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.

Trip newsletter.

I have been home for awhile now.  I have started a new job and at the end of the month I will be moving to a new house.   I sent out these letters to many but wanted to share it with all of you too.  This summer was amazing. Below is a little bit about how the summer went.  

 

Team 5 of 5

 The rest of the Interns and I are back home now.  We have been since Saturday. Our time went really fast there at the end. I will try to fill you in on how the Lord worked in our last few weeks in Italy. 

Here is Sydney's blog of our last team.  Check it out and how the Lord worked thru our last team. 

This team was a team full of faith.  They hit the ground in Italy knowing and hoping and praying for miracles.  They knew from the start the the Lord was going to do big things. They prayed to be used everyday.

From day one, prayer walking around the city, it was easier. There was a weight lifted off the city that had been there all summer.  Just like all the teams before they took what the last teams did and built on it.  Each night while teams were out on the street for ministry there was a team that interceded for them and the nation and the ETC movement. All summer we learned that prayer is powerful and needed. We decided to have a team praying while others were sharing on the streets.

The Lord worked through our short term team and our staff to bring many healings to those on the streets of the city. We were able to share His goodness and bring hope to many.  We met a group that came over on the boats and were able to give them bags, soccer balls and some food to make their first days and journey north a little easier.

I was able to attend a DBS and watch the word speak truth to three young men. I was also able to listen to a story that brought a young man to Italy and as a group we were able to speak truth and freedom to him and his heart. Two evenings that I will remember for a long time.

Jenga time.

Just this week we have been able to visit the home of Refugee Boys we discovered a few weeks ago.  On Tuesday we took games and spent the evening talking and laughing with the boys.  My teammate Nicole wrote the following after that evening. It is well said so I wanted to share it with you all.

Imagine being 15-17 years old and having to flee your country. Alone. Leaving behind your parents and siblings. Make an incredibly difficult journey across the Sahara desert at the mercy of traffickers. Be unjustly imprisoned, forced to work, beaten. See your friends get shot or drown in the Mediterranean Sea. You are sure you're going to die in the boat. But then, by the grace of God, you set your feet on European soil. You're placed in a home with other boys your age, but have nothing to do all day long. You're bored out of your mind, hot, often only being fed rice and water. You don't know the local language and your future seems to be at the mercy of the government who decides if you can be granted refugee status. Since you don't know the language, people sometimes assume you're dumb. But in reality you know 7 other languages and are quite brilliant. Dreaming doesn't seem like an option. You can't see past tomorrow, and your head has just never been right since that boat ride and seeing your best friend drown. And to top it all off, you miss your mom like crazy. You'd do anything for a hug from someone who loves you. You're only 15, far from home, and fending for yourself.

This story may seem drastic, but these are details we've heard over and over from African boys who have fled their homes for safety. Sadly, these stories are the norm. We've seen the scars and the tears. Tonight, we took a bag full of board games and card games to a house where 47 boys live. Despite language barriers, the boys all learned how to play the games and we had so much fun. The director of the home looked into the room and said with amazement, "Look, they're all laughing!" It was the simplest gesture, sitting down and playing games. We left the games at the house, simply having something to do during the days will help occupy their minds. These boys think we bless them, but truly our hearts were bursting with love when we left. They bless us so much. They always want to know how long until we go back to America, if they can come with us, and when we'll be at the house next. They are just regular boys who happened to be born in vastly different circumstances than you and me. They aren't bad, they don't have ill intentions, they aren't extremists. I wonder what the future looks like for these boys, and wish I could bring them all home. They've literally walked through hell and survived - I know God brought them through for a reason and has great plans for each one. We gave them all Bibles a few weeks ago. One boy told me tonight that he's been reading about Moses & James. In a few days we'll go back to start a Bible study in the house, for whichever boys want to come. God has opened the door to this home for such a time as this. These boys will likely end up in all parts of the world, and we are so thankful for this little window of time to pour into their lives and love them unconditionally. 

 We were back again last night in the home. The boys got out the games and brought them to us to play. Another few hours were spent playing games and talking with the boys.  One of them said as we left that it was so good for us to be there that we should come any free time we have because when we are there they don't have time to think about what they have been through or what they have left behind. Its a break. Its laughter. Its allowing them to be boys again.

This ministry looks so different than what we have been doing the rest of the trip. This is relational. This is just sitting and talking with the boys for hours. Its easy to get thinking that we aren't making a difference or an impact. But we are and maybe even greater than we do with those we chat with for 5 minutes on the side of the road. With these boys we are building relationships and showing them people do care about them.  They are worth it.

Its already Friday and our forth team leaves in three days.  It goes by so fast. Soon us staff will have to pack up and say goodbyes.  None of us are ready for that.  Please pray that us staff would take full advantage of these last few weeks we are here. That we would be bolder than ever and step out trusting the Lord will be there with us.  




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The third team.

I promised you more on our third team. Which is our second one from Waypoint. 

 Check out Sydney's blogs on our team page.  The first.  And the second.

This team came thinking about the big shoes they were to fill. This comes with following the Dschool and hearing all the stories and experiences from that. But we constantly reminded them that they weren't filling shoes but standing on shoulders.

We picked up trash at the Piazza that we do ministry at on a weekly basis.

Over the week the Lord was so kind and gracious to them. He called them to and laid before them just what they could handle and what they needed. For so many of them this was their first trip. (I personally love watching people on their first mission trips) Over the week we watched team members step out in bravery and share bits of their stories with strangers. We watched an 11 year old go up to people on the street and pray for them. We watched a team who was unsure step into what the Lord is calling them to be. There were moments of courage, of giant leaps of faith and of intense prayer that made this week unlike any of the others.

That has been the cool part. Watching the Lord work in each team and see how He uses each one to bring His kingdom here to Italy. This team was a little quieter and the Lord knew that so night after night he brought people to them to talk. They didn't have to go out and find them. He also opened huge doors for us to go into some of the housing for youth refugees. He brought relationships to them knowing it was going to be a bit harder for them to go searching for them.  Each team member was blessed and changed by their time here. 

My prayer, as with every team, is that that fire and that passion they experience here will go back home with them and ignite our church and city for Jesus. 

Over half way.

So our time here is over half way over. Not sure how I feel about that.  I am trying to stay in the here and now and not think about what it will be to go home.

We now have our third team here.  A bit about them later.

With the Sheffield team.

While Sheffield was here the Lord was hard at work in Sicily.  Check out our Intern blog about what the Lord did during their time here. 

In that short week He head many including a few on the team.  DBS/bible studies were started and we started to see people give their lives to the Lord.  This team stood on the shoulders of the Dschool team and took the Lords work further. 

It was wonderful how this group of strangers turned into family so quickly.  They were passionate about the Lord, powerful worshipers and prayers.  Since returning to Sheffield one team member has told me that "Sheffield is ignited at the moment from what we have brought back, lets hope we can keep fanning the flame." How generous of the Lord to continue what is happening here to go to Sheffield and begin to change that city.  

Thank you for your prayers.  This summer is amazing and the Lord is working in so many ways. This is in thanks in part to those of you at home praying for us that the Lord will use us. And he has.  So think you for your prayers and keep them coming.  We have started several DBS bible studies through out the city, pray that those attending will garb a hold of them and make them their own so that when we leave they will be able to continue.

The walls of Jericho

First, Sorry that I have not been blogging more.  Amazing things are happening here. The lord is at work but we are so busy and get so tired when teams are here. I just woke from a 20 minute nap that turned into almost an hour, thanks to the snooze button.  It is getting hotter here so our quite times are spent relaxing and catching up on sleep lost over past day.  None the less here is a story from earlier in the week. I did post something about it on Social Media but here is the long story.

I believe this was Monday evening.

I was grouped with Ryan, Nikita (one of the girls from Sheffield) and one of our translators (I will call him S for the story). Ryan was told we were going to the park to prayer walk. Which we were excited about. The park is beautiful and no one is disappointed to go there. So we had S meet us there since he was already in the city.  We got into town and found that we were really at #5 which is the place of the building that houses that space that we want for the Agape Center.

This is the space that would be perfect for the Agape Center.

So back up to when we first arrived and parked we always circle up and pray and then disperse. So before we all split up Ryan shared a "word" that he got while relaxing earlier today.  He got the impression that whoever was at #5 location needed to walk around the building like the wall of Jericho. Six times praying and then the last one declaring Gods goodness and that the building is ours. Just after sharing that someone was looking at the group assignments are realized that Ryan's group was at #5.

So after splitting up finding S, because he was at the park with a dead phone, we started out walk around the building. We may have seemed crazy to on lookers. Walking around the same half block over and over. But we did it.

Walking laps, that is the building in the background.

A bit about how the walk went for me and how the Lord showed up.

 So a little background, this summer the Lord is showing me and teaching me that He sees me, He cares for me beyond belief. This was just more reaffirmed this night during the walk. 

The first two laps around the building I would start to pray for something but then couldn't, in the sense that I didn't have the words or what I wanted to pray I didn't know who to put words to it.  I was getting frustrated and the enemy was mocking me. Telling me that if only I had the gift of tongues like everyone else then I wouldn't be of no use. He just kept telling me I was broken, that I would be the reason that this was not going to work. I kept praying against all that and even prayed for tongues. The Lord knows my heart and where I am at on tongues. He knows that its a complicated thing for me. So I was not given tongues that night but instead each lap around he would give me something to pray about. Something to share with the other three to pray for together as we walked.  Which to me was even more sweet because he saw my need, my distress and came in a gifted me with knowledge and a way to pray, that incorporated all of us so that the prayers were even stronger.  Jesus himself even said that "Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven." in Matthew 18:19.  

Praying over the building on the final lap.

The last Lap was all celebration, though it may have been the quietest celebration. We thanked the Lord and declared this building and place His.  The four of us walked away confident that that building is ours and if its not it will be clear and the Lord will give us another place that will be easy to rent. 

Declaring this Building THE LORDS.

We didn't talk to anyone that evening.  But we knew we poked big holes in the tent of darkness over the city.  S could feel the enemy's camp was in a state of confusion with each lap and each prayer prayed that night.  Just another way the Lord is showing me and my teammates how important prayer is.

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.

Our first week

We have been here for almost a week. This week has been filled with figuring out our schedule and to get antiquated with our jobs and locations. We spent an evening at a Piazza talking with people and yesterday we went into the City to walk around and see where we will be ministering on a daily basis.  Here are a few pictures of my time here so far. 

Street food after the Piazza

Mount Etna from our balcony

Michelle and I in the city exploring

Sydney, Nicole and Michelle

The big Catholic church in the middle of town.

Please be praying for health for the team and that we can be prepared and ready for our first team to arrive. They come on Saturday. Continued prayer for unity and for boldness for our staff (this is what we are calling our team on interns).