Be a finisher!

Since IT Project, life has continued and while some things have stopped, other things have started. Yes, blogging does fall in the stopping category. But hey, something I realized and not on my own (thanks Chels), is that you should always be a finisher. Because I want to finish what I've once started, here I am...

SO, here's a brief run-down of my life in no specific order:

1) Started my junior year!

2) RA-ing still at Holcombe w/ the best staff!

3) I drive a Honda Accord!

3a) His name is Jedediah.

3b)Yes, you can think that's lame if you want...

4) I am part of Chelsea's Bible study and am far blessed with the girls that I get to grow, love, be encouraged and challenged to grow in my walk with God!

5) Getting discipled by Marisa and getting to know the Foltz family has been amazing!

7) I am simply blessed beyond imaginable and a lot of the times i don't even realize it! Ridiculous, right? i think so.

8) I get to go home to Bolivia for Christmas!

9) I'm on a facebook break right now! who does that?!? seriously.... well, me and Hope. :)

10) why are most lists in 10's? WHY?!? Makes it so much harder to think of stuff. Maybe my life is just not that interesting at the moment. Yes, probably so...

For that reason, and that reason alone

THE END

hmmmm....

July 1st. New month, new day. YES!

Perspectives class is almost over. We have our last one on Monday. Although I've been learning a lot, I am also ready for the coming weeks where we will be applying what we've learned in the past two weeks as we encounter people and visit mosques and temples.

This past week I've really been enjoying the various speakers that we've had. They've all been really challenging and have brought different things to the table. The one that has stood out to me the most has been Mike Brown. He taught the lesson on Christian Community Development. His ministry is with Tribe Church here in Hollywood. He talked about building community in Mexico and what that looked like. It was just amazing to hear him share stories and so many other things that he said just reminded me of Bolivia. Half way through I began to get a little homesick but thankfully I made it through!

One of the challenging questions he asked was: "What is the greatest enemy of Christian Community Development?" His answer: dependency. Bolivians rely so much on outsiders to survive in the same way that Mexicans have been taught to become dependent on Americans. It's crazy to think that people will go on short term missions to Mexico year after year helping orphanages by providing food/clothing for a week or two and in between squeezing in a spiritual talk about Jesus, but will hardly consider going long term and actually living with these people so that language, customs, culture and traditions are learned. All we do is feed them with false knowledge that they are not good enough to sustain themselves and we begin to see them as ministry project rather than people created in the image of God, because we want a quick fix it solution to the problems we see. What we have to do instead is look at the underlying issue which is their need for Christ!

"When thousands are striking at the leaves of evil, only ONE strikes at the root." -Henry Thoreau

I pray that we will be striking at the root every time and rather than teaching them dependency on Americans or another country, we need to teach them dependency in Christ alone!

In much the same way, I catch myself becoming dependent on my family, friends, and even myself for my own strength rather than seeking God first and depending solely on Him for His provision, guidance, and love towards me. I am learning, growing, and stretching in my faith like none before and though it's tough, God is reminding me that it's for my own good.

Anyways, enough thoughts for one blog....AND it's past midnight!

Au Revoir,

Roxy

One week

Well, this week has been crazy, but it's been a crazy fun week! We've done a week of perspectives and we all realize how much work we have to do daily. Although it's a lot of reading, it helps that everybody else is doing it too.

On Tuesday we started the Perspectives Class which is everyday Mon-Fri from 9-12! Later that evening we also got the opportunity to meet with our small groups. Most of them are Education related majors which is really cool. All of them go to NSUOK (Northeastern State University in Oklahoma), except for Taylor who went to JBU (John Brown University), which is in AR. I'm really excited to get to know them and meet with them weekly and build great relationships for the rest of the summer. This picture below was taken at Venice Beach on Sunday afternoon!

From Back Left to Right: Jordan, Emily, Taylor
Front: Hannah and I

Thursday, we had our first Project night. Claude Hickman (Director of the program) talked about Spiritual Life which was absolutely convicting and challenging. I think all of us needed to be humbled by the Holy Spirit and to start out the summer with our hearts in the right place. It's so easy to get so focused on ourselves, rather than giving God the glory that He deserves. Something that stood out to me was when he shared the story of the generous landowner which is found in Matthew 20. A lot of times, we feel like we are the ones laboring hard all day, when in reality we are the ones that come at the eleventh hour. We are the ones receiving more than we ought to, because we receive grace.

Grace is what it's all about. It's not about faith, works, or even holiness. It's all about God freely giving me something I do not deserve. (Don't mistake this with mercy, which is NOT getting something I DO deserve.) If grace has to do with everything, shouldn't our walk with Christ also reflect the importance of grace in our lives? I mean, the more we see Christ and His sacrifice for us on the cross, the cross should always get bigger and bigger as we are continuing the process of sanctification rather than working ourselves to become more and more Christ-like (which is Biblical and completely true), but I really think that as Christians we get so caught up trying to do more for God all the time that we forget the significance of Christ's sacrifice and in essence we find ourselves forgetting that we NEED God at all. We become so self focused and self reliant on our own strength and what we can do, that we begin to seek glory for ourselves rather than for His glory. It's all about GRACE and what He has done for us. I realized that I was getting to the point where I was not seeking to give God the glory instead, I was seeking it to myself. But man, I am nothing without His grace. NOTHING. Thank goodness that there's always grace! Anyways, I hope this made some sense, but if it doesn't, just nod your head and pretend like it did and maybe ask me later... HA!

On Friday we got to go to Mormon Temple. That was an experience all by itself. The second largest Mormon Temple lies here in L.A! We got some missionaries to give us a tour and to answer a lot of questions that we had. I learned so much from their beliefs and it's amazing to find that so much of it sounds like Christianity but then the more they explain themselves the more you realize they are completely off track! The people who were giving us the tours were legitimately sincere and sweet people, that by the end of the day it is so heart breaking because they are completely blinded and are missing out on the great relationship with Christ alone!

On Saturday we spent all day at Santa Monica Beach which was beautiful! We did some evangelism and this time I got paired off with Courtney. She's on staff with the TT and is great when it comes down to asking hard questions! Cause that just means that I don't really need to! We talked to some Finnish women who were on vacation, even though at first they had no interest whatsoever to speak to us. However, being from a different country helps because there's a lot to talk about, especially when people don't know much about Finland to start with (Example: Myself). SO, that began a great conversation to which lasted almost an hour with me and Courtney just finding interest in their culture, home and language. This allowed for a great conversation starter and we did the best we could to explain the gospel to them. Hopefully we have planted seeds to which God will water and make it grow even if we don't get to see the fruit of that. Then the rest of the day, we just chilled, splashed each other in the water, played volleyball, watched some BMX games and then headed to 3rd St Promenade to eat and fellowship with each other!

On Sunday we went to Lake Avenue Church in the morning which had a full orchestra and choir singing! That was a really cool way to worship even though it's very different than the churches I've been to before. Later that day we headed to Venice beach just to take a group photo! Most of our afternoon was spent in the vans, but regardless it was still fun! After an exhausting long but fun weekend, we all began on our heavy load of Perspectives homework and our inductive study on the book of James for small group. So yes, long night indeed!

Instead of having small group on Tuesdays like our regular time, we had them yesterday. Let's just say I had a little of a meltdown before dinner because I had not gotten my inductive done. Neither did I memorize my verse which I had forgotten before our small group meeting time AND on top of that, I didn't get a lot of my Perspectives homework done for the next day, which would've meant another long night....BUT my small group leaders were very understanding and helped me not feel completely overwhelmed with everything, so that was good!

Today, however, guess what? I. got. my. perspectives. done. DONE. DONE. DONE!!!!!!!! OK, that will be a false statement, BUT I have one question left that I need help in, so almost done. But hey, I'm just happy it's not gonna be a long night! SO, I will go find someone more knowledgeable than me to help me and that way, I can really say "I'm DONE!"

Oh and in a little bit we're gonna have a seder meal. WHICH, is a passover meal for those who didn't know. For those who did, I applaud you! :) Ok, I think this blogging thing has gotten me into something, so sorry friends, but this will have to do for now before I completely lose it! Muchas gracias, amigos!

Love,
Roxy

Big World, Small World

Let's see, where to start. I have so much I can talk about, but basically I am here at IT Project and already starting "Around the World in 50 days!" It's pretty intense stuff ...Well, since you are trying to follow me through, I will do a debrief of the days I think are more important. Not that every day is not, just that there are days that some are better than others! :) SO, on Friday we had evangelism training in the morning and then practiced the bridge illustration with our brief testimony stuck in there.

Little rabbit trail....As many of you know, my testimony is not really anything real exciting. I grew up going to church every Sunday, I always did my best to obey and honor my parents and avoided smoking, alcohol, drugs, you know the intolerables... I went to Christian schools and was surrounded by great Bible teaching and missionary families who showed me how to love like Christ loved. I am forever grateful for them and the years I spent there, because it was when I went to boarding school (Tambo) in Bolivia for 7th grade that I realized my need for Christ and to have my identity be found in Him rather than on the things I did for Him. Finally, the gospel was made clear to me as to why Christ died for me and not just that He loves me because the Bible tells me so.

So, there you go, that's my testimony in brief! That prepared us for Saturday morning when we did some more training and then headed to Chinatown to do some evangelism! We ate at the famous Foo Chow place, which is where Jackie Chan's famous movie Rush Hour was shot at. That's right. You read it correctly. I said Rush Hour and Jackie Chan! :) Anyways, after lunch, we got paired off and shared the bridge with a couple of people. I was pretty nervous since I never had done it, but thankfully I was paired off with Amy Breeding who had done it before. We went on a prayer walk first and then when we came back, these two little girls were blowing bubbles. NOW, these weren't regular water soap bubbles, these were Chinese blowing bubble paraphernalia. Naturally, as curious as we are, we approach them and start small talk. These two girls were accompanied by a man named Lolito, who come to find out was there with some of his college friends for a little reunion. SO, me trying to engage the conversation asked from where they graduated to which he said- Azusa Pacific! My face lit up and excitedly I told him my siblings went to the school and that Tony was graduating this Dec. Sure enough, a lady came out of the bakery and the first words of her mouth was, "Tony's your brother?" I said, "Yes!" Then she said, "Yeah, I can totally see the resemblence now!" Apparently I'm a girl version of what Tony would look like if there was one! :) It was crazy. Anita worked at the Internationals Admissions office at APU and was an alumni from there too. Talk about small world! It was neat, because this first encounter with "strangers" made me realize that there is always going to be something that helps us connect with others, but you will never find out until you talk to them.

The following lady named Wendy that we shared with claimed to be a Christian, but when asked if she had ever read Rom. 6:23, she said she didn't. Her dose of Christianity involved watching Joel Osteen every Sunday. As Amy began explaining the illustration and how any sin can separate us from God, she began to get uncomfortable. Before Amy could finish, she said her friend was waiting for her and needed to head out but that she believed everything the Bible says about Jesus and that she believed that God forgives everyone of their sins. Hopefully she continues to search for truth. I'm not here to judge her and what she believes, but I pray that she seeks God above all things and does not just settle with just believing, but that she will share her faith and be bearer of the good news to others.

After Wendy was Irene, an older Mexican woman who had problems with hearing, but was willing to hear what I had to say and share with her. She had this joy in her eyes and while I was explaining again how God's holy and perfect and man is not, she beat me to it and said, "But that's why Jesus came!" It was so encouraging because she was right on track and she kept saying how it didn't work if Jesus wasn't part of the picture. After I was done, we prayed with her as she wanted prayer for her family, especially her grandkids to understand and know Jesus as their personal Savior!

Lastly, there was this older Chinese man named Song who was playing a Chinese violin called an erhu? No idea how to spell it, but most of the girls were huddled around him and listening to him play music. Turns out, he had come just a little over a year ago. No family or anything, just himself. Besides playing music, he sold dentures and sharpened knives, scissors, etc. An unlikely combination, but guess it works for him! :) After playing a few more tunes, we handed him a John track booklet with both English and Chinese in it for him to read. Thankfully God used others before us to share with him and took him to a nearby Chinese church already where he can get plugged in. Praise the Lord!

So, that was my experience at Chinatown! Then on Sunday we did some more training and in the evening we went to Mosaic Church at the Mayan. They are basically a church that meets on Sunday nights when it's not a night club. It was different for sure, but God is using that church to bring so many people who would probably never step foot in a church otherwise. "For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them."- Matt. 18:20.

Yesterday, we had a work day, in which we did some weeding and did some cleaning in some of the courtyards at campus. We heard Neil Walker talk about God's heart for the nations and our response to change. That will have to be for another blog, because he had a lot of interesting points. BUT, I hope you found it somewhat encouraging and maybe interesting to hear what we're all doing here so far. I know I'm really bad at blogging...It's a lot harder than one would think! Seriously...start one and then you will know!

OH and today, we started perspectives! Jeff Lewis from California Baptist University spoke this morning about God being a missionary God. Lots of good information all trimmed down to 3 hrs worth of stuff. They weren't joking about the whole Intensive Training! Welp, I have 35 pages of reading to do, so I better get on it! ;) More to follow on what I am learning and not just what I am doing here soon. REAL SOON!

Much love,
Roxy

There's always a first for something!

Yes, this is indeed my first blog ever and I must say, it sure did take a LONG time for me to finally pick the right colors and the fonts and organize it so that it looks like this. So, if you don't like it- I'm sorry! You'll just have to deal with it, or get accustomed to liking it the more you read my posts. Hopefully there will be more interesting ones after this. However, to make it at least somewhat interesting and so that you will continue to read my blogs, I thought I'd share this music video by Audio Adrenaline titled "Hands and Feet," which has served as one of the primary inspirations to the title of this blog as well as Paul's words which says, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" -Romans 10:15.

Because I know you won't look it up yourself, here's the link! ENJOY!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=m36OWibR6nk

Hasta pronto,
Roxy

P.S: I don't promise a music video every time! :)