Lessons Learned

Hey everyone! Things are about to start getting pretty busy here in Orlando, so I thought I’d take the time to write a blog while I wasn’t too tired. This is going to be a super long blog, because God has revealed so much to me already. I arrived safely in Orlando on Wednesday. Actually technically, I’m in Kissimmee, but anyway, that’s beside the point. Since then we’ve been in orientation. We just finished up state orientation today (Saturday) and now we are having our GOBA* orientation. There are 18 students on our team, but only 17 of us are here so far. We’re all getting along really well though. We’ve all bonded unbelievably quickly. It’s been great to have this time while we’re not working to get to know each other better. We’ve had some late nights/early mornings so far, but tonight we all decided to turn in early (it’s 11:00!) tonight. I wish I could think of all the things God has taught me already in the less than a week I’ve been here. Wednesday night, we had a pastor from a local church come talk to us and he asked a question: “What is your number one desire for this summer?” Answers ranged from serving God, developing a greater passion, becoming a more effective witness, having a never ending fire for the Lord, and other things I can’t think of right now. He then talked to us about how we cannot expect that desire to be fulfilled if we do not ask the Lord for it. Matthew 7:7-8 says: “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” I encourage each of you, no matter what you’re doing to think about what your number one desire is for this summer and then to ask the Lord for it. Friday, we received back our results from a ministry strengths test we had to take before we arrived. We discussed our results with our group so that we could learn how we best work together as a team. It included things such as how to best encourage this person, biggest mistakes you can make with this person, leadership styles, etc. It really got us into some deeper conversations and we really got to know each other through the discussion. This morning (Saturday) we had a student led worship service. We started by singing “Mighty to Save” and “God of This City.” Then someone came up and read from the Word. Then some girls put together a dance/interpretive movement to a song. Then one of the students preached a short message on faith. Then we had a time of prayer. We set up stations all around the room. They were: home (asking God to take care of our families and other people we left behind and taking away our worry about being away from them); desires (asking God to give us the desires of our heart that are most pleasing to Him); the lost (praying for the people we will come in contact with this summer and that we will be used); burdens/sins (turning over anything that is holding us back from completely surrendering our summer to Him); praise (listing praises on a poster and praising God for simply being who He is); unity (praying that God would unite our team together and show us how to best work together for His glory). We played some music while everyone went around for about 10 minutes. It was a very moving time, and a lot of people had tears in their eyes throughout the whole prayer time. We closed singing “Jesus Paid it All” a capella. Then tonight, our GOBA group went “prayer walking.” We went to one of the large outlet malls near where we stay. But instead of walking around and praying, they asked us to find a spot to sit, and say this prayer: “God, let me see what you see.” Then we just sat and watched as people walked by for 40 minutes. Afterwards one girl summed up everyone’s experience perfectly. She said, “As I sat, at first I saw so many people who were so insecure. They showed it in their clothes, their walk, and just everything about them and I hurt for them. Then I asked God to show me something different. When I opened my eyes, He showed me His love for all these people. He said things to me like, “Look how beautiful she is. I desire her,” or “I want him to be my son,” or “I want her to be my daughter.” Then I asked God to show me something else. This time He showed me how much these people are bombarded with false advertising about how we’re supposed to look and act. It was all around us in the stores. Then I asked God to show me something different. This time he showed me their deep need for Him, and I felt a burden like I’ve never felt before. These people were so lost. And I just said to Him, “Wow, these people really need you. Who can you use to reach them?” And He said to me, “If you would just open up and be willing, it would be you. But you’re closed off. Yes, you’ve been sent to Orlando, but allow me to use you as I have intended.” I don’t know how many of you know, but Orlando is visited by over 50 million people each year, from all over the world. While I was sitting, I was just overwhelmed by the diversity of all the people. But God made each of them and desire a relationship with each one of them. I didn’t know anything about these people, but God knows EVERY, SINGLE, MINUSCULE detail of their lives and DESIRES them. How amazing is our God? At the same time though, how will they ever know He desires them, if no one tells them? If I have learned this much already this summer, wow, I cannot even begin to imagine how different I’ll be when I return. I can see God working all around me already. I cannot wait to see everything He has in store.

Any by the way, I’ll probably start working at GKTW at the end of this week or the beginning of next week, so I probably won’t blog again until then. I love and miss you all so much. Thank you for your prayers and please continue them. God is going to do amazing things this summer!

Here are my teammates names so you can pray for them:
Clay
Brian
Johnnie Mac
Robby
Jonathan
Tabatha
Tabitha
Melodye
Macy
Megan L.
Megan C.
Leandra
Kayley
Lisa
Misty
Michaela
Allison

*GOBA= Greater Orlando Baptist Association

First Blog

Hello everyone! I decided to start a blog for this summer, and as of right now, it will only be for the summer. I am going to Orlando, FL this summer through the North American Mission Board. I'll be working with the Greater Orlando Baptist Association (GOBA) and spending a lot of my time at Give Kids the World (GKTW), a resort in Orlando that wish-granting organizations (such as the Make a Wish Foundation) use for terminally-ill children and their families to stay at if the child wishes to go to Disney World. For more information about GKTW, check out: www.gktw.org. It's a really awesome place, and I'm super excited to be serving the Lord there this summer. For those of you in my Facebook group, I'll send out the blog's link to all the members each time I update it, so that those of you who aren't so computer-savvy can get to it :)

In other news, I just got back from Colorado a few hours ago. My cousin, Janie got married on Saturday to her fiance, Josh. The wedding was absolutely beautiful for several reasons. One, God was at the forefront of the whole ceremony and it was truly a worship experience, not just a typical wedding ceremony. Two, Josh and Janie were so clearly in love, and it was beautiful to watch them commit their lives to each other and see how happy they were. Oh, and I caught the bouquet at the reception, so it's time for me to find my groom :) Haha, just kidding!

I guess I'll end with some things you can be praying for this summer:

1. Pray that God will prepare the hearts of the people I will come in contact with to be open and responsive to the things He has in store for them.
2. Pray that God will be able to use me to shine His light into some very dark situations that I'll be encountering at GKTW. I cannot imagine what it is like to have a child who is terminally ill, and I just want to give the families God's hope and promises.
3. Pray that God will prepare my heart for the things He has in store for me learn. Pray that He would show me new things about His character and teach me to rely on Him in new and daring ways.
4. Pray for travel for all the summer missionaries. My team arrives in Orlando on May 27.