Leaving a week from today!

Required  dress in some villages

Greeting everyone!

It is hard to believe that I will be leaving a week from today for the "our friends" missions training in the Philippines.  My trip will be from April 20th till June 8th and will also include a visit to some Wycliff Missionaries I met in Texas round Christmas as well as my uncle's High 5 Hope sporting event in Manilla.  I am excited to learn from the missionaries I will be joining.  They don't like their info posted online due to the areas they go into so I will be referring to them as the *'s.   I can't really be discussing here what all we will be covering in the training but I am excited to get to know their national staff and glean from shadowing their ministry.

To back up a bit I also wanted to share some things that have been happening recently.

Before her Mom was in the hospital

Passion without action is pointless but action without prayer is powerless...For those of you who were praying for Ymrije's Mom.  Thank you.  Her family continues to need to be strengthened via prayer.  Fatime passed away last week but praise God had received Jesus before she died.  My boss Jeff at Mercy Projects was kind enough to add her family to our monthly support program in Kosovo and some friends  jumped in to become her familie's sponsors.  As I was praying for her, God really convicted me by asking, "What are you going to DO for her?"   So after calls and Facebook campaigning...thank you to all who helped that family.  Also I was able to write a little about my experiences in Kosovo for this month's Mercy Project Newsletter.  You can read it here.

Smell like Jesus!..April 2nd I was asked to speak at Calvary Chapel New Song's monthly women's breakfast.  I had a blast with some long time friends from CCBC (Yaye Lepards!) and the other sisters there.  I spoke on being a fragrance of Christ where God has placed us (2 Corinthians 2:14-17)  I even ended up at a table of ladies who immigrated from the Philippines who over the din of laughing ladies taught me some Tagalog for my trip.  Ang ganda mol "You're beautiful"

God's Action Figure!..This years Calvary Murrieta Women's retreat was amazing!  The speakers blessed us with their openness, the staff did a fantastic job of feeding us, and the drama team had us in stitches the whole weekend.  Christianne and I got to be bathroom decorators and as you can see our Spiderman is a follower of Jesus :)

Thank you all for sticking with me in this time of transition.  I know that God has called me to serve Him with my life but as to the specifics...beyond June 8th I have no idea what the next step is.  Please continue to venture with me in my adventure via prayer!

Praise Reports:
-Thank you for all you who helped me get the funds together for this training.  Everything is covered until I return. Please pray however about becoming a regularly monthly supporter.  Even just $5 a month  for any missionary is more of a blessing that random larger gifts (not that we don't love those too!)  Consistent support helps us to plan what we are able to do for the year as well as purchase tickets early enough to get good deals.
-Ymrije's mom passed into the arms of Jesus' and her family has a little help for this next year.  Please continue to pray for work for the older boys to be able to provide for their family and for Ymrije who at 22 is now sister and mom to her 6 siblings.
-God has provided housing and a means of travel and part time work for this entire past year!

Prayer Requests:
-Safety and wisdom as I travel by myself
-A growing time with the *'s and their staff in the Philippines
-For me to walk attentively to my Shepherd's voice