Good Ole Tennessee

Hey peoples!

We just finished a summit at Bayside Baptist Church in Harrison Tennessee, about 30 minutes out from Chatanooga. This was a good summit. A GREAT summit. Not exactly personally (energy-wise) but corporately, in the church. They were so prepared for the Lord to work in their lives, and He manifested His grace all over the church of about 1000. There was one particular day where we didn't have practice in the morning, and so I walked into the sanctuary expecting it to be empty, and instead of that, I found staff members scattered all across the room, praying in the pews, on the stage, in the balcony. It impacted my heart. I've gotten burnt out spritually, and when we led worship every night, I find myself just going through the motions. That night, God broke through the walls in my own heart, and He just simply showed me how much He loves me. And I broke into tears onstage. Oops. But it didn't matter. Everyone was awestruck in the presence of our Almighty God.

Towards the end of the summit, we have a time in some of the services that is set aside for people to share testimonies of how God has worked in their hearts in the past 15 days. On Tuesday night, Sunday morning, and Sunday night, this church was just so open and honest about how God had impacted them. Sometimes when we go into a church, we just plant the seeds and don't ever see the growth because we leave. But here, we saw some of the fruit already, and it was so encouraging to our hearts. We will not grow weary in doing good, for God is working in His church. :) 

Three weeks ago, the day we pulled into the church to setup, a pretty big snowstorm blew through (for the south)...about three inches fell in two hours. After a few days and that had melted, a bigger one came through and left seven inches. Ta- da:

And then it was this again:

And then I just decided that Tennessee is bipolar like Ohio. And it's absolutely beautiful.

And here's some exclusive takes of some of our children's ministers, because yes.

One day, all the girls on our team went to an awesome little coffee shop called the "Camp House" in Chatanooga. It's set up as a coffee shop during the week, and then they turn it into a college and youth ministry on Sundays. So so cool. I wouldn't mind at working at a place like this.
And the coffee was amazing. And the chai tea. Cuz I ended up getting both. Don't judge.

 And I got to hang out with my friend Ashlee. <3 Shes a gem. 






















Tomorrow we're on our way to Orlando Florida for Vision Gathering, a fundraising conference for Life Action. Please pray for safety on the way. :) Warmth, HERE WE COME!

Thank you again for your prayers and support! :)

Bethany

Catchin Up

Hey guys.

First,
NEWS FLASH.

God is leading me back home. I have loved every minute of traveling with Life Action Ministries, and I will miss it LIKE CRAZY, but... I will not be returning to travel again next year. God has given me peace about going back home. I am so thankful for how He has grown me and is continuing to grow me in this ministry; He has taught me things that I don't think I would have learned outside of this environment. Now it's time to walk into the unknown yet again. My plans of now are to get a job when I get home, and to start school next spring semester. I am so excited to get settled in at my church, to find local outreaches to get involved in, to start ministering at home. But do I have any definites? No. Because it's not a given that I'll have a tomorrow. But for now I'm just following Jesus. :)

On a side note, I was planning on going to China again this summer to teach English. However, I left it in God's hands and asked Him to show me if I should go by using this:  I have to work family camp at Life Action Camp in Buchanan Michigan for the beginning of June through July 11th. The China trip, however, starts July 11th. So I wrote the camp director asking if I could have the last two weeks of family camp off so that I could get ready for the trip. I believed that if the Lord wanted me to go, I would be given permission to get those two weeks off. And if not, it was not meant to be. Well, the camp is short-staffed and I was not able to go home early. So I won't be going to China this summer. Honestly, I was extremely disappointed [and may have cried a little], but I am so relieved that God took care of it and showed me so clearly. Maybe He will use me for His glory in a far greater way than if I went to China at this specific time. I am excited to relax in an Ohio summer and to be able to spend time with my family and my boyfriend whom I haven't seen for six months!

Here are random snippets from the last few months of road life. :)


First of all, this:
is normal me. At the end of our first summit in Arlington Tennessee, I got a pretty bad fever. I NEVER get fevers. But I was up to 102 for two days, and it was nasty. Dizziness, tiredness, no nausea (thank the Lord), but then I got a horrible cold after that. It wasn't the best few days of my travel year, but it did force me to slow down and rest, and seek the Lord. Anyway, I'm not sick anymore, but I'm tired all the time. Some of it is from dehydration and can be cured by drinking a lot more water. But a lot of it is just from the strenuous schedule. But anyway, Taylor is a picture ninja.

After Arlington Tennessee, we had an 8 day summit in Dalton Georgia. An eight day summit is not normal, but Grove Level Baptist had a full 15 day summit a few years ago, and they wanted us to come again to run a "refresher course", so to speak. It was encouraging to see their open hearts to the Lord to have continue revival in their personal lives.

 Grove Level Baptist, Dalton Georgia

We visited Chattanooga Tennessee with our host family in Dalton because it was only about 30 minutes away. The highlight was definitely a cozy little coffee shop called Rembrandts.

 Also, while in Dalton on our offday, we went HIKING in the foothills of the Smokies. It was pretty hardcore. The trail was out in the middle of nowhere. There were literally miles and miles of a one-lane dirt road (extremely bumpy with huge boulders included) that winded through the mountains to get there. We almost thought we were lost but we finally found the secluded trail. We hiked a total of about 12 miles, and I had the privelege of these girls (Alyssa and Ashlee) being my trail buddies. :D I could do it every day, it was so refreshing to be away from the busy-ness and to just spend time alone in nature.

If someone were to ask me the question, "Ocean or mountains?" No brainer. Definitely mountains.

Annnndd here's normal loading-up scene.

Our next stop after Dalton was Faith Baptist in Bartlett, Tennessee, where we had a four day summit. Which actually turned out to be a one day because three of the services were cancelled due to ice and snow. Nevertheless, it was a good few days of unexpected extra rest, and the family Karis, Lindsay, and I were staying with were so much fun and it was GREAT to be able to hang out with them. They truly felt like family and I'm so thankful for the time we got to spend with them. :D


 We're just about to finish up our summit at Bayside Baptist in Harrison Tennessee, and I will update you on that hopefully next week sometime.

 

Please pray for:

• energy. That I don't get burnt out spiritually.
• that I can find more time for Jesus. My problem right now is that I am so busy that when I DO have free time, I just want to sleep...and I need sleep to function, but I also need time with Jesus to function. So pray that I will prioritize well. 
• that I will continue to study Mandarin and not get discouraged.
• that God will give me further direction about what He wants me to do in China and/or with the Chinese, and about school.

Thank you for your prayers and support. It means so much!! :) God bless!!

Bethany

P.S. If the Lord has led you to support me financially, you can go to  https://www.lifeaction.org/donate/support-a-staff-member/ and pull up my name under "staff members". :)