Leavin' on a jet plane

I am Peru bound tomorrow morning!!!
.......letting that sink in for a minute.......

So...VBS this past week was a smash. The kiddos are awesome and leading the fun and games with my friend,  Kaitlyn is such a joy. My trip was the Missionary Focus for the week and the kids collected Sunday School supplies for children in Cusco. ♡♡♡

I'll try and post whenever I can during my trip. 

Please keep me and my team in your prayers. :)

Importancia

Just got off of a conference call with the team I'll be working with in Peru. Bob Sjogren, the amazing disciple-maker extraordinaire, really has a way of cutting through to the heart of what matters.
We were doing some training and practicing using our Evangacubes to share the gospel when he said, "As we share and we misspeak and maybe fumble our way through, the most important thing is absolute dependence on the Holy Spirit."
That is my prayer tonight. As I lay down my weary head after a long but wonderful day. . .
Father God, help me to depend on you, trust in you and seek you. May the Holy Spirit light your path for me, God. In Jesus name, Amen.

Sift this

Did you miss me??

No.  No.  You didn't.  

My mom is probs the only one who's going to read this, but still, I left you hanging when last I posted about my Persons of Peace Seeking Mission to NYC.

I have to post before I forget all the good stuff and won't be able to use this blog to help me write my Missions Memoir/Manifesto someday. :)

So....I think I'll share a few highlights and then some reflections on my first missions trip.

We went to a Hindu, Buddhist, and Sikh temples to learn about their beliefs so that we can figure out bridges from what they believe to the truth of Jesus.  The photo above is at the Sikh temple, the men there were so wonderful and friendly and warm.  I just think there's so much to learn from each other as students of the world and getting to know people is the best way to lead them to Christ. They were wonderful and would definitely love to get to know some Sikh people here in Massachusetts.

Sharon and I met some women at a salon and went there three days in a row to get henna and talk to them about God and about where they came from (Nepal and India). This is Mitu in the photo, the amazing henna artist.  We asked if we could pray (in Jesus' name) for their store and after the owner said we could and that we could pray inside.  Mitu then asked if she could pray with us (our biggest witnessing breakthrough up to that point) we excitedly told her, "Yes, of course!" 

We prayed together and talked about the gospel and the power of prayer and set her up with a long-term missionary, Linda, who will stay in contact with her and get her in a Bible Study with other new believers/seekers who speak the same language.

Pray for Mitu as she finds her way to the cross!  She is starting to believe because she prayed that she would be able to come to America and God answered her prayer.  She is on the cusp, on the verge, right on the edge of salvation.  I know that with a little prayer she will let her heart lead her to Jesus. 

This is Linda, the long-term NYC missionary, 

giving a henna tattoo to a Muslim woman in the park.  

We had two awesome afternoons in Travers Park doing a soccer camp/carnival 

for the children there and talking with their parents.

I had a blast making bracelets with these super cute kids and teaching them about Jesus' love for them. :) I felt so at home with these kids in New York City.  They were from all over the world, were of all different religions and families situations, and no matter what....kids are kids! They are fun and sweet and fresh and funny, just like the nuggets here! :)

 Another highlight was worshipping in this Nepali house church.  The man on the left is the owner of the shop who welcomes Christians into the upper room of his store where they meet and have hours of prayer and worship on the floor in their own language.  A church doesn't have to be a big white building with a steeple.  It just has to be a place where believers meet. :)

The guy on the right is Boto, an NYC missionary from India.  He brought us to the temples and taught us so much about other religions, cultures, and customs.  He is a really special person.  His love for Christ and for the people of South East Asia is palpable.  He is a person you are better for being around.  He's an ispiration and it was such a blessing to have him as a mentor even for a few days. 

In a stunning contrast to the house church, we attended the Tuesday night prayer and worship service at Brooklyn Tabernacle.  This came right in the middle of our grueling week and it was just the right time and place to be surrounded by other believers.  It felt like we were fighting for Christ in Jackson Heights and there was definitely an opressive vibe in some of the Hindu shops and places we ventured in JH.  It was just what we needed to sing praises with a few hundred zealous Christians. 

All in all, I have never learned more in a week before in my whole life!! 

I am four days bolder and four days braver as I seek to find my place in the mission field.

As I prepare for my trip to Peru, I am so grateful to have this amazing experience to build on and grow from.  The Holy Spirit is doing amazing things in the lives of people all over the world.  We can only hope and pray to serve Jesus as some small part of it.

Please pray for Mitu and all the people of Jackson Heights.  Pray for the nations.  The most important thing we can do is commit to fervent, constant, sincere prayer for the unreached and for the lost.

This week is VBS at my church.  My favorite week of the summer.  Can't wait to post some pics of the little local maniacs. :) God Bless! :)

Sifting Week Part 1

 We arrivred in New York City on Sunday evening and found our way to the home of our home family, a pastor and his wife in Manhattan.  We were feeling pretty good for a couple of small town chicks in the big city when I put my luggage through the turnstile in the subway and couldn't follow through with myself! I had to climb under the arms of the turnstile.  In a dress no less!! Haaa!!

It was the first of many laughs on this awesome trip.

Monday morning we made our way across the city to Jackson Heights, in Queens.  Our training took place at Kabob King, a resturant at the heart of the neighborhood.

After the first training session, we were told to gather with the groups we came with to go out into JH.  Sharon and I looked at each other like....our group?? We weren't so much a group as a twosome.  We weren't sure what to do next so we asked the friendy intern who'd come up and introduced herself.

This is Eunice, an intern from Texas, spending the summer in NYC.  She was working with a group of mostly young adults from Maryland.  They were led my Marshall and Tammi Stoy, who are training in NYC for a year before heading to Washington, D.C.  The group from Maryland is from their home church.

Here's the whole group, short and long term missionaries.  They group welcomed us with open arms and we instantly felt like God had provided for us with this great group.

That morning, we started prayer walking while familiarizing ourselves with the neighborhood.  I felt very much like a foreigner.  Not because I didn't know my way but because it is unlike the America I have ever known. 

People of Peace Seeking Mission

We are halfway through our Sifting Week in NYC.  We are spending our days in Jackson Heights in Queens which is the highest concentration of unreached people groups in New York City.  The people here are from Tibet, Pakistan, Nepal, India, and Bangladesh.  They are mostly Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, and Sikh.

We have been prayer walking and meeting people, learning about their culture, language, and beliefs...  

We have made some contacts and we've been sharing the gospel by being WITH the people, IN the people, and coming to them as learners.  

I can't wait to share in detail about the whole week, but we are so busy and just trying to discern the path the Holy Spirit is making for us.  Right now we are going to a salon where we met some women from Nepal and India yesterday.  They said we could pray for them and for their business, and then one of them asked if she could pray with us!! We are going back their today hoping to spend time with them and share the gospel with them.

This week is extraordinary.  Truly.  This experience is such a gift and I can only hope to pass on some of my joy in Christ with the people we meet. 

God Bless you!! :)

My Utmost for His Highest

Hi!!

I've been meaning to start this blog for a while...

I have had a couple of blogs before but I get behind on posting and lose steam and give up (a common tale in my life.  Yours too?)  But this time I'd like it to be a place to write about my heart for the nations and sharing God's love with people here in our hometowns and throughout the world.  Also a place to ask any of you Prayer Warriors (or maybe Future Prayer Warriors?) to pray for me as I pursue God's greatest glory (in a small but meaningful way) letting His name be praised in every tongue and by every ethne on this planet, and for many missionaries and mobilizers, and also for the unreached nations themselves.  It is a HUGE job.  That's why we have to take hands as God's people and commit to prayer.  It is the only way the Great Commission can ever be fulfilled. 

It was when I took an amazing discipleship course that teaches in fifteen weeks with fifteen instructors, that I (YOU!!) have an important place in God's plan to be worshipped by all nations.  

Perspectives changed my life.

I will be going on two missions trips this summer.  The first is next week (EEK!) in New York City with a group called  Global Gates, a group that ministers to unreached people groups who have come to NYC.  The whole idea is to take advantage of America drawing in so many diverse people and sharing the message of salvation with them here so that they might share it with other people within their culture. Pursuing

global impact through urban gateways.

The second trip I'm going on is to Cusco, Peru.  I will be there from August 5th-15th.  Both of these trips will be led by Perspectives lecturers.  You can definitely say I "drank the Perspectives Kool Aid." I am in.  Hook, line, and sinker.  I got certified to become a Coordinator for the class this past weekend and look forward to being a part of the awakening of many new students as their eyes are opened to their purpose and God's heart for the nations as it is woven through the whole Bible.

Think about that...

The greatest charity is not a hot meal, or a couch to sleep on, or even a kind word, or any amount of money.  They're all wonderful and important, but the greatest charity is sharing your love of Jesus with the world, one person at a time.

So....would you like to go on this journey with me??

All you have to do is commit to pray for the nations (and for me!!) :)

Why me? Well why not? I'll pray for you, too.  Comment me any prayer requests and I will pray and even share them (anonymously if you'd like).

Who am I??

I'm just a girl who came out the other side of some dark stuff (more to come on that...)

and has Jesus to thank.  I want to use my life thank Him.  I fail every single day.

But I will never stop striving to see God worshipeed.

My Life to the Fullest.

My Utmost for His Highest.  

My Life in return for His Amazing Grace.