Pictures from the outreach!

I've counted up the cost, and You are worth it.

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8

It's no coincidence that this weeks intern study was about the Holy Spirit abiding with us, in us, and working through us. And also that I'm a teacher's aid for Acts class, which is all about the Holy Spirit. I've been feeling so empowered by the Holy Spirit. The first bit of my internship was me constantly feeling inadequate and lost. And I am. In my own flesh and strength I absolutely am. But lately I have been realizing how much power we have in Christ. He is constantly multiplying my time to get everything done, opening up my mind to understand the things we study, and just giving me favor in so many things. It's...wonderful.

Ten Day to...ROMANIA
Next month we have our ten day mission trip to a country of our choosing. Now that I'm an intern I get the opportunity to organize and lead my own. Back in June the Fout's family asked me to lead one to their city (the same city I went to last Fall as a student on outreach). I prayed about it, and the Lord has confirmed many times that that is where I need to be. I have an amazing and solid group of 5 coming alongside me. I am so excited. Please pray that I would have wisdom on how to lead, that we would be effective encouragements to the church there, and that we would have favor with the gypsy kids we will minister to. Honestly, the scariest thing to me is leading people into a whole different country; especially since I don't speak a lick of Romanian. I mean...unless I need to tell border patrol that "Isus te Iubeste" (Jesus loves you)...which, hey, you never know...

And I'm so thankful that I got the money for this outreach during my birthday back in June. It's such a blessing to have that provided for since I haven't even paid for my internship yet. God is good!

Homesick?

I've been missing my family a lot lately. I haven't seen my mom or sister since January. That is the longest I have ever gone and it is especially hard knowing I wont be home until August 2014 (depending on if I have money for a plane ticket by then). And I think of my grandparents and cousin and even my puppy and I cringe. What I would give for one cuddle with each of them! BUT, Jesus said “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life."

I trust Him when I feel the sting of homesickness. He gives me 100 fold. Who else gets to live in Europe serving the Lord??

Pécs

I got to lead my first weekend outreach (co-leading with Hillary) back to Pecs where I spent my 30 day. It was so refreshing to be back there. God's hand is ever-on that church and ministry. It's so different to lead an outreach than to be on one, however. The responsibility of getting all the girls on a completely full/standing-out-the-door-room only bus, or handling money, or walking them through the city. But it's truly an honor and it was so amazing to get to help the church sort out bags upon bags of donated clothing for the giveaway we did on Saturday. I hope to go back very soon. 

Please Pray For:

Finances

Homesickness&My family

My 10 Day to Romania

Diligence and
An Overflow of the Holy Spirit

Website: roxieinhungary.weebly.com

Paypal: Donations

Just got out of a really great Intern Study and Intern prayer meeting. I'm starting to feel connected to my fellow interns in a more intimate way. As we share experiences and pray with each other I feel the bonds forming and tis so sweet!
I'm truly thankful for the interns and staff here who work as the body of Christ. It's very uplifting!

Hillary and I are gearing up to lead the first weekend outreach of the semester to my dear Pécs! I'm so stoked to be going back there and seeing old faces and helping out with whatever needs to be done. They are going to have us be at their new youth group, helping sort clothes for the clothing give away, and doing children's ministry this Sunday morning. It's the first outreach I've ever led (so thankful Hillary is doing this with me!) so please pray that it wont be chaotic and that we would get to the bus on time!! Pray that we will bless the church rather than create more work for them ;)

We are also going to be announcing 10 day outreaches this Friday and I'm so excited! I can't wait to lead a team back to Bistrita, Romania...especially to encourage the church there after the sudden death of their assistant pastor and his son.  Plus, I miss those faces there and feel so loved by the pastor and family out there. I know it's such a good place to lead my first 10 day because A) I'm familiar with it and B) the family will be gracious with all the mistakes I'm bound to make.

Life here is going great. Sure it's full of challenges, but these trials produce endurance and they perfect us. And God gives me so many gifts; such as Deanna Carver coming for a visit. It was so amazing to see her face and hear her wisdom.

Please pray for:
Upcoming outreaches listed above
Financial Provision
Continuance of language study in Hungarian
Discipleship with the students
My heart to be content in all situations

Check out my new website 

Psalm 19:7-9

The law of the Lord is perfect,
    reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
    making wise the simple;
 the precepts of the Lord are right,
    rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure,
    enlightening the eyes;
 the fear of the Lord is clean,
    enduring forever;
the rules[d] of the Lord are true,
    and righteous altogether.

A stretching.

And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”  And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.

Matthew 14:31-32

This internship has been nothing short of a challenge. It's been a constant step in faith that Jesus would grow me and carry me. And honestly...I've loved every second. Through the tears and through the laughs I can see God's hand in it all, and that gives me hope. 

The semester has started amazingly. This new group of students is so unified, open, and desiring of God. I've been praying for my dorm room for months and I know that God has blessed me with amazing, sweet girls. We have been able to laugh together, sing together, cry together, and pray together...and it's only the first week. I'm so encouraged by their sweet spirits and am so thankful to God for each one of them. 

There has been a challenge. A woman with Aspergers syndrome is in our room. Initially my flesh lashed out in frustration with the challenges that come along with this...but surely God is changing each and every one of us in our room through this. I know that we are going to grow so much in patience and compassion as we labor in love and prayer for this. God loves her and sees her as precious and we also need to see her as this too! Different is NOT bad! God's helping my carnal self to do this. Even this morning when normally my impatient self would lash out in a harsh voice God, and God alone, gave me patience to sit with her and pray with her and read through Philippians 4 with her. She then opened up to me about her life and we got to talk about real things. It just goes to show that she can hear whether or not I'm angry. And if she can sense my anger, then we will get nowhere. But if I have a direct gentleness then that gives God room to work with both of us. I know I have so much more to learn in this situation, but I can already see God's hand in it. 

In other news, overseeing housekeeping, laundry, and preparing the conference lodgings has been a stretch for me in its own ways. Administration and communication with a large team have always been weaknesses for me. I feel like I constantly have a to-do list in the front of my mind. But my team is wonderful so far. They work really hard and pay attention to details. I'm so blessed!!! 

I'm just thankful that God has given me these challenging situations so that I can grow, and He's also given me a lot of grace and favor in certain things so that I can also have good fellowship with the girls here.

Life is good. God is good.

Please be praying for:

Finances (Still in need of $3,000 for internship)
Upcoming outreaches
Unity in my dorm room