Our growing family

Our growing family
Just the three of us

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Family visit!

Last week my Uncle Tim and cousin Jamison were in Nashville from Colorado visiting Vanderbilt's campus. Matt and I drove into the city to spend the evening with them. We had fun walking around Broadway street searching for a restaraunt that wasn't blaring country music. Not so easy in Music City. We had a nice dinner and drove around some famous parts of Nashville and ended up at a coffee shop. We had a great time catching up! It was so nice to have some of my family right here in Tennessee! Next up, my dad!
Uncle Tim, myself, and Jamison in the Parthenon

Missions!

Well, it's been a busy couple of weeks here for Matt and I. We have had the opportunity to be involoved in some of the M.A. (mission adventure) waves that have come through recently. An M.A. wave is a college or high school group from around the states that pays us to plan a short term missions trip for them. We usually take them to Nashville, St. Louis, or Cancun. Unfortunately this team wasn't wanting the latter, but we were excited to help out anyway. Matt helped lead worship and run sound for one of the high school teams that stopped by and I gave a short teaching on missions.
Matt helping out with worship


encouraging them to be involved in missions!















 The next week, I was asked to be a part of the college wave that was coming in from South Carolina. They were an amazing group of college students who were hungry to know more of God's power and who had a desire to see missions implemented in their everyday lives. We took them to Nashville to a ministry house where we showed them a DVD on human trafficking. We spent some time in prayer asking God what and where He wanted us to go.

Praying for an end to human trafficking
We ended up at a place called Dickerson Pike, a street widely known for prostitution and drug deals. We split up into teams and we did some prayer walking up and down the street. We had the chance to pray hope and redemption over these broken and misguided parts of the city. It was a great time of listening to God's voice and asking Him to lead us to the people He wanted us to talk to. The students (as well as the staff) walked away with some great testimonies of how they saw God move that day!

Later, we went to Broadway street to do some more street ministry. Here is a picture of a few team members preparing to do some worship in music city!
It was a crazy, busy, and exhausting couple of days, but it was so spititually refreshing to see today's youth so eager to step out of their comfort zones to share the love of Jesus!

A beautiful day in downtown Nashville!

Friday, March 11, 2011

25 weeks!


Missions conference in Indiana

Matt and I had the opportunity to travel to 8 hours to Northern Indiana this past weekend to represent YWAM at a mission’s conference. Some former YWAMers that used to be on staff at our base invited us to their church to share with the youth and the rest of the congregation about missions and more specifically about YWAM. Although 8 hours in a vehicle is not the ideal weekend trip for a pregnant woman, it was an experience we didn't want to pass up, so we loaded up the gluten free snacks and hit the road.  We made it safely and with relatively few bathroom stops along the way!
Don't let the picture fool you, Matt drove most of the time.

 We really got a chance to inform and encourage the church and challenge them to a life of missions and to be asking God whether for them that was here in the states or abroad. One of the highlights for us was meeting with a pastor who has worked in one of the most religious and culturally diverse neighborhoods in the world; Northern Chicago. The city of Nashville also represents a vast array of different cultures, religions, and people groups and it is our heart to see the city transformed by God and to see people of all walks of life come to know and love our one true God and to walk freely in the person God created them to. Being in the pioneering and planning stages ourselves, it was so refreshing to see someone who has actually been doing this successfully for so long. He invited us to spend a little bit of time with him and his family in Chicago to get a feel of how urban missions can look. Our goal is not to try to replicate what they've already done, but to gain wisdom from people who have been where we are and have walked through many triumphs and failures in ministry. We plan on taking him up on his offer sometime in the near future!

Our display at the church

some youth interested in our booth

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Quick update

It's been crazy weather here in Adams, TN and the surrounding areas this past week. We have had tornado warnings and a round of thunderstorms pass through and create quite a bit of damage around the Nashville area and parts of Kentucky. Yesterday morning our driveway was so flooded we had a hard time getting out to get to work, but thankfully it has calmed down and the sun is shining! I'm not sure how much more weather this California girl can take! If you think of it, please keep these areas in your prayers as many people have lost homes and loved ones.
Matt and I have an opportunity to travel to Northern Indiana this weekend. As a part of YWAM, we were invited to a missions conference at a church where we will have the opportunity to encourage and challenge youth to answer the call of missions on their lives, whether it's here in the states or overseas. We are very excited to share some of our experiences and to see some of the young faces that will go and change the world!