LA here we come!

A lot has happened. I am barely being able to keep up in my head what all we have done. God has moved me away from thinking about myself and my experience here to thinking about the group as a whole and what we need to accomplish. He is showing me that the best thing I can do for my classmates is encourage them. And it's fun! It really does bless me to be able to bless them and affirm them in who they are in Christ.

We just finished a book called Strengthening Yourself in The Lord and it was amazing. So many practical ways to call on God's strength so he can sustain us. I will probably refer to this book a lot through the year and my life in general.

This weekend was very busy and seems like a lifetime away already. Jerbarco Arnold, a former MC from CCK and dance teacher at SPA in Kirkland came down to teach us some dances for our tour. So we spend the whole weekend, from morning til evening, learning three dances. It was hard work and sometimes frustration but it was fun and well worth it to me. Even if my knee got aggravated and gave me some trouble. God is in control and these dances are really going to help us minister to God and to his people. What a wonderful way to spend out time!

This week we started a new book called Authority in Prayer and we are learning to declare things and not ask. We are moving towards knowing and understanding the power in prayer and what Authority God has given us and moving in that Authority. It's great.

Well, that is a quick update. This Saturday we are going to be on our way to LA for a Micro Soft Show to raise some money. We will be gone until the 20th, so prayers for protection and safety are welcome! Love you all!

Quick Update!

Hey Everyone!

So a quick update:

It's been about four weeks since I came to Oklahoma City to enter Master's Commission and I am enjoying it. There are hard times to be sure but I've come to the understanding that it is worth it. I've learned that God's idea of pain is different from our idea of pain and that is such a revelation to me. I've actually had a lot of revelations in this short time, in fact there are times that I am just so overwhelmed. In those times I have learned the art of soaking in God's presence. And even the term sloaking. (To fall asleep while soaking.) :)

God's already healing some things in me as well which is exciting, exhausting and yes, painful as well. Not to mention, it's a long process. And I'm learning to enjoy it too. I'm a long way from where He will take me, it is a life long process as well but I think I have a good start.

The class part is good, I've learning a lot. About myself. About God, how to relate to him better. I'm still waiting for him to reveal the vision for my life, I have clues but a picture would be nice. I'm trusting he will reveal himself to me in his timing though. I'm learning different ways to praise and worship, that those terms do not mean specifically songs and singing and music. I'm learning the lifestyle of worship and the act of praise. I've learned that my freedom is in my praise. That is when I shine and how I get free and release things from within me. It's cool!

I'm also loving my host family. Sometimes things get awkward or I'm a little frustrated but on the whole I am where God wanted me and I find peace in that. I enjoy them. I enjoy their daughter and their lifestyle. It's a blessing.

My classmates are great. There are times where I don't necessarily get along with them but we learn to work through it and have grace. God put us here together for a reason and we have to trust He knows what he is doing.

That is the biggest thing I am learning and the hardest. To trust. And it's difficult. So pray for that.

I'm about out of time, so I'm going to end here but I will be back through out the year to give more in depth about my year. :)

I would appreciate emails, comments, face book messages, anything to keep in contact! And prayer.

~ Laura

Today is the day!

So in about less than two hours I will be on the road heading to the new chapter in my life. I'm amazingly calm at the moment. It seems to be hitting me in phases. I'll be really excited, so much so that like last night I can't sleep for a while. Then there are the calm stretches where I feel like its not quite happening yet. But the underlying excitement is still always there.

I said goodbye to my dad and bother yesterday, as I will not see them before I leave today. Kinda sad, but once again it hasn't hit me yet. I'm sure it will Sunday after my mom leaves me....or later in the week once it becomes real that I will be living in OKC and my parents are not within 30 minutes of me. But God is amazing and He will be my strength and He will get me through it.

I'm ready to meet the rest of my classmates and my intern. I'm ready to see Pastor Dwight, Larissa, John, Jordan, Levi, and Melissa again. I'm ready to meet my host family and settle into my new home for the next year. I'm ready to give little Hannah her gift.

But more than all that I'm ready to meet God and learn to let Him work through me at a higher level. I'm ready to jump in and let Him break me to put me back together the way I was meant to be. I'm ready to see me as He sees me. I need this. I need Him. I need to realize I am loved for who I am, that I don't have to earn it. I am ready to look at me and see the Beauty that is Jesus within me.

I'm ready. Today is the day where I truly begin my journey. The preparation is all complete. The money is raised, the items are bought and packed, no loose ends. My journey begins today. Literally lol. It's a five and a half hour estimated drive from Conway, AR to OKC, OK.

So, OKC here I come. =)

And the countdown gets smaller

Yes, we are in the one digits people! 9 more days!

I’ve been planning for this since late February and its little things that remind me its real. You know when you have been planning for something for so long its like, is this even going to happen?

Well the first moment that made it real for me was Seattle. That trip was amazing and I got glimpses of what changes I had to look forward to.

But then I went home and things were back to normal and I was even more ready to leave and begin my journey. But I felt stuck.

Then I got the call about my Host family and got to talk to my host mom. Cathleen Tichenor. She and her husband are a little older than me, have one two year old daughter, Hannah, and have a baby boy, Levi, on the way. I’m really beyond excited now! I move in 9 days! Next Friday, on the 18th!

There is so much I still need to do. Like pack. I don’t like packing and I am not sure how to get it all in our little trunk but it will work out. God is amazing and knows what he is doing and I am looking forward to trusting in him more with all the areas of my life and not just a few things.

*squeal of excitement*

So close!!!

I'm getting closer and closer to packing up and leaving for OKC! My excitement is constantly getting bigger and bigger. :)

So, thanks to fundraisers and my church I have all the 4000 dollars needed for the tuition. Yay! Now we are working on getting as much of my monthly support as possible before I leave.

Recently we got a email from John Port saying that they have decided our Host Family arrangements and we should be getting a call from them with contact information. I do have to admit I am nervous about which family I will get and what they will be like and their rules. But it doesn't squish my excitement at all. I know God's hand is in all of this and the family I get put with will be the best for me and what I need.

There are just a couple more items I need:
A good backpack (like one that will last through any beating I might give it, not a walmart one)
A pair of work gloves
Space saver bags (The kind you vaccuum the air out so its really thin)
And plastic conatiners to put food and stuff in

Update

Yes, so its been a long time since I have updated this thing. Apparently I'm not good at it :) But I will try to get better.

I'm still raising money to try and reach my goal. I'm not sure what the last count was but I think it was somewhere around 900 more dollars or so.

Recently, to help raise the funds I went to a Microsoft Show with MCOKC's class of 2009. (Who graduated August 3rd, Congrats) And we went to Seattle, Washington. It was amazing and I had a fantastic time. I really did not want to leave. In fact, coming home, I had a hard time adjusting. I just felt so in place with the MCs and when I came home, the familiar feeling of "I don't fit here" came rushing back harder than ever. I'm just so ready to begin my year and move on.

I leave September 18th, to spend the night in OKC. September 19th is a Luncheon where we meet everyone and move into our Host Families houses. Then September 20th is our Induction Day. I'm so beyond excited.

Bakesale

So just thought I would briefly post how well the bakesale on Sunday went. But first I just want to thank everyone who baked something, and my family for running it for me since I got very sick early Sunday morning. They are great. :)

So I got more than enough money to send in my application :) Yay!! We got just over 145.00 I think. My mom counted it Sunday evening and it was something like that so Yay God.

I still have one more book to read, and honestly I am struggling a little bit. Normally I love to read but I'm having difficulty keeping my motivation up cause the fear of "its not going to work" keeps rearing its ugly head.

And I know God is an amazing God and keeps his promises and with him everything is possible. Its been shown to me countless times...So why do I still struggle with having faith?

Also on a different note entirely but I feel like i need to write this down some where so here is as good as any. I dug the ring that Ryan gave me out from the shoebox and am wearing it again. Weird ya I know but I'm not wearing it for the original reason he gave it to me. When Ryan and I were together it was a promise ring, a promise that we would be together always. Well God stepped in and straightened us out and put us back on the path He wanted us on. And so when we broke up, I took the ring off and put it back in the box and put the box in a shoebox with all the letters from him and put it under my bed. I haven't really thought of it much since I got over the break up.
Until the other day. I just started thinking about God and the promises I made to Him and the promises I broke to Him and myself. And normally this would bring me to tears but I felt God was with me. That no matter how I fail in keeping my promises, He will never break His promises to me. So I am wearing the ring as a reminder that God will deliver on the Promises He gave me, as a reminder to never take my life out of His hands, as a reminder to always listen to God and do it His way and not try to take matters in my own and say "it was God" when really...it was me helping God out. :) So yeah just felt like sharing that little revelation of mine =D

Thankful~

So today is Easter. To some just about a bunny rabbit and egg hunts and to others its about their Lord and Savior conquering death to save us. I like to blend both lol. Sadly though, today it rained which canceled our Easter Egg Hunt, but the nursery still had theirs inside.

But the love I feel today can not be canceled by anything. I'm so amazed that God would send his son down to die for me. Nicole, Anita and Amory sang a song today called "Who am I?" And it just about made me cry. Cause really? Who am I that God would care enough to die for me? Here are the lyrics if you've never heard that song. Its sung by Point of Grace and normally I don't care for them much but I really liked this song.

Over time youve healed so much in me, I am living proof
That although my darkest hour had come,
Your light could still shine through
Though tough at times its just enough to cast a shadow on the wall,
Well I am grateful that you shine a light on me at all
Who am i that you would love me so gently?
Who am i that you would recognize my name?
Lord who am ithat you would speak to me so softly
Conversation with the love most high who am i
Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me,
I once was lost but now Im found, was blind but now I see,
And the more I sing that sweet old song, the more I understand.
That I do not comprehend this love thats coming from your hand...
Who am ithat you would love me so gently?
Who am I that you would recognize my name?
Who am I that you would speak to me so softly
Conversation with the love most high... who am i
Grace, grace gods grace
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within,
Grace, grace, gods great grace
Grace that is greater than all my sin
Who am I that you would love me so gently?
Who am I that you would recognize my name?
Lord, who am I that you would speak to me so softly
Conversation with the love most high... who am i
Who am i
Who am i

Our dances also went pretty smoothly and I really hope that people were blessed because God sure blessed me as I helped choreograph one. And even though I'm having shin splints right now I'm still so grateful for today.

It also made me just so excited about Master's Commission. I cannot wait to go and learn the things God has for me and experience them at such an intimate level. I'm beyond happy today.

Also, the dates of the fundraisers will be coming shortly. Plus we will pass out flyers at church to everyone so they know, and we will be posting them in the bulletin when they get close as a reminder. :)

Almost done with application. Still have those books to read but I've done the personal sketch and one of the essays. So just two more and the books. But the passport is a little more difficult to get so I'm praying the money comes in for that as well as everything else.

Psa 115:13 He will send blessings on the worshippers of the Lord, on the small and on the great.

Fund Raising

So with the nice chunk of change that I need to get me through the program, and me without a job right now, my family and I have been brainstorming fund raising ideas. My brother has really chipped in and come up with a lot. Its great to see him do this because he just gets so excited about some of the ideas and it blows me away that he would do this for me when he is already so busy and getting ready to enter college. I'm really blessed to have a brother like Daniel, and while we still argue, I am happy that we are so close. I'm going to totally miss him, and the rest of my family.

Here are some of the ideas we have thought of, some are your standard fund raising plans and some are kind of unique (in my opinion)

Bake Sale with a twist: Instead of having everyone bake something and bring it on a specific Sunday and sell it that day, we are going to have people volunteer to add their specialty to a list, pass that list around and if someone wants it, they sign up for it and when they want it by. So if someone wanted my chocolate chip cookies, they could say they want it for next Sunday and I would bring it to them then but they would pay for it up front. That way, in case they aren't going home right after church, they don't have to carry around a cake with them everywhere.

Silent Auction: Where people donate services or make something and others bid on them in secret by using ballots.

Strong Man Competition: My brother's idea. Where people compete in lifting weights, running, pulling things, etc and others place bets on who will win.

Designing and selling a Victory Fellowship Tee shirt: My brother drew the design and I found a way to put it on computer, its just an idea right now, we haven't picked a final design yet. And on the back will be the name and address of our church. We have to tweak the design so its readable but thats the general idea -->


Car Wash: We will probably do this one a lot on Saturdays during the warmer months.

Donations: I'll be making a little bucket or something and decorate it and put it on a table and let people put spare change in it.

So that's what I have so far. I'm still looking for a job so prayer for that would be greatly appreciated.
I'm also doing nursery on Wed. Nights, its normally Jenny's class but she's being gracious and letting me do it so I can save the money from that. Also any babysitting money will be saved as well.

Psa 37:3 Have faith in the Lord, and do good; be at rest in the land, and go after righteousness.

Overwhelmed, but in a good way!

So I decided to create this blog as a means to keep track of my year at Masters Commission in Oklahoma. This will follow what I'm doing to prepare for the program, my experience once I get there, and the many places God takes me and my fellow MC classmates. :)

I'm super excited and I just want to be there now! But there is so much to do to prepare that I am a little overwhelmed but its a good thing. The application itself is almost filled out completely, I still have to do a character sketch and a couple book reflections and get a passport.

There's a number of things I have to buy to take with me as well, and a lot of money that needs to be raised. That's another reason I am starting this blog now, instead of waiting til I actually get into the program. You will be able to see the fundraisers I am planning, keep up with how much more money I need and know what to pray for.

So to start off with the amount of money I will need to go is approximately 5,575.00
4,000.00 is tuition and the other 1575.00 will be given to me in monthly increments of 150 dollars to live off of during the year. Also there are many items I need to buy before hand so money for that will be needed as well. Pray that this does not stress me out as money and numbers and figures have always been a stress in my life. I know God wants me to go so I'm placing my faith in that He will provide everything that I need.

On another note, I mentioned that I have to read two books and write a one page response to them. These are to be turned in before I go and I had a list of books to pick from. Luckily, my parents had a few of them already so all I have to do now is pick two and read them.
The books I have decided to read are "Don't Waste Your Life" By John Piper and "The Final Quest" by Rick Joyner.

Even with everything I have to do and obtain for the program, I am just so excited and thankful for the opportunity to go. God's timing is amazing and even though I wanted to go sooner than this, He knew that I needed to wait til this point in my life. I'm blessed beyond belief to have my family and church family to help and support me in this journey and I can't wait to see what God has planned for me. I'm ready to be made into His Vessel.

2Ti 2:20-21 Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but others of wood and earth, and some which are honored and some without honor. If a man makes himself clean from these, he will be a vessel for honor, made holy, ready for the master's use, ready for every good work.