Stateside Update 6: Answered Prayer

Dear Friends,
Earlier this week, I received an email from Gen, who served as my team leader last summer while I was in Hong Kong and Laos. She told me that the organization that sent us last summer is partnering with her in a new ministry. This is an answer to prayer! Gen will be leading three teams a year to serve as prayer facilitators and encouragers for teachers and international workers in Asia beginning later this year. I am so excited for this opportunity Gen has because I believe in the importance of support and encouragement for those who are serving overseas.

In the Southeast, where there is a church on every corner, we tend to forget that there are countries where not only are there no churches, but meeting for church is illegal. When international workers are sent to these countries, in the thick of ministry, warfare, and giving of themselves, they can't just drive over to the nearest church for community and fellowship, unless that church is in their home, for example. Part of my desire to teach overseas is to support the ministries of people serving overseas, and a great way to do this is by teaching their children!

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In other news, I got a summer job! I will be working at a girls' summer camp in Alabama from the end of May to the beginning of August. This is such a blessing and I am so excited for the opportunity. I will definitely keep you updated on how that goes.

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Henna Fundraiser Tonight
for a refugee ministry

We have a group on campus that supports student ministries overseas that meets once a week. Each week, there is a stated prayer focus, and then we divide into small groups by area of the world. Since I have been attending, I always join the Asia group. Last night, the prayer focus was prostitution and the sex trade, which weigh heavy on my heart. It was such a blessing to be able to pray for the people involved in this tragedy with a group of people who also have hearts for Asia. I was so humbled and encouraged because I felt like a united effort, beseeching our Father for these broken people, both the perpetrators and the victims.

Thank you for joining me in prayer, friends. His praises never cease.

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"Seek Him. Be Here. Be His."
"‎It is the people who endear the city to our heart." - Chandler

Stateside Update 5: And More Prayer

Friends and Family,
We are twenty-seven days out from the end of classes, and then it's another week of exams before summer break begins. With the excitement in the air, I wanted to ask you to take a minute to join me in prayer for these three things.

1. I am still looking for a summer job. I heard back from a summer camp where I applied earlier, but we are waiting on my references and an interview time. I'm back in the period of waiting again. Please pray that God would provide his best for job for me this summer.
2. The issue of human trafficking has been placed in my path and on my heart multiple times, but I think it wasn't until I read Patricia McCormick's novel Sold this week that it became real to me. There's just something about Asia, a novel written for young adults, and a fictional story compiled from the true experiences of several Asian women that captures and breaks my heart. At one point in the book, Lakshmi overhears a customer mentioning to a friend how much he paid for her, which was 30 rupees. Lakshmi says that this is the price of a coke at the village store. This is equal to US$0.50. It broke my heart to read about how trivially these daughters of the Most High are being treated. Please join me in praying for the end of human trafficking around the world.
3. One aspect of human trafficking deep on my heart is the sex trade in Asia. I ask that you would lift up a special prayer for the girls and young women caught up in something to which they did not agree, a crime committed against them. If you would like, you can join the One Girl Prayer Initiative, which is a ministry of Tiny Hands International and works specifically with Nepalese and Indian girls and women. 

For more information on international human trafficking and the sex trade, check out these websites:
http://www.humantrafficking.org/countries/thailand
http://www.worldvision.or.th/index_eng.html
https://www.tinyhandsinternational.org/
http://www.savethedaughters.org/
http://www.didiproject.org/
http://www.maitinepal.org/


Thank you for your prayers!

P.S. I have about 8.5 months until I leave for Chiang Mai!
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"Seek Him. Be Here. Be His."
"‎It is the people who endear the city to our heart." - Chandler

Stateside Update 4: Prayer

I'm writing this in the spare minutes I could find between a meeting for work and my evening ESL class. It's been a crazy week and it's only Tuesday. My ten page paper and the largest recruiting event of my college are both on Friday.

I realized that prayer is the only thing that is going to get me through this week. Isn't it ironic, then, that this week is also my college's 24/7 prayer week? I am reminded of how much I need the Father during weeks like this. Constant communication with Him is what will sustain me.

I also ask that you would join me in prayer for a summer job. To be able to afford to go to Thailand, I need to work this summer. I am also really looking for a job at home so I can be with my family for a while before I leave. With all of that in mind, I covet your prayers that our Father would provide a job for me, that I would be able to save money for overseas student teaching, and that He would provide the money needed to purchase my airplane tickets.

Check out the Contact page to sign up to become a member of my prayer team.

Thank you so much for trusting Him alongside me!
With love,
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"Seek Him. Be Here. Be His."
"‎It is the people who endear the city to our heart." - Chandler

Announcement Video

Just as a "teaser trailer" creates interest and excitement with a short preview of a movie, so this video was designed to introduce my Spring 2014 trip to my friends, family, and supporters. 

If the video above has brought you here, I hope you will check out the rest of my blog and consider adding me to your prayer list. I have already begun preparations and I will need many more spiritual, emotional, physical, financial, and mental resources to be prepared to go to Thailand in January 2014. 

In addition, I will not be sending out email updates during this trip. Please click on the blue "follow" button on the left to follow this blog or type your email address in the white box above that to receive email updates. 

If you have not yet seen the video, check it out! It is just a snippet of what I did last summer and what I hope to do next spring. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

With feet on the ground and eyes to the sky,

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"Seek Him. Be Here. Be His."
"‎It is the people who endear the city to our heart." - Chandler

(Edited 8:30am, March 18)