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| The Yang Family I haven't been on xanga in quite some time, but I wanted to share a very special family with all of you faithful xanga readers  Meet the Yang family. 
I met this wonderful family in January and have enjoyed spending time with them ever since! Chen Sheng (left) was a visiting faculty at UNC from Taiwan this past year. He and his family came to Greeley, CO in August 2006 and will be leaving next week back to Taiwan. Over the year, I was blessed beyond belief to be friends with these people. I started spending every Sunday evening with them, working on English, playing tennis, eating yummy Chinese food, learning about their culture, and just enjoying time with good friends. We've done lots of fun things together over the past 6 months and they have become some of my dearest friends. They will be missed...BIG TIME!!! 
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| Spring break in South DakotaSpring break week spent in Mission, South Dakota...and what a week it was! We (Nate and I) took 8 students to Mission to spend four days working at a church there on the reservation. I had never been on an Indian reservation before, so I was not quite sure what to expect. Now that I've been, I feel like I could talk for hours about what it was like. I'll try to be quick Really, it was like being in an inner-city. Gangs, poverty, drugs, alcohol, etc. Only, they don't have the city. We spent our first evening walking from door-to-door inviting all the kids to come to the church the next evening for a special kids night that we were putting on. Those two hours were two very eye-opening hours for me. I've seen poverty, drugs, etc. I've been in those inner-city environments before. But something about being on a desolate reservation and still seeing all of that. It's hard to explain. We had our kids program the next night with over 75 kids! Basically, it was mass chaos (with a hint of organization). We had a great time loving on all the kids, though. They are all so very desperate for attention. One side note/story from the evening: As we were singing Every Move I Make with the kids and teaching them motions, one kid punched out the screen of the church and made a move right out the window! No joke! Not the move we were hoping he would make! The next evening we did the youth group service (where another screen was pushed out, I might add). Three of our students shared their testimonies. The kids are tough. They really don't want to hear what you have to say, but I think that they were actually listening to the three students as they shared their hearts and lives. It was a sweet moment. During the days, we packed food boxes and served meals to the street people. The church that we stayed at has a meal program. They serve breakfast and lunch to the community and hand out food boxes. We packed several hundred boxes of food and served meals to 30-50 people a day. We also did some odds and ins type things around the church for the pastor. All-in-all, it was a great four days. Our team was awesome and it was so cool to see how the Lord used each one of us and how He brought us together as a team. I was so very impressed by each one of the students we took. The went with a heart to serve and they did just that. Although it was a short four days, I believe that God taught us all a lesson or two about loving people right where they are and about serving in whatever capacity is needed -- no questions asked. Thank you to those who were praying for us!!! Here are some pics from the week: 
Our team with the Pastor infront of the church before we headed back home 
A few of our "helpers" as we were learning a memory verse with balloons 
All the kids wanted to do was get piggy-back rides! 
Making food boxes, and more food boxes, and yes MORE 
We became quite the cooks while we were there | | |
| Status QuoI am reading Brennan Manning's Abba's Child with one of my girls this semester and wanted to share a small excerpt from our chapter this week. The false self specializes in treacherous disguise. He is the lazy part of self, resisting the effort, asceticism, and discipline that intimacy with God requires. He inspires rationalizations, such as, "My work is my prayer; I'm too busy; prayer should be spontaneous so I just pray when I am moved by the Spirit," The false self's lame excuses allow us to maintain the status quo. I have found myself in this place recently; listening to that "false self". What brings a person to that place? For me, I think that it is a lack of time with God. Not just setting aside time to read or pray, but truly finding myself lost in His presence. I find myself getting so wrapped up in everything going on around me and loose sight of the eternal perspective that God has put in my heart. Status quo is not okay with me. | | |
| Huntsville meets Colorado!Picture time!!! 
These are just a few pics during the amazing weekend that I just had! Eli and Mary came out to speak at our spring retreat in Estes Park, Colorado. It was so wonderful to see them! I was truly blessed by the time that I got to spend with them. We found a lovely little tea and coffee house and had the opportunity to spend a couple of hours together on Saturday. They were such an encouragement to me. Definitely a God-appointed time! PTL! They students were all very grateful for their ministry, too. It was a really neat weekend watching students encounter God and build deeper relationships with each other. I also got to share the weekend with a very special friend! As you can see, I had my dearly missed Indian out here, too! That pretty much made it one of the best weekends ever! We had so much fun together and it was so fun for me to get to introduce her to the gang here. AND I got the coolest thing ever from India (pic above)!!! I know, you could almost mistake me for an Indian, right??? God has definitely been speaking to me about having a grateful heart. Recently, I don't think I've truly been grateful for what the Lord is doing in my life and here at UNC. How dishonoring that is to God to not live a life that is truly grateful. I want that to change. Thank you Lord for this weekend and for opening my eyes. | | |
| I know, I know. I have been a horrible xanga-er! It's been almost a month since I've last posted. Please forgive me! Well, since it has been so long, I feel like I could share so much. I won't, though. I'll try and stick to one thing. I have really been hungry for the Lord. Over the Christmas break, He definitely spoke to me and convicted my heart about some very practical things concerning ministry and my heart towards Him. I am so grateful for His unconditional love and gentleness; even when I'm being so dumb! I feel like the Lord has given me one word to apply to many areas of my life right now and that is INTENTIONAL. It continues to come up, over and over again, in many different situations. The Lord is calling me to be more intentional with my relationship with Him. He is also calling me to be more intentional with my resource group and my small group girls. I shared my heart with my leaders yesterday and it was amazing to hear that God had been speaking to several of them about the same things over break. I feel like we've spent this last semester working so hard on building relationships -- and they are doing an amazing job. But I feel like it's time to go forward. To really challenge the students in their relationship with God. To ask the hard questions. I feel like sometimes it becomes almost formatted, Thursday night Chi Alpha, resource group, small group, one-on-ones, etc. I began to loose sight of God in the midst of all this "stuff". I have several girls in my life right now who do not know Jesus. How intentional am I really being with them? What is the conversation that I choose to have when we sit down together. Am I really listening to God and letting Him guide the time, or am I thinking about the next "thing" that I have to get done. I want this ministry to be one where people are intentional. I want my relationship with God to be one where I am intentional. One that I am actively seeking His direction in situations and in conversations with people. Just some thoughts. There are many more floating around upstairs... | | |
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