Stranger to friend to a new sister in Christ to possible co-worker???

Do you guys remember my friend Meena? I just got this email from her - how cool is this!?

I got to spend some time with Meena when she was visiting Orlando in March.

"I have some exciting news -- I have been approached by the National Director of Agape (Campus Crusade for Christ in Europe) here in Birmingham, England to apply for the role as her PA in ministry! I'm really overwhelmed still to be honest, but know that God is growing me & strengthening me in considering and applying for the role alone. I'm asking for your prayers during this time as I'm completing my application and seek out God's will for me during what I believe to be a really essential time in my life! Your prayers are priceless to me! I'm thanking you in advance."

Will you join me in praying for her as God continues to reveals His plans for her? I will keep you posted as I hear back :)

Modern Day Slavery

“The UNICEF reports that across the world, there are more than one million children entering the sex trade every year and that approximately 30 million children have lost their childhood through sexual exploitation over the past 30 years."

“Belgium, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Thailand, Turkey and the United States are countries ranked “very high” as destination countries of trafficked persons (UNODC, 2006).”

“The sex industry in the Netherlands is estimated to make almost $1,000,000,000 ($1 billion) each year (UNECE, 2004).”

This past Friday, I attended a Human Trafficking Awareness event. The Women’s Ministry of Oak Pointe Church Milford, held this as their theme for their Christmas party. The woman who spoke shared 3 final tips, in which, the final one was “Share at least one thing you have learned tonight.”

In a few weeks, I will be headed to Bangkok, Thailand and will also have a layover in Amsterdam, Holland on my way to Spain. These two cities are known for their “Red-Light Districts”. While my main purpose in visiting these cities is working different conferences representing the Jesus Film, it’s also sobering thinking about going to these places, knowing full well millions are enslaved to this sick industry. Knowing this industry is also in neighboring cities across the States is somewhat surreal and heart wrenching!

Please join me in praying for restoration, freedom, hope and justice for these people.

James 5:16 “…The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working!”

John 8:36 “So if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”

Proverbs 31:8-9 “Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.”

www.ijm.org

Sharing my "God Story"

Thursday night, I was invited to share my “God Story” at GVSU Cru. It’s a time to share about how God has impacted and shown up in my life.

I took a picture from the stage at GVSU.

It worked out perfectly, because I was already on the West side of the state to babysit a few days for a fun family I met in college. Note: Props to all moms who manage multiple schedules, clean the house, feed the family, drive children to and from places, all while having her own life. Respect. It takes a lot of coordination, selflessness and patience.

As I prepared for my talk, I obviously spent time looking back on the past, on the journey God has taken me on thus far. Going to Grand Valley. Studying marketing. Getting involved with Cru. Attending various Cru conferences. Going on STINT and moving to France. Interning in Orlando with YearOne.

I enjoyed looking back on all these “life events”, which I now see how they all connected. Each fit, perfect for the story God has just for me. It was also encouraging for me, as I acknowledged God’s fingerprints all over these life experiences, reminding myself that I can trust Him. He’s proved Himself over and over.

It frustrated me how many times I doubt Him and His goodness or if He will come through. And then I realized something. Something so elementary to a modern day Christian believer; Its in those moments of doubt and worry, that I am living out of the flesh. Our of my own ability. Out of my own knowledge (limited as it is).

Clearly, if I solely lived out of my own desires and plans, I doubt I would be in ministry. I credit and attribute that to the Spirit’s working in my life. For this season of life, He has me here. Currently raising support, but eventually to be working with the JESUS Film Project, equipping missionaries with digital tools to reach the nations for Christ! With the eternal perspective in mind, that’s pretty rewarding. He obviously knows what He’s doing, and in my time of reflection, I found myself realizing I need to be thankful for that more and more. And also to absorb the peace that comes from knowing He’s got it all figured out.

Provision

God provided big this week. Not only is financial support still coming in (praise for that), this week about 10% came in AS WELL AS I finally found a car and bought it- cash. Straight up, the car is just what I wanted: sporty, yet practical; cool color (I think the official name is “Indigo Lights”), sun roof, A/C that works (my old car did not, which made Florida even hotter), an iPod jack, low mileage and a key fob. Those were generally my criteria.

This isn’t to say that God isn’t a provider during “dry spells”. He is the faithful One who knows all my needs before they even exist, and in His timing, and through His ways, somehow ends meet. They may not always look as I would have pictured, or planned for, but His plans are better anyways, right?

And during those down times, He might be teaching me patience, to trust Him, to get on my knees and pray more – and maybe that’s because He desires a deep and daily relationship with me. An effort that I sometimes, too many times, I don’t offer or give my 100% to Him in it.  This is something I think every Christian struggles with – yet God still continues to be gracious and faithful on His side of things. He’s a pretty great Guy to be in a relationship with, if I do say so myself!

During my car search, which started in July… well actually when I moved home from France, and ended up with a temporary Buick (hey, I moved to Florida, “Buick- central” with all the old folks. My brothers now drive it to school and football, which left me car-less for a couple months. My family has been very accommodating and helpful in letting me borrow their cars as needed.)

Soooo… since July, I’ve been praying for a car daily. There were even a few I made offers on. I think God had this car picked out even before I moved to France two years ago. Each time I have walk up to it, unlocked it, I praise God and see my car as a daily reminder of His provision. I am very thankful for it!

Thankfulness, Prayer and Hope: September

Things I am thankful for...

• A supportive family who believes in what I am doing with my life
• Reaching 50% of my support raising goal
• The season of fall: changing color of leaves, apple cider, football games
• Dark chocolate and it's wonderful flavor
• The ability to laugh at myself

Things I am praying and trusting the Lord for...

• Connecting with the other 50% of my support team
• Searching, budgeting and buying a "new" car
• Relationships - a lot of my genuine community is at a distance and I want to use this 'solo' time to draw closer to Him
• The official release of the Jesus Film Media app for Apple products (sooooo soon - check my blog again this week maybe!!!) 
• Daily surrender to trust Him and His leading

Things I am hopeful and looking forward to...

• Eventually buying my own, first, nice car
• Reporting to my job with Jesus Film Media in Orlando
• The New Staff Follow Up conference in October
• Hopefully running the Turkey Trot in the Detroit Thanksgiving Day parade
• Snow... can I say that? It's almost been 2 years!!! I want to snowboard so baddd

Hopefully not lost in translation

It's about 6:45 p.m. here at the conference. Glad to report our presentations went well - we hope!

First, we showed this clip (Once our digital platform is launched, we will be able to embed video clips like this. Special thanks to JP Erickson for help with subtitles.): http://bcove.me/0v5ejcs5

First. I talked about the easiness of streaming the Jesus Film from our website. It is currently available in over 1,150 languages! And once the digital platform is finished, people from across the world will be able to download the full length film! We are hoping to create partnerships with different communication centers across this part of the world, as well as globally with others. I then talked about embedding videos to blogs, emails and social media sites from Jesus Film Media. Embedding these videos from our secure digital platform will allow for solid follow up, real statistics and create more of a unified optimization of these videos in ministry.

Nifer then talked about the power of social media and how we can utilize our presence on the various forms: Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, blogs. She also shared with them about the exciting future plans we have once our digital platform is complete.  Partnering with Jesus Film Media will allow us to track views, check demographics and see what parts of films are most viewed. We can also share the successful strategies and plans with other communication centers across the world.

After our presentation people were able to have some good discussions among their different communication teams: Radio, Television, Communication, Internet and Literature. We walked around answering questions as asked.

During the afternoon, we ate lunch with two girls from Central Asia. They shared a story about when they used a clip from Magdalena, during a conversation with students they met, both of those girls came to Christ! It was great to hear about their ministry on campus. They also tried teaching us Russian - which is incredibly hard!

It has been a great time here, reconnecting with national staff. Early tomorrow morning (4 a.m. here)/tonight (10 p.m. Florida) I will start my journey back to Orlando. Prayers for connections, safety and sleep would be greatly appreciated.

Week One: Day One

Rodger Hersey, a 40 year staff veteran, is currently training 1,000 students on listening skills for evangelism.

"Listening is the most important skill in Evangelism."

James 1:19 "Let everyone be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger. For the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God."

Big Break 2012: Week 1

Registration starts today at 4 pm CST - over 1,000 college students are coming to spend their Spring Break sharing their faith on the beach of Panama City Beach, Florida! Please be praying for those who are still traveling down from various states. Today's weather has been a little crazy with a flood, fire, rip current and tornado warnings all day.

It has been exciting these past couple days watching the main ballroom take shape with the stage and background (which I helped work on!). Students will be growing, worshiping and sharing evangelism stories in this room each week. I am hoping to take a video or two to share with you all.

Preview Weekend 2012

What a weekend! 28 college graduates came to Campus Crusade headquarters to attend a conference called Preview Weekend. The Year One leaders as well as interns, hosted these students to share with them the vision of using their giftings, passions and possibly even major in ministry. The students toured around different departments, meeting supervisors and asking them questions, gaining a better perspective of the "nerve center" of Cru.

The essence and program of Year One was heavily focused, as it provides a year long internship experience along side personal development. Through out the weekend, several current Year One interns were able to share different aspects of how they've grown, been challenged or seen God provide. The first night, I shared with the students my journey thus far, interning with Crusade - starting on STINT, my current experience with Year One and where I see God leading me next.

Please pray as these students make a decision about their future, that God would go before them and lead them toward His will for each of them specifically.

Preview Weekend Planning

Today, a group of us are going over logistics for Preview Weekend -- which happens this weekend! There is a lot of planning and details that are being put into this event.

Preview Weekend is an opportunity for college graduating seniors to visit Campus Crusade for Christ head quarters and see the world of operations. They will be meeting with supervisors from various departments, hearing from pioneering Cru leaders and interact with current YearOne interns.

It will be cool to see students come who we met with at Christmas Conferences last month. There are two students I met with who will be coming this weekend - Zeb and Tracy. It would be wonderful if this weekend would be bathed in prayer as these students consider their future.

Some more MidYear

This has been a great week. I have so enjoyed spending time with STINTers, seeing them engage in community and share the joys and struggles of their ministry and processing what the Lord has next for them. Several people have approached me, thanking me for the work my team has put into this conference. Those sweet little conversations reminded me of why I am here - to care for, encourage and create a resting place for missionaries out on the front lines.

It has also been a sweet treat to see friends I made last year during all of the STINT conferences. At times I've felt a little jealous of their international experiences, but I know God has me in Orlando for His purposes. It's been a good reminder that every day is a new adventure wherever you are!

Spain Midyear 2012

This year, I get to, again, attend the Spain Midyear conference for STINTers and ICS - International Campus Staff. This time from a conference planner perspective - rather than as a STINTer - like I did last year.

The first and second day, I helped transport over 300 conference participants to the conference hotel. (Picture: My friend Lauren and my roommate Erin (who was driving) helped me on the second day welcome STINTers.) I am excited for each of the STINTers, as Midyear is designed to be a time of rest, reflecting and rejuvenating for the second semester of their STINT year. As I can remember, they need it!

Bonjour Paris!

I realize the blessings and opportunities I get to experience while interning with Cru. As most of you know, I will be working a conference in Spain next week for all the interns working internationally (STINTers). It will be fun to be back at this conference as a conference team member, as opposed to last year when I attended as a STINTer.

Since I had planned on being on "that side of the pond" months ago, I decided to take a detour before the conference and visit my team from last year as well as their new members. It has been great to reconnect with my old teammates as well as French friends I wasn't sure I would see again! Tonight, we had dinner with Charlene and Kevin. (I met Charlene at the grocery story early last year. It was so great to see her!)

So earlyyyyy tomorrow morning (4:50 am France = 10:50pm Florida) I will be joining the Paris Operations STINT team for an outreach at the French town hall. This is the place immigrants (mainly North Africans) line up for visas and other official government papers as early at 2 am! We will be going to give them hot chocolate and gift bags of goodies and calendars with Bible verses in French and Arabic. Hopefully, we will be engaging in some spiritual conversations too. I'm not quite sure how I will be able to communicate since my French not only limited but rusty - but I am excited to be there to help this team reach North Africans!

I will be posting more, maybe tomorrow, on how it went :) Thanks in advance for your prayers!

New Staff Training

As I type this, about 90 new staff are walking through registration (that I am in charge of!) to start a 5 week training in joining staff with Campus Crusade for Christ.

Filing paperwork.

When you read this, could you say a prayer for them (God is outside of time, so even if this is a week later, please pray!)? These people have decided to take a huge step of faith and ultimately, their daily tasks in investing in the lives of students, staff and others will help transform lives for eternity!

Christmas Conference 2011

Over my time at home, I went to the Indy Christmas Conference for the Great Lakes region. Over 2,000 students came to this conference to be filled, challenged, learn how to evangelize and build community.

"Using your major in ministry!"

My purpose of attending this conference was to meet with students, specifically seniors, to share with them the opportunities within the administrative side of ministry. Including, but not limited to: video production, finance, web publishing, conference planning, human resources, accounting, editing, photography, information technology and more...

Front of the Ops postcard - I did feel a little silly handing these out!

Back of postcard.

From a summer internship - called Summer Project, to a year internship regionally or internationally - STINT or Year One, or a long term commitment of joining staff. It was cool to see their facial expressions change as they learned more about these opportunities through our time together. I was able to share my experiences of living in France and working internationally and now working at Cru headquarters.

Some of the students we met with. All of these students pictured, indicated an interest in doing administration in ministry!

My teammate Julie, and I, met with over 40 students on a personal level, answering questions, getting contact information for all of them who were interested in some type of administrative position in ministry.

At the end of the conference, the conference gathered results from all the participants: 278 students committed one year to some sort of ministry. How cool is that!? Please be praying for them as they continue their education and pursue whatever God has in store for them.

The last night of the conference. The white cards hung on the string are commitments from students who are planning on giving a year of their life to ministry!

Thanksgiving with a Brit!

About two weeks ago, I wrote about a Disney intern I met at Disney. Her name is Meena. During our conversation, I learned she felt like she had not fully experienced American culture. After a while, I decided to extend an invitation to Meena to spend Thanksgiving with me and my roomates. I wasn't sure she would accept, but I hoped she would. I remembered the kindness and hospitality French people showed to me when I was living in France and wanted to do the same for Meena.

To my happy surprise, Meena decided to come! The night before Thanksgiving, I picked up Meena from her apartment and we went grocery shopping for Thanksgiving deserts! We made apple pie and chocolate pilgrim hat cookies. Thanksgiving morning, we watched the Macy’s parade with friends. Around lunchtime, we joined my roommate’s church in hosting a Thanksgiving lunch for people who live in a trailer park. We made the kids gospel bracelets. It was so cool to watch Meena, who is still seeking a personal relationship with God, explain to the kids the meaning behind the gospel bracelets. On our way home, Meena shared that she liked giving back to the community.

Me and Meena at the trailer park Thanksgiving outreach.

After we watched some football and took a nap, we headed to my friend’s home for dinner. One of the other guests there was a woman named Bryn. She was so warm, welcoming and engaging. It was apparent she is a woman of God because as she spoke with us, I could see the Holy Spirit using her to love and care for Meena by asking intriguing questions. I even felt like I walked away from the conversation, wanting to know God on a deeper level. Later when we got home, Meena brought up some of the things we had talked about with Bryn and we were able to discuss them further – grace, not being perfect, God’s work in our lives.

Meena and me with our apple pie!

I so enjoyed the time I spent with Meena over the Thanksgiving break. It made me take a fresh look and why we celebrate. It was also just fun to hang out with Meena - she is a very sweet girl. Tonight, we are going out to dinner together to the American restaurant The Cheesecake Factory at her request :)

Thanksgiving Outreach

Man, this past Saturday was a long and full day! We hosted Thanksgiving for the international Disney interns. We had 110 people feast and celebrate this holiday of appreciation. 85 internationals were there and of them, 17 were European -- 10 FRENCH PEOPLE!!! I was honestly amazed!

In our time spent at Disney, we as the European team, have had a hard time building relationships with the interns outside of Disney. They are very friendly and happy to see us when we come to their pavilion during the week, but usually are unavailable or uninterested in hanging out apart from Disney. So, we as the European team were so excited that so many Europeans came to this event.

One of my jobs was to drive interns to and from the event. There and back, I drove a couple French interns. On the way back, our conversation led to sharing the gospel! One of the girls was asking me where I work - which lead to explaining Cru, and Campus Crusade for Christ International - which lead to telling them about Cru in France/Europe which is called Life Agape - which lead to me trying to explain the word Agape - which went into a verrrry brief lesson of the Greek word - which lead to using it in an example = the Agape (unconditional love) of God through sending His Son to pay for our sins. It was cool :)

God's faithfulness - Pray BIG or go home.

God is just so good, faithful and wants to invest in the lives of His children.

Last week, before our Friday Disney day, I was praying for God to do something big. In the past, these Friday's have been pretty good, but I've felt myself relying on my own abilities to engage in conversations with interns. In realizing that, I feel that the "fruits of my labor" have been small. I have a BIG God, so why not fully rely on HIS abilities?

I kid you not, the first conversation of the day that I had, God blew me away. I met a girl named Meena who is from the UK and has been interning for 9 months. In our conversation, she shared with me about her families spiritual background - her dad is Buddhist and her mom is Catholic. She does not specifically identify with either, but acknowledges there is a God.

"So, is it easy for you?" she asked, regarding my journey of being a Christ follower. It seemed to be an opportunity for me to share my story with her and briefly explain the gospel. She was intrigued and wants to meet up for coffee sometime this coming week! I am thankful God has given me another international friend!

Distance Coaching Conference

This past month, I was assigned to be the conference administrator for a group of about 40. I worked with the conference speaker/host on the pre-conference tasks like creating the registration website, booking the hotel rooms and organizing meals. I liked doing this because I feel it got my "feet wet" to real conference planning.

These leaders came to Cru head quarters for Distance Coaching Training. Via Skype, email and over the phone, these leaders coach students and volunteers to lead movements of evangelism and discipleship on their campuses. Since these campuses don’t have full time staff, they depend on the leadership of students and volunteers. The coaching they receive is very important for impacting the lives of students involved in these new and growing ministries!

Something my supervisor has said before, '...the work we do in conference and event planning, sends missionaries, who build movements and leaders that fulfill the great commission.' Working on this conference has helped me see that.

French Friends

A few weeks ago, I missed a Disney friday due to an event at headquarters. A week or so later, I had a Disney "make-up" day on a Wednesday with a teammate, Evangeline and her daughter Annada. Usually, I never go on Wednesdays!

I ate lunch at the Paris pavilion and ended up meeting a french girl named Pauline. She studied at a university near by and came back to American for the Disney intern program. I mentioned to her I had just moved back from France and wanted to practice my french! Sort of hinting at the idea of hanging out :) I think she caught on because she said "If I wanted to hang out with French people, I would move back to France. I want to meet more Americans!"

We ended up exchanging phone numbers and I invited her to the Halloween party. Unfortunately, she was working late that night and couldn't come. A few days after the party, she texted me and invited me to hang out! I was pretty excited because this was the first intern I've met who has shown an interest in hanging out OUTSIDE of when I see them at Disney. I drove to Disney, picked her up at her apartment and we went out to a restaurant to chat about life. She is a honest person and not afraid to share her views. She speaks English really well! We talked about fun things to do in Orlando, making friends, dating - which lead to what qualities we look for in guys, and eventually the topic of marriage! She told me about her job and asked about mine. It was interesting for me to explain to her about support raising and that my job wants me to stay. On my way home, after I dropped her off at her place, Pauline sent me a text thanking me for hanging and hoping to again soon!

Pauline is also kind of an answer to prayer because when I found out I was accepted to YearOne, I prayed I would meet a French girl who would want to be my friend. I am excited to spend more time with her as the year continues.