One crazy thing that makes me smile

Meet Hannah. She's my sassy Australian Shepherd puppy who absolutely loves to keep me on my toes. There's no snooze button on this 4-legged alarm clock. She'll do whatever it takes to wake me up, even if that means hitting me in the head with her water bowl.

She's beautiful and has all the dignity and delicacy of a WWF wrestler. And I have to admit that's exactly what I love about her. Lately she's had to spend a lot of time inside and seems to keep herself busy by herding the flies that make their way in from the yard. She'll chase them all around the house with great enthusiasm. From time to time I'll hear a clatter and thud coming from the kitchen where Hannah has jumped into the air and body slammed the cabinets in pursuit of a stray fly. 'A' for effort.

I've been grateful for her companionship and crazy antics throughout this transition of leaving behind some dearly loved friends and life in Venezuela to walk into this next glorious chapter of life.

Emily + Jeff = Love

Jehova jireh, my God provides. Saturday our family got a third vehicle and we are all now able to independently transport ourselves. I'll be driving my old car, lovingly nicknamed Jeff Gordon...nothing fancy, but Jeff absolutely fits my needs and then some.
Thanks for praying!

Praying for a car

One thing that's been interesting about living at my parent's new house is the fact that the three of us share 2 cars, live 20 miles out of town, and have really different schedules. We're juggling things around well enough, but it would be a huge blessing if the Lord would provide a vehicle for me in some way. I've had to laugh sometimes about my mom dropping me off for work, waiting for my stepdad to come pick me up, or my personal favorite: my mom leaving messages for me with the coffee shop guy who makes me my Earl Grey tea while I work and wait for my parents to show up. Oh, no, that's not embarassing at all.

Start this thing up again

I'm writing this assuming that people still check it from time to time...even though it's been ages since I've posted.
I just moved to a brand new country: Texas. They tell me it's still in the Union, but this, my friends, is a whole new ballgame. The language here is different and sometimes I wish I had my own Texas to Yankee pocket translator. Like when the store checkout girl asks me, "How are y'all?" I just don't know what to make of it. There's only one of me. Do I know her? Is she asking about my family? Is she seeing me with double vision?? I'll chalk it up to poor subject-verb-reality agreement. My question is answered as I hear her greet the family behind me, "How are all a y'all?" Got it. I might just become fluent.

I actually just returned from New Staff Training with Campus Crusade in Orlando. I'm currently in the process of finding a team of ministry partners to help send me to my next assignment in Salt Lake City, Utah. And while I don't know much about what ministry looks like there (yet) I know that I am really excited to go.
While I was still in Orlando, I got a phone call from the student leadership meeting in Salt Lake and was able to say hi and answer some questions via speakerphone. I've got to admit that it was one of the most encouraging and welcoming things that's ever happened to me. Like I said, I am super-excited to head to Utah.

Home!

The return to Merida has been a great success so far, praise the Lord! It has been so great to be back with my team and with the students here. There has been lots of hugging and catching up. Without a doubt I feel loved by everyone I work with here.

I had a little over a week after coming back to readjust and get ready for our National Conference. It was a lot of work for our staff team of 35 to put on the conference, but to see God at work in the hearts of the 200 students that attended made all of the exhaustion worth it. More than that, it was an honor to be a part of creating an atmosphere where students were able to get away from their daily routine and be refreshed and challenged in their walks with the Lord.

I thoroughly enjoyed goofing off with my friends from the staff teams in other cities in Venezuela, getting to know students from all over the country, praying over students in Spanish, and, yes, playing on the teeter-totters with my teammates. My health held up surprisingly well with all of the activity and stress, so that is a great praise. We are home again in Merida recuperating from the conference and getting ready to take a well-earned rest on the Venezuelan coast.

Trust me, I'm in this picture. See that bright blue spot in the upper right-hand corner?

It's official!

Or at least the one way ticket is non-refundable....
I'll be leaving for Venezuela on Tuesday evening and getting to Merida on Wednesday morning. It will be a big day for me physically: 18 hours of travel. Bring it on. I am ready for the next challenge and I am ready to see some familiar and dearly loved faces at the Merida airport. That's enough to get me through any airport weariness or patience-wearing situation. And hopefully I won't get into too much trouble without Bryon always asking me where my passport is...sheesh! The man is relentless. Although it's not entirely unwarranted...one little incident and now I have a reputation.
I have two days left here in Kansas. My mom took some time off from work, so we'll get to have some good, quality time together before I leave. I am excited about that time and blessed to have it, too.

Let's hear it for the Fast Shoes

Sometimes it really feels like this recovery process is slower than slow. I had hoped to be back in Venezuela by now, but I'm not. And I'll be honest and say that the slowness of all this jazz has frequently been discouraging. BUT then there are days like today when I am able to celebrate small victories. I walked over a mile and a half this afternoon AND even took a handful of running steps! My leg muscle is down to almost nothing these days, so I'm sure I will feel the consequences of my actions tomorrow, but I'll gladly take them. Lately I've been feeling like a prisoner in my own body and today's micro-adventure gave me a sweet, sweet feeling of freedom that I really needed.
Still no word on when the doctor will let me go back. I'm praying for soon, but trusting that the doctor will help us make the wisest decision.

Milestones and setbacks

When my sisters were little they had a pair of shoes for everything. There were shiny shoes they'd pull out of the closet just for dancing, school shoes, rubber-soled shoes for running, the next pair of hand-me-downs shoes they were waiting to grow into.... My youngest sister, Tracy, even had a special pair she called her "jumping shoes."
I 've never really vocalized it, but I've always thought of my latest pair of running shoes (which haven't seen much action lately) as my fast shoes. Look at these bad boys with their metallic blue trim and tell me I don't run like the wind when I wear them. Okay, I'll admit it, I don't do much of anything like the wind....maybe more like a lazy summer breeze?
Today I took the fast shoes out for some adventure: instead of twice around the block, we ended up going over a mile! It felt great and I just kept smiling and smiling. Praise the Lord for continued improvement!
While I am celebrating today's achievement, I'm also acknowledging that it's been a bit of a rough week with some disappointments and setbacks. Most notably, my doctor asked me to delay my return ticket to Venezuela by at least 2 more weeks. He'd like to see me be stronger before I jump back into things. (He'd let me if a had a pair of jumping shoes like Tracy, but since I don't...nuts!) It's the wise decision, but it hit me hard. My heart is homesick for my team and students in Venezuela and at first the 2 week delay felt enormous. I'm still not excited about it, but there's really nothing I can do at this point other than make the best of things and continue to rest in the Lord's care.

Feats of athleticism

Well, folks, I am pleased to announce that I am feeling better and better each day. Today will be the third day in a row for me to walk around the block. Once. Per day. Unattended. My muscles seem to think that this training program is a bit intense...at least that's what they scream to me when I wake up in the morning. They scream at me, I laugh at them, and we keep moving forward. It's a rather humbling experience. I never thought I would be rejoicing over something so small, but here I am. So, praise the Lord for continued improvement!

Some answers!

I'm slowly adjusting to the winter temperatures here at home. I'll admit to becoming more of a pansy after the so much time in Venezuela. Thankfully my brother's dog, Athene, has adopted me and I've been grateful for her warmth and company...not to mention the fact that she made for a very low-maintenance Valentine's Day date. (Take-out Chinese, in case you're wondering...and she didn't even eat off my plate. I know, my standards are high).

AND it is my great joy to inform you that we have an answer regarding my health! Doctors here think that a previous illness threw some of my body chemistry out of whack and that is the cause of the fatigue that I've been experiencing. The best news? It's an easy fix. A little medication and some simple changes to my daily routine and I should be right on track. We don't know exactly how long it will take for a full recovery, but we are hopeful and still praying for March 4th. Overall, I am encouraged...ready to take on the world (or at least the walk to my mailbox) and excited to rejoin the crew back in Merida. I sure do love my team!

Recently I've been blessed by people from all over the world (some of whom I do not even know!) who are praying for my health and my team. It's been both encouraging and humbling as I continue learning just how much I need other people. Thank you.

Taking the next step

Doctors in Maracaibo were unable to give us any answers, so we made a tough decision to return to the US to continue pursuing a diagnosis and treatment for the weakness I've been experiencing in the past month. I arrived at my parents' house in Kansas on Monday after 20 hours of travel - a grueling day for me since I get tired from even the smallest of 'adventures' outside of the apartment. I was able to take all of Tuesday to rest and am feeling ready to see a doctor here in Wichita this afternoon.
I am blessed that my mom works at one of the hospitals here in town and has been able to take care of a lot of details with appointments and insurance for me. Calling her resourceful is an understatement and I think she will be my greatest asset for getting on the road to recovery and back to Merida as soon as possible.
It is surreal to be back home so suddenly and there are moments where I hardly know what to make of it. I'm at home, yet feeling so far away from home! I traded palm trees and ceaseless car alarms for a quiet, bleak winter landscape. Teammates and friends are now thousands of miles away and this morning I find myself wondering if I've just woken up from a very long dream. Phone calls and emails assure me that I haven't, but it's a bit mind-boggling nonetheless.
Right now I am scheduled to return to Venezuela on March 4th. We'd like to ask you to join us in praying for answers to this little medical mystery as well as a full recovery before March 4th. Thanks so much to all of you who have been joining us in prayer and for the encouraging emails you've sent!

From Maracaibo, with love

It's been a long time since I've posted anything. A few days after my last post I got pretty sick. And for the past several weeks I've struggled with some health issues that have really lowered my energy and ability to get around. Recovery has been very slow and we are still trying to figure out what is actually going on. It's been a long process, and frustrating at times. Right now I am visiting another Crusade staff team in Maracaibo while trying to get some answers and better medical care.
I've been blessed to spend time with friends that I am staying with here. At times I have been overwhelmed by their hospitality, and while I might be passing through a difficult season in life, I don't see much to complain about. Praise the Lord for that.
It's already been 5 days here in Maracaibo, and while I think we are closer to answers about my health, we are still without a concrete answer and still without treatment. I'm praying the answer comes soon and that I will be able to rejoin my much loved team in Merida within a couple of days. Thanks to so many of you who have sent encouraging emails my way! They really boost my spirits and are WAY more fun than the vitamin-B IV they use here to give me a boost.
And if you have a minute, would you praise God for my incredibly outstanding teammates in Merida (Bryon, Amber, Claudia, and Sam) who have encouraged me, supported me, and helped maintain my sanity (what's left of it) throughout all of this?

Reason #913 why I love Venezuela..

Big Carrots.
I have no knife big enough to cut it, but maybe one of my neighbors has a machete?

Pray with us

It's been a full holiday season with lots of traveling, visitors, more traveling, and even a bit of relaxation. But now we've come to that place where we need to shift gears and get ready to step into the next phase of this great adventure that we're on.
Over the next few days our team will be focusing on seeking the Lord and asking Him to lead us regarding the direction of ministry in the coming months.
-Please pray for each of us individually as we meet with the Lord: Emily, Bryon, Amber, Claudia, and Sam.
-Pray that we will each be reawakened to our desperate need for His leading, His wisdom, and His strength.
-Pray that we will start the year refreshed in our walks with the Lord.
-Please pray also for our protection as we begin pressing more deeply into our relationships with Jesus--we certainly have an enemy who would like nothing more than to thwart our attempts call on the Lord. (Many of us have recently been laid low with extreme fatigue, physical weakness, or headaches).
Lately I've been growing in my awareness of the futility of actions I take and decisions I make in my own strength and wisdom. I am realizing to a new extent the enormity of my need for Jesus and it drives me to my knees in desperation and dependence. Please pray that I stay in this place as Bryon and I lead our team into the next chapter of the story that God is writing here in Merida.

The waiting room: yet another upside to social medicine.

Amber and I spent 3 hours in the waiting room at the local clinic this afternoon. We were the first ones in line to see the ONE doctor that was attending to the entire emergency room. We were being really good waiters up until hour 2, when our fellow waiters started getting a bit disgruntled with all the waiting and fed up with the one doctor attending to bleeding people who were rushed in ahead of the rest of us who had properly put in our time in the waiting room.
(I think that's when it dawned on me that perhaps the locked gate and armed guard separating the waiting room from the hospital is there to protect the one doctor from being bombarded by sick and angry not-yet-patients who are desperate to get out of the waiting room).
One elderly lady appointed herself as spokesperson for the rest of us in the waiting room whether we wanted her assistance or not. You know her. We've all been trapped in a waiting room with her at one time or another. "That elderly waiting room lady," is a character that knows no cultural bounds. We'll call today's lady Carmen since she's Venezuelan.
Carmen talks and talks and talks...informs the armed guard that she must get back to see the doctor because she has hypertension and that bleeding car accident victim can just wait his turn like everybody else. The armed-guard must meet at least one Carmen each day, because just ignores her complaints and doesn't even look up from playing games on his cell phone.
But Carmen is a rule-follower and knowing full-well that we were in line ahead of her, she knew she had to get us in to see the doctor as fast as possible if she wanted to get herself to that promised land behind the locked iron gate.
My favorite moment was when she took the liberty of informing the entire waiting room that I needed to see the doctor right away because I was quite obviously in great pain since my face was so pale. I just smiled and translated the comment to Amber...who was the one who wasn't feeling well and had brought me along as the translator.
I really wanted to inform Carmen that my pallor was more likely due to my ethnicity than illness, but I decided against it in favor of keeping our hard earned place in line.

At the window

This morning I've been watching the snow fall outside my window here in Bozeman.
It's been almost 2 years since I've seen this sort of weather and I can't help but think that God had blessing me in mind when He made today's weather.
Yes, I have very much enjoyed seeing friends in my time here, but one of the biggest things that I've been silently enjoying is the weather. I know it sounds silly but I am absolutely loving walking around in my friend's puffy winter coat, all zipped-in and warm except for feeling the cold air on my face. Call me simple, but I love it.

Bloggin' for Jamie

This one goes out to you, Jamie B.
I'm actually writing this post from Bozeman, Montana. I'll be here for a week to be a part of some wedding celebrating. It's a bit strange to be away from life in Venezuela, but it's such a blessing and joy to be here with so many dear friends.
The day before we left Venezuela I was able to have a really fun conversation with a girl who's very involved in the ministry, Elvia. I challenged her to consider being a part of a delegation of students from Venezuela that we are hoping to send to a worldwide conference in Korea. (Check it out at http://www.cm20007.net ). We are challenging about 15 students from Merida who are committed to the ministry and the mission of seeing university students reached for Christ.
Anyway, it's a short story without an end, but it's something that I get really excited about. I love challenging students to take steps of faith, and for the students that accept this challenge it will certainly be a faith-building experience as they attempt to raise $3,000 each to cover travel costs. It's a lot to raise for a US student, and for our students in Venezuela it's exceptionally daunting...that's over one year's rent on my apartment, if you want to put it into perspective.
That, however, is what I LOVE about this challenge. Truly, these students will be trusting God for something impossible and I can't wait for them to see Him show up.

Getting it.

Sometimes we come across those people who are just ready to hear the Gospel. Pedro was one of those people. I met him at our weekly meeting on the humanities campus on Wednesday. He had come all the way across town from the pharmacy campus just for our Vida Estudiantil meeting.
Amber and I lead a discussion group for new people during the second half of our meeting. This past week Pedro was the only new student. He shared with us that he had come to the Humanities campus several times with the intention of coming to our meeting, several times had stood in the doorway and never entered thinking, "What am I doing here?"
Amber and I looked at each other and exchanged a look that said, "We know exactly why you're here," and we began to share the Gospel with him.
Now, we share our faith all the time. And we even see lots of people receive Christ, but I'd say Pedro (like Natacha) is one of the most striking instances of someone being ready. As we shared with Pedro it was absolutely incredible to watch his face. When we explained how man is separated from God by sin and there is nothing we can do in our own effort bridge the gap, it hit him like a ton of bricks. His face fell and he truly felt the desperation of our situation without Christ. And the joy that came to his face when we explained that there is hope for reconcilliation with God! We showed him a diagram that shows Jesus as the only bridge that can cover the distance between a Holy God and sinful man. I'm sure that if Pedro could have jumped into the diagram and run across the bridge he would have at that very moment! It was a beautiful thing to watch the Lord at work in Pedro's heart that day. Please pray that Pedro continues to respond to God's pursuit of his heart, that he will get connected with students in our movement and begin growing in his faith.

The day we met Natacha

Let me tell you why I love my job.
Yesterday morning Amber and I were meeting students on the Humanities campus and felt drawn to a group of three girls. They were all on their way to class, so we didn't have time to do much more than invite them to our weekly Vida Estudiantil meeting. Not knowing anything beyond the fact that we were Christians and that we were talking to her, one girl, Natacha, grabbed my arm as she was leaving and said, "I have to go to class now, but I am really interested in these things. Do you think you can tell me about God another time? I've been meeting with Jehovah's Witnesses, but there's something about them that I don't like."
Seriously, I thought my eyeballs were going to pop right out of my head!
Amber and I got an opportunity to meet with her later that afternoon. And as we shared the Gospel with her we watched this quiet smile spread across her face as she began to understand. As I was explaining the 3rd of the 4 spiritual laws she stopped me and said, "But this is what I want to know: How can I receive Jesus?"
At the end of our conversation and after Natacha prayed to receive Christ she told us something else, "My life has been really difficult for the past several months. And last night I cried out to God and said, 'I can't do this on my own anymore. If You are there I need You to come into my life.' Somehow I don't think that meeting you two this morning was a coincidence."
We don't think so either, Natacha.

How do I even try to put this into words?

When something big happens around here, the students have a great word that they use to sum it all up. Wow.
That's right. It's the same word we use, which is nice since it makes a person feel that much more fluent.
Our team has been on-campus for 2 weeks now and, honestly, it's difficult to comprehend the magnitude of all we've seen God do in that short amount of time. We've been out meeting students, getting into spiritual conversations and sharing about Jesus. And as a result of those conversations we've seen at least 30 students (and a couple of professors) receive Christ. Wow. Some of the experiences I've had have been absolutely unreal and have served as powerful reminders that it's not about me, or my team, or our ability to communicate the Gospel: it's about the hand of God at work in the lives of students and Him allowing us to be His ambassadors at this particular time and in this particular place. Here is one such experience: Sam and I were sharing on the Sciences campus and as we walked past a freshman math student, Patricia, she reached out and touched Sam's arm saying, "My friends told me about a conversation they had with you yesterday. I want to talk to you. I want to know more about God." Seriously. Does this sort of thing really happen?!? I'm trying to imagine what my friends serving in Croatia would do if this same thing happened to them...
Please pray for Patricia, Aries, and Paola --3 first year math students who all trusted Christ last week. Pray that they would continue to meet with us to do follow-up Bible studies and grow in their new relationship with God.
Daily I am reminded of the great honor I have in sharing the Gospel with students here in Merida. "We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God." (2 Corinthians 5:20).
Wow. (There's that word again). I love my job!