changes

It's amazing to me how my Father has been doing so much construction in me in the past few years. Thinking back to when His and my relationship really started to develop when I was 13-14 I have been changed so much and have had some major overhauls and reconstruction.

This past week or so with my roommate who loves the Father so much I have been reflecting on all the Father has been doing in our life. I am just so thankful for what He is doing and there is still a long road ahead as I continue to look at His Son! and I'm glad that you are reading this and hope that together we can get to know the Story of Grace our Father has written to us about in His book even more!

As I write this blog I really do not want it to be about me, or what changes I am making in MY life. I know that it is the Father who is the only who is good and I am no special person who has done some great things for needy people and now I'm changing my life. Honestly the only one who has done great things for needy people is our Father and He is the one who has a compassion and concern for them! He also has called me to obey His Words. So I'm just another one of His who is empowered by His Spirit to obey. I really want to just write out the lessons I learned and changes that I am making so that I can look at them and see what the Father has done and put it into practice, but because of the encouragement of some I'm making it so that you can read it too.

my closet
It's funny how I got so used to living out of a suitcase this summer. Typically I'm not a big fan of doing that, but it really went well this summer. I kept it organized and I just got used to having the set of clothes that I wore. A really nice part of that was that it didn't matter what I wore, or even if it matched! Since being back I have been really overwhelmed by how much I own! I have so many clothes, and even ones I don't like!!! as well as so many other things. I have boxes at home that I don't even use right now, and I had stuff stored here at school with all the clothes and things I use in my dorm room! Since being back I have really realized that the Father has really given me so much and I want to give that to Him to use to glorify Himself. It is really an adjustment. I know that I cannot get rid of everything, but the my list of necessities is getting smaller. I also realize that there is so much room for me to grow in this area and I continue to ask the Father to show me how I can best use all that He has given me.

my study
One of the things I learned in my time away was about how the workers are doing studies in the Holy Book with the nationals. It has been such a learning and life changing experience for me! I was challenged not just to study and leave with new facts or new knowledge but hear and obey. It wasn't that I wasn't trying to put the words of the Father into action in my life, but I have always strayed from being very practical and intentional about it because it is scary to have to actually come up with a practical application and be accountable to do it! But as we went through the four questions* the workers use I realized that I need to use these each time I approach scripture and ask the Father to give me the grace to obey it. Also along with obeying it, I saw how important it is to be held accountable by others to actually be doing it! I was so blessed by the team I worked and how much they valued transparency and accountability. It made such a difference in how they worked together and I got to see them growing together! I wish I could show you what I mean, but I can tell you loved it and this has changed me and how I spend time studying the Word and even my relationships with my close friends to become ones of accountability!
  (*the four questions are: What do we learn about the Father? What do we learn about man? What are principles or examples to follow? What am i going to do about it?)


my daily life
When I learned about the way the workers do studies I also learned about how they find people to study with. They refer to it as "living out loud." As they go about normal activities and work in villages etc. they want to be having a conversation that leads people to think about spiritual things every time they talk. This might mean just mentioning our Father's provision to a farmer, or talking about praying to a waiter etc. As they do this they try to find people who have spiritual interest and invite them to learn more about the Father. Honestly, this is not just the responsibility of workers overseas... and as I was there I realized that there are some changes that need to happen in my life concerning;
      my fun/my friends
When I want to have fun, I usually find friend on campus or from Sunday Fellowship and invite them to hang out and do something together. Most of my interactions are with people who already know the Father. Instead, I can be doing this with people who don't know Him! and living out loud in front of them. I am still searching for ways that I can do that right now, but I'm hoping to be able to use sports or some kind of exercise as a way to get to know people in the community.
      my work
I've also been working on campus in the library. I enjoy the work and my co-workers too. They are a lot of fun and hard workers. I think that work my sophomore year gave me many opportunities to befriend people who don't know the Father though, so I have applied to work off campus and I am hoping to get to know some knew people and ask the Father to give me the grace to live out loud where I work.
  
my eating (just for fun)
This isn't really a life lesson, BUT it is something that I learned while I was away...
I got to try a lot of new foods this summer and I found some new foods that I like and some that are just interesting.

New Favorites:
I found out Tofu and Tempe (another protein filled soy product) are yummy!
Rice at lunch and dinner are great! (Having it at every breakfast can be a little much sometimes.)
The island I was on doesn't mess when it comes to spicy food and though I love spicy, I'm weak compared to them!
Also fresh squid is great.
Because of the many local fruit trees there were all kinds of delicious fruit "juices" which were basically blended fruit! SO YUMMY! (and usually for less than $1)
a local favorite dessert is "Es Campur" (Mixed Ice) shaved ice with a variety of fresh fruit and sweetened condensed milk (Yum.)

Interesting:
I got to try grilled fish--this means the entire thing! It was quite a task to get all the meat off. The way the locals do it is the best way--with their hands.
I also got to have little tiny fish (sardine size) fried with peanuts. It tasted very fishy but fun to eat the little fishies whole :)
I ate foods I didn't recognize wrapped in banana leaves. Sometimes great, sometimes not so great.
I tried green coconut--the top is cut of and lime juice is squeezed into the milk. You can drink the milk and scrape out the coconut meat.

Yummy espresso!

Gotta love it when you're friends bring out something they call "Tim Tam Slams" and just expect you to eat it in a really odd way without asking questions (thankfully it wasn't a prank and it was delicious).

Green coconut

Es Campur