I started getting a cold Wednesday night. Usually I'd be okay with it, but I was asked to lead out in worship Friday night for the ACA Amen program we were putting on after the usual vespers program.
I got a list of songs together and asked people to play with me.
I picked us to sing:
My Redeemer Lives
Famous One
Mighty to Save
From the Inside Out
How Great is Our God
Nothing But the Blood
I was really excited because I had only done praise songs for camp or week of worship here. But this, this was a big deal. Every year, ACA puts this program on and tons of people from the UAP come. I was prepared, but not for what was going to happen.
Friday came. The choir, the drama, our praise band, we practiced ALL afternoon. I was exhausted and drained from this cold and not getting enough sleep, but I took a short nap after dinner. We had planned to meet again at 9pm to run quickly through some trouble spots before the service started. Imani and Sabrina were the only ones who showed up early, so while Chris and his band were going through their song, we went in the back and was working on some stuff, then we heard a lot of ruckus outside. We opened the door and people were there. No PEOPLE WERE THERE. It was only 9:30pm! The choir wasn't there, I had no idea where my piano player was, I immediately started to calmly freak out. Imani told me I looked stressed so I went to the back room and prayed.
I won't go into great detail, but I'll say this. The beginning was rough. I mean ROUGH. I had no idea if we were going to make it through the first song. But slowly as the night went on, I could just feel a calm in the room and I knew HE was there. I wasn't nervous, actually the whole time I felt calm. I knew the Holy Spirit was in my heart. It was an awesome experience. I lost my voice, hopefully that comes back for our choir tour tomorrow, but God just continues to prove Himself to me as I'm here in Argentina. There's never a doubt in my mind that HE is God.
I am so thankful to be able to come together and worship in another language. I have grown so close to God while being down here. There have been some rough spots while being down here, but those just led me closer to the God who created me.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
the Final Countdown
I have 12 days left until I leave Argentina. I'm beginning to realize how much of an impact this country and these people have had on my life.
I'm really going to miss this place.
:(
I'm really going to miss this place.
:(
Friday, April 22, 2011
breathe
Spontaneous vespers will always be awesome.
Elisa and I were talking at lunch today about what we were gonna do tonight. She threw out the idea of having our own vespers. So I went around telling people.
i went on with my day and decided I was going to say a little something. So I got some songs together, threw a powerpoint together and went to the gazebo.
I just played a couple songs waiting for everyone to show up then we started. I could just feel God's presence there. I spoke on Rob Bell's Nooma called Breathe. It talks about how his name, YHVH (Hebrew) or LORD (English), is essentially unpronounceable because the vowels are breaths. Y-H-V-H.
A baby's first cry is really that child screaming the name of God. And when you take your last dying breath, it's because you can no longer say the name of God. I wanted proof that God was alive and He gave it to me. Every breath I take is God giving me proof that He is alive.
We sang some more and then went on a singing spree of OLD school songs we grew up singing in Cradle Roll and Primary before hitting the Pathfinder songs.
I am going to miss having these people around to spend my Friday nights with, but I just thank Jesus for the blessing we all received.
Elisa and I were talking at lunch today about what we were gonna do tonight. She threw out the idea of having our own vespers. So I went around telling people.
i went on with my day and decided I was going to say a little something. So I got some songs together, threw a powerpoint together and went to the gazebo.
I just played a couple songs waiting for everyone to show up then we started. I could just feel God's presence there. I spoke on Rob Bell's Nooma called Breathe. It talks about how his name, YHVH (Hebrew) or LORD (English), is essentially unpronounceable because the vowels are breaths. Y-H-V-H.
A baby's first cry is really that child screaming the name of God. And when you take your last dying breath, it's because you can no longer say the name of God. I wanted proof that God was alive and He gave it to me. Every breath I take is God giving me proof that He is alive.
We sang some more and then went on a singing spree of OLD school songs we grew up singing in Cradle Roll and Primary before hitting the Pathfinder songs.
I am going to miss having these people around to spend my Friday nights with, but I just thank Jesus for the blessing we all received.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Another sneak peek!
Another addition to this project I'm working on. Thanks to the girls who got glammed up on this freezing cold night. I had a lot of fun, but don't worry there's still more to come!
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Food Poisoning and a Lesson from God
Early Tuesday morning, I woke up with the most intense pain in my stomach. It felt like someone was trying to rip open my stomach. I curled into the fetal position for a few minutes then decided that wasn't working, so I put all my energy into getting off the top of the bunk bed, stumbled in the dark to put my flip flops on, find my toilet paper and put my glasses on before I made it to the bathroom, just in time.
I won't go into detail for fear of grossing everyone who reads this blog. I would rather not have to revisit it either. After spending all of Tuesday crawled in a ball, in and out of sleep, I was able to stay awake for a couple hours late in the night to try and figure out what I had. Food poisoning from the cafeteria. I'm actually surprised that I haven't had it more often or earlier. Let's just say that things aren't necessarily run how they would back in the States. Now apparently, I am no stranger to this as on my way to Argentina had some lovely spinach and cheese Chicago style pizza in the O'Hare Airport, only to spend the better part of my time in the Miami Airport puking up everything I had eaten and what felt like my liver and gallbladder as well. Luckily, I was able to pass out on whole 8-10 hour plane ride here to Argentina. Tuesday, I wasn't so lucky.
Rose had come to see how I was doing. We decided that maybe some white rice, bland bread and some juice would do my stomach some good. Boy, was I wrong.
I spent the next day, Wednesday, just chillin in my room, doing homework and being productive. It was a strange feeling. I wasn't really up to spending hours in class, didn't really want to be around people because I was grumpy since I hadn't eaten anything since Monday night and I still wasn't feeling 100%. I find myself blessed, because this week is midterms. I ended up not having class on Tuesday because my teacher was sick, but I did miss two classes yesterday. But what can you do when you're sick?
I still feel a little sick every time I eat, but I can't go without eating anymore. I went WAY too long and felt like I was dying.
On to better news: I leave Argentina in one month and two days. It's quite surreal how everything is just moving so quickly. Just yesterday it was 2010. Since being here I have given up my desire to plan my life out and give it to God. Because I've done that things have actually worked out for me quite well. I'm excited to go back to Southern where I have an awesome semester planned out for me school wise and job wise. I can't wait to get back into the flow of things and see where God leads. He's opened so many doors for me to create a network for hopefully some job opportunities in the future. I took back my summer day camp job. Something I had ingrained in my head that I wasn't going to do, but really I'm not ready PR wise to have an internship. So I'm going to work during the day and take classes at night to ensure that I can graduate college in 3 semesters.
God has so many things planned for me, I just know it. I hate to admit it, but it seems that I doubt His capabilities too often. This is where I am so wrong in my thinking. I should just automatically know because I am a child of His that He has a plan for me and in the end it'll all work out to my advantage and His plan for my life. Every time, I question His abilities, He throws something awesome into my life.
Sorry, that I've been somewhat absent for the past month. But I just wanted to thank all of you who have been on this journey with me since the beginning. Your prayers, thoughts and support has carried all the way over here and I feel them. I really do. I am so blessed to have you all in my life and I can't wait until we can be reunited again.
With much love,
Lauren
I won't go into detail for fear of grossing everyone who reads this blog. I would rather not have to revisit it either. After spending all of Tuesday crawled in a ball, in and out of sleep, I was able to stay awake for a couple hours late in the night to try and figure out what I had. Food poisoning from the cafeteria. I'm actually surprised that I haven't had it more often or earlier. Let's just say that things aren't necessarily run how they would back in the States. Now apparently, I am no stranger to this as on my way to Argentina had some lovely spinach and cheese Chicago style pizza in the O'Hare Airport, only to spend the better part of my time in the Miami Airport puking up everything I had eaten and what felt like my liver and gallbladder as well. Luckily, I was able to pass out on whole 8-10 hour plane ride here to Argentina. Tuesday, I wasn't so lucky.
Rose had come to see how I was doing. We decided that maybe some white rice, bland bread and some juice would do my stomach some good. Boy, was I wrong.
I spent the next day, Wednesday, just chillin in my room, doing homework and being productive. It was a strange feeling. I wasn't really up to spending hours in class, didn't really want to be around people because I was grumpy since I hadn't eaten anything since Monday night and I still wasn't feeling 100%. I find myself blessed, because this week is midterms. I ended up not having class on Tuesday because my teacher was sick, but I did miss two classes yesterday. But what can you do when you're sick?
I still feel a little sick every time I eat, but I can't go without eating anymore. I went WAY too long and felt like I was dying.
On to better news: I leave Argentina in one month and two days. It's quite surreal how everything is just moving so quickly. Just yesterday it was 2010. Since being here I have given up my desire to plan my life out and give it to God. Because I've done that things have actually worked out for me quite well. I'm excited to go back to Southern where I have an awesome semester planned out for me school wise and job wise. I can't wait to get back into the flow of things and see where God leads. He's opened so many doors for me to create a network for hopefully some job opportunities in the future. I took back my summer day camp job. Something I had ingrained in my head that I wasn't going to do, but really I'm not ready PR wise to have an internship. So I'm going to work during the day and take classes at night to ensure that I can graduate college in 3 semesters.
God has so many things planned for me, I just know it. I hate to admit it, but it seems that I doubt His capabilities too often. This is where I am so wrong in my thinking. I should just automatically know because I am a child of His that He has a plan for me and in the end it'll all work out to my advantage and His plan for my life. Every time, I question His abilities, He throws something awesome into my life.
Sorry, that I've been somewhat absent for the past month. But I just wanted to thank all of you who have been on this journey with me since the beginning. Your prayers, thoughts and support has carried all the way over here and I feel them. I really do. I am so blessed to have you all in my life and I can't wait until we can be reunited again.
With much love,
Lauren
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