So... I officially suck in the realm of blogging. Sorry friends. But, allow me to attempt to redeem myself in a short update of life.
In September my family suffered a huge blow when my grandfather died and I had to fly back to Arizona to be with them and for the funeral. It was a great service though. It celebrated the life of an amazing man who loved God and his wife and his family very much and was a great example of determination and strength.
While at home I got some good quality time with Ashley and Brian, sorry that I didn't see anyone else, I was mostly hiding out, I love and miss you both! And Ashley recorded one of my most embarrassing, but honest moments in a Wal-Mart.
October has been a crazy month. Classes started the first week and all the students came back, and I got to meet all the amazing people who had joined Navs in the year that I was gone. I was a bit worried that it would be weird to be an American on Connect, but mostly I just get made fun of a lot for the silly things Americans tend to do. (hehe.. people think I'm really loud here.... I can't wait to introduce them to actual loud Americans.)
Connect has been amazing. I have been extremely challenged in so many aspects of my personal walk with Christ, and I feel like God is showing me a whole realm of new ideas and training I was never exposed to as a student. Seeing a ministry from this angle has been eye-opening. The amount of love that goes into every planning aspect has been inspiring and provided a deeper respect in my heart for staff here.
I can't thank everyone enough for all the financial and prayer support I've had. I know I'm really hard to get in touch with, I'm so sorry. Currently it is a 7 hour time difference between England and AZ, so phone calls and chatting is a bit difficult, but I'm good with emails and facebook things.
As for prayer requests, my main priorities are:
1) We have a main meeting coming up for students to bring non-believing friends to. Please pray that our students take the opprotunity to do this and that it impacts the lives of their friends.
2) I've been praying for peace and patience in my own life. For a greater surrender to God. And through this I would be able to love people better.
3) Finally, please pray for the students themselves. It is now midterm time and most are stressed with club activities as well as school-work. Pray that they would find restful times in Jesus as well as time to physically rest.
Thank you all so much! I'll be in Arizona from December 14th to January 4th, hoping to see everyone soon!!!!
(but I will try to update again before then. :-) )
