Yes I like Snow, but...

SO TODAY IS THE DAY! I left for Budapest. Oh boy have we had an adventure!

Snow: So we hear at about 11:15 am that our flight from New York to Budapest may have been canceled because New York is expecting more than 15 inches of snow. We pray :) I love it!

Step one... We get to the airport and find out there is only an hour delay. That is not bad at all. So we continue our way in the baggage check line.

As two team members checks in their bags, the third does an attempt at it but finds out, ALL FLIGHTS TO NEW YORK HAVE BEEN CANCELED... AHHHHH

Step two, we wait....... for 3 maybe 4 hours before we find out that we may not get out of Michigan until... Monday??? We pray again!

We went back and forth with the airport about when we could leave for maybe an two hours and find out some solid news.

Good news: we can leave Saturday morning.
Bad news: only nine can go Saturday morning, the other four have to leave Sunday night.

Need less to say it was very challenging! Lots more prayer.

Chaotic, exahsting, and adventurous... I'm still in Michigan!

However, tomorrow morning at 8:40am I'll be on my way to Chicago with a 7 hour layover. Maybe I can see my baby brother??? :) I would be very excited if I could. Then from Chicago to Amsterdam. And finally from Amsterdam to Budapest arriving on Sunday around noon.

God for sure has a plan for the way he made things happen today, but we are so clueless as to what it is. I'm encouraged through conversation. Maybe God has it planned that someone in this unpredictable mess will come to know the Lord.

Please pray that our flights are safe, and pray for the second half of our team, so they are not discouraged and disheartened from waiting longer.

Pray for whoever it may be that we come to know that their heart is opened and ready.

God bless that 20ish inches of New York snow!

Tiny little snow flakes

make life so much more fun when you get a phone call at 6am telling you that there is a snow day! I love these days, because 1) i get to sleep in! 2) I get to do homework without stressing and 3) I get to stay in my pajamas all day!

Okay so now that there is only 4 days until my trip, I'm getting so excited! I have to send out all my thank you letters and I have to pack but I'm ready. Sharing does not seem that intimidating right now and for that I am so thankful!

I hope that taking pictures will be just as fun! Get ready Budapest here we come.

Prayer:
1) Can you all pray that the Holy Spirit will work in our hearts as well as the hearts of the students in Budapest.
2) Will you pray that this next week I find some time to prepare my heart for the trip. I have been so busy, that I feel overwhelmed with it all.
3) Will you pray that my mission is not just in Budapest but in the states too. What I mean by that is, I want my support to be a mission, and the plane ride there to be a mission, my conversations be a mission, my plane ride home to be a mission, and my testimony when I get home to be a mission. Please pray that my mission doesn't stop in Budapest but continues on in Michigan.
4) Please pray that I am able to get some awesome pictures in Budapest. This is a passion and I want to share what I get in Budapest with everyone at home!
5) Please pray that I can find a special Hope Chest item to bring home. Someone very special gave me money to find something I can keep forever, and I would really like to make that possible. I want to be able to find something that will show her my appreciation, but also something I can genuinely only get from Budapest :) I want it to make her proud.
6) Please pray that through this week my heart can be open and ready for change.
7) Will you prat that God will provide at least one person I can see be changed by our time there.
8) And lastly, what I can think of, Will you pray that I can build relationships with my team members that will carry on through the rest of my life. I want to be an encourager to them and get to know them on a deeper level.

Open The Eyes of My Heart Lord...

I was sitting in Eastern's auditorium with the set up crew for CRU on Thursday, and I have to say how wonderful it is to be with some really awesome Christians that love the Lord. Especially Justine, I'm so blessed to have that girl in my life. She has been such a great person to talk to these past few months, and her heart is so open and she is so helpful in keeping me accountable!

So this will be the trial run on updating this blog via itouch. I want to be able to tell everyone how my days in Budapest are going the day they happen. It would be so great if it worked out that way.

My support came in all ahead of schedule. I feel so blessed. Everyone who is praying and sending gifts, thank you. You too will be blessed by this trip. God is going to work in all of our hearts and show us some amazing things.

So today I woke up around 10 and started doing my homework. Now, here it is 10 and I'm not done. I will no longer work on these things tonight. My thoughts are going absolutely crazy right now. You know how it is when something is sitting on you heart? You try your hardest to concentrate on the here and now but sure enough your mind trails off. That is me right now.

It's difficult to work in those conditions, but thank goodness for the release Christ allows us to feel.

Procrastination + Good Story = Pretty Awesome

Ever find yourself writing in a blog rather than doing the five page paper you should be writing? Mmm... yes that is me and that is what I should be doing. Any way facebook is no longer an interesting place to procrastinate because of all the silly applications and games. Although I would like to share, I found the most interesting thing about an old acquaintance from high school.

I will not disclose her name, so we will call her Jane. Jane was one of the most popular girls in high school, not for looks, but for her attitude, spunk, and fearlessness. We had our last class in high school together, and I remember her talking about the things she would be doing with guys and what she did last weekend with some older college friends at a frat party. They were not pleasant stories. I was sad for her because she did tell me at one point she didn't know if she could ever be in my position as a Christian. She thought it was boring. At that time in my life, I probably portrayed it that way for some reason. I wish I hadn't, but there is more to this other story.

So today I found her on facebook through one of her status posts. It was a very encouraging note about God. I was shocked. not because it was about God, but because the quote showed something deeper that she was learning. I was curious about what else she posted, so I followed her status' back a ways and almost every post was about her change of heart, how she was lost but now she is found, how she was so thankful for Jesus and his undying love.

Oh my goodness. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. This girl who I thought was so lost was now so found. I wanted to say something about what I was seeing in her, and tell her I was encouraged, but I didn't. But I WAS encouraged. I'm happy she found the Lord and pray she continues on that path.

Let's take one step at a time

Official rule of thumb never be surprised when God shows up in ways you thought were too small. Today was a wonderful day to spend with friends and God. Although it didn't go the way I expected He came through.

Some may know that on February 19th, my mom and step dad will officially be divorced. When I found out a few months ago, my heart was a mess. I was angry. So very angry that my parents failed their marriage. I was bitter and hurtful towards them. I was the only one of the kids that knew and it hurt even more that I was holding a nasty secret and hiding emotions they didn't know they too were going to be feeling.

However, my heart has began to soften and I am understanding that it's not me that my mom and step dad look to, but God. Despite their feelings and decisions, the Lord loves them. This is humbling and also very comforting.

Today my sisters found out. Faith is well. She is strong and finds hope in God which I'm so thankful for. Lacie is about the same. Her heart is hurt, but because she is young she doesn't see the hardship that will come. I sometimes wonder if that is a blessing in disguise!?! Kirstin, however is hurt. She is 13 and at that age everything is painful. She is a very sensitive woman and she also holds a lot in. I'm praying that she continues her walk with God and express those frustrations with HIM. If you think of it, pray for my family's hearts especially Kirstin.

I have a good feeling that if this divorce does not miraculously disappear, which I have faith it still could, that our family will grow closer in love, at least us kids. My siblings and I have grown so much closer in the past year through this and I am encouraged by that.

The verses I shared with my sisters was James 1:2-4 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

and the Lords Prayer, Psalm 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

If anyone has any other verses that could comfort us all I will greatly accept them.

Blessing the Spaghetti

The last seven hours of tonight I have spent with all very special people. After the emotional day I experienced I wanted to go home and finish it alone locked in my room, but I had an event to attend with my fellow CRU behind the scenes people. I was bringing the salad to go along with our spaghetti dinner. My heart for the night was burdened with much thought about life and responsibility, I didn't want to spend my night discussing feelings.

So as I shopped for the ranch dressing and the perfect romaine lettuce I prayed for clarity and patience. Oh, how the Lord answers prayers!

After the delicious spaghetti that Troy and Adam made for us, we played a game. The game was serious, where we needed to share the heritage of our lives, the hand of God visible in our lives, the hardships we have experienced, and the happiest moments in our lives.


As we went around the room sharing in a group of twelve our hearts poured out. Never before have I felt so vulnerable with a group like this. I couldn't believe the amount of hurt we have all experienced and the amount of joy that has come from these struggles. God was so present in our sharing. He made sure that everyone of our stories affected all the others in someway.




I know that every story I heard, I felt so blessed to hear. I loved the trust that we shared and will continue to share in the future. As this group of leaders for CRU grows in number, our bond as the behind the scene members will become stronger. I'm so glad for this experience.

When our hearts were all laid out, we played some less serious games and stayed in a state of laughter for four hours. I'm so blessed to have a strong circle of friends.



Thank you Lord God, for the beautiful friendships that were established and made stronger tonight. You are so good to us when we do not deserve it. You give it to us anyway and that is an indescribable act of mercy. Thank you Lord Jesus!