Remain in ME

I am sitting in a comfy recliner, full from a fabulous dinner cooked by my friend Lauren, trying to put into words what I have learned these last three weeks at MTI.

I just completed my first program at MTI, called S.P.L.I.C.E. (Spiritual, Personal, Lifestyles, Interpersonal, Cultural, Endurance/Enjoyment). It was absolutely fantastic! I have made friendships in these last few weeks that I will keep in my heart forever. God has broadened my view of the world in a beautiful way. The countries represented at this training were the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Indonesia, Thailand, New Zealand, Ecuador, Chile, Tanzania, Mexico, Poland, Cameroon, Kenya, Spain, India, Fiji, England, Zambia, and Bangladesh. Talk about all over the world.

On the very last day of training, our leaders had us each take a rock and write a phrase on it, summing up our experience at SPLICE. The phrase that instantly came in to my head was "Remain in Me." God has taught me that I HAVE to remain in Him and in His love if I am ever going to be able to love the people of Slovenia. Yes, He has called me to Slovenia, but my ultimate purpose in life is not to love Slovenes or even move there, it is to GLORIFY HIM.

In whatever I do, may I glorify Christ fully.

Amen.

Little Update :)

I figured that I should probably write another blog post since it has been almost 2 years since I have written one!

I am currently in Palmer Lake, Colorado, at training before I head off to my beloved Slovenia. It is my third full day at training (I will be here for 5 weeks!) and I have been blown away by the things I am learning. :) The Lord is breaking me, revealing a lot, and graciously putting people in my life who care and listen. I am truly blessed. I am doing 2 programs while I am here. I currently going through their 3 week program, SPLICE, which includes topics on personal subjects, lifestyles, culture and many other things. After this program, I will be doing their 2 week program, PILAT, which deals with how to learn a language. I am richly blessed to be here!

I will update more later, but I wanted to give you a quick review of what is going on right now! Thank you for your prayers, your encouragement and love. I am so excited to have such a beautiful community and support group! Love you all!

P.S. I need suggestions on a catchy name for my blog! Let me know if you have any ideas!

A Heart Changing Trip

If you know me well or have even just talked to me before, you know that I am in love with Slovenia, a country in Eastern Europe. God called me there 2 summers ago and has been working in my heart for the people there ever since.

Being over there, my job was primarily to help run English camps for junior high and high school students. The camps run for about a week where we do sports, have themed nights, sing worship songs, and have the legendary amazing race. I can't even tell you how amazing the people of Slovenia are. They are hospitable, incredibly easy to love, and have such a passion for other people and life. They make it so easy for me to have such a great time at camp!

Not only do I absolutely love the students at camp, but I am so blessed by the missionaries that I have been able to work with. They are all so amazing and have such a unity with each other!

Something amazing that I saw this year was the way that Slovenes were stepping up in leadership all over the place. Not only at our camp, but all over the country! I was so used to really being one of the leaders at camp, but so many of the Slovenes stepped up in that position that I really just got to sit back and watch them grow in this area. Amazing! God not only humbled me, but allowed me to really see the changes that are happening there.

God is still working in my heart, as I am hoping to be in Slovenia for a longer period of time. I am hoping to spend all of next summer there, and I would really appreciate prayer for this decision! God's calling, so I'm hoping that I can spend some extra time there to really answer this call.

Thank you all so much for praying! Prayers are being answered there every day!