I'm packin my bags again!

I leave on Saturday morning for a new adventure! My time at Link Care is winding down and I have just a few days left. I have thoroughly enjoyed every minute that I have had here. I have learned so much about counseling basics and just how to come alongside someone where they are. I have met some great people, acquired some skills and enjoyed California all at the same time. Now... I'm switching gears and heading off to Choctaw, Oklahoma which is just East of Oklahoma City.

I will be starting my training for what I hope will be future overseas work. I will be a 'student' again for 5 months... learning from other seasoned overseas workers. I will learn practical lessons like how to learn a new language and different steps to take in that process. I will learn about how to work on a team and ways to best utilize the gifts of everyone present. I will grow in my understanding of cross-cultural issues and contextualization. And I will even physically gain some muscle and hopefully loose some fat through a physical training program. I will be meeting new people, learning and experiencing new things and going to new places. We will be traveling to Mexico for a few weeks to apply the skills we learn and, in a sense, practice living and working overseas.

I am truely excited and a little nervous about this next step. I am having to trust the Lord a lot in this move. Everything will be new again... Just simply meeting new people can be a stressful thing for me. I will need to make friends again and that isn't just a scary thing for little kids who move to a new school... it's scary for me too and I'm almost 28 years old! I have had to raise my financial and prayer support for this phase of my life and I am still uncertain about how much money I have and how much I am still needing. This is something that I feel that I have had to continually give over to God and trust that He is providing as he has done so faithfully in the past. I am grateful that it is stretching my faith and deepening my dependance upon him. If I could do it all on my own... than why would I need God? So I thank the Lord that I am weak... and that I can do nothing good... and nothing period... without his mercies in my life. Praise to him... the Lord Almighty... for He has been good to me and He is trustworthy in his promises to take care of our needs! I look forward to when I can write and encourage you in giving the testimony of how He came through with the finances for my training!

Until then... be in prayer for me that I will trust and believe in his promises. Pray that I will make friends quickly and easily. And pray that I will grow in my wisdom, understanding and application of the lessons and tools that I will be given in this time of training and preparation. Thanks to you all for your prayers and support!

Blessings & Peace!

Sailing in the San Fransisco Bay

I just returned from a visit with my uncle who lives in the San Fransisco Bay area. I took the Amtrak train up and back. There was a frieght train derailment on Wednesday when I left and so I had to bus it part of the way up. My uncle recently purchased a 32 ft Pearson sailboat. It is quite a nice boat and we got to go sailing a few days. Thursday we went out into the Bay for a few hours and just sailed under the Bay Bridge. Friday we headed out for an overnight. We started out with good winds and we sailed past Alcatraz Island and saw Angel Island from a distance. We sailed close to the city too, but I was making sandwiches then so didn't get to see it up close. We ended up anchoring in Richardson Bay for the evening. We saw plenty of huge freight ships and one that had come all the way from China. We saw lots of other sail boats and even some sea lions swimming around. The evening on the boat was nice and peaceful. I woke up only once when the boat was rocking from the waves. In the morning we headed further North in the Bay, past Angel island on the North side and checked out another possible anchoring spot before heading back. We got some great wind on the way back in and made some good time over the water. I admit my nervousness when the boat heeled over with the wind. I guess I just wasn't sure how far it could heel over without capsizing. It was a great time on the water and and even better time visiting with my uncle. We don't get to see each other much seeing that I live in Indiana and he in California. I was grateful to have the opportunity to come up and go sailing with him. Below are some pictures that he took of me on the boat.

More of Yosemite

Here are a few more pictures for your enjoyment!

Yosemite National Park

This is Vernal Falls. We hiked up to the top of it and the picture above is the view looking down.
My friend Rachel blessed me with her presence the first weekend of June. She decided to come out for a short visit and we went to Yosemite National Park! We saw lots of amazing things... praised the Lord a ton for his beautiful creation and even stayed overnight in a tent cabin. We saw the huge Sequoia trees, explored several different water falls, got to romp in the snow at 70 degrees and saw some amazing views. It was truely a wonderful two day adventure to Yosemite National Park. These are some pictures of our time there. The top two are of Vernal Falls, then there is the Sequoia trees one of which I am standing on. This was a tree that had been tunneled out back in the 1800's and it toppled not too many years ago as a result of heavy snow accumulation. Sequoia trees drop huge pine cones too! As you can see in one picture. The picture above of the falls is Bridalveil Falls. We got a little wet looking at that one. Notice the rainbow. :) Overall, Rachel and I had a wonderful time!

As for the other happenings in my life... I've begun the process of getting ready to go to Beautiful Feet Boot Camp hosted by Heart of God Ministries. If you haven't heard and would like more info shoot me an email or leave a comment and I'll fill you in. I've got two and half weeks left in Fresno finishing up my internship and I'm flying to Oklahoma City on the 1st of July. I'll be there as long as the finances hold up or until November... whichever comes first. :)

This week, I am excited because I get to go and see my uncle in the Bay area! We're going SAILING!!! I'm really looking forward to it. It's been a while since I've spent some time with my Uncle and so I'm looking forward to catching up with him. I also get to experience travel on the Amtrak train system out here in California. Hopefully all goes well. Well that's the scoup for now... stay in touch and drop a line anytime.