Here's some pictures to catch you up on what's been going on
This is just a few of our kids in Fayetteville, GA. We all huddled up and shared stories before going into worship time.
A blurry memory of my good friends Karis and Trysta at our team Christmas party.
This is just a little snapshot of all the snow that was falling the day before Thanksgiving. We were in North Carolina and had a nice relaxing holiday together as a team.
My mom wishing me a happy birthday on FaceTime a few weeks ago.
This is the only coffee shop near the church we were in during our summit in Princeton, Kentucky last week. We loved going, it was very unique.
Every once in awhile Zac will give the kids a lesson on life sayings.
My roommate and I took the privilege of moving our host families "Elf on the Shelf" one early morning
This is my dear friend Austin. He's leaving for bootcamp to be a Marine and I won't be able to see him for a long time. Being able to travel with him for the past year and a half has been a blessing not only to me but the whole team. He's one of the most humble and loyal people I know and he will be greatly missed!
If you're like me and you
come from a background of warm weather where the sun is so hot it’s like an
outdoor sauna.
Then you will not be able
to relate to what I'm about to tell you.
When I first heard the
rumors I was reluctant to believe them. I refused to listen or give into the
fear.
Could this really be
happening right now? Of all the times just a few days before we leave to go
home for Christmas break. The weatherman had to say those two dreadful words
that mean so much more than what it sounds like.
Ice storm…
An
ice storm has the potential to wipe out all the electricity in the city, keep everyone
from getting food, or anywhere for that matter. The last time an ice storm came
to the city of Princeton everyone was out of electricity for three weeks. Fortunately,
we never ran out of electricity but we did have to cancel three services due to
weather. On Sunday morning my roommate and I were getting ready for service and
just after I finished doing my hair and makeup (at six in the am) we get a text
about morning service being cancelled. Needless to say we crawled back in bed
and I slept until eleven that day.
On
Sunday night however we finally had our last service and I had the privilege of
being able to tell the kids about how Jesus died on the cross for us. Before I
taught that night I made a quick post on Facebook asking for prayer and it made
the biggest difference. Thank you so much for all who prayed for me!
The
next day (Monday) we left from Kentucky to go to Michigan. There where
twelve of us on the bus traveling together yesterday. We stopped for lunch at
Subway and on our way back to the bus, as we were about to get on, there was
shattered glass everywhere. Our bus had been broken into…
We
all were immediately jolted with fear. As one by one people were stepping off
the bus saying, “My Macbook was taken” and another, “My backpack is gone” I was
scared to see if anything of mine was gone. I had chosen to sit in the far back
of the bus and by the grace of God none of my stuff had been touched.
Altogether,
three backpacks were stolen along with wallets, laptops, iPads, and other
valuable things. Although everything that was taken is just stuff, what
everyone was hurting most for was all of their memories. Thousands of pictures,
videos, and even homework for some of them. What I hurt the most for is my
friend who had her novels in her laptop. Year’s worth of work for her and its
all gone.
You
would be surprised by how the team handled this. With grace, nobody got mad and
yelled. There was no fighting. Just a calm and disappointed spirit.
When
the police came, they filed several reports and recorded what all had happened.
But there was nothing else they could do. Even though something awful like that
had just happened we still had four hours of driving before we would get to
Michigan. So we cleaned up the glass and someone ran over to the liquor store
and asked if we could have some cardboard to cover our broken door with. No
sooner than later (three hours) we were driving on the highway with Vodka
cardboard on the outside of our Life Action bus. For the last hour of our trip
we all laughed and made jokes together about what had all happened. Yes, they
were joking about it. They could cry, or whine, or decide to stay upset for a
long time but instead they chose joy.
(Team member coming from the liquor store bringing the cardboard to cover up our broken door)
The
best part of this story is that my friend Zac who is a diabetic had all of his
medicine in his backpack. Whoever tried to take his backpack couldn’t get it
through the small door and they had to leave it on the steps. Granted they took
out his Macbook Pro. However, if Zac didn’t have his insulin he could have easily
gotten blood poisoning before we could get to the camp and we would have had to
take him to the hospital. Praise God.
(My friend Trysta and I snuggling up in a cabin at the camp the night before we went home for break)
So
even though the Life Action Blue Team has had a rough start to our Christmas
break, we know God is sovereign and continue to celebrate the holidays with
joy.
I
wish you a Merry Christmas.
It’s
good to finally be home!
