Elu on...

Life is...

Today at church the Pastor asked the church to think about and answer the question "Elu on..?" or " Life is....?" Some said love, beautiful, precious, a gift, sharing with one another. All those things are true, Life is all of those things. But what He was getting at was that Jesus IS life. The point of Jesus isn't a free ticket to get to have a life full of love, and happiness, and to have a beautiful life. Although He does do that, He brings us all of those things and when He is included into our life we receive those types of things. But the point was that Jesus IS life. What an amazing thought of truth.

The Pastor was finishing up a serious from John 14:6 : "Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

It was a great series!

At Lift we are going through 6 groups of people in Tartu: Youth, Orphans, Elderly/ Disabled, Homeless, Widows, and Unchurch/ Unsaved. We are going through the reasons why it is so important to reach out to these people groups and we are showing them practical ways to do so. We have already visited an orphanage and played with the little children. We also have talked about Youth and had the students come up with ways to reach their friends. This week we are going to an Elderly Home.

Thank you all so much for your support and your prayers. Please continue to pray for opportunities to reach the youth of this city. We are having an outreach event with Sports this week so please pray that the people we need to minister to would come. As we visit the elderly home this week please pray that Christ's love would shine through us.

As always pray for lives to be changed and souls to be saved.

With love through Christ.

Jaanipäev

Yesterday was one of Estonia's national holiday.. its called Jaanipäev. We all just hung out and grilled and ate a lot! It was so cool to see everyone bonding and growing in the relationships that we have all made. I feel like we are all so close now! It has only been about 2 and a half weeks!

Sweet Evelin and Me.

All of the girls at Jaanipäev

I feel like I have done so much since the last time I've written. I also have learned a lot as well. Graduations are a huge tradition to go all out for. People buy fancy clothes and they receive flowers. Guy or Girl, they get flowers. I thought it was so cool to see everyone walking around with piles and piles of flowers. It was amazing to see the youth so proud of themselves for graduating and moving forward in their education. It was also fun to see youth that I had met the first time coming here and not seeing them since and we remembered each other still. I have learned that they people here have full hearts of giving. It is so incredible to see people from, much to nothing to people who are greatly blessed financially giving anyone what they have. If it is an apple, they will share it with everyone who will share it with them. If its a sandwich, they will offer it to everyone without even taking the first bite. It is very humbling. They give everything they have to others even if its all they have. The christians here are also extremely passionate. They know what they believe and they do not back down. They will share their faith with absolutely everyone. People also ask very challenging questions. I met this guy and within the first 5 minutes of meeting him, he asked me what my testimony is. Like wow... If more people were like that and as passionate about Christ in the way these people are then lives would be changed all over the world! God is blessing the people here in a crazy way and I don't think they fully realize it. It is amazing. I feel like lately God has been showing me how patience is so important and how trusting in Him will make things a lot easier. I also think being here, away from home, and away from people and situations and obligations has really allowed me to begin to see what is important and what is not as important. God is blowing me away right now with learning about relationships and how important it is to surrender the to Him and let Him do what He wants with them. He is in control anyways and knows way better then me. It is just amazing to see when they are lining up. When His desires and my desires are the same. Its so cool.

God is also showing me how crazy big He is! And how powerful He is ( Isaiah 40 and Job 38). I could never begin to grasp His mighty power and knowledge. As an internship, right now we are studying Romans and this morning I was reading chapter 11. It started blowing me away with the very end:

" Oh, the depth of the riches of wisdom and knowledge of God? How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has ben his counselor? Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen."

... Talk a bout a slap in the face when you wake up! God is just seriously showing me so many things about His character. Please Pray that He would continue to humble and and break down any pride that is within me that would hold me back from learning absolutely everything that He wants me to learn. Pray that I would have patience and that I would trust Him and His will for my life with the present, future career, and relationships.

God is good ALL the time.

Learning more and more each day

I feel like being here God has been showing me more about how He can use my past for His glory in so many ways. There are so many people here that are broken and dealing with issues that you can only understand if you have been where they have been and walked in their shoes. Its amazing to me to think of where God has allowed me to go and where He has taken me out of. It is such an encouragement to see that God is changing me from my insides.. I can feel Him moving and working in my life.

One thing that was amazing that happened yesterday was at a staff meeting When I went I did not think that I would learn anything, I thought it would just be usual "housekeeping" things for the week and catching up with other people that had gone away for a few days and hear about their times in other parts of the country. The meeting was coming to a close and we went around praying. Someone in the group was praying and He said that so many times we think that God has to do a huge thing for it to be a miracle, but in reality, a miracle from Him could be hugging someone when they are crying, or listening to someone who needs to talk, passing a random stranger on the street and praying for them.. etc., Gods miracles could be found in the little things too.

Wow.. thats so true. I feel like we get caught up so easily in the everyday schedules and busyness of life to realize that miracles are going on around us all the time! It was so encouraging yet convicting at the same time.

Another thing that was amazing during the prayer time was there were 3 languages being spoken. English, Estonian, and Czech. It was so cool.. to know that I cannot understand 2 of the 3 being spoken to God, but God could understand perfectly! I feel like I forget how huge God is sometimes... I feel like the box that I put God in gets smaller and smaller sometimes!

We had a surprise party for the other intern kyle this week and it was great to see all of the students get involved and come to fellowship and eat and laugh! We also started having World Cup parties every night at the church office. It is made for students to come and bring their unchurched friends into a fun and positive environment. We also are making our own little soccer games as well! Tonight we had the first "futbol" game of many over the summer! It was a great time to hang out with the students and meet other on the fields.

Please be praying for the church Risttee. It is an amazing church with people whose hearts are on fire for God. They serve them with everything they have no matter how much. Please pray for unity within the team. Pray that students hearts would be pricked for Christ and that He would change their hearts. Pray that God would break down my pride and anything holding me back from doing His work here. Pray God would tear me down, only to rebuild me again in Him.

Thank you for all of your support, You have no idea how much it means for me and How much God is using it to change not only my life, but the lives of so many around me!

With love through Christ.

THe first LIFT

Tonight was the first LIFT that I will be apart of while I am here!

It went really well!! There was about 25 people there and even though the numbers were not extremely high, I know that the people that were there were the ones who needed to hear what we were proclaiming. We had worship, a time of testimonies, and we broke up into prayer groups. Then after LIFT we had a World Cup party! A lot of people showed up and it was a great time of fellowship. People are starting to warm up to each other and kyle and I. It is so great to see old friends that I have not seen in a long time!

Please be praying for me and our team. Pray that God would continue to be our focus and that we would not be distracted by other things. Pray that God would be glorified through it ALL!

Isaiah 43

With love through Him.

Sweet friendships

Today was a lot of fun! We really started to get to work on planning for the summer and putting together LIFT for this friday. We also started to put together a party at the church for the World Cup. We are trying to make the environment fun for the youth and college age students that are going to come. We learned a little bit more about the Estonian culture and we also were able to understand how to draw the students in by understanding what is effective here in the country.

I also was able to fellowship with some of the girls here. Both the Estonian girls who I am already very close to and also a girl named Sam who is working here for the summer as well.

I feel like everyone is starting to bond great and we find ourselves in deep conversations about the Lord and what we are struggling with and getting encouraged by each other. It is so cool because a lot of us have gone through similar things in our past or are going through very similar experiences.

Here are a few pictures of the girls. Hanna is the first, who I am staying with, then Kati, who is my dear friend from here, and then Sam. My new friend we I am so much alike!!

Please pray for the team here at LIFT and also the interns for the english camps like Sam. Also please pray that God would bring the people into LIFT on friday that need to come! Help everyone to continue to stay focused on the reason we are here and that youth would cross our paths. Continue to pray for lives to be changed and souls to be saved!!

Learning how to love more each day. ( 1 Corinthians 13:4-8)

First day!

So today was the first day that we started meeting as a staff with all of the interns in the office. They just finished the youth room where they have their youth nights and it is so amazing! Here are some pictures of it!

I was so amazing to see everyone finally be brought together that God drew together perfectly! It is crazy to think that normally we think of having such a great group in the same place to be an accident or by chance, but I know that God brought each one of us together perfectly way before time. God is so cool in that way... seeing time and events before they happen and bringing them together in His perfect way.

Today at the meeting we all talked about how we are in a battle as Christians. As Ephesians 6: 12 says, " For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the power of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." How crazy is it that as Christians we are fighting a battle of that magnitude, but then how blessed are we that God is on OUR side and that the battle is already won! We just have to put on the armor of God. Like it says in verses 13-18. We have won the battle through Christ, but if we want to be successful leading up to the end then we must fight with our armor on!

It was so amazing to be reminded of how much we NEED Christ in order to succeed in this life. We can do nothing without Him successfully. We may think that what we are doing is "good", but if we are not totally consumed by Him, and we are not covered in Him, then how can it really reach its full potential that God deserves.

The Christians here are so on fire for God. Every conversation that you have with them leads back to God. You can see that they are totally consumed by Him. It comes out unknowingly and unforced. It just flows from them. { please be praying for them and for their fire to never go out.}

Today we also went to the town square and walked around and fellowshipped.

( This is the girl that I am staying with, her name is Hanna)

We were also able to hangout with some students for a little bit today. Please pray that their hearts would be open to come to the youth night (LIFT) on friday. Pray that God would do amazing things in their life and that they would turn to Him and He would draw them to Himself.

Please continue to pray for God to do unexplainable things here. Help lives to be changed and souls to be saved.

With love through Him.

Made it!!

Well, its official... I'm here!

It is so cool to think that God put this whole trip together. It went perfectly! My flights were all on time, I got really great seats, and the flights were all very smooth! I am now on a bus that will take me into Tartu. I am just so blown away about how much God has been on my side! He is just so amazing. To not have any problems on my 3 flights and to have a bus that came not more than 30 minutes after I got to the bus station is so awesome. Not to mention my luggage was all there!!

Thank you for all of your prayers and support getting me here. Now please continue to pray as I go into Tartu that I will come across people that need to see a glimpse of Jesus. Whether it be a smile, an opened door, or me being patient. Please pray that God would give me with the ability to be a good example of Him to these people. Also as usual, please pray for the peoples hearts that I am going to come into contact with for these next two months.

I have no idea what God has in store for me this summer, but whatever it is, I know and trust that it is going to be huge!!!

Thank you all again so much for your prayers and support!

With love through Christ.