UPDATE!

Hello Everyone! The time is coming soon! I am getting excited and feel like the Lord is providing daily for this mission trip. Thank you for all of you who were praying for my classes. I am able to take all of my finals before I leave. I actually have one final the day I leave at 730 in the morning! But God definetly worked that out! I am doing well in my classes except for one class HRM. Please pray for the focus on my finals and just be spiritually prepared for this trip. ALSO, I do a bible study for my young life girls once a week. They are high school students that I mentor. Please pray that as I am gone, they will be kept accountable and see the Lord working through my life. Their names are:

Corin Burns

Holly Herzog

Coley Page

Loni Carissa

Ivette Stevens

Taylor Drew

Lauren Jackson

Sarah Mikosz

Please pray for each of their hearts! Thank you so much! Once verse that came into mind today was John 17.

For Bali, I have gotten all my shots and things taken cared of. Please pray for a safe and smooth flight that we wont have travel issues. Also please pray for a healthy stay for Abbey and I. Also, pray that all things go through with Etnies and clothes for the childrens home. So blessed that they are willing to contribute. Please pray for the hearts of those we will be serving and the team at the Bali House that the Lord will provide a place for a new location. Thank you so much, love you all!

Prayer REquest!

Hello friends and family!

Just a quick update: I finished all of my shots :) now all i need to get is a bug net and some deet repelent! I am almost ready to go! I have a huge prayer that we all need to be praying for. My finals for school occur the same day I leave for Bali. Please pray that my teachers hearts will be softened, one in specific Mr. Abramis. Please pray that all my schooling will be squared away before I leave. Thank you for all of your support!

Spiritual Replenishment

Hello friends and family!

Thank you so much for your support and prayers they have been such a huge blessing! I just wanted to update you on how the Lord has gotten me through this rut I was in. This past weekend I went on a retreat to a Young Life camp called Oakbridge. It was so spiritually replenishing and just an amazing experience and time with the Lord. I really feel the Lord spoke to me and was just guiding me on a path to my call. It was awesome to just have the encouragement from the Lord. Your prayers mean so much to me and I wanted to thank you again so much for being supportive!

Tomorrow, I will be getting my last shots for the trip (finally) and I am so stoked on the whole thing! It just seems so surreal. Please keep praying for a guided path and that with school my finals will all fall into place, that I can take them before I leave. Thank you all for your love!

Prayers and Praises

Hello friends and family,

I hope you all had an amazing Easter! Thank you again so much for your support! Your prayers have been amazing and Praise God for how much he has provided! As for funding, God has provided my entire Budget for the trip! Thank you all for your support in this financially. Also, all of my shots are almost all done and I will be physically ready to go! God has opened so many doors for this and I am so excited! I wanted to give you an update on what I have been dealing with personally.

The past two weeks I have been feeling spiritually down. I have a hard time grasping the reality of things in general. I know I am going to go to Bali but it hasn't clicked in my brain that I will be going. I know the Lord is with me and is working in my life but I just haven't been feeling His encouragement lately until yesterday. I have been dealing with a lot of temptation but I know the Lord is teaching me obedience now. I have been having these thoughts that have really questioned my faith and I just feel really drained. I know it is silence with the Lord and rest is what I need but when I do give that time I can't focus.

Yesterday, I talked to my grandma about this whole situation. It was so encouraging talking to her about it because it lead me to this verse Psalm 37:4 "Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your hearts desires." As I was reading this I realized that I know what God has done in my life but wasn't thinking about what God is doing in other's lives surrounding me. I was so caught up in what God was doing in my life that I wasn't realizing that God was working through others.

Later that day, I went to visit a friend and she was explaining to me that story when Jesus told his followers to not follow him to see miracles and healings but to follow him to be with him. We don't necessarily need to see things happen, God wants us to just be with Him.

If you can please pray for me for:

*Spiritual replenishment

*Encouragement and motivation

*Spiritual preparation for the trip

*That my teacher Mr. Abramis will let me take my test early.

*God will provide a path for my schooling.

Thank you so much!

Love, Lauren