryant High School in building number 1 and starts at 5pm. Would it work for everyone to meet at the Starbucks down in Bryant (by the Target and Kohls) around 4pm? Let me know whatever works for y'all :)

Basketball Game

Hey ladies! Is anyone interested in meeting at a Starbucks before we go to Rachel B's basketball game and getting some coffee? Just an idea; let me know what you think!

Love, Bethany (or Beth, or B-swizzle, or whatever else you want to call me)

Undescribed Prayers.

So, where do I begin? Really, with New Year gone and so much going on, my life is full! And thus, these requests...

I guess a good place to start would be tonight... which just happens to tie into India and such. First off, I felt really bad about my reaction when I heard somebody was going. I didn't mean that in a bad way at all, it just shocked me because that was a side I hadn't seen coming. So in that way, it's a really good thing she's going, because I really ought to get to know her better.

But on to the significant, leave-me-speechless stuff.

I think God has a sense of humor. With everyone. Me? I think He just loves to take me by surprise. Cause it happens a lot. OGN? Last summer, that was definitely not on the top of my list. And look what He did!

You'd think I would learn from that. But I didn't. On the two hour place ride back, I was already making plans. I desperately wanted to return to OGN. Since FSM has gone every year that I can remember, that wasn't an issue. Until months later, when I was talking to Lane and Mr. Denny. Come to find out that night, FSM wasn't taking a group to San Diego this year. No, instead, God twisted it a little. Right when I thought my dreams were 'crushed', Mr. Denny mentions that if you'd ever gone on OGN, you can help with United this year. I was told I had the chance to be a student leader in the beach witnessing track. Well, obviously, I made plans. That's on my list.

Then came Guatemala. I knew I would be doubling up on Spanish anyway, and I knew a lot of people who went last year. It sounded like a good deal, especially since my dad wants me to go on a mission trip to a Spanish speaking country at some point. I made plans.

Honestly, when India finally came up in conversation, my first thought was "Oh, that's cool. But I don't need to worry about that. I mean, there's no way. There's so much I could do. Not happening."

Can't you just hear God smothering a heaven-splitting laugh? It's almost like I'm on one of those shows where the audience knows something the characters don't. No joke.

That's when things started to get strange. At first, it wasn't anything huge. I knew one person planning on going... then two... then three. All three were from the OGN team. Not so weird. No big deal. Oh, the timing already works cause Mom and Dad will be home anyway? Cool.

So God decided to get my attention. I had been talking to someone about all three trips that morning, then India showed up in a class conversation. Huh. Okay. It brought back memories of the tsunami that hit India really hard when I was in first or second grade. With it came memories of all my grade school friends- all but one were Indian. The next day, someone was talking about it. At home, I was "youtubing" something with Mom, and it led to videos about that same tsunami that I remembered. I spent a couple hours that night watching it and thinking. The next Sunday, I happened to have free time and got talking with Joy, who felt called to India for life. She felt called in tenth grade, and she noticed because it started popping up everywhere. Even in her World History book.

Now it's even more extreme. One of my Indian friends just got a number where I can text her instead of calling. I started World History yesterday and today? We talked about India.

I had to think about this. It begged attention. I noticed that all the things that made me feel 'called' to Guatemala were either people planning on going, past trip stories, or something I had done to make it easier to go. All the Indian 'coincidences' were out of my hands. I had nothing to do with them.

Tonight, when you, Mrs. Jeanne, told us to pick a verse, my mind immediately went to 2 Corinthians 12:9-10~
 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Shannon Pere and Joy Williams had recently told me that if it's going to be my first third world, overseas trip, I might not be prepared. Most 'newbies' aren't prepared.

My whole life has been built around whether or not I think I can do something. I'm a perfectionist, so if I don't think I'm going to be good at it, I don't do it. I excel in what I do,  but only because I don't try much else. Christ's power is made perfect in weakness. In Guatemala, I would still be in my comfort zone. I'd know Spanish, and I feel like I would be relying more on what I know instead of trusting God to come through. I live like that. In India, where I have a few connections but I'm scared I'll fail, I am weak. I'm not comfortable. Whatever happens, it's not my doing- it's obviously His. Everyone will know that "I can't do this, I've never known how." So if anything happens, there's no doubt God is involved, and I can't take the credit. I can boast in my weaknesses, so His power can work, so when I tell the stories, everyone can see that when I am weak, He makes me strong.

Prayer is always accepted. By the way. :)

"Tolkien" About the Movies...

Hey girls!

I'm super excited about the Christmas cookies we'll be making next visit (Rachel Barber, we'll miss you! Hope everyone else can make it!).

Last Tuesday, right after group ended, Rachel Gaffney and I were talking about a new movie coming out on the 14th of December... The Hobbit. For a while, I've been trying to get a large group of people to go see it together (because group prices should cost less), but Rachel had another idea. Why don't we as a small group go to the midnight premiere?

What a novel idea! (Pun intended...) Rachel said she hadn't been to a midnight premiere, I never have, and Carley, I think you said you went to one for the Hunger Games?  I've heard it's kinda exciting to see it at midnight, when it's showing in theaters for the first time and going with a group makes it even better. We would probably want to meet up at the theater Thursday evening (December 13th) (since it's premiering at midnight, right between Thursday and Friday) so we could enter as a group (six or more I think qualifies as a group). What do you all think?

Chapter 20! Lord, Help Me To Move Into the Future You Have For Me

Howdy girls! :) I'm missing everybody crowded on the couch right about now. Thank goodness small group starts back in a few weeks!

Here we go, the final chapter. I loved how the chapter last week was about learning God's will for our lives and this last one is about moving into the life He made us to live. Kinda goes hand in hand.

As I'm sitting here rereading and figuring out how to start this... it's funny, but this is what we just talked about in church. The first thing I highlighted was the sentence on the first page that says "That means you have no idea how great your future is." We are so totally clueless when it comes to God's plans! But we humans have a tendency to forget that. We forget that we're clueless. We forget that God's got a bigger picture. When we talked about Ruth in church, the pastor used this illustration: "You know when you take your kids to a crowded place? They're just so short, they see nothing but knees and wonder why you took them there in the first place. And you see this every time... the father will lift the kid on his shoulders. Why? To show his child that there's more to it than what he can see." Every once in a while, God 'lifts us on His shoulders' to show us while we have no idea what's in store for us, there's more to it than meets the eye, and He's got everything handled.

The thing is though, it doesn't happen automatically. God gave us free will, so here's a chance to use it. We do our part, He does His. What we can (and are actually commanded to) do is live God's way, and pray. Our life only works when we're living the way God tells us to in the Bible, so if we're not, then we're missing out. By praying about every aspect of our life, we're "investing in our future" (another phrase I underlined).

... girls, God's so clever. Really He is. Get this... so while His two instructions to us are supposed to  help us move into His future for us, they also protect us. I actually marked the phrase at the beginning of the sentence, "The devil's plan for your life cannot succeed as long as you are walking with God..." Another thing we forget. God's not the only one with a plan. Granted, God's is the best and the master plan of all plans, but Satan has a few ideas too. He wants to utterly destroy us by means of temptation and deceit. By praying and living God's way, there's no way the devil's plan for our lives will work out. Not even the shadow of a doubt.

So, to move into God's future for us, we have to live the way God intended us to live and pray. The last paragraph finishes that thought up by saying "God wants to do something great through you. If you are willing to say, 'Not my will, but yours be done, Lord' then He can use you." That's the key. We've gotta be willing. Remember that free will He blessed us with? Sometimes using that free will means being willing to let Him take the controls and letting Him handle everything. Jesus even did this in the Gardens of Gethsemane. He basically prayed and said if there's any other way to save these people, please, let's do that. But God, that's my will. Not my will, but Yours be done.

There's a song by FFH called Undone. The beginning of the chorus pretty much sums it up... "Come undone, surrender is stronger..." By surrendering to God and His plans, everything turns out.

Trust Him, girls. He's up to something. :)
Soli Deo Gloria! Love, Katie

NEHI!!!!

     Well, the weeks I was so excited about are over.  It is so strange to be back home again!  I love waking up to nine other girls in the same room as me.  I love having breakfast in the dining hall.  I love telling people that I will meet them at the cantillion.  I love the counselors.  I love the campers.  I love the camp.  The list goes on. 
     After two weeks doing what I love most, it takes some adjustment to be back home again.  It means that I have to set aside time on my own to read the Bible - I don't have a specific time set aside for that.  It means I have to wake myself up every morning - there aren't fifty other girls in the building to do that for me.  It means I have one bathroom to share with only three other girls - not four small showers, four stalls, and four sinks to share with sixty other girls.  It means a lot of things.  Most of all it means I don't have what seems like an obvious impact on the campers.  But I do.  My sisters are constantly looking up to me (scary, right?).  And here comes another list: what I learned and how I can put it into action.

1. I learned that people watch what I do.  And they listen.  And they repeat it.  And they remember.  For example, I was serving the campers supper.  The supper consisted of mashed potatoes, chicken fingers, a biscuit, and gravy.  Campers had the option of putting the gravy on the potatoes, or beside them.  Now, serving gravy can get a bit monotonous.  "On top or on the side?"  Next camper: "On top or on the side?"  And again: "On top or on the side?"  At some point, I must have been talking too fast, because to one of the senior campers, most likely 12 or 13 years old, I asked him, "On top or underneath?"  He laughed, as did I, and then he asked for them underneath.  I obliged, and the camper behind him (also the same age) asked for the same.  This was Tuesday night.  I wasn't on kitchen duty again until Thursday, and I didn't serve the meal again until that night - that's six meals later.  That camper came through, and asked for his corn underneath his chicken, as did his friend.  Whoa.  He listened and remembered!  It made me watch my language especially for the rest of that and the next week!
2. I learned that I am a total extrovert.  In English, I love people, and thrive on being around them.  Unfortunately, it also means that I care what others think waaaay too much.  Much shorter entry, but way bigger problem.
3. I learned that I can live without a phone, internet, or any other electronic devices.  And live well, for that matter.  Before camp, I would die without my phone.  At camp, there's no service.  It's very freeing, because it just has to wait.  It feels good.
4. I learned that feeling close to God is a choice.  When I choose to spend time with other people and things, I pull away from God.  "Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you."  Take it literally, because it's true.
5. I learned that first impressions stink.  Those in my cabin I thought would be stuck up, they weren't.  Oh, and that quiet girl?  She can talk your ears off!
6. I learned lots of other things.  Like how to chop wood.  Who knew how hard it could be?  And how to take a shower with wasps above you.  Actually easier than it sounds.  And how to be open.  Actually NOT easier than it sounds.  The list keeps going.  

   Pray that what I learned will not just be head knowledge.  That I would DO, rather than just SAY.  Pray that I will be able to stay in touch with the friends I met, and that we would all be able to see each other in the coming summers.  Pray that each of us will have a lasting impact, even later, and that we all learned something that will change our lives.  Finally, pray that I can get back into normal life - it's been a bit of a struggle!

   I am so glad for the opportunity I had to serve God by serving others.  Thanks to God for allowing me to be able to go!

coplea