GOING BACK

Well here I am, the very last day of my internship.

I can hardly believe it's over. I mean...didn't I just get here? I now understand how a year internship somewhere could just fly by. 2 months is more like 2 weeks!

To follow up on the last blog real quick-- the wednesday message I gave went well. I got a lot of positive feedback, especially on my 10 lies & truth list <--click.

The past two weeks have consisted of a lot of the things I love to do. Namely:

PAINTING

DANCING

HANGING OUT

WRITING CARDS

SWIMMING

PAINTING-- I not only painted 7 posters for our dance, Worthy is the Lamb (thus the posters said: wealth, wisdom, honor, strength, power, praise, & glory)...I also got to paint Goliath on a poster for Tracy's Children's Church message and I painted an antique oil can w/Brother Joe's name on it (antiquey style...just like this photo). Oh yeah and I got to paint a September 10th sign for Family Fun Day (which I'm hoping to be able to come & visit for)

DANCING-- well we had extra rehearsals this past week getting ready for the dance on Sunday. The girls were so committed (there ended up being the beautiful #7 of us in total) & by the morning of I was really moved to see how much we were able to do together. Needless to say, God used us to touch many people--many even to tears. & I was so happy to hear the assistant pastor Tom say that it didn't seem at all like a performance, but that God was the focus. Amen!!

HANGING OUT- I got to hang out with my friend Bethany & see a movie (Monte Carlo) and go to a cool park by a creek where we took a trail to see a waterfall (and crazy people jumping off it...see this) and we actually walked along the creek leading up to the waterfall & swam a bit. We ended our night with icecream. [8

Then this morning I had breakfast with Tracy at Denny's before work & we just loved each others company. She's so cool.

WRITING CARDS-- If you know me, you know I love to encourage people with nice cards. ^^ Well, I've been doing that with the people I love around here and makes me just as happy as it does them xD

SWIMMING-- So you know that place by the creek where I like to do devos sometimes? One day I had a couple extra hours and I just went out there by myself and swam in the creek. There's nothing quite like being alone out in nature, laughing your head off, while water is rushing over your shoulders and there's nothing but sky and trees above you.

O yeah-- and the pastor & Cheri honored me this past Sunday in front of the church & took up an offering for me. They also gave me a huge glass paperweight thing in the shape of a sailboat...with the sail being green on one side and blue on the other...so that I would "sail my way back" to New Life church next summer & beyond. ^^ so sweet.

Pastor also asked me to LEAD WORSHIP for my last Wednesday night service here. Singing & playing guitar in worship & leading people into God's presence is definitely on my top list of things I love to do!

FUN FACT: I'm really getting into Justin Bieber's music (not all, but he's got quite a few good songs) I even purchased some songs with $$! :O

hehe. My current favorite of his: Born to Be Somebody

Alrighty. I give thanks to God for the time I've spent here & I thank you, too, for coming along for the ride via words, pictures, prayers and phone calls. LOVEu.

almost FULL CIRCLE

That's right....it's actually kinda crazy. I've already been here 6 weeks!! That's 3/4 of my time here!!....hence the almost Full Circle.

Now that I'm past the halfway point and on my way out, there's a lot of talk about how much people are gonna miss me. And truly, I'm gonna miss them too.

This place is full of people who are kind and friendly; people who are shining the love of Christ and making a difference.

I think I'm gonna especially miss some of the leadership I've gotten close to...and the youth. And of course my host family. Tracy, the secretary, has become my very good friend and I do wish we didn't have to part. The youth pastors too, Jeff & Kiera, have shown me nothing but kindness. I'll miss the awesome Samoan pastor man and his amazing wife, Cheri, and I'll miss Bethany, a fellow youth leader volunteer and such an encouragment.

I'm so blessed to have a family here in Herkimer. The pastor already invited me back next summer & even beyond, and it's something to definitely take to the Lord in prayer. The best is yet to come!

To catch you up on what I've been up to the past 2 weeks:

I got to lead Wednesday night worship again last week and I'm going to be giving my second sermon this upcoming Wednesday (tmrw). I'm definitely wrestling with what to say tomorrow...a lot is on my mind but not a lot is organized. I want to talk about how God is REAL and how realizing that in our day to day life, moment by moment, could shake the world for the good.

I've been through a bout with sunburn (the aloe vera plant here was amazingly helpful) and also some sort of intestinal problem which kept me from going to work for a day, but thanks to people's prayer, good sleep, and some good electrolytes (vitacoco)...I'm doing much better now.

In the office, I've basically been spending time with the Lord, reading the Word, working on my dance choreography and weekly devotionals, preparing for my sermon, preparing a bit for VBS, talking with Tracy, practicing for worship, praying and even some weeding. Beyond the office, I've spent a lot of time at youth events...we had a sleepover where we made signs for the pastor's 25 mile run to fundraise for the kids to go to camp & for a community fun day, and on the day of his run we all cheered him on every 5 miles or so all the way to the end (and some youth & the youth pastor even ran 13 of the miles with him!!) To our great surprise and gratitude, over $5000 was raised!!
There was also a great girls sleepover night (with like 18 of us, no joke!) where we talked about skincare, hair care, and other girl stuff. Plus we had a great pool basketball game... UBER fun.

There has been much tuna eating, as well as organic brown rice and delicious organic applesauce from vermont (yummm). Organic carrots, pears, apples, grapes and raisins are also delicious.

Just this weekend I got to have an awesome mini-vacation!! I visited Bean and Jim and little Lucy in Troy & had a wonderful time at an outdoor flea market and watching Persepolis. Plus, the food I ate (chicken stir fry & fantastical Pakora...and a smoothie) was SO SO delicioussss!

After that visit, I got to spend Sunday and the 4th with my wonderful Aunt Stacy, Uncle Tom and cousin Brianna (miss you, Brandon!). I also had 2 delicious home-cooked meals there (tuna steak, beef steak, corn on the cob, grilled zucchini & asparagus, chicken w/tomato & mozz cheese, watermelon, strawberries, blueberries, quinoa & brown rice...and practically all organic thanks to my sweet Auntie).
On the 4th of July, Brianna and I spent most of the day at the beach (SO awesome) and then we saw these rockin fireworks both Sunday and on the 4th...and there were fireworks in the shapes of smileys, stars, peace signs, planets, U.S.A, and I think even a scroll thing for the declaration! It was craaazy. x)

Now I'm back and tired, but excited to cherish and enjoy these last two weeks. God has been good to me here.

now it's time to lay me down to rest. love ya & thanks for tracking w/me (:

WEEE

So DUDE! I just had an amazing whirlwind weekend with my amazing family & friends!

• celebrated Joel's 20th (battle-ready) Bday Numbers 26:2 and Pops' Father's Day!!
• went about Little Falls & Moss Island...rock climbing, discovering the concept of a lock for boats, following trails in the woods in flip-flops & shorts, taking crazy pictures. basically....awesome.
• talked with my family about us & cried so hard with thankfullness for God's goodness to us all.
• stayed at an amazing Bed & Breakfast with amazingly generous hosts.
• Saw my Oma and Opa and Aunt Stacy and cousin Briana & I saw my roomie Hoji and her lovely family. TALK ABOUT having a bunch of your favorite people around with a bunch of your other favorite people all in one weekend!
• Now I'm super tired cuz it was all so full and great! (thus the strange bulletedness)

I'll be leading worship tomorrow for the Wednesday service. Playing Happy Day & You Wont Relent by Jesus Culture & one more I still have to choose.

Went to a fun women's club and was the only young adult but it was cool & there was an awesome speaker with an encouraging testimony of trusting God through life's trials.

Hoping to get together with the Bean, Hojicus, Gilmours & more while I'm up here!

and....of course....

......................missin my family REAL bad and wishing we could be together forever (oh wait, we will! whew!)

lovies to you all. Peeeaaaaace OUT sugar sprouts. ^_^

GO DEEP

So I just got back from seeing the movie THOR (in 3D but I did alright) and MAN was it good! There are some great parallels to Jesus AND the Father....and such little of all the garbage they stick in movies nowadays.

But yeah, I saw it with Alan and Andria & a girl Bethany, who is 24 and who I think will be a good friend to me during my stay here. She has even volunteered to join me in the dance Pastor Dave asked me to choreograph.

That's right! Pastor Dave asked me to choreograph a dance to do one Sunday morning for church! I'm excited! I'm thinking that I want to have 5 other girls to it with me and we'll make a mini "Heralding Joy" out of it. Pray that it all comes together well and quickly.

The song I am highly considering, if not for sure doing, is WORTHY IS THE LAMB by Hillsong United (check it out). Yeah!

And so this past week was my message on Blessed Discipline. At the last minute God changed it all around (as God had already told my mom in her prayer times!). I centered on a whole different passage than I thought I would. Instead of preaching Hebrews 12:3-15, I ended up centering the message around Revelation 3:19-20, which I would highly encourage you to read and pray back to God--asking Him to help you embrace hardship as discipline and embrace discipline as His love for you. (DUDE i SO just realized that's what THOR is about! HA! God, You ARE Amazing!) Seriously, it was a great "download" of a message and it turned out spoken well enough. Quite a few people responded earnestly to the Spirit and one man especially came up to me nearly speechless, trying to convey just how perfect the message was for him at that very time. Thank you, Jesus. I am more than honored.

This Friday at V-Church was a bunch of fun with water balloons (500 of them lasted like, 10 minutes! ha. but it was awesome!) And then we had a rockin slip & slide (upon which I slid on my stomach twice & once very painfully on my hip. SO fun XD)

This Sunday, Spencer and I led worship together as an acoustic set. While we had a few mess ups, it was altogether a great time had by all worshipping the Lord. There is only so much worship leaders can do; it was truly the honest hunger of these people to love God and be loved by Him..and of course God's willingness to love and be loved...that made worship alive. So beautiful.

I am taking Savella now for fibromyalgia & am on the full dose. I am still coming through the hurt of it, as it is my very last choice in all of this. God may just have found a way to humble me thoroughly enough for a long time. But that's up to Him and that's where I'm leaving it. He makes all things work together for my good.

I do need prayer for another thing, though. As it is whenever God works well through us, Satan comes and spiritual warfare abounds. I need more than ever to stay vigilant about keeping my diet. My little "going off now and then" has probably become too frequent. Also, my mind has been attacked with old thoughts of self-hatred that no longer have place there. God has already shown me that a great place of refreshing is in worshiping him (in song, music, dance) and so I need strength and grace and "push though" to do that often.

All in all, things are well. I do hope they improve, though. It's me that is weak and needs grace...and I cling to the promised hope that when I am weak, then I am strong.

Okay, thanks again for staying with me. I love ya

Look Around

I like giving my blogs titles that have to do with turning...but I may run out soon! ;P

I thought of this one because lately I've been able to look around, whether at church or home, and actually recognize people by face and name! It's great! Even in this short period of time, I'm becoming more and more connected.

It's not easy task for me, mind you, because when I first meet people I tend to be quite quiet and pretty shy. It's alright though. I've already noticed that starting to wear off a bit here at the house.

These people are funny, man! I love it!

Oh yeah and the daughter Jordan came home and she is really sweet! We got to have steak and rice her first day home!

How did the women's tea go, you ask? FANTABULOUS! There was plenty of food for all (including shrimp...which I had, like, 15 of!) and I got to lead worship singing to a song track by Jesus Culture's Kim Walker...woot! I even helped come up with the idea for a fun icebreaker game which combines the baby shower "clothespin: don't say baby" game with "have you ever?" And I decorated the prize envelopes with some pretty awesome lookin flower designs :]

For V-Church (the youth group) this past Friday, I led worship solo b/c Spencer had to be elsewhere. I was really encouraged though to see the kids put down their cellphones & start thinking about what they were singing. It was a great time! The songlist included some of my top favorites:

Consuming Fire (Tim Hughes)

Revelation Song (Phillips, Craig & Dean)

Overcome (Desperation Band)

This Saturday I was given free tickets to go to a concert that was like a mini version (or early version) of Awakening Fest in VA. It was called Reign Fest and the top band of the night was The CITY Harmonic. (SO good....watch this awesome video: Manifesto) My favorite time, though, was worshiping to Isaiah 6's music and covers. Such a wonderful time of connecting with Papa.

Now it's Sunday and after a great message from the pastor about how GOD IS WILLING AND ABLE and He believes in us....I am here at home finishing up the 2nd half of LOTR 3 (me and Hoji didn't have time to watch is together) and working on my message for Wednesday...the title which as of now will be "Blessed Discipline."

My prayer requests from the last post are still up and running...I do have to say God is hearing you & all who pray for me b/c I've been less sleepy overall and I have been getting time away with the Lord by myself nearly every day.

I am still concerned about the amount of pain I'm in...especially under my arms...and I'm thinking of getting massage or something soonish.

I get waves of sadness randomly and I'm asking the Lord to take these, too--or else help me through them with his joy & strength..(or both!)

He's showing me that though I'm staying on Savella, it's still HIM that heals and restores. At the root of all goodness in my life....it's ONLY EVER Him.

btw: Pops & Grammy...I'm having fun reading The Wheel of Time! I'm about to pg. 300 of the first book and I've discovered that Tracy (church secretary) is totally into them too! ha!

Well, that's all for now folks. Love to you and big hugs!

Leeky

Straight Ahead

AND SO...

It's almost been a week now--and time is already flying by!

I've really only had two full days on the job...and they've consisted of doing some clean-up/organzing behind the church's front stage in the sactuary (which, strangely, I enjoyed. It must be my love of making this looking nice spacially.) And then I also got to help the worship leader, Spencer (the son in my host family), by organizing his worship songs into binders. good stuff! Today the pastor's wife, Cheri, took me and Traci, the church secretary, out to BJs to do some shopping for the women's tea tomorrow. It should be a good time of fellowship and I'm hoping to meet some more of the church ladies.

So while all of that is well and good, I do need to ask for prayer in some areas.

1) I've been getting sleepy lately, even with a good amount of sleep at night and a nap mid-day. I don't know if it's b/c I've gone back up to 50mg a day of savella (i think i recall that being an intital symptom that wore off), but yeah I need to feel rested throughout my day!

2) I've had some issues with pain & energy, which I'm thinking is from coming off Savella and which I pray will also recede as I come back on it.

3) I really want to start a daily time with the Lord where I just have a private place to talk to Him for a while. Pray this place is revealed to me and that I make time to get there every day.

4) I was asked to give the Word at this upcoming Wednesday's mini church service. Pray that I hear clearly what the Lord wants to say and present it soundly through the Holy Spirit's empowerment.

5) I really want to improve my instrumental skills- both with guitar and piano. This will take dedication and practice and reaching out for help--all which I need much grace for.

That's about it, I think. Your prayers and love move mountains by His Spirit!

I titled this blog "Straight Ahead" because that is where my gaze is and I'm confident God will take me there...straight into His will. I am comforted to know that no matter how this internship pans out, I have Jesus. and JESUS IS MOST!

trueness. ;]

--the best is yet to come--

To the RIGHT

Yo!

So yes, I know it's spelled inTERNing...but I thought I'd do a play on words, since this season in my life is very much a time of TURNing into the next. And it just so happened that things have been going so well, so RIGHT, I decided to title this blog thus. ;]

Okay, so. First things first, or rather last things first---i just got back from a very awesome and fun cookout/camp out/memorial day weekend party thing. There were a lot of people from New Life church, but also a lot of friends and family connected with the people hosting (who btw were SUPER kind...some of the kindest I've met ever, even in our few exchanges!).

I had the choice to go up to a campsite with my host family parents, but I thought it would be good to stretch myself a bit and get to know people....and boy I'm sure glad I did! I really surprised myself today, actually. I was acting kinda goofy sticking dasani water bottle labels around my ankles and wrists like bracelets (you should try it sometime---uber cool) and I even sang my song "You Don't Know Who I am" on a mic in front of em all! Strange...for me maybe.. but good.

I really like the youth pastor, Jeff and his wife, Kira. They are super cool and down to earth and always came and talked to me when I was just kinda sittin there. ;) LOVE em already.

Oh and for the V-Church service on Friday, God's presence totally showed up in worship and in the response time and the word God had given me about THE FATHER'S LOVE when I first came to the church was just what they needed to hear & I was given the privilege to share.

This Sunday was great too! I really do like Pentecostal churches, mom. This one isn't crazy, but the Spirit's presence on me made me cry. The love of God really touched me.

Pastor Hayner gave a great message on how our soul is being saved and still corrupt--so we can't live or relate to God based on our mind (thoughts), will (desires), or emotion (feeling)--all of which comprise the soul. Instead, we must renew each of these areas daily and submit them to God, crucifying the flesh.

Good stuff, eh? And it's only the 3rd full day here! woot indeed.

O and I've been getting excellent sleep, AND getting to bed earlier and rising earlier...always before my alarm, nicely and strangely.

And I have been able to stick to my healthy diet fairly greatly....cept the icecream last night. oop! :P

K, well if you're reading this, you are purty cool, my friend. :]

PEACE OUT, SUGAR SPROUT!

and don't forget the special question...

sprekenzi doich?!