Training began last night and we met up with our leadership team. They are really great and I really feel like God is knitting our hearts together for his glory.

I just wanted to share a little bit about our vision for this team.

Adrian, my co-leader, and I both feel God leading us to be servants. So our team name is Diakonos. Diakonos is the greek word for servant, more specifically, servant of a king. And we are in the pursuit of becoming better servants to our King. Our vision comes from John 13 where Jesus washes the disciples feet and says, " ...having loved those who were in the world, He now showed them the full extent of His love." If that is the full extent of his love is humbling himself and becoming a servant(phil 2) then that is how we will show our full extent of our love, Christ's love in us, to Uganda and our our team members. We want to pull people out of their self-centeredness and focus them first on God and then second on others. I was reading The Servant and I wrote down this quote: Loving serving, and extending ourselves for others forces us out of our self-centeredness....This is our hope.

I love you all and miss you!

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New hair, New Day

Goodness the Lord has been so very good to me. I feel much more confident in the fact that God is really going to use me. I still don't feel that prepared, but I am as prepared as I'm going to be. The thing I really need the most prayer about is my confidence in the mock crap. I have to go in front of project directors and share my net(the gospel) as well as do confrontations and counseling and its all fake and practice...so I'm not so stoked about that. But it will be okay.

I got my hair cut yesterday. I officially look so much like my sister its uncanny. So that's so cool.

love you all

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So we'll try this blogging thing again.

I'm in Garden Valley, Texas preparing to prepare for Uganda. I feel a little inadequate as I sit at this computer and type. The devil has really been hitting on my inadequacy today. But I refuse to let him have a foothold. This morning sitting at Mercy Ships Coffee House, I was struggling with moving past camp and getting on to mission trip mode, and God gave me the verse in Philippians 3:13-14 "Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus"

I feel like I'm ready to move forward, I have been spending a lot of the day preparing, and repreparing for what's ahead. I believe God is going to move in awesome and powerful ways. I felt kind of down today, because I noticed I was about 100 dollars short of what I think I will need for this trip, but God will supply all of my needs according to His riches in glory.

For your glory I serve.

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Concecrated Lord to Thee

Well...Clearly, it's been May since I last posted. It's been a crazy summer. I went to New Orleans on a mission trip, I made some new friends, I started school, I quit my job, and I took a position as youth pastor at my church...Holy Cannoli!

God has been showing me that if we are not focused on and set on having our thoughts on the things of God and not the things of man, that ultimately, we become Satan to him, and become a stumbling block to those who are around us. (Matthew 16:23) It's hard, but God willing, he will purify my lips with the coal of His Spirit. O to know Him rightly and intimately!

On my mind is the old hymn...

Take my life and let it be
Consecrated, Lord to Thee
Take my time, Take my days
Let them flow in ceaseless praise

Take my hands and let them move
At the impulse of thy love
Take my feet and let them be
Swift and beautiful for thee(Chorus)

Take my voice and let me sing, always only for my King
Take my lips, let them be, filled with words from Thee
Take my love - Lord I pour, at Thy feet its treasure store
Ever, only, all for Thee

Take my will and make it Thine
It shall be no longer be mine
Take my heart - it is Thine own
It shall be Thy royal throne

(Repeat Chorus)

Ever, only, all for Thee

Vampire

So, I'm not a morning person. It's not something I am not ashamed of, but it's definitely something I claim to be, but clearly, am not. I am a coffee person. Mornings without coffee bring my frustration and exhaustion to a boiling point.

This morning I arrived at the coffee shop a little early. I thought I would get my work done. I actually thought I was pretty peppy despite the fact I opened our store before God opened day His. Let me preface this story with the fact that I get irritated when I am tired. It's a flaw, but it's definitely something I deal with. I get irritated at people walking slow/coming at all, basically anything. I also don't think clearly and frequently forget I have scones cooking or that I need to open the register before my first customer. Today wasn't out of the ordinary. I was irritated and forgetful.

I went outside for my daily cup of coffee in the fresh air and the sun was so bright! I literally said, " Stupid Sun, you are way brighter than you ever need to be! You need to go behind a cloud!" Yes, if your wondering I did throw a hissy fit over the fact that the sun was bright.

Through that immature spout of emotion this morning, I realized something...

Sometimes I throw a fit over the fact that the Son is to bright for me. Sometimes he is glaring so dead in my eyes that I want to go back to be the way I was, because it's more comfortable.

Today in my mini rampage I forgot to feel the warmth that comes from the sun. I didn't see the beauty. I felt uncomfortable

How often do I miss the beauty and the warmth of the Lord for the sack of my comfortability?

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The term " Life is Short" is a tad cliche when your talking to people who are living and healthy. I would be one of those people. But no matter how much I hear it, it never ceases to shock me when someone I know passes away, especially when they are young.

Yesterday was a normal day. Nothing out of the ordinary occurred. I made coffee for people, took orders at the restaurant, went home, watched the Bachelor, the beginning of the news and went to bed. I woke up this morning to my first customer telling me that a man who frequented our coffee shop was killed in a major car wreck. My heart ached.

You see, had this just been one of our regulars it would have been a different story. But this man had been in our shop for the first time in a while not 4 hours before he crossed the yellow line of the highway and hit a truck head on. This man had a past, that I knew about. And I'm positive that when I saw him, I judged him for his past and not for his future. I wasn't mean, but I wasn't incredibly nice either. I was just doing my job. I guess what I didn't realize was that this was my last moment with him to ever be Christ to him again.

My thought processes came to a screeching halt as began to pour over our last conversation, which was only about 1 min long and included answers such as, "Yes, we have wireless internet here." But that was it, nothing special, but I know my heart, and that's what I will be judged for.

I am forced to see more clearly today. I hope my mistake causes someone to make the right choice before it is too late. Don't be afraid to love. I am not going to live life just acting like this is the last day of my life, I choose to live my life treating others as though it was our last moments together as well. I wish I would have made this choice yesterday.

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To Africa with Love

I love Africa. When I think of my Continent my heart brims with excitement, and anxiety. I tend to carry the burdens of others without knowing it until later, maybe it's a way of understanding empathy or maybe it's the Lord getting back at me for something I did...haha totally kidding, but either way I do.

As the desire in my heart for Africa grows, Somalia in particular, so the weight became heavier and heavier on my shoulders. How was I going to end the AIDS epidemic, how can I protect the child soldiers, how can I prevent mindless killings, it became overwhelming.

Yesterday, before I walked into work, I was praying over Africa. And I was telling God, why would I or anyone want to help, nothing we do will even make a dent in the devastation of Africa. Then God said clearly, "Emily, your absolutely right." At the risk of sounding arrogant before the Lord, I said, "Of course I was...o wait, about what?" " Emily, there is nothing anyone can do, whether it be you, Bono, Invisible Children, or an entire nation, to change the lives of anyone in Africa. Change, Physical and Spiritual Salvation, and Peace ONLY happens through me."

A bit humbled, I let the Lord speak to me. I let him carry the burden. and have chosen to be like Abraham and ask God to change his mind about Africa and save the Continent for His Glory.

HIS name, and HIS renown are the cries of my heart.

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