The Plan

I have been hand writing in a journal every day that I've been in India. I have some great stories that I'd love to tell, but I'm too too busy. Once I'm less busy, aka when I'm not in India anymore, I'll post them all on here. Until then, I'll post brief updates so that you know that I'm still alive and well. :) I also have around 500 pictures that I want to post online. :-p

The first week was spent travelling. The second week was spent working with kids from a local village. One of them was this cute little girl that was mute. At the end of the week, I prayed that she would be healed. That day she made some efforts to communicate, but didn't form any actual words. I truly believe that God will heal her and use her to save that entire village, probably more.

The third week is this week. We spent it at a conference that was a ten minute walk from the Indian Ocean. It made me so home sick to visit the beach. God was moving in that place and bringing people together and uniting people from different areas of the world.

One of the things that really spoke to me was a story about the Titanic. When it was sinking, it sent out an SOS signal. The nearest ship was the Californian. My ears perked up. I'm a Californian! :) The Californian clearly heard the SOS, and they were the ones that had warned the Titanic about the icebergs in the first place. So they knew the seriousness of the situation. They should have been the most eager to respond, but they didn't want to risk their ship to go in and rescue the drowning victims. They were afraid.

I too have heard a call, a call to stay in Romania. I too am afraid, afraid of how hard it's going to be to raise the support needed.

Think of how many more lives would have been saved if the Californian hadn't turn away that night. I musnt turn away. I'm going to stay in Romania for a while after I come back from India.

Brb

Well, we leave tonight at 1am local time. That's 3pm for you Californians. We'll take a van over to Budapest, then a plane to Moscow, then one last plane to our final destination. I'm all packed, and under the weight limit. Everything is pretty much ready to go. My Visa came today, as well as another Visa we were waiting for.

Please pray for Paul as he drives back from Bucharest. Imagine driving from Mexico to San Francisco and back, three times in 8 days. That's what he's done. When he gets back, he'll have an hour to pack and kiss his wife goodbye, and then he'll leave. He's going to spend the first three weeks with the first team, then the second three weeks with the second team. Those first three weeks will be the longest he's been apart from Stacey. So please pray for that as well.

I'm so excited to go to India. I love our team. We have the perfect mix of people. Some super outgoing, some super detail oriented, etc. I'm going to miss the Thailand team while they're gone, but I'm super excited to hear about all the things God will do in Thailand.

I don't know how often I'll be able to post while I'm on outreach so this might be my last post for a while. Please keep us in your prayers. We will be doing a lot of traveling.

A couple weeks ago each person on our team prayed and found a verse that they thought represented our outreach journey. Then we put all the verses together and each of us tried to come up with a single sentence or phrase that we could take with us, and repeat whenever things got tough. Here's mine:

Trust in God, walk with God, and He will secure for Himself the victory.

Prayer Request

Today, Paul is in Bucharest picking up the Visas. Everyone's Visas are done, except for mine. Please continue to pray.

Rich Young Ruler

Last night I was talking with Emma. She was asking me various deep questions, and we were having a nice discussion. Then she asked me, "Do you ever ask God something, then wait an hour in silence for the response?" "An hour?? Nope." She challenged me to try it.

The next day (today) was Sunday. I was getting ready for church like normal. Then I had some extra time. I went outside, since it was such a beautiful day, and prayed, and then just sat in silence. The birds were chirping, the dogs were barking, a local church bell was ringing. It was so noisy! hahaha.

My prayer was something like, "God, I know some people want me to stay here in Cluj, but I still have my college loans to pay off and that's hundreds of dollars every month. I don't know how I'm going to raise that much support unless I sell all my things back home. That is the main huge thing standing in my way from serving You here in Cluj. I know that I can serve You wherever I am, but I want to be sent by You to a specific target, for a specific purpose. If here is where You want to send me, give me a peace that surpasses understanding. (Phil 4:7)"

I waited, but I didn't really hear anything, so when the taxi came, we got into it and went to church. As I walked into church, I had the mindset that I'm still going to try and listen to God to get a response from the question, "What should I do after DTS?"

The two clear options are:

1) Go home. Get a job. Go back to normal life. Easy. Safe. Boring.

2) Stay here in Cluj. Join the staff. Raise all my support from donations of friends and family. Hard. Scary. Exciting.

Then church started.

One of the worship songs we sang:

God is able to do just what He said He would do.

He's gonna fulfill every promise to you.

Don't give up on God, cause He won't give up on you.

He is able.

(I don't have speakers on this computer, but I think this is the song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnZGwXfLDN0)

Then it was time for people to come up and give testimonies about how God is moving in their life. Three people came up, and every testimony was about how God had provided money for them in their time of need.

Then the sermon started, and we talked about Caleb. He was one of the 12 spies that was sent in to check out the land. They all agreed that the land was a good land, but ten of the spies didn't think they could defeat the giants in the land. Caleb and Joshua knew God was bigger. (Full story: Numbers 13-14) Okay God, I get it. If you are calling me to Romania like you were calling the Israelites into the promised land, you are stong enough to make it happen.

Then we switched over to the New Testament in Matthew 19, the story of the rich young ruler beginning in verse 16.

Now behond, one came and said to Him, "Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?" So He said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments." He said to Him, "Which ones?" Jesus said, "'You shall not murder,' 'You shall not commit adultery,' 'You shall not steal,' 'You shall not bear false witness,' 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'" The young man said to Him, "All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?" Jesus said to him, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

This passage really hit home. I am the rich young ruler. The only way that I can see that I can continue to follow Jesus here in Cluj is if I sell all my things. That makes me sorrowful, because I also have great possessions: a nice car, a nice tv, etc. I don't want to sell all those things.

Then the pastor went over to Mark 14:36. "Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will."

Okay, it's not as important what I want. It's more important what You want, God, but how are You going to provide for me?

Then the pastor went over to Philippians 4:19. "And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."

Okay, so You can supply all my needs, but my friends and family are going to think I'm crazy for doing this, since it's so risky, and goes against all conventional wisdom.

Then the pastor went over to 1 Corinthians 3, where I noticed verses 18 & 19. "Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God."

Okay, so I won't put the wisdom of this world (that says I should play it safe) above the wisdom of God (that says I should follow Him).

So, whereas before I didn't know what I was going to do after DTS, now I'm leaning towards staying here for another two years.

April Fools

April Fool's Day is in full swing here. The leader sent text messages to each of his staff members, "Hey! We're having a meeting right now. Where are you??" Each staff member had a mini freak out. Some of the students were told they were going to go work out in the fields today. Half of them belived it. Someone told me that I had a lizard on my back. Really? Is that the best you can do? Hahaha. It was pretty fun. Later in the day, the girls went out and had a girls/dessert night at one of the staff member's apartments. The guys promptly went out, bought meat, built a fire, and had a bar-b-q. Some of the girls were jealous that we were having fun without them. Really? You have a party without us, and then when we do the same, you get sad? Hello Double Standard-ville. Then a thought occured. It's April 1st. The girls are all gone. All of their worldly possessions are upstairs in their unlocked bedroom. Guys? What are we going to do about this? We all put our heads together and came up with the brilliant idea, "We'll do something." We didn't get more specific than that, or actually put any kind of plan into action because we got distracted by stomachs full of meat, and bloody guy movies with lots of fighting. Girls, consider yourselves lucky.