the wearin' o' the green

happy st. patrick's day!

this is my favorite holiday. here are my reasons:

1. i'm irish. right, i know, it's like being cherokee, isn't it. everyone's irish. but i really think i am. i always argue, "my grandmother's family name is o'neal! i have to be irish!" Nana says we're Irish, so Irish we are. one day soon i will return to the motherland (i've never been there before).

2. i like beer. I KNOW they don't celebrate this day in ireland by drinking beer like we do in america (i think they celebrate every day in ireland by drinking beer), but i think it's fun that beer is associated with this holiday. don't get carried away, i'm not getting drunk. let's be mature.

3. green is a really nice color.

4. i like rainbows and so do leprechauns.

5. i REALLY like celtic music and irish step dancing a-la micheal flatley and lord of the dance.

i could go on.

last year on st. patrick's day my pastor Mitch gave a sermon about the life of st. patrick and i learned why i really like him and his day. i was talking with lauren about this earlier today and i remembered why i identified so much with patrick's story. when i first heard this story last year i was preparing to move back to kenya after more than a year in the States. i remember feeling lonely and crazy. crazy because i had just quit a decent job to be a volunteer and raise support. and lonely because i was going alone. and i was fairly alone in my perspective (though not alone herding pigs for 6 years like st. patrick).

patrick was captured from his home in england and sold as a slave when he was 16 years old. he was a pig herding slave and totally and completely alone until age 24 when he heard a voice telling him to go to the sea where his ship to go home was waiting. while he was alone in the irish countryside with the pigs he prayed to God day and night, waking by sunrise to worship. when he heard the voice telling him to go home, he marched 200 miles to the sea and was miraculously protected by God. of this journey patrick said, "i came in God's strength and had nothing to fear." when he got there the ship's captain refused him, but as he turned around to go back to his hut and prayed, some sailors called to him offering him passage. there is much more to the story and my friend Lauren tells more here (must read!). when he finally returned to his home in england he could not stay there. he had to go back to ireland and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus where it had not been heard.

i remember feeling so comforted and encouraged when i heard this. i was feeling alone. and i was feeling like i could not stay at home. God was calling me back to Kenya and i had to get back there and share the love of Christ. i wanted to believe that i was going back in "God's strength and had nothing to fear."

st. patrick's faith in God had an impact on the people who met him. people knew he followed Christ. people even made fun of him for it. but people also came to faith in Jesus because of his faithfulness and intense belief.

i am encouraged again today.

and i'm really enjoying wearing my shamrock shirt from mcguire's irish pub in destin, florida.

today when you are wearing your green and pinching people and drinking guiness, remember the faithfulness of st. patrick and be encouraged, comforted, convicted, and challenged. God has a plan for His children. we can trust Him. may you and i say of our journeys, "I came in God's strength and had nothing to fear."

there's a restless feelin' knocking at my door today

home

i hate saying goodbye! i start feeling anxious a few days before i fly nearly every time i leave america... and when i leave kenya...

but, alas, my Stateside hours are drawing to a close. i've been here for 6 brilliant and busy weeks. i've visited family and friends, gone to a youth ministry conference, worked at a family camp, conducted a staff retreat, visited colleges and churches to recruit staff, and done a little clothes and shoes shopping. :) it's been good. i'm returning to kenya tonight ready to jump back into things. there aren't too many weeks now until camp staff arrives. this means a fast push to the end of the school year. that will look like rugby season, more cheerleading, lots of youth group, spring break, spring banquets and proms, AND getting everything ready for camp. i'm excited!

today i finished up changing banks. i'm switching to a bank with lesser international fees (at least, i hope it will be). so i went to my old bank to close my account. when i'm in the States i spend a whole lot of time explaining what i do and why i'm living in kenya. the lady at the bank, of course, in asking why i'm changing banks, asked me what i do in Kenya. she'd never met a missionary before! her perception was that missionaries have no possessions and move around frequently. she was surprised that a missionary would need the services of a bank. :) i thought that was funny. i mean, i have very little possessions, but actually probably wayyyy more than i need. she was laughing that i needed to use a bank, but some people laugh at how financially "poor" i am. (like the guy at the investment company i went to. he said my account was very small and there weren't many services he could offer me). anyway, the lady at the bank was pleasantly surprised to learn that i work at summer camp. then she explained that she grew up as a military kid and lived in lots of different countries and never had the opportunity to go to summer camp or anything like that. she explained that when her family was living in florida some missionaries there started a Christian camp and she and her 11 brothers and sisters got to go for free. she described the experience as life changing. she's a Christian now because of hearing the Gospel at camp! HA! she and her husband don't have any children yet (they're having their first next month), but they regularly donate to a nearby camp to pay for one child each summer because camp is so important to her. would you believe that my sister goes to that very camp and each summer she receives a scholarship probably from a family just like this lady's? small beautiful world.

God continues to show me little love stories like this just when i need encouragement. in all my goodbye saying and "business" doing over the past few days, He loves me so much He gave me a sweet reminder about why He's called me to camp and Kenya. He is good.

i'm not really looking forward to this. :)

one voice

"This is the sound of all of us

Singing with love and the will to trust

Leave the rest behind it will turn to dust

This is the sound of all of us"

-The Wailin' Jennys (go listen to this song now)

i have the best friends ever. really. have you met them?

if you know me, you might feel like you've met them. i constantly talk about them. sometimes i feel like every other sentence starts out, "this one time, monnie and sarah and i..."

well, i'm adding another one: last night the above pictured ladies threw me a surprise st. patrick's day party! who does that?!! only the best friends ever. they know st paddy's is my favorite holiday. they know i wanted everyone together at least once before i leave. they know i love surprises. and they totally got me! they are wonderful. THANK YOU for planning, cooking, decoration, and opening your home (anna lauren).

in my own faith journey, God really used each of these women to show Himself to my heart. it was working at camp winshape with ginny and AL and experiencing real community for the first time that helped me really live in the skin of who God created me to be. and i can't remember who actually told me to do it, but that summer working with them was when i decided to be more of a part of winshape and apply for the scholarship. i met monnie on my first day of orientation at berry and we were nearly inseparable for the next two years. and no one will forget the triple. oh! and the quipple! ha! we all worked at wilderness together, went to school, lived in the same dorm, played and did lots of crazy unmentionable things together, prayed together, and i've been in kenya with each of them. they are still my sisters.

so last night we gathered for our "traditional" irish celebration with shepherd's pie, funfetti cupcakes, and irish step dancing. only this time we were dancing with a few pretty little girl babies. and the sound of the party was all of us "singing with love and the will to trust."

thank you my sisters, my friends, my support. i love you.

friends in cold places

As we warily stepped out of the sliding glass doors outside of baggage claim shocked by the bitter Chicago air, ladies shoving their hands in their pockets, and guys adjusting their baseball caps, we looked around at each other and laughed. If we’d ever seen each other before we’d all be good friends. Everyone was wearing jeans, tennis shoes, and a fleece, while the ladies were cute with highlighted hair and the men had either shaggy hair or no hair, but each man had some form of facial hair. Youth workers. We laughed to ourselves and bounced onto the airport shuttle. On our way to the conference hotel we shared where we were from: Minnesota, Nashville, Mississippi, Ohio… Kenya (uh, yeah, that was only me). Arriving at the hotel, after talking about how each of our youth groups would “love this kind of bus for the next winter retreat” (except mine, of course, we don’t really have winter ski trips in Kenya), we were greeting by volunteers, teachers, and pastors for youth pastors who literally yelled and cheered in welcome. This weekend’s youth workers conference was a new and exciting experience for me.

I went to the conference unaccompanied, but God is good and His beautiful Church is all over the world. I was not without friends. It is a truly beautiful thing when you can meet “strangers” who belong to the family of God and feel such kinship with them. It was warming and encouraging to talk with people with a similar passion for teenagers and children. And, as unique as our student ministry here in Kenya is, I have many common experiences with my American counterparts. We could all relate to those junior high boys who manage to break toilets and windows everywhere we take them.

sweet roommate karensa whom i met on the conference website. such a gem! she works with youth in D.C. she's beautiful. i don't know why i think it's cool to make that face. :/

There were sessions and activities planned each day (Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday) from 7:30 a.m. to midnight. And we youth workers wonder why we’re so tired all the time. I was able to attend sessions like Understanding Youth Culture, Speaking to Teenagers, Thriving as a Woman in Youth Ministry, Effective Small Groups, and Ministering from Rhythms of Grace. The conference theme was “Surprising Legacy.” We took part in worship experiences each evening where youth ministry legends (Doug Fields, Duffy Robbins, Jeanne Mayo, and more) reminded us that we are leaving a legacy with the youth God has put under our influence. They spoke to us about focusing on the important, being spiritually healthy, remembering and thanking the people in our lives who left their legacy in our lives. God spoke to my heart about many things over the past few days including strengthening my confidence in His call on my life to love teenagers in Kenya and encouraging me to live a life that at all times points to Jesus. One of the final things we final things we did together at the conference was to explore what we really want. What we really really really want. It is my desire and hope that I will, wherever I go and with whomever God surrounds me, bring Heaven to Earth; be the hands and feet of Jesus. Right now, for me, that looks like leading youth groups, directing summer camp, coaching cheerleading, organizing children’s church, but mostly simply loving on kids. And, friends, it is good.

i did manage to eat some yummy chi-town deep dish pizza

Now, on to a family camp program in Alabama this weekend (details about that to come) and I’ll be back in Kenya hanging out with the AMAZING kids God has placed in our student ministry.

working at home

CAmp BlueSky staff 2010

my time in america is flying by too quickly!

it's so good though. my first two weeks were filled with family, friends, and driving around the State and region. i visited berry, shorter, covenant, belmont, samford, atlanta christian college, a church in TN, and a home in Birmingham. and there are probably other places that i've already forgotten about. i have talked to so many beautiful students who are in love with Jesus and have a passion for serving children. we can't take them all to kenya this summer unfortunately, but praise God we have a great team of female counselors! here are some names so you can be praying: Laura, Jenny, Jenny, Lauren, Leah, Kaelyn, Daley, Emily, Chelsea, Abbie, Keeler, Nicole, Amanda, Shanna, and April. And our guys team is being formed even though we don't know who most of them are. So far we've got, Zach, Zac, Johnny, Devon, Drew, and Rob. And our leadership team, Eric, Brittany, Greg, Sarah, Isaac, and me are already blending so well and will do a great job leading and serving. All of my university visits have really encouraged me about college students and their passion for Jesus and their desire to serve. There are so many young women, especially, who are in love with our God and want to follow Him anywhere. Pray that God would raise up some men to serve Him specifically in Kenya this summer and to lead all of these beautiful and passionate young women in the Church in America today.

driving to Nashville

cass and me on the way to ATL

outside the coke museum, ATL.

snow day at home

This past weekend we had our staff retreat in Rome, GA. We had a great time staying up late, eating candy, playing games, and learning to trust each other and work as a team.

as for spending time enjoying Georgia and my family and friends i have celebrated a birthday with warm chili and good friends, visited the Coke museum with my family, eaten at all my favorite restaurants, shopped with my sister for boots and skinny jeans (i'm so lost when it comes to dressing fashionably), played with all the babies in rome, and watched much of the olympics as my sister haley and i compared our wii fit skiing and snowboarding to shaun white and lindsey vonn. i have two more weeks here and i hope i squeeze in as many memory-making events as i can. today i plan to go to chattanooga with my triplets and this weekend visit the bodies exhibit with haley and my cousin emily.

and this weekend (fri-mon) i will be traveling to Chicago for the Simply Youth Ministry Conference!!! i am pumped. i have a sweet roommate and i'm really looking forward to learning more about serving teenagers and being refreshed and renewed by worshipping our wonderful savior with parts of the Church who are like me.

on my way back to Georgia!

our second trip to Laikipia with megan and hannah. we rode camels and camped in the bush!

i'm getting ready to be Stateside for a while. right now there are sticky notes with to-do lists and to-buy lists all over my desk, there are two half-stuffed suitcases in the floor, my clothes from this morning and yesterday are lying between the floor and the bed, and i am halfway perched on the chair at my desk frantically trying to finish things up. and the scene is a perfect illustration of how i feel right now on the inside. it's pretty crazy. and this is no excuse for not updated you all, i know, but life has been pretty busy here lately. but it has been so good. so good.

we had our kick-off parties for both middle school and high school youth groups. it was so fun. we bowled with the middle schoolers and did the water slides with the high schoolers. we had more kids at both parties than we expected! and yesterday we picked back up with middle school youth group while the high schoolers are on their week-long cultural field studies trips. i had the middle school youth group all to myself! we talked about friendships and i am so thankful and blessed to have some beautiful friendships to draw from as i teach these young believers. friends, thank you for loving and serving Jesus first and then me as a friend. and i've been working so hard to get everything ready for me to be gone. i'm pretty anxious about leaving everything here for 6 weeks. but i know i don't control things.

middle school youth group at bowling alley

high school youth group (part of them) at water slides. it was cold!

the cheerleaders with whom i've been working are doing so well. they were so sad to hear that i'm headed to the States. we made firm plans to continue working together when i return. they are getting so good! and they are so cute! we have practice two days a week now and have had two all day saturday practices. i'm learning how old and out of shape i am. i was sore yesterday from dancing all day saturday. :)

most of my time right now is spent getting ready for camp and recruiting. i'll be in the States for 6 weeks, but that doesn't mean i'll be in ONE states. my 6 weeks are almost booked full of traveling to recruit, go to a conference, and see another camp. thank you all so much for praying for my trip. things are working out really well. please pray that plans continue to be ironed out and that i will rest in the Lord.

i am so excited about being the home! i can't wait to see all of you, spend time with my family, go to my home church, see friends, and meet our camp staff! thank you all so much for keeping up with me and for the love and prayers. hopefully we can catch up face to face soon and i will work hard to keep you updated here!

lingering holidays

so i promised to give more details of my Christmas and my mom's visit, but i've been trying to figure out my thoughts on the whole thing and a clever way to present it to you. my head is spinning with thoughts AND i'm sitting at a busy coffee shop in the middle of an even busier mall on a sunday afternoon. there are more than 200 people rushing around me, a little girl singing over my right shoulder and another one laughing on my left, and i swear there's a band playing nearby and a telephone that won't stop ringing. this isn't the nice quiet spot where i'd love to sit and write a quick update.

and now some kind of kids concert has begun on the floor below us. i can't tell what the guy is saying, but the kids are responding with wild screams! it's a great day in nairobi! haha! AND santa is still sauntering around the mall. the holidays linger on around here. i think we strictly follow the Christian calendar and Epiphany isn't for a few more days. until then, we're still wishing each other a "Happy Christmas!" and "Blessed New Year!" it's like what happens before Christmas in the States happens after Christmas here!

so momma and cass left on tuesday night. it was so sad saying goodbye. but i'll see them again in a few weeks so it wasn't terrible. we decided to celebrate Christmas again together at the end of January. we're going to bake cookies and exchange gifts. something small. it was just too weird not doing our normal routine. i took them to Maasai Mara, Naivasha, lukenya, bracken, and around nairobi. we went to church, had a small party at our house, celebrated Christmas, shopped, got pedicures (thanks mom!), and toured Nairobi. it doesn't matter how old i get i still want my mom to be proud of me and watch me. i LOVED showing her my life here. oh, and she kissed a giraffe and petted some baby elephants. AND we went to an orphanage where we exhausted ourselves playing with toddlers all afternoon. it was a packed week. THANK YOU to everyone who prayed for us during her visit. God is faithful. and now they are back to "normal" life for them.

after they left we went camping with some guys who used to be in our youth group, but are now in college. it was wonderful to spend time with them. some of them i hadn't seen in years. we picked up where we left off except now we're talking about potential mates and careers instead of homework and prom. i am truly blessed to still be a part of their lives. God is good. as a youth worker, you always wonder what will happen in students lives when they leave your ministry and start to "grow up." what a blessing to see them again and hear about their joys and struggles!

after the camping trip we had a small new years eve party. many people are still traveling for the holidays and many spent time with family, but some students were able to celebrate with us. we spent the night playing rock band and sitting around a fire on the back porch talking. it was a great ending to '09 and a sweet beginning to 2010. i stayed up 'till 3 a.m. (way late for me) playing and dancing in the dining room.

since then i've been recovering from all the festivities. and i plan to get back to work tomorrow, even though school doesn't start for another week. most of the students i usually spend time with are traveling this week with their families. i plan to use this week to prepare for my Stateside time. please pray with me that i will be able to speak to many college students about our summer opportunity. please also pray with me that God will give me wisdom and discernment in support raising. and, maybe it's a little selfish, but i am really really really looking forward to reconnecting with some friends. please pray that i will have sweet stress-free time to spend with those dear to my heart.

i'm also preparing to be away from youth group for about 6 weeks. i'm already missing them like crazy since we've canceled youth group during the holidays. let's pray together about that too. :)