Today I met the Staves!

Today I went to Paw Paw, Michigan to attend church. Kevin & Patty Beck and their boys - Sid & Eric went with me. We went to go meet Kim and Andrew Stave. Kim and Andrew work at LCC. Kim is the VP for Student Life and will be my supervisor at LCC. Andrew also works in the Student Life department as the Athletic Director, among many other roles the president has asked him to take leadership of.

They were speaking at a church where Kim's father was the pastor years ago and so the Becks and I went to hear them speak. I had two main goals in this trip. The first was just to meet Kim. We've talked on the phone and exchanged many emails, and I was eager to meet her in person! It was a wonderful first meeting! I had a sense during my interview that there was/would be a easy rapport with her and I found that to be true in person as well. I will be at a conference with her June 7 -10 and look forward to learning to know her better there. And my excitement about working with her next year grows the more I connect with her!

The other goal was to hear more about the work of LCC - both to help me as I speak to others about what I'm investing the next years of my life in and to help the Becks have more understanding of what happens there. They have been amazingly supportive of this move, but I got the impression that they are even more excited about it now that they know more about the people/place I am going to be serving with. I found my own eagerness growing as they talked about the faith community that exists there and the way that impacts the lives of the students at LCC - exactly why I want to be there!

An added bonus was that Stuart, the man who told me about the position initially and helped make the connection between Kim and I, came to the service as well. We all stayed for the church bbq after the service and had a good time connecting.

Stuart, me, Kim, and Andrew

Kim and me

This is Kim and Andrew's little boy, Isak - such a cherub!
The also have a daughter, Ieva, but I did not get a photo of her.

My apartment is a mess!

My apartment is a mess! Now, if you've ever been to my place you probably know that I do tend towards clutter a bit. Things like stacks of papers on the table, a bag of trash that needs to be taken to the dumpster, dishes that need to be washed, etc. Well, I'd really like to experience some of that clutter right about now. Instead I have chaos - piles of odds & ends that need to be returned to people, boxes of items marked & ready for my garage sale, stacks upon stacks of magazines that need a good home, and boxes of personal papers - bank stmts, college papers, childhood drawings, and greeting cards galore. It 's a bit overwhelming to look into my house...much of the time I just want to run out the door and hide at Barnes & Noble with a good book! :)

My goal is to go through each room in my apartment put things in the room where they belong, then I can work on packing in a manner that ends up putting things that belong together actually together! I've moved too many times where I end up with socks in the office supply box, dinner forks in the bedroom box, and a video thrown in with the kitchen supplies. Since I'll be storing things for at least a year and I might need to get into the boxes over the holidays, I want it all to make sense and things to be stored with other similar items.

I've appreciated that several friends have come over and helped me with the process. It's such a huge task that it's easy for me to get sidetracked. I will see a magazine and wonder if it has any good recipes, so I sit down and start leafing through it, or I'll just "quick check" my email and end up lost on Facebook for an hour. When friends are here I stay on task and get to visit so it's a double win! :) Let me know if you want to come help me sort! :)

Fund raising is beginning soon!

Today I met with my friends Brenda and Patty. We all attend LifeSpring Community Church and they are organizing a chicken BBQ sale for me. In our area there is a company, Nelson's, that has a fabulous BBQ chicken that they let organizations sell as a fund raiser. It's a pretty reliable way to make some good funds, so we decided this would be a good way to kick off the fund raising for my Lithuania needs.

So, if you live locally, mark your calendars...

Friday, June 4th
11:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Maple City Chapel
$6.00 per half

If you'd like to buy tickets ahead of time or to sell some to friends, please give me a call or email me. Feel free to spread the word!

FAITH

Yesterday our church overseer, Keith, was in town. He spoke in the morning service on the topic of "Faith." He talked about how if we have faith we will be able to do far more than we can imagine we can. Here are some of my notes from the sermon...

-You will never have passion unless you step out and take a risk...if we always play it safe and don't take a risk, our lives will be very ordinary and passionless. It's in living on the edge and depending on God that we experience the deep stirring of passion in life.
-Faith levels the playing field...while I may be "nothing" in the eyes of the world, when I step out in faith God works in supernatural ways and makes things happen. I can do greater things than those who may be seen as having extraordinary talents because God is working through me.
-Listen & obey...step out, take the risk, do what He's asking you to do! He will move you beyond your limitations and will level the playing field! We change lives through being obedient.

This sermon resonated with me especially as I look at the future and moving to Lithuania. I have been listening...He's told me to go. I'm obeying and stepping out and taking a risk. I'm quitting my job, moving 4500 miles from home, and relying on others to donate funds to support me! I am choosing to live by faith and believe that He will meet my needs and use me to change the lives of the students I work with. I do believe that the deep stirring I feel in my soul is indeed what real passion feels like!

A quick update

Time is moving quickly. The GC residence halls close in less than a week and then my career here will be done. So bittersweet! I have actually had to put most of my Lithuania thinking on the back burner the past two weeks so that I can concentrate on the things I need to complete here.

I do regularly correspond via email with the VP of Student Life, Kim, and I had a good phone conversation with the expat director, Derek on Friday. So, Lithuania isn't fully out of my mind these days. :)

Derek and I talked for over an hour about my financial needs while in Lithuania. It looks like I will need to raise about $38,00 for the year to cover all of my expenses - medical, travel, housing, visa fees, taxes, and general living expenses. That seems like a HUGE amount to me, but I believe strongly that this is where God wants me to go next, so I'm trusting that He will provide. Once things wrap up here with school things I will begin to work heavily on raising support.

That's all I have time for today, but I at least wanted to update the blog since it'd been a week or so since I posted. Thanks for your support and encouragement!

Personal retreat

Tuesday I took a few hours to escape from campus and take a little time with God. I went to Chipotle and got a burrito to go, then stopped by Sonic for a Cherry Limeade. I drove to the Mishawaka River walk. I walked around a bit and then found a nice bench to sit on while I enjoyed my tasty lunch.

After I ate I the spent some time reading "So Long, Status Quo" by Susy Flory. The chapter I read was about her venture into a 12 hour verbal fast - she spent an entire day without speaking. She wrote about the things she noticed during her hours of not speaking. Some things that stood out to me were when she realized some family situations solved were solved by the persons involved rather than her since she didn't step into the disagreements and offer her solution. Also, she commented on how good it was to just sit with her husband at the end of the day and enjoy his presence. I think those observations stood out to me because I could relate to them more than some of the others she shared.

I realize that I often (maybe always) feel the need to jump in and provide a solution to problems that come up in conversation. I sensed God was telling me that I need to learn to hold my tongue a bit more in this next season - maybe because of cultural reasons, maybe because of things I need to learn from others, or possibly just to be obedient. I trust that He will work with me on this because I am pretty good at jumping in with my two cents worth most of the time - just ask my co-worker Chad! :)

I also thought her comment about just enjoying being present with her husband was a good reminder of what I should do with others as I enter this season of saying farewell to others. My first response will be to fill up my last moments spent with others talking about things non-stop. I think I might miss some of the peace that comes from just being with those I care about if I just prattle on and on about nothing. I think God is also encouraging me to just be with Him as well. Right now my quiet times aren't very quiet, they are filled with many prayer requests about the upcoming move and all the unknowns associated with it. I sense that I will feel more peace about all those unknowns if I just rest with Him instead of bombarding Him with questions.

I continue to trust Him in all that this move means for my life and of those I love.

New things to think about

It seems that every day I think of a slew of new questions about the move to Lithuania. Today a few of my questions were...

-Should I get a P.O. Box or have my mail sent to the home of the people who are handling my finances while I'm gone?

-I wonder if they have any good Mexican food there.

-Since I'm going to be cramped on space when it comes to packing...is now the time to stop coloring my hair?! (Pretty confident the answer to that is a huge NO!)

-How many cookbooks can I/should I take along?

-What is there worship like over there? Will it be only hymns?! Not that I don't like hymns, but I am used to mostly praise & worship style worship.

-Is there Diet Coke in Lithuania?!

On a different note, as I shared my story of this transition with someone today they commented that the Lord speaks to me a lot. I also had a friend ask me the other day to explain to her son how "the Lord told me" certain things about this decision. Both of these comments made me ponder anew what it is to be listening for God's voice in my decisions. Often times I don't feel as though God is near or speaking to me, but it's been comforting that I have felt His presence in real ways in this process. It gives me added confidence not only that this is the right path, but that He will be with me even as I make the move. I wouldn't/couldn't be making this significant of a life change if I wasn't confident that it was His plan for me.

God is good...all the time.
All the time...God is good.