To Scotland I Go Again

The leaders at my church have officially decided that it would be better for me to wait a year or so to do an internship with 20 Schemes and go on a short term trip again on July 18-26.
On the one hand, I feel like the child that says, "But so-and-so's Parents let them do such-and-such!" but I'm also thankful that I have an opportunity to go back at all this year, and it's extremely good for me to learn submission! :) God know what's going on and he has ordained the way everything is unfolding in my life!

My goal this year is to build relationships with people working with 20Schemes and learn as much as I can so that I'm ready to intern next Spring or Summer.

Please pray for me firstly that I will raise the money I need to raise. Secondly, please pray for me that God will continue to guide me and show me what he wants for my life, and that I would listen. Thirdly, please pray for the people that are guiding me and giving me advice throughout this whole process.
This is a new experience not only for me, but for my church in general. No one's been sent out before, so the church leaders, as well as myself need a lot of wisdom!

That's all for now. I'll try my best to post updates as much as possible!

 (A view of Niddrie-I'm 95% sure-from Arthur's Seat)

General Life Update :)

Once again, it's been a while since I wrote any updates, but here I am.

It's been 7 months since my trip to the UK and specifically the 20Schemes vision trip. Going into the trip I was focused on the long term, thinking about if I would want to/should do an internship. I thought about it long and hard, prayed (sporadically, to be honest. just keepin' it real.) and talked to many different people from all different walks in life from my church family to my co-workers to my peers. Everyone was extremely supportive and I still felt driven (and this is the only thing I've had a real drive for!) to apply for the internship. At this point, I went to my pastor and told him I was interested in a missions internship, and he told me to find out was was involved. Apparently this meant doing research about what I'd be doing with the internship rather than actually applying, but I was a little confused and maybe a little over excited. So I applied and was accepted by 20Schemes to intern this summer. However, I've had to slow down the process and do some research before I continue.
Right now I'm learning as much as I can from different people about everything that would be involved in an internship with 20Schemes, and learning how I can be more involved in different ministries at church and what my strengths are.
In less than 2 weeks I'm going to be doing a presentation to the sunday school kids for a missions rally about the kids of 20Schemes. I'm both excited and nervous thinking about this! I'm excited that I have the opportunity to spread the word about 20Schemes, and I'm nervous, because I really want to do a great job so that the kids repeat what they learn to their parents and I'm also going to present a gospel message. But where I'm weak, God is strong! That's my comfort!
So that's mainly what's going on in my life right now. Otherwise, like I tell everyone else who asks, I'm working at the library, and I love it there! I've got a good life pretty much free of negative drama. :)

Scotland in Pictures

 ^First time on a plane in 14 years! Loved it!! 

 Where part of Harry Potter was written!!

 Along the Royal Mile...

 Mez's two beautiful daughters! 

 One of our morning meetings

 I loved hanging out with these girls! I really hope I'll get to know them better in the future!

 John Knox's House 

 Painting at Mez's house 

  Hanging out at the Church :)

 Panoramic view of Edinburgh 

 Edinburgh Castle 

 At Portobello beach

 The Loch just below Arthur's Seat 

 At Craigmillar Castle...Probably the most magical place I've ever been! :)

A Park sort of area in Niddrie 

 The view from the top of Arthur's Seat! Absolutely breath-taking!! 

Me and my good friend Lawrie :) 

Scotland Trip: Missions

I'm not even sure where to start...I learned so much and so much happened during my trip to the UK!


The first thing that stood out to me was the faithfulness of the people working full time with 20 Schemes. In talking to different people I learned that only about 5% of the people who look for help are successful. Many make professions of faith, and live a "christian" life for a while, but they fall back into their old vices and sins. You really have to rely on God to get you through each day in Niddrie, when you have no clue what a day may bring. Someone who you thought you could finally trust might turn their back on everything and leave.
I realized how little I rely on God. I do pray and I know He's in control, but I also find myself thinking about how I can fix things, when I need to go to the bible, listen to what God has to say and pray.

I realized how wealthy I am. My family has never had very much money, so I didn't feel like I would be too out of place in Niddrie in that aspect, but I re-realized how rich I am in the gospel. I've been raised in a Christian home and have been spared from so many painful experiences. I was saved at a young age, and have always gone to a church that was faithful to preach the bible. I wouldn't give up being "poor" in a material way for the world if it meant I also had to give up all that I have spiritually! And the only reason I have what I have is because God is a gracious and merciful God!

 Missional living often means doing a lot of mundane tasks. I've heard of people saying, "You flew thousands of miles to paint walls and clean their church? Why?" Well, Jesus washed the disciples feet, even though he was the son of God, didn't he? And he was constantly traveling to different cities. I know it's not exactly the same thing, but our team was there to serve in any way we could. We traveled there to encourage the church in Niddrie to continue their work. We were also there to observe how God works in his church in another context. And it was worth every single penny. I would do it all over again countless times!

So, what did a typical day look like?
Everyday we got up at 7-ish and met at the church for breakfast at 8:30 then we would have a time of prayer before having a learning session lead by Mez or Sharon. at around 10 some of the team would head to Mez's house to paint, while the others stayed at the church to clean and paint. There were also other community projects we did, like hanging out with the neighborhood kids, painting a local art centre, or doing bible studies with people in the community. A lot of the time what we were going to do was unpredictable, because random stuff would come up that needed immediate attention from Mez, or it would rain, so we couldn't do outdoor projects.

Everything that goes on is about the community. The primary goal is to present Christ to the community by living the gospel in front of them. The principles that are taught in the bible are lived out. This is so different from what I've experience with all the other churches I've been to. With all the other churches, and the one I'm currently attending, I would go to my church with my family and we would come home. If we went out to socialize, it was only with other Christians. I remember some people would go door to door giving out tracts, and I think there maybe have been a ministry where people gave food to homeless people. That's how we related to the "world." The churches were away from neighborhoods and shut during the week (except the one that was also a christian school) or no one went there except for services. Of course we were taught that we needed to not only act like Christians at church on Sundays, but we needed to be Christ-like all week long. I kind of knew what that meant, but I'm not sure I exactly understood it until I saw what was happening in Niddrie. The church building is open at various times during the week and isn't just used by the Christians but by all of the members of the community. We were told not to assume that everyone there was a Christian. That's different than what I'm used to in the churches I've gone to. Everyone's a Christian or at least labels themselves as being Christians. And we don't hang out with anyone outside of our group.

So if I could change people in my town, that's how I would change them. Instead of being so involved with ourselves and being so inward focused, I would love for the Christian churches to be more outward focused. Instead of focusing on getting more information in our heads, it would be awesome to somehow be sharing what we know with other people who don't know. I want people to make friends with people who don't go to church and spend time with them instead of focusing on staying "unstained from the world"

I feel really bad for not posting for months! To be honest, I am forgetful and lazy.

So I'm going to do what my sister did and catch you up on the whole summer


July:
July was the busiest month for me. On the 18th I flew with my friend Mary out to Scotland where we met up with the rest of our team from our church. That night I was absolutely exhausted, but not so exhausted that I couldn't enjoy a haggis and chips dinner! The next day was a day off and we went to the Edinburgh City Center to sight see. We started off with a history lesson by seeing the place where the Scottish covanenters would have been hanged because of their faith. We also saw the Scottish National Museum and saw the view of Edinburgh from the top of it
 The view was amazing! We were fortunate enough to be there during a "heat wave" when it was sunny and 80*.  We also saw  Edinburgh Castle (unfortunately only from the outside) and walked the whole of the Royal Mile, before walking back to Niddrie. On the other days we mostly just painted the McConnell's house, cleaned, painted and fixed up the church and did some other community projects. It may not seem like we did anything significant. We didn't storm through the city converting hundreds of people, but that'ts not why we were there. We were there to serve a  sister church in any way we could, so our brothers and sisters there could focus on building on relationships with people in the community (I'll write a more in-depth post about that later).
I met so many awesome people while in Scotland as well! Everyone was friendly and welcoming! I really hope I'll be able to go back!!
My last day in Scotland, I met up with a really good friend I've been keeping in touch with over Facebook and e-mail for the past year. He, Mary, a couple from the Niddrie church and I climbed Arthur's Seat. The view from there is even better!
I hated leaving Edinburgh and everyone there, but the next day Mary and I were off to Northern Ireland. We took the ferry from Scotland to Northern Ireland, and I'm so glad we did! The crossing was perfectly smooth and the land on the distance looked like what I always imagined in fairy tales!

It started raining once we reached NI and soon after we started walking around the city centre of Belfast Mary and I were soaked through!  Thanks to my good friend Jenni (who we were visiting in NI) and especially her husband, Merv, we were able to do a bus tour of Belfast. I think the most interesting part was the Belfast peace wall. It just blows my mind how there are still places where people are so divided
 (That probably shows how sheltered I am). Anyway, at my friend Jenni's house I met a bunch of ladies from her church when they came to lunch. I also hung out with Jenni's two adorable kids! They showed me their toys, chatted with me about their lives and showed me their guinea pigs, which are also extremely adorable!  I was very sad to leave this wonderful family!

London was pretty cool. We saw Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham palace, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar square, the Tower of London, the Tower Bridge, London Bridge, the National Museum and probably a few other things. By the end of that day, I was sooo tired and my feet hurt sooo bad. I walked so much that my feet had been rubbed raw in places.
The next day, August 3rd, I went home while Mary traveled on to Paris. Hopefully next time ( if there is a next time) I'll be able to save enough money to travel to more European continental countries. Or I might just stay longer in Scotland.


August-November:
I've been working hard to make back what I lost not working for almost a month. When I got back, the elevator at work had broken down so for the last 3 months or so we've had to carry all the books up the stairs rather than taking them up in the elevator. I think it's been good for our arms and legs, but it's extremely inconvenient and we lose time when we have to carry the books.

At the beginning of this month my sister, Kirsten, and I went to Wisconsin for one of our cousins weddings. It was amazing to see family who we hadn't seen for years and to meet new baby cousins. We had some good laughs and made great memories!

That's the overview of what I've been up to since I last posted. I'll probably post some more specific updates later. And I'm going to try to post more often than I have been!!

5 days!

It's only 5 days 'till I board a jet to Scotland! As the time approaches I find that I'm a lot more nervous than I've been in a while! I haven't flown since I was 7 years old, 15 years ago, so a lot has changed since then. I'm nervous about going through security and just about being in another country and another culture. I'm also nervous about meeting Facebook friends for (kind of ) the first time. There's so much unknown! What if everything goes wrong? What if people don't like me? Etc.

I know these are just my insecurities talking, but I'm still a little afraid. I'm looking forward to when I'm in the middle of it, helping people and seeing the sights!

After the missions part of the trip (I'm still not sure exactly what we're going to be doing) me and my friend Mary are going to do some sight seeing. We have one day in Edinburgh, one-ish days in Northern Ireland and one-ish day in London. In Edinburgh I'd love to see the cafe where J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter, in Northern Ireland we're visiting an old friend from California, and in London I'd love to see this crazy statue in Hyde Park among other things. :P

Actually, I just watched the video after posting the link, and apparently he's moving around?? So I WON'T be able to see it?? I'm kind of sad, now...

Christian Summer Camps

Every year bajillions of christian teens and young adults go to camp every summer. For the past 6 years I've gone to the same weekend youth conference.

Over the years I've noticed things that go on at camps that I'm sure have always happened and always will happen 'till Jesus comes back, because of human nature and raging hormones.

Top Silly Things I see at Summer Camp : 

1. Kids will never listen to "No Pairing Off!" 

Or maybe they will, but they WILL find someone of the opposite sex they like, and make sure they get that person as their partner in games. And they'll sit next to them in church. And flirt with them on Facebook and through text message for the whole year 'till camp rolls around again. 

Kids, listen to a camp veteran, cut it out! :P  You aren't getting married no matter what you think at the time! (Generally. There are exceptions.) Girls, don't fall for a guy just 'cause he can sweet talk you and he's the cutest guy there. Just 'cause he's a charmer doesn't mean he'd make a good husband. Besides, if you're truly a Christian, the point of being here is to follow Jesus, not to follow other boys. Only he can give you true satisfaction. This may seem like a cliche thing to say, but it's Sooo true!!  

2. One of the unspoken rules is "Don't be yourself!!" 

Unfortunately, according to lots of kids, being yourself means being uncool. You NEED to have the proper pair of sunglasses. On Sunday, Girls, you better have a new dress and that dress should follow the rules of modesty, but just barely. You still gotta look hot.  And on the even sadder side of things, you've got the kids pretending to be Christians, because at camp it's cool.

False. Some of the coolest people there, are the ones that don't look cool. On this, my last, year I've realized that I'm finally comfortable enough with myself that I don't feel like I have to pack every outfit I own. And I'm not even going to bother wearing a cute summer dress. *GASP* But ya know what? It's so freeing! To be yourself is to be free. In fact, when you're not being yourself, your kind of a walking lie. Think about that for a second.  

3. The number of signatures you have on your conference folder/t-shirt/whatever shows how popular you are. It doesn't matter if you don't know half the people you have sign your folder, you are still an awesome, popular person...Even if you get weird stuff signed, because they don't know you either.

Also false. One year I tried to do this and these are a few things I saw: "Hey I saw you today," "You did great on the team," (even when you weren't on their team) and "You're cool." It's just awkward. Oh--and one friend signed my folder multiple times so It looked like tons of guys had written their number on my folder. It's really ok if you only have a few close friends. Those few signatures will be far more special than if you have no more space left on your t-shirt, but don't know 90% of the people who signed it. 

Unfortunately, I know some kids who would read this and their teenage minds would translate everything into:

But seriously, the youth conference I go to has always been a blessing to me.

My Top Favorite Things (no particular order):

1. The road trip

When you're stuck in a car with a group of people for 5+ hours, crazy things are bound to happen. Most of the time you get to know people better and build relationships, although there are those people you hope and pray you'll never get stuck in a car with ever again. I've had so many good heartfelt conversations during the car ride to and from the youth conference. That's when you really get to know people for who they really are.

2. The preaching

I always come home feeling refreshed and like I've been nourished over the weekend. Not because we dance and sing, but because the preachers at the conference I go to actually dig deep into God's word. I'm often convicted and find ways where I sin that I never saw before and that's SO GOOD, because then I can see how to become more like Christ! 

3. The testimonies

I love at the end where people share their testimonies. Hearing how God works in people's hearts is the BEST. No other words needed! 

4. The FOOD!

Seriously. At the conference I go to the food is so darn delicious. We stay on a college campus and for a whole day we get to eat in the cafeteria, which means all kinds of different foods are available for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I usually stick to traditional breakfast/lunch/dinner foods, but if you want to have waffles for dinner, go for it. If you want to mix all the Sodas and fruit drinks together with chocolate milk, no problem! If you want to build sculptures out of your mashed potatoes, it's not considered rude. If you decide to sit in a baby highchair while eating a delectable slice of pizza (yes, I did do this), WHO CARES? You can even have ice cream for breakfast. NO MOM TO TELL YOU OTHERWISE!!

And we're seriously fed every two hours! we show up and eat in-n-out for dinner. session one. games. snack. sleep. breakfast. prayer. session two. snack. session 3. lunch. games. snack. games. rest. dinner. session 4. snack. talent show. snack....etc. you come home and you've gained 20 pounds!

So to everyone who's going to a christian camp this summer, may God bless you through the preaching/teaching. Go and make many wonderful memories, and don't be stupid. ;) 

Since writing this 2 days ago I got some certain feedback that indicated that I may need to clarify that the first half of this post was intended to get people thinking. My intent is not to be judgmental or to speak harshly. :)