Hope it was worth the wait for ya'll!!

I’m SO Sorry it’s been so long… it’s just been SUPER crazy… and God’s been doing so much!! It’s hard to sit and think after he completely rips you apart! (In a good way!!)

I’m not even sure how long it’s been since I updated everyone!! Basically though… the Lord is beyond GOOD!!! And love his children enough to teach them how to be more like him and glorify him with our hearts! Because if our hearts aren’t behind it, our actions are void!! It’s not by our works but by our faith and belief in him he recognizes us!!

SO… the last 2 and a half weeks… Sum it up for you…

God sent strangers to me at a coffee shop to encourage me in what He has planned for me! I wasn’t suppose to be at the coffee shop, and it’s by chance I was by myself… I love how he knows what he’s doing!! :) Funny story… yours truly totally busted it on the way home from church one night, totally face planted while walking with my friends and landed on my hand!! I was cracking up but it pain… thought I broke my pinkie but it was just jammed, and SUPER swollen… could bend it but it hurt really bad!! God healed it the next day after my roommate prayed over it! Swelling was comparatively down a TON, and I could completely fist my hand, every finger!!

I started classes, which the first two weeks are something they call intensives! Had my last day of those Friday, and start for real classes tomorrow! Intensives were INSANE!!! SUPER long days, but overflowing with truth and Jesus doing WORK in the hearts of everyone I’ve talked to, me included!!

They basically… wanted to set us all straight before we started getting involved in the church and working in groups together! Bottom line, it doesn’t matter WHERE we’re serving or how small our part feels… we’re all just as equally important as the person standing beside us! Just as important as the person with the guitar and mike in their face, just as important as the person handing out the bulletins, just as important as the person making coffee!! Being in the choir is just as important of a role as being in the front ensemble! We’re all part of his body, and all of our desires are to bring people to JESUS! Not for our own fame, but for their lives sake and the fame of the one we call savior!! It doesn’t matter if we’re up front or in the back as long as we’re giving our best in the area that we’re serving!! Because in the end, God has called us to love HIM, and love people!! (Hillsong’s motto!!) What we should all live by!! It’s the biblical call of God’s children in simple terms!!

It’s been INCREDIBLE!! I can’t even begin to explain all that the Lord’s been doing in my heart and all that he’s been teaching me!! That’s the last two weeks in SUPER summary form!!

I’ve served two weekends now, and LOVE it!!!!!! I sing in choir, work with the kids, and am part of what they call street teams! Which is out of church ministry!! They go into the surrounding communities every Saturday, and clean houses and provide company and do yard work for the people who are physically incapable, can’t financially do, or just need someone to invest in them as a human being!! I’m in a branch of that ministry which is called embrace!! And instead of going to surrounding houses, I go to surrounding nursing homes and spend time with the elderly!! It’s crazy how different each culture is!! If I thought sticking someone in a nursing home back home was bad… having that done here basically means, no one cares!! The people in them never have visitors!! It’s like they’re completely forgotten about!! SO… the mission of the team I’m on is to go and love and invest in the lives of the older community!! I had my first Saturday!! It was interesting!! But SO good!! It seemed so simple to me for it to be something Hillsong does… but it’s loving people in Jesus’ name!! I felt like a middle schooler at camp again, because we sang some songs for them and then just chatted with them!! SO simple, but SO vital for that community!! For someone to actually take the time out and come see them and spend time with them!! The man I spent majority of my time talking to was Mr. Cooper!! It was a little hard to understand him and what he was saying… but what I did get was that He has two sons and one was suppose to have come to visit the last few Saturdays and has yet to make it!! He said, “I hope he’s able to make it! I’m not sure what happened but he hasn’t made it yet!!” He hasn’t seen his son in over a year!! UGH!!!!! It broke my heart!! That’s someone DAD!!!! Took everything in me not to fall apart!! And it is now!!

SO… anyways!! Onto a happier note!! I’ve so enjoyed every BIT! Of school and church and life here!! Well… maybe not all of life here… it’s SO different, but the joy of church and school completely overshadows it all!! God is so good and I’m amazed at his love daily!!

I had my first connect group meeting this week, their version of home-teams or FE groups! And I LOVED it!! My leaders are 1^st year 2^nd semester students and I love them!! They’re so precious and our first time together as a group was precious!! One of my leaders dad had a brain aneurism in May… after she’d been here 5 months… and she was told there was a 1% chance that he would be a functioning person again!! He had no brain activity or anything!! After TWO months… he’s now learning to walk again and is talking a bit!! PRAISE GOD!!! When I was talking to her, she said, “I never in my life thought I’d be happy that my dad could pee, but he peed on his own for the first time last week!! PRAISE JESUS!!” She then went onto say though, that anything that could go wrong back home, WILL why you’re here!! Because the enemy is going to try and knock you down and take you back to prevent what the Lord has in store for you over here!! I’m totally praying for protection against that!! I ask that you do the same!! And pray for protection over everyone around me back home, and the family God’s blessed me with over here!! That SAME night, my flat-mate, who is in the same connect group as me, got a call from her mom telling her that her dad was moving out for at least two months to figure things out!! Please be in prayer over her heart, Kristine, because she has no relationship with her dad as it is, and her not being home for her mom and dealing with other family stuff… she just fell apart!! The enemy is already trying to tear it apart before it’s really even begun, but I ask for you to PLEASE partner with me in prayer against the attacks!! I’ve been constantly covering Kristine and her parent’s marriage and her family since I found out!!! The enemy is trying, but we won’t give way!!

MRS. JEANNIE… I just want you to know, BEAU IS BEING COVERED!!!!!! This morning in the prayer meeting the choir covered him with healing and believing the Lord will bring it!! Ya’ll don’t understand HOW much the belief that God is ABLE, is over here!! And the entire school and church is praying and believing that God is able to take the cancer and tumor out of Beau’s body forever!! I’m not exaggerating when I’m telling you the ENTIRE Hillsong City Campus Community is pleading the blood of Jesus over Beau’s body!!! No more sickness!! I can’t WAIT to see how the Lord is going to use Beau more than he already has, because the enemy is very aware of God at work in Beau’s life!! (Totally listening to Desert Song right now too….) GOD IS SO GOOD!!! :)

Anyways… I’m about to have to head out for Sunday night service!! It’s my 4^th service this weekend… close to prob. my 50^th in the month of being here… and I’m still ready for more!!! When God’s in it, when people around you love you and treat you the way Jesus does, you can’t get enough!! When the leaders are transparent and practice what they preach, God is revealed even more!!

This whole entry is prob. crazy sounding and doesn’t make a lot of sense because it’s so scatter-brained!! But it’s what the Lord is doing!! I’m praying for you all back home!! I love and miss you all the time!!

It’s only been two full weeks of classes and its already completely indescribable what the Lord’s been teaching me!! Like honestly… all I know is that he IS, and all I pray is that my life testifies to that, and that he’s seen through me!! Words can’t describe it, but communication isn’t what’s said, it’s how its said and portrayed!!

Believing that the joy he brings me is evident enough in my life words aren’t needed for people to be curious about what’s different!!!!

Michelle!! :)