Exciting News!

Hi friends!  Remember how I said I had a lot to catch you up on from the last few months?  Well, this should basically sum it up:

I'm Going Back to El Salvador!

And now for the backstory.  In the rather abbreviated version, after returning from visiting Marlen in May 2012, I began to feel called to spend more time serving overseas.  That spurred a flurry of research on opportunities for short term service and a slew of applications with several different organizations and programs.  Over the past month or so I have begun to hear back from some of the organizations and have faced some stress as I had a few very different possible opportunities to pursue.  I then spent considerable time in prayer over where I was supposed to go.

Then, about a week ago I began to feel more at peace and officially accepted a position with Christ for the City International in El Salvador.  Although there are still details to be worked out, I am planning on leaving in August to spend a few months then returning in January for several more months.  During that time I will be working with children from the community, teaching them English.

I am beyond excited to be returning to this beautiful place that stole my heart and I cannot wait to see where God will continue to lead me on this journey!

An Update from the Philippines!

Hi friends!  There is so much to catch you up on thanks to my little blogging hiatus there.  I promise to tell you about everything soon.  For now, however, I wanted to let you know what's going on with my little 5-year-old Compassion correspondent, Rhean, from the Philippines.

If you remember, I posted back in November about the record-breaking typhoon that hit the island nation.  My sweet girl and her family live in an area that was in the direct path of the storm.  I (and many others) spent several weeks praying for this family's safety as well as that of the millions of others in the storm's wake.

In mid-late December I got notice from Compassion that Rhean's home was damaged and the family lost some possessions and school supplies.  I was heartbroken for them but also so thankful that the family was safe.  Thanks to a very thoughtful Christmas gift from my brother, I was able to send a financial gift to help them rebuild.  It will likely be another couple of months before I find out what they were able to do with this but I promise to keep you in the loop.

Then, today, I received a letter from Rhean (written by her wonderful mom as usual) updating me on how they're recovering.  She writes that the house was destroyed by coconut trees falling on it.  Hearing this about how the home was damaged makes me even more thankful that none of them were hurt as there could have been serious, even life-threatening, injuries.

On a lighter note, Rhean's mom also shared that she gave birth to a healthy baby boy last July (I knew she was pregnant but never heard about the baby).  She says that Rhean is a good big sister and likes to play with her little brother.  She also said that Rhean was able to get new dresses and hair clips for Christmas at the Compassion project.

The letter ends with a plea to 'always pray that no other typhoon will hit here like Typhoon Haiyan.'  Please join me in praying that this type of disaster will not repeat itself.

And, I really do promise to try to be better about keeping up here.  I've got some exciting stuff going on right now as I try to get my post-college life together and I'll let you know when I get it worked out.