on the move

Tomorrow I move into my new place. I'm pretty excited to have my own place. Just pray for me if you think of it that I will be safe in the city all by my lonesome. It's a little weird... I felt more safe traveling in China standing alone amongst a see full of black-haired, black-eyed Chinese then I often do here in down town Saint Paul. What's the Deal?

Once I get settled maybe I'll post a picture of my new place for you.

I'm loving my job so much. I STILL feel so so blessed to have this job. The feeling of gratitude and amazement has not left me. I appreciate it so much. I hope I can do it to the best of my ability and improve myself in many ways.

I have a dark confession to tell you though. It's something that I am so so ashamed of. The reason I humbly tell you is to ask for your prayers. Seriously. There is a fear of man that plagues me even in my dreams. It's disturbing me. Do you know what I mean when I say fear of man? I mean that I fail to make use of oportunities to share Jesus. I fail to wear his name boldy and proudly and unashamedly. I fail to open my mouth in his defense. I fail in so many ways to make him known. This is disturbing me so much and I want it to stop. I need to be delivered from this fear of man. I need to die to myself and know the truth that I know in my heart in my head. I am sick of giving into the stifflings of the enemy.

I want to know the authority and character of Jesus Christ and be emerced in that. I want to be baptized, dunked, totally enraptured by hiM.

Thanks for praying this into reality.

Going the Distances

I'll be moving into my new apartment Sept. 30. I'm excited to have my own place. I think it will be fun. Plus it's so close to work. There's so many things to do, which is good because it will keep me busy as I don't have a lot of friends down here and don't have a TV.

I have plenty of other things to keep my busy as well. I'll be in my friend's wedding this weekend. I hope it's not too cold. A million blessings to you Tiff and Joel! Then comes the move. Then I'll be going on a road trip with mom and dad to NCarolina to visit Joey and Eva. That'll filled with events as well. We get to go to some conferences. One to hear Roland and Heidi Baker. Oh my goodness that's going to be awesome. In case you've never heard of them, they have an orphanage in Africa and God is doing AMAZING INCREDIBLE OUTSTANDING FABULOUS UNBELIEVABLE-BELIEVABLE things there. You MUST read their book. You can buy it on half.com. It's called "There's Always Enough." Please read it. It will change your life. The other conference is called Harvest Fest. I'm looking foward to hearing Jason Upton. He's got some really powerful music that truly blesses the Lord's heart. It's going to be good. And ofcourse I'm so looking foward to seeing my siblings.

Then after that its back into the frigid reality of MN to trudge through another winter. I realized that I'm really a fairweather kinda gal. I'm not too thrilled about wearing coats and mittens and blowing my nose more then i already do, and having to warm up the car... all that good stuff. I guess I could handle going snow boarding a few times tho... missed that a lot when i was in China.

Hope you are all well. Drop me a line some time.

I created a Slide Show! Check it out!

Dixon!

I decided kind of last minute to go down to Illinois to visit my lovely friend and ex roomate from college. The ride down wasn't bad even though I was going on little sleep, driving a manual, and no radio in the car! I had a good time singing any worship song that came to mind at the top of my lungs. Kelly is a great host and I'm already having a great time. I'm at the dixon library with her now. She's showing me around their little town. it's really old and cute. lots of history. she lives at her grandmas house as shes in a nursing home now. the house is filled with 80 some years of accumulation of little treasures and lots of stuff. im gonna help her clean up the yard a bit which i don't mind cuz i like the flowers and being out side. we're gonna go to this little art festival in the town square and maybe go garage saling and to a green house. i really want to buy a plant for my office. it's nice to get away from the big city for a bit. And it's especially nice to see my Kelly. Last I saw her was when she saw me off the day I left for China over a year ago.

I hope you all have a great Labor day.

I accepted the full time permanent position today! I was debating it for so long. First I was sure I didn't want to do it for fear that I would get too comfortable in a certain lifestyle and forget my desire and heart to go overseas and serve the Lord in bigger ways. But then my mom had a good point. She said if the Lord has really put that in my heart, then as long as I'm seeking him he will keep those things in my heart. I also figured out that I can pay off my loans in the year that I work here! So that's awesome.

It's been a challenging week. I had to learn how to handle a domestic abuse situation, and trying to find jobs for people with zero English, and cultural barriers and transportation barriers. It's so challenging. I learn so much every day. Some times its pretty overwhelming.

I've decided that now that I'm going to be here longer I need to start getting out and doing things and meeting people since I don't really have any friends down here. I would love to take a pottery class, and language classes, and attend some kind of home fellowship/Bible study thing, and get involved in the community somehow and serve with other believers doing some ministry or service. So these are the kinds of things I will be looking out for.