From Jerusalem to Babylon

So, last week I was read through some stuff in my Bible and the verse that this blog is titled after popped into my head.  For your reference here's the verse: Jeremiah 29:11 "¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."  As I thought about the verse it occurred to me that there were at least 10 other verse in that chapter... and I had no idea what they had to say!  So I decided to read chapter 29 of Jeremiah.  Since at that point my computer was closer than my Bible I opened it up and went to the handy-dandy site called Biblegateway.com (an AWESOME resource!).  I came to find out that Jeremiah 29 had not 10 other verse but 31!  So I read them.  And as it turns out they had a lot to say about my life as it is right now... funny how that works out!  The 29th chapter of Jeremiah is a letter from the prophet Jeremiah in Jerusalem sent to the Israelites who had been carried into exile in Babylon.  


At this point you may be wondering what this has to do with my life... well I'll tell you.  A huge part of me feels like I'm in Babylon right now.  I'm not where I want to be, where I think I should be, or where I feel like I am supposed to be.  I'm not necessarily talking geographically... although maybe that is part of it.  On October 19th last year (2011) I arrived back in the U.S. after an amazing summer abroad.  Amazing because I was stretched, pruned, and grown and I was using skills that I had spent my college years and a lot of my life acquiring.  I knew I was where I was supposed to be last summer.  But as my time overseas grew to an end I knew that home, back in the U.S., was where I was meant to be.  There were some callings in my life that I knew God wanted me to accomplish.  Some of those things I've completed and some I'm still working on.  But most of those things were/are extra curricular activities so to speak, they don't pay the bills and the don't take up all my time... in fact they leave me A LOT of free time.  So I've spent the past seven months looking for a job that meets my physical, as well as personal needs.  Now don't get me wrong, I'm not starving, homeless, or unclothed but I know that things can't always stay as they are now, I can't always lean on others, I do need to contribute my share and pay off my debt (because the government might not be as lenient or gracious as my family...).  I also know that God has put certain passions in my life and equipped me with certain gifts and skills for a reason, so finding that reason is something I'm striving towards.  Anyways, all that to say that things aren't as I had pictured them.  I feel like I was were I was supposed to be, and now I've been taken from it and can't get back.  So as I was reading the beginning of the chapter I connected a lot with the Israelites.  Even though I'm sure my situation is not nearly as bad as theirs.  Eventually I got to verse 10 "¹⁰ This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place."  SEVENTY YEARS!  Holy smokes!  Ugh... makes my seven months pale in comparison... But the second half of the verse reminded me that God does not ever go back on His word and He will never leave us, He will never leave you, He will never leave me.  My perspective can very easily be WAY off, but that doesn't mean I'm lost.  It was a huge encouragement to see God's faithfulness, and knowing the end of the story I know that the Israelites eventually returned back to Jerusalem.


That doesn't make the 70 years easy though.  I'm sure there were times that they forgot the promise again, and I'm sure there were times when they wondered why they were in this rut, and where God and His plan was then.  I'm sure because I forget the promise, and I'm wondering why I'm in this rut, and I'd love a sneak peek into God's plan and fast forward to my return to Jerusalem, my return to doing something and being somewhere that I knew was what I've been waiting and searching for.  But I left out some stuff in the middle:
^"4 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from     
Jerusalem to Babylon:⁵ “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. ⁶            Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. ⁷ Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” ⁸ Yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. ⁹ They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,” declares the Lord."  
While I'm in the Babylon so to speak, I'm not to not live.  I need to settle in, to live life.  That's not saying that I no longer have the dream, or that I've forgotten that something immensely better is waiting around the corner.  But I can't decrease, I most increase in faith, in skills, in training, in everything.  I've been living the past seven months waiting for my return to Jerusalem and I've neglected in some areas living in Babylon.  I am where I am for a reason and for a season, and I need to be were I've been placed, however long or short that placement is.  And who knows what good may come of it!  I also need to be careful not to listen to the lies being placed in my life.  I need to make sure that the only one I'm following and listening to is God.  The rest of the chapter talks about those aren't where they are supposed to be and others who are deceiving people... Man do I want to steer clear of that!  Both listening to the lies in my life and not being willing to move when I'm told to move.  Mario Pina last summer talked about living under God's grace and blessing or God's mercy.  I pray that I live a life worth of His grace and blessings.   

~Heather 

S.D.G.

P.S.  Please don't take this as mean saying that life is terrible right now and there is nothing good about were I am at, that's not what I'm saying at all.  I'm not talking specifically about any person or place, I'm just talking about the feeling that I could be doing so much more, or that there is something that fulfills passions and desires to their fullest extent.

Back in the Saddle!

So... sorry for kind of falling off the face of the planet... there were/are some technical difficulties with the blog and it all kind of snowballed into I just stopped posting.  Which stinks because I had some REALLY good posts that I was going to post... maybe I'll post them sometime in the future under "lost posts" or something... maybe not... we'll see.  Anyways I'm going to try to get back in the saddle and post more regularly.  Sorry there probably won't be any pictures from far of lands for a while :/  I'll try to keep them interesting though!

P.S.  I just used the word "post" like a billion times in this... post... ugh... if this was a college essay I'd TOTALLY get an F!  (Which if you know me an F could quit easily equal an B+... I HATE B+... I'd almost rather have an F! Seriously...they stink...)

~Heather
S.D.G.

An extra week at camp?

So like I said in my post about the second week of camp I was invited by one of the missionaries at camp, Núbia, to stay an extra week with her at her house. After talking with Lancy and Mário I decided to stay. I really had no idea what we were going to do or how the week was going to look but I thought it would be fun to see life outside of camp for these missionaries. It ended up a week not being filled with anything extreme, but it was filled with fun and new experiences. We started off the week just getting rested after the craziness of the schedule we had had for four weeks during camp. But I found that I didn't like resting so I helped out a little on the construction project next door at the pastors house... I'm not sure I was tons of help but it was fun and a good way to get to know people better! After a day or two of resting Núbia started working again as secretary and I found out that she is a huge help for the other missionaries just by simply watching their kids when they need someone to watch them for some time. A little girl named Sophia spent a lot of time with us and ate with us a few times, she was a lot of fun to have around. She’s a very cute little girl full of energy and opinions! For the longest time she called me “menina” which means “girl” because she couldn’t remember my name, finally after some work Núbia and I got her to say my name. During the week we spent a lot of time at the other missionaries houses eating and spending time together, and it was all REALLY good! We had pizza one night and then another night we used this thingy to make chicken cheese veggie trays (see pics below to see what I mean by the very technical word “thingy”)! Núbia also made this really good lunch that consisted of bread, cheese, ham, corn, and some sort of white sauce… it was really good!!! I should definitely ask her how she made it! In doing all this I had the opportunity to really get to know the missionaries and a few other friends. They all (minus the director) live in a row of pretty little apartments on the side of a cliff overlooking the valley and cities surrounding camp. They are within walking distance of camp and there are a lot of little trails around that lead to beautiful overlooks, grape vineyards and even a different view of the valley which includes the ocean to the west, which means you can have amazing ocean view sunsets within just a few minutes! They have definitely been blessed with their surroundings! Towards the end of the week everyone started asking me when I was coming back and I kept telling them “when God wills it.” And really that’s what this blog is all about, seeing and finding the will of God and sharing what I figure out. But it’s never as easy as one day you hear the voice of God saying “Heather! I want you to…” and then you know what you are to do from there on out. I know that a times it came be as clear as that but I think at least for me He lets me in on His will for certain times in my life, but often it’s just parts of the plan. I think it’s part of growing my faith… something that is definitely not a gift of mine. I like to know that I have at least some sort of control over what’s going on… But I know that with God that’s not what it’s about. The song “I surrender all” is so entitled because it’s about not surrendering some but all. And at times things happen and we don’t know the reason until much later, kind of like college for me. When people find out what I studied in college they always ask the same question “What? What made you study those languages?” My response is always the same “… um… I don’t know… it’s just what happened…” but as I’m sitting here in Portugal I realize that me quickly learning Portuguese my last year in college so that I could graduate wasn’t the only reason I learned Portuguese. It seems all too obvious that, God wanted me here this summer. Yes they needed me here but I also needed to be here. I have learned things about myself, my faith, my struggles, and God’s successes and I am also starting to see a little more clearly where and what God might be calling me to. I have had no sudden and life changing epiphanies, but my will and God’s will are starting to align more and more. And that’s a pretty awesome thing to realize.

~Heather

S.D.G.

Where have you been?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Hey all!!! I’m SO sorry this is the first time I’ve posted over the past few weeks! Things got kinda crazy and I haven’t really had time to sit down and write! Anyways I’m finishing up another post right now and then hopefully I’ll be able to post more in the next few days J The following questions are some titles for my next few posts so they are teasers for what y’all have to look forward to! (p.s. if you haven’t noticed all my blog posts are entitled according to questions I've/ I could’ve received based on the subject matter addressed in the post… just in case these and my other titles make no sense J)

What is E.B.F.? Madrid? I thought you were in Portugal… What do you get when you have around 50 Portuguese women, a bunch of flowers and butterflies EVERYWHERE? Whatcha do your last week in Portugal? How was leaving Portugal? Where in the world is Carmen San Diego? So… since you didn’t come home like planned, how’s it going and whatcha doin’?

Anyways I hope this will suffice until I have more time to post! Can’t wait to see you all soon!

~Heather

S.D.G.

English, Portuguese and Spanish?

This was written while I was still at camp and I'm not sure why I never posted it... Just keep that in mind as you read it and I say "here."

So I got here and almost right away I noticed two girls who were speaking American English with some people who were obviously not native speakers to English. This of course sparked my interest but since I was here with a Portuguese group and all the people I knew spoke Portuguese the girls had no idea that I spoke English and for a while at least I didn’t really get a chance to talk to them. I can’t remember why now but for some reason I was talking to someone in English and the two girls came over and said “we’re sorry… we weren’t trying to eves drop… but we couldn’t help but notice that you were speaking American English!” We got to know each other a little better and I came to find out that their names are Ellen and Abby and they were here this summer (about 5 weeks before camp and then two weeks of camp) to get camp ready for campers and to help with the activities the first week of camp. They don’t speak Portuguese so they were all too thrilled to have someone speaking their English. There were others here who spoke English, but I think I was kind of a taste of home for them. It just so happened that the speaker for the preparation and the first week of campers was an American missionary serving in Porto, Portugal. He speaks Portuguese but once he found out that we spoke American English he got really excited. One day he said to me “it’s just so good to hear English from the States! Sometimes I get really tired of hearing British English all the time!” I really had no idea that it was that important, but it was nice to kind of be a blessing to them. Next I found out that about half the missionaries here are Argentine, there’s one from Chile, one from the Dominican Republic, a few actual Portuguese, a Brazilian, and a French. What was really fun for me was when the native Spanish speakers would switch into Spanish amongst themselves! I realized that I LOVE Spanish!!! For me it was pretty much as good as hearing English J Don’t get me wrong, I am really liking getting to know Portuguese better and have improved leaps and bounds thanks to God’s work hear at camp, but I think since Spanish and Latin America have been part of my life for so long Spanish will always hold a special place in my heart! Up into recently Portuguese was kind of a novelty to me… I was constantly reminded of the fact that I was speaking and understanding a foreign language when I would speak or understand it. It was almost kind of surprising to me that I was able to communicate in Portuguese… which is something that has never happened to me… I have always felt very natural (even if I didn’t sound natural…) speaking foreign languages. Recently though I have started feeling more comfortable and natural speaking Portuguese, which is a testament to what God has been doing in my life here. If I had to choose Spanish or Portuguese I’m still pretty sure it would be Spanish, but I’m not ready to stop speaking Portuguese… in a perfect world I would have both all the time! Who knows, maybe someday God will bless me with that ability!

How was the last week of camp?

This blog was written Sat. 8/13/11, I didn't have time to post it so when I say "this week" or "today" keep the date in mind. I will be posting about this last week soon. Sorry guys!

This week was filled with trials and struggles and, blessings and learning. At the beginning of the week I was SUPER distracted by a few things that had happened over the weekend and in the first day or so of camp. It wasn’t anything that would normally be as large of an issue for me but I think Satan saw an opportunity in my weakness and jumped on it. I was having trouble focusing in quiet times, having trouble paying attention in meetings and during devotions, lost my appetite… for something normally so small I was having a really hard time. It became such a struggle that one night I talked for a very long time with Bruna about it. After asking a few more people to pray for me that night I went to bed still struggling with it. For the rest of the week the power of prayer was evident, as things progressively got better. As I am writing this I am still struggling, and there have been A LOT of prayers of mine asking for focus when I would start battling against it again but it became a manageable struggle. God also blessed me with a lot friends here to help give me wise counsel and keep me focused on Him. After I was able to start focusing on the camp and campers again I realized that there was a difference this week… the campers very quickly became very open with the all the counselors and from day one/two and a lot of us had a lot of counseling on our hands.This week I had the opportunity to work with Lidia, who happens to be Lancy’s partner in crime working with the kids in Miratejo (and I had the wonderful gift of having Mário and Lancy here this week as fellow counselors). Lidia and I turned out to be a really good team and God used her a lot to really pull the counselor out of me. I was kind of sad towards mid-week when I realized that I had finally gotten the hang of this whole counselor-in-another-language thing during my last week as a counselor.But then after thinking about it, it was amazing to see the work that God did through me and in me here at camp. Every Saturday before lunch the campers were given a chance to share with the rest of camp what God had done in their live here at camp. At times counselors or workers would share but I never really felt called to share. This morning was different, I was being called so fiercely that there was no mistaking that I needed to share. Me being who I am, decided that I was not going to share… I was nervous... I kept saying “well… if they say specifically that counselors can share then I’ll share… if someone looks at me specifically and motions for me to go I’ll go… if such and such a person goes I’ll go…” I even, being the hypocrite we all are sometimes, encouraged one of my friends who said, “I’m not brave enough to do that” (after someone else finished sharing) to go and share… which he ended up doing. One by one the things I listed as the “requirements” were fulfilled… the friend I encouraged even encouraged me to go after he sat back down. Finally I stood up and waited for my turn… When it came to my turn and Miguel said “ok Heather” I walked up slowly and with fear but I walked up. I shared about the impact my time at camp had had on me, the things that God used to teach my heart and the work He has start in my life.I shared Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (… well at least I shared the general idea of the verse since I was speaking Portuguese and verses are always hard to translate…), after sharing the verse I shared that even though I didn’t fully relay on God during every minute of my time here, it was only through Him that the things I did do were done. It was only through Him that I was able to share in Portuguese the effect my time here had, it was only through Him that I had built relationships and it was only through Him that I had had energy to continue. I shared that living by faith is never been a gift of mine, but that the time here was about living by faith. Camp has turned out to be a real blessing in my life, from friendships, to Portuguese, to my faith, God has blessed me here. I am sad it has ended but I am super excited that I was invited to stay here with the PV missionaries for another week!I know God will continue to use this extra time here not only here at camp but also in me.

Phil. 4:4-7

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! ⁵ Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. ⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

~Heather

S.D.G.

Me giving my testimony on the last day of the last week

Do you ever do anything fun?

So yesterday, Sunday, was our day off. It’s the only full day in which we have no campers and basically no work. So since the weather was AMAZING they decided to treat us to a special day out at a beach called Coxos (meaning “crippled”) in the near by city of Ribamar. It was A LOT of fun and very beautiful!!! We walked there from camp, about a 30 min walk, and than we had a long time to just hang out and have fun. I personally decided to explore the rocky area with a friend, played volleyball, played a super fun game called cat and mouse (not the same from as the one I played with Lancy), Ninja, Pi-Hey-Hono, took LOTS of photos, helped to served dinner, and then walked back home with the group and watched the sunset (again taking lots of pictures which I will post when I get back to Mário and Lancy’s). Most of the group didn’t walk the entire way back since the few cars that we have here where making runs back and forth to pick us up, but about 6 or 7 of us decided we wanted to walk. It was a really fun walk and I had the opportunity to get to know a few of the workers here better (which was actually one of the biggest reasons I wanted to walk). It was a great day, full of fellowship through laughing, singing, relationship building, games, walking and of course videos and pictures J It made me realize that I am really going to miss the little community we have built here, I am super grateful for the relationships I have been blessed with and the things I have been learning. This is going to be the last week before most people here go home and I am going to cherish every second I have left with each of them.

~Heather

S.D.G.