Long time no blog, friends! It's good to finally get back online (and make myself blog). My squad and I are officially in Month 8. This month looks a little differently for me team and ministry-wise. All of the guys on our squad and Fusion squad have "Manistry" this month, so us lucky ladies on a co-ed team have been paired up with 3 of the girls from Fusion squad who are also on a co-ed team! Here's a pic of my new friends:

Aren't we cute?

My team and I are currently in Kathmandu, Nepal and our ministry this month is ATL: "ask the Lord". We have no contacts or hosts set up and enter into prayer with the Lord daily for direction and ministry opportunities. Coming out of month 7 in India, I was struggling pretty heavily with my laziness and apathy. I had gotten to a point where I thought "You know what, I've done it. I've been on the Race for 7 months, I have traveled and seen 8 beautiful countries, met incredible people, had wonderful conversations, struggled against convictions and temptations, been delivered from habitual sin, and endured the challenge of living in hard-loving-accountable community. I have evangelized in villages, prayed with and over hundreds of people, seen lives changed, witnessed miracles, and grown deeper in intimacy with the Lord. I have gained dependence on God, loosened my heart strings formerly tied to home, gone months without hearing from my friends and family, missed an entire summer of working at Camp Thurman, wrestled to maintain a long-term long-distance relationship, increased exponentially in faith and steadfastness, and relied on the Lord mightily. I have been to the nations, I have loved the least, I have preached the Good News, and I have brought Kingdom glory. I have done it, I am proud of the work I have done, and I am ok with being finished now. I could go home. I could be done." I was stuck in that mindset for a couple weeks, too. However, it seemed sad to me that the purpose of a Christian with a heart for Kingdom advancement could ever reach absolute fulfillment. At that point there would be no more work to be done, and I would lack in ambition, drive, and anything to work towards. That would leave me purposeless. That's sad! Through that, the Lord continued to press into me the importance of endurance for the Kingdom, reminding me that work will always need to be done and that it doesn't stop just because I return to America in November. Over the past few weeks, the Lord has called me higher in my heart posture and attitude towards the longevity of true Christian ministry.

SO, in light of that, I began to lift up my ATL month to the Lord, leaning into what He had for my time in Nepal and received: "discipline". (UGH.) Ha! Of course He has called me to stronger discipline of self and in my spiritual life. (Insight for those of you who don't know me well: discipline is not my thing. I'm just not good at it, haha.) However, I believe that through the next 30 days, the Lord is inviting me into deeper intimacy with Him and through that, he intends to give me more endurance, more of Himself, and more joy for the last 111 days of my Race. Yeah, you heard it: 111 days! 

I made myself a 30 day "discipline calendar" and color coded it because everything is more fun and way cuter when it is color coded.

(Only 12 days are on the page, but it repeats and you get the picture.) For the month of August, I will enter into daily Scripture reading, alone time with the Lord, a book and study of Christian discipline, times of worship, prayer, blogging, and reflective journaling. I will read a Psalm in the morning and a Psalm in the Evening. "Dailies" are daily Scripture readings from the book I'm in right now. "COD" is the book "Celebration of Discipline" by Richard Foster, so each week I will read a chapter about a different spiritual discipline and walk through a reflective study. Other than those few, everything else is pretty self explanatory. Also, I'll be blogging once a week (yay.) 

Through the next 30 days, I hope to taste and see more of the Lord's goodness, draw closer to Him, instill a habit of discipline, and foster a heart that becomes excited about opportunity to spend time with the Lord rather than feeling burdened by the task. I still have 4 months left on field, but I recognize that re-entry in November is quickly approaching and still desire to carry what the Race has taught me Stateside come this fall.

It's gonna be good! Woot!

(Also here's a picture of me with a falafel in my pocket just because.)