THE PLANE.

Our mission trip began in a slightly bumpy way. Our AA flight from Charlotte to Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW for you frequent flyers) was peachy. It was so good, in fact, that I was caught catching a few zzz's.




Okay, I was caught in an EXTREMELY unattractive semi-coma.
It's fine to laugh. I did.


after I drop-kicked the person who took this picture, of course.





but as we departed for the plane ride that would take us to Albuquerque,


uhhh, yeah. I had no idea that it was going to feel 200x worse than when I used to slide down our carpeted stairs really hard on my booty.

The ride was okay until we reached our destination. The first time the pilot tried to circle in for a landing, the wind was so strong it practically treated to plane like a rag doll. I looked at America's Most Wanted girl (more on her tomorrow), who at this point had become my friend, and she had her eyes closed. I started to feel really bad. Like, use-the-white-bag-in-your-seat-pocket bad. The pilot evened out and went in again. This time it was worse. For one split second I thought we were going down because the plane dipped so hard somebody in the back let out a gutteral scream.

I thought:

Oh crap. This is why I had a bad feeling today. I am going to have the definitive Come to Jesus meeting right now.

The pilot tried it one more time, and by this point, 15/18 people on my team were feeling woozy, and one girl had tossed her Oreos into her white bag. THANK YOU JESUS I wasn't That Girl for ONE time in my life.

Just thinking about it makes me gag a little.


Then the poor pilot came on over the intercom and said something like this--my silent commentary in the parentheses:

"Well folks, we are running low on fuel and the wind is pretty harsh outside so it's kind of giving us some turbulance issues
(Thank you, Captain Obvious.)
so we are going to take it back to El Paso
(Hallelujah for the sweet mercies of God) to refuel and then try it again (Thank you, I am an ugly puker)."

We moseyed back to El Paso, where I quizzed my dear friend and team leader, Justin Brock, about our flight. Mind you, Justin has been around the world. He has been in more countries than I pretty much even knew existed (Dave Smith was my Geography teacher :D. Kidding. We had great times in that class.). This was by far the worst plane ride he had ever endured as well. We were all woozy and our stomachs were upset, so we were grateful to rest for a while in El Paso, and even more grateful to touch down safely (after which we all applauded Captain Obvious) in Albuquerque to continue our journey.


And I was most thankful of all to have an unused barf bag.

Back.

I want to thank you all for the prayers that you have prayed for the wonderful Navajo people (or Dineh Tah, as some of them prefer to be called) as well as for the CR team that just got back home on Saturday.

I have a few hilarious and moving stories as well as interesting tidbits to tell you, and a cast of characters I want you to meet from this mission trip, including

*the most intense plane ride I have ever taken

*sitting next to one of the producers of America's Most Wanted (what are the odds, people? and you KNOW I love me some true crime.)

*a beautiful soul named Bennie Nez, a veteran who speaks Vietnamese, Japanese, Navajo, and English, to name a few

*some of the most beautiful children I have ever seen (not to mention the stellar nicknames we picked for them)


*Pastor Justin, who serves the Nazlini Church of the Nazarene faithfully without pay

*eating my first Navajo taco

*Learning that little Navajo girls play the same games as Jami and me

*giving somewhere around what felt like 1300 piggyback rides to children hungry for love and affection, and especially to the ones who didn't realize the social more of a piggyback SIZE limit. OY!

*hiking down into Canyon de Chelly and then have to hike back up-leaning on Jesus all the way

*Rose doing the stanky leg

*the Nava-HOE-Down





*making more beaded necklaces than I ever wanted to in my entire life

*seeing God's beautiful creation

*missing my handsome man something fierce (there may or may not have been tears at one point)

*trying to discover God's purpose for my trip out west

*eating the HOTTEST Tex-Mex food I have ever eaten

*meeting the brother of the Navajo Nation's president



MORE to come--just give me a couple of days!



love you all so much.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, Off to the Navajo Nation I Go....

I think this is the last blog until Monday, April 19th. Until then, read this and pray every day please.
{I leave tomorrow, pray for my sanity until then. hee hee}

I travel tomorrow afternoon to North Carolina, where I will stay two nights with my friends Jeremy and Katie and their sweet baby boy Wyatt. Friday night at 6:30, we will meet as a team to discuss particulars and prepare together to go the next morning.

Saturday we will leave for the airport at 5:45 in the AM (people, no one but Seven Eleven and the rooster are up at this hour.) Later that day, we arrive in Albuquerque and will take a van to the reservation.

Here's how you can pray for my team and myself, my dear friends and Bloggerotsky:

Pray:

*God will keep us safe AS ACCORDING TO HIS WILL...
(I am not afraid, and God is not SAFE, but He is good. Too often we consider Jesus as a "safe" God. Sometimes Jesus did things that were not safe and sometimes they were downright dangerous. I don't aim to find myself in dangerous situations but I am also not afraid of them.)

*We will be humble and gentle at ALL times, maintaining the attitude of Christ. (Phil. 2:5)

*We will abide in Jesus, because apart from Him, we can do nothing. (John 15:5)

*We will operate not in our own strength, but in the power of the Holy Spirit. (1 Cor. 12:9)

*We will consider others better than ourselves. (Phil. 2:4)

*That we will show a tremendous amount of respect and flexibility for this proud people. We are not on the same time schedule anymore (Jesus help me!) and remembering that in your prayers will make the trip so much smoother. Everything we have planned is subject to change with a moment's notice.

*As we lead programs for the children on the Navajo Nation

*As we do construction/painting (I SOOO wish my Seth was going--he is an awesome painter)

*As we work with the elderly in the Senior Center (This is the area of the trip I am in charge of this craft and game time. Please pray that the older people have such a great time every day and God gives me great favor to be able to build solid relationships with them--especially the women. It's a matriarchal society--right up my alley!)

*As we do programs in the public schools

*As we visit homes door to door.

*because many people of the Navajo Nation are still resistant to the Gospel and are wrapped up in their traditional religion. The ministry to the Navajo will look very different than the ministry at home. We want to build relationships with these people to show them the love of the One True God. One specifice way we do is to visit people in their home.

*because the Navajo people are NEVER in a hurry. (They will probably teach That Girl more than I will ever teach them!)

*because I don't want to come back the same way that I left. I want to be changed from the inside out.

*because the Navajos do not respond to the Gospel from a practical logical mindset, so pray that we can show them the Gospel lived out consistently with acts of humility, love, and service.

*that we can show them that they are not worthless, ignored, or unimportant, but that they matter to God and to us!

*that I can communicate this trip well to you and to all that ask me to share the stories of the people.

* about the people that the Lord may be preparing for us to build relationships with.

*for the health of the team.

* that God teaches during times of silence (especially me, I don't get that chance very often.

* that God will use us as living water in a dry, desolate lonely place.

*that God will give me many opportunities to speak life into close friends of mine on this trip that are on the front lines for Jesus DAILY!

* That He is lifted UP and ALL people are drawn unto HIM.


Lord, you tell us in your Word to ask and you'll give the nations to us. (Psalm 1) I believe, Jesus, help my unbelief! I pray that you do great signs and wonders and that you'll help us to offer every single thing that's in our baskets to you as you multiply and use it to feed MANY spiritually. Father, do what you alone can do.

Here I go, Jesus...as my friend (he really is my friend, I joke about Beth Moore, I'm serious about him) Carl says and sings so eloquently:



LIGHT OF THE WORLD, SHINE ON!
(okay, I am crying now.)

Pray with me. By doing that, you are going too.

Bringin' Crafty Back.//That Girl Moment #876: ATM Saga

Yes, my responsibility on my mission trip next week is that of crafts with the elderly.

As the Beastie Boys once sang (prolly about me) "she's crafty, she's just my type."

Let's hope sincerely that the Navajo people find me to be their type and like the crafts that I have planned.

GP are ya wit' me? I'm asking for prayer in every aspect of this trip, not just some!!

I can't wait to share all of the That Girl Moments I am going to compile to share with you when I get back to the ranch.

I would like to explain my trip to the Navajo Nation, so I'll take your questions in the comments section in order to best identify what I'll be doing.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, here in the land of many Oaks, a little princess went off to the small robotical creature called ATM. Little princess tried hard to deposit all of the money she had received for her trip to the Land of Many Deserts. But the envelope was much too fat!

"Oh no! What EVER shall I do?" Little princess cried.

suddenly, a much larger horse and its rider growing impatient behind her. They also had to visit the little ATM. Little princess frantically tried to shove some of the money inside of another envelope. She licked the envelope hastily and received a life-threatening papercut on the corner of her mouth.

"ACK!" she cried.

She continued to stick her mission money in the envelope despite her mortal wound, and she got confused because she kept trying to separate the money out into different envelopes, but rider and horse were growing utterly frustrated so Little princess shoved her first envelope in as a deposit and went around the bend to get behind rider and horse.

little princess sat on her trusty horse Darla, while listening to the musical stylings of Lady Taylor Swift (for which she still grieved, the concert in the Big Village near the Land of the Oaks has been sold out for weeks), and waited for her second turn at the butter churn, so to speak. Finally rider and horse were done, and as she placed her remaining deposits in, she was devastated (not to mention mortally wounded) as she realized to the tune of "Love Story" that she had put one check in that was written not for her, but for the mission organization with which Little princess will travel to the Land of Many Deserts.

"Ack!" she cried again.

Little Princess limped away with Darla, bleeding and frustrated, not to mention clinically insane due to the lack of space in the robotical ATM for her monies.

Alas, just another day with Little princess in the Land of Many Oaks.

Guest Blog//What If We....(please read)

My friend Cody spent a year in Ch*na working as an official teacher and a covert missionary to college students. I heard him share this story


and I can NEVER, ever be the same.


This story begs the question:



Cody's Story....
I would like to tell you a story of what I experienced while being a missionary to Ch*na. I had been in the city of Guanghzou for my first two months working with the underground Church. Everything seemed to be going great until one week God totally flipped my world upside down.

I always noticed a homeless beggar that sat on a sidewalk. What was really interesting about this man is that he would only come out at night. He was almost ashamed of being seen in his state during the day. So one night on my way back from leading a bible study I walked past this man. I felt like I should help him out so I put a little money in the bowl that he kept in front of him as he sat on the disgusting sidewalk. (Sidewalks in Ch*na are not the cleanest to say the least (!) and it is considered a place for only the most lowly). I walked on after giving him the money and felt good about myself. I felt like I had shown that man the love of Christ. Then later that night as I got in bed I realized that I should have done more.

So the next day I went and bought the man some bread and a bottled water. I handed it to him, smiled and went on my day feeling once again that I had shown the love of Christ to this man. As I lay down in my bed that night God spoke right to my heart like he never had before. I realized, "Yeah, I'm giving him money and food, but is that showing the love of Christ?

I realized that it wasn't showing His love, because after all, Muslims have the command to give to the poor in their religion, Buddhists also have the command to help the poor, Atheists for the most part help others in need.

In fact, all of these groups had done these same things I had been doing with this homeless man. So how was I to show this man the love of Christ? How did that look different from what they were doing? So God spoke to me and showed me what He did to show people love. God spoke to my heart and the following few days changed my life.

I walked by the man as I did many nights before. I walked by him and went about a block away to a noodle shop. There I bought some soup and noodles, food that he could never afford to buy but for me, the sacrifice was nothing. I walked over to him and handed him the noodles. He looked up at me, took the food, and said "Thank you," in Ch*nese. But the next thing really caught him off guard.

I sat down next to him and crossed that taboo barrier. I pulled out my own soup and noodles and started to eat next to him on the dirty sidewalk.

I remember him just staring over at me for what seemed like forever. I can't help but wonder if he was thinking: "Is this big white stranger going to hurt me?" (I am a big man.) But eventually he went back to eating his noodles. I practiced some of my Chinese with him, introducing myself, telling him where I was from, what my name was.

People walked by and their faces said it all. It was obvious as they passed by that they had never before seen this rather unusual sidewalk friendship. I had a great conversation with him and he had opened up by the end of it. I got up, said goodbye, and went home. Over the next week I returned with my friend and some soup and noodles. I got to know him very well and was eventually able to tell him about Christ's love for him.

One night he wrote on a napkin we had. He wrote in Chinese something that I will treasure always. It translated to "You are the greatest man I have ever met." I didn't know what to think when I later found out the meaning of the words. But that night was the last time I saw him. They probably found out about an American sitting with him and kicked him out into the small villages in order to keep China's positive image. But what he wrote stuck with me. Once again I got in my bed that night and God spoke to me. I realized that I am far from a great man, and in fact I am a man that is terrible, but through this terrible man the homeless beggar saw the Greatest Man, Jesus. It was the first time that I have ever felt like Jesus completely used me one hundred percent, like I was just a spectator. It felt good and fueled my passion to not just do a little something extra, but rather to really show people what the difference is between doing good things and showing a person the true love of Christ.

Now, I ask you friends. Are you any different from an atheist, a Muslim, a Buddhist, or a Hindu? We all do nice and good things, but what makes what we are doing any different from what they are doing? We need to truly share the love of Christ with people in a way that we are sometimes secretly scared to. That is what makes Jesus the amazing man that He is! He went the extra distance to show people that he actually cared about them and not just their needs. So, what are you going to do about it? Today is the day, friends. What if We....

Have Candles, Will Travel...

ok, lame title, but if you will have candles, I will travel.

Meaning I am doing a Home Interior Candle Fundraiser for my mission trip to Arizona in April.

I am selling 7.5 oz jars for $9:
Baked Apple Pie
Banana Cream Pie
Mulberry
Orange Vanilla Cream
Raspberry Cheesecake
Juicy Watermelon
Hawaiian Delight
Fresh Cut Lemon
Blueberry Muffin
Strawberries Dipped in Chocolate


(Why am I so hungry all of a sudden?)

I am selling 12.5 oz DESIGNER Jars (ooh la la, gotta light these with your pinky up in the air I guess...) for $15:
Baked Apple Pie
Rose
Imperial Seas
Fresh Cotton
Honeydew
Plumeria
Vanilla
Cinnamon Spice
Eucalyptus Spearmint
Pineapple and Mango


I receive 50% of the profit, thank you Jesus! If you are interested in helping a girl out (and making your fam think you cooked them a fresh apple pie only to yell "Psyche!" eighties-style at them and laugh) then drop me an email.


Thanks! Keep praying!

Chinese New Year. BLOG PARTY!

My roommate Nicole mentioned receiving an email from our friend whosenameiwontmentionherebecauseidontwantertogetintroubleinchina, asking us to seek the Lord during the week of Chinese New Year.

Let me explain. The way that our friends reach out to the university students is to have parties. Chinese New Year is a week-long celebration, so there are plenty of opportunities and excuses to party. My friends in China party with a purpose: to share the Gospel with Chinese students.

So they have asked us to pray for them on Monday January 26th:
*that the students are open and receptive to the Gospel.
*that our friends are protected by the Sovereign hand of God. (Some have already had run-ins, so to speak)
*that their ministry will continue to see A MIGHTY MOVE OF GOD in China as people are being saved there DAILY.
*that he will provide for our friends' every need and that they will stay encouraged and we would stay faithful to pray for them.


I know your hearts, Bloggerotsky. I also know that Kristi's presentation on Ethiopia is on Monday night. I promised her I would be there, and I will...

but my friend whosenameiwontmentionherebecauseidontwantertogetintroubleinchina had an idea. She asked us to go to eat at a Chinese buffet, and while fellowshipping, to pray for them and their work in China to be effective....then take a photo and mail it to them!

Sooo, I am wondering if anybody in Blog World wants to rendezvous at China Wok, on Monday, January 26 and then have a cross-culturally amazing time a Faith Baptist Church. We can help out two cultures, each thousands of miles away from us and each other, and change some lives.

Will you come to my party? It's like the Blog World Tour.

Come on, you know you want to have a Blog Community Prayer Party/Shower.


Let me know if you are in. Hubs and kids are totally welcome! But FBC Bicknell girls need to go to Tracy's first Encountering God Bible Study!

Let's go Around the World in one night!!

Updates and News.

Just some stuff--


1. My dear friend Andy is working diligently and putting his graphic design skills to good use as he works on the design for my website and blog. Pray for him as he seeks inspiration--I want women to feel welcome when they find the site! I am hoping that God will provide the finances and make the path straight to have the website up and running by the first of the year!! I covet your prayers toward this end as it is my desire to be able to minister to women all over the US and this will be the best way to connect with those looking for a speaker for their event.

2. I can now officially announce that I will be a part of Crossroads Worldwide's team to Arizona/Colorado in April of 2009! We will be ministering to the Navajo Nation, which is especially exciting as this particular group is a matriarchal society, which hopefully means I will be able to preach and lead in some ways I could not in other cultures. BUT BLOGGEROTSKY, I need your help! I am looking for creative ideas on how to raise the funds. For my Haiti trip I sent out support letters, and if it comes to that I can do it again, but I would really like to minister to women and share my heart for missions and raise money for the trip at the same time! So if you have suggestions, let me know asap....
Tiny "That Girl..." moment: They were having trouble filling the trip so I mentioned to Seth that he might want to pray about going. He kept asking me when, and I emailed him the dates, etc...Well, I didn't really check it over, I just knew I was supposed to go and signed up without really thinking about it. Today, I get an email from my sweet guy, and it says, "Lauren dear, I would love to go except it's over EASTER."
Can you just hear Ted Bessell saying "THAT GIRL"?
Welcome to his poor life...


3. I am not patient. I read on someone's blog today that it means that I think my time is more important than someone else's, which is a sign of pride. Pray that my pride will continue to die as I learn to have more patience.