The Countdown is On!

Wow, do I not know what I got myself into!
So we have 7 more days until me and 13 others head to India... Just thinking about the trip I have no idea what to imagine. I expect the obvious from the trip: we will smell, not be able to shower, eat unknown food, stay with people we do not yet know, and houses in poverty stricken areas, be hiking long distances, not be able to communicate with the villagers without a interpreter, be surrounded by broken people caught up in worshipping idols and oppressed by their religion and cast system, and through all of this being broken for these people and praying that in some way our actions will show the love of Jesus and that God would work a miracle there. In saying this, I am nervous, hiking has never been my thing-just ask my parents-as well as not showering for more than 2 days is unheard of to me but I know that through this I am going to be challenged and broken. Well these past few weeks have been quite a blurr for me. We had reading break (which is why I didn't write a blog last week). For Reading Break I was able to go to Youth Quake at the Briercrest College in SK which was awesome. My brother Ryan made it down for the weekend with a friend so it was really sweet to introduce him to my friends here at Kaleo as well as it was sweet to meet the siblings of some of the Kaleo students. The weekend was really encouraging as there are about 25 previous Kaleo students there and all of which constantly read out kaleo blog and pray for us. I got to meet a lot of the previous students and talk with them about my year and it was really special because at the end of the weekend all of the past Kaleo's (except a few) got together to pray for us Kaleo 6ers (we're the 6th Kaleo school) and pray for our outreach. It was encouraging to see them and the community they had with eachother in the larger community of Briercrest. They were all so close and you could see something different between how they interacted with one another and how the other students there were. Then this past week we had our last Theology course and with it came the huge paper. Once we got back we had 6 assignments-3 of which were major papers due within 5 days so I am in dire need of sleep! I still need to finish one as there was no way I could get it in on time. But I will be thankful once I'm completed it and able to sleep!!! We also had a 24/3 day of prayer this past week which was a really good to have before our missions trips and this past Saturday I was able to witness my roommate Shannon get baptized along with her fiancee Jon. Jon wasn't a Christian when Shannon came to Kaleo but a few months into Kaleo God did something miraculous in Jon's life and he became a follower of Jesus. Words could not express how excited I was to be a part of hearing his testimony and seeing him be baptized with Shannon by our school leader Jim. It was so special to hear of all that God has done in both of their lives and see themselves get baptized together at the same time just a couple weeks after their engagement. So even though things have been busy, it has been amazing! Well I'm going to keep this short so to end I have some prayer requests. To start off I would really appreciate prayer for our India team. Praise God, for he has provided my finances for the trip. The cost was $3,200 to go and miraculously all of it has been covered. However, I am part of a team of 13 others who are still in need of finances. I believe that this past week the total amount of support we need was something like $30,000. If the members of the group do not have enough support they will have to pay for it on top of their tuition which when saving up for school next year is a big burden. So please pray that God would provide in a miraculous way for the students here! Also if you could pray that we would be united in Spirit and in purpose as we go into this final week of preparation and as we head to India. If you could pray for safety, health, unity, and a heart for the people of India, that God would speak and show himself through our words and actions as we interact with the people that would also be greatly appreciated. And for me, that I would run the race with perseverance. That when I'm there that I would be able to rely on God because I take so much pride in being independent and able to do things on my own strength. If you could pray that I would be able to truly rely on God and trust in him that would be amazing! Thank you so much for you prayers!
Till next time,
Daneille