Saturday, January 30, 2010

I Love Kenya.

Coming home from Kenya in November, I was praying and praying about my future there.

I wasn't sure if or when I would come back since I had just made the transition from Saddleback to Mariners.

But God knew.

{If you are not interested in the process, but in the end result, skip to ***}

I came home praying that I could talk to Jeff {my boss} in an easy, comfortable conversation; not wanting to say "I just came back...when can I leave again?"

Two days after I came home, Jeff brought up the idea of my returning...mentioning that he had already spoken to "the Kenyan missions guy" at Mariners {whose name is Christian; he's actually Kenyan and runs all of the trips to Kenya...making the title doubly awesome} and that I could go back, but we'd just have to figure out timing.

So, I began to pray for an easy, comfortable conversation with Christian. I didn't want to walk-up and say, "Oh, you're Kenyan. I love Kenya...when can I go there?"

About a week later, I got an email from Christian saying something-along-the-lines of: "I heard you love Kenya. Want to meet up and talk about Kenya?"

I instantly wrote back and said, "Absolutely."

The next afternoon, I sat in Christian's office talking about how I've fallen in love with Kenya over the years. I also mentioned that I would love to take some students there. We talked through a few things, he asked a few great questions and we left it with: let's have another meeting, with Jeff.

About a month later {a few weeks ago} Jeff and I met with Christian. We talked through a bunch of details...and a lot about our desire to take students on an international trip.

Christian said, "Go for it!"

***

Mid-March, three of us from the Student Ministries Team will be taking a scouting trip to Mariners' partner church in Nairobi. After a week {or so}, the boys will fly home and I will head to Kitale for a few days!

Then, in June, we will take a group of students out to Nairobi! I am so excited...I'm already praying, thinking, writing about the preparation for the trip. {Oh, and I will head to Kitale for a few days at the end of that trip, too!}

God is so good. What an amazing process to have been facilitated in less than two months!
I honestly can not wait to see how this all shakes down!

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

This Sunday, Mariners Church is hosting a conference called Lumen.
You can read about it here.

There are a handful of speakers, teaching on a variety of topics...

I'm the most excited for the speakers who will launch the discussions on:
human trafficking
and
homosexuality

If you want to come, the day is FREE.

They are simply asking people to register.

I'll be there. You can sit with me.
We can be challenged and broken together.

It's going to be good.

Tell your friends.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Just Dance, Gonna Be Okay...

Have you played this game?
It's the best game ever.

We bought it for our Student Center; students and staff alike can not get enough of it.
On Wednesday, we played the game with our students at the Collision Night.
{When all of our mid-week groups meet together on campus.}
Some of our High School leaders are also College students who fell in love with the game and set it up after College Group last night.
Honestly, this game is really, really fun...for people of all ages.
Well done, Nintendo, well done.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

I Think About It Over and Over Again

I've had a difficult time living an Orange County life in the last month or so.

I have wrestled with whether or not to write about this, but I can't shake it, so I figured I'd try getting it out in writing. Bear with me because I'm not sure what to do with these thoughts on my own, let alone what I'm expecting you to do with them.

Every once-in-a-while, throughout the course of a day, I will think:
"I'm _________ {sitting on a comfy couch, watching youtube videos} and there are other people--children even-- _______ {stuck in rubble under collapsed buildings, being forced to perform sexual acts for little-to-no-money}."


It's making my stomach churn thinking about it right now.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's wrong to have a comfy couch, or to watch youtube videos...I'm simply saying there is something in the juxtaposition of those two lives, those two worlds, those two circumstances that is just internally destroying me.

The other night, I thought about sleeping outside just to be in camaraderie with the hundreds of thousands of Haitians that are sleeping on blankets and mats in the streets, but I chickened-out because I was afraid of being attacked in the middle of the night.

I don't know what to do.
but
I know I can't do nothing.

Now I'm crying on the couch in my living room...
What do I tell my roommate when she comes in?

"Oh, I'm crying about sex-trafficked children..."

It's something worth crying about, that's for sure...but it's so awkward to cry about it at 9:22 on a Tuesday evening, sitting alone in your house.

I know I'm not the first to feel this.
I know I am certainly not the last.

----------------------------

If I'm completely honest, I am super afraid.

I'm afraid to read or learn any more about these atrocities because I can't be anymore destroyed than I am right now. I still need to function {at least a little} in my day-to-day life and with anything more specific {stories, names, faces}, I'm not sure I'll be able to breathe.

But there is something in the fact that it haunts me like this.

I just know that the fact that I want to turn it off so badly means that I absolutely can not. Should not. Will not.

So, there you go.
Where do I go from here?

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

My Friend Gabe

I know that I've posted about places to give, places that have my heart, places that break my heart...I don't want you to feel as though I'm forcing you to give. My hope is that if I post a bunch of places to give, one of them will grab your attention and you would want to help out.

My friend Gabe's family has been effected by the economic strife.
Gabe recently re-enrolled in college.

Economic yuck + tuition= opportunity

Gabe has come up with a clever way to avoid both dropping out and amounting crazy student loans.

Read more about it here...and if you feel inclined to help, please do!

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Think, Think, Think...

I have started this post four times already.

I'm not sure I have anything to write about, but I feel like I need to post, since it's been so long.

I have been doing so much thinking that I don't think I have much to write about...well, I probably have too much to write about.

And I don't know where to begin to explain it.

Tuesday, January 05, 2010

I Can Show You The World...

My New Year's Resolution each year for the last four years has been to be smarter.
I have accomplished this goal all four years simply by Googling whatever conversation topic ends with "I don't know" or "Hmmm..." or "I've always wondered that!"

This year, so far, I have Googled very little...I've been busy learning the countries of the world.

Here are a few screenshots to mark my progression.
{The green are those that I named, the red are those that were filled-in once time ran out}

Sometime last weekSunday
There are probably very few reasons I would ever need to know how to spell {and, roughly, place} 195 countries in under 15 minutes...but, mark my words, I will be able to do it before the month is out.

Friday, January 01, 2010

In the Year 2010...

This afternoon I was thinking about the remarkable differences between the start of 2009 and the start of 2010.

In January 2009, I was living in Kitale. I was pretty certain that I would program PDYM Conferences about eight months of the year and live in Kitale for the other four. I was actively attending, involved in and working for Saddleback Church...and was not even thinking of making a change. More than that, I was very choosy about when I was kind. I had a tendency to be bossy, belittling and judgemental.

In January 2010, I live in Corona del Mar. I attend, work for and really love Mariners Church. {This does not mean that I don't love Saddleback, but I am so happy with the community that God has brought me in to.} I am striving to hear God's voice in each moment and situation. I am also working to be gentle and tender and kind.

There are quite a few other, indescribable, intangible differences.

I have absolutely no idea how 2011 will begin...but I am living this next year in search of God's guidance and movement, excited for what is to come.