When times get tough, I remember this.

A few months ago, as the spring semester of my sophomore year was coming to an end, God gave me a vision I hope to never forget, especially in these next few years of my life. At the time this vision occurred, I had been talking to a few different guys. I know this probably wasn't the best idea, but it seemed fun at the time. I was seriously considering making things more concrete with one or two of them...another bad idea of mine. Anyways, one night when I was almost asleep, God have me a vision that shifted my way of thinking:

I saw hills of black, barren dirt everywhere. For as far as I could see, there was nothing but lifeless, dart dirt. Buried under this land were bodies of the dead. I saw a figure pulling part of a man's arm out of the ground, the rest of his body still covered by dirt. I heard God say to me, "This is what you're dealing with. And if this is what you want, go ahead. I'm not going to stop you. But I have something so much better for you."

Whenever I feel frustrated or discouraged about my circumstances, I remember that vision. I'm done wasting my time and energy on spiritually dead and lifeless guys. God's best is out there somewhere, and I will wait for him.

In the meantime, I will continue to fall madly in love with the God of this universe! He amazes me more and more every day! :)

Some examples of why my calves have hurt all summer!

These past couple weekends have been consumed with some very fun activities. With the summer sadly coming to an end, we're all trying to fit a ton of plans into a short amount of time.

Last weekend we went to the sand dunes. It was probably the coolest thing I've ever seen in my life. I experienced miles and miles of sand surrounded by a forest on one side and mountains on the other. I don't know how God comes up with these landscapes, but it was such a beautiful sight to see, and I had a blast climbing up the dunes all day.

Alyssa, Rachel, Me, Jill

Ben :)

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This weekend we climbed the incline, a mile of stairs straight up the back of Pike's Peak. It was definitely challenging, but very rewarding. My calves hurt really bad, but it is a great reminder of all the calories I burned that day. :)

The Incline

On the way down from the incline with Darren

Romans 13:9

The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet," and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, "Love your neighbor as yourself."

- Romans 13:9

Last week, I had the wonderful privilege of hearing Shane Claiborne speak. He is the author of Irresistible Revolution and one of the founders of his community The Simple Way. Shane is a radical Christian and totally unashamed of his faith. His words during the short time I got to listen to him completely changed the way I think and inspired me to live out my faith in a more radical way.

One of the verses he quoted was Romans 13:9, "Love your neighbor as yourself". Most of us have heard this verse multiple times during the course of our lives. It is one of the most famous verses in the Bible, and the secular world has even adopted this philosophy with the golden rule, "Do to others as you would want them to do to you". I, like you, had heard this idea a million times before, but it never clicked like it did when Shane spoke of it.

"Love your neighbor as yourself..." This verse isn't just talking about a feeling. It isn't saying to simply be civil towards everyone and to not stay angry for too long. This verse is talking about a genuine concern and passion for others and a lifestyle that demonstrates that concern. How can we love our neighbor as ourselves if we do nothing to show them that love.

God calls us to take care of one another. 1 John 3:17 says, "If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion - how can God's love be in that person?" It's hard for me to fathom the reality of that verse. I have been blessed in so many ways, yet there have been so many times I have not shared those blessings with others. It's overwhelming as I sit here and think of all the times I kept God's love and care to myself, simply because I didn't want to be inconvenienced. The Bible never once says we were chosen as God's children to live an inconvenienced life full of comfort and prosperity.

We have been called to something so much bigger than just enjoying the comforts of this overrated lifestyle we call the American dream. Who am I to judge the situations of others and how they got there? Personally, I have to stop judging and start doing. There are so many individuals in need around me whether they're miles away or halfway across the globe. I have been blessed to be a blessing to others, and that's exactly what I'm going to start doing.

Baseball Hot dogs

I usually hate hot dogs and do everything possible to avoid eating them, but I do make one exception...baseball games! I don't know how much baseball would mean to me without the hot dog. It definitely makes the whole experience way better, and it's exactly what I associate baseball with. For example, as soon as someone says the word "baseball", I think of the words "hot dog". I'm pretty sure my mom has something to do with that. Growing up, every time we'd go to a Rangers game, my mom always talked about her favorite part being all of the food my dad would go get her. So, now my favorite part of any baseball game is the food...I was just trained that way! :)

On Friday night I got to experience this baseball hot dog for the first time all year! All of us went up to Denver to watch the Rockies play. I can't remember who they were playing, and to be honest I don't think I ever knew, but I had such a fun time eating delicious baseball food (and by delicious I mean disgusting food you would never eat in any other situation) and talking to my favorite people!

Sage...one of the coolest girls on the planet!

Some of my favorite people right after the Rockies won!!!

The Most Adventurous Weekend of My Life!!!

Last weekend was so interesting. For some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to jump off cliffs and climb ridiculously high mountains during the 2 days I had off. I don't know what came over me when I was planning my life that weekend, but it was definitely a weekend to remember.

Saturday was cliff jumping day. We all headed out to the place where we could hike to the cliffs and begin jumping to what seemed like our death at the time. After a 2 hour car ride and a 15 minute hike, we arrived at our destination. Much to my surprise, the water we were supposed to jump into wasn't a large area at all. As if jumping off cliffs wasn't bad enough, I now had to worry about landing in the exact spot where the water would be deep enough to not injure me! So much fun. After about 20 minutes of watching almost everyone else jump, I decided to join them. Honestly, the thing I was most upset about wasn't the fact that I was going to be jumping over 35 feet into a small area of water, it was that I was going to have to get my hair wet! Seriously, that's exactly what I was thinking about right before I jumped.

When I landed in the water, I was shocked by how cold it was and found it surprisingly hard to breath. I quickly swam to the edge and was congratulated by my friends who were watching nearby. It was a fun experience, but I'm not sure that I'd do it again...not anytime soon at least. Below are some pictures of my experience.

Alyssa and Annie...notice one's in a hoodie and one's in a bathing suit.

Becky...she's so precious!

After this experience was over...some of us headed out to our intern coordinator's house. Ela and her husband, Josh, live on the side of a mountain, an hour and a half away from Colorado Springs. We stayed the night there because the mountain we would be climbing the next day (Mt. Shavano) was closer to them. Mt. Shavano is one of the 14ers in Colorado. A 14er is a mountain above 14,000 feet elevation. They're some of the most challenging mountains to climb, not only because there is more to hike, but also because there isn't much oxygen towards the top of the mountain.

The whole night, I was thinking, "Why am I even here?" The reality of what I had signed up for finally hit me...I was going to be climbing up this crazy tall mountain all day. Needless to say, I didn't sleep very well that night. We woke up the next morning at 3AM to head to out and arrived at 5:30 to begin our trek up. My hiking partner (Sage) and I had made a decision to take our time hiking and try our best to enjoy the day. This was a little challenging for me, mainly because I was wearing hideous man pants and I still hadn't fixed my hair from the day before when the snow water ruined it! We were on this terrible mountain for almost 10 hours! I wasn't motivated enough to make it to the top of the mountain, but we did make it above the tree line. The view from the mountain was absolutely beautiful! I've never seen something like it before. Although hiking up the mountain was one of the longest and hardest experiences of my life, it felt like such an accomplishment once I was done. I'm glad I joined everyone on this hike, but I can honestly say I will probably never attempt to climb up a 14er again!

At the beginning of our hike...yes, it's still dark outside!

Me and Sage during one of our many breaks!

Me and my stick...I had this the entire time! I'm so cool...

Just above the treeline...the view was so amazing!

An Inspiring Day

I've been here for a little over 3 weeks now. Compassion International is an incredible place to work. Each day I spend here, I'm inspired more. It's not a rare occurrence to randomly start crying during my workday because of the magnitude of what we're doing here.

I feel like yesterday especially was an inspiring day. We had the amazing opportunity to hear 2 influential world changers speak. First, we (the interns) had a meeting with Wess Stafford, the CEO of Compassion International. As he shared his testimony and his heart for children in poverty, he had nearly every girl in the room in tears. His passion for what he does is amazing, and anyone who encounters him can see the joy he has from God. His book, Too Small To Ignore, tells a lot of what he shared with us. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it.

That afternoon, we heard from Gary Haugen, the CEO of IJM (International Justice Mission). IJM is an organization commited to eliminating injustice around the world. Some of the things he spoke of were so hard to believe. He told of widows getting their land taken away from them, leaving them without any means of providing for their children; orphans living on the streets, getting beaten and bullied by government officials...the very people who were appointed to protect them; girls who were promised a job in a nearby town, only to discover that they were being sold into the world of sex trafficing; and young boys who were forced into slavery, having to work 12-14 hours a day, 7 days a week. I found myself getting furious about these terrible acts of crime, and as I sat there I continued to cry for the better part of his talk. I cried for the child on the streets with nowhere to turn, for the widow who has to sit there and watch as her children suffer from hunger, for the girls who unknowingly get trapped in a world of rape and abuse, and for the children who worked harder and longer than any adult ever has to work in the United States.

These things shouldn't be happening, especially to people so undeserving of it. Thankfully, all of the stories he told had a happy ending. The lawyers at IJM were able to convict the criminals and free the victims from their terrible situations. It is organizations like IJM and Compassion that are changing the world daily, but there is still so much to be done.

Being here has so clearly confirmed God's calling on my life. My passion for relieving children from terrible situations and showing them the hope and love of Jesus Christ grows stronger every day. I now know that God has placed me here to see a glimpse of what the rest of my life is going to look like. There is no way I could sit back and do nothing. The world needs change, and I will be a part of creating that change.

Pools and Porches

I had yesterday off, so I decided to go to the pool with the family I'm staying with up here (Tom and Emily Davis and their 5 wonderful children). I don't know if this will come as a shock to any of you, but there aren't very many pools in Colorado. Fortunately though, the Davis's have a membership to one of the country clubs in the area. This place is amazing...there's a spa, workout room, lounge, restaurant, and my fave...the pool! Did I mention there's pool-side service??? Well there definitely is! :) So, although I'm not the super dark girl that I usually am during the summer, I'm doing a pretty good job at staying fairly bronze!

After spending a very relaxing evening at home last night with the kids, I met the interns at Rachel D's house (and when I say "house", I really mean the place she's staying for the summer). Some of the girls, myself included, stayed over for a campout in the back yard. Basically, we just put our sleeping bags outside on the stone porch and tried to sleep on rocks. Jarah (pronounced like Sarah but with a J) and I only made it half way through the night before escaping to the couches inside. It was definitely a fun and memorable night! :)

Me, Jenna, Rachel D, and Jarah

This is my blog...

As requested by my mom, I decided to make this blog. I recently moved to Colorado for the summer, because of an internship I got with Compassion International. Compassion International is a Christian organization who works to relieve children in poverty around the world. It's an incredible opportunity for me, being that since I was 8 years old, I've wanted to work at a missions organization. It's so amazing knowing that the calling God has put on my life is finally starting to be fulfilled. Hopefully this blog will be a great way to keep anyone who is interested updated about my wonderful summer. :) Ok, here we go...

I arrived here 2 weeks ago with my mom. After spending the weekend getting to know the area, it was time to start the internship. The first day was a "get to know eachother" day. All of the interns went up to Pike's Peak to climb the mountain. As many of you can already guess, I didn't make it too far before wanting to turn back. And that's exactly what I did! After 5 minutes of climbing up the side of Pike's Peak, Jill (one of the interns) and I went back to the parking lot and sat in my car for over 2 hours waiting for everyone else to return. What did we do during those 2 long hours??? Well, we did a LOT of talking, and since this was the first day we had ever met eachother, we talked a lot about the basic first-day subjects..."Where do you go to school?", "What do you want to do with your life?", "What do you do for fun?", "How many brothers/sisters do you have?"...basic stuff like that. This only lasted for an hour before we both fell asleep, only to wake when . Needless to say, this was a popular topic of discussion for the next few days.

The days to follow were filled with orientation, tours, and luncheons, as we all quickly got to know eachother, our supervisors, and some of the other Compassion staff. My mom left that Tuesday...I had to bring my make-up to work so I could cover up the streaks that were left on my face after saying bye to her. I thankfully recovered fairly quickly, due to the fact that I honestly was way too busy to think about being left in Colorado Springs all by myself for the entire summer.

After a week of orientation and activities, we had a volunteer day at Springs Rescue Mission. This is an amazing place for homeless men who are addicted to alcohol and/or drugs to come. Here, they are given a place to stay and put through a series of programs. We went through and sorted about 2 van fulls of clothes for them, and then attended a ceremony for some of the graduates of the program. It was such a special experience to be able to hear some of the men's stories and to see how far they have come.

The summer so far has been so awesome!!! I'll be updating this thing more soon!