Leaving on a Jet Plane

I will be leaving in the next few hours for O'Hare. Hopefully sleep on the plane and then wake up in Istanbul for a layover, then off to Odessa!!
Lots of craziness trying to figure everything out these past few days but God is faithful.

Back from Montana

Hello everyone! I didn't bring my laptop with me to Montana so I'll just have to do my post now...
Montana is a BEAUTIFUL state and everyone at the training center is so kind and welcoming! I loved meeting everyone and the fellowship that I enjoyed there was very cool.

We saw lots of these guys right near the walking path!

Paula (She and her husband Ron picked me up from the airport and dropped me off again. They stayed at the training center while I was there.) Paula makes me think of my mom, (yes- for the way she showed maternal care) but also for her interests... hopefully they can meet some day! 

Me (Duh) I look super stressed or something... (We had just finished hiking part way up a mountain on a goat trail to see the waterfall [behind us]) 

Zach, the other intern who will be in Ukraine the whole summer. Don't strain your eyes and doubt your ability to read... His shirt is in Ukrainian. ;)

FRONT: Andrea (Jeff's wife), Kay, Ron (Paula's husband), 

MIDDLE: John (Andrea and Jeff's son- also the boy behind John's shoulder (Will) is their son. 

Behind Ron is Jeff and next to him is Stephanie.

The very back row is Melissa, Zach, Wendi & John 

Kay and Zach and I went on a walk/slight hike, to the swinging bridge. 

There was NO way I was going on that swinging bridge... I waited for them to come back and took pictures. :)

Believe it or not we all like each other... :/ (our pose is so formal! :P )

Me, Kay and Zach

Me and Kay :)

Classes were good, cross-cultural communication, spiritual warfare, how to teach English, some evangelism, discipleship, I led a devotion and had to teach an English class... that was an interesting experience! (Thankfully I will have three camps to practice my teaching skills at while I am there. :/ )

One thing I learned a lot about is the importance of prayer.

Thank you all for praying!!

Some of you I may have already emailed my prayer note to while I was in Montana... I'm going to attempt to do one weekly- if you don't want it and I already sent it to you go ahead and let me know and I won't send it anymore, or put it in the spam box. If you DO want it and I haven't already sent it to you go ahead and let me know. :)

Also, if you look in the right sidebar of this blog there is a 'follow by email' if you want to get an email when I do a new post... I think that's how it works. :P 

"Newsletter"

Here is an updated version of the letter I gave to my church family a couple of Sundays ago:



I want to share with you all what I am going to be doing this summer.

God has provided an incredible opportunity for me to be able to go on a missionary internship to Odessa, Ukraine with International Messengers.
On June 11 I will be traveling to Montana for a week of training in discipleship, evangelism, Evangelistic English Camp Training, and cross-cultural adaptation.
I will come back for about a week and a half, then I will leave for Ukraine where I will be until August 26.

In Odessa I will be involved in the local Russian/English speaking church run by I.M. missionaries. Some of the things that I will be doing are:
Teaching evangelistic English language camps.
Discipleship
Evangelism
Leading small groups and Bible studies
Being involved with a local orphan ministry camp.

All the while I will be mentored by a young, single woman named Kimberly (who I might also be living with) and I will be learning how to be a missionary.

Things that you can be praying for me are:
~That I would be growing in my knowledge & understanding & love for God through this trip.
~That many people would come to Christ through the different things we will be doing over there.
~That I will be able to pick the language up quickly so that I can communicate effectively. I would really love to not need a translator the whole time.

I’d greatly appreciate your prayers and will miss you all very much!