Job-istry

Super cool blessing this week: I got a part time job/second ministry! Potter's House (church I'm going to) has a ministry on Tuesday nights called "Celebrate recovery" and they need help watching the kids because so many people are coming!

Guys this is such a neat opportunity to bring a tiny flash of Jesus into these little ones lives every week. There's kids from 1-13, and man do they have energy. But I've really been missing working with kids, so its a huge blessing to get to do that again. And its with the church, so I can get to know more people at Potter's House, get to know more people in the community and even get paid a little for it.

So that was my awesome cool blessing for the week- a job-istry! Although really, all jobs are an opportunity to minister. But job-istry is more fun to say :)

Starting at the Begining...

So as classes here are zooming along! There are so many different kinds of classes going on- each class is a module that lasts from a few days to a month or two. My current favorite is called Foundational Bible Teaching. its based on a course called "Building on Firm Foundations" BOFF for short... I know I know. When I was little they called it Chronological Bible Teaching- Chron for short. BOFF or Chron... hmmm.

The basic idea is that man has a wrong concept of God, and since God is the foundation of everything :). So the teaching starts at the beginning- in Genesis, and then teach through God's Story in order. We're learning about finding and teaching themes that God brings out throughout Scripture: such as that He is our Creator/Owner. His is Holy and Righteous and demands death as payment for sin, He is loving merciful and gracious. Man is a helpless sinner and has to come to God God's way. Teachers do the first couple lessons and then the students take turns teaching the rest so that we get a chance to practice.

One of the lessons that really popped out to me this time was Cain and Abel. It's not just a story about two brothers, where one lucked out to pick what God wanted him to do. It's a clear example of man trying to come to God his own way. But there's only one way to God- and that's the way God said- He said death was required as payment for sin. Cain brought his best works to God -but that's not what His Creator/Owner required. When God gently pointed this out to him, did Cain admit that he was wrong? no- he went and murdered his brother instead.

I was so struck by that deep level of hatred towards God. God loving reached out to Cain after he tried to come his own way, and instead of being grateful and turning back towards God- Cain sprinted the other direction! wow. But even though Cain did that, humanity did that, I did that- God is still all those things I listed a minute ago. That's what I really like about hearing the whole story in order- it brings a lot of those out for me :).

Birthday Blessings-

Yes its true... I'm now 25- wow that sounds old. But despite that somewhat unsettling landmark...God just packed this birthday with super special blessings. In fact the celebration lasted most of the week! -so I thought I would share some of the blessings:

Sunday:

I came back from doing laundry while talking on the phone and SURPRISE it was a party (there was lots of screaming and then I had to hang up the phone- sorry Mom!)

My longhouse-mates were all there- Susie and Marianne even made me a cookie

cake - and Susie made me cookie dough because she asked what I normally do for my birthday and I said go visit Steph and eat cookie dough.

Monday: Salaverrias

(teachers from high school) came to town! It was so fun to catch up! We went out for Mexican food. I had to wear a stupid hat while the waiters sang to me... but the

n I got a bunuelo with chocolate on it- so it was worth it :)

Tuesday: the day itself... Got a box from home with all kinds of wonderful goodies in it! My favorite of which was :

Yum!

And Jim and Connie (small group leaders) brought me flowers! So sweet!

And I got so many birthday greetings on facebook and text- and even some

cards! That was just so, so encouraging. Sometimes it feels kind of lonely and disconnected here- and those were such a special encouragement :)

Wednesday my small group had a cake and everything- its kind of overwhelming- I haven't had anything like this amount of fuss over a birthday in a long time! It was very, very sweet of all of

you and I really appreciate it.

Finally- another awesome God blessing: I have been praying

for a while about potentially learning guitar. Since I love

music and sing constantly, it seems like music might be something God might want me to use overseas too, and if that's the case- it would be best to know an instrument of some kind. Problem: don't have a guitar. Hard to learn to play one without one. So I started praying about it. And on Tuesday, somebody posted that they wanted to get rid of a guitar before heading overseas and.... long story short, by Saturday I had the guitar! God even sent enough birthday money to completely cover the guitar and a "learn to play guitar" book! Hurray! So this was a special reminder of how much God loves me- and I just thought I'd pass that on to the rest of you- because He loves you too- always and forever.

Well, a much over due post at last (there ya go Becky). Classes are humming right along- its amazing how easy it is to be busy. Sometimes I think I'm busier than I was in Philly. And sometimes I think I have way more free time. Probably its about the same, the hours are just no consistent anymore. Important Life Lesson: God's Work Hours are not only 9-5.