pre-trip update #3

today is my last day at home for the rest of the summer.
my parents and I are heading to Indianapolis today.
we'll be there for a few days before I start training.

countdown: 7 days until I fly away

pre-trip update #2

this week I received my flight itinerary.
I fly from Indianapolis to Washington DC, from DC to Vienna Austria, and onto Ukraine.
same path on the way home, but I have an overnight layover in Vienna.
if you can imagine, I am getting a little nervous about flying around the world by myself.
I know God's hand of protection will be over me, but I ask that you all keep me in your prayers as I fly out on June 7th.
I've slowly been gathering things to pack.
clothes, books, gifts, etc.
memorial day is reserved for last minute shopping.
my parents and I are heading up to Indy early, hoping to get there sometime in the evening on May 31st.
they want to spend some time with me before I have to be at training on June 2nd.
we'll probably go to the art museum & maybe the zoo & just spend some time together before I'm going for the entire summer.

prayers for:
- safe travels to Indy
- safe travels to DC, Vienna & Ukraine
- peace of mind
- God's will be done this summer
- I become less and He becomes more


countdown: 12 days until I fly away

pre-trip update

yesterday afternoon, I found out that Ethan, the other intern to Ukraine, will not be able to go. he tore his ACL and meniscus playing soccer. so I am now the only intern headed to Ukraine for the summer. this means I will be flying internationally, alone. I will be living with a Ukrainian family, alone. I’ll be working with the Powells, alone.

yes, I am a little more nervous now. but I know that God will be with me. He has big plans for this summer, and I know that nothing will stop me from sharing Jesus’ name to the people of Ukraine. so I’m just asking for lots of prayer, lots and lots of it.

prayer for:

-       peace

-       safety

-       surrender of my emotions

-       Ukrainian people I will encounter, that God prepare their hearts right now

-       Ethan and his surgery, which was this morning, as well as his recovery

countdown: 20 days until I fly away

why am I doing this?

As most of you know, I will be spending the summer in Ukraine doing a missions internship. I will be in the southern portion of the country in a city called Berdyansk. I will be living with a Ukrainian family and working with a missionary family. You’re probably wondering why I am doing this and how I got to this place in my life. Lucky for you, that’s what this first post is all about.

I am a small town girl from southern Illinois. I grew up in a Christian home with loving parents and an older brother. I accepted Christ as my savior when I was eight years old, and I was also baptized. I think I was too young to really understand what it meant. All I knew was that I did not want to go to hell. I didn’t really get what it meant.

Up until I was in 8^th grade, I still didn’t really get it. Between my 7^th and 8^th grade years, I lost 4 people very special to me. The last one really took its toll on me. I became very angry with God. I didn’t understand how God could do something like that to me. How He could take away something that was so precious to me. It took me a few months to realize that God does everything for a reason, even if it’s not what we want. I had no right to be angry with Him. It turned out that the thing that turned me away from God was also the thing that brought me closer to Him.

Skip ahead to high school. My time spent at Harrisburg High School was filled with a wonderful close group of friends. With their help, I was able to grow closer to God. We were able to pursue God through church camps and retreats and just being friends.

No fast-forward to college. Coming into college, I was bound and determined to find Christian friends. I decided upon the University of Evansville in southern Indiana, a mere hour away from home. This was far enough away from home, while still being close. Other than my best friend going to the University of Southern Indiana, which was also in Evansville, I didn’t know anyone else in Evansville. If you don’t know, I used to be pretty shy when I first met people. So making friends in college was a little difficult. I pretty much just made friends with the girls that lived around me, who weren’t Christians. I didn’t find that core group of people I was looking for. It wasn’t until closer to the end of my freshman year that I started going to Student Christian Fellowship, aka SCF. I had found some Christian people that seemed like people I would like to hang out with.

Now move on to my sophomore year. I was more than determined to make friends. There was no way I was going to spend another year without Christian friends. I started attending SCF’s weekly meetings on Friday nights. I really enjoyed being with these people. I met some of the greatest people. They were so edifying and so encouraging. It was nice to find friends that I could enjoy being with. I basically spent every day with them.

Coming on up to spring break that year. I went on a mission trip to Panama City Beach, Florida with SCF. Through the program, BeachReach, we went there to give away free pancakes and free van rides to students who were there for a ‘real spring break experience.’ I think this was where God put missions on my heart. As previously mentioned, I could be quite shy. But through the experience, God pushed me out of my comfort zone. At the beginning of the week, I was struggling a little bit, but by the end of the week, it got a lot better. It was an honor to be a part of God’s work in PCB.

Now move to last fall. I was still hanging out with all my SCF friends and it was awesome. In November 2010, I went to the National Missionary Convention in Lexington, KY. Prior to attending, I became aware of the company Christian Missionary Fellowship, aka CMF. At the conference, there were so many booths set up for so many different missions all over the world. I knew God was calling me to do mission work, but I wasn’t sure if it was to be something within the US or something more global. I had recently heard about CMF’s Globalscope program, which sends campus ministers to colleges all over the world. I had been looking into doing that possibly after I graduate. While researching this option, I learned about CMF’s REACH internship. They send students all over the world for a whole summer to learn what its like to be a missionary. While at the convention, I got to talk with Shannon, who is in charge of the REACH program. I knew this was something I wanted to do. So I looked through a list of all the places I could go, including Thailand, Kenya, Ukraine, Mexico, etc. Every time I read the list, Ukraine just stuck out. So I filled out the application in early December, with my preference as Ukraine.

I got the call on January 17, 2011, a Monday morning. I had been accepted! After I got off the phone with Shannon I just started crying. I was so excited & anxious & nervous & scared. I have never done anything quite like this. I’ve never been this far away from home. So you can understand how I’m a little anxious. Since then, I’ve been reading books about ministering in different cultures. I’ve gotten a few shots. I got my passport. I even got to attend a Russian/Ukrainian church service in Evansville a couple weeks ago. Man, that was an experience. The whole service was completely foreign to me. I learned that I would have to be intentional about learning Russian and put a lot of effort into it.

So the plan is to update this blog weekly. My Internet might be a little sketchy, so I will try to update as frequently as possible.

The countdown has begun: 24 days until I fly away.