hmm...xanga...what's this again?:)

hello all:)

so, i got on to post on a friend's page and decided...what they hey? why not post a new blog myself.:) anyway...not a whole lot to say, but i guess i can update xangaland on summer plans.

i leave on Monday, June 4th for Mexico!:) Yay...pretty stoked about that. Got an email today from the pastor of the church I'm working with there in Monterrey and he mentioned plans for my ministry there that we'd talk about as soon as I arrive. Wow, I almost can't believe I get to go. Pretty much a dream come true for a Spanish major and for a missionary and I am both....God is good, faithful, and fun.:) Among many other wonderful things.:) I'll be living with the pastor's mom...a single older lady...she's already referring to me as her daughter and I already feel I have a home there. And my ministry, as far as I understand will be in developing relationships with the 12-15 year old population in the church and surrounding community, discipling believers, and prayerfully growing Jericho Baptist's ministry to this highly influential group of students. It will be a VERY relational ministry and all the counsel I've received thus far is along the same lines of, "Be who you are, love the Lord, love these kids, and let them see the real you".....I've realized my life is the biggest testimony I will share with these kids and I so want them to see God and my love for Him when they see me....nothing else.

So please be praying for me this summer, for Jericho Baptist in Monterrey, for this group of kids, for God to receive all the glory and praise and for His Kingdom to expand this summer in Mexico. I'll be back on August 7th! See you then!

Dios te bendiga!

Maria

long time no write...

hey all...

so, im home once again on Christmas break...praise the Lord...this fall was my longest semester yet...but He was good as always and i met my required GPA (and a little) and made it through...spring begins my senior year, yeahh!

i bumped into my minister of muisc at barnes and noble yesterday and we got talking about seminaries again and he threw out MidAmerica in Memphis...i've been checking it out online all morning and getting excited...anyone want to make a trip to Memphis w/ me to check it out??=) it looks great and almost unfathomably inexpensive...i hope the sum i'm looking at isnt way off...they offer a Master of Missiology and the courses, tho difficult, look like fun to me...even if it does mean 3 more years of school, at least it'd be fun classes. and they have a really tough accountability program lined up, you basically are required to witness to someone twice a week and report on these encounters in order to graduate. wow....awesome. talk about seizing opportunities...it's totally possible to share the Gospel more than twice a week, we just don't have anyone holding us accountable to do that.

soooo...they have a preview day set for March 23, i think...im taking offers for company to go visit...=) or, maybe if we get crazy we could make a run over the break. let me know! really!

anyway...my church's youth on mission team has helped me get together a ministry project of bringing Christmas to one of my families in the apartment complex where i worked this summer....im way excited....the team bought and wrapped loads of gifts and we have decorations for their apartment as well...i think we'll be going over today if i can get in touch w/ everyone involved. pray for this family...it is a young grandma and grandpa, both unable to work due to health issues who will be legally adopting their 6 year old grandson in January. they both profess Christ, but I'm concerned about where they truly stand. i pray our love and involvement in their lives will cause them to really come to grips w/ their individual relationships w/ the Lord.

miss and love you, friends. have a blessed Christmas and take advantage of this wonderful time of rest to grow closer to Him. lets hold each other accountable to the lives we should be living for His glory. love~mia

rain rain go away

come again on a no class day

ahhhh! i need somebody to speak spanish too...anybody feel like running off to mexico for the rest of the semester?? wow, i wish we had a fall break somethin awful...stinky state schools...

on a happier note, got my mid-term spanish paper wrapped up in only a couple hours. have a lovely rainy day....tell me, how is your walk with God going? seriously? mine? been a bit too neglected...time for some Qt now...thoughts?

<3 mia

sipping on my LORD

so, taylor gave a little message tonight at 906 that was so very much what i needed to hear. coming into this semester i anticipated just a great year of ministry and growing and new challenges and memories to be made. and while i still anticipate all that, my spirits have been low and my joy has been lacking already, only a few weeks in. why? because my heart is so distracted with all the wrong things. a verse scrolls across my computer screen 24/7 that tells me the LORD is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. i stand in worship and joyfully sing, "its all about you, for your glory and your fame" and countless other songs i love that speak of my devotion and passion for His glory. yet to look at my days and the time i spend with Him and plugged into His spirit's power source, how empty my words of worship seem. while i proclaim loud and clear with my words that He is my sufficiency and my portion, my joy and all i need, my actions show otherwise. how is that i can go through an entire day on one brief time of devotion with Him, one brief time of prayer?

its time for me to plug back into my source, to truly live to demonstrate that He is my strength and my portion forever, that He is my sufficiency, my joy, and my reason for living. how much more abundantly would i be living this blessed life if i was "continually sipping on God" all throughout my day and allowing Him to play an active part in all i do and say? as opposed to "binging on God" and drawing water from Him only in the specified breaks which are too often few and far between already.

please, brothers and sisters in the LORD, hold me accountable, ask me if i've given Him my all each day, challenge me to give Him more, and remind me that its all about Him. i need your accountability in this. thanks, taylor, for following Him, and saying what needed to be said.

God bless, i love y'all...

home sweet jones

so good to be back at tech...i've missed the friends here and wesley so much. as i'd hoped God's been good to have brought some super freshmen onto campus and im having a great time getting to know a few in particular. i hope to meet a bunch more once FROGs gets kicked off this week.

so, we (the Blue Bishops) definitely won Frogappollooza last Tuesday and it was super exciting. i think its my first win at anything at wesley and even more exciting since Evan Hubbard got to win it his senior year...super FROG leader, that fella.

im trying to settle back into the school routine yet maintain the focus of the summer. i had such super experiences with ministry this summer that i hope and pray i have the discipline to continue to pour into here in different capacities. im very excited about meeting all the freshmen and the possibility of working with the LFB youth with some ministry projects and who knows what else. God is good, and i just anticpate Him moving in such a wondrous way this year.

im so challenged, however, to truly live my faith this year. not that i havent been before, i am just feeling the pressure and urgency moreso now that im getting older and gaining more of a leadership role, whether assumed or not. i dont want to feel like a hypocrite when i announce that my faith, my Jesus is my life. if thats so, many things that define my life now would have to change...even the simple things of how i spend the free moments of my day. i hope and pray that i'll allow the Spirit to move in me and transform my life so that i can more closely mirror the Savior i love and desire to serve. so, hold me accountable, friends, call me out when im sliding, and remind me that its not about me, but about the God who saved me and gave His life for me.

one last thing, be in prayer please for Jered. most of you know my older brother, and know that he's headed to DC for the fall with an internship. he's got lots and lots of reading to do as part of his work and i know he's concerned about performing well. pray for his travel safety as he heads that way this thursday and just keep him in mind throughout the fall that he can shine bright as a leader and a believer in that city and to those he's working with. i'll be missing him this fall...its already sad to not see him around campus and playing such a strong leadership role at wesley. but, God's got other roads for him to be traveling now, and i know he's excited. keep him in prayer...thanks

love you all so much, im praying for you and covet your prayers for me. ~mia