Oh Mister Sun, Sun, Mister Golden Sun, please shine down on me!

Greetings from the Sunshine State, more commonly known as Florida. For the final week of my Christmas break I am in sunny West Palm Beach, Florida basking in the beautiful ball of fire! I'm trying to tan up for the trip to Brazil, which is 12 days from today!


Although I'm in Florida, you're probably wondering why I'm wearing so many winter clothes in the above pictures. Well, those pictures capture the essence of the first week of my Christmas break this year. For me, December 12th-18th was the first time I was able to go home since we moved to Georgia this summer. After almost 6 months of being away, my parents blessed me with the best Christmas present-a trip to Wisconsin! Let me just tell you that it was the best week of my life and by far the best Christmas present that I ever received. I was able to see every one that I wanted to see, and spend extra time with those that I really wanted to, and never felt rushed. It was quality and quantity time. It was especially nice to see all my closest friends! I missed them so much! It was hard to leave again, but it was well worth it!

One thing the Lord really impressed on me more deeply while I was in Wisconsin was that He wants to use me, ALL of me. So, before I conclude this blog entry I want to include an excerpt from my journal...


>One day while being back home, I went to see one of my friends at her secular college. For me, being there was incredibly eye opening. I felt kind of discouraged as I listened to some of the students talk about how wasted they got that weekend, who’s sleeping with whom and heard all the language and taking of the Lord’s name in vain. My though the whole time was “Lord, I feel as though you want me to go to a secular college to make a difference, but how am I supposed to make a difference in this-there's so much to do?” Through all this discouraging thought, I felt the Lord telling me over and over, “I’m going to use you in subtle ways. It might be just the fact that you don’t drink, sleep around, or swear, but I will use you.” That was such a comforting thought.<


Psalm 23:4
"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me."

Merry Christmas!

Luke 2:10-11
But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.

Trusting God "pays" off

$3500. That is the amount that I needed to raise for my one month missions trip to Brazil, coming up in January. As of now, all the money has come in. Praise God! I do have to admit that I had a little bit of a hard time trusting God to provide the funds, especially as the deadline was a week away and I had not even raised half the amount needed. The rest of the money came in within 3 days! Through that, God truly showed me how much bigger he is than me, and he really does have everything under control. My King of Kings has cattle on a thousand hills, and all he had to do was sell a few of them for me!


The first picture you see above is my team for our Brazil trip. This week we just finished our semester project/presentations. Individually we had to answer a question on a Brazilian subject by giving a 10 minute oral presentation. My subject was the music in Brazil. As a group, we had to present for an hour on the five topics of family, economy, government, society and religion in Brazil as well as answering seven worldview questions how a Brazilian would answer them. It was a very informative project, and I feel so much more knowledgeable about Brazil, but I do have to say that I am very glad to be done.


Before Thanksgiving break we had the unique opportunity to go to a homeless shelter in Atlanta. We spent the night there and were able to talk to many of the men that stay there a lot as well as learn about many of the stereotypes about homeless people that are incorrect. A local church was supposed to bring dinner for them that night but they never showed up. We were able to collect donations from among our group, go to the local Publix and buy food for some of the women and children sleeping in the lobby. We ended up feeding 18 women and children that night. It was such a blessing to see their faces after they were given their plate of food. I talked to one woman, and she told me her story. One little boy could not even make conversation with us because all he said was "Mommy, I want to eat." It was such a humbling experience to see these people live like this, especially in such a big city as Atlanta.


This week for class we have the priviledge of having Norman Geisler as our guest professor. In preparation for this topic "Evidence for God's Existence & The Problem of Evil," we have been reading The Reason for God by Timothy Keller as well as excerpts from Geisler's book Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics.


Last week, one of the things that God was pointing out to me constantly was just how creative and detail oriented he is. I noticed this the first time while I was driving back to campus Sunday night after our Thanksgiving break. A breathtaking sunset stretched across the entire horizon, and we were driving right into it. The wisps of clouds and magnificent colors radiated God's creativity in how he could created something so simple, yet still so beautiful. I was at my weekly volunteer service opportunity at a rehab center when I noticed the detail oriented God that I serve. I was going around to the patients to get their vital signs and because of a severe burn on both patients upper arms, as well as an IV in one, I was not able to get blood pressure in the "proper" place. I asked a nurse close by what to do, and she reminded me that you can take blood pressure on the forearm. Early in the semester I had to take blood pressure on a patients calf. How amazing is that? God knows that things happen and we need to be able to get blood pressure from more than one place.


The two other pictures that you see above were taken at a Christmas parade we had in Pine Mountain this weekend. It's always nice to be warm and cozy in a big jacket as you bike down the street waving to people and wishing them "Merry Christmas." This event was just the beginning of many Christmas events that we have this week before leaving for break on Friday!