Stories of God's grace

I had a great time with my community group last night. We had a picnic in Mayfield Preserve and just spent the evening sharing our stories. We all knew bits and pieces of each person's story but had never really just taken time to each share where we've come from and how God saved us and changed us.

I LOVE hearing people's testimonies. There is just something about hearing someone talk about their personal experience with God that no sermon or book can compete with.

I loved how different each of our stories were. Some came from broken homes and some came from perfect, happy families. Growing up, some were the "good" kids who found their value in how well they followed the rules, while others were the rebels, who found their value in the approval of the world. All of us were looking for love, for acceptance. 

Each of us is an example of God's grace, a beautiful story of how He uses the people and experiences in our lives to draw us to Himself, not because of anything we have done to deserve it. But because of Jesus and His great love for us.

I felt a little nervous before I shared my story, which showed me that I probably need to do it more. It's hard to look back at painful times when I was growing up, rebellious times when I questioned God and looked for love anywhere but in Him. But the older I get, the more I realize how He really did use every bad and ugly experience in my life to show me more how empty the world is, and how beautiful He is. It's the ultimate love story.

"I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge —that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." Eph 3:17-19

My community: Dolly, Rachel M, Katie, Maureen, Rachel G and me

Ready for INDIA!!

It's finally here! Our team is leaving Saturday morning for India! I am SO EXCITED!!! We leave Austin at 10 a.m. In case you were curious about the time difference, New Delhi is 10:30 hours ahead of Austin. So when it is 6:00 am in Austin, it is 4:30 pm in New Delhi.

We are scheduled to arrive at 12:30 a.m. Monday morning in New Delhi and are planning to be at school Monday morning! Hopefully I'll be able to sleep on the plane!

Our team has put together a variety of crafts, games, songs, Bible lessons and devotionals to do with the kids, with the realization that we have no idea what to expect once we get there. We are just planning to be totally flexible and go with the flow. One of the days we are going to put on a carnival for about 100 kids so that should be really fun.

Thank you so much for supporting me financially to go on this trip! I have been totally blessed by how God has provided for me. I have raised over $2,500! (My goal was $2600 so that is awesome!)

While we are gone, I have a few prayer requests for me and my team.Your prayers are VERY appreciated!!

Journey
India is FAR. We will be flying from Austin-Houston-Frankfurt-New Delhi. That's about 17 1/2 hours of flying time with about 9 hours of layovers.  Please pray that I would be able to sleep on the plane and that I would sleep well once we arrive so that I will be alert and energetic when we are at the school!

Our Team
There are seven on our team, including Katie and Maureen from my community group. Please pray for unity among our team, that we would work well with the staff in India, and that we would be humble and culturally sensitive during our time there. We will be visiting some families of children who attend the school, who live in extremely poor conditions, so I just want to be really respectful during our visits. Also, please pray for our health. (I had food poisoning in China once and it's an experience I hope to never repeat!)

Ministry
I truly believe that God has a reason for me going on this trip. I don't really know what that is, so please pray that God would show me whether He is calling me to serve here on a more long-term basis and if so, how. And if not, how I can use this experience for future ministry.

I will be in New Delhi July 23-29. That morning Katie, Maureen and I will fly to Cochin in South India. Maureen's parents have a house in Kerala and happen to be in India during our visit. so they are going to pick us up and show us around for a few days! We will be able to stay at their house which is a huge blessing! I have heard this area is beautiful so I'm really excited. We fly out of Cochin the afternoon of Aug. 1, arriving in Austin the morning of Aug. 2.

I am so grateful for this opportunity! I promise to take lots of photos. :)

First class!

I taught my first ESL (English as a Second Language) class last night! Well, my first class in 10 years that is. I hadn't taught a class since I got back from China.

It's our first week of classes, finally! It's taken quite a bit of work and planning to get these classes started, but thanks to a big group of volunteers, we were able to set up two classes per night Monday through Friday. I teach the Tuesday night 6:30 class along with an older guy named Russ. The students are almost all refugees who have recently moved to the U.S.

Our class had only three students - Dayneris, who is about my age and from Cuba; a middle-aged Iraqi man named Bahjat; and an older Iraqi woman named Sabiha.

I already knew all three of them just from hanging out at the apartment complex, so I knew how far along they were as far as their English proficiency, which was helpful. Knowing them made the class way more fun.

When I was in China, I didn't like teaching that much. I thought it was hard. It didn't help that I was teaching 1st - 5th graders with as many as 45 kids in each class. I have to say though that there was something I really liked about teaching last night - maybe it's that there were only three people in the class, or maybe that I knew them, or maybe just that they are adults.They seemed really grateful and eager to learn.

We started really basic with "My name is Cassie. What is your name?" and so forth. I have been in Sabiha's apartment on numerous occasions to hang out with Israa, her daughter, but I'd never heard her attempt a word of English. So it was really neat to hear her say "My name is Sabiha. I have five daughters and four sons." I admire her, being able to move so far away from home at such an old age; trying to learn the language and fit in.

I felt kind of bad for Russ. I think he had the idea that he would be able to tell all about his family, teach them a song and learn all about their lives. He would ask them a question and they would stare at him blankly. I don't think he was prepared for how "beginner" these folks really are. Teaching a language requires a huge amount of patience. You have to repeat the same sentence over and over and over.

I've never really thought of myself as an especially patient person, but strangely, last night, I had all the patience in the world. Maybe partly because I can relate to what it's like to be in a completely foreign country and cut off from all communication because you can't understand anyone. It's very isolating. Maybe I was meant to be a teacher afterall. We'll see.

A nice reminder

When I feel overwhelmed, I like to remember this verse.

“The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.” Acts 17:24-25

When I feel overwhelmed, I try to stop and remember that God is God and I am not.  He doesn’t need me to accomplish His purpose, but he allows me to come along for the ride.

God created rest on the 7^th day for our good. He commands us to take a day to stop our work and just rest in Him and remember that He is in control. We don’t have to carry the weight of the world on our shoulders. It is his to carry.

Moving, again!

Six months sure did go by fast!

My roommates and I are moving, again. Next Saturday, to be exact.

We have loved our house and were hoping to stay through August, but our landlord was itching to sell it, so we had to bump up our move date.

Brittney and I are moving to an apartment near Mopac and 71. We're joining Andy Kampman's TOAG group in the fall and the entire group is moving to the same complex. It's a nice complex, right on the greenbelt. I'm pretty excited about the tennis courts and five swimming pools.

We leave for India in two weeks! We have another team meeting this Tuesday night. Super excited!

So..... in other news, I started dating someone. His name is Michael and I met him volunteering at the refugee apartments. He's super sweet and he loves Jesus. He has a great heart for serving. And he's from Kansas! Crazy. I guess we've been dating for about 6 weeks so it's still pretty new.

Ok, have to get back to packing!!!