The halfway point...

Sorry that it has been so long since I've updated! Things have been busy here trying to plug in where we can. Outreach is halfway over, which is totally crazy to me. We will be back in Cheb, Czech Republic in 28 days, and I will be back in the beautiful Sunshine State in just 56 days. I'm overwhelmed to say the least, such mixed emotions. The longer I'm here the more I miss home, but at the same time the longer I'm here the more I dread saying goodbye to this group that has become family. I've been living in Europe for over 4 months now and the adjustment of coming home will be very exciting but difficult. I've been in 6 countries and experienced so much in my time here. God is so good and has done so much stretching on me. I feel stronger and more independent, so much more grounded in who I am in Him. I know I can go anywhere and do anything because He goes before me, with me and behind me. 

There have been many challenges a long the way. Many times I have felt like I was at my absolute limit, ready to break, but God never gives us more than we can handle. I've also found that when I am hitting a point where I'm struggling that a special treat will come up and pleasantly surprise me. For instance, about two weeks ago I was telling a few people in my group about how much I love horses and going riding, but don't get to do it very often. Well this last weekend after church I was talking to a couple of American missionaries, and they said something about how their daughter rides here. So they offered that I could go with for a trail ride up in the mountains. AH! Seriously, such a treat! :) Thank you Jesus for wonderful surprises. So today (if it stops raining) on my day off I will be on horseback in the beautiful mountains surrounding Sarajevo!

Another exciting bit of news, we finally got in at the children's center here! We've been trying to figure it out for weeks, and now we are finally going. The center takes children off the streets, showers them, feeds them, and gives them a safe place to play and just be kids. So for the next week we will be trying to spend as much time as we can helping out there. Then our final week here will be spent working a "retreat" where basically all the house churches will come together and spend 5 days together bonding and learning together. As for our job, we are in charge of all the teaching. I'm a little nervous, but at the same time looking forward to it. I think God put in my heart to speak on the Fruits of the Spirit and what the Bible says our relationships with others should look like - "Love your neighbor as you love yourself."

As for where we will be going after this, we will be leaving Sarajevo on the 18th and making our way towards the Montenegrin coast. We will spend a few days there then make our way home up the Croatian coast. We are hoping to meet up with a new YWAM base in Croatia to help with a camp they are running, but not sure yet if that will work out or not. Then we will be back in the Czech Republic for 4 weeks, two of which will be teaching and debrief and the other two will be "touring" talking to churches about where we went and what we did. July 25th is graduation, and Monday July 29th I will be traveling home. Crazy. 

I look forward to seeing you all in just 8 weeks! xo :)