It's hot here.

Well,
it's officially April,
which is kinda crazy.
With each year,
time seems to go by
so much faster!
But, that's the way it goes
I suppose.

I guess a lot has
gone down since I
last posted.
So I shall have to play catch-up.

The Lord has been very
gracious to me over the last couple
weeks.
He's been teaching me,
helping me,
providing for me,
and loving me through
so much.
And I can't help but be
grateful.
I've been learning what it means
to patiently wait on the Lord
and to learn through the
circumstances that He places in
your path.
This process has not been
easy.
But I am striving to learn
what I can
and see what He does with
the rest.
I know that
He is faithful and loving.
And I put my full hope and trust in that.

Two weekends ago,
a group of friends and I
went to see
The Hunger Games
movie premier at
midnight!
It was epic!
I must say that it was a
great representation of the book.
And, I was just glad to have gotten to see it
right when it came out.
And it was also a lot of
fun to go with some close friends.
They made the night a lot better.

That weekend
I also worked at a D-Now
in Durham.
A group of 11 churches got together
and did a D-Now weekend
called Metamorphosis.
I ended up being with a
group of 13 6th grade girls.
And they were all awesome.
They wanted to know more
about the Lord.
But I think one of the greatest
blessings from that weekend
was the host home I was with.
The host mom was very encouraging
and she loved the Lord.
But one of her friends was
there to help as well.
And I got to know her more.
She was a Methodist,
and we got to talking at one point
about the differences between
Southern Baptists and Methodists.
And it was so encouraging to see
that despite the differences
we could still work together and
see the Lord at work in great ways.
It was such a good reminder of
how great and powerful God is,
that He can and does work outside of
denominational barriers,
and that He loves seeing
all His children come together for the
same purpose:
His Name being glorified.
We saw the Lord save 5 girls
in our group that weekend.
And I pray that the church
I worked with follows up with
those girls, gets them plugged in
and starts discipling them.

Last week was a busy week.
It was filled with homework,
friends,
reading,
church,
and
fun.
I had a lot of chances
to hang out with a lot
of different friends,
and that was a huge blessing.
And I got a paper
written!
Yay!
But, most importantly,
my car was fixed!
She will no longer be going over
the speed limit without me knowing.
haha.
It took all day
on Friday,
but now she drives at the speed
that I think I am actually going.

Saturday I got the chance
to to to the
Wake County Book Sale.
Let me tell you,
there were
thousands,
and thousands,
and thousands of
books.
It was beautiful.
And if I could have,
I would have gotten a lot of them.
But God thought He would teach me a
lesson that day.
I walked into the Book Sale thinking
I would get a few books.
But as I was walking around the warehouse-sized room,
I couldn't help but feel guilty.
Here was a very clear picture of a form of
gluttony.
I know, it's hard to think of
"book gluttony."
But it's the truth.
Here in America we take advantage
of all the stuff we have.
I know I do.
Everything is so easily accessible.
Stores are on every corner.
We have libraries, coffee shops,
etc.
And it's so easy to get caught up
in storing up treasures
here on earth.
It's easy to hoard
anything and everything.
Here I was searching for books that
I don't really need,
while a child in Africa is
searching for food to survive.
Or there's a girl in Greece
searching for someone to help her
escape from her traffickers.
Or there's a man down the street
searching for the truth.
Jesus commands us to store up
treasures in heaven.
How do we do that?
By focusing on Him,
following Him,
and doing what He commands us to do:
make disciples.
So, I ended up getting
one book,
and God taught me a lesson.
The treasures of this earth
continue to look far less
desirable
than serving God.

This week has been rather low key
so far.
Thank goodness.
Monday was just a chill day.
I got a lot of homework done.
Yesterday
Rachel, Megan, and I
drove down to Bishopville, SC,
so that I could pay my ticket.
The presiding officer who
was overseeing my ticket
ended up greatly reducing my
fine.
Such a blessing!!
So after showing up in court,
we started the 3-hour journey back.
We had a lot of fun,
a lot of good, encouraging
conversation,
and it was such a blessing to have
them with me.
When we got back,
we ran a lot of errands.
And we ended up hanging out the
rest of the night
with a couple of other friends.
So, I do have to say,
it was one of the best days.
Today will be filled with homework,
as will tomorrow.
But Friday and Saturday?
Those are going to be two great days.
Seriously.
I cannot wait.
:)

About my trip to American Samoa:
my tickets are bought!
God is blessing the fundraising efforts greatly!
(so much more than I thought He ever would!)
I am preparing for what God is going to do!
Please keep praying!

Anyway,
God is so good.
I don't deserve His blessings,
but He is gracious,
and He continues
to bless me more than I deserve!

Blessings!

(Oh, and it's super hot here.
The a/c keeps getting turned
off
in the dorm.
So it doesn't make for a cool
room.)