Week Four

I can hardly believe that I have already been here for four weeks. originally, my hope was to post every week but after the last few weeks I have seen that will not be possible. Once lectures kicked in, the weeks seemed to go by so quickly. Most likely I will only be posting on my blog about every three weeks. I will try to keep doing short Facebook updates though.

In the last three weeks, I have learned about hearing God’s voice, the character and nature of God, and the Holy Spirit and relationships. During the lectures on hearing God’s voice I really felt God helping me believe that He wants to speak to me and that I am good enough to hear from Him. During the week on the character and nature of God, each lecture was convicting me and challenging me. I was forced to look at not what I proclaim to be true about God or know to be true about Him but what I actually believe because what I believe is what I will be living out of. The week on the Holy Spirit and relationships made me realize how often I will recite a verse in my head,  like, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” and forget that God wants to use the Holy Spirit inside of me to give me that strength. I was also encouraged that God does not require people who are smart in the world’s eyes, but He wants to use me just as I am to partner with Him in changing the world, because if He truly has my heart, He can do big things with me. One thing that each topic and lecture has been challenging me to do is seek the truth for myself.

On top of lectures we have practical ministry. My group, justice and mercy, goes to a caravan park every Friday afternoon and helps with a program called eat, pray, love. So when we get there, a few of us sometimes stay back to help prepare the food and then the rest of us go door to door inviting people. Once the food is ready, we pray and then eat. It gives us the opportunity to just love on these people and have fellowship with them. Most of them simply need someone to talk to who will actually listen. The first week it was really out of my comfort zone, but the people and children there have slowly stolen my heart. The time goes by so fast, and I never want to leave.

Living in community with everyone here is so different from living at home. In my room alone I have three people with English as their second language. I have eight roommates. Two are from Norway, one is from the Netherlands, one is from Australia, two are from Canada, and then two are from the United States. So even just in my room there is a melting pot of cultures and backgrounds. Then on my outreach team we have people from seven different countries. So it has been cool interacting and meeting people from all over the world.

These last few weeks have been pretty hard but not necessarily in a bad way. God has been convicting me of a lot and challenging me on a lot of things. So it has definitely been exhausting emotionally and mentally, but in the end I know He is going to bring so much healing and growth from it.

Praying requests

The I would be intentional about taking time to process and rest

For all the details to come together for outreach (getting in touch with ministries, visas, planning)

Unity for my outreach team

That I would be more open and vulnerable