I'M OUTA HERE!

Two weeks ago, I was feeling to desperate to get to the field and now, I have a flight out of here for Sunday, August 14--just under three weeks away!  Praise the Lord!  I will definitely miss all of my friends and family and church family that I will be leaving back home, but I know that this is God's plan for me right now and I'm glad to finally see it happening.  When I arrive, my first task will be to fill the need at SAM Academy, the school for the missionary kids, as a teacher.  I will be teaching Bible classes and possibly other courses as well until more permanent teachers are able to come to the field.  But once I get settled in, I will still hopefully have the time to get involved in the ministries I had planned to do, with the youth in the city and the crisis pregnancy center.

I do not actually have all the funds I need to stay two years, so they re-budgeted and are allowing me to go down for 10 months with the potential to stay longer should the funding come in.  But I'm still $5000 short to stay even for the 10 month period we're planning on.  If you'd be interested in contributing to help me reach this financial goal, you can GIVE ONLINE BY CREDIT CARD by clicking the DONATE button on the page that the link brings you to, or you can send a check to

South America Mission
1021 Maxwell Mill Rd., Suite B
Fort Mill, SC 29708

Make checks payable to South America Mission and write 10444 in the memo line. 

Please make sure I get a chance to visit with you before I go!  Below are some dates I will be around.  I hope you can find one that fits with your schedule.  Thanks for all of your love and support.  God bless!

July 30: Yard Sale at Glenrock Baptist Church in Fort Mill, SC, 7am-1pm
July 31: Sunday morning and evening services at West End Baptist Church in Rock Hill, SC
August 3:  Benefit Dinner at McAlister's Deli off Dave Lyle Blvd. in Rock Hill, SC, 5pm-9pm
August 7: Sunday morning service at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Troy, PA
August 10: Wednesday evening service at Bethel Baptist Church in York, SC
August 12: Farewell Open House at 609 Atherton Way, Rock Hill, SC, drop in 5pm-10pm
August 14: Sunday morning service at Glenrock Baptist Church in Fort Mill, SC

Departure Date!!!!

Hello everyone!  I apologize for not keeping you all better-informed this past month.  Life has been very hectic!  I'm loving my youth internship at West End Baptist Church in Rock Hill!  The kids are great, the staff is great, everything is great!  I've already participated in several outings with the kids and got a chance to bond with them at Summer Salt Youth Camp and will be doing VBS for the teenagers all this week (July 11-15).  Below are some pictures of me with some of the youth at a recent service project we did.

But with all the excitement, I have not lost sight of Peru.  I admit that the time I was investing in support raising for Peru and working the youth internship has not been balanced, but I still am aware of where God is taking me.  I've been in correspondence with South America Mission about a departure date and, while one is still not set, they are very certain that they would like me there by the time school starts on August 17.  I do not have all the funds I need to go for a full two years, but they are working on crunching the numbers and finding out how long I can stay with the funds that I have.  We are spending a lot of time in prayer about this and Friday, July 15, we should have answers.  I will be sure to keep you all informed.  All I ask is that you stay in prayer with me that the Lord's will would happen in His way and in His timing.

I have no idea why, if the Lord has been so clear with me about His wil for me to go to Peru, it has been so difficult to raise the funds.  All I know is that His hand is on this and all I can do is trust.  Proverbs 3:5-6 reminds us, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight." 

I don't know why you do what you do, Lord, all I know is that it is good and that there is a purpose.  Just use me how you see fit.  Thank you for allowing me to bless you by being a blessing to others.  I pray that whatever happens in my life, whether it's what I expected or not, I can bless Your Name and bring glory to the Father.  Amen

What's Your Story?

Hello everyone!

Last week, as you know, I had my McAlister's benefit dinner, where 10% of all sales went toward my mission funds.  I don't yet know how much money was raised that night, but I do know that the support I felt from all of my friends who traveled out to be there was overwhealming!  It was also a great opportunity to mingle with the other customers I didn't know and get a chance to tell them about what the Lord is doing and will be doing in my life.  Several were interested in my ministry and some even asked about how they could send in donations!  The manager was also great, encouraging me to come back and do another dinner in July.  So keep your eye out for another McAlister's invite.  If you didn't get to come last time, you may get another chance :) 

A few days after I got back from Nashville, the Lord blessed me with the perfect job as a summer youth ministry intern for a large, local church.  I'm working with another intern, Ronnie, and our first big assignment is to come up with high school cirriculum for the entire week of VBS.  After a whole day of reading tons of awesome passages and stories from the Bible, we finally decided on the theme of "God's Story for Your Life".  We're taking the stories of biblical characters such as Esther and Gideon and Jonah, who were all faced with a choice of being obedient to God's plan for them or shrinking back in disobedience.  We'll look at how each of these characters reacted and the things in their lives that did or could have held them back.  The challenge will be for the kids to ask God what His story is for their lives and what things they may have in their lives that could hinder them from being obedient to His will.  So I challenge you, now, to do the same.  Have a blessed week!

Pleasing God

I was just blessed to have a fantastic and much-needed visit with my sister and her family out in Nahsville for Memorial Day weekend!  We went to her friend's church on Sunday night and for about 30 seconds during worship, I remember feeling so at peace!  It was a moment when I could genuinely say that I wanted nothing else in the world but Christ!  I thought I had experienced that feeling before, but now I'm not really sure that I had.  I cannot even describe to you the overwealming feeling of comfort and satisfaction to truly, deeply understand that Christ is all that matters.  I hope you all get a chance to experience that sometime as well.  A recurring theme in the sermon that night, as well as in my life lately, was finding your validation in Christ and not in man.  That is something that I have definitely struggled with throughout the years, being annoyingly good at people-pleasing.  I have always done my best to please everyone throughout my life--conflict and confrontation make me quite uneasy.  But I've come to the realization that that's just not a practical way to live.  No one person can make decisions that will make everyone happy.  I need to learn to live my life concerned only with pleasing the Lord.  I know there are some who would prefer me to not go to Peru, for various reasons (usuallly selfish ones).  But I can't not go to Peru because some people don't want me to.  However, neither can I go just to satisfy others' expectations.  So why am I going?  I've been re-evaluating everything just to make sure I'm in the right place and I can honestly say the reason I am going to Peru because it's what the Lord wills for my life at this time.  It pleases the Lord that I am obedient to Him and it pleases me to please Him :)  I encourage you to watch the video below and take a moment to "get lost" in God.  It'll be the best 5 minutes of your day, I promise!

Things are still going well as far as preparations are concerned.  Just after I wrote my last blog post, another church donated $1200 to my ministry in Peru!  That's another $50/month for two years!  I'm still at just above 50% of my monthly support goal, but it is creeping up a little at a time. 

For all who are curious, the yard sale on May 21 went really well!  Thanks to everyone who came out and helped set up, sell, and take down, and to all those who donated and purchased items!  It was a great success, increasing my mission funds by $752.35!!!

And just a reminder that I have my McAlister's fundraiser coming up this Monday, June 6, between 5pm and 9pm.  I hope to see many of you there!  Click HERE to see the Facebook event page with more details.

Thanks everyone for your love and support!  I will be keeping you in my prayers as you keep me in yours.  God bless!

Answered Prayers

When I wrote my last blog about a month ago, I was feeling pretty confused and discouraged about going to Peru, not because I wasn't sure if God was calling me to go, but because I was so sure He was that I didn't understand why the support was coming in so slowly.  In fact, for the month and a half before I wrote that last blog my funds had increased by 0%.  Not good. 

Well, after spending some time in the Word and prayer with the Lord, I gained some refreshment and determination.  I've been staying busy setting up fundraisers which I'm hoping will boost my funds and also help promote my ministry to get the attention of other potential supporters.  Tomorrow (Sat, May 21) I'll be having a yard sale/bake sale/car wash at Bethel Baptist Church where 100% of the profit will go toward my missions funds and on Monday, June 6 between 5pm and 9pm I'll be having a benefit dinner at McAlister's Deli in Rock Hill (off Dave Lyle Blvd.) where 10% of your total will go toward my missions funds if you mention my name at the register.  Feel free to check out the Facebook pages: Yard Sale and McAlister's

And although I'm a firm believer that "God helps those who help themselves", He has been doing some things on His own too, to remind me that He is the all-powerful God who is control, I suppose.  He wants me to work for my goals, but He's also capable of making things happen without my efforts.  He showed me this when, out of the blue, within only a few hours of each other, I got two calls from friends of mine who committed to pledge monthly support, which brought me from the 39% support that I had been stuck at for so long up to 50% of my monthly support!!!  What a blessing and encouragement to know that God answers prayers and is constantly working, even when we may not see it.  But that is faith--being able to trust in the Lord when you can't rely on anything else.  So I leave you with the Scripture passages that have helped to comfort and encourage me these last two months: Matthew 6:25-34 and Matthew 7:9-11. 

Thanks for reading and have a blessed day!

Great Unexpectations

These last two weeks have been interesting ones.  I've been doing a lot of thinking and praying and am finding myself in a fairly ambiguous time right now.  God's presented me with some new options recently that I was not expecting.  The big one that has been weighing on my heart is the question of the amount of time I will be staying in Peru. 

I've been telling everyone that I'm going for two years.  This may still be true, but only if I can discern that that is God's will, and to be honest I'm not sure right now.  I've been thinking about how I arrived at the decision to go for two years, and I feel like it was my own pride.  The mission agency originally suggested going for one year to see what it was like and then I could decide if I wanted to stay longer, but I brushed that off immediately, claiming that anything less than two years was not worth it, as it takes at least one year to get acquainted and comfortable with the culture.  And I'm ashamed to admit that my attitude toward other missionaries who only went for one year before coming back to the States and settling down was that it was not a true missions experience.  Wow!  What a jerk I've been!  I realize now that wheather someone goes for one year or twenty years, as long as they are obeying the Lord's personal calling on their lives, their missions efforts are not only genuine, but effective. 

I want to have a genuine missions experience too.  I want to do the Lord's will and have the most effective ministry possible.  Please keep me in your prayers that I will be sensative to hear what God is asking of me and to be obedient to His will.  Thanks.

Weapons, Work & Monkeys

Just to give an overview of everything that's been going on:

This is my last week of self defense training...watch out bad guys!  You don't want to mess with this girl!  If anyone's interested in getting some great self-defense weapons, some that were recommended to me were the Hideaway Knife and this cool Tactical Flashlight!

There was recently a SAM missions conference in Peru.  I was unable to go but some of the people from the home office who were able to go re-assessed the needs on the field and my new "job description" is actually a variety of jobs: Bible and P.E. teacher at missionary kid school, abstinence teacher through Latidos de Esperanza (the crisis pregnancy center), and, still, outreach and discipleship ministry to the youth through the development of a community recreation center.  I've been informed that I will have very little free time, but that's ok.  They don't call it the Lord's "work" because it's easy. 

To make some money until I leave, I've been working part time at the SAM home office in Fort Mill, SC, and doing some yard work and cleaning jobs on the side. 

Also, I've gotten to talk a little with the two other single women I'll be rooming with when I get to Peru.  One of the women blessed me so much this week by praying for me continually and then pledging $50/month for a year to my mission fund just to help get me down there sooner!  Yeah, that's right...another missionary is pledging money to me out of the little savings that she has!  Incredible!  The other woman also is a blessing to me as I keep hearing about her contagious happy spirit and energy.  Below is a picture of a baby monkey she saved and is now keeping as a pet.  His name is Scott Sawyer :)

Thanks for reading, everyone, and please keep me in your prayers as I continue to prepare in faith to head to Peru very soon!  God bless!