Update Finally!

I've been here a full week now, and I do not have internet access! (Not complaining, just letting you know why I haven't updated!) So yesterday we finished our first full week of work, and today we had our first free day! The week has been busy, crazy, stressful, yet incredible and such a wonderful blessing at the same time! I worked with the youth group from Englewood Baptist Church in Englewood, TN on a house for a lady who had a nasty divorce, then was ripped off by some guys she hired to fix this house up for her and her kids..$15,000 down the tube! She and her children have been living with her mother, who says that's just too many kids running around a house! :) We haven't yet completed the house, but what a blessing it has been to be used by the Lord! The lady and her mother are believers (or at least seem to be, as they have repeatedly said this is what they've prayed for). Please pray that they will be encouraged in heart and that their faith and relationships with the Lord will be strengthened, as well as that their needs be met. I felt, though, that this week, my biggest ministry would be to the youth group rather than the home owners, simply because we saw the homeowners only a couple of times a day. So I set out to get to know the youth, hoping that for the Lord's sake, they would find me cool and not a dorky missionary :) We ended up bonding in the coolest way ever, and I cannot imagine having a better group to work with! I prayed for them all week, that they would connect with the Lord and that His Spirit would grip their hearts, calling from among them preachers, teachers, and missionaries. And I trust He will. :)
I have the incredible opportunity of leading the praise band for the summer. It has been a challenge, and I look forward to seeing how the Lord grows me as a musician, as I have met many people who don't "do" my kind of music. :) I was surprised to find that my youth group preferred good ol' hymns from the hymnal rather than, say Chris Tomlin or Hillsong. Not that that's a bad thing, I was just surprised! :) So I will have to make a point to branch out and learn new ways of worshipping through music, being allthewhile (is that a word?) reminded that worship is not restricted to just music. Anyway, that's another sermon for another day. Just know that it's been a great week, and I look so forward to what the Lord is going to do and teach me this summer!
And a crazy-cool, out-of-the-blue door opened for me today. Earlier, I met a guy named Michael who is from Nigeria (South Africa), and as I was sitting outside alone this evening reading, he came up on his bike. While we were talking, a girl named Shelley walked by that he knows from ELI (English Language Institute, which teaches English to internationals who come to be students here). She ended up taking me to meet some Taiwanese people (she teaches and LIVES WITH Taiwanese people! So cool!). She said that most of them are not believers, so there will definitely be a door there, which is so very exciting, because I am on the internationals team of the BSU leadership team for next year. What a great opportunity! And Shelley seems so very outgoing. She gave me her phone number and said she would love to hang out some this summer, so maybe that will open up even more doors! I am pretty sure Shelley is a believer, because she talked about how the others are not, so perhaps there could be some sort of crazy friendship come out of that! All from reading a book, talking with the Lord on the sidewalk in front of my apartment. Crazy. Our God is God! And He's got a plan! :)


You're the God of this city,
You're the King of these people,
You're the Lord of this nation,
You are.

Greater things have yet to come,
and greater things have still to be done in this city!