Amazed!

Well, my support letters are out! If you do not receive one within the week, please let me know and I can send you one if you would like to support this ministry God is doing through me! It was somewhat of a stressful weekend trying to get everything worked out, but it went well!

I'm really just amazed at all God has done in my life as a result of this trip! He is truly amazing, and He is showing me that more and more each day! This trip is definitely a testament of the "love that God has lavished upon us." He is so very good, I cannot even begin to explain this God I serve! From the time I decided to go to the Philippines, God has richly blessed everything I've done! He's answered so many prayers, I cannot even begin to tell you! He has given me things I don't even remember asking for! It's so amazing! For instance, when I accepted the position at Faith Academy, I did not even know if there would be teachers for me. However, I decided I would go and pray that God would bring teachers. (I think I might have written about this in my original post about my story about how I decided to go to Faith.) The next morning I woke up, not 12 hours later, and I received an e-mail from the middle school principal saying that they had the teachers, and they were exactly the ones I needed for my certificate! That was awesome blessing number one!

Awesome blessing number two (of course, these are just the awesome blessings I can think of) is that I will be getting to spend a short layover in Tokyo before I go to Manila. While there, I will get to visit some SEND missionaries (Darwin and Karen Stoetz) whom I support and are my relatives. I am super excited about this! Anyways, part of the reason this is an awesome blessing was because all I had to do was ask if I could go and they let me! It's so incredible! Also, being there will allow me to adjust to jet lag some before going to start teaching right away! I am stoked about this opportunity!

Awesome blessing number three is that I have seen God provide for me already, even before I sent out my support letters! I had two people tell me they were going to give a certain amount, both of which were way more than I ever expected! God continues to bless!

Awesome blessing number four came this weekend while I was at home. I've been planning on buying a camera for this trip for quite some time because I do not have my own camera. I use my dad's old one, and it is big and bulky. I was planning on using some money for a medical study or graduation to buy it. However, my mom and I were shopping at Target this weekend, and I decided to go to look at the cameras. I saw one that is a Sony Cybershot, 8.1 mp, 5x zoom, and 3200 iso among other things. I'd been looking for very specific features for a camera that were not typical, and this one had them all! And not only did it have all of those features, but it was $100 off! I was so shocked at the price! I didn't know if I should buy it or not, and they were actually out of them, so I had to get a rain check. However, as I have been thinking through this and talking to others, I have realized how much this is another one of God's blessings. I don't remember ever specifically asking God for a camera (though I did ask for a med study so I could have the money to buy one), but God knew just what I needed and the features I was looking for, and He put me in the right spot at the right time! How amazing is He?! And not only that, but I should be getting my tax refund back in the next week and a half, so I'll have the money to pay for it!

Amazing blessing number five also came this weekend, and this is the one that has been the most overwhelming for me! Since the time I applied to go to Faith, I had been praying that God would provide friends for me while I was there. I knew I'd be traveling alone, and so I was hoping that there would maybe be some younger female teachers who I could become close friends with. Little did I know what God had up His sleeve! I received an e-mail from Anne, my contact at Faith, giving me housing options. However, she did not only send the options to me, she also sent them to another girl who is going to be a student teacher at Faith with me! I was so excited about this possibility! Her name is Jessica. I started e-mailing her in the afternoon, but my dad told me I should do that later and spend my time at home doing stuff I had to do at home. So, on my drive back to Grace, God and I were having some great discussion, and I started talking to Him about her and getting very excited for the possibility of a friend to go with! Soon, though, I had a thought that I should not be getting my hopes up. I didn't want to hope that I could have this great friend and then have them be dashed. However, God told me to hope all I wanted, for He would fulfill my desires! How awesome is he?! Then He said something else: "Be prepared to be blown away!" I laughed. I wasn't laughing out of disbelief, but more along the lines of "ok...we'll see if that was my voice or God's." Well, it was definitely God's! I got back to Grace and e-mailed Jessica. I told her a little bit about me - that I like scrapbooking and reading, that I am glad the Philippines is mountains so I can go hiking, and some other things. I didn't send too much, because I didn't know how she'd respond. After that, I met with a friend, and we were talking and praying about Jessica, not knowing what would happen. Later that night, after open dorms, I came back to my room and checked my e-mail, and I found out that Jessica had responded to my e-mail! The first line she wrote said that she was so excited that she ran down the hall to show her friend my e-mail. I was so excited that I did the same thing and ran and got the friend I had prayed with. We read the e-mail, and I found out that Jessica and I have a lot of common interests - she loves scrapbooking and hiking! Also, she's an RA at her college! I'm super excited to continue getting to know her! I'm so excited that God has provided a confidante for me while I go to the Philippines! He knew what I needed and He blessed me abundantly!

Of course there have been many more blessings and answers to prayer than just these. With a track record like this, I know God is going to continue to do great things! He is so amazing! I am 100% confidence that He is going to blow me away with how He provides for my trip - money, prayer, preparations, etc. I keep remembering what He told me last year when He told me that no matter where I go, He will use me as long as I am following Him. He desires more than anything to shower blessings on me, and He has done that! I am completely indebted to Him, and I am madly in love with Him!

Matthew 7:7-11
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" (emphasis mine).