IRAQ

So tomorrow is.......my birthday!
thats means today is my last day of being 21.
wow.......
I should be feeling old right?
But realy, my life is just starting!
I'm not quite sure how to anounce this, so I will just say it-
"I'm going to IRAQ!!!!"

For the past month or so my heart has been moved for the Kurdish refugees that are fleeing Syria.
I have been prayerfully considering going and recently God has opened the door for us through
a doctor (who has been working in the middle east for some time)  extending an invitation to our team to come and partner with him in his work.


What's going on in Syria?

In 2011 when the government reacted harshly to protesters by opening fire, the activists responded back by creating organized rebel groups against the government; starting a bitter civil war that is still taking place to this day.

Recently there has even been a rise in the violence and already more than 100,000 are dead and over 2 million, (more than half are children under the age of 11), have fled the country as refugees to find shelter in neighboring countries such as Iraq.

1,000s are journeying across the boarders daily and it is estimated that there could be 3.5 million Syrian refugees by the end of the year. 

So where is Iraq in this?

Right now Iraq's Kurdistan has nearly 172,000 of the refugees and they are in great need of massive international support.

What will I be doing in Iraq?

I have been given the amazing opportunity to lead a trained team of young people into partnering with a group of medical Doctors to  provide much needed relief to the refugees.
The war has made many children orphans and many women widows and we will be working with an orphanage and also doing projects such as creating a bio sand filter to provide clean drinking water.
We will be in Iraq from approximately December 18 to February18.

I can't say that I'm going into this completely fearless, I have come to the place of realizing that there is tons of risk involved and it could be potentially dangerous.
But I feel a peace from God that He is calling me to go to Iraq and I trust Him.
Please pray for me! 
And if God moves your heart to give financially or you even want to send warm clothes (as it will be winter in iraq) I would appreciate anything you want to give.
Thank You!

A Piece of My Life-

Iv'e been wanting to start a blog for some time now;  its not that I'm an extraordinary writer or that i have so much free time that I've taken to this as a hobby- 

It's more that I have so many stories that are taking place in my everyday life, and I want my friends and family to be able to hear them and see a piece of my life that I'm living with Jesus-

At some point I'll go back and share my testimony of where I've come from and all that God's done in me, but for right now I'll just go with where I'm at-

For the past 3 months I've been training at a missions base as a part of YWAM (Youth With A Mission), in preparation for leading a group of young people on a journey to know God and make Him known.

On September 26th I began the journey of helping lead a group called Crisis Response (CRI).

In the past CRI has been a part of training and deploying hundreds of volunteers to places that have experienced extreme disaster- such as:

New Orleans after hurricane Katrina,

New York after 911,

Haiti after the earthquake,

Colorado during the flooding,

and many more places where CRI has come in with volunteers trained in basic medical care, search and rescue, and disaster debrief tools.

Of course in all of this our main focus is to bring Jesus into the area of crisis through prayer, ministry and service as we become the hands and feet of Jesus.

So far it has been has been a huge adventure, and every day i'm learning to live more in Christ as I slowly die to myself-

Today I was just thinking about where I am now and I was almost brought to tears with thankfulness as I thought of what God has done for me.

It is truly by the grace of God that I am, where I am- now at this moment......and that is Beautiful~