Live in the Moment

We just finished a full summit in Aledo, Illinois where I was able to sit through all the services and just soak in for a break. It was awesome. I had not sat in but one service since last spring. Granted that’s my fault because I’m in charge and could have made time for myself to get in service but… life.

The other night while in service it dawned on me all of the “last time” moments I am about to have. The last time I will wear the team dress I’ve had since my first year. The last time I’ll get to teach my favorite lesson. Or the last time I’ll tell a story that’s made the most impact on my life.  The last time I get to go out to lunch or coffee with my close friends. The list is endless and I can’t help but get emotional over some of these things. So I asked my boyfriend, to help me come up with a word or phrase that I could say to myself to keep me from slipping into sadness.

And yes, I did say boyfriend. Like how I snuck that in there? His name is Nathan, he’s from Michigan, and he leads the older kids club called, Base Camp.  Now you have enough information to stalk him, so in the words of my father, “Get crackin!”

Anyways, he took some time to think about it and called me later than night. He told me about how it can be easy to compare travel years and nitpick at what you do and don’t like between all of them. But rather than doing that, just live in the moment. Enjoy the blessing that moment is.

Since then there have been so many times I’ve had to say to myself, “Marina, just live in the moment. It’s going to be OK.” It’s been so very helpful. Just reminding myslef not to get anxious over it and pray for grace.

Now we are in route to The Barn at Buladean. A place you may have heard me mention before. We’ve spent a couple of Thanksgivings there since I started traveling in 2012. We’ll be staying there till Sunday then going to a conference at the Billy Graham Center in North Carolina.  We’ll be helping and attending with some of it. So that’s my update on life for you!

Thanks for reading!

When Crayons Make You Cry...

Hi from the Blue Team in Harrison, Tennessee!
Services just ended yesterday and I just had to share with you something God did for us teachers!

The other night as we were signing in kids a little girl gave us a hand made card. 

It expressed how she had loved coming to Happy Heart City and that she was thankful for all she had learned. Along with the card was a little box of 24 brand new crayons. I immediately was filled with love and joy. Feeling incredibly grateful for a brand new box of crayons. She knew we needed them because our old ones are so shot and gross. Many of them 1/4 of an inch long. We had been needing new crayons for months. Just a week or so ago I put a request for 192 new crayons. Which can take a long time to get. Like maybe by May sometime we would get them. No joke. 

I was already starting to try and figure out how to use them. 

Should I just add them to the bucket? 

Or should I look for our worst crayons to through away?

How can I best use these without ruining them?

Every night when we do craft and we have to hand out little bits of crayons for the kids to use I feel so bad. But now we have some new ones to add to the group. So it will be a little better. 

Then another little girl came in with her own little baggie of crayons for the same reason. She wanted to bless us with some new crayons, knowing we needed them.

How sweet can they be?

That was so thoughtful of them. 

When the kids were signed in we got started with the rules. 

When the children's minister from the church came in and said,

"Stop! I need all the teachers to the front! The kids have something they want to bless you with" 

She was holding a huge box in her hands and she said, 

"Kids what are the two things the Happy Heart City teachers needed the most?" 

The kids shouted, "Crayons and markers!" 

At that point one of the little girls Caris (5 years old) had the biggest grin on her face and she said, 

"This is going to bless y'all's life so much!"

Kerri handed us the giant box filled with hundreds and hundreds of new crayons and new sharpies. 

Never in my life has a church been so thoughtful and sweet.

I stood there with the other teachers just in complete shock. 

I may have shed some tears. May have... ok I didn't but I definitely wanted too!

Their kindness was huge to not only our teachers but for me personally... my heart was full. 

Even after that night parents would come in with more and more crayons, highlighters, and sharpies. 

This was huge, and all I had hoped for was 192 crayons by May. 

Thank you God for going above and beyond our needs. 

"And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus."

Philippians 4:19

Snow, Ice, Sleet, Repeat

This half of the year we tend to run into cold weather often. However, at the moment the cold weather has taken a toll on us. Our four-day conference for a church in Bartlett, Tennessee had three out of four days cancelled due to weather. We set up on Saturday had services on Sunday and then cancelled Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we came in to tear down, and left Thursday. Now we’re traveling to Harrison, Tennessee where there’s also a storm coming in tonight.

At this point it feels like you can only have so many off days.

  

Of course I was productive though. You know me; I can relax for a little while but only to a certain degree or I’ll go crazy.

So, I finished engagement pictures for a couple of my friends Kendra and Mark…

Then, I worked on a video for my friend Matthew’s birthday which is entirely made up of inside jokes so you may or may not get it but in case you wanted to see it here it is:

And then tried to relax a little bit!

I’m looking forward to finally have a full summit though. We’ve been out of our normal routine for almost a month and traveled to five different place, had five different beds and families to connect with. Don’t get me wrong, it’s awesome to be able to invest in so many people but I’m only human and desire to land here soon.

Other than that, I’ve registered for my college classes and picked out my dorm that I’ll be living in come the Fall. Oh yeah, and I was accepted to GCU. Which in order to accomplish what I just said you probably figured that out.

Thanks for reading, I’ve been working on more super amature and random videos of road life I hope to get to you soon.

Until next time!

1/26/15

My current battle is to keep the door open. 

God has opened one big door filled with many opportunities for me.
Which consists of going to college, moving back home, pursuing some other dreams of mine.

 However, it never occurred to me that Satan would try to close this door directly on my face.

I am constantly having to fight to keep it open. This is totally a bipolar battle.
Everyday looks different. Sometimes it's a spiritual gun fight... other days it's a thumb war.
And why does it surprise me that Satan would want to keep me from going through that door?
Stupid girl.
You should remember that he's out to get you.

At first I considered all this as maybe a sign that God was telling me I heard Him wrong. That I shouldn't leave Life Action and continue teaching the kids.

Which would be confusing, because he was so clear a few months ago that my time here is coming to a close.
One thing I will always remember my mother taught me is that God is not a God of confusion.
Therefore, I am putting on my spiritual armor and fighting for my future.
Thankfully I know what the ending of this battle looks like.
As I think about life after Life Action and what I would like to do,
there are some dreams I'd like to pursue.
I've also never shared with you what those are...

At a young age I learned my love for fashion. Going to thrift shops with my mom. Finding great things in unexpected places. Creating something new with something old.

When I was twelve my mom bought me my first sewing machine at Penny's.
It's a light blue little powerful machine. I've crafted some fun things with it.
Not soon after that I picked up a camera (just like dad) and learned a love for photography.
Later in life I learned a love for blogging.

Now it's time to put them altogether.
At least I'm going to try.
I didn't know that until the other day. My likes and interests aren't necessarily something that I knew how to
I was watching a youtube video of a fashion blogger i've followed for years.
She discussed her love for fashion and sewing. How making a fashion line she sewed on her own, as well as fashion blogging is what got her through college. She lives in New York and has certainly made a living off of doing what she loves.

Whilst watching it, I realized, I myself have a lot of potential as a seamstress.

(This is a shirt I sewed for my brother this Christmas)

I also love blogging and fashion. For a long time I have loved all these things.
So I have decided to pursue all of these loves of mine.
I want to go to school for business, and while i'm there I can fashion blog, travel a little bit, try sewing some new projects and see how it turns out for me.
All the things I love, and I'm going to pursue it.
Thanks,
Marina.

It Could Be Your Turn

Three years ago Life Action headquarters had some of us team members be interviewed about traveling on the road as a promo video. I knew that it maybe would never go anywhere and could be shelved kind of a situation. However, apparently the video's been on Vimeo for awhile now and I saw it for the first time the other day! It was really fun for me to watch. God's brought me on the journey of a life time and maybe it's your turn.

There are always new opportunities out there just sometimes we don't know what they may be.

Maybe you just graduated and aren't sure if you want to go back to school or if you should take a break. Or maybe you want to travel and see America. If you want to try something different, meet a lot of new people, and grow spiritually then you should considering joining a road team.
Just ask me about it, or go online to lifeaction.org/onemission to read more about. 

Also, here's the video...
enjoy watching me from three years ago.

Tucked In...

Tucked in my bed at my new host home with three blankets, a heater, and hot rice bag under my covers. Tennessee's a stickler in the winter. 34 Degree's may not seem much, but for this Arizona girl it's a struggle. When I left home the temperature was in the glorious 70's range. 

For now, I'm getting by.

It feels amazing being back with my good friends, teaching the cutest kids, and just soaking up the bittersweet feeling of my last semester in Life Action.

Not much else has been going on. However, I will say that I love this Memphis, Bartlett, Arlington, Collierville area. May sound crazy to some people but I have now had four families I enjoy being with here. That's a lot. I consider it a blessing.

Fun facts: I got a ukulele for Christmas from a friend of mine. So, I've been practicing and I so enjoy playing it! Maybe one day I'll post a video of my amateur abilities.

Leading into this new year 2015, we as a team were challenged to pray for a word of the year. So I personally prayed and asked that God would show me what my word is. I thought trust would maybe be my word... but I wasn't sure. I kept praying and asked for some confirmation one night. The next morning I pulled out my Jesus Calling app for a quick devotion before I started my long Sunday. The title of the message that day was "Trust Me" then I knew that my word was trust.

This year I am being stretched to trust God with a lot of new changes in my life. I'm leaving a ministry that changed my life and made some solid life long friends. Moving back home, and starting college in the fall. I'm sure there are going to be a lot more "Trust Me" moments with God and it's going to take a lot of faith for me. I don't know about you, but when change comes, I cringe. Big change that is. So here I go into the rest of this year... learning to trust God more than I have had to before. Just a little scary.
 Until next time,
Marina

Bittersweet.

Hello everybody!

It's been a little while. I am usually very apt about having at least one post a month for the past two and a half years. However, the past couple months I have had some big changes come up and haven't quite found the way to tell you all. That plus timing. 

The current biggest change in my life is that come July, after three years of service in Life Action Ministries, God is calling me off the road and I will be moving back home to Phoenix! 

I was surprised at how early God was informing me about this. Usually I don't know until around February. However, this was made clear to me in October. 

God has also called me to start college in the Fall of 2015! 

I am in the process of applying to Grand Canyon University and am so excited about this opportunity.

A few weeks ago I took a tour of the campus, fell in love with it, and have had immense peace about everything since then. I am so excited for the opportunity I get to go to college. I thought when God had called me to Life Action I might not ever get the chance to go. You really never know how long He is going to keep you there. Leaving the ministry that has molded me into who I am, is one of the most bittersweet things that's every happened to me. 

My team has been there for me through some of the happiest and saddest moments of my life. Pouring God's love and grace on my lap when I needed it the most. A group of people I will never forget. They're also some of my biggest supporters, who are also excited for me! 

I am greatly going to miss them. Gladly though I will be able to treasure a few more months with them as the year ends in the summer. 

Right now I am home enjoying the last few days I have at home for break before I head back. This has been the longest break I have ever had. It's been so nice to relax, not have to travel every couple of weeks, and be able to spend time with my family. 

Thank you for being here, reading my blog. Whether you've read my post from the beginning or this is the first time you've read The Not-So-Secret Life I appreciate the support!
No worries though I will continue to be here, informing you of the random or cool things happening around me.
Happy New Year!
2015