My Grand Adventure: Day 4.

I have officially spent the night in a foreign country. Sorry Pampers, I'm a big kid now. BUT not only did I spend the night in a foreign country, but I got to spend it with my amazing big sister, Jamie Jaye.  To be honest, she is the best big sister on this earth. (I am, admittedly, biased. However, I am also right.) After getting in some much needed familia time in Hawaii, she allowed me to get a taste of Korean life. Metaphorically of course, but also literally... although I don't know if I'll be eating kimchi or pickled radish ever again. It was my first immersion in a foreign culture, and in those three days I learned more than I thought possible for the time given. It was the first time I was ever the minority. I was the one at whom people stared; I was the clueless one with whom people would get frustrated; I was the foreign one. I think it is a good warm-up for the next part of my grand adventure. I am currently in Hong Kong Airport and will be boarding my plane to Joberg in around an hour. Luckily, throughout this travel whirlwind I have had a companion: an inexorable knot in the pit of my stomach, my own little conglomerate of excitement and anxiety. For now, it is keeping me awake. If I let myself, I will worry about my checked bags, my carry-ons, my connections, my money, my passport, customs, etc. The fact that I worry so much is of course no good. For we should "not be anxious about anything" (Phil 4:6) but I think God also sees the implications behind it. I worry because this means so much to me. All of the things God has been teaching me and showing me have all been intertwined with one another, and this is the pinnacle. The very thing for which my heart has been subconsciously crying out: a respite from the demands of college life and a coming together of international community to have one overflowing heart for our sweet Jesus. I'm freaking pumped, y'all. God is already sweetly  breaking me of things and walls have already started to slowly come down... AND I'M NOT EVEN IN MOZAMBIQUE YET! Crazy stuff. I can't wait until I get there and dive into this new environment. God will rock my world, just you wait. I have learned lately how okay it is to have expectations for God. We have expectations for our peers, our professors, our family, why not my Best Friend? The secret behind this, though, is that God has a tendency to overdeliver in the best of ways. You ask Him for food enough for 1 and he will give you food enough for 5,000. Wow, we serve the coolest God! So by all means I earnestly desire and expect for God to move in my life, knowing I will uphold my part in the process as well. So my dear friends? Pray for me please, for this is the biggest thing to happen to me since the womb. I love you all very much!

Over and out, Girlscout.

Here Goes Nothing...

Life. Life astounds me. Sometimes I have these moments, moments where I pause and ask myself, "how on earth did I get here?" They are humbling and confusing, but most of all they are liberating. I can't help but be reminded of Psalm 8 ; how is it that such a feeble, limited and sinful creature is intimately wanted by an omnipotent, limitless and perfect God? 

Gosh, God is good. 

If you would have asked me early October, "Avery, what are your plans for this summer?" I would have confidently said I was going to be a summer camp counselor. My whole life that has been the plan : to be that crazy-obnoxious-Jesus-loving-Chaco-wearing-nature-freak counselor for a summer or two. Maybe land a gig in Colorado so I could do all this AND be in the mountains. Oh, yes... I had it all planned out.

God laughed. "Silly Avery, I have so much more in store for you, just wait!"

I will be traveling to Pemba, Mozambique, Africa this summer to attend Harvest School which is put on by Iris Ministries. (More info about that can be found by clicking the link on the right.) Never having spent the night out of this country, I know this will be the most terrifying yet exciting thing I have ever done. And friends? While I could give you every last detail of this trip, in my humble opinion, it is most important for me to communicate to each of you my heart behind this journey.

God moves. Through the power of the Spirit, God moves. I believe that while God can teach and mold and challenge me here in the States, there are more lessons for me to learn through seeing other cultures. Like Heidi Baker has said, there is only one direction in ministry : lower still. I am excited to go lower and lower until I am so humbled that nothing but worship pours out of me. To serve the poorest of the poor and learn from them. To see Jesus in the broken and needy. But I am excited most of all to pursue what it means to love, to truly love like my Jesus does. Without a doubt in my mind, I am going to be changed this summer. God is going to tear down my walls, my precepts, my failures, my sinful wicked heart and lovingly build me back up in truth, knowledge, and power.

John 14:12 shows us that we will do even greater things than Jesus, and this is for what I strive. I want to join in the revival going on in Mozambique, and for God to reach these villages through the teams that Harvest School sends out this summer. I want the Kingdom to be proclaimed and God to receive glory. It may sound crazy to expect so much in one summer but I am confident in what God has prepared for those who love Him (1 Corinthians 2:9).

So my dear friends, thank you. Though these two words seem too trivial to convey my heart, I have to say it. Thanks to each of you for watching me learn and grow into a lover of Jesus. For supporting me in every way, and backing up the work God is doing/going to do in my life. I say this not-too-lightheartedly, but I absolutely could not do this without the community with which I am blessed. I am fired up to continue to share my experiences with you all, so please please please check back periodically to hear the latest haps in Mozambique!

Love you all !