A Prayer of the Past

As I was moving all of my things into my room at BV, I found the prayer journal I used my freshman year.  Opening it up randomly, here is the prayer that I found (judging from the contexts of prayers around it, I would say it's probably from early December of 2009.) 

"Where do you want me to be, Lord? I desire to follow You, and I feel as though Your call for me is more than I could handle if I knew it now - that You want me to do great things for you.  Help me to accept whatever plan you have for me with open arms and an accepting heart."

Thinking back to what I was like freshman year, I know I never would have imagined the ways God has used me in the past year and a half.  I never would have thought myself capable of doing some of the things I have done. I never thought I would meet so many people whose hearts are so committed to following God's call, and I never would have thought I could learn so much.  But God is faithful.  He knew exactly where to send me when I told Him I was willing.  He knew exactly what I needed to draw near to Him and be completely dependent on the plan He laid out for me.  Although I have had many tough days, I can see that my Lord has never left my side, and I know He never will.

The summer is over and I'm transitioning into another year of classes.  I know things will continue to change in my life and in the ministry in Storm Lake.  I have no idea what God has in store for us, but I know His works here will never cease to amaze me.  I know I will continue to be in awe of His great love that I can't even comprehend. And I know my prayer will remain the same: I don't know what you have in store for me, Lord, but keep using me.  Help me to accept your call with an open heart, and let your Name and the name of Jesus be glorified throughout Storm Lake.

"Then Jesus came to them and said, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.'” - Matthew 28:18-20

A Back-to-School Celebration!

Tomorrow all the kids are heading back to school!

Allison and I got ice cream sandwiches for the kids at Seneca to help get them excited for the new year.  Some of them aren't sure who their teacher is yet and others are a little nervous about starting middle school, but overall I think they're relatively prepared. It was fun seeing some kids who we haven't seen since vacation Bible school a few weeks ago!

Other than the ice cream, we just hung out doing normal Seneca activities, like bike riding...

 

tree climbing...

scaring each other with masks (one of the little girls cried when she saw it)...

taking pictures...

playing basketball with Andrew and Brady...

and just talking and  hanging out!

 

It was an AMAZING summer, and although things were extremely difficult at times, I wouldn't have traded it for anything else. I'm super excited for what God has in store for us in the upcoming months!

School Supply Store

It started with one small idea and what seemed like a small need.  BV's chaplain, Ken Meissner, emailed Allison and I in early July about helping the Seneca kids get their school supplies this year. We knew there would be a need with that and put the idea in the back of our head.  Then, in a Bridge meeting in the first week of August we discussed what we should do.  Buy the kids their supplies? Have volunteers each take a child to go shopping? We ended up deciding to do something to empower parents to get their kids supplies - The Bridge School Supply Store.  Parents could bring their families to The Bridge office to pick out the school supplies their kids needed, either for a donation or for free.

To prepare for the event, Anne, Allison and I went to businesses asking if they would be willing to put up donation boxes where people could drop off school supplies.  Ken also put some boxes at BV, and the staff in Student Services there were EXTREMELY generous! We had donation boxes and Dollar General, BV Stationary, and Walgreens.

Walgreens also let us have volunteers in their store three days where we could ask shoppers to donate money or buy supplies there to donate to the School Supply Store.  From 11:00 am - 6:00 pm on August 9-11th we had people at the store talking to customers and raising awareness about the program.

Some people who donated heard about the program from us, but others had read about it in the newspaper advertisements or heard about it through word of mouth and came in specifically to donate supplies!

On the second two days of the event, Allison, Alberto, and I stood outside with our sign to raise awareness as well. Some of the Seneca kids even came to help us out!

 

 
The event was a great success! We filled almost 6 carts full of supplies and raised around $400 to purchase more supplies for the store. We never imagined we would get this much!

 

In addition to the donation boxes and Walgreens event, Lucas and I went around downtown to talk to businesses about what we were doing.  We had some very generous donators. Browns Shoe donated 400 pairs of shoes to be distributed at the store, PESO donated children's books, and a few of the banks donated both money and supplies.

Also, KAYL gave us some radio time to advertise a few days before the store opened.  Lucas was live both the AM and FM stations, and they had to play his ad more than once because so many people were calling in asking about  when and where the School Supply Store would be.  Overall, we had GREAT community support!

We sorted and stored the supplies at The Bridge office until the week before the event.

Sadly, Allison and I were at RA training for the set-up process, but Lucas, Anne, Jay, Nellie, and Renato worked hard to get the area next to the Bridge office ready.

The School Supplies Store was scheduled to go from 1:00-5:00 on Friday, August 19 and from 8:00-12:00 on Saturday, August 20th.  Allison and I were able to come from 12:00-1:00 on Friday during our lunch break and we saw about 50 families come in.  We went back to RA training praising God for what he was doing through this program!

 

We had each family register as they came in.  We also had information about The Bridge's other programs available and will follow up with those who were interested in things such as English Classes, the after school program, the Food Program, or the new HopeRISE program.  This was a great way to reach out to families we haven't made connections with yet in the community.

I never thought such a small idea would have such a great impact.  We ran out of supplies a few times, but God always provided for what we needed! After seeing around 150 families served, I am amazed at the way God brought so many people to this event. I hope He will use the School Supply Store as a way to bring more people to Him - that people can see the love in the Storm Lake community, know that it is God's doing, and give glory to Him.

My Birthday

 

I had a wonderful birthday this year! I realize it was more than a month ago (July 2nd) but I haven't gotten around to this post yet.  Sorry for any inconveniences.

After working on our 4th of July float in the morning, Allison and Alberto came over to bake cupcakes with me.  I ended up doing not very much of the baking because in the middle of the whole process, my family arrived! Thanks to my bakers, we had probably about 3 dozen cupcakes.

We brought these delicious cupcakes, along with some frosting and sprinkles, over to Seneca to have a little gathering with the kids, and they each got one to decorate.  When there are sweets around, you don't have to do much convincing to get them to come over.

It was wonderful to have Kelsi back in Storm Lake! She came for a week at the beginning of June and got to know some of the kids; now she was reunited!

  The kids also really enjoyed having Phoebe there as well! They still ask me once in a while "Where is your mom's dog?" The little ones don't always understand that my parents live 3 hours away! After a short time with all the kids, poor Phoebe got a little overwhelmed and had to go on a walk with Dad.

And of course the girls had to give me a special hairstyle for my birthday.  The girls love to "braid" my hair (only a few of them who do this actually know how do braid,) but you can imagine how sticky their hands were after decorating cupcakes! It's a good thing I love 'em (and don't mind washing my hair)!

After the cupcakes were gone, the kids could be seen sneaking off with a bottle of sprinkles or a can of frosting.  It's a good thing we didn't expect to have leftovers! Oh the joys of being a kid!

God blessed me in so many ways during the past year, and I know His blessings will continue to increase.   These kids have given me a whole new outlook on how to live and how to love.  I wouldn't have wanted to spend my birthday with anyone else! 

(Although my mother isn't in any of these pictures, she was a wonderful photographer that day. Thanks for the great pics, Mom!)