I can't believe I've never noticed my heart before.
The new year so far has been wonderful, and I have a fairly long post coming. Sorry if you find it a waste of time; if so, just scroll past. Yeah.
Alex and I are doing great :) He's the best boyfriend I ever could have hoped for.
Now the long part starts.
I was in Huntsville on Thursday and it was absolutely wonderful. I arrived just in time for XA - which was much needed. However, I had no idea that God brought me to XA that specific time for a very specific reason. Let me explain.
A few weeks ago I had a meeting with Eli regarding my desire to go to Mexico City for several months (as most of you knew I was wanting to). Unfortunately, Chi Alpha does not currently have a missionary on-staff at this time, so it would be impossible for them to send me into the City. So I was flummoxed. Eli mentioned that my best option would be to look at Tenerife, since the program over there is a lot closer to what I'm looking for. It will cost upwards of $3500-$5000 and I would be going for about 2 months. I talked to Stephen, since he went last year, and he mentioned that it is paramount that I go with someone - but I didn't have anyone that I knew that was interested in going. So yeah. I started just letting people know that my plans had changed to Tenerife, and if God was leading any of them then that is something for Him to show them - I didn't want to pressure anyone into coming with me, but if God revealed it then that's His Will.
Anyway, after XA I saw Debbie, one of my small group girls who missed small group the night that I told them I was looking at Tenerife. She was born and raised as a Missionary Kid in Mexico up until a few years ago... she lived the life of a missionary for 17 years. At the beginning of the school year Debbie was very jaded towards missions - when I mentioned I hoped to move to Mexico City, she volunteered to help teach me Spanish but made it pretty clear it's not a great lifestyle. Then the Tenerife Missionaries came and spoke at Chi Alpha, and her heart began to break for missions again. She realized she had been remembering only the bad things and ignoring all the wonderful experiences God had given her down there. She started to realize she was blessed to have grown up the way she did, and she began to feel like maybe she's not done with Missions yet. She talked to Mark and Kelly (the Tenerife couple) and she started to like the idea of Tenerife. Which is incredible, since she already felt called to Spain, so when she learned that Tenerife is Spanish territory it seemed like a good fit. She decided to go for Spring Break. Which is where I caught up with her at Chi Alpha.
After talking to Eli, I went over to my small group girls, who didn't even know I would be there that night (except Jenny, who I was staying with for the night). Debbie was super excited to see me, and I began talking to her about her Spring Break trip to Tenerife. I told her that I was actually going to Tenerife for a few months, since Mexico City didn't have a missionary, and she was like "oh wow, God has been telling me he wants me in Tenerife for the summer, but I kept ignoring it because I didn't have anyone to go with and it's just so much money!" So I told her to keep praying about it, but if she felt God calling her to go we needed to get the ball moving so we could go together. So yeah. The next night was the Chili Cookoff, and we talked a bit more about Tenerife. I talked to Jason Bell about the specifics of the trip; he also encouraged me to not go alone, and I mentioned that I had a small group girl who was interested in going for the summer but she wasn't sure yet. He just told me to let him know as soon as I knew. I went and talked to Debbie, and she wanted to talk to Jason herself to find out how exactly everything would be. So we all talked for about half and hour, and she seemed more and more interested. I ended up sleeping at her place that night - we had so much to talk about. We'd always felt drawn to eachother, but never pursued that during the semester. You know how girls are, we're so insecure that we feel the other person is too cool to hang out with us... so yeah, I never called Debbie because I always thought she would be busy with Seth (her boyfriend) or just doing something else. And she never called me because she thought I was with Alex or off doing something way cool. So yeah. God had put us in a position where we could have spent a LOT of time with eachother (her boyfriend lives in the subdivision above me here at my parents' house, and she's about 5 minutes north of me in Kingwood) but we never actually did it. And now we know why we were supposed to - God wants us in Tenerife together.
So yeah, I'm going to Tenerife for a few months over the summer with Debbie :) Oh, I love the way God works! We'll need a LOT of help raising money, so anything you guys would be willing to donate would be VERY appreciated! I love you guys! Have a great day!
Alex and I are doing great :) He's the best boyfriend I ever could have hoped for.
Now the long part starts.
I was in Huntsville on Thursday and it was absolutely wonderful. I arrived just in time for XA - which was much needed. However, I had no idea that God brought me to XA that specific time for a very specific reason. Let me explain.
A few weeks ago I had a meeting with Eli regarding my desire to go to Mexico City for several months (as most of you knew I was wanting to). Unfortunately, Chi Alpha does not currently have a missionary on-staff at this time, so it would be impossible for them to send me into the City. So I was flummoxed. Eli mentioned that my best option would be to look at Tenerife, since the program over there is a lot closer to what I'm looking for. It will cost upwards of $3500-$5000 and I would be going for about 2 months. I talked to Stephen, since he went last year, and he mentioned that it is paramount that I go with someone - but I didn't have anyone that I knew that was interested in going. So yeah. I started just letting people know that my plans had changed to Tenerife, and if God was leading any of them then that is something for Him to show them - I didn't want to pressure anyone into coming with me, but if God revealed it then that's His Will.
Anyway, after XA I saw Debbie, one of my small group girls who missed small group the night that I told them I was looking at Tenerife. She was born and raised as a Missionary Kid in Mexico up until a few years ago... she lived the life of a missionary for 17 years. At the beginning of the school year Debbie was very jaded towards missions - when I mentioned I hoped to move to Mexico City, she volunteered to help teach me Spanish but made it pretty clear it's not a great lifestyle. Then the Tenerife Missionaries came and spoke at Chi Alpha, and her heart began to break for missions again. She realized she had been remembering only the bad things and ignoring all the wonderful experiences God had given her down there. She started to realize she was blessed to have grown up the way she did, and she began to feel like maybe she's not done with Missions yet. She talked to Mark and Kelly (the Tenerife couple) and she started to like the idea of Tenerife. Which is incredible, since she already felt called to Spain, so when she learned that Tenerife is Spanish territory it seemed like a good fit. She decided to go for Spring Break. Which is where I caught up with her at Chi Alpha.
After talking to Eli, I went over to my small group girls, who didn't even know I would be there that night (except Jenny, who I was staying with for the night). Debbie was super excited to see me, and I began talking to her about her Spring Break trip to Tenerife. I told her that I was actually going to Tenerife for a few months, since Mexico City didn't have a missionary, and she was like "oh wow, God has been telling me he wants me in Tenerife for the summer, but I kept ignoring it because I didn't have anyone to go with and it's just so much money!" So I told her to keep praying about it, but if she felt God calling her to go we needed to get the ball moving so we could go together. So yeah. The next night was the Chili Cookoff, and we talked a bit more about Tenerife. I talked to Jason Bell about the specifics of the trip; he also encouraged me to not go alone, and I mentioned that I had a small group girl who was interested in going for the summer but she wasn't sure yet. He just told me to let him know as soon as I knew. I went and talked to Debbie, and she wanted to talk to Jason herself to find out how exactly everything would be. So we all talked for about half and hour, and she seemed more and more interested. I ended up sleeping at her place that night - we had so much to talk about. We'd always felt drawn to eachother, but never pursued that during the semester. You know how girls are, we're so insecure that we feel the other person is too cool to hang out with us... so yeah, I never called Debbie because I always thought she would be busy with Seth (her boyfriend) or just doing something else. And she never called me because she thought I was with Alex or off doing something way cool. So yeah. God had put us in a position where we could have spent a LOT of time with eachother (her boyfriend lives in the subdivision above me here at my parents' house, and she's about 5 minutes north of me in Kingwood) but we never actually did it. And now we know why we were supposed to - God wants us in Tenerife together.
So yeah, I'm going to Tenerife for a few months over the summer with Debbie :) Oh, I love the way God works! We'll need a LOT of help raising money, so anything you guys would be willing to donate would be VERY appreciated! I love you guys! Have a great day!