A journey of finding, rejecting, and rediscovering my calling

GOD PATIENTLY TEACHES.

(This is a warrior angel character that I made based on the Ephesians 6 passage on the armor of God. I first drew her for a high school art class project, but this version of her I drew at a conference at the beginning of my first year in Twenty-Four Seven.)

God has always been leading me into what He has for me; specifically I want to talk about a purpose. Growing up I loved watching anime and dreamt of becoming a cartoon artist. Constantly, I practiced drawing random cartoons or things that I could see. As I got older, I trained to perfect my skill through classes at a private art studio, various competitions, and a lot of practice. Everywhere I went, godly friends and family spoke life into my dream, encouraging me to never give up. I frequently heard messages on how people shouldn’t bury God-given talents, but use those gifts to glorify and worship Him instead. However, around middle school, things started changing.

Greater talent in others became increasingly evident to me. Their skill intimidated me, and impatience started to turn me away from drawing; I wanted to be at a higher level without the years of experience, practice, and lessons. Slowly, insecurity about my artistic ability grew. After I refused compliments about my artwork, discounted other artists, and lost confidence in my blessing, the amount of time I spent drawing dwindled. Reasoning “there are people better than me, so why should I bother?” I proceeded to make excuses to justify quitting, like “artists don’t get paid well, and I don’t want an impractical job.” I even blamed others for making me stop!

(I made this water-color Jesus portrait for a young adults Christian ministry art competition. I wanted Him to be hidden like parchment stains with the overlaying words having an impact before noticing the subtlety of His face. It says "I am ... [with His different names and descriptions found in the Bible] ... Indescribable.")

This year the girls of Twenty-Four Seven are redoing a book study called So Long Insecurity by Beth Moore. In chapter 7 of her book, Mrs. Moore talks about how insecurity can negatively change us. One passage especially spoke to me after rereading it; this section talked about how insecurity can turn gifted people into competition. After reading that part of the chapter again, I realized that this exact thing happened to me. Instead of celebrating with others God’s greatness and generosity for giving us all special talents, I allowed a spirit of insecurity to convince me that I had no talent and should stop drawing. Now, however, I can crush the enemy under my feet! God has taught me this year about what He wants me to do, how I can use art in ministry, and why being MY best pleases Him more than trying in vain to be THE best. Learning this lesson took longer than necessary, but now I can boldly regain ground and push even further in my drawing without fearing the judgments of others or myself.

Spirit break out

WHERE TWO OR MORE ARE GATHERED …

Last year I grew immensely in my relationship with the holy trinity of God, but my growth will never end because He is infinite. This year we have experienced several breakthroughs, two of which I would like to share with you. Each week during chapels, classes, prayer and worship sessions, or weekend services, we all have the opportunity to learn more about God and experience Him in new ways.

When Jarod spoke for staff chapel, he delivered a powerfully freeing message on finding freedom from insecurities. I have gone through a freedom session before to rid myself of my metaphorical chains and burdens, but dark feelings hid deep beneath my skin. For a long time, I denied any insecurity even though I know that I can never be perfect until I get to heaven. However, the Holy Ghost pushed me to go forward and write “INADEQUACY” on the mirror that later shattered under Jarod’s hammer. My whole life I never felt good enough to do anything for anyone, despite what the Word says about me. Now the truth of God has pierced my heart. Letting go has been a big theme for me lately since I have so much I can let go of, but this message will remain in my heart to the end of days. During this chapel, I also took advantage of an awesome opportunity to better the relationship I have with my mom. We had a great talk and now we’re closer than ever.

Later during communications class, Pastor Gregg felt led by God to have students go up on the stage and give public apologies. Because I have a habit of almost over-apologizing on-the-spot every time I feel like I’ve wronged someone, I don’t think I had anything I needed to say. However, many students went forward to share things that happened even years ago with people they haven’t seen in practically forever. The incredible vulnerability and realness of each person in Twenty-Four Seven was humbling for everyone involved. I’ll never forget the new perspective I gained on the truth that every person has a real story.

Amazing things happen when people are sensitive and obedient to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, especially when we worship Him.

1. Modern Literal (Word-for-Word) Translation

Here's another essay for one of my theology classes.

The New King James Version (NKJV) of 1982 is just one example a Modern Literal, or word-for-word, translation, also known as a complete equivalence version. Other Modern Literal translations include the New American Standard Bible (NASB), the English Standard Version (ESV), the Revised Standard Version (RSV), and the King James Version (KJV). Word-for-word translations attempt to stick as close as possible to the original language by keeping as many exact words and phrases as the translators can manage. These Bible types hope to maintain flow of ideas and not lose any historical accuracy.

In 1975 the Thomas Nelson Publishers group commissioned Arthur Farstad, a conservative Baptist, to make a good translation of the Bible better by creating the New King James Version. More than 130 scholars wanted to improve and preserve the original King James Version of 1611, and although most of the original diction remains, a lot of the syntax has been modernized. For example the obsolete verb endings of “eth” have been removed, and the “thee’s” and “thou’s” have changed to “you’s” and “yours.”  Also, many of the original transliterations, or English spellings of untranslatable words, have stayed the same as the King James Version.  When following along to a reading out of the King James Version, listeners can easily keep track of the word flow with minimal confusion.

Michael Marlowe, the creator of bible-researcher.com, compares and contrasts the New King James Version to the New American Standard Bible. Although the New King James Version is not as literal as the New American Standard Version, it has conserved the literary style of the first King James Version. The New American Standard Version, though more literal, also contains more paraphrases than the New King James Version. Also, the New King James Version has better sustained the Hebraisms (Hebrew idioms, expressions, and cultural characteristics) of the original texts. Rather than original manuscripts, the New King James Version followed the Textus Receptus, which is based on the Byzantine Texts. This means that in order to compensate for the lack of use of critically edited texts readers must make sure to check margins to have more accurate or literal translations of some words.

Finally, the New King James Version would clearly add great value to any Bible student’s pool of resources. This translation improves upon an already great translation that holds true to the original version and texts, but provides more ease of reading without losing any phraseology or historicity.

Unconventionally conventional fundraising methods

BAKING IS WORK.

(This is my Dad and Holly resting during Thanksgiving break. Holly looked so cute and peaceful!)

Last week Twenty-Four Seven had time off to rest for Thanksgiving break. Although many students stayed in Florida for the week, my boyfriend Alex and I traveled to my hometown in Virginia to visit my parents, my sister, and my sister’s husband. We had a blast touring where I grew up, seeing the Natural History Museum in D.C., and decorating my family’s Christmas tree. Seeing my family was also really enjoyable; from way down in Florida I sometimes really miss them. Alex also got to meet my sweet little dog! During this trip, I also baked pies, almost 40 to be exact.

(Me, Alex, Anne, Mom, and all of the pies we made between Sunday and Monday.)

For missions last year, my mom, who has her own wedding cake making home-business, came up with the brilliant idea of having a bake sale to raise mission support. This year, people in our neighborhood, church, and workplaces bought pies by ordering them ahead of time. Each pie flavor was a family favorite; we offered pumpkin, pumpkin praline, pecan, and apple crumble.Within two days my boyfriend, my sister, my mom, and I baked from scratch each and every pie that was pre-ordered. Then throughout through the rest of the week, people picked up or had delivered their pies. After subtracting the cost of baking ingredients and supplies, my mom calculated an estimated profit range of $500-$600! Many people even bought a pie just for the sake of spreading the gospel through the Twenty-Four Seven spring mission trip and supporting me. Some also donated money without even ordering a pie. To everyone who helps me financially this year, I am eternally grateful.

Equipped for every good work

EVERYONE IS GIFTED.

God has uniquely designed each person with specific gifts to glorify Him and further His Kingdom. These gifts include teaching, serving, perceiving, encouraging, administrating, giving, and extending compassion. Bayside has a ministry that helps people to discover their gifts and learn about some of the different ones described in the Bible. Last year in my first year of Twenty-Four Seven, school staff had us take the quiz to rate our motivational gifts from most active to least used. Then we had a class where we received a booklet and some teaching on each of the motivational gifts.

The first two times I took this quiz, once at the beginning of the year and another at the end of the year, I couldn’t see my top gifts being exercised in my daily life so they didn’t make sense. However, as a second year student, I got to take the test again and discovered that I have multiple ties in my three highest gift sets. Having a combination of gifts in the first, second, or third ranking can mean that you switch between the giftings regularly and operate in them at an even level. Now that I know that, it makes sense that my gifts changed between my first and second times taking the quiz.

In my top three I have teaching and serving as my first two gifts, then perceiving, and lastly for third, administrating and giving. These basically mean that I enjoy researching, explaining, and learning new things, as well as helping others with whatever they need whenever I can. I’m also pretty black-and-white and have strong intuition. For administrating and giving I basically enjoy generously giving to causes I support and can delegate, plan, or direct people well. With this combination of gifts, God made me pretty well rounded in general. I can have faith that He has fully equipped me for every good work He has set before me.

There's no place like home

FLORIDA IS MY HOME AWAY FROM HOME.

 (This is the very first picture Melinda my former homesponsor mom, myself, and Devon my past roommate took together. We had lunch after the family beach hangout last year during orientation weekend.)

When I moved to Bradenton last year to participate in my first year of Twenty-Four Seven, I at first experienced an extreme case of culture shock. Everything in Florida is entirely different from the DC area: the way people dress and talk, the food people eat, the climate and weather – everything. Until I had more fully settled in with my home sponsor and roommate, I despised Florida. However they helped me open up to it. My home sponsor mom last year and my home sponsor family have all blessed me so immensely. Without them I would not be able to do the program and get my schooling. Home sponsors provide their students with a second home and family. So many growing, learning, and serving opportunities arise from the families provided by my ministry school.

(These are my new home sponsor parents. I moved in with their family at the beginning of last summer. I am so grateful to them; they are awesome!)

Last year My home sponsor mom counseled me through rough situations, helped me live up to high standards, provided room and board, taught me from her life experience, and allowed me to help with her ministries at a local college. Even living with another student helped me grow a lot. She and I had some bumps in our road, and although learning to live with someone so different from me was the hardest part of last year, it probably taught me the most about leadership, compassion, friendship, and compromise. Because of our time together, I am closer to her now than almost all of the other students in Twenty-Four Seven. This year, since my home sponsor mom from last year is not home sponsoring again, I live with the program director and his family. Through my time in Twenty-Four Seven I have met numerous times with Pastor John and his wife Miss Kelly. Now I get the blessing of remaining in the school because I have a place to live thanks to them. I’m slowly getting to know their daughter Lexi, have fallen in love with their dog Toby, and look for ways to help when I can.  Living with them reminds me so much of life at home, but I love seeing their example of a godly family. The Matson’s also counsel me and Alex on our relationship and just allow me to experience a difference of lifestyle and time management. This family does so much, and I can never fully express my gratitude for everything they do for me, the school, and God’s kingdom.

God's children

KIDS ARE GREAT.

Growing up I got teased a lot by the kids in my class. As the years went by I never really learned to like kids, and claimed I would never get married just so that I could avoid having my own kids. Eventually, I started thinking badly of God’s creation, though. I would say things like “I don’t like babies because they are stupid, ugly, loud, and they smell bad.” When in reality I just didn’t know anything about how to handle babies or act around them because I never had exposure. That’s also partly because I was afraid of being a bad mother and didn’t want that much responsibility on my shoulders.

At the beginning of my first year, I made it very clear to the woman in charge that I did not like children even though I was required to help the church minister to children. She put me in check-in where I can mostly greet and help parents. However, that only lasted for the beginning of service, so for the rest of the hour, I would go to a classroom. In the room I helped the teacher entertain the kids by coloring with them, helped with students struggle to do the crafts, handed out snack while the teacher gave instructions, supervised while they played on the playground, led kids to the worship room, and even sometimes gave the lesson myself. I got to explore pretty much every age group from one-year-olds to fifth graders. While I enjoy serving, working with so many kids often overwhelmed and exhausted me.

(This is me and two of my first year girls with some kids at Bayside's weekly Saturday outreach, Adopt-A-Block. I drew a picture for Synthia who's hugging me on the left, and she loved it.)

Through Twenty-Four Seven I have learned to love kids by serving in Bayside’s children’s ministry, A.C.M.E. Almost every weekend for a little more than the last year, I served as a volunteer in the church’s Green Room. The Green Room is a place for volunteers’ kids to safely hang out instead of hearing the same Sunday School lesson four or five times every weekend while their parents served. This is where I found my niche in children’s ministry at A.C.M.E. I pretty much just get to play and have fun with the kids, watch movies, play video games, and things like that; my favorite part is probably the conversations I have while coloring. After working in that room almost every weekend, I’ve built some relationships with some of the kids, and they even recognize me outside of church. It’s great to see how I’ve had an impact on their lives by watching their attitudes and behavior towards others improve. Now I know that I can love kids; even if I never really like children super deeply unless they’re my own, I have a new perspective on parenting and God’s love for people.

Canon Group Essay 3

Here is my second essay for the Canon Group assignment.

3. The Dead Sea Scrolls

One of the most impactful discoveries for religious study and of great historical value, the finding of the Dead Sea Scrolls, happened by chance. In 1947 a Bedouin shepherd boy stumbled upon the greatest finding of the century in a cave by Khirbet Qumran, which is about 35 kilometers east of Jerusalem. These were the Dead Sea Scrolls, which he proceeded to sell on the market. After traveling through different hands on the market, translators and Bible scholars found out about these scrolls, leading to a flood of archaeologists and bounty hunters setting out to find more. The fact that more original manuscripts of the Bible exist than those of popular classic literature such as Homer’s Iliad proves the authenticity and longevity of the Bible. The Dead Sea Scrolls contain a majority of the original Old Testament Manuscripts. By about 1956 a majority of the scrolls, almost 950 texts including mostly fragments, in that region had been discovered in some eleven caves. People searched for these valuable documents, some of which can now be found in the Shrine of Books, and even found nearby treasures through clues from the texts such as copper. Near the lowest point of the earth, in a region where many Bible stories of the Old Testament take place, an ancient community – the Adat Hayahad or Essenes, possibly a reclusive Jewish sect broken off by controversies in the Temple – hid ancient manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible and other documents such as laws, calendars, and some apocryphal texts. Through different dating methods, scholars have found that the books span through the Hellenistic-Roman Period, ranging from the third century BCE to before 70 CE – approximately 250 BC to 50 AD. Mostly in the standard Jewish script, the Dead Sea Scrolls contain some paleo-Hebrew from the time of the First Temple, which helps scientists date the books.  Written in primarily Hebrew and some Greek or Aramaic, these thick parchment scrolls revolutionized the modern understanding of history and religion. Many texts within the collection contain records of the Adate Hayahad community showing the history, laws, practices, and even literature of the people. However, parts of the Dead Sea Scrolls are also some of the oldest evidences and copies of many Hebrew Books; manuscripts of almost the entire Hebrew Bible, besides Esther, can be found within the group plus copies of some Psalms. These ancient scrolls back up the Bible like it never has been before and spurred on a whole new study of the Word, when they were found simply by accident.

Word Count: 422

Again, I used a lot from the notes provided by our teacher, but I also used some facts from the following two websites: http://www.deadseascrolls.org.il/home, http://dss.collections.imj.org.il/

Canon Group Essay 1

For one of Twenty-Four Seven's classes, students may post essay assignments as blog posts so I thought I might share with any readers I have.

1. An Apocryphal Writing

Stories or statements of doubtful authenticity but widely circulated as true are called apocryphal. Thus, Apocryphal writings include any which do not meet the criteria for acceptance into the canonical, or genuine, Scriptures. Many false writings like the Apocalypses of Baruch, stories like Bel and the Dragon, additional chapters like Psalm 151, and series like the first through fourth Esdras do not meet the standards and get grouped into the Apocrypha. Based on the principles of canonicity – authority, prophetic authorship, authenticity, dynamic nature, and acceptance – the Apocryphal passages do not qualify as biblical canon. Not only do these books lack prophecies like those found in canon Scriptures, but also they do not claim to be prophetic. Typically Protestants and Jews do not accept these writings as part of the Bible, but some Catholics do. Also, the books of the Apocrypha are not accepted by Jesus, early church fathers, notable scholars, and even some Roman Catholic scholars. The New Testament cites no Spiritual inspiration for these books, and neither does God provide them with any authority like true canon. Other reasons against the canonicity of the Apocrypha include historical errors and theological heresies as well.

Throughout the Western world primarily, the Apocrypha has greatly contributed to culture. According to gamefaqs and the elder scrolls wikia, in the popular Skyrim video game series, Dragonborn contains a twisted realm titled Apocrypha. This plane apparently contains books of forbidden knowledge. From the Fall of Man in Genesis, under a sinful nature humans have sought knowledge, even above God. Second Timothy also describes a time when people will “not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” These canon verses show that man can stray from the truly inspired Word of God to find knowledge, just as players in Dragonborn can visit this dark place in-game to find information in shadowy books. Satan still deceives humanity with false writings like the Apocrypha to lead people away from the reality of Christ. One example of this is the cult practice from the Apocrypha of praying for the dead. Although the Bible strictly forbids this activity, Second Maccabees almost disregards the all sufficiency of Christ’s sacrifice and priesthood by saying people should pray for those dead in the flesh but alive to God. Because all of sin was paid for through Christ, people need only accept Him as Lord and confess with their mouths to receive salvation. However, verse 12:45 of second Maccabees tells the world that “it is … a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins.” Christ already loosed all people from all sins, but not everyone has taken hold of that truth or been born again in Him.

Word Count: 478

This last isn't part of my essay, but I still thought it was a cool thought on the topic.

"Even the discovery of the New World was due in part to the influence of a passage from 2 Esdras upon Christopher Columbus.  Although erroneously interpreted, this verse played a significant part in his discovery of the New World.

“On the third day you commanded the waters to be gathered together in a seventh part of the earth; six parts you dried up and kept so that some of them might be planted and cultivated and be of service before you.”  (2 Esdras 6:42)

These words led Columbus to reason that, if only one-seventh of the earth’s surface is covered with water, the ocean between the west coast of Europe and the east coast of Asia could be no great width and might be navigated in a few days with a fair wind.  It was partly by quoting this verse from what was regarded as an authoritative book that Columbus managed to persuade King Ferdnando and Queen Isabela of Spain to provide the necessary financial support for his voyage."

http://my.execpc.com/~gto/Apocrypha/Summaries/culture.html

Reaching the world

MISSIONS AND OUTREACH ARE AWESOME!

Ever since I can remember, I have loved foreign cultures and feeling useful. Starting with my small childhood obsession with anime, my love for cultures in other countries, not only Japan (but especially them) has evolved to a love for others and how God has designed them. From Japanese cartoons I developed an interest in other popular media like music and movies, which lead to curiosity about food and languages. Then I wanted to learn more about different government styles and traditions. Eventually my inquisitiveness branched out to countries besides Japan and the United States. Now I dream about traveling through Europe and Asia, living off of the land, and showing God’s love to everyone I meet. He has created man in His image not only in body, but also in spirit and soul. I just love how so many different beautiful ideas have come from one common Creator. When I was young I felt as if I had no value or ability. God showed me how He can shine in my weaknesses so that I can boast in Him through my short-comings. Because of the love Christ has for me and I have for Him, I want to share Him with others to give them opportunity for more abundant and fulfilling lives. After I realized how much He loves me I set out to tell others about this love through word and action.

God gives me the opportunity to help Him by serving others all over the world, here in America and overseas. Last year in Twenty-Four Seven I had the incredible opportunity to go on my first out-of-the-country mission trip to Peru. My team saw the Holy Spirit move in ways we had not before; from helping a church plant invite new members in their community to watching foreigners worship in their native tongue, the Twenty-Four Seven Peru team witnessed God. I will never forget all of the cool experiences and fun serving memories of that trip.

Also, last summer I began interning in Reach at Bayside where I go to school. Since then I have learned so much about a true heart for missions and outreach, gotten more serving opportunities, learned about building ministries, and much more. God has truly blessed me with the chance to serving under the Reach staff, Brandon and Pastor Guy – what incredible men of faith they are! Under their leadership and guidance, I continue to move forward toward my future international ministry and grow in my relationship with God.

Communication is key, especially with family

I LOVE MY FAMILY!

Not only do I love my earthly family, but also my spiritual family and the relationships that I make within the church. On Sunday night, My Twenty-Four Seven family, Anaiah, had a wing night at a cadre’s house just to hang out. There was a bonfire, amazing wings and great conversation. However, in the midst of this social gathering, my beloved oldest sister called me. Michelle, my oldest sister, lives on Guam with her husband and has a much more social personality than myself. Because she and I had not talked in a while, we spend the next about two or three hours talking about everything going on lately in our lives. I’m not a big fan of talking on the phone, but I love her and appreciated the time spent with her, listening to her and gleaning from her wisdom.

(This is my precious-baby-child Holly with my parents and Michelle when she surprise visited me this summer.)

From those hours of talking, God taught me about the importance of regular communication and the value of communicating with family. Communication is key in relationships. In order to build healthy relationships, people need to invest time to talk and share stories or ideas. When I don’t take time weekly to message or call my sisters and parents, I can tell that I am not prioritizing them or growing closer to them. God talks so much about family in the Bible, that He clearly wants us to place high value on our families. I really do love Anne, Michelle, and my parents. However, sometimes it’s just hard for me to find time to call them and catch up; it’s at these times that I realize I try to justify this wrong and make excuses to not show honor and love to my family by communicating with them. At least every weekend, I try to call my parents. However, I definitely know I should be better about talking with my sisters. Going forward, because God has convicted me, I will honor my whole family in heaven and on earth by obeying God and honoring my sisters and parents through communication.

The importance of rest

Balance seems to be a big thing with me lately, balancing fun and work especially. Many things contribute to me being task oriented, but I have a really hard time making time to rest. I get bored or restless when I try to take breaks. Usually I leave breaks more stressed than refreshed because my mind wanders towards my infinite “to-do” list instead of just shutting off. When a first-year girl on my team asked me about when I have Sabbaths, the Holy Spirit really convicted me. Also, when talking with Alex later about my work ethic/habits I felt the prodding of God, again, telling me to make time to consistently rest.

In fact this week God forced me to rest and I almost despised the blessing. Before work on Monday I felt nauseous, but left two hours early after getting sick in the kitchen; I ended up missing two days of school recovering from the night of pain and illness that followed. I’ve been experiencing conflicting feelings about my job at Chick-fil-A, because I know I need money, but at the same time I have been walking in disobedience to Him by neglecting my physical health and relationships. Because of that negligence and other reasons, I actually turned in my two-week notice the previous week. My gracious boss sent me the nicest e-mail saying I didn’t have to work my two weeks if I didn’t want to, because he had understanding about my schedule. However, I thought I should just as a courtesy to him. God didn’t seem to agree on Monday.

Tuesday and Wednesday God MADE me lie down in “green pastures,” (Psalm 23:2) and instead of praising Him for the period of rest and healing as a break, I thought I was wasting valuable school time. Even though I know I should keep the Sabbath holy and worship Him through all that I do, God also wants us to be intimate with Him and lean on Him. His yoke is easy and His burden is light (Matthew 11:30). Instead of trying to find time to do everything myself and becoming obsessed with the works that won’t save me (but should only testify of my love and desire for obedience), God wants me to prioritize my time to make sure I do spend quality time with Him. From now on I want to manage my time better to allow for rest time and time with God.

Bride of Christ before men

I AM SO BLESSED!

Last week I mentioned how my boyfriend, a third-year in Twenty-Four Seven, shared a passage of Scripture with me during a trip. This man is seriously so great. Through our relationship, God has taught me so much about humility, leadership, balance, and my relationship with Him.

Since the beginning of our courtship, Alex has been showing me how to trust God and allow him to lead by following the Holy Spirit. I tend to have a dominating personality at times, especially when in a relationship with such a non-aggressive man, but I have learned to step back and humble myself by allowing him to lead me.

Also, there are often times when I think about wanting to spend time with Alex and know him better, but it reminds me of how I am the bride of Christ and should desire to grow my relationship with Him. Alex always encourages me to seek God more and lean on Him.

Faith like a mustard seed

For the past couple of weeks, faith has really been heavy on my mind and I really have no idea why. During the trip Twenty-Four Seven had a couple of weeks ago, my boyfriend, Alex, came to me after a worship night with a word from God. He showed me Matthew 17:14-21, which talks about Jesus's disciples and their lack of faith to cast demons out of a boy. This passage made no sense to me until the latter half of the trip where the ladies of Twenty-Four Seven had an awesome opportunity to grow closer to God and to each other. Slowly but surely God has been revealing to me the meaning of faith and how the Matthew passage applied to me. I'm still not sure of the entire meaning, and after going through my hermenteutics course I am excited about looking into the deeper meaning. This morning during team prayer, I also found Hebrews 11:1-12:3, which is almost exactly what Tanner prayed over me without me even mentioning it to him. Hopefully God continues to show me His truth.

The second year

Twenty- Four Seven as a second year cadre,

is a totally different experience from my first year. I am blown away by how much God blesses me by allowing to lead and mentor a great group of first years, especially the girls.

This Weekend we returned from our first trip of the year; going through it again from a different perspective made me realize that trip is my favorite one from the whole year. No one really knows each other, but we all pull together and lift each other up. Watching how all of the first years pushed themselves and carried their teammates through common struggles was such an incredible experience. I was reminded of how God carries us in our hard times, but He's given us people in our lives to support us as well. Last week was a great way to start off the year, and I loved being on the other side of the experience to help plan and lead.

As a second-year cadre, I have a lot more responsibilities. I didn't know what I was getting myself into when I began training before the year started for first-years. I knew this year would be hard, but learning how to balance everything and prioritize has been a huge lesson for me so far. Planning events, being in charge of everyday events, and mentoring and leading first years is going to give me so much valuable experience to use for the rest of my life.

Another beginning

FIRST OF ALL, 

I want to apologize for my very poor discipline to blog over the summer. God provided me with so many opportunities to serve and glorify Him during my time away from Twenty-Four Seven School of Ministry, and I didn't share any of them with you. I could easily write several posts discussing everything that happened; this was probably the best summer I've ever had. Rather than dwelling on the past, however, I look forward to the future of this year and the years to come.

(This is my new team at Siesta Beach for Orientation Weekend)

Finally, my second year in Twenty-Four Seven has come around! Honestly, coming into training I realized that I had no idea what I had gotten myself into; as usual, Twenty-Four Seven has been a bit rough, but totally worth it. After a week of intense physical and mental preparation, second years, third years, and staff put on orientation weekend. The new first years are finally here!

(I made this sheet of information for my team members)

After a lot of deliberation, prayer, and several meetings, myself and three other cadre (Noah who was on my team last year, Chris, and Tanner our third year) decided on the name Anaiah. Finding team name ideas was way harder than we anticipated, but God answered! Then shortly before Orientation day, each cadre learned the first year members of their teams. God has blessed me with the best possible team (other than Eklektos from last year); each member is so incredible and has great potential. I am so excited to see everything God uses us for this year and how He grows each of us!

I'm kind of new at this ...

GREETINGS, READERS!

Thank you so much for coming to check out my new blog. I am so excited to share my life with you! Hopefully the stories, thoughts, and experiences that I write about will inspire you in your relationships with everyone around you (ie. friends, family, God) or can help you through similar life situations as mine. Every day through the opportunities that God provides, He teaches me new things; it is my desire to share these things with you, in addition to some plain silly incidences, at the beginning of each week through this blog. Since many of you do not know me very well, I decided that I would write my first post as a brief introduction of me, my passions, and the current events in my life.

(Michelle, my oldest sister, just had her wedding in my parents’ fairytale backyard last summer; it was beautiful!

I’m on the far left.)

First of all in northeastern Virginia, my two wonderful parents birthed me, and joined me to their family of four (now five because of me). Last April I finally reached my final year as a teenager and turned 19-years-old. Of the three girls in my family, I am the youngest by far; both of my sisters are older than me by at least 8 years and are happily married. Also, in my totally unprejudiced opinion, I have the cutest pet dog in the whole world, and I love her as my own child. (haha :) ) God designed everyone in my family so brilliantly different, but we certainly love each other and share hearts for Jesus, Disney movies, adventurous outdoor activities, and animals.

(My team, Eklektos, might not be the best at sports, but we killed it at Eco Challenge this year and got our team name engraved on the Eco trophy! Way to go, guys; I love you all!

I’m in the front on the right.)

After graduating from a fantastic small Christian school, Class of 2012 (of which I was 1 out of 22), I moved all the way down to Florida to participate in a leadership school and ministry training program called Twenty-Four Seven Florida. This internship has rocked my world! Because of 24/7 staff and leadership, as well as the support of friends and family, I have grown so much spiritually, mentally, physically, and socially into the woman of God I am meant to be. Designed to provide as many learning and growth opportunities as possible, our crazy schedule typically consists of college classes, outreach, serving in the church, team building activities, workouts, chapels, and much more. However, the year is also splashed with awesome random team-building trips, spiritual retreats, and mission trips. Needless to say, we do a lot.

(My silly mission team got to help out with Camino De Vida’s servolución by painting houses while in Lima, Peru!

I’m in the back, third from the left.)

Because of my heart for missions, the ministry and outreach opportunities through Bayside Community Church and 24/7 are probably the biggest reasons why I applied to the program, so that I can prepare for my future mission work. This year I got blessed with the opportunity to go on my first international mission trip to Peru. My trip there was incredible and filled with great memories from cool experiences and powerful ministry occasions. Not only did my team get to tour Lima and Iquitos, bathe in the Amazon River while star gazing, hold a sloth, go to a fancy buffet with a dance show, and other such fun things, but we also got to pray healing over people, build a bathroom for a small jungle church, do street evangelism, deliver free wheel chairs to needy families, and provide blankets for the people in a colder region. On the morning of the day we returned, we also got to set up a playground commissioned by the first lady of Peru for a poor community there! I will never forget that awesome, life-changing mission trip, but my heart burns for Japan, not Peru.

(I might not have all of the details figured out for my future ministry, but God has everything planned, and He leads me every step of the way!)

For as long as I can remember I have always had an unexplainable passion for the people and country of Japan; God has really put them on my heart. Knowing that all people need to know about the great love of Christ, I desire to bring this truth to the Japanese people. Everything about the country (ie. culture, language, food, music, fashion, tradition, government) I love, but I know being in the 10-40 window means that not many missionaries travel or live there and teach about God’s love. No matter what happens in my future I know I am called to do long-term ministry in Japan.

I really hope that this post has helped you get to know me better. Now that you are up to speed on my life, next week I will talk more about what happens during the coming week and the things that God teaches me.

I’m interested in your feedback! Don’t be intimidated by not knowing me; if there is a something I talked about in this post with which you connect, feel free to start a conversation about it in the comments. Let me know about your family or tell me a crazy story about your siblings. What is your biggest passion in life? Answer in the comments section below!

My name is Catherine, and it is very nice to meet you. :)

Isaiah 52:7 (NIV) – “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.’”