"...and wait in expectation."

FPO is over and I am back in Texas for 2 weeks. It was an amazing, relaxing, refreshing, challenging, and fun-filled couple of months in Virginia. I met a lot of fantastic people, sat under some fantastic teaching, and drank some fantastic hot chocolate. We sat, read, acted out hand motions, watched funny videos, played a lot of games, and had meaningful conversations. We learned to cook, explored Washington DC, and went out for burgers every Monday. It was a good time.

God taught me a lot over the past 8 weeks...about Him, about myself, about this task. My first priority every day is to be with Him, sitting at His feet and clinging for dear life. There are many lessons that He seems to be teaching me right now...some repeats, some new. It all comes back to the simplicity of increasing my faith.

A few weeks ago, all the Journeymen got together for a time of prayer and it was a really powerful time. I just kept thinking, "God, we're talking to You right now as if nothing's impossible. We're asking for some really big stuff here." And God reminded me that--well--He's God. And nothing is impossible. And He can do bigger things than I could ever ask or even imagine.

So the verse I've been camping out on is:

Psalm 5:3

"In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and

wait in expectation."

God has absolutely been showing me that I need to pray big and wait expectantly. It's amazing how in every testimony, every story we heard at FPO of the awesome things God is doing all over the world, the common denominator comes back every time: prayer. I want to not only lay my requests before Him, but to learn to "wait in expectation."

The Awesomeness That is My Affinity Group

At FPO (Field Personnel Orientation), they divide us up into affinity groups. An affinity group is a "people group," not necessarily a region. So, you may be going to Europe, but it's to work with South American immigrants...so you would actually be in the American Peoples affinity group. I am in the Sub-Saharan African Peoples affinity group. All ten of us will be working with Sub-Saharan African people groups...but one couple is actually going to Europe. Kind of confusing, I know.

Anyway...once they have divided us up into affinity groups, they then divide us into small groups, but our affinity group was small enough that we were all in one group the whole time. These are the people I spent most of my time with. We had Sunday morning worship together...or "quad church," various meetings, fellowships, and assignments, and after two weeks, we started meeting for "quad church" on Tuesday-Friday, as well as Sunday. We prayed together, praised together, and dug into the Word together. We also laughed together...a LOT.

One of our assignments was to prepare 2 meals completely from scratch (the African way). We did this on a Sunday, starting at 8 am. By 2 pm (or maybe closer to 3), we had prepared and eaten breakfast, met for church, prepared and eaten lunch, and cleaned up. We had pancakes, syrup, and omelets for breakfast (I was on omelet duty)...all homemade. And chicken, japatis, mango rice, and fruit for lunch...all homemade. It took forever, but we had a blast doing it. We also learned how to cook actual African food together at a local church, and went to an Ethiopian restaurant. And one time we went out for Indian because apparently there's lots of Indian food in Africa...fine by me!

One week of FPO was Affinity Week and we had all of our sessions with our group. Prior to that week, we had to read a book called Foreign to Familiar, a very quick and easy-to-understand read. Each of us was assigned a chapter to teach the rest of the group in a creative way. There were several hilarious and entertaining approaches, but one guy wrote a song for his chapter. And then we, of course, decided that a music video needed to be made. I tried and tried to upload it here, but I guess it's too big. I will be happy to show anyone I run into on my iPod, though.

So these nine people are pretty amazing. They love the Lord and follow hard after Him. They are smart, talented, and gifted. And I really can't even tell you how much fun we had together. I can't wait to hear more from each of their adventures and find out how God has used them in big ways.

All 10 of us on the day of commissioning.

This book united us at the beginning and became a launching pad for many good times and inside jokes. Each of us now has a copy. Holy...Holla....Hola.

These are the 4 Journeymen of the group. Ridiculously fun people.

A Day in DC

One day, a bunch of us decided to go into Washington DC for a day of exploring and fun. We hit some of the main attractions, rode the metro, walked a lot, ate at some fun restaurants, visited a museum or two, and just had a good time doing whatever we wanted. We had a lot of fun just walking around and talking. And the metro stations make you feel like you're in the future! I don't have any pictures of that, though.

Megan, me, Elizabeth, and Ann with Abe

It was a beautiful day...breezy & brisk, but beautiful!

Anson, Korby, and Michael at the Singapore Bistro I think it was called?

And the other side of the table: Sara Beth, Lindsay, Kayla, and me.

Anson, me, and Ann at one of the 2 coffee houses we went to.

Ain't No Party Like A Valentine's Day Dance Party...Hey...Ho.

Soooo, it's been a while since I blogged. Time for a little catch-up.

Some fun things have happened, starting with Valentine's Day. Seriously, it was hysterical. First of all, that Saturday night, a few of us went down to Carytown to a Thai restaurant and they gave us carnations which was super exciting. Then we went to an ice cream place...also fun because they had spinny chairs.

The real party was Sunday evening though. There were roses, construction paper valentines, chocolate, choreography, and dance partying. And you know I love a good dance party.

Here is the choreographed portion of the evening: