Open the eyes of my Heart

     Experiencing other cultures is vitally important to your faith, in my opinion. It pulls you out of your comfort zone, (Which is totally cliché right now, but think about it. You’re literally in a zone of the world and you need to physically get out of it) and pushes you to see how other people around the world do things.       In a world that is becoming postmodern I have learned to cherish my values, to cling to the body of Christ, to abandon legalism in order to truly understand the Gospel, to be open to different doors God may be opening, to think before I speak, and to understand that Gospel credibility to other people is through my relationships with other people (how I love them).      I have seen a different, but just as able way to do church. I have recognized how real the Gospel is and how worthy it is of my entire life. I have been to some of the latest, biggest parties I’ve ever experie...

It's amazing to watch God change someone's life completely. And the beauty of it is the Domino effect. He speaks, someone listens, someone hears, something begins, and before you know it, the Gospel begins to influence everything we do. What a blessing. Here's what I've been up to (Thanks to the big man upstairs): On Friday night, Michael took Jared, Abbi and I to the red light district of Frankfurt. If you know me, you know human trafficking is a touchy issue for me because of SOS, Moldova, etc. Walking into the red light district was hard, yal. Everywhere you looked there was a sign advertising good sex, sexy women, good dancing, or a picture of a naked woman. The whole block was lit up with red lights, and every window had its own red light, signifying another woman whose life has been stripped away from her. 'Prostitutes' kept eyeing the guys we were with, beckoning them inside. While walking along the street, I kept seeing 'classy' business men c...

You wait to grow up, and then here it is. You wait to finish middle school, and you're in high school. You wait to finish high school, and then, you finish high school, you wait to be independent, waiting for a moment, or a feeling or an emotion, but then all of a sudden, you're there. It was an emotional moment when I hugged my mom in the airport Monday afternoon and took the first steps towards a new adventure. I teared up just a little bit (mainly because my mom is just the bomb). As I waited at my gate for a flight into the unknown, I had so many emotions surging through me. I wish I could bottle them up and put them into words. It's like your parents prepare you all of your life for this moment..growing up, and then you're there. Walking away from that life into the next phase. It was such an adrenaline rush. It's in that moment that God defines you into YOU. You have to make decisions for yourself..not always having someone to turn to. My time in Frankfurt...

If you know me at all, you know I love to travel. What an adventure I am about to be a part of! I graduated high school in December (2014). I made that decision in September to finish early because I had enough credits and then I was hoping to travel somewhere or get an internship somewhere local/domestic in the Spring semester (2015). However, I just kinda put it off because it was so far in the future. I met with our missions pastor at Calvary to see what opportunities were available. I wanted to serve the church and not just do what I wanted to do. He mentioned missionaries that Calvary had in Lebanon, Germany, Calgary, and India. After prayer and consideration and a couple emails, we decided that Germany would be really feasible to pursue because of a missionary connection that our head pastor had with the church planter there. Because apartments and living spaces are small in Germany (especially the city, Frankfurt), housing was a bit difficult to find and because we notifie...