No More Coffee!

I must admit to having nothing short of a love affair with that earthy dark force of life called coffee. He held me strong indeed but I have once again wrenched myself from his grasp in an attempt to be independent. For those of you who have never tried to quit drinking coffee, let me attempt to explain the sheer agony of such an endeavor. The first day you wake up and go about your day as normal, ignoring that nagging in the back of your mind that you are overlooking something of infinite importance. You shake it off knowing full well what you are missing but choosing to shove it to the innermost recesses of your memory. Very soon your actions, and words begin to slow down. The inspiration of your life is not there to spur you on and things just get tough. Towards the end of the day you begin to feel a dull aching behind your eyes. This very well could be a result of fighting back tears of loss all day long. Who really knows? You end up going to bed early in an effort to shut the loss out of your memory. Sleep sweet sleep. It doesn't help. Instead you dream of Coffee all night, the café’s you’ve sat in together, the road trips you have taken together, the beautiful times of communion with Jesus that you spent together morning after morning. The love of Coffee torments the soul. But wait! Day two begins.....I feel like I am dying, for real. It's as if somehow in the night my whole pillow got stuffed through my ears into my head. The dull throb of little men with jack hammers in my head won't stop and my whole body is shaking. I drag myself out of bed only to drive an hour and a half to a staff meeting in the dreary land of Cascade. The whole meeting seems to be conducted in monotone, the small amount of sunlight that exists in Cascade is glaring in my eyes and the normally adorable Sadie won't stay off me. I eventually tell my leader that I just can't find a reason to care about anything he is saying to me. I head home and sleep the rest of the day away to escape the agony. Well people, let me tell you, I am very thankful that I am now on day 4 of "No More Coffee". Life is looking up again, the sun is shining in Boise and the birds sing to me, yes, to ME! One day I may meet Coffee again, but for now, he is a pleasantly distant memory......except when I wake up in the morning and my roomate has just brewed a fresh pot of smooth Goldcoast and has French Vanilla creamer. AAAHHHHHHHGGGGGGGGGGGG!

The Hines

Look at this cutie face! No, not mine, Tristan's. i just spent some days in Salem, OR with my mom's cousin Gary and his wife Susan and their little cutie patutie. Do you have people in your life that you rarely see but when you do it is as if no time has passed? Not only that, but the second you see them you have your hearts layed out on your sleeve with no reservations whatsoever. This is Gary and Susan Hines. I don't think they posses the ability to have surface level conversations. There is no holding back, just dive into the murky, muddy mess of lives and get to the root of it all. I was blessed by them in so many ways as I spent time with them. Even just ears that wanted to hear my struggles and confusion that can sometimes come with a life of serving God. So Gary and Susan, thanks for the love, the talks, the coffee, the baby love, the realness, the comfy bed, THE CAMERA! and so much more.

at the conference

Hey there. If your reading this, please take a minute and pray for me right now! I am at a fundraising seminar in Salem Oregon and it is going great. God is teaching me all kinds of wonderful new things. But I just keep feeling attack after attack from the enemy. Everything from body things to emotional things to questioning God's call on my life. So pray that I will really hear everything the Lord wants to share with me this week, that I will be like a spunge just soaking it all up and that I will be able to enjoy the beauty around me and the old friends who are here. Pray for protection for me and the others doing the seminar. Love you all! Blessings, Felicia

Fund Raising is Fun!

Do you ever find that you begin something with such dreading and reluctance only to find that very thing turn into such a wonderful journey of blessing and joy? Well, that is where I find myself at now. 2 weeks ago I was telling people that I HAVE to go to a dreadfully boring support raising conference in Salem, OR. Now I am telling people with great excitement about the incredible conference I have the PRIVILEGE of attending in Salem. I am part way through the book that I need to read as part of my preliminary homework for the conference. The book is called "Funding Your Ministry" by Scott Morton. Every sentance seems to be an enlightening gem of truth that I only wish I had known before I became a full time missionary. Scott talks about how I am not asking people to support me but I am asking people to give to what God is doing through me. He talks about the importance of praying on a daily basis for the people that make up my support team because they are just as much a part of what I do as I am. We all work together for God's glory. There is so much good truth in this book it's incredible. I am working through the bible study in the appendix about biblical support raising. The first section of the study is about "calling", how different people in the bible were called into ministry by the Lord and taking a look back at how I was called and what I was called too. I was asked to write down the scriptures that guide me, the ones that the Lord has used to call me out into His service. As I look back at God's leading and direction in my life I am so excited to go forward on this amazing adventure with Him! So check out my life scriptures and be blessed to be used of the Lord no matter who you are and what you do. Gen 1:27, Isa 61:1-3 & Rev 7:9