Articles from January 2016

I wasn't very excited about going out to random streets and handing out bags that contained old newspapers and a card with the church's information on them. My group and I walked for about an hour and a half and we had yet to come across someone to talk to.

It was Christmas day. My bags were packed and my heart was ready to serve on the mission field in New York City. I left Texas the following morning, arriving in New York City with the anticipation of my team concentrating our efforts solely in the Chinatowns of Manhattan, Brooklyn and Flushing. 

Texas Baptists Disaster Recovery (TBDR) mobilized 450 volunteers over the past two weekends to Rowlett and Garland in response to the tornadoes which rattled several North Texas communities Dec. 26.

The first couple of days in New York were trying because not many of the community people seemed to respond to our attempts to have intentional conversations.

In the months leading up to my trip one word seemed to keep surfacing in conversations with friends and family. As I sit down and began to process the events of this past week, I began to see how that same word seemed to lace itself through the week. That word was hope.

This winter I served in Moldova where I got to fit needy children with a new pair of shoes and share the Gospel with them. I went in not knowing what to expect, sure I had prayed and I researched the country but I still didn't know what would happen or how the children and people from the country would receive us.

This past summer, Ryan and I were given a used dining table from a relative. It was beautiful, simple and had "good bones." But I thought it could use a little updating, like a new stain color on top and maybe a little paint on the bottom. 

I was given an amazing opportunity to serve in Arlington at Mission Arlington, and my view on people changed entirely. I am not used to working with people in general and it came to be an issue, but with God's help, I made it through.