An Important Announcement...

Hello faithful readers

I have some very exciting news to share with you all!

After much prayer and council God has directed me to stay for another year in Life Action Ministries. This decision was not easy or based off of just my personal desire to stay. In the past some have said that I am “running away” from growing up, getting a job, or going to school. Please understand it’s much more than that.

  

If you did not know, when I was a Junior in High School I was fervently praying the Lord would clearly guide me in the direction I should go after graduation. I had all the same desires as my classmates. Go to college, have a roommate, the time of my life and so on. However, God had a different plan in mind for me. One night, after I had read my bible, I was praying once again about my future decisions. I asked God, “Do you want me to go to Life Action or college?”

And to my surprise I audibly heard God say, “You know you’re going to Life Action, Right?” I smiled and said, “Yes”.

(This picture was taken just a week after God and I had that conversation)

He wanted me to travel, teach kids, live with people I didn’t know, and basically have zero independence all over again. Not exactly what I had in mind. I always knew Life Action was an option. My mom started traveling as soon as she graduated high school and stayed for four years!

  

Now I’m here, with some incredible people that have grown to be life long friends of mine. As I'm preparing for year three, I’m not going to be just a teacher in Happy Heart City. I have accepted the position as leader for my kids club (ages 4 through first grade)! After being in charge a couple of churches ago I know that it’s not an easy job or something to be taken lightly. So I am mentally preparing for August and what it will be like. I can’t wait for another great year of teaching the little ones.

 I have a great peace about staying and I’m so grateful for everyone’s love, prayers, and encouragement. Yet, when you are a full time missionary you have to raise support. I haven’t been told what the cost is for next year. However, last year we had to raise $3,500 for just the yearly fee. After I’ve raised that much, any additional money given will be given once a month as a stipend to help me pay for what I need. Such as toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, razors, etc. This is my main source of income to pay for these things and therefore it is quit important I raise enough to pay for what I will need.

If you feel called to give then you can go HERE and put in my name (Conrad, Marina). Every donation helps no matter how small!

Thank you all again, I look forward to another year of serving in children’s ministry!

The Latest and Greatest of My Travels…

So a quick fill in on what's been happening!

We had a summit in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Phenomenal. Loved the church, all the people were amazing including my host family! We felt so incredibly loved as a team, and more importantly the testimonies where incredible. To say, "God moved in Temple Baptist Church" is an understatement. 

A short favorite testimony of mine would be from a dad of one of the Happy Heart City kids. He said the Lord had showed him his love for hunting had grown so much, he placed it above his family. Since then, he's barely touched any of his hunting gear. Not to mention he gave some of his stuff to a team member of ours, which happens to include a giant spear. It's actually really cool I held it.  However, that is just a short to the point testimony I heard out of several given during the services.

We had the opportunity to ride horses at one of the host homes! It was a blast and at the end of the night we watched Thor 2 on a huge screen outside under the stars. 

On Sunday mornings we had an average of 80 kids! This is a picture of me sharing the love of our Savior and how he died on the cross for all our sins. 

If you didn't know, because I didn't, during Mardi Gras season in the king cake they put these baby dolls inside the pastry. According to tradition whoever finds it has to buy the king cake for the next year. Yup, I found it!

My close friends Trysta and Hunter got engaged on our last weekend in Mississippi! They've also asked me to be a bridesmaid in the wedding! So beyond excited for them!

After our summit in Mississippi ended, I had the privilege of going home! I was only there for a short 5 days so please don't be upset if I didn't contact you. I've come back on the road refreshed and fueled with love from my family! We went bowling, mini-golfing, out to dinners, and shared a lot of laughter together. 

I got to spend special time with my dad, and it was so nice! I love and miss him very much. He's an enormous example to me of being generous to those who are in need and placing all my trust in Christ.

This is Samson. My brothers' dog whom I love dearly! We had a great time playing outside in the gorgeous Phoenix weather.

However, I had to say goodbye to 72 degrees of sunshine and am now reunited with my team in Bartlett, Tennessee (right next to Memphis). I'm also incredibly excited because I get to sit through all of the services! I've never sat through the whole summit before! Last year when I was sitting through, I had to run home for a couple of emergencies with my best friends wedding and I missed the second week. I'm so very ecstatic for this much needed time. I'll be listening intently to see how God wants to change my heart.
Please be in prayer for me that God would speak clearly, and that I would listen and obey his voice.

Thank you all for your prayers, love, and support!

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What State Are You In?

An often asked question for me. Currently I am residing in Cabot, Arkansas for the next few days and then I'll be on my way to Hattiesburg, Mississippi. These past couple of weeks in AR I've been in charge of my kids club while my leader has been sitting through the services. Leading Happy Heart City has been a different but very growing experience for me. I've enjoyed being able to call the shots (on small things of course). However, it can be very exhausting and I'm fighting the end of a cold. 

So, I very much look forward to our next church where I will be able to continue to learn from my leader and take orders instead of giving them. 

 (Picture taken by James Conrad at Desert Botanical Gardens)

At the moment I'm just in my room at the end of Valentines Day. Just taking it in as a young single lady. I actually have really enjoyed today. Because, I know there's always the chance this could be my last time not having a valentine on February 14th. Only God knows maybe next year I won't have one either. But it's the possibility of it that makes me excited. Wishing you all a wonderful Valentines and an even greater Saturday. 

Goodnight.

As always you can find me on Instagram and Twitter.

Phoenix, Orlando, and Melbourne. Where to Next?

Wow so much has happened since my last post! As usual time went by fast at home. I was fortunate enough to do as much as I did while I was in AZ.

My mom, sister and I saw White Christmas at the Phoenix theatre.

My dad, brother, and I went to the desert botanical gardens to take some pictures of the famous Chihuly Glass they were displaying.

One of the weekends the family went up north to Prescott for some time away from our busy lives.

Then before I knew it my mom and I were on our way to FCC’s 25^th Nationals! 

It was great seeing so many FCC staff friends outside of summer camps! As we ran the competition it was a very fun experience to see all of the teams practice, perform, and even worship together at night. Not to mention when Jamie Grace came and did a special performance night for us!

(Staff meeting Jamie Grace)

After the competition ended my mom and I were able to stay in Orlando for a whole week doing whatever we wanted. We went to Universal Studios a few times, to the movies, and of course, shopping.

(It's always bittersweet saying goodbye to Universal Studios)

 Once again that time came to a close and she had to drive me to Melbourne, Florida to meet back up with my Life Action team. It feels so good to be back on the road with my friends ministering to kids, and families. Being back where God wants me is so refreshing. I’ve been blessed with an amazing host family with three adorable little girls and one baby on the way! Staying with them has made coming back on the road so much easier.

From day one at First Baptist Melbourne to our last service Sunday night, the kids were night and day different. In a good way. They soaked up all the lessons like sponges and every night they seemed to understand more and more.  What a great first church of the semester to start off with!

A couple of things I did during the summit…

Held an alligator. There's a first for everything. 

And we went to DisneyWorld with the team!

I had so much fun going with my close friends to such a great place! 

On one of the Sunday mornings in Happy Heart City (ages four-first grade) they learned about what obeying looks like, and how to do it. Later that night I had the privilege of teaching the kids (thirty) WHO we are supposed to obey and WHY. 

This was honestly a lesson I was dealing with while having to prepare. God was teaching me that even though I don't always agree with my authorities decisions His word says, “…whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.” Romans 13:2

In conclusion, I may feel like I’m just resisting an authority (or person), but in reality I’m resisting God. Because they are God given authorities. This goes as far as my parents, to Obama. God’s purposely place those people in charge of different areas. God is my ultimate authority and I listen to Him over any other person. Yet, I should not disrespect those He has placed above me.

Talk about a hard lesson to swallow.

So now that we are done in Florida we will be leaving early Wednesday morning to Cabot Arkansas where it’s currently twenty-seven degrees. The good news is, I'm surprisingly looking forward to the weather. However, that’s just based off of getting to wear my winter clothes longer. The sad news is, I have to say goodbye to this precious family. I'm greatly going to miss them!

Please keep us in your prayers as we travel on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Thank you for reading!

As always you can follow me on Instagram and Twitter! 

128 Days, 16 Different Beds, and 10 Families Later...

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!