I can't believe there is only about 6 days left until training then about 11 left until we're in Nairobi, Kenya!! I just came home to Leesburg, GA, to my parent's house to prepare/pack/relax for the week. I think God gave me this time to spiritually, mentally, and physically prepare for the trip. I pray that everyone is doing wonderful and enjoy your Memorial Day weekend!
Nate I think these games are pretty fun and I like to get to know people and I think this is a great way to learn more about people.
1) I play the drums. 2) I am an outgoing guy. 3) I like to stay up late. 4) I love coffee. 5) I am a pastors kid. 6) I live in Joplin Missouri. 7) I love playing games like cards and board games. 8) I am very creative. 9) I am very daring. 10) I have never flown (or spent more than a few minutes in an airport). 11) I love hunting. 12) I love driving my 4X4 Jeep Cherokee. 13) I don't like to read. 14) I like to write but have a hard time thinking of things to write sometimes (but I am trying really hard to get better about it).
These are just a few things about me and I can't wait to meet everyone in person so we can get to know each other much better.
I kept meaning to post a bio (on the new
blog) and I've finally got around to it! I feel like I've just done this,
but I can't find my original post so here goes a new one... {déjà vu} :)
My name is Marla and I have lived in
Centreville, VA my whole life. I have an awesome family; an older brother
(and soon-to-be sister-in-law), older sister, brother-in-law, 3 year-old
nephew, and a niece due end of May (I'm hoping she'll make her grand arrival
before I leave for Kenya). I'm also part of a German Dance Group: Alt
Washingtonia, and have been in it since birth.It has been a huge extended family to me.I love my family and friends so much
and have been so blessed to have so much support from all of them in everything
I do.
I am a proud Virginia Tech hokie and
expect to graduate May 2012 with an Interdisciplinary Studies degree:
concentrations in History, Sociology, and Music. Who knows what I'll do
after that... I'm hoping to have a better idea when the time gets closer.
However, I do have passions that would be awesome to use to glorify God.
I love singing, music, creating things, art, traveling, helping people,
and laughing. :) So, ideally I'd like to do something that encompasses
most of those things.
I can't wait for Kenya! This will
be my first over-seas mission trip and all these experiences that go along with
a mission trip have been very new to me. Raising support has definitely
been a picture of God's grace and power. It has been an exciting part of
the trip and I know God will provide. I can't wait to meet everyone on
the trip and see what God has in store for us and the people we'll encounter.
A couple months before we left for the World Race, our team sent each other a fun little list of random facts about themselves as sort of a fun way to get to know eachother's personalities and quirks and stuff. It really helped us a lot and was always funny, so I thought I would take this opportunity to open the floor. I love a good heart felt blog as much as anyone, but sometimes, we just gotta laugh!
1. I talk to myself when I clean.
2. I use a LOT of pun (play on words) when I talk to myself.
3. I love music and love headphones [too much].
4. My favorite food in the world is fluffy pancakes, and in Europe they're all flat!
5. I am a card feind. I love playing Rummy, Scots (you will learn), Yuker, Phase 10 and Skip-Bo
6. I get really narsocistic around mirrors.
7. I'm a morning person.
8. I only drink coffee socially.
9. I love making weird faces for the camera.
10. I LOVE MOVIES!!!
11. I quote people and movies alot.
12. I play the best air guitar in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa.
13. I have a real guitar that I don't know how to play.
14. I have a love/hate relationship with airports.
15. I do alot of those things that you joke, "wouldn't that be funny if..." In other words: don't think I won't splash you with water, because I will :)
There are plenty more where those came from! Can't wait to celebrate this stuff with yall in Africa this Summer. It will be tough, but it will also be a blast! Love you guys. -Nate
I grew up in a little tumbleweed of a town in SE Iowa where no one moves more than 30 minutes away their whole life. I was raised up in a Christian home. At an early age I started becoming very passionate about God. I was "that churchy kid" in elementary. My teachers would call me chaplain Chaplin and things like this. I knew in 3rd grade that I was going to grow up to be a preacher. I didn't know that I knew, but deep down, I knew. However, in high school, I started to lose track of that direction. I was listening to all the wrong music, hanging with all the wrong friends, and telling all the wrong jokes. I would write poetry about anger, death, love and hate and Jesus. I was a foulmouthed almost-goth dreaming of going to school at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. Needless to say, I was confused.
After graduation, I "took a year off" and moved in with some friends. It went downhill fast ending with me attending block parties every 3 or 4 days, drinking, cussing, and watching "videos" all night long. I no longer went to church, I hadn't opened my Bible in over a year, I gave no care to how I lived, yet when asked by a stranger at one of these parties what I was going to do when I grow up, I answered through slurred speech, "I'm gonna be a preacha!" That night, I told myself I needed to either go all in or all out. This fence crud was going to get someone hurt. So I chose to opt out.
When God sets you up to go a certain way, he is rather stubborn. My mom suddenly started asking me every single week to go to this new church she'd joined. After a couple months, I did, and hated it. She somehow got to go to the prayer meeting that Wednesday (can you say Holy Spirit?). I hated that one too and told my mom when we got home how I felt. I ranted and yelled for about a half an hour and ended up on the floor crying. My mom and sister knelt there on the floor and prayed for me for what seemed like hours. I switched into "overwhelmed mode" and just walked back to my house like a zombie and went to sleep. When I woke up the next day, I knew again.
And this time, I wanted it for His glory and not my own. I got baptized a month or so later and started going on international and domestic mission trips and teaching Sunday School. In 2008 I decided to go on the World Race, so I went on the January 09 trip and spent the next year being ripped to shreds by God, and rebuilt for His glory. It was awful and amazing. It was terrible and terrific. It killed me and it gave me life. Now, 6 months off the Race, I just finished my first semester at Central Christian College of the Bible majoring in none other than Preaching Ministry.
WOOOOW. We. are. so. close. And as everyday passes I get more and more excited about serving in Kenya with all of you! I think I might BURST with excitement when we board the plane! YAY!
Well...My name is Amy Johnson but EVERYONE calls me Amy Jo. So please call me Amy Jo! I am from Oklahoma City and I go to the University of Oklahoma (with Claire Crain...we are sorority sisters!). I am studying to become an elementary school teacher- which I hope to teach in Africa some day! Africa is my passion. I literally have been praying for Africa every single day since last summer. I have a huge world map in my room so I can be praying for different countries! It brings me so much joy to pray for the beautiful people of Africa. All I want to do is love Jesus, further the Kingdom, and share His love to everyone around me! My life is not mine. I am so joyful and estatic to be apart of something so great!
I recently just got back from Africa over spring break. I went to Uganda and served in a orphanage and in a health clinic. It has changed my life completely. I thought I knew what Africa was like but until I got there I really had no idea how it really is. I was overwhelmed by love from the Father! A lot of people say that once you go to Africa you spend the rest of your life trying to get back and that is exactly how I felt! And when this opportunity came up Jesus just blessed me tremendously and I just feel even more in love with Him! What a beautiful, sweet, loving Jesus we worship! I am brought to my knees everyday with the love that he was flowed over me!!
Claire and I say all the time..."Hey guess what?!... WE ARE GOING TO AFRICA." This happens at least three times a day. I am just so pumped to be meeting all of you and spending time with you. The Lord is just so present already and he is going to do some crazy things through us!
Below you
will find critical information concerning your Training Camp. READ
CAREFULLY. Once you understand all the information below, you
can arrange your travel plans and enter that information into yourprofile. If you have questions, do not hesitate to
communicate with us in the Admissions Department.
TRAINING
DATES: June 4 ½" 8,
2010
TRAVEL INFORMATION
Training will take place in Gainesville, GA.
Arrival
by flight ½" June
4, between 1pm and 3pm in Atlanta, GA.
ARRIVE before
3pm. AIM Staff will meet you at the Atlanta Bread Company. Follow signs or ask airport employees to direct
you to the Atrium and we will be the big group outside Atlanta Bread Company. We'll also have on AIM t-shirts.
The AIM bus
will leave the airport promptly at 5pm. There is no cost
to you for this shuttle.
Remember,
air transportation often includes delays, therefore plan ahead for the
unexpected and allow ample time between gate arrival, baggage claim and
transportation pickup. You can expect
it to take two hours from the time your plane arrives to the time you
are ready to leave. Therefore, be sure your flight arrives
BEFORE 3pm.
We understand that travel to and from training camp can often
meet with hiccups along the way. If anything concerning your travel
changes, please have these phone numbers handy to let us know.
• Adventures
in Missions Office Line ½" 770-983-1060 770-983-1060
x 233 or ask for Laura Jacobs
Also please make sure that your profile page includes the phone
number where we can reach you during your travel.
We realize
that flight schedules are not always ideal. Plan on arriving earlier
rather than later.
Check out
kayak.com for a great airline search engine. Do not hesitate to ask for
directions and help from any airport employees. This will become a
vital part of your travel experience!
Arrival
by car: June 4,
Atlanta Bread Company, Atlanta Airport Atrium
ARRIVE
between 1pm and 3pm. Please do not come before that as staff may
not be available to welcome and direct you.
Flights
back home
You my book your return ticket any time
after 4:30pm on July 31st!
Your flights will look like this;
Depart
Arrive
ATL on June 8th @ 5:50 am Kenya on June 9th @ 12:00 pm
Kenya on July 30th @ 6:15
pm ATL on July 31st @ 2:15pm
Remember it
takes a while to get through customs in ATL, so be sure that your return
flights are booked for after 4:30pm on July 31st. If some one is going to
pick you up, make sure it is around two hours after you land!
I grew up in a little tumbleweed of a town in SE Iowa where no one moves more than 30 minutes away their whole life. I was raised up in a Christian home. At an early age I started becoming very passionate about God. I was "that churchy kid" in elementary. My teachers would call me chaplain Chaplin and things like this. I knew in 3rd grade that I was going to grow up to be a preacher. I didn't know that I knew, but deep down, I knew. However, in high school, I started to lose track of that direction. I was listening to all the wrong music, hanging with all the wrong friends, and telling all the wrong jokes. I would write poetry about anger, death, love and hate and Jesus. I was a foulmouthed almost-goth dreaming of going to school at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. Needless to say, I was confused. 