Important Announcement

A while ago I told everyone to keep checking in on the blog because I had something important to announce. I’ve had to wait to hear back from some people but after much prayer and thought I am excited to announce that I will be traveling for another year in Life Action! I will continue to be a children’s minister for four year olds through first grade. I am at a lot of peace knowing that God wants me to stay and am excited for another year! I’m asking that you would pray for me, as I now have to start raising support to travel for another year.

Life Action is a support based ministry and requires the team members who travel to also raise support. Last year I had to raise $3,000 in order to travel. Any extra expenses we need, i.e. shampoo, toothpaste, etc. we need to buy on our own. However, if we raise more than the first needed amount ($3,000) we can get a stipend once a month to help pay for those other needed things (shampoo, toothpaste, etc.). The stipend is a certain amount of any extra money we’ve raised. I am asking that you would please pray and ask God if He wants you to help me. If you do not believe He is, or cannot at this time please pray that God would help provide what I need for next year. If you would like to send support then you can email me at marinaconrad94@yahoo.com and I will give you the information you need to donate.

Thank you for your time, prayers, and support!
As it is written: "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"
Romans 10:15

As of Late...

I don't know why but I love a good tree. The sun was setting and I couldn't help but get a couple shots of what I saw. I took these while I was in Mississippi. I've been back with my team for a few days now and my time at home went by faster than I hoped for. While I was home my dad blessed me with a new camera lens that I can't wait to use!

I'm currently in a church near Houston, Texas! I haven't been here since the summer and it's good to be back. I think what I like the most about Texas is that it's the furthest west we go. Meaning this is the closest to home I'll get. We started the summit on Sunday morning and since then we've averaged about nineteen kids every service. It's a smaller group but they're pretty rowdy. Last night's lesson was grace. The story is about a boy named Christian who is adopted by the captain of a ship. Christian becomes part of the captains crew and throughout the story he endures several times where he needs grace. Christian has to call out for help from his dad when he needs grace and his adopted father always comes to rescue him. 

Christian's story is an example to us that God is our adopted father, and whenever we need help God will give us grace and come to the rescue when we call on him. "Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I." Isaiah 58:9 

We also teach them the definition of grace.

Grace: The strength and the desire to obey.

Complete with hand motions.

My favorite part about last night was when the lesson was over and we were doing a craft you could hear all the kids talking about how much they loved the story. I even heard one kid tell a helper who had just come in every detail he could remember with great excitement. 

Well, that's just a little something about where I am and what God's doing. 

Quote of the night from a little boy;

"Do you know why birds poop white so much?"

"Why?"

"Because they eat so many marshmallows!"

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Collierville, Tennessee

This is Eddie.

He's my host family's dog. It started to snow on Saturday and he was freaking out a little bit. I was actually also startled by it, seeing snow falling from the sky is such a rare occurrence for me in general but having it in March was quite the rarity. For the rest of the day my roommate and I spent it with our host sisters. We had so much fun just getting to know them, thrift shopping, drinking coffee, basically cruising all around Memphis. It makes me sad that it's almost time to go.

Today was the end of the summit and on Tuesday morning I'll be flying back home to Phoenix for a few days. My team's band is leading worship for a conference next weekend and they don't need any children ministers, so I'm free to go home for a few days. I"m looking forward to being home for a little bit, I miss my bed... and my family. However, I am also going to miss my host family. They've been so much fun to be around and a huge blessing to stay with.

Another blessing this summit was how God brought more children than we've had in any church, as many as over seventy kids on a Sunday morning. At the beginning of the summit we had a little girl named Sarah who was so incredibly shy she wouldn't even come into the room. Tonight Sarah's mom had tears in her eyes as she explained to us that on their drive to church she was talking to Sarah about having a relationship with Jesus. Sarah told her mom that she understood the gospel and was ready to accept Him as her Lord and Savior. Sarah and her mom went into the hall and prayed together and when she came back in as teacher's we rejoiced because we had a new sister in Christ.

So glad to have taught Sarah and many other wonderful children like her these past few weeks.

Here's just a few other things I've been up to while I've been in Collierville, Tennessee.

I went to lunch with some friends. Every summit the four of us go to lunch together. We're the only new girls on the team so we usually try to do something at each summit. We tried a local restaurant, and that's always an adventurous choice because you never really know what you're getting into.

I've also been editing a lot. Here's some fun shots of a shoot I did on Valentines day for two very fun couples.

I still have a lot of packing to do considering I take practically everything I own with me in two suitcases pack and unpack it all every two and a half weeks. I'm becoming a pro at packing though. Once again thanks for reading The Not-So-Secret-Life I greatly appreciate it!

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