18

18 days. That is how long I have until we leave. This fact is surprising (how did summer get here so quickly and where is it going?) and exciting. I haven't spent too much time getting excited because I've been so busy with other things. I left school the week before finals to go raft the Grand Canyon for 16 days with my sister and some of her friends

and currently I'm doing my two weeks of active training with my Army National Guard unit. We haven't been doing anything too intense, typically we play concerts in small Kansas towns. We played in Auguast, KS the other night which was fun because we lived in Augusta when I was 3-7. My parents came down and brought many of their old friends to the concert and I got to chat with them after the concert. I remembered about half of them, but it was still fun to get to reconnect. I love small towns and hope that I might get to live in a small southern town when I finally grow up (which, let's be real, may never actually happen).

I'm still a few hundred dollars behind my final support goal, but I'm not worried because I've already seen the Lord do some AMAZING things in regard to support. First and foremost getting support from friends and family of my friends, aka strangers. These sweet people have provided around $500 of my support, as well as sent back sweet notes of encouragement and prayer.

Well, that's all for my brief update. We head to Dallas July 6 for a quick briefing and then fly out July 7!

Humbly, Lovingly, Willingly, Knowingly

I mean, as of today I need $975. The Lord has just been so faithful and I can't even begin the comprehend how much He's blessed me. Yet His blessing covers more this oh-so tangible way.

At church on Maundy Thursday, our pastor talked about some of the different ways Jesus loves us: knowingly, willingly, humbly, lovingly. I wish I had saved the bulletin from this service so I could pair the scripture with the different adjective for his love. The one that stuck the most, however, was the willingly.

Mark 14: 41-43

And he came the third time and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough; the hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand."

And immediately, while he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and scribes and the elders.

While I'm fairly certain this isn't the same passage Bill read, it illustrates well to me the willingness of Jesus to offer himself up. He knew that his pursuers were approaching in the garden; yet instead of fleeing he offered himself up willingly. Even one of his disciples, Simon Peter, lops off the ear of one of those arresting Jesus. Jesus, however, heals the ear and goes willingly with his captors, saying, "Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?" (John 18: 11)

Acts 20:34-35

About three weeks ago I had sent out my 100th support letter. It's been amazing to see the way God has been providing. I wrote the first thank-you letters today since probably two weeks ago. I haven't really been making time for it SLASH I only had one thank you card left and needed to get more. Amazing that the Lord had already blessed me with getting to write 23 thank-yous. Today I reached 30; the best part is seeing the people that God uses to provide. I've gotten support from complete strangers, people I'd met only once, new friends, people I had the pleasure of going on project with last summer, those I worked with last summer, my friends' parents, family friends, family, and on and on. I just love that He's pulling all sorts of strings to provide for this trip.

I was looking on the project website today, and realized that I'm currently a month ahead of support goals! What a big relief and a blessing; just wanted to share that quick update.

Currently there are six states I have yet to send a letter to:

• Delaware
• Kentucky
• Maine
• Mississippi
• Nevada
• South Carolina

I'm thinking if by the time I get back from the Grand Canyon I haven't gotten addresses I'm going to send random people letters.

Acts 20: 34-35 has been my sign-off verse for thank yous, especially for those who have partnered with me in the past; just a reminder of faithfulness and providence.

You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me. In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'

100

I just wrote, addressed, and sealed my 100th support letter.

PTL. Pray that I do not grow weary of addressing these, and, more importantly, that I remain thankful for the opportunity to send letters and to write thank you's as support comes in.

"Raising support is such a privileged place to be."

--Rebecca Burgess

Around the World

Well, I'm currently preparing to go on another summer project. I'm super excited about it, and I thought to make my life easier, I'd copy and past my support letter to kind of explain the whole shindig:

Hope you're doing well; let me give you a quick update on my life: I'm in my fourth year here at KU, studying social welfare and getting a minor in sociology. Next year I'll be doing a practicum doing school social work, which I am excited for as it is my number-one interest in the field of social work. This year I also saw the end of my time as a Marching Jayhawk-at the end of January the torch was past on to next year's drum majors and now I am an alumna. I also have joined KU's club ultimate team-the Betty's-which is challenging, but I love getting to play a competitive sport again. Beyond school, band, and the Betty's, I've also had the wonderful opportunity of being involved in Campus Crusade for Christ (Cru).

Cru is an international, non-denominational organization that meets every week here on campus. In addition to our weekly meeting there are Bible studies and opportunities to learn and grow in a relationship with Jesus as part of a community that is seeking Christ here on campus. One other way that Cru helps foster growth is through Summer Projects.

As you may know, I spent last summer in Juneau, AK on project with Cru. The summer taught me so many things-more than I could put in a letter. I have loved keeping in touch with people I met while there and seeing how things from the summer are so relevant in my ministry here on campus. One of the best fruits of last summer has been getting to apply the things that I learned here at KU. One example has been trusting God and leading in faith: I have had the blessed opportunity to start and lead a Bible study for women in the marching band. I’ll confess I was nervous, but God truly blessed it—we started out as six girls and have since doubled to twelve and are still meeting this semester. It has been so fun getting to know each of these girls and see God work in their lives and use them to work in my life.

After seeing how spending time focused solely on serving others and loving God, without the distraction of school, I am excited to have the opportunity again this summer. This summer I’ll be spending the month of July serving on a mission’s team in Ethiopia! Why Ethiopia? As one of the oldest Christian nations in the world, it is in a prime location to reach its neighboring countries with the good news of Jesus Christ. And being located in Bahir Dar, a university town, we’ll be rubbing shoulders and sharing the Gospel with the future leaders of Ethiopia. The structure of our time spent there will consist of days volunteering and serving in the community and evenings engaging in spiritual conversations.

I’m so excited and thankful for this opportunity; God will truly use us to reach his people in Africa. In order to make this happen, I need a group of ministry partners willing to support me, both prayerfully and financially. While being in Ethiopia will provide opportunities for a lot of growth, another big area of growth is trusting God to provide for me before I even get there. I need to raise $4,550 to cover travel expenses and housing once I get there. To meet this need, I am looking for people to invest $50, $100, or whatever you feel led to give to help impact the lives of people in Ethiopia. It seems overwhelming, but I’m trusting the Lord to provide.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read, think, and pray through this with me. I cannot say thank you enough for being a part of my life and supporting me so much already. I am excited for the opportunity this summer will provide to stretch and grow me, as well as reach God’s people with his good news.

----

Through sending my support letters, however, I have been further realizing God's faithfulness so I wanted to take a moment and praise that in way that I can look back when I'm struggling and all that jazz. Somehow I've come up with the goal of sending a letter to every state in the US. The crazy thing is I definitely don't know someone in every state, so I've asked friends to volunteer people they know in the states I don't have. Basically, I've been sending letters to strangers. But I love getting to do it. I put a hand-written note in each letter to explain why I'm sending them a letter and who I got their information from.

(this was enclosed in the envelope-it's a postcard with the "claim to fame" of the town they live in) Today I got my first "stranger" letter back! It was from the parents of a girl in my Bible study, and it is just so cool. I'm so amazed at the fact that people would take the time to read a letter from a crazy girl in Kansas, let alone respond to it with a sweet note and even some support! I guess it's not as far-fetched because her parents kind of know who I am, but it's still amazing and exciting!

Other than that first letter, it's been amazing to see the people God has used to provide states and even what states have and haven't been provided. I just got some addresses in Hawaii! I just think that's really exciting. Funny thing is that for another obscure state-Alaska-I have many addresses from spending last summer there. It's been so fun to send letters to people from Project I care about and to see the way they respond. I just love it.

A couple girls and I were talking to one of our staff women about a month ago about support raising, and I think I agree with her perspective on it: raising support is a privileged place to be. Why? Because none of this money is coming from anything that we are doing. Especially sending letters to strangers. Plus I love getting to be thankful and write letters. Pretty much a combo of everything I love doing.

States left:

Alabama

Delaware

Iowa

Indiana

Kentucky

Massachusetts

Maine

Mississippi

Nevada

Oregon

Rhode Island

South Carolina

Utah

West Virginia

Holy Moly

Well wow. July just flew by. I don't even know where to begin with what has been happening up here in Juneau. I'll recap July with a few pictures, I guess, and then write a little bit more.

One last Henry's toast before the staff leaves

Our first weekend on our own, we spent the night at the local Methodist Camp with an awesome woman-Lori Messinger. Her and her husband invited us over to jam salmonberries with them and it was so much fun.

We also made a spaghetti dinner for all the guys on project (26). It was so fun to be able to serve them, plus if you know me, you know I love preparing food for people.

We went out to a local Bible camp, Echo Ranch, with a group of local girls and spent the night making s'mores and sleeping in hammocks.

Hope's family came to visit and we got to spend the night in a cabin they rented. While there we all made burn bracelets, by burning a nylon rope together around our wrists. We actually bought enough that anyone on project or who hangs with us a lot has gotten one.

We have finally been getting nice weather!! Most of July it was in the 50s and rainy, but it's been at least partly sunny and in the 60s the past week or so. We got done working on the first nice day and me and Ashley went "swimming" in Auke Lake (jumped in and got out quickly before we got too cold, repeatedly).

Sam met a girl at the beginning of the summer who works for a local zipline tour company. She was such a sweetie and arranged for us to go on a free zip-line tour! Her name is Alex and she's actually from Olathe, KS and went to school in Arkansas, so we were both able to connect with her, and hopefully I'll get to hang with her sometime in October when she comes back to Olathe.

Last Friday we decided to try to climb Mt. McGinnis, the highest of the 5 Juneau mountains. We didn't make it all the way up, but after about 5 1/2 hours of hiking we found a beautiful lookout point and hung out for an hour. Me and a couple others took a nap, and others just chatted. We were blessed with an absolutely beautiful day that was sunny and clear, but not too hot.

That night we went to a local Thai restaurant we've all been yearning for all summer: Chan's Thai Kitchen. While I love Zen Zero, it blew it out of the water. Chan's is an experience in itself: they are only open from 4-8 and there are no reservations. Additionally, food usually takes awhile to get out. That's how you know it's real.

With the end of the summer comes the end of working. Working at the Silverbow was seriously the greatest thing ever. I am so thankful that I got to work the job that I came up having my heart set on. The job itself was great, but the people we got to work with were amazing. It was so cool to watch them all open up, to form special ties and connections with each one, and it's fun to hang out with them. Ashley and I are actually going to hike with some of them today and then going to a fish fry at Earl's house. Earl looks like Santa Claus and has worked at the Bow for about 10 years. He loves shoo fly pie, and I think we've set up a deal where I will send him a pie every month and he'll send me Silverbow treats.

Draga, Erika, Ellen, Alex, Me, Kelly, Chad, Ashley, Earl, Mego, Joe, Robert

The gang at Hot Bite in June.

AND, with the last day of work comes a pie in the face. Silverbow tradition dictates that when you leave the Bow on good terms, you will be pied on your last day.

Since I was first off, I was first pied. But that also meant that I got to conspire to get others.

I'll actually have to write more later about what God has been doing because I'm going to breakfast. BUT, I know that I've had such a good time this summer and cannot wait to get home and share it. I don't know that I will miss the city of Juneau too much, but it's the people of Juneau that have really made this summer what it has been.

Whirlwind

A lot has happened since I last updated. We've definitely been keeping ourselves busy and it's often hard to find down time. I like pictures, so I'm going to use those to recap:

Last weekend (last one in June) was midsummer adventure weekend. Hard to believe that we're already halfway done with the summer. More, than actually. Our weekend was action packed. Friday night we hiked to the Mendenhall Glacier.

April, Stephanie, Kelly, Hope, Abbi, Emily

Jacquelyn, Samantha, Shelby, Ashley, Me by the glacier

me, holding glacial ice

Then the next day a local lady, Debbie Douglass, was kind enough to take us out kayaking. She is one of the most incredible women. She lives an adventure-packed life and gives all her glory to God. It's really incredible. We actually spent that night at her house and got to hear her testimony.

Mendenhall Glacier from the water

Then that night we all got fancied up and went out to a nice dinner.

Our apartment: d-6

Samantha, Ashley, Abbi, me

And to cap it off we ran a 5k at midnight called "Only Fools Run at Midnight." Most people dress ridiculously, so we did too. We also sang songs the whole way to keep our minds off the run and sometimes people joined in.

Kelly, Emily, Sam, Me, Ashley, Hope

Weekends always end with ultimate frisbee on Sunday, which is usually something I look forward to every week.

Women's development last week we focused on our theme for the week: giving up control.

Our verse: Matthew 6:33-34

But seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

We spent some time at this beautiful waterfall and threw rocks representing our sin into it. It's cool to see how nature reflects God and our relationship with Him: we give Him our sin and after a lot of struggle (the rapids) we come out smooth and calm. Often it takes awhile (I'm not sure I'll ever reach the smooth and calm stage), but it's still cool to see that there is a purpose and an end goal: His glory and closer relationship with Him.

action group at the waterfall:

Shelby, me, Hope

Then we gave up more control by jumping into the really cold Auke Lake. Many of us thought we were going to go cliff-jumping (we've heard most of the boys' action groups went already and thought it was finally our turn), so jumping in a cold lake was no big.

Kelly and Abbi

The rest of the week passed and we spent this past weekend volunteering and fellowshipping. Friday we painted a Head Start, and Saturday we laid tarp for a community garden.

James, Samantha, Jonathan, and Richard

Unfortunately, because of the rainy, overcast weather the fireworks on Saturday night were cancelled. Juneau usually does fireworks at midnight of the 3rd because it's too light during the day to appreciate. We planned on going downtown sharing and having a BBQ, but no fireworks=no people downtown. Luckily the church we'd volunteered with on Saturday was having service that night, as well as a get together/bonfire at what they call "Jesus Beach House" (their ministry house). It was a great opportunity to go to a more contemporary church-setting as well as to spend some very chill time getting to talk to some local Christians.

This week brings about lots of change. Staff leaves starting tomorrow, and all will be gone by Thursday. This mean that we are now running project. Every woman has been assigned a leadership role-I'm service leader. Not really sure what that looks like yet, but it should be great. Hard to believe the staff is already leaving AND we have just over four weeks left.

Know what else struck me yesterday as I was scooping cookie dough (one of the many prep tasks at the Silverbow): I'm in Juneau Alaska. You'd think I would've realized that, but I think the past couple weeks I've kind of been in a daze of exhaustion and just being busy all the time. Luckily God's used the past 24 hours-ish to kind of kick my butt into gear and help me realize that we only have a little bit of time left and there's still so much that needs to be done. I know at the rate I'm going I'll probably be upset when I leave, feeling like I didn't try my best to build relationships and pour into those around me; like I'm not as close to my fellow girls as I wish I was; like I didn't fall in love with or grow as close to God as much as I'd hoped.

But, last night in prayer team we talked about praying to God about the little stuff. Yes, it's important to pray big prayers and have faith that God will fulfill them, but it's also important to take note of all the little stuff He does for us every day: waking up, having a job, being in Alaska, having family and friends back home to miss, relationships, etc.

Yet He did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.

--Acts 14:17

I've been doing the Our Daily Bread daily devotional, and it has been really amazing the Scripture that God's been revealing to me. That above passage is one example, and this morning also I got a reminder:

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

Hebrews 11:6

Some things to pray for:

• that God would continue to give me faith and perseverance to seek Him.
• for our new student leaders and the direction of the rest of the project.
• that me and my co-workers would be representing Christ well to our co-workers and for opportunities and boldness to share
• I've been homesick, so comfort in that
• a sense of urgency among all of us on Project to impact people with the time we have left