Summer Bible Study

Last night I got together with some amazing ladies! We discussed what we wanted to study this summer, we decided on a women's study so we picked this book: Women of God.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0830830960/ref=sib_dp_pop_fc/184-9460199-5246712?ie=UTF8&p=S001#reader-link

I'm so excited to get my hands on my copy and dive in! It's been about a month since my last Bible studies wrapped up and can't wait to begin again!

What kind of Studies are you involved in this summer?

Hillsong United

On Monday I went to a Hillsong United concert, they are a Christan band from Australia. Here's a few pictures for you to enjoy!

It was a great concert and I had a wonderful time! The next picture is from the elevator in the parking ramp.

Hmm .... Mecca? Conveniently there was no 4th floor option which is where our cars where parked!

Too much!

Tonight I just finished up my 6th day of work in a row! This may not seem like a lot but when you work as a RN at a nursing home 6 days straight is way too much! I am so looking forward to same sane conversation tomorrow not that all my residents are crazy! It just seems like I have the same conversations everyday with the same people. This also means the same arguments such as you need to take your medicine! To top it all off when I got home from work tonight someone had parked in my parking spot! I called the landlord but she can't do anything about it til the morning so for now my car is parked in a parking lot across the street, I'm hoping it doesn't get towed!

Tomorrow night I am going to a Hillsong concert with some friends. I can't wait, I love Hillsong! This will be my first time seeing them in concert. What a lovely way to spend a day off! :D Here is one of my favorite songs by them ....



Christmas in June?

Lately I have been like a kid at Christmas time! I can't wait to rush home and open the mailbox to see if I have received another letter! I sent out about 50 support letters for my mission trip to Africa. I have received seven back so far. Each check or money gift usually comes with a little note and that is my favorite part, reading the wonderful words people write to me. One of my favorite so far is from a college friend named Amanda. We lived in the same house for a year and went on a missions trip together I want to share with you what she wrote because it really blessed me.

Dear Val,

I'm glad to hear that you are doing well and are enjoying both of your jobs as a nurse. Nurses definitely have the ability to touch people's lives wherever they serve and a Christian nurse can share the greatest gift ever, Jesus Christ! I'm sure you will be able to do a lot of good with all those you meet in Africa. It will be nice to be able to help the young women be able to sustain themselves through selling jewelry. It's also nice going with a church because that way you can share your Christian faith with others; there is no greater gift than to help someone enter into or strengthen their relationship with Christ and the greatest thing is that while you are helping others you yourself are also growing in your relationship with Christ! I'm sure your nursing background will also come in handy while in Africa as well. I would love to hear about your trip when you return. I'm sure this will be quite the experience for you. Hopefully, once I pay off all my loans I will be able to do mission work as well! I cannot give a whole lot of money as I just paid of $10,000 of my loans so I am pretty broke right now but I will definitely pray for you and your fellow missionaries and the fruits of your mission! God bless and love always!

In Christ,

Amanda

Amanda gave me $5 for this trip, and that $5 means so much to me! It reminds me of the story in Mark about the widow.

"Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, 'I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything -- all she had to live on.' "

Mark 12:41-44

I'm not saying Amanda put in all she had to live on but I think you get the picture! Speaking of picture below is a picture from my second mission trip to Mississippi, Amanda is wearing yellow in the picture, towards the middle!

In God we trust

This week I began sending out support letters for a missions trip I am going on in September. I have already received 2 checks this week and they were both for large amounts! I can't believe it, how quickly they came. It feels like the trip is years away but it is actually just a few months away! This will be the first time I leaving the country unless you count Canada .... I don't! It's like Christmas every time I go and check the mailbox!

It's been awhile!

It's been awhile since I've written but I've had a lot going on! For starters I moved to another city about 20-30 minutes away from where I was living. I am now closer to my hometown and am living in the city where a lot of my friends live and go to school. I just got the Internet up and going, I'm telling you a week with out the Internet was brutal! Let's just say I may have visited a few coffee shops through out the week so I wasn't completely without Internet. More to come later, for now I should finish unpacking!

I hear you!

So the past two weeks I have really been struggling with money. It's not like I want to be rich or anything like that! I was working full time at a nursing home and was really unhappy about the place I was working at and it was effecting my attitude, it was making me miserable. I have been applying for other jobs basically since I've started this job because I knew I would not want to stay there long but I needed a nurse job and it was in the town I am living in so I took it. About a month ago I got a call from a different nursing home in a town close by, and it is a really nice nursing home! The only problem was that the job is only minimal part time, meaning I only get works after the full-time and part-time workers get theres, if there is anything left over I have a chance at it. Well, I took the job and went to being "occasional" at the job I don't so much like. I have been much happier and prayed a lot about what to do. My parents were not too happy when they found out I gave up my full time job for something that has no guarantee of hours.

In the past two weeks God has been speaking to me over and over and over again about trusting Him, especially when it comes to providing for my financially. I have never had to rely on God for money before because I have worked steady jobs since I was 15 years old. (I know God is the one that has blessed me with these jobs but I don't usually remember that!) Seriously though, every where I go people are talking to me about trusting God and talking about giving money. Tonight I went to church, to a church I don't usually go to and guess what the sermon was on? That's right, how money can become an idol to us. Ok, God, I give up. You have my attention!

It is just so amazing and crazy how things like that happen. All the people that I have talked to, I never once mentioned what was going on and how God was talking to me about this in my quiet time with Him, but yet they all spoke to me about it. I can't believe how long sometimes it takes me to listen .......

Until next time I will keep moving on in this journey called life.