Springy Saturday

This week I got to do some fun things!

Like take Brittany out for her birthday lunch

We went to 40 East, which my roommate had been suggesting for a long time. I had a crab cake sandwich, sweet tea, and some sweet potato fries. I love southern food!!

The other night I came home to my roommate, Helen watching a move (Helen loves movies). There was a part where someone jumped out and I jumped and screamed. I was holding my laptop, too, so I wish I could've seen myself. 

Today I spent the day cleaning. The team had been out of town the last two weekends, so I am so happy to get to stay at home today. And with 50 degree days, I was ready for some spring cleaning. I worked on the kitchen (even wiped down some walls), dining room, living room, and my bedroom. My roommate, Jess took care of the bathrooms, laundry room, and vacuuming. Then we worked out.

My friend Stephanie (one of the women I mentor/disciple) came over and gave me a guitar lesson! (I got a guitar for Christmas). Now I have something to practice. 

Jess and I grocery shopped. 

It's been a great day. 

Update Update.

Last week I did something crazy.

I deleted my Facebook. And my Twitter.

And I'm not telling you to brag (...maybe I am). I'm just putting that out there so I'm more accountable to not jumping back on the Facebook train. I love(d) Facebook because of its simplicity in posting short updates, pictures, and letting me keep track of my family. I don't love Facebook because I find myself comparing my life to everyone else's and being dissatisfied with all the gifts God has given me. I realize that's not actually Facebook's fault. It's actually mostly mine, but in prayer it became clear that I was only fooling my self in attempts of moderation in terms of Facebook.


Which brings me here. I still want to update people, and hopefully post some pictures/stories, mostly about the mission.

I'm hoping to update this blog more frequently with my thoughts on life, being an intentional disciple of Jesus, missionary work, and basically whatever I want.

Welcome! :)


And here is a story:

At the beginning of the year I met a student named Margaret. She is a senior and she swims for Georgia Southern. She leads a Bible Study with her swim team. We've become good friends by sharing common interests like baking and pursuing a relationship with Jesus. Every Wednesday we wear wolf shirts. Here is us last week:

Every day last semester Margaret and one of her girls prayed together in the chapel. LIKE EVERYDAY. This girl is legit!

It's a new year, yo.

Once upon a time I had a blog.

Once upon a time I was really bad at updating it.

SO maybe I'll catch you up to speed in a later post.

But here are some thoughts on the new year.

I really like making goals. And I like the idea of change. At the same time, I usually feel pretty overwhelmed when I need to make changes in my life. I think I always get scared of failure--I'm a perfectionist, so sometimes I just tend to avoid tasks instead of doing them and getting less-than-perfect results.

I debated as to whether or not I should make some goals for 2014... I feel like I have the same goals every year...because every year I don't accomplish them. If I'm realistic with myself, though, I can see some areas where it's time for a change. So, here they are!

[2014]

1. Fight for prayer. [this year my teammate, Jess, challenged the rest of the team to fight for prayer while we were home over Thanksgiving. Basically, prayer can be difficult! The last place the evil spirit wants us to be is in communication with God, and sometimes we really have to fight our schedules and even good desires to spend time with people in order to be refreshed by God's grace and equipped to do the work He is asking of us that day]

• pray Holy Hour and Rosary everyday.
• pray in morning if it's a busy day
• do an examination of conscience every night before bed.

2. Get healthy. [this year, Jesus has really placed it on my heart that I need to take my health more seriously. From having multiple trips to the doctor's office to realizing how out of shape I'm in, I've been convicted that I need to take my health more seriously!]

• gym 3x week
• lots of water
• brush teeth 2x daily

3. Keep it simple. [This past semester I've seen myself get really distracted and stressed out over everyday life. This is a goal to help me focus on what's really important and to live a more simple, intentional life]

• clean room before bed
• no electronics after 10:30p
• schedule Sacred Time (work less)
• use cash when possible

So, that's it! That's what I'm aiming for this year!

Life Lessons

Living in SWFL (that's Southwest Florida) wasn't necessarily my favorite thing. Can I just be real? The mission was really.hard.

But it was really good.

I thought I was going to LOVE living in Florida, but it turns out that I really love the people I grew up around-small town, down-to-earth, hard-working, good people. Not that there aren't any nice people in Florida--I just think they get more focused on what's going on in their own lives. Plus living in retirement/tourist land is just different.

Anyway. Here are lessons and things I learned about myself living in SWFL:

-I LOVE SAYING Y'ALL.
-Some people love the South more than they love the United States
-I really like having at least 2 beach towels when I go to the beach.
-It's really nice not having to scrape your windshield all year long.
-I'm interested in all-natural, organic, paleo, etc stuff. And I never, ever thought I would be.
-Sometimes I crave anonymity.
-I NEED to take time off, even when I don't feel like it
-we always get to choose to follow the Lord's plans. He never forces me to do anything. 
-Sunglasses are just so necessary and I don't know how I ever lived without them.
-Crafts are really good for my sanity.
-I like to learn.
-I really don't need to drink coffee to function.
-I like cooking for people.
-I really really love my job.
-Goodbyes are always hard. Sometimes I think they get easier. I don't think they do, though. They're easier in the sense that I know I'll see people again. I know that God is so good that He just lets me bump into amazing people, so it's not that that is hard. But when I say goodbye to my friends, I mourn all the beautiful things I'll be missing over the next weeks/months in their lives. And that is always hard.
-Jesus takes care of me, and usually in ways I never thought He would.
-I would love to have all my friends in the same place... but I'm pretty sure that's called Heaven, so I'm just going to be patient for that.

Preaching to... Myself

One of the weird things about the missionary life is that life is such a work in progress. While I'm trying to grow in my relationship with Jesus, I definitely don't always succeed at the Christian life. Yet, as a missionary, I'm working with my students to help them grow in their relationship with Jesus and strategizing how they can order their lives to love Him better.

And sometimes, I have to ask them to do things I'm not good at!

Today, my student and I decided to commit to following schedules this week. This is something I've been working on for, literally, years, and I've been failing at for a couple months! I've been wanting to work on my diligence in living order, and I've always desired to live a life of structure, where I call the shots, instead of the sleep-deprived me that so often decides to change my schedule as I get up 30 minutes after my alarm goes off.

So this morning as I gave my student a pump-up talk about living order, I pumped up myself in the process!! So frequently in the process of telling others about how beautiful the Christian life is, I remind myself of how beautiful it is, and I desire it more.

And these are cool things about my life in SWFL.

getting ready to be back.

I have loved loved loved some quality time with my family and friends over this break.

But I am finding myself missing my students and looking forward to getting settled back in FL, living by myself with a new team dynamic.

It's encouraging to me because over this break I've really seen the beauty of living "normal" life--not being nomadic, living in one place for a month, another for 4 months, one place for a month, another for 5 weeks, and then another for 5 weeks, and then another for 4 months (this is what my next year looks like)--and have been attracted to it, but I feel that call on my heart to go back.

St. Isaac Jogues is a saint I admire in this area. He was a French Jesuit priest who was on mission in Canada, working with Native Americans (Native Canadians?), was captured by Mohawks, and was tortured. They cut off the two fingers necessary to pray the mass--they took away the most important part of his life. He returned to France and received special permission to celebrate the mass, even with his injury.

But eventually he felt it on his heart to return, to go back to Canada, even though it was so difficult. And he did. He went back. He was martyred there on October 18, 1646.

I will be surprised if I am martyred for going back, but the mission is hard, and I'm thankful for that whispering on my heart that I miss it, and that I need to be there.

He Gives and Takes Away

Right when I think I've given Jesus everything I have, and there's nothing left for me to hand over, I'm proven wrong.

Sometimes He doesn't ask me to hand it over--He just takes it. Which I'm sure is good for me. Alas. It's hard.