One More Day

One more day here! On our last day we are going to a large shopping bizarre to get last minute souveniors. We also get to spend time with the good friends we've made here. We had a great weekend visiting the seven churches of Revelation. It was so crazy to walk through ancient ruins and walk where Paul the Apostle walked. Ephesus was definitely my favorite place, so much of it was preserved so well. I am such an ancient history nerd, I was jumping for joy when I saw Greek writing.

God is so gracious! He got me here, showed up in so many ways and surprised all of us with His love. I feel so blessed that I got to come here and spend a month in this culture.

Gotta run

Love you all!
Shayla M.

Goin' on a trip!

We get to go visit the seven churches mentioned in Revelation in the Bible.  Needless to say, I am super excited.

This trip has literally changed who I am, for the better.  I can't even begin to explain how God has changed my heart and shown me more and more of His love and character.  I've made some incredible national friends whom I will miss dearly.

Hopefully I'll be able to write more once I'm settled. I wish I had more time to write--but we have a bus to catch.  I'll make sure to take lots of pictures of these places!

Love you all, thanks for reading!

Grace and peace,
Shayla M.

Jehovah Jirah

It means "Lord will provide."  It's a name for God used in the Old Testament.

So Abraham called the name of that place, “The LORD will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.” Genesis 22:14

He is providing in unfathomable ways. 

This trip began with me asking the Lord out of desperation: "Will you break me?  Will you bring me to a place where I can no longer rely on myself, to a place in which I am scared and lonely so that I can turn no where else but to you?"  Really, it's the reason I even wanted to come on a trip to the middle east.  It was a really selfish reason, and I'm willing to admit my selfishness.  When I thought of the middle east, I thought how it could scare me into obedience and how the tough times could help me fall in love with God.  I really didn't think about the intense need here.  I didn't know that out of all of the laborers in the world who are sharing the Good News, less than 2% are reaching the Muslim nations.  I didn't know that 1 in 6 people in the world were Muslim.  I didn't know how desperate the need for laborers.

And now I know.  He's shown me His heart for His people.  But, He's also been unbelievably and indescribably faithful: He has begun to answer my incredibly selfish prayers.  He is so gracious and merciful!  Even though my heart for this trip was not in the right place, He still chooses to lavish love and mercy upon me.  I can't even begin to describe the Love I am encountering. 

I knew this trip would challenge me.  I knew this trip would change me.  The Lord is exceeding my expectations and He is no where near finished. 

Grace and peace,
Shayla M.

The Overseas Conundrum

I don`t know that I can even begin to communicate the change that is happening.

I am learning so much about God and how real and gracious He really is (hopefully more to come on that soon when I have a bit more time to write).

 More than anything I`ve realized that I don`t really have a handle on who I am anymore.  Being overseas reveals so much about our true character.  The questions I`m asking are: where is my identity? in whom do I find my identity? who am I really? what do I love to do? what brings me life? how has God gifted me and how does He want to use those giftings?  The scariest thing I have realized is that I have been actually creating my identity instead of asking the Creator of the universe, the Creator of my soul, who He has created me to be.

So now begins the journey of asking God to reveal who He says I am and to walk in unknown, uncharted waters.

Pray for me.

Grace and peace,
Shayla M.

God's Plan for the Nations

This last monday we had a vision and prayer meeting to center ourselves and our purpose here.  It was a really awesome time.  God has been revealing so much to me about His heart for the world. We discussed today that He is worthy of praise and glory, we are on the winning side of the battle, and His purpose is to be glorified and worshipped.

So, knowing this, we can trust that He will bring His good purposes about in the world.  Here are some great verses that were shared with me and helped me realized His heart for the nations:

“And the gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.”  Matthew 24:14

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8

“And they sang a new song saying, ‘Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.’” Revelation 5:9

“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands and crying out with a loud voice ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’” Revelation 7:9-10

Abba, our Father, wants to bring the nations to Himself, and He is using us to help accomplish this purpose.  We look forward to the day when all the nations have been reached for Him. We hope.  We hope because hope is an expectation of what is to come, rooted in truth and promises.  What an beautiful truth to cling to when we think about missions.

Grace and peace,

Shayla M. 

Strange keyboards...

I am in an internet cafe.  And the keyboard is so different.  I feel as if I have to learn how to type all over again.  For that reason, this post will not be very long.

Something we have all had to adopt as a mantra: the differences we encounter here are not good nor are they bad, they are simply differences.  I have had to get used to a different pace of life, different food, different personal space rules, and especially a very the different language.  The native people are generally very hospitable here, it makes learning the language and our interactions with them very enjoyable.

[Sidenote: I cannot find the apostrophe on this keyboard, so I am using no contractions...haha...yeay different]

Something I have learned while being here: We deserve NONE of the love that God chooses to lavish upon us. We will probably never understand why He chooses to treasure us, but the reality is that He does. He actually desires for us to get to know Him.  P.T.L. (Praise the Lord)

Thanks for reading.

Grace and peace,
Shayla M.

I'm here, and I know it's only by the Lord.

After three days in LA,  24 hours of traveling and 10 hours of time change, we made it to our destination.  We're staying in a flat on the 7th floor of an apartment building in the middle of a city comparable to the Bronx or Queens, New York.  We totally lucked out and we (the ladies and our team leaders) are actually staying in the landlord's personal flat.  He rented his personal space to us and packed up the majority of his stuff and went to another apartment.  This means that our apartment is fully furnished and that it has a lot of charm.  Picture soon (hopefully). 

We took a ferry ride yesterday to another part of the city for more briefing.  As I sat on the ferry and watched the city roll by, I was struck with the realization that I really, really, really, don't belong here logically.  The Lord protected me from the knowledge that I would go through culture shock, that I would miss America and 2% milk, that I would feel like I couldn't do the work set out for us--(had I thought of these things seriously, I probably would have refused the trip). But the Lord truly called me here and made it clear that He wanted me here to do His work and, I think even more importantly, to grow me. 

I think the latter part of that statement is really why I'm here.  I honestly believe that He could use anyone in the kingdom for His work over here, it doesn't matter if it's me or any person of our 14 person team, He doesn't specifically need any one of us.  I have a deep sense that this trip really is more about my growth as a person of faith and as a daughter of God.  Sharing the Good News is icing on the cake. 

With that said, I'm expecting growing pains. Today we go out to do what we said we would do here: step onto college campuses and talk about Jesus.  More to come.

Grace and peace,
Shayla M.