He's Got the Whole World in His Hands :)

The whole house is here! My house is filled with 11 beautiful girls who all have one reason for being here. We all want Jesus! These are my housemates of "77" who I feel like I've already known for years: Liz (Norway), Mallory (San Francisco), Josie (Canada), Jenna (Chicago), Joselyn (New Mexico), Roosa (Finland), Amy (Canada), Maria (Norway), Fleur (France), and Reba (Canada). It is so amazing to see people from across the world worshiping the one true God together! So much has happened in the past four days that I will not be able to fit in here, but today was just too incredible to omit from my blog.

It began with a quick jog to the beach at 6 this morning ( I know you all are in shock about that). I usually jog through the housing track, cross the street, and I am blessed to have one of the most beautiful views anyone can see with their own two eyes in a matter of 7 minutes. After my jog I had to hurry home, shower, get dressed, and hop in the van with the rest of the girls. We joined the rest of the school in worship and then Mallory Larsen, our school leader who is only 25, opened up a time of testimony. I have been going to church all my life but I've never experienced a testimony time like this. It was SO much more authentic and real and Christ-centered. The way that every guy and girl, student and staff was so honest and vulnerable was incredibly refreshing!! We're all just people who have real, true, daily struggles. But we KNOW that there is hope, joy, and freedom through Jesus Christ himself. Ok now I feel like I'm getting a little preach-y but oh my gosh I wish everyone could feel the presence of our faithful God that overflows from this body of people. I'm hardly even scraping the surface of what I experienced today! Tears were just pouring down my face as each person bravely approached the stage, took off the masks that they had been hiding under for far too long, and laid it all out on the table for all of us to see. They realized that it's okay to be broken. It's okay to have faults and deep struggles. Christians are not perfect. Jesus is.

After that they told us the 5 outreach locations!!! I was so excited! Drum roll please: India/Bangladesh, China, Thailand/Cambodia, India/Nepal, and Bali/Phillipines. They gave each of us a sheet of paper and we got to choose the top 3 places we'd like to go. The staff chooses who goes to each location and we find out tomorrow! We're going to break up into teams of about 5-7 with 2 staff members (one guy one girl) on each team. India/Bangladesh is a Muslim nation, India/Nepal is a Buddhist nation, China is communist/atheist, Thailand is a Buddhist nation, and Bali is a Hindu nation. We will pray about which types of ministries we'll be doing in each of these places, but we will most-likely be working in orphanages, the slums, ministering to prostitutes and sex slave victims, and just getting to know people from the cities who don't know what true love is. Cant wait to find out tomorrow!

After the outreach location uncovering I had lunch with a few girls who really could relate to my story so we talked for hours. Then I had lunch duty clean up and went to the beach with a few friends but I am deathly afraid of jellyfish so I hardly went in the water (Mallory got stung yesterday). I love the warm water and I just rented a surfboard with a couple other girls so I need to overcome my fear asap. The beach was then followed by dinner back at the base with everyone else and the day finally came to an emotional end with a "girls night" at the house. More tears. More brokenness. haha I love it but I hate it. God is "makin moves" in this place thats for sure.

Anyway, thats a taste of my time here so far and I will try to post pictures soon! We are pretty busy and the computers are always limited at the house so I rarely find the time to post, but I will do my best ok dad! I love you all and miss you all like crazzyyyy but just know that this is where I am supposed to be right now. Talk to you soon! Later on mates.