Beautiful Things

Bangladesh is surrounded by India and Burma

What is the ninth largest country in terms of population; containing 165 million people where there is an orphanage with 100+ beautiful brown-eyed children? Bangladesh. Two weeks ago I went into the Student Missions office and told Jeanne I was ready to make my decision...well 'ready' may not be the most accurate word, but I knew God would either open this door wide or close it. After I walked out of the SM office that day I had a song in my heart that could only come from God: "I Have Decided to Follow Jesus". There is nothing so assuring and peace-filling as having a song in your heart that can only be placed there by the One who created you. Beautiful things. I experience joy in my heart when I think about spending 6+ months with all of those Bengali children! I have never been so excited in my life for anything! Also last week I got to meet two other girls who are wanting to go to Bangladesh as well and again all of us were filled with excitement and joy as we connected over the fact that we might get to experience this year of service together! We take a missions class together and as class ended last Friday we decided to join hands and pray for God's will to be done in our lives and the one's we are preparing to serve; whether we go together or a part or not at all. Beautiful things. Now the three of us are waiting to interview with the directors of the orphanage before we can officially reserve this as our call. Thank you for supporting me through this next experience in my life. Pray for God's will to be done and for the desires of our hearts to be His alone. This is my prayer.

The Next Adventure

I am excited to share with you all in this adventure that God is leading me on now and will continue to as I prepare to be a student missionary in the coming months. Currently, I do not know exactly where I will be serving, but I do know that I will be serving as a teacher and/or working in an orphanage. This week the director of Student Missions, Jeanne Vories, and I began discussing possible locations and types of positions. As we continue to discuss these details and discover God's leading, I will be sure to let you all know when we officially decide on a location and position.

 I am beyond excited about this new opportunity of serving others in another country and culture! I feel I am ready to embrace the challenge of being stretched in ways I have never been challenged before. I am trusting in Jesus that He will give me His eyes as I live among a new culture and the understanding I am not going to change people by my actions alone, but Jesus is going to change them through His ways and love and hopefully He will change me from the inside-out too. This is my prayer. God bless you all and thank you for supporting me in this next chapter of my life.