What I’ve Been Up To Lately

So, typically, I don't like to use my blog to list off my accomplishments and all that jazz. It's just kinda weird. I want my blog to be for stories of what God is doing. And for my heart.

But I think there's merit in letting y'all know where your money is going.
And I guess, in a way, it's all part of my story –  and what God is up to in my life.
So, this isn't a fancy blog. It's just information. Thanks for being a part of my story!

(I'll be sending out a real newsletter soon. Email me your address if you don't already receive these! There may or may not be a Southern Sweet Tea recipe included this time.)

New House

We've been really blessed with a huge influx of new CGA'ers lately. There's a lot of us. And the old house is full with newbies. So, believe it or not, there's another cool story of another family giving away their house. And that's where I live now. There are only 12 of us sharing the house, which may seem like a lot, but to us it's an incredible blessing of getting to have a little more space to ourselves. It's a smaller house, a half mile from the town square, and you can write with chalk on all the walls. Kinda cool, eh?

One of my chalk drawings – just for fun!

Storytelling Initiative

I am part of a phenomenal team of writers and creatives that are working on creating a culture of storytelling at Adventures in Missions. We're refining our writing, photography, and film skill sets while learning how to teach that to our participants. Members of the team speak at all our Training Camps on living a good story and telling a good story. So, why do this? Because we're all part of the grand story – the narrative of redemption – and we want a generation to realize their place in it and do something with it. And we want people back home to know what's going on as well. So we're teaching better blogging skills (not particularly exemplified in this blog, haha), photography skills, etc. I honestly cannot tell you how excited I am to be a part of this group!

I'll be writing a blog soon on the importance of story. Stay tuned!

Marketing

Our crazy Marketing Department back during Christmas.

Like in the Storytelling Initiative, we're telling stories. But we're not just learning about story – we're doing it. I'm on a team of writers being mentored by Jeff Goins, author of Wrecked, on how to be better copy writers – and how to write memior. When you see that World Race or Adventures has an updates blog posted (which happens every day), it may be me! My favorite blogs are when we feature Racers. We get to develop friendships with people on the field and kind of mentor them as we write about them. It's great. I also run the Facebook accounts for Adventures in Missions, World Race, and Passport. I don't like to tell people that, because then they can make fun of me trying to sound cool, but regardless, that's me! And my – oh – my does social media take a lot of time! But on any given day I'm reaching up to 25,000 people so, it's definitely worth it. I also run all the social media for Epoch Awards, which you may not be familiar with, but you should be! I'm also learning about permission marketing, brand management, and all those fancy sounding words.

Also, trying my hand at video. If you didn't see Zi Ping come home, click here.

Project Searchlight

You know the drill – got to welcome home a bunch of World Racers and photograph their journey of re-entry and figuring out life. Definitely one of my favorite parts of being down here. These are the moments that the Race becomes more than an 11 month journey – it's a life change.

One of my pictures of January's Searchlight:

Five-fold Ministry Team

This one's kinda new – I'm part of a team that's spending a lot of time in prayer and brainstorms about how to run our Monday morning staff worship sessions. (Oh, yeah, isn't that cool? We all spend a couple hours on every Monday starting the week off right. I kinda love it.) We're learning about how to balance a structured time with leaving space for the Holy Spirit to do his thing. Any thoughts?

Summer Project Leading

I'm really excited about this one. In the next couple weeks I'll find out which of our short term missions trips I'll be leading this summer. I was accepted as one of our Project Leaders back in November and now we're in the process of scheduling! I should know soon which states and countries I'll be serving in. We're still figuring out details, but are anticipating it being several weeks this summer. All while still working in Marketing. But that's even better – because I can tell stories from the field!

World Race

We have two World Race Training Camp's this summer – one in May and one in July. Serving at these have been my favorite part of working here so far, so I'm absolutely excited. Two more weeks of exciting ways to serve this summer!

Also, I'm praying about leading a World Race squad for 5 months in the near future. Not in July, but maybe in September or January. Will you pray with me?

Longer Term

I'm kind of holding the longer term future with an open hand. (By longer term I mean after the next year.) I see myself serving full time in some capacity with Adventures for quite a while – whether here in Georgia or on the field. Prayerfully consider sticking with me for the long haul. This isn't "some mission trip" or "some season" – this is my life. I'm doing what I love, for the Lord, and with some sacrifices. Will you join me?

Prayer Requests

1. Rest – I'm learning that I absolutely have to start resting if I want to be any good for others and the Lord.
2. Best friends – It sounds silly, but while I am surrounded by a ton of amazing people down here, I miss having that person I could always call or hang out with. I'd really like that 🙂
3. Money – I'm not asking for more, I've just been overwhelmed with bills and how in the world to pay off school, etc. So peace – that would be great. Knowing God will provide!
4. Healing – Some serious stuff's happened since I got home from the Race, and a lot of it's been hard.
5. Wisdom – I've gotta decide if/when I'm squad leading soon!

Thank you!

If you stuck with me this far, I'm impressed.
That probably means you care about me and my story and what God is up to.
And for that, I'm forever grateful.
I literally could not do this without your support.

Lastly, here we go. Just in case you need a Pep Talk 🙂