Lets do this again.

I haven’t written on here lately because when I look at my life I think - There is nothing to share. Nothing exciting happens.   But, I have missed writing on here and sharing so I want to start again. So excuse the mess as I begin to blog again.

I am a lunch lady who wakes up at before the sun and with my coworkers we cook lunch for about 3000 students each day. 

I am a single almost thirty year old who can count the number of friends she has ( Here in this country. If the world was smaller it would be a different story.) on her hands.

I am a daughter who lives 10 hours away from her parents.

I am a sister who lives a block down the hill from her little sister.

I am in love with travel, the world and cultures but for now I live in the Middle of America.

I live in a little two bedroom house with one roommate and no dishwasher. but we do have a garage we don’t park in and a backyard I plan on using a lot this summer.


I am so many other things and non of them seem very exciting to me these days. There is so much before me and I am excited to see where life takes me. I try not to dwell on the fact that I sit on the couch more than I would like. Or that my calendar stays pretty empty each week. Or that when asked who I hang out with I only come up with two answers and one of which is my sister. Okay maybe I do.  Sometimes its hard to forget that being alone can be lonely. 

So I have recently decided I want to change that. Step one was to have friends over for Sunday dinner after church.  What they thought was a lot of work, making pulled pork in the crockpot, was easy and enjoyable because I got to share my life with others today. We sat around our little table and shared stores of our lives and laughed and learned.

COMMUNITY. That is what we are made for. That is what we all long for. That is what I want to be a part of.

So while my life doesn’t seem exciting and worthy of being written about. Maybe there is someone out there who is where I am at wondering how to be apart of this crazy world and not just watch it happen from our couch or our front porch but be a part of it.

Dschool was here.

We said goodbye to our first team on Monday.
That means only 4 more left. 
I'm not liking that. 

This fits so well. 

Check out our intern blog that Sydney writes. 

It was a great trip.  It was like a big family reunion too.  Because I helped with Dschool this year I felt like each member of that team was family. It didn’t matter who you got pair with for ministry because you wanted to be around them all, all the time.

One particular evening when we went out to the city to canvas for Unbound, I was paired with three others. Our goal was to talk to businesses and have them hang a poster up that says “Not in My City”. Unbound is a organization that works with raising awareness and stopping human trafficking. Check it out here and find out more about them.  Anyways, this evening came after a few evenings where I felt like a very small piece of the puzzle and not very instrumental in ministry.  (I am not a go up to a person and start talking to them type, so street ministry pushes and stretches me) So this night with a clear task laid before us I was feeling like I could be a part of this, I could succeed. Compared to how I felt other nights in ministry.  So with my team we finally found our section of town that we were to talk to the businesses about. All evening out joke was three Americans and a Mexican enter China town on an Italian holiday in Italy...   

All Jokes aside God showed up and make me feel so loved by him. It was our third or forth business. Clearly in Chinatown we were running into a communication difficulty with not knowing Chinese. So two of my team went into a Chinese Restaurant and I started praying like I had every other time. This time my prayer was along the lines of “Lord let them look at the poster and even if they don’t understand, let them point to a space on the wall and say this is empty you can hang it here.”  Not 5 seconds after I prayed that, an employee came out and pointed to a blank spot on the wall for our team to hang up the poster.  I just started to laugh and thank God for answering my prayer.  For days before I doubted so much if I was even making a difference. Doubted if my prayers made a difference. And here He was showing me that “Yes I do hear your prayers”. For the rest of the evening it happened almost just like that. I prayed for what I would like to see, and my Lord answered my prayers. By the time Dinner time came I felt so loved and so seen by God that no one could have convinced me otherwise. 


This is just one story of so many from this past week.  Each evening there were stories of healings of praying for and talking about Jesus with Muslims who normally wouldn’t. The Lord is moving here and he is using us interns and the Short-term teams to do it. 

It is such a privilege to be a part of what is happening here. Its going to be hard to go home in a few months.

Here are a few pictures of our week with Dschool.

Before ministry in the Piazza.

Connie (One of my Omaha Roommates and Friends) on top of one of Etna's craters

Picnic after hiking and praying on top of Etna.

A beautiful off day in a beautiful town full of tourists.

a little over a month to go.

There is just over a month to go before stepping on a plane to Sicily.

From the moment I said yes to The Lord about this trip I have been excited and at peace.

I am not yet counting down the days because a little bit of me is sad to leave my friends and family here in Omaha behind for the summer. I will miss out on bonfires and bike rides, walks and concerts in the park, holidays and just spending time outside with friends. I will miss church on Sundays when it feels like I am surrounded by family. I will miss Outreach week with the refugees here at home and watching their soccer games, coached by my sister.

But there is so much I am excited about and looking forward to this summer.

Getting to know some of my teammates better. 

Spending days loving people.

Cooking with Italians in their kitchens. (I really hope this happens)

Leaving America and most things American behind. 

Traveling/flying

Exploring new places.

Watching the Lord work thru our team and the teams that come over. 

Being able to serve our church planters.

The sea.

Watching God change hearts and bring freedom and hope.

So in the next month and a little bit I will be packing and running errands (like the eye doctor and the car shop), possibly working some of my last days at my job. I will be saying see-you-laters. I will be deciding what journal to use and how many different colored pens I should take. I will be getting to know my teammates and how we will work together as a team.  I will continue to Trust God through it all and thank him for the peace he has given me. 

A little video clip.

Follow the link below to watch a clip of Pastor Silas explaining why we are going to Sicily and the heart behind it. 

See Interview here.

Peace

Many have been asking how my support is going.  And till last night I had no idea. But at the same time I was not worried at all.  I know that this is where I am suppose to be. I know that the Lord wants me in Sicily this summer.  

 Maybe you are asking why. 

The simple quick answer is peace. Now as I prepare for this trip, more that any of the other times before trips, I have peace. I don't even know how to explain it really. It is a sense that everything is going to be good. Perhaps this is because I have sound some freedom from fear, especially around mission trips.

But more than that I believe its because I have let go and am fully trusting Him with this.  There are so many questions and unknowns, which usually my planner self would want to know. But I am okay not knowing. I am okay just sitting back and letting others organize and figure out the questions. I am okay with each day giving it over the the Lord knowing that He knows way more that I do. And in His hands its safer. In His hands its a sure thing. In His hands is love and hope and freedom.

The support update I got last night has me at $1452 raised. I still don't know what the final cost of the trip will be. Its has been estimated at over $6000.  Which puts me just over a 6th of the way there.  I do know that in April they will be purchasing our plane tickets. I believe this cost is around $1200. Which means I have made that goal. THANK YOU!

If you are interested and haven't bought one yet my tshirts are only on sale till tomorrow (23 March) evening.  I have sold 26 and am hoping for at least 30 by the end of the sale. That is 4 more in the next day.  Please go HERE to purchase one.

Letter #2

I have sent out most of my second letters.  If you did not get one and would like one. Please let me know. It gives some specific prayer requests and goes into what I will be doing this summer just a bit more. 

 An up close view of the meat of the letter.

My support letter.

A summer overseas.

I'M GOING TO SICILY!!  

Many of you  have gotten support letters. And if you haven't but want one please comment below and I will get one to you. 

I go to a church that is part of a bigger church network--Antioch. They are based out of Waco Texas and have church plants all over the United States and the world.  They have a passion for the nations and for the Lost to be found. When the Refugee Crisis got more and more serious they just knew they couldn't stand by and do nothing. So they are Engaging the Crisis. Check out the link to see what they are doing.

Our church as a church plant of Antioch's is in this with them. And because we have church planters over there in the middle of it. it was an easy decision to do our part. We will be staffing our "hub". (Hub being a word to say a locations chosen to have many people come and all focus on helping the refugees.) And I will be part of a team on interns that will help our church planters on ground for the summer so that when the short term trips come in they aren't overwhelmed. 

I don't have ton of information on this or what it will really look like. This will be a summer of trusting the Lord. Im excited to see what the Lord will go thru our hub this summer.

I will try to update on here when I know things and when things happen when I'm in Sicily.

Right now I'm working on getting all my support letters out and trusting the Lord for support to come in.

Waiting.

I was driving to work today and the verse of the day was read. Psalm 27:14.

New Living Translation
Wait patiently for the LORD. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the LORD.
 
International Standard Version
Wait on the LORD. Be courageous, and he will strengthen your heart. Wait on the LORD!

When I heard it I thought Yes. Yes everyone should wait for the Lord. Yes it takes patience to do it, on mornings when it seems that He isn't talking to you. Yes it takes bravery and courage to wait for the Lord and not the world. And Yes this is where I have been the last two years. 

I moved to Omaha, thanks Kt, two years ago this weekend. And it has been two year of waiting. Two years of strengthening my heart. Two years of discovering who Jesus is again. And who Becca is. I came here with a heart that was damaged and fortified. I'm not saying that my heart is completely healed and whole. But it is definitely on the mend. I have been told lately that I am a completely different person that even a year ago.  I sure hope so. I feel different. I feel lighter, freer.  

Waiting on the Lord is so good. Its hard to do at times. I don't have it mastered. But I know the good it does. I know what comes of it and I don't want to not want to do it. I want my life to be spent waiting on the Lord. So that when He speaks I know its him. When He moves I know it was him that moved.

Our Neighbood Refugee Outreach

Last week I was past of a team headed by my sister to teach, love, mentor, and spend time with the refugees that live in the neighborhood surrounding our new church building. Since the very beginning, when this was known as the sight of our church building, my sister and a couple of others have spent time almost weekly playing with these kids. So two years or so later we are at home in our new building and thanks to my sister and her heart for the kids have an in with the neighbors. So outreach week was to further these relationships and to show this community that we care about them. 

If you ask anyone on our team, all would say it was a success. From the bounce house on monday to VBS daily under the big tree to the movie and popcorn to close out the week.

It was great to see my sister at work with her passion.
It was great to see Waypoint show up and volunteer and get to know our neighbors like some of us already do.
It was great to see the kids get excited about our church, always wanting to see the inside but having to wait till the movie on Friday.
It was great to see new relationships formed and old ones strengthened. 
It was great to hear the laughs and see the smiles on everyone's faces.
It was a great week.


Thank you Jesus for giving my sister this passion and for putting our team together in a perfect way.

Lord, I ask that you continue to help Waypoint become part of this neighborhood and community. Help us to help and care for our neighbors. Show us how to be you to those who know you and those who don't.