sorry guys! i started writing and i just kept going...so you don't have to read it all if you don't want to. but please comment if you get a chance! so here it is:
ok. so i think i'm ready to talk.
God is amazing. He is perfectly faithful. and never ceases to bless and provide...
before i went to the mission conference with our church a couple of weeks ago, i wasn't really too excited about it. i just kinda wanted to get away...sort of a vacation. but a little before the conference i asked God to show me if he wants me to have any part in missions and if so maybe what or where he had in mind...well, not in those exact words but thats the jest of it.
so we show up. we work out all the crazy sleeping arrangements. we go swimming. and then we go sit through a fairly boring/kind of interesting workshop. but the keynote speakers were amazing, and so was the worship. i really started to get into listening to them. mind you, the workshops i went to weren't exactly amazing but they were kinda interesting...some of them anyways. well, anyways, on the first day we were just kinda wandering around the various booths for all the mission groups (expanding our pen collections) and none of them really caught my attention. i passed this one and a lady handed me a "passport" and said "here you go, this is for people like you." i was like "ok...thanks." and i also talked to the people at the Wycliffe booth for a while too. they were really nice. so we wandered around even more for a while and when it was just about time to leave we started looking for other people in our group so we could sort of regroup. me and Linnea...and maybe Carrie, i don't remember...anyways, we found DeWayne, Ben, and Jordon at the same booth where the lady handed me the passport thing. all three of them were deep into a conversation with someone from that booth so we just kind of hung out around it for a little bit waiting for them to finish. i figured i'd look a little more (maybe see if they have any pens that i missed the first time i came) and the lady working at the booth (sarah lawrence) started asking me questions....and then i started asking her questions. it turns out, that they go to Costa Rica and use soccer as a mission opportunity. so i took a little post card that had a date for a little "get together" on it and a dvd with a promo video on it and left...(the guys still talked to them for a little while i believe). i still after all of this didn't really know exactly what it all was...i didn't even remember the name of it. but i went home and looked up the site on the back of the passport and it turns out that they go to a lot of places including Amsterdam, China, Costa Rica, Scotland, Ireland, Nepal, and a thing called Euroquest (they go to like nine countries in Europe). i thought it sounded amazing and immediately wanted to go...like tomorrow. but i stopped for a second and was like "i know i have 'temporary highs' after stuff like this, thats probably all it is, i'll get over the enthusiasm after a while." but i started praying about it and looking into it a little more. So i decided to go to the thing on Saturday anyways, i invited a couple of other people who seemed like they might be interested in it as well like Ben, Jordon, Linnea, and Carrie. Sarah said she would be glad to take us. well, saturday came and Jordon was going to his grandparents house to visit his grandpa before he went into surgery, Carrie went to her grandmothers funeral in Missouri, Ben was hangin out with his family and the McCurrys, and Linneas brother decided to go somewhere and leave the chores for the rest of them, so i told her to just go. oh yeah, and Sarah had to babysit like a thousand children on Saturday so she asked if Alex would take "us" in her car. Well, i called Alex and i figured that since she wasn't really interested in it, that we wouldn't go since it was just me still going out of our whole little group. But Alex said that if i still wanted to go than she would take me. so we went to this little youth room in the middle of Oregon City (which was harder to find than the directions said) and we just hung out with a bunch of people that have gone before and listened to a ton of hilarious stories. we worshiped together too...ok so the worship was amazing! you know how sometimes during worship at church you are singing a song and you're like "that describes me right now to the tea"...(if you don't know what i'm talking about you're crazy!) well anyways, EVERY single song we sang that night described me "to the tea" (i'm probably not using that quote right). I also talked to a couple of people who have gone to Costa Rica before and they gave me a ton of information and encouragement.(i don't even think they realized just how much). but anyways, we said goodbye and went out to eat and headed home.
i woke up the next morning to my dad gently waking me up from outside my door. he asked me if i was awake, i said "mmmumh" he said "how was the thing last night?" i said " i need fifty dollars" "for what?" "for an application" "okay, i'll talk to mom. theres breakfast downstairs. i'm leaving now. see ya."
that night (or maybe the night after...?) i told my parents that i really felt like this is what God wanted me to do and i showed them the video and talked to them a little bit about it and they're totally supportive. they're willing to help in any way they can and...yeah. and they're totally paying for the
so i was getting kind of anxious one night and i decided to make a list in my journal so i could see all the things that God has been telling me. i made like five columns and i made one for open doors, closed doors, what ifs, what i think, and what i know. it was really eye opening. everything except the closed doors and what ifs were almost full and those two were completely empty. i talked to Carrie for a while and kind of told her what i was thinking and what was going on and after talking to her for a while, i was reminded of even more things God has done to tell me that this IS what he wants me to do.
So, after all of that, i just wanted to tell you guys that i'm going to Costa Rica June 23rd-July 28th. I still have to send in an application but from what the people i've talked to have said, it sounds like i'll be able to go.
PLEASE pray for me. I really want to be open to whatever God is teaching me between now and when we leave as well as while i'm there. I love you guys!
p.s. sorry it turned out so long...
