Peru!!!

We have finally made it to Iquitos! It feels like the whole school year we've been looking forward to this trip and it's hard to believe that it's happening!
The first day we were here, we did a couple children's ministries through out the day. We've now settled into a routine of morning devo's, afternoon prayer walks, skit practices, spanish class, and then various outreaches. We've tried to end each night with soccer games (mostly us ladies watching and screaming oleee ole oleeee! as the guys play).

We've been able to play with the kids and also share our testimonies and do some of the skits we've prepared.

Iquitos is beautiful and so are the people. They also drive crazy aka like me!

We are taking this first week here to bond with the YWAM students. They are also teaching us Espanol and drama's for when we go on the river.Ole! YWAM and Agora joined together Friday night for a social night- Here we are playing a game called Chubby Bunny, i.e. put as many marshmallows in your mouth as possible and the person with the most wins (me) :)

Our days are full but we are looking to things settling down this week. We leave tomorrow for 8 days on the Amazon. We will be teaching VBS and also sharing our testimonies and possibly preaching in the village!

God is working on our hearts and opening our eyes to a lot of different things. He has also placed a lot of confirmation that long term missions is definitely His will for my life :)

Please pray for our safety and health as we go to the river. Most importantly, pray that the people we visit will be open and respond to the message of God's love for them and that they come to understand how valuable they are to Him!

Thanks for your prayers. We will write you when we get back. Here are 2 links to more of the pictures we've taken so far: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.700160650818.2104235.53701690&type=1#!/media/set/?set=a.325496387508059.73461.137580899632943&type=3

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.700160650818.2104235.53701690&type=1&l=0e07ef6114

lots and lots of love!

What winter?

Seven weeks never flew by so fast! My family and I had great holidays, complete with lots of kids running around, polkas, games, downtown tree lighting tradition, and many more memories!

Over break, my sister and I went to Indianapolis to attend a Chi Alpha conference. Chi Alpha are Christian organizations on a public college campus. We were overwhelmingly blessed and encouraged to see so many young people pursuing God. We left refreshed and confident knowing that God is speaking and this generation is listening!

Eiffel Tower ginger bread creation!

School started back up with a vengeance... we have 12 books to read this semester! We are hoping that the more we read now, the less we'll have to read and carry these books around in Peru.

The classes we are taking this semester are Comparitive Religions, Worldviews, Principles of Leadership, Foundations to Biblical Preaching and Travel Seminar. These classes are all very challenging and eye opening to us, but the one that has struck me the most would have to be Worldviews. Our professor is probing us with questions, forcing us to state what we believe, why we believe it, when did we come to believe it, who has shaped our worldview, is it a biblical worldview? In our Comparitive Religions class, we visited a mosque and we hope to take another field trip before the semester is through!

As we prepare to preach for the first time tomorrow, we are reminded that, "God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind" - 2 Timothy 1:7

We are still doing renovations at Blessed Sacrament, we can't wait to see the final outcome and hopefully live there before we go to Peru!

Thank you so much for your prayers and support! The students continue to grow and be stretched and we look forward to much more of it in the next couple of months. So far we know that we'll just be taking a backpack to Peru, everything we need for 5 weeks will have to fit in there! We will also be going to the jungle for 10 days. Sometimes I sit back in awe of God and His mercies. So blessed to be serving the one, true God!

I hope your holidays were great and this year has started off with you focused on God's will for your life!

The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The Lord is good to all- Psalm 145:8-9

Wrap Up!

This semester has flown by! We are almost done with our 2nd session of classes. We've finished Hermeneutics and City in Context and are now taking Fine Arts and Modern Missions. Because of our Fine Arts Class, we've been able to weave in a couple great field trips to the Art Museum and we also saw a production of The Wizard of Oz at The Playhouse Square. We were even able to go back stage and talk to a few stage directors and see how things operate.

Here are the ladies outside the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Getting ready to watch the Wizard of Oz. It was an amazing show, ridiculously well done!

Hodge Podge food truck came to North Olmsted's clinic and former Cavs player Zdrunas Ilgauskas came out and bought the first 300 lunches!

The students are growing so much! I'm so happy to hear them request that we fast as a group, describe how God is changing the dreams they had for themselves, and serving others when no one is looking. I'm so proud to see the them allowing themselves to be stretched and used by God.

Because of our schedule, I have picked up this little nasty habit called coffee :( My pops is so proud, he took this picture on a father/daughter's date night last week:

Last night was the first time we went to other youth groups to share about Agora. It was part of our recruiting process, but also a chance for the students to talk about what God has been doing in their life and connect with others. We went to my old church, NewSong, and it was great to be reunited with the youth group I helped out at for a while. God is doing amazing things in our youth across the nations. I'm so excited to see His plans come true for all of them.

With everything we've been learning, the thought most on our hearts is that it is God's desire for all people to be saved-- 1 Timothy 2:4. There's a lot of work to do but He is faithful in equipping His saints to do it!

Thank you for your continued support, prayers and love! I'm looking forward to our winter break so I will have time to see more of you!

Pain is Gain

Have you ever prayed for a quality, prayed real boldly for it too... but then hope that you didn't have to go through the work for it?? i.e. "Lord, give me patience." Yet under your breath you pray, "Just don't make it hurt, don't let this lesson be a painful one." About 4 weeks ago I prayed for humility, and it the back of my head I hoped it wouldn't hurt. Silly me. As a leader, it's scary to ask for humility, there's a chance that you'll get humbled and look and feel like a fool (like I did this week) to those you are trying to mentor. Be that as it may, I'd hate to lose out on this refining process because of my pride. Much like the Lord promised to refine and purify the Levites, so I must go through the same process. I'll take it Lord.

We are still so busy, so I thought I'd catch you up with our activities, not all of them are work :) We find time to play a little!

Here we are on one of our field trips to downtown for our City in Context class. We have also taken a tour via Lolly the Trolley, done a prayer walk on West 25th and visited the West Side Market.

Some play time at the Indians game to see Thome get entered into the hall of fame and fireworks. We were blessed to have some family and friends in town as well!

Here's our classroom. Right now we have about 13 students and interns taking classes with us.

We have started a partnership with Scranton Road church. Here we are helping them at a health fair- we made over 500 sandwiches for this event and face painted. Through out the course of the semester we will be there weekly, helping them with their after school program. Truly an amazing church with amazing people making a great impact on Cleveland.

Twice a week we go to a school in Cleveland who, for most students, speak another language besides English, so we are mostly helping them to read. It's an incredibly eye-opening experience as we learn about these students and their history.

Here we are helping with the renovations at a church property that has been closed and will now be reopened to house believers in the area with the hope of reaching Cleveland for Christ. We could possibly be living here next semester as well!

The Agora Group has been quick to teach us that a lot of time in ministry, schedules change and we need to be flexible. We have learned to be great time managers, taking advantage of every free moment we get- whether that be to study, write, nap, exercise, eat, play, etc.

Also, with each outreach we are a part of, we want to make it a point to stretch ourselves and share our faith with those around us. We like to hang somewhere between Matthew 25 (meeting physical needs) and Matthew 28 (The Great Commission/meeting spiritual needs and evangelizing).

Lord give us the strength and wisdom to live out our day for you, make our hearts as one who wants to be refined by the fire.
"But who can endure the day of His coming? Who can stand when He appears? For He will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; He will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver."
- Malachi 3:2-3

Introducing...!

I'd like to introduce you to The Agora Groups first year of staff and students:

From left to right you have me (female leader and student), Theo (male leader and student), Trinity (student), Josh (student), Brianna (student), Randy Young (founder), Becky Young (founder), and Braylin (student).

The first weekend the students arrived, we took them to Heartland in Columbus for a couple days. Here is a picture of us doing a team building and problem solving course.

When we got back, I took some of the students to East 4th where we had dessert and great conversations!

These students are such a blessing. To sacrifice a year of their life for an abnormal education, a constantly changing schedule and a trip to the jungle shows the heart of these young people. As Randy likes to say, "we hope to ruin these students for the ordinary". May their lives and the lives of those around them never be the same.

Thank you so much for your continued prayer and support.It means so much to have you partner with me!

If you would like to donate, please send a check to The Agora Group at 6310 Hampstead Ave, Parma, OH 44129 and put my name in the memo:)

"Teach me, Lord, the ways of your decrees, that I may follow it to the end"- Psalm 119:33

T- 20 days

Today marks the last day at my old job. Bitter sweet, of course, but there's nothing like moving on to your dream!

Our students will arive in 20 days, there are still a few things that need to be figured out but everything is in God's timing, and He has proven Himself more than faithful.

For the fall we have great outreaches set up, tutoring in schools, possible homeless outreaches, food banks,etc. Anything to show our students that Jesus came as a servant. And we are very much looking forward to our second semester being spent in Peru!!

I've been so blessed by the way God has provided for us. Knowing that He is in control and that this is His will for my life has allowed me not to fret while fund raising.

I've been able to get in some great family and friend time before being full time with Agora, here are some pictures:

4th of July in Michigan with the entire family!

Slip n' slide action:)

Trip to Florida with favorites!!

More trips to visit friends!!

----serve one another in love, Galatians 5

It's Go Time!

Since coming back to God, my prayer has been that He uses my past to bring Him glory and help others. Because of those experiences, God has given me a new passion: seeing our youth follow God and help them figure out His plan for their lives. This takes me to the next phase of my life... a full-time missionary!

This summer will start my adventure with a brand new ministry called The Agora Group. It is an accredited college for freshmen from all different career paths but who have the same desire: to see every Nation come to know God. I'll join them as a Missions Leader as we do outreaches in the Cleveland area and then spend the 2nd semester abroad, reaching Indigenous tribes in the Amazon.

It always amazes me how God designs us to be a certain way with different talents, gifts and desires so that we can do what God has called each of us, specifically, to do. I'm encouraged to see how other Christians serve God, whether it’s by honoring His call on their life to minister to family, community, the church, the homeless, the widows and orphans, the forgotten, etc. Truly we make up the body of Christ!

I'm also so grateful for a Savior whose grace is endless and whose love has the power to redeem. I'm humbled to take this verse as my own: Philippians 1:6 "He who began a good work in us will be faithful to complete it until the day of Jesus Christ". Amen and Amen :)

For more information on The Agora Group please go to www.theagoragroup.org

If you’d like to make a donation to my fund-raising goal of $1,000/month then please make checks out to The Agora Group and put my name in the memo line and send them to:
The Agora Group
6310 Hampstead Ave
Parma, OH 44129