The Final Week--

So I actually started packing my suitcase last night--reality is setting in that this season of my life is really coming to an end. Such a bittersweet moment..I am so beyond excited to be going home to see my family and friends, but over the past few months I have been blessed with a wonderful South African family that I will miss dearly. From people at church that have became great friends--to sweet kids at the orphanage and school--to amazing people we have met in our daily lives. They have all had such an impact on my life and I will miss them so much! This week will be our last visits to the orphanage and school--Pray for us as we prepare to say goodbye to those sweet children--pray that they know we truly love them, but more than that, they have a heavenly Father who loves them so much more. Pray for closure in those situations.

Next week will be used to spend some quality time with the friends we have made here--It is going to be such a fun week, but also very difficult as we prepare to say goodbye to these sweet people! I am so thankful for each of them and the impact they have had on my life!

On a lighter note--yesterday we took a road trip!! Dawn, another missionary and friend Ethan, and I went to the Kingdom of Swaziland for the day--It is a landlocked country about 4 hours from where we are. Even though it was cold and rainy, we had such a fun day getting to explore some of Swaziland and parts of South Africa we hadn't seen yet!

This will probably be my last blog update until we get to West Africa--since next week will be pretty busy with preparing to go home. Please pray for our final few days here--pray that we will be encouraging to people and have good closure in relationships we have established here. Also, please pray for safety as all the teams return to West Africa for debrief and then as we travel back to the states! I will update you all as soon as I can! Thanks so much for all of your prayers and support over the past 5 months! Can't wait to see you all soon!

Learning in Unexpected Ways

I think I start every blog with this--but the last 5 months of my life have been so incredible. Looking back I am overwhelmed with all the amazing lessons the Lord has taught me in unexpected ways. Whenever you begin to prepare for a trip like this you start to imagine all of the things you are going to experience and learn. For me--it's been completely and totally opposite. I thought I knew exactly what I was getting myself into--but the Lord has taught me lessons I didn't even know I needed to learn. He has taught me more about myself, the plans He has for me, His character, what ministry really looks like, and so many other things. It is truly overwhelming to think about all He has taught me--the real question now, as I prepare to end my time here, is what am I going to do with it? I am truly going to stay changed--or will I in a few months look back and realize that I went back to my old ways. Am I really allowing the Lord to truly change me? I think this is one of the biggest challenges in any christians walk with the Lord--He always teaches us things, but it is up to us to apply them and allow them to change our life.
Please continue to pray for me over the next few weeks as I continue to allow the Lord to teach me and change me. I am so thankful for all of you and your prayers! I am so thankful to have such wonderful family and friends that love and support me! I can't wait to see you all in just a few short weeks!

A Few More Weeks...

I can't believe that exactly 4 weeks from today my family will be picking me up from the airport--crazy! These last few months have been absolutley amazing, and yet so challenging. The Lord continues to amaze me with who He is--I am learning more and more about His character every day. The Lord has truly given me such a peace about resting in the fact that He is Sovereign--that He is in control of every aspect of my life. I can't wait to see where He leads and allows me to serve in the future. He has shown me what missions really is--not a job or a trip, but an intentional lifestyle.
I am so excited about seeing all of you in just a few short weeks, even though it's going to be so strange and difficult to leave everyone here. Thank you all so much for continuing to pray for me and ask about me throughout these last 4 months. Please don't stop--continue to pray that we will be intentional with our time and that the Lord will use us to encourage those around us in the last few weeks we have here. I'm excited to see the doors He will continue to open in the next few weeks! Love and Miss you all!!

Another Update:)

Hi everyone! Tomorrow officially marks the one month til we start our journey home--crazy! So as most of you have likely already heard, I went back to the doctor on friday because my jaw was getting worse. The oral surgeon did x-rays and we found out that my jaw actually was broken and they just missed it on the first x-ray in the emergency room. The doctor decided that the best course of treatment was to reset my jaw and wire it in place for two weeks. Which basically means I can't move my mouth--I can talk a little bit--I'm just a little hard to understand. I'm on a liquid diet for the next two weeks and then hopefully will get it loosened enough after that to be able to eat a little. It definitely isn't the ideal situation, but I truly know that the Lord is using this to teach me something and bring glory to Himself. That doesn't mean that I'm not frustrated or that I understand completely, but I do know that my Heavenly Father loves me and He does have a plan. Just last week the Lord really placed John 3:30 on my heart--"He must increase..I must decrease"

He is teaching me through this that it truly is all about Him--Everything in this world was created and exists for His glory. He doesn't need me to do anything for Him--but He allows me to be used by Him.

Just please be in prayer that the pain and discomfort will continue to diminish--That I will see how He wants to use this for His glory--That I will be able to still interact with the kids during the week--and that I will be patient in this uncomfortable situation. Also keep my parents in your prayers, I imagine it can't be fun for them to be far away and worried about me. Obviously nothing compares to having my real family here, but thankfully the Lord has placed great people in my life here to help take care of me.

One more month!

I cannot believe it really is the second day of November--one month from now I'll be starting the process of packing to come back home. I just can't believe it! The Lord has taught me so much over the past few months--stuff about myself, about Him and His Character, and about His plan for my life. I can't wait to see what the final month holds--I know He has great plans in store! Please continue to lift us up in prayer as we try to live intentionally every moment.
I don't really have much to update on since I spent the majority of last week at doctor's appointments of in the bed. I am feeling much better though! I have temporary teeth until I get home, the stiches came out yesterday, and the jaw is slowly getting better. Thank you all for the encouragement and prayers! Y'all are the best!
The dresses, shorts, and t-shirts are on their way to South Africa right now and I can't wait! Hopefully they will get here soon and I can get some pics up of the kids receiving them! I'm so thankful to have such a great church that plays such a vital role in ministry! Love you all and I'll see you soon!

My Sweet Family of Belivers

Today I just needed some time by myself--outside of the apartment complex--just to sit and read the word, journal, and think about some different things. Thankfully, our facilitator Stacie brought me to a coffee shop and dropped me off for a few hours. It has been wonderful--just having time to spend with the Lord completely by myself. While sitting here I just decided to look at my home churches website--I decided I would watch a sermon so I could at least semi feel like I was there. I watched the one from last week where you all prayed over the clothes for the children here and it honestly brought tears to my eyes. I feel beyond blessed to have such a loving church family who has such a heart for the nations of this world. You all play such a huge role in what the Lord is allowing us to do here and I'm so thankful for that. It is amazing to have such an amazing church family that loves me so much--You are all such an encouragement to me. You will never know how much you mean to me! Love and Miss you all! Can't wait to see you in a little over a month!

Update--

Hello everyone! So this weeks blog is being used to update everyone on my accident--since everyone has been asking what's happening..I thought this would be the easiest way to inform everyone! Sunday after church one of our good guy friends took us out of the city just to see some more of the area...We drove a few hours just to get into nature. We went to a beautiful place and were going to do some hiking. We had been there for about 30 minutes and decided to walk through a ravine--it was crazy slippery and I fell and hit my shoulder and face on a rock. I chipped my three front teeth and cut my chin pretty bad and bruised my jaw. We went to the emergency room where they x-rayed me just to make sure the jaw was ok and gave me 3 stiches in my chin. I am feeling ok...just really sore. Thankfully it wasn't any worse. I am going to the dentist on thursday for a consultation--hopefully that will go well and we can get my mouth fixed quickly! Thankfully I have 2 amazing teammates who have taken wonderful care of me! Thanks for all your prayers..I will update you next week on how everything goes!

Besides that fun accident..everything is great! I won't be going to the school or orphanage this week--but just pray that I will stay encouraged and the Lord will use this time to grow me in Him. We only have about 6 weeks left..so continue to pray that the Lord will use us in great ways! Love and miss you all!!