So Sue me... I'm getting lazy!! for further updates... go to.... http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=46654033 although i will try to do more on this too!! Dear Friends and Family!
It has been an entire month since I have left for Texas to do the Lord's work in the schools down here. I thought I would explain a little more in depth what my team and I will be doing here, since I have a little more of a better idea now!
Training took place in the first two weeks of the program. The neat thing about training was that I got to meet interns that were also going to be working in Canada this year, as well as the other Texas teams this year! Everybody got to know each other right away, and we all had a blast together! It was great getting to know all those cool people but now I really miss them! Our lives for those two weeks were nothing but seminars, day in and day out. That may sound exhausting, (which it was J), but it was also amazing, and I learned so much within that time span. I also got to stay with an awesome family while I was in Fort Worth, and we still keep in touch! When I had arrived in Longview, where my ministry is going to be for the rest of the year, I realized that the "honeymoon" was over! Right away I knew that I had to apply to myself the things that I had learned in training! With an army of people praying for me at home, (thank you!), I had come to realize that things are not always going to go as planned, and I need to be more flexible and put more trust in God than in my daily planner! For those of you that know me well, this was not an easy task J. One of the things I am talking about of course is my living arrangement for this year. As of right now, I do not have a place to stay for the remainder of the year, or a church to intern at. Although, I know that it will happen very soon, I actually just spoke to a youth pastor yesterday that is looking for a home for me!! It is very exciting! So if you could keep that in you're prayers that would be awesome! Since this is the beginning of the year, things are still moving a little slow as far as schoolwork goes, but that isn't exactly a bad thing. The more free time my team and I have, the more time we have to write lessons and workshops. Workshops are six-week programs that fit into the "character education" syllabus in high schools and junior high schools. This gives us an opportunity to get into schools, and teach students great values. Since these are public schools, we are not allowed to mention God's name during the lessons- but hopefully we will be planting seeds and opening doors for further conversation with these students at a later time! I am very excited about the workshop we are writing right now- it is on respect- we are all really excited about teaching it because we all worked really hard on it! The other side of work that I will be doing is interning at a church like I had mentioned earlier. The neat thing about doing this is it gives me an opportunity to have my own ministry aside from PAIS. When I get placed in a church I will be working under the youth pastor. I will be meeting at the church with them away from my team every Wednesday, and will obviously attend every youth event to help out. I am very excited to get started in a church somewhere so I can start building relationships with the teens! As most of you know, the team I am on is a band as well, called "flipside." We have been practicing together, but have not been playing for many people yet, only little things here and there. As we grow as a team it will help us to become better as a band at the same time. A lot of the focus right now is going into schoolwork, but when we get into the swing of things more we will be able to work the band stuff in very easily. That is the bulk of what is going on right now. I already feel like I forgot something!J I will try to get an update letter out more often than this so everyone doesn't have to ask my folks how I'm doing! One of the things that come along with being a missionary is that I am being forced to put my trust in God for everything, as well as finances. Although the program in itself is free, there are other expenses for living here. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate the financial support I have received so far! Thank you so much! If you feel led to help me in this area that would be amazing! If not, I would forever appreciate your prayer and a big hug when I get homeJ! I am blessed with an extraordinary family, and an amazing church body at home! I just want to thank you for reading this and taking part in what the Lord is doing this year! More to come! * Lyndsey McFarlane | 
