Seriously, God has been rocking my world since I last updated. I can't even begin to tell you all the huge ways he's moved in my heart!
After I last updated, we were off to Tuscaloosa. There, we got to hang out on a lake all afternoon. It was SO much fun! A lot of kids got to ride tubes and jet skis for the first time which was fun to see. At one point in the day, all the interns got to go out together on the boat. We went tubing which was SO much fun! At one point, I flipped off the tube and rolled five times. It was so fun to just be silly and hang out with the interns for a while. We had two concerts in Tuscaloosa. They were both awesome and God moved in huge ways! At the morning concert, a man decided to sponsor a child. Caitlin hadn't switched the kids on the board like she was supposed to, so he sponsered a child from Kiria, one of the communities that the kids are from. He came back to the night concert to see if he could find out more about his child. He thought the boy was related to Julius because they had the same second name, but second names in Kenya don't work the same way last names do in the US. When he asked Christi, she told him, "there's a good chance he's not related to anyone from Kiria. Some of our kids might know him, though." The first child he saw from Kiria was Faith and when he asked Faith if she knew the boy he sponsored, her face lit up and she said, "That's my brother!" It was SO incredible the way God worked every little detail out for that moment to happen. And Faith got to meet her brother's sponsor and talk to him so when she goes back home, she can tell her brother all about him. Seriously, God is SO huge.
After Tuscaloosa, we went back to PCB for a one night stay to sing at Big Stuf on Tuesday. Linah was supposed to stay with Nelly and Kelly and I were in the hospitality house. Linah's host didn't show up, though, so she and Nelly got to come with us! It was SO much fun to hang out with them. Linah is so wise, too, that I just love soaking up all of her wisdom and seeing the ways she leans on God in every moment.
On our way to PCB, though, our AC on our bus broke. Fortunately, we were close to Common Grounds, an inner city ministry in Montgomery, Alabama that we hung out at before. They were so nice to let us hang out until our bus got fixed.
After Big Stuf Tuesday, we had our longgg drive to Daytona. It ended up being a lot longer, though, because an hour after we left OCB, our alternator went out. We ended up hanging out at a Hardee's in the middle of nowhere and had to rent a bus. We didn't arive in Daytona until 11 that night. It ended up being a great day in all though, and I was so thankful for the way God provided that day.
In Daytona, we got to stay in a hotel with the kids! It was a lottt of fun. We sung for Big Stuf session Wednesday morning and got to hang out on the beach that afternoon.
During the Wednesday morning session. Francis Chan spoke. Literally, he rocked my world. His message about living the way God called us to live was incredible. One of the lines that hit me so hard was "Why would God trust you with the big things when he can't even trust you with the small ones?" Seriously, I can't tell you how many times I've failed God. I've missed quiet times or have been distracted during prayers. I want to do ministry in Kenya, but why would he call me to that if I can't dedicate my whole heart to him in every minute of the day? It was absolutely incredible and hit me so hard. Because of that, I went and bought his book, Crazy Love. I'm only starting it, but I've already been blown away by the truth in it. One of the lines that has stood out to me "you've probably heard the expression, 'i believe in god, just not organized religion.' i don't think people would say that if the church truly lived like we are called to live." how true is that?! we are called to love like crazy and radically strive to live like christ and we need to be faithful in doing that!
Wednesday night, we got to sit in on a Big Stuf session. We got to worship without having to lead and it was awesome to have that time to just be able to praise god. We heard Andy Stanley's message on arguments. He made an awesome point by saying that most of the time when we argue with people, it's because we aren't getting what we want. This has already radically changed the way I look at my disagreements with people and I know it's going to have such an impact on me for the rest of my life.
Yesterday, we came to Winter Park, Florida, which is BEAUTIFUL! Kelly, Linah, and I have been in the hospitality house. Last night, we got to sing for a children's home here, which was awesome. Today, Kelly and I wandered around in Winter Park which was great. We got to catch up on rest and just soak in the word, which was great. I found out this afternoon that my great grandmother's sister, Margaret, actually lives in Winter Park and that both of her daughters were visiting today. She ended up being about 5 minutes from where we were shopping! Kelly and I got to go over there and see them and meet some of my family that I had never met before which was so cool. God makes so many connections...it is crazy to me!
God has been ROCKING my world with Ephesians. I seriously can not get enough of that book. There is so much truth in it...if you haven't ready through Ephesians, I highly recommend it. God speaks awesome truth through that book.
We are close to being to the end of tour and I'm going to be really sad when it's over! These kids, interns, and the kenyan adults have become my family and I am so thankful that god hand picked each one of us to be here this summer.
Here's how you can pray:
-We've had an extremely busy week, so pray for energy and strength in the interns! We are tired, but God is so good about providing the energy for us to get through the day, we just have to completely rely on him.
-Pray that the kids continue to run hard after God and that they can minister to their family and friends when they go back home and really shine the light of Christ
-Pray that none of us misses a single moment on the last leg of tour. Pray that we soak it all in and listen to God's direction in every step we take.
Love y'all :)