End of an Era

The soft red glow of taillights marked the end of an era. Our era. Wednesday we said goodbye to our faithful teammate Nikki, as she returned home to be with her ailing grandfather. The house is oddly quiet without her. I think it is silently foreboding the night to come. Tonight we go home.

There will be no more cheery lit windows or chortling laughter to come home to. There will be no more meals to cook or dishes to wash. There will be no more guest lecturers or house mothers or service projects. Our little house will be left quiet and empty, an empty reminder of the home it had become for four young women from all walks of life.

Our fledgling family is about to fly the nest. We can only pray that we are ready for the life ahead of us. These six weeks have been a non-stop attempt to equip us. From the helmet of truth to the sandals of peace beneath our feet and the sword of righteousness at our side, we have been trained, conditioned, and clothed as warriors. But to be warriors, we have to prove ourselves. As with anyone about to step onto the battlefield, we are a mix of emotions. Fear, anxiety, excitement, eagerness, and countless other feelings are wound into the anticipation that we are feeling. We're chomping at the bit, ready to run our race, yet afraid of running blind. It's scary to be heading into the unknown, but these six weeks have given us a secret weapon: family. We are sisters in Christ and we walk together in faith, through thick and thin, until God sends us elsewhere. (Even then, I have a sneaking suspicion we'll be closer than you think.) In ten days we will be on a plane southward to start the adventure of our lifetime. Are you ready? Are we ready? We'll find out. ;)

Our next post will be from Honduras in two short weeks. In the meantime, we're off to enjoy our reprieve.

Adios,
Kris

P.S. Please pray for our travels and for Vicky's pinky. She broke it on a hike with us (oops!).
P.P.S. This is Brynne. We have it on video!!!

Digging Deeper

We have been asked to dig a little deeper and let the readers see what God has been doing in our lives. This week, instead of our lighthearted play-by-play, we are doing something a bit different in an attempt to meet this request.

Here we go:

Wow, to think we have been here at Roxbury for five weeks is crazy! God is doing so much in each one of our hearts. A particularly moving part of this week was when Traci Rodgers came for a visit. She instructed us to make two masks. One symbolizing how we revealed ourselves to others and the second how we personally saw ourselves. I covered my "others" mask in tin foil and drew a huge, fake smile on it. This represented the people-pleaser I am. I reflect what others want to see in me and I hide my emotions just trying to be polite and fit in. I fear rejection and this mask is fool proof. But, my "real me" mask revealed the fun-loving, creative, goofy person I really am with colorful spirals of paint and glitter. God is breaking away the hard, insecure parts of my heart. I can only imagine the ways he will continue to change me, and I can't wait to press through with him by my side.

Kate

Now that we're in our final week at training, I'm SO READY TO GO! The past 5 weeks have been a blast and super beneficial, but I'm borderline ecstatic to get back in the real world and be around people again. The most exciting part is that for the next 6 months, our "real world" will be 3,392 miles away from what I've called home the past 18 years of my life. Having grown up in the church, there are many things that I've known about God for a long time; God always forgives. He can't love me any more, he can't love me any less. God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. See? They sound cliché, don't they? Well, in the past five weeks, those statements (and so many more) have started to actually make sense to me. While they're still things I know, they are now also things I believe. When Christianity shifts from knowing about God to knowing God, it makes such a difference that I can't even begin to describe in one blog post. I love that God has been teaching, stretching, and transforming me and I'm so excited to continue this process...3,392 miles away from home!

Brynne

They call me Mama Kris. I wasn't sure how I felt about that at first. I'm always the mother, always the leader, always the strong one; I was hoping to escape that. It seems you can't run from who you are. The funny thing is, God keeps answering the "who am I?" question with new things! He is constantly revealing his truth to me. I am his precious child whom he loves beyond measure and, therefore, I can pour his love out on others. I am beautiful and made in his image. I am strong, but I'm not THAT strong. He carries my worries and cares; He makes my burden light. I love these girls. I'm allowed to love these girls. God has given me a heart for people and I'm allowed to use it. The only stipulation is that I have to be willing to accept love in return. That, my friends, is the hard part, but I'm getting better at it. ;)

Kristen

Our 36th day as a team! Where has the time gone?!? I've really enjoyed my time at the camp getting to know my 3 new sisters as well as learning more about myself. I've learned that I take a long time to process things, which makes me frustrated sometimes when I'm expected to give an answer right away after receiving so much information. I've really enjoyed seeing how God is working in our lives and thanking Him for all He has done. It's nice to be staying in a forest, so I can get out for a walk and talk to God as well as take pictures. I'm in the process of learning that it's okay to trust people and  be open to learning from those around me. I'm thankful that we all have a testimony to who God is, what He is doing in our lives, and that we are loved and not forgotten. One of my personal highlights so far has been our Sunday morning experience at Harrisburg Brethren In Christ, I enjoyed the cultural diversity of the church, it was just a whole new experience for me!

This morning at the service at The Spring they sang this song, Set A Fire by Jesus Culture:

There's no place I'd rather be

There's no place I'd rather be

There's no place I'd rather be

Than here in your love, here in your love

Set a fire down in my soul

That I can't contain and I can't control

I want more of You God, I want more of You God.

Love of God overflow

Permeate all my soul

This is my prayer for my team, that as we are ending our training and getting ready to be on the missions field, that we dive into the love of our Lord. 

Nikki

 

STEP Sisters

It's hard to believe, but we have already spend a whole month in training! As the time progresses our meals are becoming less fancy and our relationships are blooming. Its hard to even comprehend the abounding knowledge that is coming our way and resonating in our hearts.

The weekend away renewed our spirits and made us realize the importance of our Roxbury "home."
On the way back from "The City of Brotherly Love" we stopped at the historic Valley Forge to satisfy our history buff, Kristen. Tuesday brought new house parents Micah and Heather Brickner along with Mike Holland once again to share his knowledge about evangelism. Special shout out to Micah and Heather for our awesome live worship for the week! Which brings us to Wednesday: an intriguing session on spiritual warfare with Carlos Rosado. Also, Brynne took a trip to the local urgent care center due an allergic reaction that has since cleared up, praise God! On Thursday morning we had a much needed silent retreat to process, journal, and commune with God. Thursdays are also volunteer days so we spent the afternoon at New Hope and Project Share. We had the pleasure of learning from Pastor Larry Locke on Friday about dying to self, taking up your cross, and following God. We said goodbye to Micah and Heather and welcomed our new "STEP parents" Dale and Sandy Myers. We got a run down on how to manage receipts while in Honduras as well as a delicious apple pie! Today we had the privilege of working alongside Roxbury's finest while raking leaves and using the giant leaf vacuum, which was my personal favorite! Once again we had a "STEP parent" swap-out and our current resident parents are Bishop Rob and Daryl Patterson.

Prayer Requests:
-That our team receive the rest of it's mandatory funding
-Nikki has been suffering from cold symptoms and a sore throat
-Praise for the awesome bond we have formed as a team
-Praise for the speakers that have been pouring information into our hearts
-Praise for the cool "STEP parents" that give up their time to invest in us

All for now,
Kate

Our Urban "Getaway"

Three weeks in and we're still going strong. The week started out with a talk with Jonathan LLoyd and our weekly service at Paxton ministries. Our House Mom for the week, Pam Arnold, was our mighty chauffer. Tuesday brought Chris Epp and his powerful teaching on the Holy Spirit. We all learned a lot about ourselves and our relationships with God. Wednesday was more of the same. It was a great experience. Thursday brought Jonathan back to us for an introduction on spiritual disciplines. Then we were off to serve at New Hope and Project share. What a week and it wasn't over yet! Friday we traveled to Philadelphia for our Urban experience. We served at the Circle of Hope thrift shop that afternoon and bustled off to Mim Stern's house of international students. Woo! Saturday we were able to help with a block party for a local elementary. We painted faces and had a blast. We spent the evening doing a scavenger hunt across the city! What an experience! Today, Sunday, the team met with the Shalom House members to learn a little about their mission. After a long afternoon at the Museum of Art, we headed over to Circle of Hope at Broad and Washington for evening service.
It has been a crazy and amazing week full of unforgettable experiences. I think we're all ready for some sleep. :)

Praise and Prayer:

*Kristen is feeling better! She's having a little back trouble, but her cold is gone!
*We've survived Philadelphia thus far
*Jim and Sonia Bridge (our leaders) made it to Honduras safely! Pray for their support and their ability to find us our housing :)
*Pray for the continued fundraising efforts of both the Bridges and our group.


Shalom!