Coming to an end...

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

So how can you save $10, $20, even $100 a month? I know your time is precious so let me fill you in with what ever way is best for you...

The Short of It:
Due to a lack of funds I am coming off of the field and going home. If you are a monthly supporter this means that your last payment made is your last payment. If you send in checks you can stop and if you are a direct depositor you will need to call or email to get that canceled. You can call your email:

Sheryl Root: 954-975-7777 x127 or sherylroot@bookofhope.net

The Long of It:
Yes, the time has come for me to say goodbye to my missionary friends and the life that I have been living for the past 16 months. I am coming home 8 months sooner than I first signed up for but through prayer and the advice of my leaders we think it best to bow out gracefully and just come home. I came back to Florida in September knowing that my support had not increased as much as it needed to. I sat down with our "Money Guy" and we decided that we would look at the numbers and I would stay with Book of Hope as long as the money would allow me to. We were looking at either December or May. It turns out that with what I did have coming in monthly and what I had saved in my cash fund I would be able to stay until December and I would have a plane ticket home. We have checked and I have enough money in my account to cover my expenses in December so there is no need for you all to support me that last month of December.

In July when things financially first started going south I cried and cried because this is where the Lord had called me and I just couldn't understand what was happening. It wasn't until September that I got some answers. I was reading about the fear and lack of trust in the Lord that the Israelites had regarding the daily provisions of manna. The Lord spoke to the Israelites: "Bear in mind that the Lord has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days." Exodus 16:29 The Lord spoke to my heart: If the Lord planned it He will provide the resources. He also spoke to my heart Psalm 127:1a "Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain..." Was I laboring in vain trying to raise more support?

I believe it is in the Lord's will for me to come home and spend time with my family before I get married and move to Mexico. I believe it is the Lord's will for me to come home and work on building a strong foundation for our marriage. Missions and I are not through and neither is support raising. Kyle and I are planning on spending 2010 in Mexico serving with a college ministry there. We will begin support raising some time in the spring so please be in prayer about whether you will be able to team with us. If you would like more information about that please let me know!!

Thank you for supporting me this past year. I hope and pray that it was a blessing to you all as it was a blessing to me! I also hope that you enjoyed the blogs, the pictures, and the stories...I enjoyed bringing the "field" to you!




A young boy in Peru reading his book :)





Part of my room in Cusco, Peru.





We don't sign the books to keep the value of them all about Jesus and not about the crazy Americans who gave the books to them. The way the kids get around this is by having us sign their notebooks :) And that is what I am doing here.


Me doing the "Heart Drama". We shared with the youth that drugs, sex, alcohol, pretty much anything that isn't Jesus doesn't fill your heart. That is a job only our Lord can do!

It Never Gets Easier...

It is only Jesus that can bring people together for just a week and make me cry when I leave. After 14 months, 10 countries and 8 teams it hasn't gotten any easier to say good-bye. This past week (in 5 days!!!) We were able to reach roughly 15,724 kids with the Book of Hope (God's Word) in 24 presentations. That is sooo many kids and with an estimated 5 people who read each book that is possibly 78,620 lives reached!!! Now lets just keep praying that these lives would be transformed by the books and by the power of the Holy Spirit.

One day I had the privilege of standing in front of 2 different groups of 700 ladies (it was an all girls school) and tell them my story. I told them how I wanted to feel special, feel loved, feel important. I told them how I tried to fill my empty heart with different things, mostly guys. When this didn't seem to be working I started to question my purpose here on earth and if it was even worth living anymore. I felt lonely, lost, and really sad. Then just at the right moment a now friend stopped to tell me about the goodness of our God and that I did have a purpose for my life. I told them how trusting in Jesus has changed my life drastically and that there is this same hope for them. Some of the girls were crying by the time I was finished and all I could do was praise Jesus for pulling me out of the deep dark pit and thank Him for His goodness that He offers new hope for anyone who is willing to accept it. I am not the only one that He can and will save.

Thank you for your support and your prayers...you have reached many people with the message of Jesus and your prayers have been heard!

The all girls school I was talking about. This is roughly the view we had from the stage...there were so many of them! It was amazing being able to speak into their lives and tell them how important and special they are!


This is my friend, Skippy (Jonathan) and myself on the bus we rode around in all week. Jonathon is probably the coolest 18 year old I know with a huge heart for missions and he is a great servant!!




We got to do an extra school not on the schedule in between our scheduled schools. We stopped in and talked to preschoolers about Jesus :) There were about 170 of them and they were soooo adorable!!!!

I'm off again!

Funny, the last thing you heard from me was that I was back from Mexico and now after 3 weeks in the office I am off to Peru! Tomorrow a shuttle will pick me up at 12:45 in the afternoon to take me the 45 minutes to the Miami airport. I will be flying out at 5pm, landing in Lima, Peru at 9:35pm where I will be meeting up with my team of 14 adults. We will stay the night at a hotel and the following day take another plane to Cuzco, Peru. The whole week we have schools scheduled. We will be going into as many schools as they have for us to visit doing dramas, sharing our story of how Jesus has changed our lives and then we will be handing out the Book of Hope to each of the students. This is my favorite part of my job and I look forward to book distribution more than anything! The team I am leading is seasoned when it comes to Book of Hope trips, I believe this makes #10 for them!

Even still please be in prayer for us while we are gone. Continue to pray for safe travels and good health. The last day I am in Peru (Nov. 8) I will be alone while the team stays on for a few more days as a vacation. I will be flying throughout the night and landing back in Miami at 5:15am. Pray that the students will be in a place in their lives that they are willing and excited about making Jesus their Lord and Savior. Please pray against anything Satan will try to bring against us: poor attitudes, failing unity within the team, and selfishness.

After these travels the next time I get on a plane it will be bringing me back home to Ohio...to my family...to my friends...to Kyle :)

I hope you get to spend good quality time with Jesus this week and I will see you again on the flip side! Adios

Back from Mexico!

Yes, I'm back already! I guess it seems so much shorter compared to my 3 or 4 months away but when your days begin at 8:30am for breakfast and end at 9:30pm after dinner a week of ministry can feel really long. My team of 10 women and myself went to Monterrey, Mexico to minister to children in orphanages, children in hospitals and woman at different churches. We handed out many copies of the Book of Hope and lots of the Salvation bracelets (Which is a piece of leather with 5 different colored beads on it. Each color bead represents a different part of the salvation story. They are very helpful!) I was able to connect quite quickly and easily with the women on my team especially after having the flu with one of them and having 2 of the other ladies taking care of us. I am feeling better now but I am still a little tired. I will be sending out a newsletter with more pictures and details, until then enjoy these:




One of the views from my hotel window. Aren't the mountains amazing!?!?!





Just SOME of the goodies we were able to hand out to the kiddies while we were there :)





We did some face painting at the orphanages....but I guess from this picture you can't tell :) The kids loved it so much we started painting their arms too!




Me and "Peanut" which we named the little girl that I carried around with me all day at one of the orphanages. She was tiny and sooooo adorable!

Gone Again!!

Hello Folks!

It has been 2 1/2 weeks since I have been home and 2 1/2 months since I have been out of the country soooooooooooo I'm leavin'!!! I start my trek at 4:45am tomorrow heading to the airport and I land at 11:45am in Monterrey, Mexico. I will be there leading a team of 10 women who will be conducting woman conferences, teaching women how to: cook, sew, and garden, along with visiting new moms with their babies and children at near by hospitals. We will be handing out Books of Hope to the children in the hospitals.

Please pray for:

-Open hearts of the women we will be ministering to! If they are Christians that they would be encouraged by us and if they aren't that they would hear the message of Jesus and give their hearts and their lives to Him.
-That the children receiving the Books and their families would read them and that their lives would be transformed by God's Word.
-Safe travels for myself-I am traveling alone to and from Mexico, and for the team traveling from Texas.
-Health!! If you have even been on a mission trip you know how easily and frequently team members became ill. Pray for God's protection and that satan wouldn't have an inch on us!
-Effectiveness: that our words would be filled and backed by the power of our Lord and that our time would be well spent.

Thank you for fighting for those who don't even know they need fought for. And thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to pray and make a way for more people to see and experience God's power. I will be back October 12th landing at 10:48pm so shortly there following I will love to share with you some of the amazing stories of what the Lord has done.

Adios!

I'm "home" for now.

I have been in Florida for about 3 days now and I am settling in quite nicely. It cost too much to keep me at the old-hospital-turned-hotel called the Forum that I normally stay at so I am condo sitting for some other missionaries of Book of Hope who are throughout the world working. So far I am really enjoying it :) The last couple of days I have been working on my training schedule for Saturday (tomorrow). I am training a team that will be heading to Romania in October. Next week I will be working on some small projects around the office and preparing for my trip to Mexico (October 3-12).

I wasn't able to send out a newsletter after my last country since I was only in Florida for 12 hours before heading to Ohio. I also didn't update a lot online about it due to security issues with that particular country. So I thought I would throw some pictures up from there now for you to look at and enjoy :)

Kate, our team leader, is on the far left, me and then the other 2 ladies were our Nomads. They gave 3 weeks of their summer to come work with us. We are drinking juice after a church service.


This is a view of part of the city we were working in. All of the houses were really close together and for the most part a lot of people didn't have any kind of yard.




This sign hung in one of the small home churches and was hand painted by one of the elderly ladies in the church. It was beautiful!

Where to next?

My time home is quickly coming to an end :( Buuuuuuut that also means I am off on another grand adventure :) Here is what it is looking like for the Fall:

September 16---> Fly back to Florida
October 3-12---> Monterrey, Mexico handing out books in schools :)
October 17-19--> New Orleans working for Book of Hope
November 1-9---> Lima, Peru handing out books in schools :)
December 19----> Book of Hope Christmas Party
December 20----> Coming home for Christmas

The space in between trips will be filled with me working in the office in Florida, training teams that are heading out, and sharing in churches. This means that when I am in the country my phone is turned on and I am more easily reached.

Thank you, everyone, for your continued love and support. Thank you for giving monthly...I know that at times it is a huge sacrifice and at other times you don't even notice that the money was ever there or has gone....but thank you! Thank you for believing that the Good News of Jesus Christ is worth the $10 or the $20 or the $100 or more a month. Thank you for believing in me to be that messenger!

Prayer Suggestions:
-That loneliness would not get the best of me. I am under the assumption that I will be spending a lot of time on my own since most of the people that I work with will be in other countries.
-Safety throughout all of my travels.
-That God would use me to encourage the hearts of the teams coming through that I will be training. Which ultimately means that God's Word and truth would be preached throughout the nations!

Please let me know how I can be praying for you as well!! I have a lot of quality time planned for me and Jesus so I would love to talk to Him about whatever you might be needing at the moment :)

Home, Home on the Range...

HEY!!!!

So how have I been? Some of you might be asking, while others of you know because you see me practically everyday! Being home has been amazing! Kyle and I have been able to get a lot of wedding planning done, my new baby nephew is adorable, I have been able to hang out and be encouraged by so many of my friends, not to mention telling people about Jesus in the Oregon district has been so reviving to my witnessing heart, and the Lord has been able to do a lot of needed healing in me. The first year on the field was rough for me and I felt like I came home a little beaten up and bruised but the Lord has been faithful to help me through some things and build me back up again!

"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess for he who promised is faithful...You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while, "He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him." But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved." Hebrews 10:23, 36-39

Also while home I have been doing support raising such speaking in a couple of churches and sharing with a youth group. When I share my heart grows more for missions and I am excited to share this Sunday at my friend Amanda's church. Please pray for God's Spirit to be there. So, yes, things are going great. I know that I am only home for a season and though I am not ready to leave again quite yet I know without a shadow of a doubt that the Lord will prepare me and get me ready to go out again. Life is a lot less stressful when you let Him do the planning and you faithfully walk where He is guiding you. Have a good day and maybe I'll run into you soon!

A Change of Plans

"So I’ll stand
With arms high and heart abandoned
In awe of the One who gave it all

So I’ll stand
My soul Lord to You surrendered
All I am is Yours"
~The Stand by Hillsong

What do you do when things don't go as you had planned? What if "worst case scenario" happened? My first response is always to scream then shortly followed by a bout of hysterical crying. But this time I learned the best thing I can do is to throw my hands in the air and worship Him for who He is and not for what He does for me.

Truth be told...I'm coming home!!! Being a missionary is a team sport and without monthly supporters it is difficult to stay on the field. Over the past couple of months I have slowly been losing my financial supporters so I must come home and pick up new ones. The plan now is: Cuba July 23rd-August 10th, Home August 12th, back to the field August 26th. The next Nomad internship (the 4 month trip) begins August 27th and I was scheduled to lead one of them so I would like to be back in time to still be a part of it.

I hope to be sending out a newsletter sometime early next week to let my friends and family know who don't have Internet access, but I wanted you all to know sooner than later so that you could be praying with me. Next week I will be calling pastors to set up times to meet and talk about potential financial support. Please pray for the Lord's favor and be praying 1 Peter 4:11 over me:

"If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen."

Amen!!

Also if you know anyone who might be interested in supporting a missionary or you have a church that might be willing to meet and talk with me please let me know. Thank you for being a part of my team. Thank you for your love and support. Without it, well, I'm in Ohio sleeping on a friend's couch instead of in Africa sleeping on the ground :)


I wanted to show you Pat. She is the amazing Lady that I spent most of my time in Honduras with. We are so much alike that my nickname is "Mini Me" :)


Here I was talking with a group of kids at a school. I think they thought I was funny because I spoke poor Spanish. Either way, it was a blast!

Would you like to adopt a baby?

Me too! But not now, silly...I'm not ready :) I'll tell you who is ready though, my friends Matt and Kathryn Clover. Kathryn works in the offices of Book of Hope and is so great to work with. Kathryn and Matt have been married for 8 years and have yet to have any children. Until now...the Lord has opened their hearts and the Clovers have opened their home to a little baby from Ethiopia, Africa. They are in the process of adoption but as you may know adoption is not cheep!!! To help offset some of the cost they are selling really cool looking t-shirts. I bought one and wanted to see if any of my friends or family would also like the opportunity to help out the Clover family. I figured that it didn't hurt to ask. Check out their website for more details!!!!

http://ephesians1baby.wordpress.com/t-shirt-sales/



This is the imagine on the back---whoo yoo!!

Thank You!!

I wanted to send out a special thank you to all those who had band together on my behalf and prayed this past week. I most definitely felt a difference from my 2nd team my the 3rd. In the beginning of my last team there was a lot of miscommunication but at the end so many things came together. It felt like a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders!! Really, I can't even accurately explain the difference I felt. I know it was the Lord working and not just for my benefit or in response to my prayers but He was working in response to all of my amazing prayer worriers from around the world. Thank you for taking the time to fight for me and for the mission.....it worked!!!!!

My God pour out His blessings on your life. Amen!



She says "thanks" too :)



I thought this was pretty....I hope it brightens your day :)

Jesus in the Mountains of Honduras

We, my team and I, were all sitting on the tiny stage in front of the tiny, tiny church. We almost had to sit in the car during the movie because I didn't think there was going to be enough room for all of us inside. Instead we all sat behind the screen. We were showing the GodMan for the 4th or 5th night in a row; our clothes drenched in sweat with more beads rolling down our faces. The Pastor's wife had brought us an oscillating fan but the team had decided to fan the small children in the front instead of cooling themselves down. The faces of the kids were mesmerized as the story of Jesus unfolded in front of their eyes. One of the ladies from my team tapped me on the shoulder and motioned me to look up at the rafters. There was a small slot between where the roof came together with the walls and in that small amount of room you could see little heads popping out. The church was so full that the kids were climbing up on the roof to peer in and watch the movie!!! About 120 people crammed into a room that probably held 50 comfortably and all together we watched the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. When the movie ended and we asked how many children, young people and adults wanted to be friends with Jesus everyone raised their hands.

It is moments like these that make all the frustrating, lonely, and seemingly impossible moments melt away. It is moments like these that help remind me why I am doing what I am doing. You know, it really is true that you see the face of Jesus in every one of those kids when they look at you and smile.

I hope and pray that Jesus fills you today with His spirit. That you would feel His presence all around you, His fingertips guiding you, and the pure love that He has for each and every one of His children would overflow from you onto everyone you encounter today. Amen


I am chatting it up with some kids at their school after doing a presentation and giving each one of them a Book of Hope :)


A beautiful young lady from one of our schools. I kept trying to get a picture of her smiling but she would throw her hand up at the last minute.... :) Even still she is beautiful!

Hello From Honduras

Wow!!! I have only been in Honduras for a little over a week and I am blown away by what God is doing here  I flew into Honduras on June 11th and met up with a team of 22 mostly high school aged young adults on June 12th. Another missionary lady with Book of Hope named Pat was training me up to get me ready for the trip I would be leading on my own next week. We took a 7 ½ hour bus ride from the airport to a bible institute which we called “home” for 4 days.

One day we walked door to door inviting the community to that week’s church service and asking if they knew Jesus personally. We stopped at one house and spoke to a lady that had a small child, he was probably 2 or 3 years old. We asked if she had a personal relationship with Jesus and she said no. We were able to share with her how God sent Jesus to die not just for the world but for her specifically because His love is personal and He loved her very much. We explained that this whole “God-thing” isn’t about getting her into church but about a personal relationship with Jesus. Though she did not give her life to Jesus right then and there she was open to having someone from the church return and share more with her at a later date.

“I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.” 1 Corinthians 3:6-7

We are not out here for numbers or another notch on our belts. We are out here to share the truth and love of Jesus. I want to thank you again for being apart of that….whether through financially giving each month or through praying for me or even if you pray for the mission. Thank you for praying for workers and the individual people who are out there living their daily lives without Jesus. They need you. They need you to give. They need you to pray. They need you to go. Thank you for what ever part you are playing right now and for what ever part the Lord may have in store for you in the future.

Next up…Pat and I are resting up this weekend and on Monday Pat’s next team comes in. I will be hanging out and helping out where ever I can. My next team comes in on June 27th. Please pray for the team to get to Honduras safely and that they would be pumped and excited for what the Lord is going to do. Pray for servant hearts. Please pray that our words would be effective and that through our lives that God would change the lives of others. Thank you  And I will write again as soon as I can! I tried to add pictures but the computer I am using would not allow it....bummer!!! So hopefully next time!

AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

"In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps." Proverb 16:9

This is one of the scriptures the Lord brought to my attention back in the middle of February. It made me wonder: if a man plans his course by his heart then how does he not mess it up? How do you know if what your heart wants is what the Lord wants?

Then I was lead to Psalm 37:4 "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." So what you are telling me, Lord, is if I delight myself in you (which means that I choose you and surrender all that I am and all that I want to what you want) then you will set in my heart my desires. And then you say that I can plan out how to achieve these desires and you will guide me? That is quite the deal if you ask me.

And this is just what I did. Costa Rica was a stretching time for me and a series of events drove me to dig into Jesus and delight in Him often. During this time my love for Jesus multiplied and soon He began opening my heart more to a dear friend of mine back home. I was home for a few days when Kyle McAllister pleasantly surprised me and asked if I would marry him. With a giant smile on my face I said, "Yes!"

AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! We are so excited about what Jesus is doing!!!! A lot of friends and family have offered to help us with wedding plans since I will be out of the country during the majority of our engagement. I will be finished with Book of Hope sometime in August of 2009 and we look forward to getting married in September of 2009.

I will be leaving Ohio June 9th and headed to Honduras on the 10th. I will be there for about 3 weeks helping to lead a few 10 day teams. I will go back to Florida for a week or so on July 2nd and then out to Cuba at the end of July. Book of Hope has been distributing books in Cuba for years but we will be the first American team to go!!! Please be praying for all needed paper work to be filled out and accepted and that we wouldn't lose anything while traveling. Pray for good health and happy spirits because you know how miserable anything can be if you are sick :) Thank you!

I also added a couple of pictures of Kyle and I :)

I'm Back From Another Round

It is hard to believe that 3 1/2 months have already gone by! I am back in Florida now and with the Nomad teams for 4 more days. After that our 4 Nomads for this semester go home and I head to Washington D.C. I am going with 2 other woman to help train a team that is going on a mission trip this summer. After that....I'm coming home!!!!

Since that last time I wrote I went to the Dominican Republic for a week and then to Colombia for almost 2 weeks. In Colombia we were able to go into schools and talk to the kids about how important they are and we handed out the Book of Hope. I also made some really close friends who by the end of it had become my family. We are already in talks about me coming back to Colombia with my chubby cheeked children and my husband....obviously we plan on being friends for many, many, many years :) I had a 16 year old Colombian translator who amazingly enough scratches his nose the same way that I do!!!! Don't believe me? I have it on tape! And I would love to show you and share with you my Colombian brother.

I learned a lot this trip about loving people you don't like and living sacrificially. Living for other people a lot of the time doesn't go the way that you would like it to....that's the sacrificial part. The same way that David didn't want to sacrifice offerings to God that didn't cost him anything (2 Samuel 24:24) at times what it "costs" us to serve and love people for Jesus is our pride--sometimes people are "right" even when they are wrong; our physical comfort--picking up the slack when others are lacking; and our ability to forgive--even before it is asked of us. But the beautiful part is that Jesus is the example in every situation on how to act and what to say. I have not mastered it by any means, and really with every passing day I see how much further from perfection I am. Then I see how much more I need Jesus and my love and appreciate for Him grows.

Thank you for all of your love, prayers and support. We are in this thing together! I threw some pictures on for your enjoyment...see you in a couple of weeks!



This is Christine, my team leader, "knocking me out" in Colombia....:)





This is me with a bunch of young ladies at a school. My Spanish even after 2 months in language school is pretty lacking so our conversation mostly centered on how to say different colors in English :p





Me and my Spanish translator friend, Oscar...he was great!

Farewell From Costa Rica!!

Dearest Friends and Family,

The trek has been long and it has been hard but in the end the Lord has brought me through....was there ever any doubt? My time in Costa Rica comes to an end on Saturday as I fly to the Dominican Republic. From what I can tell thus far the Lord has used my time here to draw me closer to Him and to show me more of who I am--the good, the bad, the ugly :) But I have come to not mind because I know that as He is refining me and taking out the bad He is making a way to draw me closer to Him. Painful, yes, but not a bad deal :) Less of me, more of Him.

We are going to the DR to train pastors for the Book of Hope. We are making the way for distribution to happen in the country of the DR. It is very exciting and I am so happy to be a part of it. After that we go to Colombia where we will be handing out the Book of Hope to students there. MINISTRY!!!! I am so excited! Please be praying for our team: safe travels, effective words, unity within our body. And please, please pray for the hearts of the students we will see. May their hearts be open and ready to receive the truth about God and His love!!!! May they see God's love through us!!!

Thank you for all of your love and support!!! This will probably be the last update until I get back in the States on May 9th. God bless and I will see you all real soon!

Where in the World is Brittany Michelle Arthur?

Did you ever watch Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? Man, I did and I loved it! We have the same amount of syllables in our names but her name definitely rolls off the tongue a little bit better, ya?

So, the real reason for the blog: I have flight info for you!

April 19th We fly to the Dominican Republic
April 26th We fly to Columbia
May 9th We fly to Costa Rica
May 10th We fly to Florida
May 24th I fly to Ohio (I'm coming home for a little bit! :)
June 9th I fly back to Florida

*Whew* That is a lot of flying! Please be praying for me and my team that we will be safe while traveling, that we will be happy travelers no matter what situations we encounter. Please be praying that detail things get worked out like housing and transportation and that kind of stuff! Food! Food is always important :)

Update on me: My back is so much better! Thank you for all of your prayers! School is going well. We are learning a lot very fast so lately I have been really tired and taking like a 2 hour nap every afternoon! Yes, my friends, I am a 24 year old with a nap time :) I have 3 weeks left of school so please be praying that I finish out strong and come home speaking some Spanish :) Below are some silly pictures we took in my phonetics class yesterday, enjoy!


Sometimes phonetics is very difficult and this is what it does to us. The lady on the left is Autumn and she is with me from Book of Hope and the other lady is Debbie. She and her husband are fully appointed missionaries. With our forces combined class is not as boring as it could have been :)


Here is Roberto, our phonetics teacher. Behind him is what we are working on in class now and honestly he looks a little confused by it.....hmmm *shrugs shoulder*


This was Roberto's idea :) I am not sure if you can tell but the board says "help" :)


We are always being told by the nationals to open our mouths. "Abre su boca" they say because speaking English is different than speaking Spanish so Roberto has this folder with Sponge Bob on it and when our mouths start getting lazy he holds it up and says "Abre su boca!" This is Autumn imitating Sponge Bob :)

God Bless! And have a happy weekend!

Funny story coming your way!

What is the last thing you expect to happen while walking out of a chiropractor appointment? Maybe getting hit by a car? Sounds crazy but it happened to me! It's all good though--I am fine!! I walked away with my arm swelling a little bit and a thumb print size bruise. I am proud to say that I did not cry and have laughed about it with everyone that I tell :) Seriously, it is not a big deal. He was sitting waiting to pull out into traffic and decided to back up a little bit and bumped into me. My back was feeling really good that day and then the car happened. It did knock my back out of whack and left me in pain, again.

"You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. 'He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.' But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved." Hebrews 10:36-39

I read that the day after I got hit. That is a call to arms if I've ever heard one! William Wallace, Martin Luther King Jr., Winston Churchill: they are all great men and can amazingly corral a group of fighters but they have nothing on the Lord God Almighty. Persevere Friends!!! Sometimes things get bad and then they just get worse but believe that He who promised is faithful (Hebrews 10:23) and whatever you do, don't shrink back!!!

Thank you for all of your prayers and support!! It is comforting to know that there is a group of people back home fighting for and with me :)

Have you ever waited to start living?

Have you ever waited to start living? I sure have! I did it here in Costa Rica, in fact. I had a negative thought about everything in my life: the people that were around me, my schooling, my living arrangments, the ministry, everything! I started convincing myself that once I left Costa Rica everything would be better. But that would mean my life would be on hold for at least 2 months! I became selfish, I became secluded, I became lonely. Then there came the day that I couldn't do it any more...my back had gotten bad enough that I couldn't sit through class anymore and I was stuck laying on my bed icing it for a couple of hours. While sitting there I finally talked to Jesus about my "living" situation. I told Him all the things I wasn't happy with and after a long bout of ranting and raving He left me with a peace that with His help I could change things around.

After recieving His grace and love I had more than enough to cover the people around me so my relationships improved--I really loved them finally! I missed being involved with a bible study/community of ladies/iron sharpening iron type of thing so I started my own bible study and invited a few of the ladies from school who have also expressed their pain and lonliness of being at school. Now we all have a community to belong to! I missed the accountablity of having someone to disciple me so I scoped one out and now a lovely lady from Texas is meeting and having coffee with me every week :) I feel more like me now because I am being more like Jesus and less like the selfish brat I was being. Instead of waiting for my life to begin I started living life in these circumstances. That's what it's all about right--not waiting for things to get better but learning how to live through every circumstance.

I am doing really well right now and my back is doing much better! I was able to stand up today after sitting for awhile and for the 1st time in 2 1/2 weeks it didn't hurt and I wasn't huntched over! I walk with little to no pain and can sleep throughtout the night now. Thank you for all of your prayers and to all the people who have expressed concern over the past couple of weeks...your love has meant a lot!

A couple of pictures to enjoy:



This is where I live. This is my part of Costa Rica. Off the picture to the left is my apartment.



This nice little out-house looking like thing is the place where the guards sit as they watch over the neighborhoods. There is one almost on every corner. If they aren't sitting in here then they are maning their post by sitting on a chair :)(Tilt you head to the left, it makes more sense)



This is where the security guard sits outside my apartment and in front of my school. Behind the building is my school, CINCEL. To the left like 100 feet is the gate to my apartment. I wanted to show those who have expressed concern over my safety that I am pretty taken care of here...that doesn't not mean you stop praying though!

Thank you for all of your love and support! May I encourage you if you are waiting for life to "begin" to not wait!! Grab onto Jesus and start living today. It is totally worth it :)

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9

My Weekend...

I woke up on Friday for the first time all week without pain in my back. Praise Jesus!!!! This was great because our whole school (all 60 of us) were going on a field trip. My first field trip in years :) We went to 2 very nice churches, headed over to a volcano, and then ended with having lunch at a beautiful restaurant. Let me show you...


We visited 2 beautiful churches. This church is actually 1 of 3 buildings that is left from the Colonial Period. It was built sometime in the 1500 and all the other buildings have been destroyed by earthquakes.


This is me and my roommate Carla in front of the other church we visited.






This is a little critter that I met at the volcano. I thought he was cute :)




This is Joanna and myself on the edge of the volcano. You can turn around and look inside of it. I had never seen a volcano and I was surprised to find green liquid stuff...no that is not its technical term :)





This was the view from our table at the restaurant we had lunch at. It was breath takingly beautiful!


This is my friend, Abby. She is from Mexico :) She helps me with my Spanish and I help her with her English. I must say, she is doing much better than I am!!!

That picture was taken of us on the bus we were on all day. We were on it for like 5 1/2 hours. Needless to say my back did not like it and went crazy again over the weekend. I enjoyed my one day of walking normal :) Please pray that God would heal me again and that I would have the wisdom to take care of it!

This week some professors from AGTS are here teaching us 4 hours a day on missiology on top of our 4 hour class schedule. I am really excited about learning more on missiology but not so excited about sitting for so long....yikes! I'm still praising Jesus and I am very thankful for the opportunity to be here doing what I am doing. I know He has a plan and is using all this for His purpose :)

Playing Hurt

This past Sunday at church the pastor preached on "Playing Hurt". Sometimes we live life under unoptimal conditions. When this happens we have a choice: we could choose to quit, just to give up and go home or we could play hurt. The pastor pointed out that if we quit then we won't see the reward of continuing on. I thought to myself, "That was a great message. I will have to remember that when things get tough again." Little did I know I was going to use that message the next day!

I get back spasms. Sometimes they last a few days and sometimes I am on the couch for a week and I am the most ridiculous looking thing walking around.

My back spasmed again yesterday and today I am missing class. I know that the Lord has brought me here and I know that He will bring me through. How will I lead a team if my back spasms again in the middle of no where? I don't know but I trust the Lord will come through again like He has done in the past. And I trust that if the Lord has brought me here that He isn't going to leave me here but He will provide a way.

Please pray for my back. Pray that my muscles loosen and that walking wouldn't hurt so much. Pray that my spirit stays strong and that I will take Joy in playing hurt.

Valentine´s Day for Lauren Myerly...

I tried to send this through email but I wasn´t able to...this was the next best thing. Sorry it wasn´t more personal :)

Darling,

Do you remember last year when I asked you to be my valentine? Well, I sort of assumed that you were my valentine again this year...:) Costa Rica has some really beautiful flowers and I wanted you to have them. So yesterday I went on a walk around town and took some pictures for you. This is your digital bouquet of flowers :)

I love you,
Britt