Stateside Update 7: Summer Plans and 7.5 Months

I have officially finished my junior year of college with all As this semester. Tomorrow, I'm heading to Mentone, Alabama to work at a girls' summer camp for ten weeks. Then it's a road trip with my grandmother and a drive down to Georgia to take the teacher certification test before I move into college for the last time. Crazy!

I sent the following email out to my supporters, family, and friends, and you may have stopped by here because you received that email. Welcome! I hope you'll stick around, watch the video, and sign up to receive email updates in your inbox! 

Friends and Family,

Last week, as I finished up my junior year of college and got ready to calmor into my overflowing car and drive home, a dear friend stopped me and told me about the impact I'd had on her last school year. She said that experience had encouraged her to impact the girls on her hall this school year and she thanked me for the role I had played in her life as she now ministered to others. That was such a blessing!

I realized today that each of you has been that impact for me. Through your support emotionally, mentally, spiritually, physically, financially, and in every other way throughout my life, you have influenced me and inspired me to be an influence on others. Just as God comforts us so we can comfort others (2 Corinthians 1:4), you have all impacted me, so I desire to impact others.

As part of that influencing, I will spend the next ten weeks working at a girls' summer camp in Alabama, loving on some young ladies and having fun with them while encouraging teamwork and spiritual growth. In the fall, I will return to Georgia for one final semester of college before completing my student teaching at Grace International School in Chiang Mai, Thailand from January to April/May 2014. I will return to the states just in time to graduate from Toccoa Falls College in May. As you can see, it's going to be a busy year, but God is good!

I would love for you to join me on this adventure and continue to support and impact me as I go support and impact others. I can't do it without you. I plan to update my blog instead of sending out emails, so if you would like to receive updates, follow my blog at www.AlexsAdventuresinAsia.blogspot.com. You can also sign up to receive posts by email to stay in the loop!

What I need most is your prayers. Prayer requests and praise reports are listed on the left hand side of [this homepage], and I am also asking for people who will commit to prayer as a part of a prayer team. Let me know if you would be interested. The reason this is so important is because Satan does not want people going about God's will and doing God's work. Even seven and a half months before I leave, your prayers are needed because God is already working in Thailand and Asia even now. And He is doing great and wonderful things.

Thank you!

 --

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

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.

--

"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!
--

"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,
--

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