Warrior of the Mighty King

Romans 5:1-5 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith,  we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.   Through him we have also  obtained access by faith into this grace  in which we stand, and  we rejoice   in hope of the glory of God.   Not only that, but we  rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering  produces endurance,   and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,   and  hope does not put us to shame, because God's love  has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. This summer when I was in New York and talking to people about coming back for a year, a guy told me that the first few months would be like the "honeymoon phase" where I would love New York and then later it would fade away. Well these first couple of months have been no honeymoon! It has not been terrible either though. When I'm teaching English to our studen...

So this blog is going to look a little different style-wise, because I have not been journaling every day but because I take pictures I can remember what happened throughout the week. Lately, my schedule has been crammed full of reading for seminary and watching lectures for seminary and teaching ESL classes and helping assist with ESL classes and helping kids with their homework and sharing the gospel with everyone and helping with children at church. Thankfully, God's timing is perfect and at one of our churches we are studying about the things that God has given us to be stewards of such as money, time, body, health, and our minds. I have also been learning to trust God completely and the small group I have joined is going through a book called Trusting God. It's awesome to see how God orchestrates this life and how our lives are just a small chunk of time in His huge plan. Our South Asian Center has been under some spiritual warfare lately. There is a lady who lives in th...

Right now, I am craving deep Christian friendship. I have many friends here but I just feel like all of our conversations are just surface level. I think that the reason  professional counselors exist is because we are too afraid to have deep friendships where we listen to each other, and understand each other so that we don't give half-baked advice because we weren't really understanding the full situation. I am thankful for those friendships that I do have all over the states though. During this time I have been so close to the Lord which is beautiful. 1/27/14 Monday Week 5 Day 3 This morning I taught ESL at the SA with a bengali lady who is just starting to learn English. She is struggling. Pray that she will be eager to learn English and that I will boldly share the gospel with her. Grace's friends Anna and Hank need prayer for transparency in their relationship. I studied this afternoon and met a former student and gave her a New Testament. Pray for her that she rea...

These past two weeks have been busy and I hope to post weekly from now on. Also, if I have not written or called you back; I will as soon as I can. These are just snip its from my journal: Week 3 Day 3 January 13, 2014 Today was great! Rebekah came back earlier than I thought so I will not be alone at the beach house. I taught ESL this morning with Yeshi. Pray that she comes to know Jesus as her Savior. I was able to spend time with some SAC volunteers and we shared prayer requests with one another. One bought me lunch! Thank God for provision. Then I read Acts and Romans and love how radical the apostles were. That's how we should be now too. Then I taught ESL at night. Pray that they would see Christ in me and that they would accept Him. Week 3 Day 4 January 14, 2014 Today I helped tutor children afterschool. Pray that them and their families would accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ and that the children would learn the importance of obedience. Later, I went to Brooklyn ...

The restoration theme has still been very evident in these weeks that I have been here. God has removed a lot and also taught me a lot during this time. I have been blown away by God's unconditional, everlasting love. He has opened so many doors and opportunities for me to serve Him that I would need to be 17 people in order to do every thing that is available for me to do here. So I need you guys to pray for wisdom, that He would guide me to do exactly what He wills. I'm tired of making my own plans. I just want to follow His plan. This week has been a blast. Here are excerpts from my journal: Week 2 Day 3 January 6, 2014 Today we headed to the South Asian Center for the first day of English class for the new semester. Only a few students showed up so we were able to teach one on one. I taught a lady from Peru and she was very sweet. When she did not understand a word, God provided me a way to use my Spanish minor to explain the word. After class we had a staff meeting a...

Week 1 Day 1 December 28, 2013 I woke up this morning and finished some last minute packing and spent time with God. Then I had coffee and biscuits for breakfast with Granny. I got a little teary eyed at the thought of leaving her alone again. Then my older sister Jessica came in the kitchen and hugged me and the tears really fell then. Then my brother-in-law Tyler packed my stuff in Granny's car and they took me to the airport. Granny dropped Jess and I off so I could check-in and Granny could park. One of my bags was too heavy so I had to take a lot of stuff out. Ronnie said he would mail it to me! So I hugged Granny, Jessica, Mackenzie, Stephanie, Blake, Ronnie, and mom goodbye and got on the plane. My first flight was good. I read most of the time and tried to sleep but couldn't. Then I made it to Charlotte, NC to catch my next flight which was on the other side of the airport. The medicine and sinus infection that I was diagnosed with on Friday was making me very weak b...

Around this time tomorrow, I will be at the airport getting on a plane to New York City. I will be meeting up with a friend named Lauren who was also an intern this summer with me. My bags are almost completely packed. Two days after Lauren and I get there, another missionary named Tosha is coming to work with Urban Impact (in January the name changes to Urban Nations Outreach). We will hit the road running. When we get there, there will be a mission team from Texas there so already we have a busy schedule. Please pray for all the UNO missionaries and staff members: Larry Holcomb and his family(Linda, Josh, Victoria, Ben, Grace); Camille, Loukia and Ajay; Rebekah; Tosha; Lauren. There are also many, many volunteers that help teach ESL classes and I cannot begin to list all of their names but God knows who they are so please lift them up in prayer as well. Pray that God will be their strength. Pray that they would be shielded from the enemy. Pray that God gives them wisdom to know w...