Spring is in the air!

Well, almost. It is going to be in the 60s here in southern Missouri and I am going to enjoy it! I am super excited about the warm weather and maybe it will bring up my spirit a little. I have not been too fun to be around the past couple of days, but I can feel it is turning around!

So in an earlier post I mentioned that I would share my story of my call to missions so here it goes! I was born into a Christian family. I was saved at the age of 6 and I was in church all time, whether I wanted to be there or not! My family was very involved in many aspects of the church and a lot of the activities were missions related but I did not recognize it at the time. Missionaries visited our church on a regular basis, too. It was always an exciting time when a missionary was in town. However, just because it was an exciting time did not mean I was really excited about missions. As I got older, my relationship with Christ changed dramatically and I finally got what being a Christian was all about. I started enjoying church, I became a leader among my peers, and I began to work on my personal relationship with Jesus.

I then moved away from my hometown to go to college in Springfield. Finding a new church was exciting and important to me. It turns out, it was super easy. My sister and her husband were attending a church in Springfield, Hamlin, and I began going with them. It was an easy fit and I knew that it was the place for me. God has proved this time and time again, too! Hamlin is a missions minded church. I have learned so much about missions and what it looks like. There have been many opportunities for me to serve.

Bro. Jim, the pastor at Hamlin until about a week ago, did a study on missions in December 2005 and that is the first time I felt a call to missions. I talked with leaders in the church about it and they advised me to continue to be involved in mission work at the church and pray about what God had laid on my heart. I did just that. I took almost every opportunity to be involved at Hamlin in some way. This call on my life never really went away. In Fall of 2007, a missionary family that my church has supported for years came to update us about their ministry. Their ministry is in Japan and I was more intrigued this time. I took the time to sit with them and talk about different aspects of Japan. The more I knew about Japan, the more I was interested! The missionaries gave people in the church a yen and I make a commitment on that day that I would keep that yen in my wallet and every time I saw it I would pray about Japan and the opportunity to go there. God answered that pray in the Spring of 2008. During a church service where a missionary from Africa was speaking, God spoke to my heart. I then began the journey of traveling to Japan for 6 months.

It has been great to see how God has been working all my life for this moment. So many things had to be planted for me to accept this call on my life! So many people had to enter my life for me to be where I am today! I love it! Nonetheless, this has not been an easy road and it will continue to be hard. It is hard to get everything in place to go to Japan. It will be difficult to raise the funds. The only way my family, my friends, and I can get through this is with God's help! It is hard to totally depend on God for this, but that doesn't mean we won't! God has called me to this journey and the people closest to me get a front row seat. They shouldn't be surprised that God has called me into missions! After all they are the ones that instilled missions into my heart!

Preparing to GO TELL-
Amanda

What a week!

First of all, this is one of my favorite pics! This is me (in the middle) and my two beautiful sisters, Kerry and Alicia! Love you guys!

Every time a new semester of school starts it is very stressful and this week has not been different! It has been very bust, but really I have been blessed. My roommate and awesome friend has not had such luck! In short she has gone through 2 surgeries, 2 visits to the ER, and several doctor visits, but hopefully after tonight things should settle down!

The main thing that is on mine mind is the 'Miracle on the Hudson' story. I am sure everyone has heard this story a million times already, but I love this story because God's hand can be seen in every aspect of it. I don't know the soul of any of the people on the plane, but after surviving this ordeal they must believe that something, someone kept them alive. I have watched a lot of media coverage on this story, but my favorite moment was on The Today Show this morning. A group of passengers were being interviewed and they were talking about how everyone was praying aloud. Then one woman said, "I am a born-again Christian so I began to pray." This brought tears to my eyes because of her boldness. Yeah, I am sure most people would admit that they were praying in that moment, but how many would be so bold to claim that they were born-again Christians. This extra statement just adds much more!

Speaking of blessings, I have felt them this week. I have been reminded daily, hourly of God's greatness and His love for me this week. No, this week did not go perfectly, but if we are following God's will and acquire a heart of thankfulness, then we can see God working in our lives every minute! My life would be empty, I would be worthless without Him!

Well, thanks to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I do not have work or school on Monday so I am looking forward to a three day weekend. Maybe I will get some school work done. Maybe.....

And the work begins..... :)

So I was not able to blog from Michigan like I had hoped, but the training went really well! I enjoyed myself and I met a lot of great people. The training was about 4 days long and it went all day, every day. It was kind of like school, but no tests! The sessions we had throughout the day were about and hour or two long and the teaching was awesome. I learned so much about ministering and about myself. I am excited to put some things into practice! I have to raise my own funds through SEND. The amount is large, but I know that God can do anything and if this is truly His will for my life, then I know the funds will come in. It will be a very busy semester with school, work, raising funds, and everything else I have to do in preparation for spending six months in Japan. It should be an exciting time, that FLIES by!

Today was the first day of school. My winter break was so short and busy that I don't feel like I really had a break. That has actually been a good thing cause I am still in school mode. I am taking 15 hours (I was hoping to take less), but it is my last semester!

Yesterday we commissioned my pastor and his family to the mission field. They are going to serve in Africa through the International Missions Board. They are off to training for several months and then to Africa for 4 years. It was a bittersweet time. They provided so much inspiration to me and they have been able to pass on their passion of missions to many people at our church, me included. I am so grateful that I was under their leadership for almost four years. God led me to Hamlin for many purposes and they are one of them! So if you think of it, keep them in your prayers. They are Jim and Teresa and their three younger children, Gracie, Anna, and Rebekah are going too. Also, my good friend Erica and her husband Grant are moving to Indiana today to start in youth ministry. It is a big change for them, and their little Addi, but they feel like this is God's plan. They both have a lot of offer to a church.

A lot of changes have happened, but these changes also mean new beginnings! I am looking forward to see what God has up His sleeve. It is always amazing!

Training!!!

So I leave for training in less than 48 hours. Actually, I will be at training in less than 48 hours. I am getting very excited about it. I have been really anxious and nervous, but I am past that point. I am just ready to get there and get it started. I know very little about the training, but I do know at one point I have to give my testimony in front of everyone so I hope that goes well. I also know that there will be some tests (not sure what that means in the end, like if you have to pass to continue) so I hope that I am able to do well on them. I excited, I just hope that it also goes smoothly, especially the flight, and I return safely.



In the last few weeks, probably because of the approach of the new year, I have really been thinking about what the next year means for me. In one year I will have a B.S. in Criminology and Sociology and I will have spent six months in Japan (I should be back a year from now). What an amazing this year is going to be! I will miss so many things, mainly family time, but I will be a better person (hopefully) at then of 2009 than at the beginning. This is going to be a year of change. I hope that I know what to do after it is all over. I know what I would love to do, but God will have to open the doors for it to happen and I know if it is His will for my life, He will.



So as this is the new year I have made a new year's resolution and I am going to tell all of you so that maybe you can hold me accountable! I am going to try to wean myself off of soda. I drink diet soda (doesn't matter what kind) like it is going out of business! I would say that I am addicted and if it where alcohol I would be in AA! It would save me so much money and since I will be in a place where it may not be available every second I don't want to have to wean myself then. I want to be able to focus on my mission, not on when can I have a diet coke. Also, do you know how bad that stuff is for you! It may not have calories, but it is killing my brain! I would like to be able to remember what I did five minutes ago when I am 35! So that is it. I am going to slowly stop drinking diet soda. I will let you know how it is going. Today I have had one, which is almost perfect compared to four or five I normally would have had!



Well I will stop rambling on! I will post when I am in Michigan!