All about Beginnings, Cows, Day-to-Day, and Engouragement

First day of travel: we were all laughing because
Matt, the guy on the right, had just fallen in the aisle
while trying to get in the picture.

Hi all!

Last I wrote, our team was getting ready to roll out for Greenville, Texas. Since then, we have completed the REFUEL conference in Greenville and a Summit conference in Van Buren, Arkansas. Currently, I am sitting on the bus as we head toward Rocky Mount, North Carolina.

So, Greenville:

This beautiful home is where the 8 of us
stayed. The family was so welcoming
and were calling us their kids by
the 3rd day we were there. It was
sad to leave them!

I hear people say "everything is bigger in Texas" and it's crazy hot all the time. Growing up a Georgian, the heat didn't scare me, but it didn't matter anyway because it was rainy and "cool" most of our time there. It didn't really seem like anything was "bigger" either, except maybe the crickets. There were a lot of those.

Another team member and I got to stay with a woman named Kelli who is the Children's Minister of that church and is actually around my age so we basically felt like we were roomies. It was fun, but it was alos just good for my sou.. We would sit around and chat about whatever: hard things some of her students were going through, hard things from our pasts, silly things...it was just good.

The church members
provide vehicles for us
and we wash them before
giving them back. We only
had 2 water fights...

On the 2nd Sunday of each conference, our speaker usually talks about assurance of salvation. He tells people that some of the team members are in the prayer room if anyone wants to pray with them. I got to speak to two women who were seeking God's work in their marriages and boy, did I feel unqualified (you know, me not being married and all) but I honestly felt God guiding my words, which is pretty incredible. I don't know where their hearts are now but I have hope that they are continually seeking God's will in these hard times and that I was able to give them some encouragement.

Emily and I stayed together in Greenville.
When the team went to Top Golf, we
went and got visors so we could look the part.

Van Buren:
Van Buren was a different experience. Not as many people were coming to services as we had hoped, a lot of technical issues with equipment and a couple situations that led to a sense of discouragement for a lot of us...just a few hard days as the team worked extra hours to iron out the issues. In the end, though, I think God was able to work more through our struggles than through our ease. Maybe we were just so dependent on Him and crying out to Him more that we were easier able to see what He was doing around us. 

After lunch, we sometimes
play Uno Dare. Jared's dare card
made him hold a funny expression
until his next turn. Our guys are
big goofs. I love it.

2nd Sunday in Van Buren, I had the opportunity to pray with a teenage girl who came in the prayer room and said, "I'm lost, I'm broken, I want to be saved. I want Jesus back." It was such a beautiful thing to see her hunger to be made right with God. What made it even more amazing was that her parents and sister had also come to the prayer room and I believe God is doing a mighty work in their lives. I look forward to the changes that they will see as they put renewed trust in God: even if I, myself, never see or hear about those changes, I know God is calling and they are listening.

I did have a "blind moment" in Van Buren that I thought y'all would appreciate. 8 of us were staying together in a safe neighborhood, so we would go on walks most mornings. The first morning, we passed a field of cows and would call out, 'hey cows" to see how many would look our way. Silly, but fun.

Well, the next day we were driving back from church and I saw the cows out my window so I called "hey cows!" Tara, one of the girls staying at the house, started laughing:

"Anna, those aren't cows. They're bears, and they're not alive."

Sure enough, there were cows in a field on the other side of the van and I had just yelled at some lawn ornaments.

I still laugh about it whenever I think of it, and so does one of the boys I teach. He thought it was hilarious when I told him. I'm so glad God has given me joy and laughter in something many would see as a burden.

Teaching is going well. I sincerely love it. It's not all unicorns and rainbows, but I wouldn't expect it to be. Math is hard and reading takes a while and life doesn't go as planned, but God is always faithful and I am growing closer to Him as I see more and more of my need.

So yes, it is good.

A group of us played
Sardines at one of the
churches. Jalen was the
first one to hide and sent
us this pic. We never
found him.

Prayer Requests:
1. For our team as we begin this Summit in Rocky Mount. It's a bigger church so it's going to be all hands on deck. We are going to be worn out by the time it's over, but that doesn't mean we should shy away from the challenge; it just means we will have to rely on God's strength instead of our own. God has called us to it and we will go! Also, pray for us as we get used to how things work. There are 15 "newbies" this year and our way of life can be pretty overwhelming.
2. Pray for the congregation at Englewood Baptist in Rocky Mount. I don't know what their needs are, but I know God is taking us there for a reason. Pray that God will be able to use us -issues and all- to point these people to refreshment in His love, grace, forgiveness and purpose.

I love traveling and just
looking uut the window.
We see lots of strange things
and lots of beautiful lthings.

3. Pray for me. I'm learning to be a morning person. I've been naturally waking up between 5:00 and 6:30 and this is definitely new for me! I'm still figuring out how to manage my time with the extra hours. I'm exercising more and having more time for prayer and devotions, but I often don't plan well and feel like I have wasted time; then I mentally beat myself up about it for the rest of the day. I need wisdom and determination to do as God leads each morning and not get caught up in a list of "works" to feel like I'm loved by Him.

As always, I am so grateful for your prayers and texts and comments and...everything.

Love,
Anna

Things I know...and things I don't

I don't really know what all the colors are in this
photo, but I do know it looks really cool and that
my God is amazing and creative and beautiful.
"The heavens declare the glory of God and the sky
above proclaims His handiwork..." Ps 19:1

Hello All!!
I know it has been more than a month, but last week was our ministry's "Seek Week" in which we all gather for concentrated time seeking God. I figured it would bring about things I would want to share with you, so I decided to wait.

I'm glad I did. :) So here are some things I know, and some I don't.

1. I know that God delights in me. I often don't know why because I give Him plenty of reason not to, but He does and I am abundantly grateful.

2. I don't know what the future holds, but I know He has a good plan.

3. I know that I am in desperate need of learning to pray fervently. On Tuesday, our meeting that was supposed to last from 9:30am to 12:30pm ended up running til 3:00pm with the last three hours simply being prayer and praise through song and more prayer and more praise...I have never experienced such a strong and recognizable outpouring of the Spirit on an entire group of people and it was incredible. God used this time to break down some of my walls and show me how persistently He has been calling me to pray. I don't know what it will be like, but this week taught me that I have been called to have a passion for prayer. I'm working on it, and I know God is even more committed to this than I am.

4. I know God is committed to this because He has been waking me up in the middle of the night or early morning to meet with Him in prayer for the last four years (and probably more.) To my shame, I usually ignored Him. I would turn over or just pray through my list of people not because I was so "spiritual" but because I knew that was the fastest way to make myself go back to sleep. It humbles me to no end to know that He still continued to love me and long for me to spend time with Him (even if it is only for a few moments) for years of me ignoring Him in that way. God is good! And I am learning.

We had Team Competition last
night. We are Blue and we were
up against Silver and Red. We
came in 2nd and it was a blast!

5. I don't know what God wants to do with this crazy group of people, but I know it's going to be awesome. I already have found so much joy in them and I'm actually feeling impatient to get on the road! We leave in ten days for Greenville, Texas and I can't wait! Two of our team are missing from this picture - Caity and Ethan - but I look forward to the time when they will join us: Caity when we get to TX and Ethan in January. We will leave here on Wednesday, Sept 5th and be in TX by the 7th. Set up will be Saturday, and services will start on the 9th. We will be done there the 16th and be in Van Buren, Arkansas on the 21st with services starting the 23rd...and so it will continue until Thanksgiving.

6. I don't know how in the world I thought this pile of logs was a trashcan and then a mailbox, but I did. If you saw my Facebook post, you know I was just as flabbergasted and tickled as you probably are right now.

I went to my desk one day and
found a thank you note from Cameron
and Bradley with this giant deck
of cards. Totally made my day!!

7. I know that I am going to enjoy being the home school teacher quite a lot. In fact, I already do. We've been up to the full schedule of subjects for a couple of weeks now and I like it. A friend of mine gave me a book before I left called Teaching From Rest and it has been a huge help in reminding me the purpose of teaching and the goals I should be looking toward. The boys I teach, Cameron (15) and Bradley (13) are such fun to be around. We've had hard days and sickness and we've had to change our school room location three times, but we always try to start with prayer and end with our good attitudes in tact, me included. These two young men have hearts of gold and they work to make sure they are glorifying God in what they do. That's all I can really ask.

8. I know that stepping in a mud puddle is not always fun and bending down to wipe the mud off your feet is only wise if you have closed the water bottle in the bag on your back.

9. I don't know how many people I have reintroduced myself to in the last few days, but I know it's an embarrassingly large number.

10. I know that I will continue to do embarrassing things my entire life and it's okay. Dan Cathy (CEO of Chick-Fil-A) spoke during one of our sessions this week and he reminded us not to take ourselves too seriously. We all have an inner goofy kid, and we should not be too serious to let it out. So, when we were in service at a nearby church today and the pastor was talking about the upcoming men's "only meat" meal, I didn't even blush when I accidentally blurted (rather loudly), "I want meat!" I just laughed.

just the same bunch of
crazies

11. I don't know where it will come from, but I know God will provide all of the support each team member needs for this year. For me, I know I have to have $850 more before December and I'm positive that God will make it happen. If you have wanted to support me and didn't know how because I kind of dropped the support letter ball this year, then you can just click here and select my name from the drop down menu.

Well, there are more things that I know and even more that I don't, but I will end it here. Thank you for all the prayers and texts and calls sent my way. I love y'all!

It really is a beautiful place to live and I live
on the opposite side of camp from the place
we eat, so I get lots of exercise.
(Those buildings in the distance are not
where we eat, they are at about the halfway
point between where I live and the Lodge.
I had already been walking a few minutes
before I stopped for this picture. LOTS of
exercise. I love it... though I do tend to
eat breakfast in my cabin.)

 Love,
Anna

P. S. Check out some other pictures from the last few weeks!

This is our band. I love them!

One day, I helped pack these bags up for returns. This was one of several days that the people working on team clothing had to do returns. Some days, they had more than 100 bags of stuff to return. 

Leaping with a Limp

The view from a swing at the of "the hill"

Hello All!,

If you have been following Facebook, then you know that I made it to Michigan! Well, not only am I here but I jumped right into work (which is a good thing.) Here's a general schedule for me. 

-Somewhere between 8:00 and 9:00 I wake up and eat breakfast that I keep in my cabin. 

-10:00 I arrive at the home of Jimmy and Lori Herdklotz which is a three minute walk from the house in which I am living. Jimmy and Lori have two boys, Cameron (10th grade) and Bradley (8th grade), and they are two really good kids...guys...people. I've known the Herdklotz family for many years and am so glad I get to work with them. This week, I have been reviewing curriculum resources, familiarizing myself with the family's general way of life and cleaning out last year's school tubs. We start officially doing school on Monday, though the boys have been doing science with Jimmy since before I got here. I'll start them with Math this week and then add on subjects week by week until we actually hit the road where it becomes full steam ahead! 

my work space this week:
tea is a daily must and Lori
has a lot of options on hand!

12:00- Walk down to the Lodge for lunch (it's about half a mile) and then back up to Jimmy and Lori's around 1:00.

1:00-5:00 - finish up any school work not done in the morning and grade things for the day while planning for the next day. 

5:00 - dinner at the Lodge

Rest of the evening free. 

You can tell, I'm suffering really hard here. Ha! 

A few of you may be wondering what "camp" is. Well, if you want lots of detail, you can go to lifeactioncamp.com but the short answer is that the ministry I am traveling with (Life Action) has 175 acres on which they run a family summer camp for 14ish weeks every year. They also do father-son retreats and other weekend events. 

The picture at the top of the page is of the lakefront where most families hang out in the afternoons. I got to go canoeing in the early morning my second day here and it was so incredibly peaceful and lovely. 

Since I am not working camp, but rather serving one of the families preparing to "go on the road", I don't really get involved with all of the camp goings on. My world right now pretty much consists of the Herdklotz home and the people I see coming in and out all day. There are four girls I get to see pretty much all day, every day working for Lori as she is in charge of getting all the team members the clothes they need for services during the coming travel year. 

Me and several girls got to go to DQ and Putt Putt on
Saturday night and it was a blast. (Btw, that Jurassic Chomp
Blizzard is quite tasty: if you like Peanut Butter) 

of course, we had to
do a silly picture.

I get to hang out with the "clothing team" a lot and I am very glad. I know a couple of them from before and the two I have just gotten to know are shaping up to be good friends. Tara (above pic: all the way left) and Trysta (above pic: all the way right) are two girls I get to travel with this year!! God is definitely taking care of me. :)

It hasn't been absolutely miserable being away from home (which is good because that would mean I am bucking against God bringing me back here) but I am missing people a lot. I will think of something that one of you would appreciate and turn around and you aren't there, or I'll hear a cell phone tone that one of you has and think you're nearby....you get the picture. We don't get a ton of reception here, but calls and texts and whatnot are very appreciated. You can also mail me stuff at 

Life Action Blue Team

ATT: Anna Schaffner

P.O. Box 31 

Buchanan, MI 49107

I like stuff. ;)

Some prayer requests going forward:

1. Jimmy is teaching for this week's family camp and their whole family gets involved in this, so things will be extra busy around the Herdklotz house. Please pray for Jimmy as he prepares and speaks and for all of them as they juggle all of their responsibilities. And for the families who will be hearing God's word and being challenged to live out their roles as husbands, wives, and children in a godly way. 

2. All of the new team members are arriving this coming weekend (the 21st) and thus Staff Training for all road team members will officially begin. I came a couple weeks early, so my schedule will be changing once all the meetings and whatnot begin. Please pray that all of the people in charge of planning and scheduling and teaching these new team members will have peace and encouragement. There are a lot of team members and a lot of details that need to be squeezed into 6 weeks of training. 

3. Pray for me, please, as I get all of these subjects started. The Rosetta Stone discs i have are being a booger and won't let me run the program. There's a guy here who has the skillz to help me figure it out, but he's also one of those teachers of team members I mentioned above, so I hate to add another thing to his plate.

Overall, I just want to keep a right mind and teach these two boys well. I want to recognize how I can best help them and help their parents in the process. 

4. As I mentioned, there's a lot of walking that goes on around here and, wouldn't you know it, I twisted my ankle about an hour ago. It's not super bad (just a little swollen and sore) but it kind of puts a damper on walking down to meals. I need to stop looking at my phone while I'm walking. (Yeah, totally wish I could blame this one on the blindness, but no-can-do.)

Thank you all for the encouraging texts, hugs, and videos I've gotten in the past few weeks. Y'all are a big bright spot in my life. :) Keep 'em coming!

Feel free to email me or comment with any questions or comments. :) 

Much love,

Lady-Limps-A-Lot

Ponderings and Preparations

Good morning, all!

I'm sitting here on my bed, enjoying the luxury of a "day off" and just "doing my own thing." It's a lazy morning and I could be reading a book or watching a movie. I could've also slept longer than I did. Somehow, though, whenever I can sleep longer and do whatever I want...well, those are the days that I don't want to go back to sleep and I want to get things done. Whereas, the days that I have planned to be productive and have to get up "early" to be somewhere...those are the days that it feels like pulling teeth to get anything done.

I'm sure there is some kind of psycho-explanation for this, but I think it's basically human nature to be contrary. Ah well, I'll take advantage of my contrariness and spend the next five days "off" actually getting things crossed off my to-do list. Go figure.

One of the "to-dos" I've so expertly been pushing off is to write a support letter. I don't know why I dislike writing support letters. I believe what I am doing is good and for the glory of God, so why should I be reluctant to ask others to support it? If someone doesn't want to give, they can simply say "no", so I have nothing to get worked up about. Right? Right.

In case you have no idea what I am talking about: I have been accepted to travel (again) with Life Action Ministries. This go-round, I will be home schooling two teenage boys. Their parents travel as family revivalist/team pastor/mentors to the team members and so much more. I get to help them out by making sure the boys are on track with school. I will be creating daily schedules and grading all work and doing lesson plans... well, everything a teacher does. I have not filled this role to this extent before and I'm a wee bit nervous/excited. I love teaching and I enjoy learning. It's just all new...

Anywho, Life Action employees are all volunteers, so we have to raise support like any other missionary. Our mission field is the United States and our focus is the church. We travel in a bus, a semi, and various other vehicles from church to church and do conferences. We are invited for either a 4, 8, 11, or 15 day conference and all we single team members stay in host homes of people from the church. The families stay in trailers they park in the church parking lots. While we are there, our team provides music and teaching for all ages (except nursery) and we basically give the church a set apart time to refocus and renew. Our ministry goal is to "ignite movements of authentic Christianity" throughout America.

It is a good ministry and it is very needed. I traveled four years, previously, and God just keeps leading me back. I wasn't expecting to go back and this time seems a little different to me. I don't know for sure, obviously, but this time feels more permanent. I'm not putting words in God's mouth or anything, I just feel...I don't know...more decided? It's hard to put into words.

I am also having a harder time with the thought of leaving home than I seem to recall from before. (Likely due to that sense of permanency I was just stumbling over.) There are so many people here that I just want to be around. I ache at the thought of missing out on the day-to-day of their lives: like seeing my young family members grow and the kids I teach at church and the joy of friendship with my church family and being at home with Mama and Daddy and Will (though he's getting close to graduation) and my bed and consistent shower water pressure and always knowing what the food is going to taste like and...well, there's a lot I'll miss. I've always been one to settle into a routine and be generally content and happy. I hope that this is the case this time, as well. Prayers would be appreciated.

In fact, prayers would be appreciated for all of this. I'm having dreams about forgetting to pack or getting on the road and completely messing up. I don't want to be a worry-wart. I also want to use my time at home wisely and I want to prepare wisely. Please pray that I will do all of these with a grateful and joyful heart: a heart at peace. And pray I won't be a weeny about writing my support letter. :)

Ooooooo, Mama just brought me a smoothie! (I'll miss that, too)

On to the next thing! (Slurp)

'Til next time (when I'll hopefully have pictures to add),
Anna