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JamieDangers
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Name: Jamie
Interests: my family, friends, music, calligraphy, chai, reading, etc...
Occupation: Administrative
Industry: Nonprofit
Message: message me
Member Since:
10/12/2006
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| I laughed when I saw what my last entry was... an update from our summer mission trip! Well, it's been a while! =o)
Since then...
- Joyanne came home, and then Mom came home, and we took Joyanne and got her settled in at JBU
- Two of Joyanne's friends and I drove out to surprise her over Labor Day Weekend (side note: when making long trips across Kansas in the summer months, be sure to drive a car that has air conditioning. We didn't. My car runs well most of the time, but it does have some issues. But it was so worth it!)
- Jennie came home for a health leave, and is living with me in her house!
- volunteered at the Fall Festival as Anne of Green Gables, with my friend Kelly, aka Diana Barry =o)
- Jennie and I saw a naturopath and had to be on a horrible diet for 3 weeks, which was supposed to make us healthier... ultimately what it did for me was to change my perspective on my gluten-free diet. Only having to avoid one type of food is not near as hard as I used to think it was!
- I turned 24 and had a great time with my family and my roommate Lauren
- I planned the 7th annual youth Thanksgiving Banquet with an amazing team of volunteers, and we served 150 youth! So fun!
- Dad came home to do PR stuff for New Hope, and spent Thanksgiving with us, along with Autum's sister Kristen and her husband Steven, and Gabe... it was wonderful! And we made the guys get the tree for our house while we cranked the Christmas music and had fun decorating!
- without asking my bank account, my car decided it was time for 4 new tires
- I have been working with Daniel and Josiah to get our biggest missions endeavor ever off the ground... we are offering trips to Alaska, Brazil, Canada (Winnipeg), Haiti, Mexico (Juarez and Mazahua), Paris, Romania, and, as of today... the Ukraine! Nope, I'm not kidding. We are CRAZY!!!!
- and I made an incredibly difficult decision. After about 9 months of thinking and praying and seeking counsel, I have decided to resign from my job at Mountain Springs. It's one of the hardest decisions I think I've ever made. I love where I work, the people I work with, and what we do. I've been there just under 2 1/2 years, and I can't imagine working anywhere I could love more. But for some reason, I have felt like God was moving me on, ready or not. So January 9th is my last day as an employee of MSC. The scary part is that I had to take a step of obedience in resigning before God would show me what's next. And He still hasn't. I know I'm staying in the Springs, which is very exciting, as it allows me to continue in fellowship and ministry with my church and youth ministry. But I don't know where I'll be working. I'm just hanging onto Proverbs 23:18, "There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off."
- this morning at staff prayer, we focused on praying for the people affected by the YWAM and New Life shootings. New Life is about 15 minutes away from Mountain Springs, and we all know many people there. It's encouraging to see the community and local churches coming together to support New Life. That's what the Body of Christ is for!
- that brings me to where I am now, sitting in my cozy house, drinking hot chocolate, updating this ancient site, and thinking about how much there is to get done before I fly out next Saturday to spend Christmas with my family in Uganda!!!
- and that's all for tonight... I'm going to take melatonin and try to get some sleep tonight, unlike last night, when I watched the clock until 2:30...
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| We just got back from Uganda on Tuesday... we had such an incredible trip!
I went 9 days before the main team with 9 others, to get ready for the big team. To say thank you to the early team for all their hard work, and to give them a breather before the main team arrived and everything got crazy again, we surprised them by taking them away overnight to a resort on Lake Victoria and the Nile. It was amazing!
When the main team arrived, half of the team stayed in Kasana while 1/4 went to Paul's place in the village to clear land for his church, and 1/4 went to Yosiya's place (near Paul's) to build a foundation for the classroom block of his Christian school. Those who stayed behind in Kasana did, among many other things, VBS for the primary school kids. That weekend, everyone was back in Kasana for the youth camp. The next week, those who were in Kasana went out to the villages, and those who had been in the village the previous week stayed in Kasana. Everyone was back in Kasana that weekend, where we stayed for Kasana Thanksgiving, and then left immediately afterwards.
It's so hard to say in just a few words what God did during that time. Because of all that He did, the team was under serious spiritual attack. On all the missions trips I've been a part of, I have never before seen the kind of spiritual warfare our team was hit with. Of the 47 people on our team, only 9 remained healthy the whole time. Most of those who were sick were throwing up for a few days. It was crazy. But the sick people became everyone else's intercessory support team! I loved our team!! We really saw God come through for us. Our team song was Chris Tomlin's "Let God Arise," which seemed quite significant. It was literally the cry of our team.
I will try to post pictures later when I'm less jet lagged... thank you for all of you who prayed for us!
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| So, I have never uploaded a video onto my blog before, so hopefully this will work. This is Josiah and Malakai having a pillow fight, and it's so cute!! You can hear Malakai laughing, which is my favorite part... And yes, I won't deny it... I am a very proud aunt! =o)
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| On June 13, I leave to go home to Uganda... and I can't even describe how excited I am!! I'm taking 9 people from our Elevate team with me, and then Josiah, Autum and Malakai will follow with the rest of the team on June 23 (there are 46 of us altogether!). I know I'm going as a leader of the team, and my responsibilities will keep my busy with them, so it won't be the same as just going home for an ordinary summer, but still... I get to go HOME!!! We have been gone from Uganda for almost 2 years, which is way too long. I have been excited about this ever since we started working towards this trip last summer, but in the last week it has started to hit me that this is really happening... and when I talked to my Mom and Jennie on the phone this morning, I could say I would see them next month... in Kasana... and that made me really, really happy.
How incredible is it that I work in a place where I get to go home as part of my job?? God is amazing.
I was just talking with my friend Katie Herbst, who is moving out to Kasana this summer for a year or so, and just talking with her made me excited all over again... Did I mention how excited I am? =o) I am so ready. SO ready. | | |
| Last night I was at Josiah and Autum's house for dinner, with Gabe (who was in town for a little while) and Eric Baird. We had such a great time talking, laughing, reminiscing, doing music, etc. We had chai (kind of a given with that group!), and we were all just sitting around the table talking... but then the reminiscing turned into prayer, and we had our own little chai time! We prayed for friends/family who are either in or going to Sudan, Uganda, Germany, Zambia, Turkey, Ethiopia, Brazil, and Northern Ireland, as well as friends all across America... Colorado, Kansas, Texas, Arkansas, Oregon, Florida, etc... I absolutely loved it! I felt so privileged to be involved in the lives of all those people simply through prayer. And I remembered again why chai time was one of the biggest highlights of my time at JBU... great people praying to our great God who is doing great things all over the world (oh, and the great chai!)... a constant reminder of His power and a reminder to think beyond myself and my "light and momentary troubles." It's incredible to me that no matter how tired or stressed I was when I dragged myself up to the 3rd floor Walker lobby for Chai Time, I always left feeling refreshed and inspired! And all because I took my eyes off myself, and fixed them on the Lord and His work. I got a taste of that again last night... and it was amazing. | | |
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