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.
:(
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
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
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Oh Lord, How Excellent
On the fly Imani, our choir director, was asked if we, the ACA choir, would sing for Sabbath School.
The notice didn't really get to everyone, so we had a quick run through on Friday, hoping that the guys would show up.
Early Sabbath morning came and it was just us girls again. We got up on stage to run through it and it was just crap to be honest. The key wasn't right, we were tuning with each other, everything was just off. Imani asked me right before if I would sing a solo. I didn't really want to, but I agreed to it anyways. As soon as we were finishing up, a couple more guys came.
Sabbath school started with a praise team. During that whole time, I was just praying that God would be with us as we sing and help me out. We all gathered backstage and Imani prayed that the angels would sing with us and remove the nervousness from within. A lot of us had a lot of doubts about how this would turn out.
I got up there and started singing with the mic, but I hadn't turned it on. Thankfully, I had a practice verse. But then I figured out you have to turn the ON button on. Haha. After that, I could just feel someone singing with me. It was an amazing experience because usually when I get up to sing, which is quite often, I am always nervous. No matter how many times I rehearsed the song, now matter if I know it by heart, basically no matter what my hands are always shaking and what not.
So here's the video below. It doesn't do our performance justice, but just know that the angels really WERE singing with us this morning.
The notice didn't really get to everyone, so we had a quick run through on Friday, hoping that the guys would show up.
Early Sabbath morning came and it was just us girls again. We got up on stage to run through it and it was just crap to be honest. The key wasn't right, we were tuning with each other, everything was just off. Imani asked me right before if I would sing a solo. I didn't really want to, but I agreed to it anyways. As soon as we were finishing up, a couple more guys came.
Sabbath school started with a praise team. During that whole time, I was just praying that God would be with us as we sing and help me out. We all gathered backstage and Imani prayed that the angels would sing with us and remove the nervousness from within. A lot of us had a lot of doubts about how this would turn out.
I got up there and started singing with the mic, but I hadn't turned it on. Thankfully, I had a practice verse. But then I figured out you have to turn the ON button on. Haha. After that, I could just feel someone singing with me. It was an amazing experience because usually when I get up to sing, which is quite often, I am always nervous. No matter how many times I rehearsed the song, now matter if I know it by heart, basically no matter what my hands are always shaking and what not.
So here's the video below. It doesn't do our performance justice, but just know that the angels really WERE singing with us this morning.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Week of Worship
Week of Worship happened two weeks before we left for Brasil. I ended up planning most of it. It was stressful, but one of the most rewarding things that have happened to me since being here in Argentina.
I was one of the speakers one of the nights. Chris, our SA vice president, had asked me awhile ago to speak and I was flattered, but I had no idea what I was going to talk about. I started praying about it. Two weeks before the actual week, when we started buckling down to plan it, God spoke to me through my favorite movie, Extreme Days.
I knew exactly what I was going to talk about. It was a humbling experience getting up in front of my peers and teachers, opening up about one of the darkest times in my life. I was nervous before I spoke, but Paul prayed for Lisa (the other speaker that night) and I and my nerves were calmed. The second I got up there, I was so comfortable. I knew God was speaking through me.
This week was so awesome, I can't even fully describe it to you guys. God was definitely there every night. We had this poster Sabrina had made that said HE IS 'cause that was our theme. Every night, we would have a time where people could put down a word or a phrase of who they thought God is. It was so powerful at the end of the week to go through and read what people had written down.
Since week of worship, I've seen a change in people. They're reading their Bibles and going to church, actively seeking God. I pray that this will continue to happen and the fire will continue to burn long after we leave Argentina. The stories the other speakers shared were inspirational to know that God is continually working in our lives. I'm going to try and upload all the different videos so if you guys are interested you can watch them.
I hope you are blessed by my message. It's about 17 minutes long. So let it load, make a hot drink, curl up and God bless!
I was one of the speakers one of the nights. Chris, our SA vice president, had asked me awhile ago to speak and I was flattered, but I had no idea what I was going to talk about. I started praying about it. Two weeks before the actual week, when we started buckling down to plan it, God spoke to me through my favorite movie, Extreme Days.
I knew exactly what I was going to talk about. It was a humbling experience getting up in front of my peers and teachers, opening up about one of the darkest times in my life. I was nervous before I spoke, but Paul prayed for Lisa (the other speaker that night) and I and my nerves were calmed. The second I got up there, I was so comfortable. I knew God was speaking through me.
This week was so awesome, I can't even fully describe it to you guys. God was definitely there every night. We had this poster Sabrina had made that said HE IS 'cause that was our theme. Every night, we would have a time where people could put down a word or a phrase of who they thought God is. It was so powerful at the end of the week to go through and read what people had written down.
Since week of worship, I've seen a change in people. They're reading their Bibles and going to church, actively seeking God. I pray that this will continue to happen and the fire will continue to burn long after we leave Argentina. The stories the other speakers shared were inspirational to know that God is continually working in our lives. I'm going to try and upload all the different videos so if you guys are interested you can watch them.
I hope you are blessed by my message. It's about 17 minutes long. So let it load, make a hot drink, curl up and God bless!
Untitled from Lauren Brooks on Vimeo.
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