On Christmas Eve I had a KILLER day alone at the beach. I went to Frederiksted and walked a LONG stetch of beach. Taking some time about an hour into it to do devotions and play in the sand writing messages. Then I slowly walked in total from where I started back only about 6 miles.... YIKES! That is a lot!!! It was fun, taking pictures in creative ways and just listening to music all day long. It was such a nice day I really enjoyed it. When i lived in Hawaii I would do a lot of bike riding or walking in my free time. Walk to the beach park and read a book, walk along the beach and just enjoy the sun. It felt like I was there again. WHAT AN AMAZING FEELING!! Ah I miss Hawaii so much, I constantly find myself comparing St. Croix to Hawaii and in all reality there isn't anything to compare. They are 2 different places. I miss the city, the skyscrapers of Honolulu the hotels of Waikiki. I miss the language, I find myself still speaking hawaiian words here and when i get funny looks it sucks. The water doesn't seem to be much different.

Other than the fact the waves to my knowledge. I have yet to see any waves close enough to the shore here that I would be able to surf. As I walked along the beach obviously I had a lot of time to think to myself yesterday because I was gone for 8 hours. It was just so relaxing, to just be me. It was truly a GREAT Christmas Eve. We had a Christmas party last night after I got home and had snack food and then a gift exchange! It was fun. The students are all missing home a little bit. How can you not at a time like this. When you are used to being somewhere for the holidays no matter how hard you try and make it seem like Christmas there is always something missing. For me the things that are missing of course is family, COLD, SNOW. When I walk around down here and see Christmas lights and trees and hear the music and hear the salvation army person ringing their bell I just have to laugh and remind myself again it is that time of the year.

It is just a strange feeling around this time of year trying to figure out new ways to celebrate a holiday that you are so use to having things a certain way. Yesterday sure was a splendid day, I can't even express how great it was to get away from everything and just be myself. AHHHH so great, I had some amazing laughs at moments and my head was full of thoughts all day. As I walked I prayed for anyone that came to mind and just had a nice day hanging out with God. As you can see from some of these pictures God was making the day special for me. A rainbow at the very beginning of my journey and then waves, sun, the water turning multiple colors and man it was incredible!!! It was a good day and even though I am away from my family and friends I was still able to find some joy and excitement!
Today for Christmas we are just hanging out watching movies and playing games. We had a nice breakfast this morning and dinner will be this evening. Turkey and all that good stuff!! Tomorrow Jonas my swiss student and I will be going Jet Skiing to celebrate Christmas! I'm so excited for that because I haven't done that since the very last day I was in Hawaii SO LONG AGO.... So it will be a nice reminder of my Home! I want to wish you all a very MERRY CHRISTMAS, MELE KALIKIMAKA in Hawaiian! Be blessed!

World View........

This week is a great week! We have our base director giving the weekly teachings! It is a great topic: Biblical Worldview. It is very interesting to hear what the other religions and people groups around the world believe and how much the world around us can effect us. Before the teaching last year I never considered my worldview, and now as I sit through the teaching again I am challenged with what I actually believe and why. Am I living for myself? Am I reading the bible and applying it to my everyday life or am I like a good portion of people not walking out what I talk. I don't want to be conformed to this world. I want when people look at me and observe my life for them to be encouraged and challenged. For them to recognize that I am doing everything in my power to see God glorified. I want people to know me for who I am and not put on a "sunday show" for them. I want the man that I am in church to be the man I am during the week. And the man I am during the week to be the same man I am in church. NO DIFFERENCE. Over the last couple weeks I have really been challenged in my position here. I have been doing a lot of thinking and searching as to what my role is in this community and ministry. I have challenged myself to do everything in my power to make relationships in the community, to partner with churches and offer our service and anything else. To get the students involved in the culture through attending other churches and really build a solid team to reach the island.

We bought our tickets to Nicaragua and Costa Rica last night!!! I'm so excited to go back overseas and see what ministry opportunities God has for us there. It will be so great! I'm looking forward to being back in Spanish culture, even though I don't speak it well I can understand it sort of!

This morning we went to a place called Grassy Point and watched the sun rise.
IT WAS INCREDIBLE!!! We had breakfast and then
did a little worship time and then came back in time for class at 10. Man I loved it! It was such an awesome place and it really reminded me how creative God is. To sit and watch the sky turn pink, orange, yellow is just awesome. I love it, each and everyday is a different sunrise and sunset, they are never the same and that boggles my mind. That God cares so much for us that everywhere we look its a reminder of his love. In all things. I love creation and I can't get enough of God's amazing power!

This week has been a good week. Things seem a bit slow now because we are just back into the old schedule. Last weeks speaker was incredible, talking about The Cost of Being a Disciple!! You can find it in Luke 14:25-33. It is a HUGE challenge to live up to that but we as Christ-followers must! Ministry is great, the students are being challenged and changed and it is VERY noticeable. In just 2 full months of lecture and a 10 day outreach you can see in each of them a greater desire for God. A greater desire to serve one another and others. It is so fun to be able to lead them through this transforming stage of their life!! We have had a little bit of complication is connecting with our contact in Nicaragua and Costa Rica, therefore I don't have much to report upon that. We are planning to leave here Jan. 13ish and come back Feb. 27 where we will go first is unknown, how long we'll be in each place is unknown. SO PLEASE PRAY WITH US! We need our contacts to respond to us!

Our lecture this week is about Relationships, we unfortunately have to have videos. The videos are pretty funny though made about 15 years ago, which doesn't seem long but when you see the clothes and stuff it is!! So after this week we will all know how to relate better to everyone! This weekend our childrens ministry is putting on a Christmas party for about 60-70 kids. WE are going to be swamped. It will be kinda like a mini carnival type party with different activities and stations with games! Should be fun, we are officially decorated for Christmas as well. Last night after class we all got together and had Hot Chocolate WITH CANDY CANES, Ginger snaps, and decorated our tree!!! It doesn't feel like Christmas, it never does in the tropical islands no matter how much you try but I'm pretending. As you can all imagine Christmas time is a hard time for students and staff, because most of us can't go home. So we try to make it as normal as possible!! As for me, it won't be normal but I'm thinking the best way to enjoy Christmas is the beach. It really is a treat to get to the beach believe it or not. So my plans are going to the beach as much as possible for the holidays!!!

Here is Our team from Haiti!! With YWAM Haiti staff also!

Well, as I sit here and reflect upon the 6 days that I have been back from Haiti i am amazed. I still can't get over the amazing time and experience that it was. I loved being in Haiti and I really felt free. Free to show the love of God to everyone I encountered. I loved it. It has actually taken some adjustment to get back into the comforts of life here. I have found myself frustrated numerous times as I observe people in the community and their obsession with STUFF! I have to tell you that it is even a different feeling walking down the street and not seeing piles of garbage. I got so used to seeing that, that it's a good feeling to not see it but honestly sorta weird. This week has been a great week back in the lectures! We have yet another speaker that was here last year in my school that was absolutely my favorite. So I am loving this week, the topic is Giving up our rights. The cost of being a Disciple. It is such a great reminder to myself of what I'm actually called to as a Christ Follower. Now as a missionary I have even more of an understanding of what my life is meant to be. I am not my own person, God has given me the life I live and he requires me to surrender to him in ALL areas of my life. I have spent a lot of time this week in prayer asking God to show me the areas that I still need to surrender to him. I know that until I surrender to His plan and His purpose I'm not fully experiencing Him.

We are having an event tonight called Giving Night. Where it is a time where we spend time asking God if there is anything he wants us to give. Generosity is such an important characteristic in a Christ Followers life and God is constantly asking us to give but how many times do we actually come to God asking if he wants us to give anything? It is a time where we can bless the people here on the base. Last year in my experience I prayed and asked God if there was anything he wanted me to give. He gave me the people in my mind and asked me to give them some money. I asked how much, and with that he said "how much can you give?" I was like hmmmm well $300 and I felt good about that, it was a good chunk of change you know. Then as I prayed the next day I felt God poking at that number asking "Is that all you can give?" I was like umm well maybe I can give $500 but that is a lot!! Then I felt God ask me one last time, "TJ what would be to much for you to give?" At that I was like WOW ok $1000 is the limit, I can't give that much that is too much, that's why I said $500. Then in that moment I felt him say "I want you to give $1000 tonight." I was like ummm ok right!!! Not really I struggled, I looked at my bank account, my bills, and guess what! Nothing added up, I couldn't pay my bills let alone give someone $1000!! As the day progressed I really didn't feel good about that night, I knew God was asking me to do something but I didn't see it possible. That night the only option I had was to write a check for $1000 out of my money I was saving for my upcoming outreach. HALF OF MY TRIP MONEY that in a week I'd be required to pay. I did what was asked and honestly I don't know how it happened but as I wrote the check my heart was SO HAPPY, I was filled with complete Joy. It was honestly AMAZING. I found out that night that the people I had given the money to had just had a conversation a few days before saying they had absolutely no free funds for Christmas. They had 2 daughters and they couldn't provide a Christmas for them that year. My check for $1000 had an attached note to it that I felt God told me to write. It said $500 of this is for YOU, to do with whatever you want and the other $500 if you wish can be used for your ministry fees. BUT YOU MUST LAY ASIDE $500 for yourself and your family! It was Awesome. I didn't receive all my funds for my outreach until 2 days before we left, I was $740.60 short. A team member of mine came to me one afternoon after I had just talked about knowing that i'm suppose to go to Peru and telling me that they had overpaid for DTS in the beginning and wanted to give me the amount they overpaid. She said I'm not sure how much you need but I have $741.00 to give you. I was like, OH WOW!!! God is amazing!

So as we as staff and students ask God what it is we can give I also challenge ya'll to do the same and see if there is anything God might want you to give up and bless someone with! 2 Corinthians 8:12

Speachless......

I am back in St. Croix. It is late, I cannot sleep, I'm not tired. My mind is still replaying the scenes from the last 10 days over and over. My heart goes from rejoicing with people and children to breaking at the sight of things that shouldn't even be seen. These last 10 days has quite possibly been the greatest period of my life. I can't begin to express my experience. I have so many stories, so many pictures but they don't do justice to the memories that are FOREVER engraved in my heart and mind. The best way to describe Haiti right now in my mind is a Beautiful Disaster. I was severely touched by the people and by God on many levels. I have asked many questions to myself and God. I have seen and experienced more than I even expected in my preparation for leaving. This was nothing but AMAZING and I loved every minute of it. Well except for the forced day off when I longed to be in the villages with the people but I know a day off was needed. I will probably make another post before most of you even read this one but I just wanted to write a little something before I drift off to sleep.

HAITI BOUND!

It has been a good week! Last weekend ended so well with us taking the students on an afternoon sailing adventure!!! We were fortunate to have some people in church that have a chartering business to take us out for 6 hours!!! MAN I LOVE SAILING!!! We are leaving for Haiti on monday the 17th and returning on Thanksgiving! I am very excited to leave and I know it will be such a different experience than anything before. This weeks teaching was great challenged me in a few areas and made me really think about myself differently. We got to do a youth group service at church on friday so that was AWESOME!! We did basically the outline of what we'd do in Haiti for a service. We started out with a funny skit had a testimony, another skit and 2 testimonys and one more drama and I had the pleasure of wraping up the service with a sermon. It was actually a sermon that I feel needed to be heard not only to the youth but to my team and most of all MYSELF. I will not be able to update this while I am gone on outreach for 10 days. PLEASE PRAY CONTINUALLY FOR US AS WE GO TO HAITI! For some of you that may not know, Haiti has an extreme past. It was dedicated to Satan a few hundred years ago and actually within the last 5 years has been released from that. It has extreme spiritual influence from Voodoo, I don't speak this to scare you because i'm not scared to go. I am cautious for sure but I know that God is taking us there for a reason and he will make his will be known through us. We all need your help as we do ministry there, so please keep us in your prayers. Nothing fights the enemy like our prayers to God that can bind him in an instant!!! We will be doing various things in our time there. We have VBS plans, hurricane relief, building projects and even possibly some food delivery to hurricane victoms!! We will be staying at the YWAM base in St Marc doing really whatever they need us to do. I can't wait to come back and tell you all about what we did there!!! I know it will be incredible!

Desperate Measures........

This has been a very interesting week!! In some ways it's been extremely Awesome and in others (our new president) not so great. The topic in class this week is Holy Spirit, and I have to tell you I have heard some things this week that have made me really think and dig into the bible to see if I really truly agree. The speaker this week is AMAZING! He is absolutely on of my favorites. I'm actually a bit disappointed that he wasn't here last year. I like being able to hear some of the speakers again and I think Mike Phillips is a man that I could listen to and always walk away with something new. I think this week is INCREDIBLE! I know I say that about every week but it really is a great subject that I really wish could be covered for more than just a week. We are going to Haiti in almost one week and so as you can imagine preparation for this outreach is FULL FORCE! I am so excited to leave and experience this new culture and really see what God does in the lives of all of us. It will be a great challenge for us all and very intense I'm sure. We have decided on a destination for our main outreach Jan. 13 through Feb. 27 and we'll be going to Nicaragua and then maybe spending the last 2 weeks in Costa Rica possibly!!! YAY FOR CENTRAL AMERICA!!! I'm very excited to be going there and hoping that in some way God allows us to have a ministry time to surfers!!! What better way to minister to people then sharing the amazing fellowship time of surfing!!! I'm hoping it could be a possibility to have maybe even an afternoon, OH how I miss it.

I'm not sure how any of you feel about the election results but as a ministry we spent a lot of time praying for the election and although I don't believe in our new presidents beliefs or even have great confidence that he is the best "change" for our nation, I have really found a peace in knowing that all I can do is Pray and God will do what needs to be done. Now is a time where we must all pray for our leaders, every one of them state, senate, congress, and presidential cabinet. Our nation is in a position that unless the hand of God is guiding us we could face very hard times... That's all I'll say about that because I'm not very political and I don't know much.

Grace.....

This week like the last couple has been challenging in so many ways. We are learning on Grace and Holiness this week. It is an amazing topic that no matter how many times I hear: I AM LOVED for who I am, I just can't get it. God's grace is extremely hard to really actually grasp and understand. I mean really God loves us so much that he did EVERYTHING to make us see that. He sent his son to take our punishment. We are seen as righteous every time God looks at us because of what Jesus did for us. I seem to always think that in my life I have to perform for God to love me, that I just can't do enough to have him accept me. In all honesty, I AM TOTALLY WRONG, the more I think I can do it actually the more sinful I become. I fall into the sin of pride when I believe in myself, my actions, instead of just surrendering to God and accepting the infinite love he offers me. Even though I heard this same teaching 1 year ago, God is still able to speak into my life. I will never fully understand Gods grace and you know, I'm ok with that. It gives me something to continue to pursue in my walk with God. The more I strive to know him the more intimate I will be with Him and the more I will be able to hear him direct me as to where he wants me to go.

It has been a good week, nothing out of the normal has happened. I am still loving ALL the students, man I just can't get enough of them. I love being able to walk into the room and see 6 students here taking time to further their relationship with God. What an opportunity God has given me. I am starting to prepare my mind for our outreach to Haiti. I know that this is probably going to be the hardest period of my life. I can try to imagine what life in Haiti is like but in all reality I can't even come close to what it will be like. I know the poverty will shock me, the devastation that came from the hurricanes will be overwhelming, seeing the broken lives and the grip satan has on the people there... I know it will be hard but I also believe that God is taking us there for some reason and WE will prevail because God is with us and he's in control. I love the opportunity that lies ahead and I'm so excited to get our team out and experience God in new ways.

I have also been going to a mens bible study at our church here and that is so nice. It is great to be able to connect with other people out of the YWAM community that I live in. To have a time where I can just go and talk and take a short break from everything. The guys are really cool and although I'm the youngest one that goes it works. It's a group for 20-30 aged people so I'm kinda in the middle!! I started going to it last year while I was here and found it to be very refreshing to kinda slip away from the base and not constantly talk about YWAM. Missionaries need breaks from time to time also!!!

I have really been missing hunting this week, probably because I know everyone back home is hunting. It is now officially 4 years since I have hunted and GOSH DANG IT I MISS IT!!! One of these years I'll be back to go on a trek for a deer and possibly an elk. Speaking of deer, for those of you that don't know St. Croix does have a breed of deer!! I saw one a few weeks ago, not quite sure how to explain it, I think its kinda most like a mule deer. Very cool to see but unfortunately you cannot hunt them.... OH WELL, I must cut this off now because it's late and I have a 5:45 run in the morning that I must be rested up for. So until next week.

CrAzY TiMeS!

First of all I would like to apologize for not being able to post last week. As most of you know we had our friend Omar blow on by last Wednesday night!!! All I can say is THANK YOU ALL for your prayers!!! All day wed. we were hearing reports of how the storm would be a category 3 storm and it was projected to pass right over the top of us! I have to be honest I was pretty stinkin Stoked when I heard that. A hurricane with 100 to 125 mph winds oh man how exciting! We did not get hit with the hurricane as bad as we could have, it made a nice little shift in its pattern at the last minute and went to the east of us and didn't really hit any islands dead on like it was suppose to! Although there were still winds up to maybe 60 mph where we were. The east side of the island is in the worst shape obviously because it was closer there but I would guess it was nothing compared to what it could have been. We spent all afternoon putting boards on all our windows and preparing for the storm that night. I think it was such an awesome experience because we as staff had to really work together to get the whole base ready for the storm! Working in the rain all day long was great I loved it, it took us from about 12:30 to a little after six to get fully finished which due to the fact we have only one staff person that has ever been here for a hurricane telling us what to do wasn't a bad time. I'm sure if we ever get to do it in the future it will be a lot faster. WE all got to sleep in the great house which is just the main old plantation house here, where we have our class and everything. A HUGE rock and concrete building that is the safest place on base. We had 20 people stay in there and it was just an awesome time to hang out and fellowship!!!

A group of us were able to stay in the dining room during most the storm which is just a mostly open room with a roof. So we were able to watch the power of God bend and break trees and dump about 8-10 inches of rain. I actually got to out into the middle yard and feel the wind almost blow me down the steps and WOW it was incredible!!! We were learning about the voice of God in our teachings last week and I couldn't help but being reminded of a few verses in 1 Kings 19:11-13 Where God tells Elijah to stand on a mountain top and to wait for him to pass. He sends a mighty wind, earthquake, fire and finally a soft whisper and in that He speaks. In my bible it translates the mighty wind as a hurricane wind, and it was just such an awesome example of how God is capable of creating all this and we are always expecting Him to reveal himself in HUGE ways and most of the time it's the simple gentle voice that we have to listen specifically for.
It was an awesome exciting week we lost power that night and didn't regain it until Sunday evening! We had a generator so we were able to keep our kitchen appliances running and we hooked up our water pump so we were able to shower but our nights were filled with flashlights and kerosene lanterns!!! It sure was an experience that I am thankful it wasn't even close to being horrible, we only had to spend 2 days cleaning up our yard!

This week we are learning about The Father Heart of God and it is an incredible topic which obviously challenges us to see God as our Father. To try and get past the positive or negative perceptions that we have of our earthly fathers and draw near to our heavenly father. I honestly can't even express how great of an experience this is!!! I love the students that are here, they are so much fun to be around and to talk with. It is hard to believe that it has only been 2 1/2 weeks since I met them because it seems like the friendships have been around longer. We are learning how to function as a team and trust each other and be open with everyone. I feel this group is going to have amazing opportunities when we get to go on outreach and God is really going to use us in a special way to meet the needs of the Haitian people both spiritually and physically!!!! I am so excited to see what God is going to continue to do in each one of our lives in this time. It is such a perfect place to really find out who God is and to fall intimately in love with him more and more each day!!!

FINALLY HERE!!!

I can't tell you enough about how our 6 students are the most amazing students ever!!! What an amazing opportunity God has givenme at this time. It has only been 3 days of classes and God is already speaking to them in new ways. I have to say that by sitting in the class with them is awesome, I love the fact that I am basically taking a DTS again. We have 3 students from Pennsylvania, 1 from Michigan, 1 from Ohio, and an awesome student from Switzerland!!! I have spent the last 2 evenings just hanging out with the students getting to know them more on a personal level and it has been SO much fun. I am trying to pick up french from my swiss friend and that is going AMAZING let me tell you! He says I speak words like a baby in french, I figure I might pick up a little bit over the next 5 months. I keep thinking, all of the times that seemed like torture to me in the office leading up to these moments were totally worth every bit.

God is teaching me to continue to trust in Him. He is in complete control of every area of my life. He continues to bless me in so many ways I can't even begin to describe them. I have been seeking him and questioning areas of my life to make sure I am completely surrendered to him. The Fear of the Lord has been a huge interest of mine over the last few weeks. I have been striving to see what it really means to Fear him. I have gotten so many verses in my quiet times and been reading a few ideas on the fear of the Lord. It is not an easy thing to understand but I know that if I keep persevering God will give me wisdom and insight into how to apply that fear to the fullest in my life!

I am loving my job like nothing else before. I keep thinking to myself that I can't believe God has called me into this but everyday it becomes more comfortable to accept. I am so excited to see the ways the students will bond and the way we are used in ministry. WOW what an awesome opportunity that I can't seem to get enough of!!

Awestruck

I could waste my time telling you of how busy I have been in the office this week but that doesn't seem like fun!! This week has been such an amazing week in so many ways! I have found Joy in my crazy hard times in the office, which I know is by God's amazing work. I have so much excitement for the students to come and it has been so great to know finally after being here almost a month it is SHOW TIME!!! This is what I came here for, God has been preparing me for this season for a long time and now it is now! There has been a TON of final details put together this week and we are ready, well at least I am ready!!!

This week has been So amazing in my quiet times. For some crazy reason I wake up everyday without an alarm clock between 5:30 and 6. Since I have been here I have just used that time to do my devotions and bible reading. This week I returned to my habits of when i was here last year. Every morning I had the same problem of waking up but I would go to the top of the sugar mill and watch the sun rise and do my reading. GOD TOTALLY ROCKED ME, HE TOOK MY BREATH AWAY WITH HIS AMAZING WAYS! For the last 4 days I have sat up there listening to worship music and reading my bible while the sun rises and fills the morning sky with bright amazing colors, it is amazing. I love my devotion time with God anyways but man each day it is different and more colorful. It amazes me that God is so personal to us and we sometimes forget to even stop to pray in our lives. I have to say that God has renewed my passion for him and I have gotten even more excited about where I am at in my life. It is MY JOB to wake up and spend time with him, and to be in constant worship of him all throughout my day. Really it is so hard to not be in that position when I start my day seeing his creativity and amazing power in such an awesome way. It adds so much more intimacy to my times when I think WOW God knew when he created this sun that at this moment I would be staring at it and in complete Awe and worship of him. I know that I am seeing a sun rise that he has made personally for me!! I could go on and on but I think something I am really understanding is how great it really is to be where I am. Although it is far from all my family and friends and a long shot from a normal life, I couldn't be more content. Seeing God continually provide funds for me to stay here, and continue to challenge me in my faith and desire a deeper intimacy from me is Amazing. Today even I was still thinking about how God has made it so clear for me to be here and actually brought me here. It blew me away that I was so sensitive to his voice and I am walking in his will for my life! I feel so unworthy to be in the position I'm in but I know that God chooses to use the most imperfect people for his greatest work!!! I am so thankful that I can be one of the few he has chosen for this opportunity! It all begins now!!!

WOW, What a week this has been. It is hard to think that in only a week and a half the students will be arriving and training will begin!!! Man I can't wait! We had a staff retreat this last weekend and it was GREAT! Having time to relax in a hammock on the beach and not worry about anything was great!!! Well that was just friday afternoon, then saturday we had some amazing teachings on Trusting God. Which is a nice thing to remember when I am trusting God to provide everything. It has been a great time here in the aspect of seeing God continue to confirm his desire for me being here. For the past 5 weeks I have gotten a confirmed monthly supporter, so that is fun. I also got to make a screen door for my apartment, (that was fun) not really having much of an idea how to do it I got it finished and it actually looks pretty professional!!

With things winding down for the school things are getting even busier, there are still lots of loose ends that we must tie in a week. So that means lots of office time for me. It has been a struggle in that area because I don't do well making up all the details. I can do things but when it comes to organizing and all that I would rather do something else. Today in our meetings we did feel Haiti is where we need to go for our Mid-school outreach, so we'll be trying to put together an affordable trip for the last 2 weeks in Nov. We still aren't sure where our main outreach will be, we were praying about Cambodia but today we didn't feel that was where God was wanting us. We have come up with possible locations but nothing is set. Pray with us that God will give us clear direction. Today was our first sunny day in 5 days, we had a pretty heavy storm sitting over the island. It looks like it might clear up in the next few days!!!

I think I will be going into Christiansted this weekend for the first time. The island is rather small and it has 2 main towns, Fredricksted and Christiansted. My address says I live in Christiansted but I actually live directly in between the two towns. There is an awesome sandwich shop off the boardwalk in C'sted that is Divine, I have been craving it since I left here in march! So I think i'm due!! Other than that there isn't really going on, just busy office stuff. Things will be absolutely amazing when the students come! I know God has a plan for my time here and even if it's to just realize everything I do is worship to him then that's ok. I know he won't ever give me more than I can handle so I know no matter how difficult the office is for me I can persevere through it. I just keep reminding myself it will ALL BE WORTH IT WHEN THE SCHOOL is moving smoothly!

What an Amazing God we serve!!! This week has been crazy busy. Sitting in an office staring at a computer all day is not my life's passion. I have to say that I look forward to the moments I get to go outside and mow the lawn or do maintenance on the base because being confined to a small space drives me NUTS!!! I do however realize that if I didn't do the work now when the students get here it would be insane, crazy, and confusing! I am SO excited for the students to get here, we only have 6 students, so of course we are still praying for MORE because the more the better! I have taken up another area of ministry since coming here, I have stepped into heading up the sports ministry program. We have such amazing facilities here for basketball, volleyball, possible football but nobody willing to make things happen. It has become my desire to make our base available for REGULAR games to be played here. I started this last weekend going out to take the guys that play water and asking to play with them. I met 7 guys over the weekend that come fairly often, these guys are pretty stinkin good so I'm hoping that as I spend more time playing with them my skills will also improve!!!

I'm not quite sure what needs to happen in this ministry yet. I need to figure out how many people I am dealing with, first establish the relationships and move from there. A project that I am working on is getting new lighting for our court, we need new lights so we can offer playing time later. Since it gets dark at about 6:30 or 7 it makes it hard in the evenings to have enough time to play. Please partner with me in prayer for the funds needed to replace those!!

As for me..... I am doing well, I am pretty much all settled into my apartment, adjusting to the toaster oven and plug-in burner to cook with!! It is hard I sometimes walk across the lawn to the other people's house to cook because its so much easier with a real stove!!! Imagine that!!! God has already been teaching me new things about Himself and myself which is AWESOME. I have learned within the last few days to really appreciate the times I get to be with Him. I can freely access His throne and walk into His presence whenever I want and that is such an amazing thought! It is so great that He actually desires for me to come and be with Him NO MATTER what state I am in. It has become such a great revelation to me that in my past when I have classified my "God Times" as maybe GREAT, or just alright I am so off. I understand that EVERY TIME I am setting my world aside to Draw closer to God it is an AMAZINGLY AWESOME time. The only thing that could make it bad is not having enough time!!

This weekend we are having a staff retreat, a time to relax and hangout and have some teachings as a whole group. Then its only 2 weeks until classes start and the real fun begins!!! I am so pumped and ready to see what God has planned for this season.

Getting started

Well, what a crazy time it has already been since I arrived here in St. Croix on Sept. 4th. I been so busy trying to get everything put into its place, running around getting apartment Stuff and working that I have had very little down time. The other leaders and I have been reviewing applications, going over tasks that must be complete before school starts. It is a very time consuming process that I am so happy to have 3 1/2 weeks to complete.

As of right now we have 5 students and one applicant. We are praying God will send more. To comfortably pay for the airfare of the speakers we bring in each week, we need about 12 students. We are confident that God has a special purpose for this school and we are trusting in Him to speak to the hearts of students and bring them here.

As far as everything else, the weather is ok, because of the storms all around in the Caribbean it has been wet. Which in a way is nice because it cools down pretty good at nights which makes it easier to sleep. When the sun does shine through the clouds it is EXTREMELY warm.. I LOVE IT! I have spent 2 afternoons sitting on the beach writing some letters and filling out paper work and it was SO DELIGHTFUL!

We just received word today that starting in November our Staff Fees will be raised. I know it is not a surprise to God and so therefore I am not worried. I know he will provide all the finances I need on a monthly basis. Thank you so much for all your prayers, I know they are working because I am staying sane in all the projects that I am working on!!!