The Not-So-Perfect Servant Girl...

For the past three years I played the part of the servant girl in a children's musical we do on the road. We tell the story of Naaman from 2 Kings 5. Naaman's character has a couple problems. One being that he has leprosy, the other is that he is incredibly prideful. Naaman had a servant girl that he had captured for his wife. The servant girl explains that there's a prophet from her homeland who know's God and if, Naaman, could meet him he could be healed.
The servant girl is supposed to be the example of an honest humble believer.

However, it wasn't until after being the servant girl for nearly two years God showed me how prideful I was in being the servant girl. I get to be in the spot light, with lines and sing a song. I've always enjoyed being the center of attention. Most of the time doing Naaman would make me feel important and like I had talent (In reality, I am not an actress whatsoever, and would mess up my song what felt like almost every time).

I portrayed the servant girl and yet my heart was completely full of pride.
When I realized this not only was I shocked, I was ashamed of myself.
I was so blind to the condition of my heart.
I hate pride because God hates pride.
"The Lord detests the proud; surely they will be punished."
Proverbs 16:5
I was surprised to hear that I would be the servant girl for a second year and even more surprised when they gave it to me for a third time.
Now, I know that God wanted me to see the ugliness of my heart.
I'm not sure if I will ever be completely cleared of pride but becoming humble is like Christ.
And I want to be like Christ.

"For me to live is Christ and to die is gain..."
Philippians 1:21

2014-2015

Hello, from Life Action Camp.

A couple weeks ago we finished the road year. 

I just wanted to send you an update.

On our way to the last church the bus broke down so we had to all pile into different vehicles to get to our destination (3 hours from where we had to leave our bus).

We made fun out of the situation. 

It wasn't until the night before we had to leave that they had the bus fixed.

The church we were in had a considerably large amount of attendants for the size of the building. However, there was no room for two kids clubs. Just one.
Which means we combined our age groups and taught just one large Happy Heart City.

It was a blast!
We all had fun being able to teach together, and it was an experience I never thought would happen. 

It was surreal finishing up what had become just regular life for me these past few years.
However, now I am in Buchanan, Michigan.
I get the privilege of serving families while they come to family camp for a week at a time.
Last week I had the sweetest, fun, family. I was very happy to serve them and it was great connecting with them while they where here.

I look forward to serving five more families and moving back home next month.

For now I'm resting until camp starts again on Monday.
If you'd like to see more of what my last travel year looked like here's our end of the year video:
YouTube.com

And just for fun, I made this video: I Can't Cook while I was here waiting for families to arrive.

Until next time,
Marina Nellie.