15 days.

Can you believe it? I'm leaving in 15 days! I feel like the trip is forever away because I have so much going on before then, but 15 DAYS from today I am leaving for Tanzania. That is TWO WEEKS from tomorrow. Whoa!

I am getting more excited with every passing second. Today I'm wearing one of my long dresses I bought specifically to wear there :) Also, I have been working on some of my readings for the trip that are due on Monday. I am figuring out my transportation from Tanzania to Kenya and I need to be wearing my hiking shoes to break them in!

Reason why I can't believe it's so close:
I have a French paper due tomorrow.
I have a Swahili presentation tomorrow.
I am going camping tomorrow.
I am going kayaking on Saturday.
BYX has their Island Party on Saturday.
We are going to the fair on Sunday.
I have a quiz on Monday.
I have two SAO exec meetings on Monday.
I have two exams next week.
I am going camping again next weekend.
I have another exam next Monday.
Then I go home.
Then I can start worrying about Africa.

But yet, I AM SO EXCITED. Like a little kid at Christmas excited.

If you have a minute, I would love prayer for the leaders of both of my trips. That they both go smoothly and that the leaders keep a level head at all times (which can be hard handling a large group of students!) and pray just for their leadership.

Thanks!
And as my co-workers and I say
Peace and Chicken-grease, my friends :)

Happy Monday!

Hey hey hey!


I have been so so at peace. God is good all the time! I am ahead when it comes to my homework and school and I am fairly caught up in terms of what I need to do and to have done for my trips. 


It's a super short blog post of the day, but my favorite verse (or one of the many :)) is John 14:27

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives.

 Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."

How cool is that?!? How cool is our God! He gives us peace. It surpasses ALL understanding (Phili 4:7). He doesn't give to us as the world gives (temporarily) but ETERNALLY. He also doesn't want us to be troubled or afraid. He is our Comforter, our Counselor, the Prince of Peace.
John 16:33 says  

            "I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. 

In the world you will have tribulation. 

But take heart; I have overcome the world."

I have nothing else to say. He has overcome the world. We can rest easy in the arms of our Lord and Savior. 

Happy Monday and last full week of classes! 
Rest in His arms :)

Love, B

Peace

Here is the blog post that I had started on Monday.

“Hey y’all. I would just like to say that I am officially spread too thin. My mind is all over. French, Spanish, Swahili, SAO, Kenya, Tanzania, getting forms, working, spending time with the Lord. And then sleeping, eating and going to the gym go by the wayside. Seriously, today I ate my juice plus vitamins for breakfast and a bag of chips and large cup of coffee for dinner.  Quality meals, let me just tell you.

I am getting more and more nervous that I don’t have it all figured out. I leave for Tanzania in less than a month. Crazy. I still have to figure out how I’m going to get from Tanzania to Kenya. I am waiting for my Kenyan Visa to come in. I need to pay for my travel insurance. I am waiting for the travel agent to get my ticket to me. I need to pack. I just found out that I had readings and a summary due yesterday… Luckily, I got to extend that date until to Friday. “

How things have changed. My life has calmed down. The Lord has given me peace, His peace and oh how sweet it is. Right now I am sitting in at my favorite coffee house about to work on the readings for my study abroad, try to get ahead for my French class, and if all goes well, go to bed before midnight because I agreed to work from 7-9 tomorrow morning… What was I thinking. Haha. I have been so blessed and I am so thankful for what the Lord has taught me in the last semester, the last month, but especially the last week.

Psalm 139 is pretty much what has gotten me through the whole week, so I’ve included it so that it may bless you as well. 

You have searched me, LORD,

   and you know me.

You know when I sit and when I rise;

   you perceive my thoughts from afar.

 You discern my going out and my lying down;

   you are familiar with all my ways.

Before a word is on my tongue

   you, LORD, know it completely.

You hem me in behind and before,

   and you lay your hand upon me.

 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,

   too lofty for me to attain.

Where can I go from your Spirit?

   Where can I flee from your presence?

If I go up to the heavens, you are there;

   if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn,

   if I settle on the far side of the sea,

even there your hand will guide me,

   your right hand will hold me fast.

If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me

   and the light become night around me,”

even the darkness will not be dark to you;

   the night will shine like the day,

   for darkness is as light to you.

For you created my inmost being;

   you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

   your works are wonderful,

   I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from you

   when I was made in the secret place,

   when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed body;

   all the days ordained for me were written in your book

   before one of them came to be.

How precious to me are your thoughts,[a] God!

   How vast is the sum of them!

Were I to count them,

   they would outnumber the grains of sand—

   when I awake, I am still with you.

If only you, God, would slay the wicked!

   Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!

They speak of you with evil intent;

   your adversaries misuse your name.

Do I not hate those who hate you, LORD,

   and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?

I have nothing but hatred for them;

   I count them my enemies.

Search me, God, and know my heart;

   test me and know my anxious thoughts.

See if there is any offensive way in me,

   and lead me in the way everlasting.

Acts 14

In Acts 14, Paul and Barnabas are worshipped as Hermes and Zeus in the city (town?) of Lystre. They tear their clothes trying to explain that God, the one true God is LIVING. We (especially I) have heard this phrase too many times to count. So many that I have lost most of the meaning that went with that phrase.
In Acts 14:14-17, they explain that our God is a living God. The people of Lystre are so set on worshipping stone gods and sacrificing to things without ears to hear or hands to help. Our God is ALIVE. He has ears to hear. He not only hears us, he LOVES us and wants what is best for us. What a stark contrast to the stony gods of Ancient Rome and what a revelation this must have been. No more useless sacrificing, only answered prayers and fulfilled lives in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Moja (one)

   In case you didn’t know, I am trekking to Tanzania this summer.  I have wanted to go on this trip for the last year and half and I now have a billion different things that I want to say in one blog post.

    My heart for Africa, specifically the Swahili people, began after my junior year of high school when I went with 410 Bridge. I fell absolutely head over heels in love with the people of Kenya. At UGA, I picked up a minor in African Language and Literature (basically Swahili) and heard about an opportunity to study abroad in Tanzania as well as climb Mount Kilimanjaro. No joke, I was ready to go RIGHT THEN. I told dad and made a deal to pay for half of the trip. I now am happily employed at Chick-fil-A, it is truly my pleasure to work there J. I have saved up, applied and been accepted to the program.

  Two weeks ago, a classmate messaged me and asked if I would be interested in extending my trip by two weeks and hop on over to Kenya. I jumped on that bandwagon as fast as I possibly could. Prayed, asked dad, boom, done.

  Lately, I’ve been finishing paying for my trip, buying my plane ticket, getting vaccinations, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

Prayer requests:

1)   That I may be a light for Christ to the people on my trips and those that I encounter while I am overseas.

2)   For money to pay for the new addition to Kenya

3)   That my vaccination appointment on Friday goes well

4)   For travel from Tanzania to Kenya. I have yet to figure that out.

5)   For school. That I remain focused while preparing for my trip.