While I've been enjoying the beach down south for a couple of days I've had family and friends of Mountain View Chapel serving the Lord and the people of San Marcos in the Dominican Republic. Kris Janezic does a wonderful job of shooting lots of video and each day he makes a short video recapping what they've done. These videos have been so encouraging to me and they are also a great way to keep up with the team and know how to pray for them specifically. They were also able to Skype with their church family on Sunday morning; thank the Lord for technology! I want to encourage you to watch each video...the majority of them are under 5 min and I promise they will bring smiles to your faces! The children there are beautiful and you can see the joy radiating from them and also from the team members. They are returning home to Virginia tomorrow so I just watched the video of their last day there. It is so powerful and I couldn't help but be overwhelmed with emotion.
One of the things I learned about during my camp and was reminded about in this video is that all good things come to an end. My heart breaks tonight for the team members and for the people they touched in the Dominican...goodbyes are so sad. I know what it's like to have to leave people you love knowing you may never see them again. Being separated from people so close to your heart hurts, like no other hurt. Especially when you are forced to come back to a society full of selfish people who have all they want yet constantly complain. Air conditioning is nice but you would give it up to sit in the heat with those precious people. There are so many things that cause your heart to hurt after such an amazing adventure comes to an end. But what I've learned this summer is that we all must come down from our mountains. No matter how good they are and how exciting, there are experiences off the mountain that we need too. Also, leaving the mountains in our lives gives greater value to the mountain. The people and places of each of our mountains become precious when we must leave them. The most important thing though is this: don't forget the mountain. We must never forget what we saw the Lord do on our mountains. When our valleys get dark and dismal, we will need to look back and remember.
Here is the last video, I'm hoping you'll take a few minutes to watch it. It will definitely be worth your time. I was amazed at the powerful act of simply serving the Dominicans by the team members. Tears were rolling as I sat and watched this, imagining the Lord Himself doing that very thing.
Here's the churches website: www.mountainviewchapel.net. You can watch the rest of the videos there and also download podcasts from the church. It's located in Stanardsville, Virginia.
first of all...one of my bestest friends in the whole wide world turned the big 2-1 today! WOOHOO! HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the one and only, Jolysa Brown. It's crazy to look back and think how far we've come. 5 years ago I hardly knew you and today I'd tell you anything. You've taught me to never want to be anyone else...we are who we are. No one in the entire world will ever mimic the crazy adventures we've had, do the things we've done, or come close to saying the ridiculous things that have come out of our mouths (ex. "every kitty needs compassion, a human that's never failing. let my hands rub your fur..."). You've also taught me to value friendship. True, real friends are hard to come by and oh how they affect our lives. I consistently thank the Lord for you and our friendship. I know we're not perfect (maybe I should repeat that, I know we're not perfect) but I love that the Lord can work in our hearts about the same things. So here's to being more positive. to tolerating people. and to complementing others when all we want to say is what's really on our minds.
[and not only is this her birthDAY, but her birth month. I'll never forget July 12, 2011...her other birthday. even the angels were celebrating that day! cupcakes and balloons for that next year most definitely. so proud of you!]
some random pictures of our best, and not so best, moments together.
Also, today a good friend finally married the love of his life and I was honored to be there to celebrate this wonderful occasion.
The circumstances that have brought these two people together were not ideal, but in the end God shows Himself faithful and brings two lives together to become one. In the closing of the ceremony, Pastor Dale Elwell said a simple phrase that I haven't been able to get out of my head. He said that Rook and Cyndi's story is one that shows that "God's way still works." We surely wouldn't have written their story they way it turned out, but God wrote it and it's beautiful.
I don't know about you, but I'm thankful God's way still works. I'm glad He never gives up on His children. I'm so grateful that He cares enough to line our heart's desires up with His heart then is faithful enough to give us those desires. I'm so thankful that He is powerful enough to write our stories. Because if I were left to write my own story, I probably would have never taken the time to become best friends with Jolysa and Rook probably would have never taken the time to wait long enough to fall in love with his beautiful bride, Cyndi. In my story, this day would have been just another day in the books. But with God and His amazing creativity and loving kindness, this is a day I will never forget.
I am positive that if I were to write of all that is on my mind and to tell you of the things that have happened since I went to camp 8 days ago it would take somewhere around 30 blog posts. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to write it all so I will condense as much as I can into 1 action and emotion packed post. Get excited!:)
First off- glory to God, glory to God, glory to God forever! What a great God I serve! I have seen Him in so many different ways this past week and not once have I regretted it or wished He was any different. I love Him and I am humbled to be able to have a small glimpse of who He is. You must understand that the things I write about are a direct influence of His Spirit. We do nothing on our own.
Camp this year was something I will never forget. We got excited about the day we were born again, whether it was just the day before or 15 years ago. It's a story that we should never stop telling! God is powerful and mighty to save, that never gets old. He saved old kids and young kids this past week. They accepted His gift during morning worship and during evening service, in their cars and in the cabins. I've never seen anything like it. I heard one of my best friends tell the story of how she felt the Spirit for the first time. I heard another friend stand up and passionately talk about the Lord and what He's done in his life- something I'd been praying for him to do. I saw the desire to win competitions and to be the best just melt away in comparison to the joy and excitement we felt about spiritual things. There were moments when all we wanted to do was shout to the Heavens...at times it felt like that was the only thing we could do. It was so hard to even respond to how He chose to work among us. We were so humbled yet so empowered at the same time. For the first time, I truly understood what it meant to say, "I'll become even more undignified than this, some may say it's foolishness. I'll become even more undignified than this, leave my pride by my side." Tell me there is no God and I will tell you about July 10-16, 2011 and what He did at a little West Virginia camp by the river.
Specifically over the last day or two I've been learning how God works in our lives. I've learned the importance of picking up the phone and calling, yes calling, no- not texting, but calling someone and talking to them. Whether it's about something you're going through or something you know they are going through. Text messages, facebook messages, and emails do not always suffice. God made us to help and love each other and we can't do this life alone. Many times we go through a situation to help someone else get through the same situation in their lives. We don't always see immediate reasons for why we have to deal with what we do but if we trust God long enough we almost always see why. He never fails to work things out for our good and His glory. So tonight I am laying a lot at the feet of the only One who cares enough to take it all upon Himself and exchange it for peace that passes understanding. A missed opportunity, frustrating people, fears and failures, goodbyes, a bad attitude, unknown futures, selfish ideas, a heavy heart...those are just at the beginning of the pile. Would you like to join me? Because I'm already feeling better. His yoke truly is easy and His burden is light. Never have I known Someone so faithful. My problems are starting to grow dim in the light of His goodness.
I've listened to this song a hundred times today. "Can You hold me together? Because without You holding my heart I'm falling apart."
But after talking to some close friends, remembering all God has done in my life recently, and getting alone with Him, I'm going to bed singing this song...
I packed up again and hit the road this morning...this time to the Wild and Wonderful! A lot of people in Hawaii couldn't understand what was so important to me that I would leave a week early and miss out on Hana (apparently it's one of the top 10 beaches in the world). For some of you it might not make much sense either. But that's OK, I don't expect all of you to understand and if I've learned one thing from having divorced parents it's that you can't please everyone. So in leaving beautiful Maui (did you read in previous posts how hard it was for me?!) I would like to point out how important this camp I came home for is to me. I was thinking today of how it's kind of a reference sheet for the other 51 weeks of my life. When I'm in a situation and don't know what to do, I think of what the people at camp would do. When I make a life changing decision I think of how it will affect the people at camp. When I plan my summer, I plan it around camp. It's not a perfect place and it's full of imperfect people. The things we do aren't that special, i'm sure there are other Christian camps that do the same things...split up onto teams, have afternoons full of activities and sports, campfires, church services. The one thing that I love about camp though is that God is always there. He is always everywhere, actually, but sometimes He is pushed away by things of this world or He is overshadowed by people. At camp we have the opportunity to lift Him up and glorify Him in everything we do. It's just a special place, we say that all the time. It's the people and the traditions. The place and the time of year. The laughter and the tears. It's all stuff we'll never forget.
So here's to another year of Greenbrier Baptist Youth Camp. New captains and new children of the King. New relationships and new testimonies. And a whole week of lifting up the only One who is worthy with some of my favorite people.
[I bought the Passion: Here for You CD on iTunes and it's amazing! I wanna post all of the songs on here. Instead, look em up on youtube or iTunes. Forever Reign, Always, and Sometimes are some of my favorites! When I listen to them Maui is always on my mind]
She's going through some hard times and we missed her at camp. The CYMOH team cares for her A LOT and we see all the potential she has. Pray that she can see God for who He is amidst the bad Christian examples she's seen. Pray that she can understand that He will always fight for her if she will let Him.
Elijah
His parents are divorced and he really misses his dad.
Mabel
She married the man who founded the Christian school where we stayed. She's spending 2 weeks in China prayer walking and talking to the people she meets about Jesus. What a precious lady and a godly example!
Pastor Roland and Haiku Bible Church
They have a great ministry but they are lacking in numbers. The people at this church are passionate about Christ but pray that these seats will begin to be filled every Sunday with more and more people on fire for Him.
These are just a few requests that have been on my heart lately. These people and places have become so dear to me and I cannot even picture my life without them.
"Devote yourselves to prayer; stay alert in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us that God may open a door to us for the message..." Colossians 4:2&3
I made it back safe and sound to the mainland! [Just a side note: the trip back really is as awful as they say.] The girls, mom, and Grandmother met me at the airport when I got off the plane and I was so excited just to hug them and talk to them all in person.
The previous night was a rough one. I'm glad Maggie and I got to spend our last day with the team and we all were able to go out to dinner and enjoy our last hours together. Dayne, Ben, Maggie and I prayed on that beach one last time. After doing so Maggie looked at us and said, "Do you ever feel high on Jesus?" We all kinda laughed but then admitted we did. The people around us at the public beach were high on other things but we were high on the all-powerful God...and honestly we were acting way crazier. Maggie and I wanted to get everything out before we had to leave it all behind so we stepped out onto the shore, raised our hands to the Creator, and yelled as loud as we could. Then we didn't want to stop yelling; it was so freeing. It was our way of saying, "Hey God, this is for You. Can You hear us?" As the four of us walked back to the school for the last time, we decided to sing praise songs through the streets. There were people all around us, it was July 4th and people were setting off fireworks and just hanging out in their yards. We sang loud, whatever songs came to mind. Some we could just remember the chorus, some we sang over and over. People noticed, some commented. We loved that though, we didn't mind people staring and listening. We were high on Jesus- what He's done for us and what He's gonna do on Maui. And we wanted everyone to know it!
When we got back our stuff was in the car within 10 minutes. It hit me hard when it was time for goodbyes and I struggled to hug everyone without crying. The trip to the airport was fairly quiet and I was thankful Maggie was leaving too, it would have been too hard to say goodbye to everyone alone. Having to say goodbye to the Bonheim's just made the tears keep rolling and I was a mess trying to check into the airline. Going through agriculture and security took awhile, they weren't very happy that we were taking home sand from their beaches, but Maggie and I had to say goodbye and I sat at my gate among tourists and families on vacation. As my plane left Maui, I was glad the cabin lights were dim because I was crying, really crying. I wasn't sure why I was so sad...because I was afraid I would never go back? because I just left some of the people who buried themselves deep within my heart? because I was afraid I would forget all the things we did while we were there? because I was afraid I would quickly lose the passion God has put inside of me to see the people of Maui cry out to their Creator? Whatever the reason, my heart was sad, my nose was running, and my eyes were red and puffy. Once we made it up in the sky though I looked out my window and I was eye level with the Big Dipper. I was in the midst of the stars we looked at every night! They seemed so close, yet still just as far away as when I saw them from the ground. Then a couple of hours later there seemed to be light, and I could see the sun coming up over the Pacific Ocean. As soon as I could see the sun my soul felt so much peace. I couldn't help but think of Psalm 30 where is says that: "...weeping may spend the night but there is joy in the morning." That verse had never felt so real. I left Maui a crying mess, sad of what I was leaving behind. But with the light of the morning I had complete joy, joy of what would come in the future. I began to jot down ideas and thoughts of how to catch the Gospel on fire on the island of Maui. When I landed in Phoenix I had a text from one of the team members reminding me to never forget the prayers we prayed, the dreams he shared, and the hopes we have of returning to Maui and changing it. I encouraged him to never stop believing that God will do big things on that island.
Remember one of my first blog posts entitled "Expectations"? I was thinking about how I didn't really have any instances that seemed impossible for man but God showed up and pulled through. Most of the things we did required little faith. This is a ministry that has been in place for many years and the number of campers and other factors were pretty predictable. I think the impossible that God is wanting to do through me is on a much larger scale. I don't know exactly what it is or where it will take place but He's still working on me!
Continue to pray for the people of Maui. When I start posting some pictures of the campers I'll give specific prayer requests but for now call out to our God and beg Him to open doors for the people to fall at His feet.
As I sit here and wait for the inevitable to happen, I can't help but think back over the last four weeks. I have EVERYTHING packed in two luggage bags and my backpack...I'm very proud of that! Even though all of my clothes and souvenirs and plastic lei and camera and journal, etc are all stuffed into the three bags sitting on the floor, the memories are flooding the room I'm in...not meant to be fit into something and stored away. I'm glad I have the time to sit here, still on Maui, and think back over all the things I did while I was here. I still don't know exactly why God brought me here. We accomplished many tasks and got done everything we came to do but I cannot pinpoint a moment, feeling, or event that made me stop and say, "God called me here for this." I do know that He planned for me to be here before I was born though and I have learned SO MANY lessons since I came here. I am incredibly thankful for this opportunity and I am leaving a better person. God also has shown me many of my weaknesses and I am thankful that I can see them so clearly now and have the chance to work on them. I am leaving with a bigger view of my beautiful God, friends who have such a passion for Him, and a heart on fire for Maui. I will never forget how all of those things came together on an island in the Pacific in the summer of 2011.
I fly out of Maui tonight July 4th, 10:30pm our time and hopefully land in Lynchburg July 5th, 5:30pm east coast time. It's going to be a very long 18 hours and I am sad that I'm missing fireworks, both on Maui and back home. The trip will be worth it though when I see my precious Mama and sleep in my own bed tonight. One thing that leaving is teaching me is that I will come back. Out of all the other missions trips I've gone on (to Jamaica, Costa Rica, Honduras, and Guatemala) I've never been back to the same place twice. I loved each of those trips!! This place is different though. I don't know what it is and I don't know how to explain it. But even though my body is flying home tonight...a part of me is staying here. And one day, I don't when, I'll have to come back and get it.
"Lord, You are my God; I will exalt You. I will praise Your name, for You have accomplished wonders, plans formed long ago with perfect faithfulness." Isaiah 25:1
[Camp ended on a good note and when I get home I'll post pictures and a couple stories of some of the campers who touched my heart.]
I wish I had the time to post all of the pictures I've taken over that last week or so. The kids are beautiful, the games are fun, the people are funny, nature is amazing. Unfortanately I won't have time to do that until I am home. Fortunately I will be home in 4 days.
This was my first ever time being a camp counselor. I go to camp every year but I'm still a camper (and will be for 4 more years!). The kids were going into grades 2 through 6 and we had a little under 40 kids. We split up into two teams, the Tomohawks and Lancers (T's were camp winners). We also split up into 'cabins' even though we are sleeping in our own tents. Courtney and I had the older girls which turned out to be a group of six. Bethany and Maggie took care of the two younger groups. Dayne had the oldest boys, then Ben had the middle group, and Kyle and Jonathan had the youngest boys. It was a learning experience for us all. We woke up at 7am and went to bed at 10pm, which seemed very late for the young campers. Between wake up and bed time we did things like raise and lower the American flag, hear a fabulous story about a missionary named Bruce Olson, play ships and sailors, do crazy skits, sing funny songs, do quite a few push ups, and memorize Bible verses. It was a very full 4 days and in the end it was difficult to know whether kids had been saved for the first time and which ones rededicated their lives. I learned that with kids so young they hardly say the same thing twice and they're never quite sure which time they're telling the truth. It can be very frustrating at times but that is when we just leave it up to One who knows all. Another lesson I learned was how we are to be like young children. I got my face painted for the first time in forever and we slid down this big slip n slide. How fun to be a kid again!
Junior high retreat started yesterday and I realized how I get along so much better with the older kids...they already have become so precious to me and I've hardly known them 24 hours. I love hearing their stories and how they've come to know Christ. It's dinner time and the whistle is about to blow so I must go. Keep praying for the campers and I will write more upon my arrival to the mainland.
