One week down, ten(?) to go. I am absolutely loving my time in Skopje! After a full week in ministry, I can firmly say it is nothing like what I expected. Remember when I said I was going to be working in a coffee shop? There hasn’t been a coffee cup in sight (besides the copious amounts that my teammates drink each day). Instead, I am serving in a community center where they offer formal and informal English lessons. Since it is the beginning of the semester there has been a lot of downtime as we rebuild the base of students who come to the center. This has offered us a very exciting...

I think this is technically the end of week two. Per my usual, I’m not entirely sure what day it is, what time it is, or generally what’s going on. I genuinely thought it was Tuesday when I woke up this morning…it’s Friday. Seriously though, how am I supposed to put a mountain of experiences into a couple of paragraphs? How much do y’all want to know? I could tell you how I love the tuffs of grass that poke through the pavement on the way to my favorite cafes. I could tell you how the call to prayer wakes me up everyday at 4:30am. I could tell you how my accountability...

The feeling of being homesick is something that almost all humans can at least relate with a little bit. It’s that kind of achey feeling in the middle of your chest that (for me) almost causes some tears but then other times it’s just a feeling of pure “meh.” If you haven’t at least experienced a similar feeling there may be a problem….or you may be dead? (Just kidding; sometimes I try to make jokes and they aren’t funny so bear with me). Y’all. Being away from home and from loved ones is hard; and I’m not going to even pretend that...

Wow, where do I start? I have been gone for almost two weeks now. My adventure began in the early morning “light” of 5 am September 1st. My family groggily waved me goodbye as my dad and I headed towards downtown Dallas and the first of many airports on my trip to Skopje. Once we got there, my dad was allowed to come through security with me (thank you nice ticket lady!) and we had breakfast together one last time (chick-fil-a chicken minis, what else?). My dad was also able to get hold of my brother William all the way in China, so I got a nice proper goodbye from him too. Finally,...

Bold. The literal definition according to the dictionary is “showing an ability to take risks; confident and courageous.” But what does it mean to be spiritually bold?  Before leaving for this trip I would have told you that spiritual boldness means stepping out of your comfort zone, and duh I could totally do that. Jesus is my strength, am I right? Well yes, of course, I would never say that He wasn’t; but what I will question is my ability to trust that I have the authority to step out in boldness because of what HE has given me.  Until we got to Skopje,...

So should I start with the bucket showers? Or meeting my new BFFs? Training camp… what an experience. I feel like God did nothing but just drop knowledge bomb after knowledge bomb on me and left me speechless. Just keeping it real here, I don’t even know where to start. I had the pleasure of meeting 4 of the 6 other girls on our team at the airport. Coming into contact with all of them for the first time was like eating Chick-fil-A for the first time in a week – a rushing feeling of contentment and joy (no, I’m not exaggerating that). It definitely helped that we...