Getting Ready: an end and another beginning

it's a beautiful day!

Mornin' Everybody!

I have been at camp for six weeks.

I have moved four times.

I realized this the other day when I made the fourth and final move to ShowerHouse Cabin 254. And, honestly, I was complaining. Back and forth and up and down and now I'm literally 3/4 of a mile away from all things food. Ugh! Plus, it's been raining a lot.

And then I said to my poor little pitiful self, "you do realize that you just signed up for A YEAR of moving every three weeks or less, right? And all of that in strangers' homes? Buck up!! You have a comfy bed and showers you can turn around in and flushing toilets and by the time you get back to your cabin you have worked off all those extra fries you shouldn't have eaten."

And then I stopped complaining.

Sometimes I forget that I am an adult and I actually chose this lifestyle.

Because it's a good lifestyle: I'm surrounded by wonderful people and good teaching, I have the opportunity to meet hundreds of people and hopefully let them see more of Him through me, I get to hang out with kids all the time (and I'm not just talking about my wacky team) and grow my own faith while hoping to help grow theirs, I get to travel to new places and see a lot of really cool things (people tend to want to show off the area in which they live)...the list could go on. God has put me in this place and I can rest in peace, knowing that I am in His will.

Alright, back to camp:

In all this moving about I also discovered that maybe I am meant to be a cave dweller. We have these triple-decker bunk beds in our cabin and I actually LIKE being in the middle bunk. It's cozy.

I'm not kidding.

Really.

See? Snug as a bug in a rug.

I'm also very proud of how I rigged my little fan to hang from the top bunk.

No judging.

I might truly be sad to leave this cabin: but, then again,maybe not because I won't leave it until we hit the road to Mississippi and I am SO ready to get going.

I got to teach the Greatness of God lesson to all of the other Base Camp teachers this week and I had so much fun, while at the same time wishing I was really in front of a group of kids. Not that the teachers weren't listening;  I actually heard one of them say "cool!" and another go "whoa." Mission accomplished: God is "cool" and He is totally worth a "whoa" or two (trillion). The whole process of preparing for the lesson and then sharing it gave me a renewed hope and joy in teaching that I didn't even realize needed refreshing. But God did, and He is good, so that's that.

Here's what life looks like for me right now: 

~Thursday was the last day of official training sessions. 

~Friday was the beginning of Labor Day Family Camp and all of the team members are helping out at some point throughout the weekend. 

~I had Friday afternnoon and today off (blessings on my soul, I got to read a book!) Sunday and ~Monday I will be in the nursery.

~Monday afternoon is camp clean-up and a free tubing trip around the lake for those who volunteered to help with clean up. (umm-yes!) 

~Tuesday is getting all the loose ends tied up. 

~Wednesday is packing and commissioning ceremony. 

~Thursday, we hit the road!!! 

 ...In these beauties...

The bus seats 26: our team has 33 with the families, so there will be some personal vehicles as well. Our semi has the white cab: we pack everything in that baby- even all our luggage and whatnot.

In all of these things we all need prayer because we. are. exhausted. (I think it's a permanent side effect of camp life.) However, good news - knock on wood - I have gone through the entire six weeks here without getting the nasty cold that was going around. Ta Da! Not really sure how I managed that one, Praise the Lord!

I feel like a broken record - asking for prayer so often - but, really, it's what I (we) need. There's no way to do what we do without the support of the Church through abundant prayers. 

So, please, pray pray and pray some more. Pray for physical strength. Pray for servants hearts. Pray for joy. Pray for forbearance (a team of 27 singles from ages 17 to 37 around each other 24/7). Pray that the rest of the money I owe will come in. ($1,900) Pray for me, that I will learn selflessness and humility. And pray for our nation: these churches who have invited us to come are only a drop in the bucket of all the people in the US and we are in desperate need of a return to God.

Thank y'all again, I'll try to catch up again next week and tell you about our first trip and our first church. 

Love much,

Anna

One Team, One God, One Goal

Life Action Blue Team, 2014-2015

I would like to introduce ya'll to my team. These are the people I will spending most of my time with this coming year and, lemme tell ya, they are pretty much amazing... 

we're just a lil' strange

 ...and somewhat crazy. In the best sense. It seems there's always a picture being taken and most of those times someone will yell "goofy pose!" and then who knows what'll happen. I love it!

We took these pictures at an event they put on for us here at camp called TEAM CHALLENGE. It was Red vs White vs Blue. Jimmy and Lori Herdklotz (our family revivalists) had these shirts made for us to wear to the event. I love them! (plus it made it a lot easier to spot my team members in the crowd!) Competition was fierce. Normally, they encourage all of the teams to think of ourselves as one big team: which is good and true, we have one God and one goal - to glorify God. On this night, though, they encouraged us to be sold out for our traveling teams and I can honestly say that I did feel more unity once we were all working together and rooting for each other. It's pretty amazing what can be accomplished with a bit of encouragement and a good attitude.

well...that happened

I got to participate in a word game that we played on stage. Four of us from the team were chosen and we had to be blindfolded (I was all like "words? blindness? I got this.) So, once our eyes were covered, we were each handed a letter that would be part of a four letter word. Using the clues the Head of Games was calling out, we had to figure out what the word was and then arrange our letters accordingly. Our team was doing SO well and it was a blast...then we got to the last word and the timer buzzed before we could figure out what letter each person had. Just so happened they were already spelling a word: unfortunately it was NOT a word that needed to be spelled, especially in a Christian ministry. There was a sudden hush and then a roar of laughter and boy, were our faces red!!! But it was all in good fun. = )

My favorite thing about the first pictures I put on here is that they were taken AFTER the challenge was over and we had just lost the victory by a .1 second difference in the last game. Our team was disappointed but we were still smiling and still goofing off. I love that.

I promised in my last post that I would tell y'all about our CM trip to Bair lake and the high-ropes course. It was WONDERFUL! The whole purpose of the trip is to build team unity and to learn how to work together. When we are teaching in clubs it is SO important that we are following our head teacher and paying attention to each other's needs. So we get there, and the very first activity we are told to do is find a partner and make sure one of us doesn't mind being blindfolded (this seems to be a theme in my life). I laughed. It ended up that I was in the one group of three because we had an odd number of people. It worked out well and actually made a few of the activities more fun and challenging. Have you ever tried to do a three-legged race with three people? We had to turn it into a four-legged race, which meant the middle person (me) had both legs tied to another person's. We came in last, but everyone cheered us on and we made it work. It was pretty cool having to find a new approach to an old game.

Then came my favorite part of the whole day: the high ropes course. Honestly, I just love getting up there and hanging around like a crazy monkey - and that's exactly what I did. I just zipped from one element to another and tried my best to keep my balance. There were some parts that I simply could not do the correct way (I blame it on the eyesight, but really, I think I'm just clumsy) so I would figure out another way to get across and then move on.

The other CMs kept cheering me on and telling me how amazed they were that I could do all that while having such bad vision. I felt the praise undeserved. My sight is no different up in the air than it is on the ground and, honestly, heights have never bothered me. Even if they did, I can't really see how high up I am so, as far as I'm concerned, I could be 3 feet off the ground instead of 20. There were a few people there, though, who are really and truly afraid of heights but they got up there and did it anyway. One girl took 30 minutes to make a 4 and 1/2 ft leap from one base to another, but SHE DID IT!! That person, i believe, is the one who deserves the praise and applause. She faced and conquered a fear while I - well - I was just having fun.

The Team challenge and the high ropes course are really just two events wrapped up in a lot of training here at the Life Action Family Camp. Most of our days are spent eating and training, eating and training, and eating and training. I've been so tired that I fell asleep sitting up a few times and I can't normally do that. TI's all worth it, though, and needed. Our team hits the road headed to Mississippi on Thursday, September 4 and I am so ready to blow this popsicle stand. Not that I don't love camp- I do - but I want to go and actually do all these things that we've been taking about for the past month.. I know there are some more necessary things we need to do here but I'm getting antsy. As you can tell, I need prayers for patience. = )

I've also been hit by a few heavy waves of homesickness. I've lost count of the times that I just want to go home and wrap my arms around my Daddy...or sit and chat with or go grocery shopping with or just sit and read different books together with my Mama... or argue with or goof off with all my weird siblings... or teach and chat with my Canfieldians...all of these and more.. I definitely need continual prayer for comfort and peace, purpose and passion. I know God has me here and His purpose is being fulfilled in my life: it's just not so easy sometimes. Lord, give me grace.

This week I have to practice teaching one of my lessons in front of all the CMs. EEP! Teaching in front of a bunch of kids is one thing: teaching in front of a bunch of adults while trying to pretend they are kids....yeah, totally different. Happily, I get to teach on the Greatness of God and I'm totally psyched because that is one of my favorite subjects. The lesson centers around God's creation of Space and how BIG He truly is. Then I get to tell the kids about how this HUGE God who is so GREAT thinks about them and cares for them and loves them beyond measure. One of the greatest privileges in the world, right there, folks.

I hope everything is going well with all of y'all, I'd love to hear what's going on in your lives. Thank you all so much for your prayers, and feel free to message me or comment below if I can return the favor.

Much love,
Anna

P.S. I got the shirt!!!!!

the front says BLINDSIGHT
(Courtney Peavy, you are awesome)

Open Heart Surgery

About a year ago (also known as this last Sunday) I endeavored to continue my weekly pattern of writing a blog post. Obviously, that didn't happen.

Can you say busy- while also doing about five hundred other things? 

Actually, when I think about it, the majority of my time has been spent sitting and listening, but in this environment that is a spiritual and emotional workout like no other.

 CM (Children’s Ministry) training took off running last Sunday at the same time as our ministry wide “Seek Week” conference. I think all of the leaders sat down and said, “Let’s see how much truth and goodness these people can handle in one week without exploding.” They came pretty close. There were a couple of days there that I felt like I would burst if I had to think any more. But, of course, God is gracious (and I also may be exaggerating just a tad…a very small tad.)

“So, what did you learn?” you ask.

I answer, (deep breath) “I-need-to-find-my-approval-in-God-and-not-fear-what-man-would-think-of-me-and-i-need-to-work-on-being-thankful-and-I-have-been-ignoring-God-and-He-loves-me-always-anyway-and…’ As you can see, it was a lot so I just want to tell y’all one thing that was pretty stinkin’ huge for me (pardon my French.)

On Thursday morning, after I had already spent several days working through realizations of fear of man and ingratitude and whatnot, I finally hit a point of “I can’t feel any more so I’m just going to sit here and listen placidly.”

I think God must've found that particular plan funny.

So there I am, sitting in service and being pleasant and placid (like a lake) when the pastor throws in a bit of a pebble by telling us that God loves us: plain and simple. Now, this is something I have been very aware of in my life. I have known and seen and felt His love and care for me in every-day life for many years, but sometimes the reminder and implications just dive deep into my soul and cause ripples of joy all throughout. This time, however, the reminder caused a flood and boy-howdy do I mean TEARS!

I can count on one hand the times in my life that I have actually had tears streaming down my face and couldn’t stop them. This time was one of the worst. (side note: every time it happened when there were no tissues or napkins readily available, wha’s wi’ tha’?)

Okay. Pause. Rewind.

 A year or so ago I received an email from Caitlin (my older, also blind sister) in which she asked me to be praying about starting a “blind kids” blog and to join her in continual prayer for God to heal our eyes. She also asked that I share the message with Grayson and Gracie.

I didn’t tell Grayson and Gracie.

And I only sorta kinda tried to pray about the healing. I had hit a wall. Should I pray about something that I don’t really want in the first place? I am content to be blind. I have had so many people tell me that I have encouraged them through how I handle it and my attitude; it’s my ministry. (Notice the plethora of personal pronouns…) Isn’t it kind of a slap in God’s face if I pray for something I don’t really need or want? I mean, He made me this way for a purpose and I should be grateful and I am grateful. I don’t need to be sighted. Besides, how would people act? Would I become a science project? Would people believe me? Who would I be without my blindness; it’s such a big part of my personality. It’s me…

All of these arguments and excuses were running through my mind and the thing is: I never asked God what He wanted or what He thought about it. I never gave it to Him. It was mine! mine! mine! and I didn’t want to give it up. So, when the speaker told us God loved us and asked us to think about what areas of our life we were holding back from Him- who loves us beyond all reason…

I sat there and couldn’t think of anything.

My mind was blank.

 I was praying with a friend and I told God exactly that. Then I honestly, truly asked Him to show me what areas of my life I was keeping from Him. (Warning: don’t ask that if you don’t really mean it!)

While I was sitting there thinking about it, the speaker then said that he was going to pass some mics around and he wanted just a few people to pray aloud what was in their hearts.

My own heart started pounding like a runaway horse.

I stood up.

And suddenly that same pounding heart was rolling down my face and out of my lips for all to see- even me. I confessed my unwillingness to give my eyesight to God. I remembered that He gave me this vision for His glory and not my own. He can give me a new ministry any time for that same glory. He loves me and His love is a perfect love, therefore I can know that whatever He gives me will be good - just as the sight He gave me is good for the here and now: for this time.

Then, with a free heart and a joy in knowing that I was obeying Him with my words, I asked God to restore my sight.

I really cannot describe to you all that happened in my heart in that moment and since.

Am I suddenly discontent with my current visual state due to zeal in praying to be healed? No!

Am I absolutely certain that this is what God wants me to give Him and to pray for daily? Yes!

Am I absolutely certain that He will eventually give me 20/20 vision on this earth? No. But that is not the point. He wanted me to give it to Him - to surrender every part of me, the good and the bad, because…

He.

Loves.

Me.

And that, y’all, is beyond wonderful.

Well, that’s my week. After standing up and baring my heart in front of so many I felt a bit…exposed…and, honestly, I feel like that a bit now, too. I wanted to tell y’all, though, because I know that this is not something that God wants me to keep to myself. Part of my obedience in this is sharing it with others and I think that’s why He had me stand and pray before everyone. So, now I’m asking you to pray. Pray with me and pray for me.

And thank y’all again for all the prayers I know have been sent up for me: I truly believe that God has heard them and I have felt them.

This week we will be continuing with staff training but the conference is over. I just hope that all I learned will grow roots in my heart and I will not allow busyness to distract me from all that needs to be processed.

I am so glad you spent the time to read today! Tune in next week to find out what happens when you mix a (currently) blind kid with a high ropes course.

I am SO excited!