crazyness...

How crazy life can be... I have now been back from California about a week and a half. To be honest it seems like it has been a month. Life coming home from DTS has been harder then I ever thought it would be. Coming home was walking into a world of wedding planning, Christian bookstore, being a friend to all, and never really stopping. In a week and a half my older sister will be getting married. As soon as I came home the preparing and running around began. I just don't think I was really ready for all of this. Until yesterday I haven't stopped going since coming home on June 9. You might think I am I going over board, but really we have had showers, dress fittings, making center pieces, and much more to do. Finally yesterday I said I was doing nothing for anyone and that I was taking the day off for me and Jesus. And that is what I did and it was wonderful!
The other crazy thing about coming home has been going back to work. I have worked at a Christian Bookstore called Kregel for 4 years off and on. For the most part I have always enjoyed working there, but after coming home I can hardly stand being there. I am not sure if is because I can't handle all the "Jesus Junk" or if it is because I know that God is calling me to other things. But please pray that I will find a new job soon and that I will know it is from the Lord. Side note: we got a new t-shirt in at work that says "Jesus died for myspace in Heaven" And myspace is in a different color and has the same font as myspace online. I got a laugh from that t-shirt and thought to myself 'what are they going to think up next.'
Another crazy thing has been trying to spend time with everyone. One of my best friends moved away for two years three days after I got home so I wanted to spend as much time with her as I could. Plus I wanted to see friends from school, church, and everywhere else I know people from. It has just been hard because people seem like they want to see me then when I get with them they don't really want to hear about what has happened to me or even see my pictures. I kind of expected this coming home, but it has been harder then I thought it would be. Another sad thing about friends is that I have had hardly anytime to e-mail or call people from my DTS. This has been something laying really heavy on my heart because I love these people so much and I was with them almost 24/7 for 5 months and now I haven't spoken to anyone since coming home and I have only e-mailed a few. I have been praying that God would give me time to communicate with them or that they would just call me up.
There are things that I have enjoyed about coming home though. I have had some good times with God and really haven't fallen into a valley after the mountain. I also have been enjoying reading. I am reading the book, "The Only Road North" By Erik Mirandette. It is a book about three boys from my area who went to Africa and took dirt bikes from South Africa to Egypt delivering medication and sharing the gospel. The story ends sad, but it is powerful. It is cool to read about them because they were from our community.
Really though even though life is crazy there is still joy. One of the biggest things God taught me over DTS is joy and I have been able to stand in joy even when the world around me is moving 100mph.

Home again...

This evening at 9pm I returned back to Grand Rapids, MI after another long day of flying. I figured out that in the last five months I have been on 18 flights. I am ready to stay in one place for a little while. Right now though I am not sure what to think about being home. It all seems like a dream. And it all is a little overwhelming. For the first time in five months I will be sleeping in a room with no one else. My bedroom is filled with my books, clothes, and is a really big mess. I saw my parents, sister, and Kyle tonight for the first time in five months. It all just seems so crazy. Yet it is also exciting.
But on the other hand it is really sad. I had to say good-bye to people yesterday and today that I will not see for a long time and some of them I may never see again. It was much harder then I thought it would be to say good-bye to all of them. At graduation last night during the first worship song I just began to cry because of how amazing God is. He brought together 15 students and 10 staff from around the world, with totally different backgrounds, personalities, dreams, and passions. He brought them together for a season and for one purpose and that was to know God and to make Him known. And that is exactly what happened. We all grew in our own walks of knowing God better. But we also made God known in the central coast, Kenya, Rwanda, and even the places we travelled to get there. It is just so amazing how our God works. I feel so blessed that God choose me out of all the Christians in the world to be a part of that experience and that season. It is sad as this season has ended because we won't all be together. But it is also exciting that this season has ended because now we get the joy of seeing God work in and through each other in new ways.
Right now I am just filled with so many emotions. But I do just want to praise and thank God for the season of my life that He has just brought me through. May I never forget it...

Back in the US

Well we have now been back in the US for about two days. It has been a lot harder coming back to California then I ever thought it would be. This morning I sat in a coffee shop just watching people spend about $4.00 on a cup of coffee then another $2.00 on a bagel and cream cheese, all the while they are wearing clothes that cost them more then what it would cost someone is Africa to eat for a week. It is hard because these people around me didn't see what I saw and didn't experience the things I did and these people probably never will. The question is what to do about this. We live so different here in the US then they do in Africa and to be honest it doesn't seem right. It doesn't seem right that we can spend so much on things we don't even need when there are people that have nothing to spend on things that they desperately need. Things are not right, but the question is, is there anything we can do about it or will this always be the way it is? I pray that the Kingdom of Heaven will come down on earth and things will change...soon.

Africa...a few pictures

Here are a few pictures from my trip. I took about 1,200 pictures during the two months. These are just a few of my favorites. If you would like to see more I will be able to share them with you when I return home.

This is Chris, Lauren, Amy, and Shelly on our last night in Rwanda. We got dressed up and went out for Chinese. It was great fun!

This is me, Amy, and Katrina before our dinner out.


A girl on the side of the road in Rwanda.

This is an ex-prostitute that we worked with when we worked with YWAM Rwanda



This is a support group for people with HIV/AIDS in Rwanda. I enjoyed speaking and spending time with them. They were wonderful people.

This is me with a lady who suffers from HIV/AIDS.


This is one of the memorial sites for the genocide.

This is women walking on a road towards a village that we worked with in Rwanda.


This is a women with HIV/AIDS and Rhiannon.

Two childern that went to the church that we worked with our first two weeks in Rwanda.


A street girl that was a soccer game that we played.


Our whole group in Mombasa

The baboons that we say on Safari and went into our car while we were taking pictures.


We saw lots of Giraffe. Yeah! They are my favorite.

A little boy at the orphanage in Kenya

Kara and Karen
This is Ali, a little boy that I fell in love with at the orphanage in Kenya.

A little boy at the orphanage