Never Feel Inadaquate

April 15 from a devotional book that I have been reading from A.J. Russell.

Obey my commands. They are steps in the ladder that leads to success. Above all, keep calm, unmoved.

Go back into silence to recover this calm when it is lost even for one moment. You accomplish more by this than by all activities of a long day. At all cost keep calm; you can help nobody when you are agitated. I, your Lord, see not as man sees.

Never feel inadequate for any task. All work here is accomplished by My Spirit, and that can flow through the most humble and lowly. It simply needs an unblocked channel. Rid yourself of self and all is well.

Pray about all, but concentrate on a few things until those are accomplished. I am watching over you. Strength for your daily, hourly task is provided. Yours is the fault the sin, if it is unclaimed, and you fail for lack of it.

In the last week I have gone back and read this time and time again, because it is an encouragement to push through the work load I am carrying this quarter. Recently, I have feel overwhelmed with the amount of reading and studying that I haven't been getting much sleep and pushing myself to limit of 'my' ability. It was one morning I came to a friend, pushed just beyond my limit and asked for prayer. She prayed for me, but before doing that she admonished me to put spending time with God first and to get some sleep. I was doing every thing in my power and the Lord had been trying to get my attention to rely on Him. This is a on going struggle for me to think that I can do it all.

Today was a beautiful day. I went to bed early last night and woke up energized. I spent some time with the Lord and went for a run to the park and looked over the water as the sun shone down on it. I haven't felt this good in months. Church was awesome and the sun is shining bright. I love days like these.

I pray that I fall more and more in love with Jesus and that he can take hold of my heart like never before. I definitely need that admonishment to keep calm and rest in Him, in more ways than one. I am so thankful that He is faithful and is my stability when my world is upside down, I am carrying a heavy load, or get distracted, as I easily do.

Some totally awesome and random things...

Check it out... my team and I are in the Kitsap Sun!

http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2010/feb/19/groups-prepares-for-mission-work-in-sierra-leone/

Plus!! I just received a call from the Pastor at Calvary Chapel Silverdale (the church my parents go to) and said that I can give a give a presentation there to raise some support! God has been so good to me! I am so excited to see how he is going to provide!

Last Friday I went to a friends house for an International Food Party! So awesome that it deserves a title in caps. A bunch of us gathered at Ambirs house for a mixture of foods from around the globe. I brought Chinese Dumplings, fried green beans, rice, and lychee jellies. There was also beef adobo (which was AMAZING), some Filipino shrimp stuff, and tons of other good food. It was a great time to get to know some new people and eat. Who doesn't love that?













A couple weeks ago, I went to Chris Jantzi's going away concert at the Global Bean and it was outstanding. I had heard a few of his songs online, but no acoustic versions and let me tell you... I was impressed. I can't wait for him to redo his album to get a copy. Go Chris, you rock star!














I am reading two books that I am pretty excited about. The first is one that you want to just recommend to everyone because of the great information it holds. It's title is Boundaries by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend. The other is Banker to the Poor by Muhammed Yunus. The later is by the founder of Grameen Bank that founded micro-enterprise loans. I cannot believe my trip is coming up so soon and I hope to have it finished at least once before then. I hope it will help me see ways in which I can make a real difference in the world's poorest country.

























I love the schooling program I am in at GO on the mission. It is so fun, I am learning so much, and creating great relationships. For Valentines Day all of the girls got up early and cooked for the guys. We decorated the training center and served omelets, pancakes, bacon, orange juice, and coffee. We had so much fun. I took some pictures with my camera and used the self timer to get a few of the group.

The test shots were just as much fun as the finished product. :)



























And finally...























Everyone laugh!
















Lol, Chelsea. I love you. I am sure there will be more where this came from when we get back from Africa.



I love living at the Depoe's house. I came home this afternoon and took a nice long nap because I wasn't feeling so good this afternoon then after dinner Becca came and hung out with me in my room. It was so great to spend time with her and we watched a show on the Disney channel called the Color of Friendship. She browsed some of my pictures while I took some pictures to put some things on ebay to raise some money for Africa. Then we watched Planet Earth for a bit. I love that show. I love the cinematography and the great information. I admire the patience of it's producers to provide a quality program. I am so thankful for family and friends.

Random Blog #24876319

Jen is happy to be sitting at home about to read a book and just ate some really yummy jiao zi. Said jioa zi (Chinese dumplings or potstickers) were found frozen pretty cheap at Grocery Outlet. I was amazed at how cheap every thing was there and they had some really good stuff.

That is all.

The end.

Ok... maybe not.

SO excited that Africa is coming up so soon.

Ok.. now the end.

Fin.

Super powers are good for something... :)

Things are coming up pretty soon for my trip to Africa. I can't believe it is getting so close! Where has the time gone?? I got my flight plan on Tuesday and realized that my flight leaves out on March 25th which got me thinking of when I need to put in my last days notice to the dealership. That makes me kinda sad. :( It seemed a bit of a rough start learning everything, but I have really enjoyed learning something new and making new friends. Yet, still excited about the new chapter in my life.

It seems there are a lot of things going on. I got a call from my beloved Leslie from Chicago today. :) It was so good talking to her and it was a good encouraging call. Happy Birthday, Leslie! Selena's birthday is coming up, as well and I am planning on making her a cake. :) I am so excited, now just when to get it to her is the question. Keala is ALSO having her birthday party this weekend.. so Rock and Bowl here I come! It will be just like I am in H.S. again. Fun!

Last weekend was full of great fun things as well. We had our big Pasta Night fundraiser that went quite well. It was great to all work together for a common purpose and watch each other run around like our heads are cut off in the crazy madness. A lot of people said they enjoyed it and that from their perspective things seemed well put together. God bless them. :)

I also went to a friends Graduation Party and had a blast. We played pool, and apparently I did well, according to Daniel, and had a great time. We played his game with papers that turned out pretty funny. We watched the guys wrestle, played a little wii, and charades. That was the best, and the longest game of charades I think I've ever played. After a while the guys made the phrases for the girls and girls for the guys.. that turned out pretty interesting. Just before bed I got to chat with Emily for a bit and that was nice. :)

With as little sleep as I got the night before yesterday.. I had quite a nice day. School was really good and I am looking forward my my new Bible study in John and Mark. :) I got to spend some time sharing and praying with the girls and enjoyed that, too. Work was nice and then went home to have a great conversation with Kristen. As you can tell.. I like good conversations with good friends. :) Especially the one I had today with Kaitlyn.. I love her. :)

With that I will sign out after a long ramble. Hope you all have a super fantastic day tomorrow!

Jen

The super powers are good for something,,,

Cleaned, studied, went to James’ birthday party, got some Chinese yard-long bean and squash at the Asian store, went to dinner with Olga and family/friends at a delicious Thai place, and prepared my lesson tomorrow on Nehemiah with fun object lesson.

Also.. took a beautiful drive on Beach Dr. on the way to James' party at Manchester State Park. I forgot how gorgeous it was down there.

Had a cup of tea. Yum. Clipped coupons and chatted with Mom.. what else? I am sure there are others, but that is all for now. :)

And with that I leave you with this thought...

Chopsticks are wonderful.
Night.

Random ramblings and such....

Soo.. I just got a new job working at the place I used to work before I went to China. I took a receptionist "hawk" job at West Hills Honda. I work with an absolutely fabulous girl (and if you are reading this - yes you are fabulous) and I asked her if she facebooked (as if that is some new kinda word) and she said yes, but blogged more. So that reminded me of my somewhat neglected blog and it inspired me to ramble on here for a bit (hense the name - p.s. I am loving parenthesis right now. Anyways...

I am super blessed with an awesome job.. just what I was looking for and I am taking Northwest University classes through a program here in Silverdale that I am enjoying. It is through a different church so I get to see what others in the body of Christ are upto these days and stretch myself a little. :O) I am also SUPER excited that I am going to Africa through Children of the Nations. Which will be happening in the Spring for three months, Lord willing. I will be doing some fund raising for that soon as I am taking it on faith right now that as the Lord has moved me to where I am, He will provide.

ALSO... I am having another bought of missing China. I am taking Chinese lessons twice a week to keep practice up and although still a little hard on myself I would say that it is going pretty well. :) I looove my Chinese teacher. Love.

Ummm... Let's see, oh. yeah. My last post was leaving for Europe and that went sooo fantastic. Most people I've already talked to and gave them the run down and a lot of pics are posted on facebook. I had such a fantastic time. Everywhere I went the Lord provided everything I needed and met so many people and miss the girls from Venice. *Miss you guys* They are actually from Texas, but I met them on the way to Venice and we spent a glorious day in Murano and Venice.

So yeah.. I really should be studying or sleeping now as I have to work at 9am and have TONS of reading to do that I am behind in and we are going to the fair tomorrow!!! :) Eeeee! Can't wait. But I laid down for a little nap today that turned into 3 hours so, yeah, good luck with that Jen.

Fin

Leaving on a jet plane...

Plane tickets...

> > 26 JUN 09 - FRIDAY
> > FL: UNITED 989 COACH CLASS
> > LV: SEATTLE WASHINGTON 430P
> CONFIRMED
> > AR: CHICAGO/OHARE ILLINOIS 1019P NONSTOP
> > MILEAGE: 1721 FLIGHT TIME: 3:49
> > EQUIP:AIRBUS A320 JET MEAL AT COST-MOVIE
> > SEAT:26C
> > AIRLINE LOCATOR: UA -VGGNKW
> >
> > 29 JUN 09 - MONDAY
> > FLIGHT ARRIVES AT DESTINATION 30 JUN
> > FL: UNITED 9258 COACH CLASS OPERATED BY:DEUTSCHE
> > LUFTHANSA
> > LV: CHICAGO/OHARE ILLINOIS 415P
> CONFIRMED
> > AR: DUSSELDORF GERMANY 730A NONSTOP
> > MILEAGE: 4230 FLIGHT TIME: 8:15
> > EQUIP:AIRBUS A340-300 JET MEAL-SNACK
> > SEAT:32D
> > AIRLINE LOCATOR: UA -VGGNKW
> >
> > 26 JUL 09 - SUNDAY
> > FL: UNITED 9259 COACH CLASS OPERATED BY:DEUTSCHE
> > LUFTHANSA
> > LV: DUSSELDORF GERMANY 1135A
> CONFIRMED
> > AR: CHICAGO/OHARE ILLINOIS 145P NONSTOP
> > MILEAGE: 4230 FLIGHT TIME: 9:10
> > EQUIP:AIRBUS A340-300 JET MEAL-SNACK
> > SEAT:25D
> > AIRLINE LOCATOR: UA -VGGNKW
> >
> > 26 JUL 09 - SUNDAY
> > FL: UNITED 575 COACH CLASS
> > LV: CHICAGO/OHARE ILLINOIS 341P
> CONFIRMED
> > AR: SEATTLE WASHINGTON 610P NONSTOP
> > MILEAGE: 1721 FLIGHT TIME: 4:29
> > EQUIP:752 MEAL AT COST-MOVIE
> > SEAT:20C


and...

Train Tickets.

>[08:33 AM-03:18 PM] 7/18/09, train 175
>Hamburg Hbf to Praha Holesovice,

>[08:30 AM-01:02 PM] 7/20/09, train 73
>Praha Holesovice to Wien Suedbahnhof,

>[08:40 PM-08:21 AM] 7/20/09, train 237
>Wien Westbahnhof to Venezia Mestre, Couchette T6

>[11:30 PM-06:56 AM] 7/21/09, train 771
>Venezia S Lucia to Roma Tiburtina, Couchette T4

>[08:30 AM-10:09 AM] 7/24/09, train 9430
>Roma Termini to Firenze S M N, Seat

>[07:09 AM-09:29 AM] 7/25/09, train 9424
>Firenze S M N to Milano Centrale, Seat

>[11:20 AM-03:32 PM] 7/25/09, train 52
>Milano Centrale to Basel Sbb, Seat

>[10:07 PM-06:13 AM] 7/25/09, train 40478
>Basel Sbb to Duesseldorf Hbf, Reclining Seat

I'll do my best to be safe and have a good time. I will be making posts for everyone to see. Wish I could take you all along with me! :)