We got there friday night & had dinner at the church building before going home with our host families. I was a little nervous because I was the only student that wasn't paired with someone else from the school, but I found out on the way up there that there would be a girl named Amy that was interested in coming to SOW next year staying at my house too. So I met Rebecca & her 2 kids Ethan & Jessica at the building & followed them back to the house. It was such a cute farm house complete with little red barn. Rob got us ice cream when he came home from work & I stayed up talking to them awhile & they told me a bit about Amy & her boyfriend Xavier.
Saturday we all met at the church & went sledding. Well, the others went sledding, I sat in the lodge & stayed dry. Haha. Amy & Xavier came with us, & I got to chat with them for awhile about SOW. After sledding we went back to the building for chili, & then the rest of the evening hung out at home with Amy & Xavier.
The meeting on sunday was amazing. God spoke to me so much during the worship time, it was really incredible. Kal did the teaching out of Ephesians 2. After the meeting I went to lunch with Rebecca & Amy & we talked about some of the things God had spoken to us during worship. Sunday night me, Stef, Kate, Becky & Matt led youth group. We got there a couple of hours early to prepare, & ended up just spending time praying for the evening. I really felt God speaking to me to pray over Amy to receive the gift of tongues, which was...odd. I've never felt that before, but I decided to just mention it to her & see how she reacted. I told her she should come to the bathroom with me & when we got in there I said, "So...I'm not sure how you feel about this...but while we were praying I just really felt like I should pray over you to receive the gift of tongues. I'm not sure how you feel about that, but..." Before I could even finish she had started crying & said, "Oh my gosh I want that so much!" So we talked about it a little bit & I prayed for her...& she totally started speaking in tongues, it was awesome. So we went back to the youth room & told the rest of the group & decided to spend the rest of the time just praising God. When the kids got there we asked them what God is to them right now, & it was so cool just hearing what they had to say. Stef split them up into groups, & Becky & I talked with 3 kids that didn't know for sure if they heard God speaking to them or not. I had a word for them out of Job 23 & then we all prayed together. It was just so cool to see how sincere they were.
Monday we had class...Bible Review with Gary, the elder at CLC. We went through Titus & Philemon, & had some really great discussion. Monday night Amy & I went to Stef's house with Kate & Becky, but I was so wiped I fell asleep downstairs while they hung out. Haha.
Tuesday was by far my favorite. We had class with Gary for a bit, but then we went to a Christian school & had a worship time with the 7th-12th grade kids there & had lunch with them after. When we got back to the church, Gary & his wife Amy prayed & prophesied over each one of us. Gary had a word for me about how I'm starting a new life, & how everything from here on out will be a new start, what's past is past, & I need to seriously consider where I live, who I live with, & who I spend my time with. Kal had a word for me about how this new life will be centered around protection & purity. Amy had a word for me relating to how a mirror fell on her foot one time & she got a piece of glass stuck under her skin for awhile. She said that it was really painful for years, but that once they pulled it out she was surprised at how something so small could cause so much pain, & that there is something that keeps getting highlighted in my life that is like that little piece of glass. All of it was just so right on, & gave me alot to think about. That night we had homegroup at Rob & Rebecca's. Rebecca had told me that their homegroup was just really broken. As we (me, Stef, Matt, Kate, Becky) were all praying about how we could just really bless them, God just really spoke to us & guided us in how we should lead the meeting. So Matt started off talking about the sacrifice of praise & how a sacrifice has to actually cost something, which led to Kate & Becky sharing some Psalms about brokenness that God had been speaking to them, how it's okay to be broken in God's presence because He's never going to let us completely fall apart. We just really wanted to do something selfless to bless them, so we spent some time washing everyone's feet & praying & prophesying over people. I've never washed anyone's feet before, so I had no idea what to expect. I figured it would be weird, & that it was just going to be a sacrifice on my part...but God completely surprised me. As I was washing people's feet, God just...SHOWED me things about each person. Their heart for Him, His for them...it was incredibly powerful. We had some worship time after that & you could just FEEL the difference in the room, the healing that was taking place. It was absolutely incredible...we went there to serve them, but you can never outserve God--He totally blessed us in the process. It was just so incredible.
That was my last night there so I stayed up late talking with Amy & Rebecca. I can't believe I haven't even known them a week...so much happened & we got so close that it feels like so much longer. I'm going to miss them!
This feels like such a brief summary of everything that happened, but suffice it to say that it was an incredible trip. I feel like God did so much in such a short time...in all of us, really. It was an amazing trip.
And now I am going to sleep.
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