I HAVE PLANE TICKETS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!!!!!!!!! I will be in Longview after Christmas and I CANNOT WAIT! Now I need to find a ride to and from the airport in Salt Lake. Which could be interesting since the Solid Rock group will be leaving for a backpacking trip the same day that I fly out. But that is a minor detail. I HAVE TICKETS!!!! :) Thanks go to Kate for her awesomeness. :D

Jazz Night - Gobble till You Wobble. 8pm MT, Nov. 13th. Snow College Jazz band. Please pray.
Pray for K, T, S, Sa.
Pray for me. Please.

Well here at the college house, just like everywhere, people are a-buzz with excitement about Obama winning the election. We have heard both good and bad, definitely a mixed group of opinions. My personal opinions need to be kept to myself, as I will be honest and tell you that I did not invest a ton of research into this election. Normally, I would have. This year... just didn't happen. Don't lecture me about the responsibilities that we have as Christians who can vote. I am fully aware.

People are going nuts either way. I like what one of our guys, Tyrone, said. He told me that he views it that either we will get out of debt as a nation or the end of the world will come but either way, as believers, we are covered. Pretty cool point. ;)

Anyway, we are officially the sick house now. There are four of us with the "crud". Delightful stuff, I'll tell ya. At night you can hear us hacking up our lungs while attempting to catch a few moments of sleep.

I HAVE GOOD NEWS! A good friend of mine has expressed that she can see God working in her and around her and here at the cafe. She is LDS and was raised both in the Christian church and the LDS church. Imagine the confusion that would go along with that. Pray that God would keep working and that her eyes would remain open and the Spirit gives her ears to hear and understand.

My coworker's son seems to be doing better, as well. So thank you!!!!!! so much for your prayers. They are helping!!!!!!!!! He is sooo faithful.

Prayer requests for today: the good friend, health, finances. And it might be wise to pray as a unified body for our country. The big thing on my heart would be all of you - far away. I know that my best friend is one of the ones that remains on my heart constantly. Encourage and uplift each other and know that my love is with you. I miss you guys. Hardcore. Pray for each other.

We are studying here what it means to be the church - the body of Christ. It is affecting the way we all interact and the way we pray. Very very very cool. I know Crossroads isn't perfect, but that church was where I first saw the community of Christ outside of the LU-once-in-a-lifetime-community. I am finally starting to see it here as well. It is EXCITING.

It is probably high time for an update so here I am. Things are pretty quiet right now. Chip and Jamie, Mitz and Junelle (two converts), are all gone on a missions conference to PA to raise support - prayer, financial, and hopefully, volunteers. They are also visiting Jamie's family up there. Pray for safe travel for them.

This past week was fun. We had a Harvest party at church for the little kiddos on Halloween. They came and played games and got far more candy than they could ever eat or need. So did our guys, for that matter. Gabe left with a HUGE bucket full of chocolate. I was a little bummed, because an old friend of Kate and I, BJ was there but I missed seeing him. I am hoping to reconnect with him soon, though. Kate, PRAY. :)

My major prayer request right now is for health. Randee, (one of my roommates) and I are both sick. Pretty sure I have a sinus infection and I am not sure what hers is but something along those lines as well. Neither of us have health insurance and no money for a doctor's visit, so... life sucks when your throat hurts, your eyes and nose run leaky, and the stuff coming out is funny colored. Sigh... Probably too much information, but seriously, please pray hardcore. Being sick is bad enough, but having to work even when you are sick because you don't have money, and can't get medicine is even worse. Green tea with honey and lemon, water, orange juice, tissues, antihistiamine (for the allergies that are accompanying this mess), decongestant, and a LOAD of cough drops are making it more tolerable. Pray for rest and pray for healing. Hopefully, without the aid of a doctor or antibiotics.

God has been super faithful. One of my good LDS friends came to church and lunch with us yesterday. That was awesome! It was soooo good to have her there. And doors are STILL opening EVERY SINGLE SHIFT at Walmart for me to share why I am here, what I am doing, and WHO I am doing it for. So cool. You have no idea. :) I love being able to share with people. I am praying for some deeper conversations, though. I have had a few, and while somewhat draining physically - the deep conversations I am talking about are ones in which God speaks directly to me telling me details and what I need to know about this person in order to better listen and reach them... and trust me, at times those visions of things are hard to handle or even heartbreaking - it is SOOO exciting to be able to listen to someone's heart. To see them as Christ sees them - the way they are now and the way He wants them to be... He shows me a picture of both and the images and stories overwhelm my mind and heart but that is how He has taught me compassion. To love these that are broken...

Your prayers mean the world to me. You have no idea. I keep having dreams about Crossroads people and the church. Every night for the last 4 or so, it seems. I miss you guys so much that it aches at times. I CANNOT WAIT to see you guys near Christmas time. Pray that the plane tickets work out with $....

One last prayer request and then I will let you go. One coworker of mine - her son is in the hospital with e-coli and it has infected his kidneys. This is pretty serious and he needs a lot of prayer. Please keep Jo and her son in your prayers that God will keep them in His arms. Her son has a lot of disabilities and requires constant care, even without the e-coli condition.

I LOVE YOU ALL! Stay strong and keep serving Him who loves, knows, and made you.

Just be.

I saw that on a sign this past weekend at the Boo-tique that I helped with. Liz and Jamie had a bunch of stuff that they entered into it to sell and then Gabe and I ran a hotdog/chilli/nachoes booth alongside. The sign was at another vendor's booth and was made of vinyl letters and glass. I wanted it but didn't have the extra 30$ to buy the thing. The simplicity of it caught me, though.

I have been reading Purpose for the Pain by Renee Yohe. The book is her diary about her life before and during her recovery from drug/alcohol addiction and severe mental, sexual, emotional, physical abuse and trauma. It is intense and it is hard to read and it makes me cry and it makes me laugh and it makes me identify with far more than I want to identify with. Renee eventually became a Christian sometime in 2006. The journals span from 03-06 and the story is chaotic, intense and crazy. And very very painful. The purpose, Renee says, is redemption. Redemption from ourselves, our sin, our pasts, our addictions, abuse, and circumstances. Redemption into freedom and salvation. Renee says over and over again that she just wants to be.

I also have been rereading Ruth. Boaz... man, I want to meet a guy like him. Wow. Hosea, Boaz, - those guys were redeemers in a very real sense. They rescued those women from the pits. Literally in Hosea's wife's case. And they stuck by them and loved them. They helped them to heal. This is what Christ has done and wants to do and is doing for His people. For me.

And all He asks of me is to just be. I don't have to have strength for more than that. I don't have to do anything more than be. Because when I try to do more... I screw up. He will do it by letting me be me and making "me" into what He wants. What He sees.

I look at some people and He gives me a glimpse of who they can become and another image almost simultaneously of who they ARE. His dreams for us are so big. We just have to be long enough to let Him make the dreams into reality. Pray for B. She is one that I have spoken and listened to and one that is on my heart while I write this. Her pain is intense.

Think, Think, Think, Think... - Pooh.

I end up with a lot of time to do just that. Other times, I wish I had more... And sometimes, I just wish that I could turn off my brain and not think about anything at all.

Trying to fight getting the stomach and sinus bugs going around. My allergies have been insane since I got here. My eyes are ALWAYS LEAKY. It is insane. And for the record, they are not ALL always tears of homesickness. Some of that is genuine itchy nasty allergy eyes. Sigh... Just can't get sick. No insurance - no medicine - no money. No options.

There have been a CRAZY number of questions at my work. It is so incredibly cool. I almost don't mind not getting many substituting phone calls because I get so many chances to talk to people at Walmart. Every day I get asked where I live, why I am here, why I moved here, where I came from, who I am, what am I about, etc... and they all go back to the same answer... I am here because I love Jesus and He sent me here to share His love. Obviously, not all of the people that I invite to the cafe while I am talking to them at work come in, but a LOT do! And it may not be because of my invitation, but I don't frankly care. The fact is that they come in and while they are here... well, the quote is, "Don't go to that "CHRISTIAN" house, they'll convert you there." --- You know, it is pretty cool to know that's true. ;) Except it isn't us doing it.

Things are finally. FINALLY. finally, starting to feel like I am stable and where I belong and that I can fit. And so that gets me to thinking. Still thinking...

God likes to shake us up, you know? Never expect the ordinary because it rarely happens. And never expect things to stay the same for long, because they rarely do. Life is meant to be crazy. That is my conclusion.

Here I am once again
Forgive my sin.

Hear my heart
As the tears start

Renew my fear
of what's Holy and dear.

Take my will
and make it yours.
Take my heart, now empty,
with your love, please fill.

Here I am once again
covered in dirt and sin

Cleanse my heart
help righteousness start.

Take away Satan's fears
as you wipe away my tears.

Take my will
and make it yours.
Take my heart, empty it now,
and with your love, please fill.

Here I am once again,
Holy Father, you've removed my sin.