Wah gwaan, mon?!

Evry ting criss! Those are just a few of the phrases we learned while in Jamaica. "Wah gwaan, mon" or "What's going on, man" and "Evry ting criss!" or "It's all good!" Even though we learned a lot of their phrases I think my favorite phrase was said over and over by a very sweet little boy with beautiful eyes named Ramario. Anything I asked him he responded with "yes, miss" or "no, miss" He lived fairly close to the church that we stayed at and came to hang out with us often. He had a very sweet sister, Rosie. VERY sweet children! I absolutely would've brought them home with me if I could have.

    

With this being my first foreign mission trip I didn't really know what to expect. Several people told me about their experiences in Jamaica and their stories of foreign mission trip they had taken. These tips were good and helpful, but I don't think they even got anywhere close to the actual experience I had. I also found that some of the things I heard about Jamaica were not completely accurate. For example every single person I talked to said that crime was really bad and people get robbed often. I'm sure this is true is some areas of Jamaica, but as far as I know we did not have one thing stolen from us...even while we were in Ocho Rios and Montego Bay. I can't say that there was ever a time that I felt really unsafe. There were a few awkward moments with random people, but nothing to be afraid of. Secondly, I was told about how beautiful the beaches and water is. This is true, but only to an extent. I found that the mountains and the people on the mountains had so much more beauty to offer than the beach. I felt at home there. I really wanted to stay another week! It was very humid and nothing ever completely dried, but that didn't really bother me. To be completely honest, I could live there. Now, I'm not saying I believe God is calling me there for an extended amount of time, but God did and is still doing some really great things there.

While we were there 40 plus people accepted Christ! PTL! There were a couple guys from our group that were praying with a young man that accepted Christ as the rest of us were on the bus ready to leave to come home. There were many "random occurrences" like this one. One of the pastors that went with us lead two people to Christ when he was taking pictures of random things on two different days. Talk about God's timing!

There were a few things that stood out to me on this trip. I want to share them with you in the next couple of paragraphs.

One was going into the schools and teaching the children Bible stories and songs. We rotated who went on what day so I only went once, but it was awesome to hear the children singing songs about Jesus to us and their teachers encouraging them to do it. That is something totally foreign in America. It blows my mind that God is encouraged in their schools while He is being taken out of ours. Another thing that I really enjoyed while in Jamaica was the taxi rides. We had the same 7 or 8 taxi drivers the whole time so we got to know some of them pretty well. Not all of them were Christians so we had the opportunity to share our faith with them. I feel like they showed us what a true Jamaican looks like.

God was definitely very faithful to us during this trip. We did not have any problems as far as flights and customs. One thing I was a little concerned about before going on this trip was getting motion sick. I prayed about it several times before we left. God was also faithful in that. I did not even get a hint of motion sickness the entire time except once when we were in a taxi and a guy blew his marijuana smoke in the window. Even then I did not get really sick. I have to give Him the glory for it! Nine times out of ten I get motion sick, but not this time. The driving was pretty scary at first,but after the first day or so I kinda liked it! It was a thrill!

I also LOVED the fruit!! I have decided to wait a little while until I eat the fruit again here in the States because I'm afraid I won't like it. Fresh mango, banana, guava, pineapple, jack fruit, and coconut- all fantastic! I think my favorite fruit was the Jamaican apple. The texture and taste was very good! Things that I didn't like so much were bread fruit, plantains and sugar cane. The bread fruit tasted like a campfire smells. Very different! It was much better cooked. The plantains were just ok. Nothing I would jump up and down about. The sugar cane tasted good, but it was just too sweet for me. The Juicy Patties were good as well. I definitely wouldn't eat them every single day, but they weren't bad. Overall I don't think I ate anything that made me want to puke, but some things I liked better than others.

When we arrived Friday evening (6/3) we ate dinner at the Jamaican pastor's house and just rested and met some of the locals. Saturday we painted the entire outside of the church that we stayed in...when it wasn't raining. Going into this trip we did not know that we were going to be there during the rainy season. It rained almost every day we were there. God still provided, though! The pastor there has 4 different churches he is the pastor of. Our group split up into 4 groups to serve at each church. Sunday morning we split into our groups and had service at our designated church. Sunday night we kicked off our revivals. Sunday night through Thursday night we had revival services at three out of the four churches. Because of the rain we were not able to have service at one of the churches. Monday through Thursday (6/6-6/9) during the day we did construction (which mostly consisted of painting) and then we had VBS at two of the churches before revival. You may ask "When did you sleep?" We didn't much.....but I wouldn't have it any other way! It was great!

The next Friday (6/10) we were treated with a day off. We traveled to Ocho Rios ate lunch, shopped at a market, got to climb Dunn's River Falls and chill on the beach. It was a very nice day and I had a blast climbing the water fall...twice! It didn't rain once on Friday while we were out. Later that night we came back to the church for the Gospel Blast which consisted of the Americans, Jamaicans, and Jamericans simply singing songs from each background and last minute worshipping before we had to leave early the next morning.

One last thing that was really neat about this trip actually happened when we got back to the States. After we went through customs and security we were waiting on part of our group that had been separated from us and we met a young white couple in their early 30s that had a baby. The baby turned and it was obvious they were not her biological parents. The lady asked us if we had been on a mission trip and we told her where we just came from and what we were doing there. We continued to talk and she told us they were bringing their baby girl home from Cambodia. She also told us their baby's name is Echo. She was a beautiful, chubby girl! It was a sweet ending to our trip and a great reminder of God's love for us and His faithfulness to us.

I want to end with this little bit of scripture and then some pictures below. "Praise the Lord, all nations! Extol Him, all peoples! For great is His steadfast love towards us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord!" -Psalm 117

Ramario and myself. "Yes, Miss"

She was a favorite of mine. She aquired the nickname 'Cheeto' :)

The beach at the bottom of the Falls

Dunn's River Falls

This is the church we stayed at all week

This is MOST of the group. It was really hard to get everyone together for a picture!

They wanted to see their picture on the camera so they attacked Jeremy :)
It was so much better to watch in person!

Having a little fun with the paint :)

Pastor in Jamaica, Denzil

Patton and Rosie 

 Patton and I will be working in Indiana through NAMB as summer missionaries a little later this summer.

Ramario

Praise team at Bethel

Romans 10:15

Summer has arrived! I finished classes at the end of April, but it still doesn't feel like summer. I have been busy with preperations for the things to come this summer. First of all, I have been preparing for my mission trip to Jamaica! This will be my first trip outside the good ole' U.S. I am on edge with excitement for this trip. I am counting down the days for sure! We will be there the first full week in June, doing construction, VBS, revivals, and going into the schools and teaching the children about Christ's love. I'm so looking forward to seeing how He is going to work while we are there.

Secondly, I am also excited about partnering with the North American Mission Board and Kingston Avenue Baptist Church. This will also be a new experience for me; it will be my first long-term mission trip. I will be working as a summer mission intern at Kingston Avenue Baptist Church in Indiana. My main focus will be children's ministry, but I will also work with the youth group a little bit too. I leave Murfreesboro July 6th and will be in Indiana for six weeks.

What I look forward to the most about these trips is the fact that I will undoubtedly grow closer to my Heavenly Father. I am going into this summer with an open heart and open mind, knowing that God will teach me from these experiences. I pray that humility, forgiveness, the fruit of the Spirit, compassion, boldness, and other things would become stronger in my walk with Christ. Oh, that I would not forget to give Him all of the glory. He is Lord! 

Summer Mission

I realize that I haven't blogged lately...or at all this year, but I have been waiting on something in particular to blog about (drum roll, please).......to turn in my application to the NAMB to do summer missions! Now, time to rewind and explain how this came about and the story behind it. Last summer I went on a mission trip to Anderson, Indiana with seven other brothers and sisters from my church family.Without going into a lot of detail, I had a really, really great experience there and enjoyed growing with a part of the Body of Christ that was new to me. Now, fast forward a few weeks...back in Murfreesboro, my college pastor (who also went on the trip) came to me and told me that Kingston Avenue (the church we went to) was throwing around the idea of a summer missionary and told me that they asked if I would be interested in coming there for a summer. My first response was "Absolutely!" After thinking about it and getting more info from KABC, I was a little more hesitant because I wasn't sure about taking off of work for the summer or if I would be taking summer classes. After a lot of prayer, talking to my boss, talking to my parents, etc. I finally got to a point where I felt like God was saying "Just do it, you goofball. I'm going to take care of it all." I started working on the very long application on Thanksgiving, still not sure about it at that time, and finally finished it in the middle of January. As of today, I have everything that I need turned in and I have confirmation from NAMB that they have all of my information (and trust me, they have ALL of my information, ha). I also now have the information needed to prepare for what I will be doing this summer. Now all I have left to do is study the material, pray and go! I just want to say that God has been SO good to me with this opportunity. Everything has gone very smooth and I just want to give Him all of the glory for it. As far as the actual trip goes, I will be updating my blog as soon as and as much as possible. Thanks for having an interest in my life!

Greater things are still to be done...

Today I was walking on campus and heard a couple of guys talking. One guy said to the other “The first girl I ever had sex with…” and that’s all I heard. At first I was in shock that he blurted that out in public with about twenty other people around, but it got me thinking. I started to think about the students on the campus of MTSU and how confused and lost a majority of them are. Then my mind went a wild goose chase. One question after the other came to my mind. I asked myself: What kind of example am I being to others? God has me here at MTSU for a reason, what am I doing with the time He’s giving me? How many times have I passed up the opportunity to share Christ with someone? How many times have I ‘planted a seed?’ I don’t know, but one thing I do know is Christ told me to “go and make disciples” and that includes MTSU.

I have been asked many times by many different people: Do you know what country you are going to? If you go to seminary, where are you going? Etc. The answer to those questions is: I don’t know. When He’s ready, God will guide me in making those decisions and taking those steps. Today’s experience helped me realize that there is still much work to be done here in Murfreesboro and more specifically at MTSU. The statement the guy made was not a rare occurrence. I am reminded almost daily of the work that needs to be done there.  In the words of Bluetree “Greater things have yet to come and greater things are still to be done in this city…”

With all of this being said, I am sick of sitting back and staying in my comfort zone. Christ never said the Christian life would be comfortable. I was recently presented with a challenge. A challenge I am going to call “40 days of puttting Christ back into Christmas.”  The challenge is to tell at least one person a day about Christ for the forty days leading up to Christmas. Oh, and by the way I was challenged by a group of people that live in a country where it’s illegal to tell people about Jesus. I figured if they can do it, I definitely can.  

So, I will leave you with the same challenge. Will you tell a person a day about Christ for forty days? It could be as simple as asking them why they celebrate Christmas. How hard could it be? Really...how hard? Not hardly hard. I hope you will at least consider it. That's all I have to say about that. Thank you for letting me share my heart with you this evening.

Calling

Oh, where do I begin?? I want to apologize if this is the first you have heard about this or I have not been able to talk to you about this in person. Please don’t take it personal; I’ve had a full plate for the past few months. Secondly, I’m not the best at being organized with what I write. So, I also apologize if I seem somewhat scattered. And lastly, I’m going to be as real and genuine with you as possible.

Before you read what I am about to say, I would recommend that you read my ‘about me’ to get a little background info. I went on many mission trips when I was younger and I have always been blessed by and enjoyed them. The later part of my senior year in high school I was at that point in my life when it’s time to start figuring out what I want to do with my life. I prayed about where I was supposed to go to school. It wasn’t until July of 2008 that I found out I would be starting at MTSU that September. I can’t recall exactly when I first felt God trying to nudge me, but it was sometime in my first year of college that I felt God calling me to missions. Many times, for various reasons, I ignored it.

August 3, 2010 I had been at a meeting and arrived at The Orchard (http://www.theorchardministry.com/) late. A group of us were going to Anderson, IN later that week to help a church and we were going to have a meeting to get our ducks in a row for the trip after the Orchard. Brother Ken was preaching on ‘Calling’ that night. At first I was not focused at the least bit on what he was saying. As he was talking I heard what he said, but nothing was registering…until he said (I’ll never forget this) ‘Why do you think Jonah was having problems?? He was running from God!’ At this point the Holy Spirit grabbed my heart and attention. I started thinking about everything that had been going on in my life. I had been sick over a long period of time, I was rear ended and my car was totaled, I had gotten almost to the point of depression and all of this resulted in me not having appetite which caused me to lose a lot of weight in a few months. All of this came to my mind when I heard Brother Ken talking about Jonah and at that same time I was reminded of the times before when God had been pulling my heartstrings for missions. When the time came for the invitation I was feeling so convicted I couldn’t stand it. Even in that conviction I tried to avoid answering God’s call. Mid-song I broke down, grabbed the hand of an adult leader (that I love dearly and look up to) and went to pray. After we prayed she asked me “What do you think was holding you back from answering this call?” My response “Finances. I’m a broke college student. Also, not knowing what’s ahead scares me.” Although I was scared I had a sense of comfort. I knew that my worries didn’t matter because I also knew that this was without a doubt what God wanted me to do with my life. There was nothing I should’ve been worrying about, but at the same time it was all fresh and there were a lot of unknowns.

After we got done praying and talking I walked out of the room and the group was ready to meet about our trip. Before I went in to the meeting, I stopped my pastor, Brother Ken, (I was excited and wanted to share with him) to ask him if he could hang around for a minute. After the meeting was over I found Bro. Ken and started sharing with him what was going on. His son, Jason, came over asking if he could talk to me for a second and then he handed me the exact amount of money that the trip (that I had already paid for) cost and said someone wanted to pay for my trip. I then broke down into tears and asked him to sit down with his dad and myself. I then proceeded to tell him how I was struggling with answering God’s call because I hadn’t had faith that God would provide financially. The donor was anonymous and the money had been given weeks before I even knew for sure I was going on the trip. This was a big sign of affirmation for me.

That Thursday we left for Anderson, IN. There were many great things that happened on the trip, but what stuck out to me the most happened Sunday morning. There was a guy getting ready to leave for his first day of college and he brought us the message that morning. What did he talk about you ask? Jonah. I had to kind of chuckle and I thought to myself “Okay, God, you have my attention.”


I'm going to leave you with some scripture that has been a great encouragement to me so far in this journey. 

"For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became the wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord." 
-1 Corinthians 1:26-31 

The Story ()

The Story ()

All Greek to Me

If you are reading this I want to thank you for taking time to read what I have to say. This is my first blog and I put off starting it because I already waste too much precious time on things that aren't important. My reasoning for starting this is there have been some recent changes in my life and instead of trying to update everyone individually I decided it might be easier to make a blog. God is doing some really cool things in my life that I would like to share so that you may rejoice with me and also give Him the glory and praise He deserves (John 3:30). I hope to write as much as possible, but school can make things pretty busy. As things move forward I will also post updates as often as possible. Again, thank you for reading what God has placed on my heart. "For from Him and through Him and to Him are ALL things. To Him be glory forever. Amen." -Romans 11:36