Leaving for ROME!!!

Tomorrow I will pack up and leave bright and early on Monday morning for a week of renewal and time with my Jesus, and lucky me, it happens to be that the place I will be going to do this is, none other than one of the most beautiful places in the world, Rome!

I will be joining the other women from Josiah Venture for the annual Women’s Retreat and enjoying the community of women who have been doing this for way longer than I have, and pulling from anyone I can, getting wisdom, encouragement, advice, and just down right fellowship!!! It will be good!

I promise to take lots and lots of pictures!

Summer is around the corner!!!!

I just got back today from checking out Kuldiga, a town where we will have a camp this summer. It is very exciting because this will be the first camp done in that town and the church we will be helping ut on the camp has an amazing “youth guy” and a group of kids ready to lead!!! This is HUGE!!! And so exciting!

It gets me quite pumped for it all. I am soo ready to get back into the summer ministry! It just hold a totally different energy and spirit. And fits my heart for students and meeting them where Jesus can get a hold of them!! Ahhh I cannot wait!

Please, if you think about it, just pray for the preparation time going into this summer. We have many things going on and a lot of different realm of people coming together for ministry. Pray that God will orchestrate it and we will be ready to play!!! Yes, this is exciting!

These pictures were taken at "Europe's widest waterfall" in Kuldiga

(It was -20 degrees out, yeah I know, Where is my jacket! what was I thinking!)

Good Monday to all!

I had a wonderful weekend with “my girls”. I spent most of Thursday and Friday morning in turmoil over what to do… go to the orphanage or go to Liepaja to visit one of the 4 sisters from the orphanage (she has been adopted).
She is the youngest of the four and I have not seen her in a while and it is very important for me to let her know that my love for her is still as strong even though I do not get to see her as much as the others.
yet, my heart was torn because of the expectation of the orphanage and the kids there. I did not want to disappoint anyone, yet I was faced with a “catch 22”, and as I sit miserably trying to figure out who I could handle disappointing more, my Jesus spoke to my heart and told me so beautifully that it is HIM who I need to look to, it is HIS approval that matters, and that HE approves! (before I made any decision he already approved of me and who I am!)

so i decided to do what i felt i was being called to do no matter the response, and it was a HUGE blessing to be with Ieva, my little sister. It was a perrrfect weekend with her!


** BIG SIGH


I Love my Lord so much, and I am taken back by his love for me and how he meets me in my mess daily! What a God we serve!


OK, so now I have to go work on my Monthly update letter…** another big sigh….

Take 5 min and... SHOW UP & SHUT UP!

Listen to your Jesus for a minute…

“And he whispers, ‘Now is the time! The unreal world of glanost and Gucci. Hagen-Dazs ice cream and Calvin Klein jeans, beaver vest, Persian rugs, silk underwear, and the Super Bowl is passing away. NOW is the time to stop running around frantically like Lancelot’s horse in four directions at once and QUIETLY remember that only one thing is necessary. NOW is the time for personal decision and creative response to MY Word. (114)


“has it crossed your mind that I am proud you accepted the gift of faith I offered you? Proud that you freely chose Me, after I had chosen you, as your friend and Lord? Proud that with all your warts and wrinkles, you haven’t given up? Proud that you believe in me enough to try again and again? Are you aware that I appreciate you for wanting Me? I want you to know how grateful I am when you pause to smile and comfort a child who has lost her way. I am grateful for the hours you devote to learning more about Me; for the word of encouragement you passed on to your burnt-out pastor; for your visit to the shut-in; for your tears for the retarded. What you did to them, you did to Me. Alas, I am sad when you do not believe that I have totally forgiven you or you feel uncomfortable when approaching Me.” (154)
(Ragamuffin Gospel, Brennen Manning)



This is a much different Jesus than I perceive most of the day, but refreshing, exciting, and motivating me more and more toward being SEIZED BY THE POWER OF A GREAT AFFECTION!

Back again....Gone again.....Back again......Gone a......

So here I am off for the weekend again! I will be back on Sunday evening. Then I have four days and then I leave again for the weekend. We will be meeting churches that we will be working with this summer at the camps. I will be back from that on Sunday And then… I leave AGAIN on Monday for 6 days!!!
I will be attending the annual Women’s retreat for Josiah Venture. I am dreading it, and cant wait for it in he same breath! But it will be good to just soak up time with seasoned women of God and pull from their time on the field.

All that to say I will be quite busy in the next coming weeks and I hope to find time to write and update, but just so you know what is happening!

I am deeply sorry to anyone who feels like I am not communicating well enough. I am finding the pull between doing ministry and sharing what is happening with it all very difficult these days. But if you do feel neglected by my lack of communication, I am truly sorry. I will try to do better.

Back from Sweden

I arrived “home” yesterday afternoon from an amazing trip to Sweden. I had a great time visiting the school that meant so much to me, and visiting people that I hold as close as family! It was a perfect time of rest, relaxation, refreshment, and lots of fun too!


This was when we decided to go sledding behind the van! ( max speed was 55km!) Crazy but sooo fun!!!


This was the night of WaterPoker!
Rules:
If you loose a hand you drink the water that was bet in that round
you loose the game if:
1. you get up
2. you throw up
3. you pee your pants!
4. all of the above :)
Daniel peed his pants!!!!! haha!


Chillin' in the Bik (a little hang out spot at the school)



I am so blessed to be able to go to a place like that with such ease. It is an amazing thing to live in Europe that’s for sure! Just hope on a plane, train, or ferry and you can get almost anywhere in Europe fast and cheap!

We spent 4 full days in Holsbybrunn, and had a blast. I did everything from playing in the snow, to gong on many walks, to visiting my dearest friend Coral and her beautiful family, to praying lots, to spending time with my Jesus, and a major part of what I did there was reflection…

Reflection on the past 4 months of my life and what God has done, what he is doing, what I am doing and how it fits with what God has called me here to do. There have been times I have already felt overwhelmed by the need here, and have started to doubt myself and the calling on my heart. i guess I was in the starting stages of “burn out”… I don’t now, I just knew I needed something, or something needed to change.

While at Holsby, I was refreshed by the heart of Matt and Coral and how they serve Christ with their lives. They have been missionaries in Sweden for many years and to watch them live out Jesus just inspired me beyond anything I could have asked for! It was beautiful to watch their surrender to Christ in every part of their life!
Thank you Coral and Matt for being examples to me, and inspiring me to press on with JOY!

Also I found out something and I am sure I will talk about this more, but I just realized something during this trip that may surprise you or may not, but I did not know this until I searched for it!

God WILL give me more than I can handle! He is in the business of giving me too much on purpose! You know it is funny because my whole Christian walk I have trusted that he will never give me more than I can handle, but I am just now realizing that that is not true and if anything is true it is the opposite! He will give me way more than I can handle so I can grow by doing three things with “the more than I can handle”

1. it will teach me to prioritize and learn how to put some things down, give
some thing up, no matter how good they are.

2. I will learn to lean on the body of Christ, my family, and hand off some of
the things that are “too much” so the body can work together.

3. I will learn to go to my source of strength and power; JESUS! For his power
is made perfect in my weakness!

So I say with expectation and excitement, I am ready for the next… whatever that is, and I hope it is more than I can handle! I want to see Jesus at work, not Jaycee !

Thank you to my three Latvian friends, Agnese, Anna, and Baiba, who made this trip so special!!!

I’m leeeeeavin’ on a…..big boat! ;)

Today I will float my way over the Baltic sea for to for 5 days!!! I am sooo stinkin’ excited!! This will be a great time to reflect on the past 4 months of life here in Latvia. A good time to rest in the lap of my father and let him speak to me, heal me, revive me.

Can you pray that I will take the time needed to be with my Father on this trip? There will be many thins that could get in he way of that seeing I am going with three of my favorite Latvians, and I will be going to Holsby, a school that holds some of the best memories of my life, and meeting with a friend that means the world to me when I am there! So that being said, I know I will have to be intentional with my time, and keep Jesus at the center of this time.

I will be back in Latvia Sunday night. I hope to have some kind of communication while in Sweden, but I am not too sure what that will look like, so it might be Monday before I can write again.

I...Have....NO....TIME!!!!!!

Ahhhhh there are so many things I want to share…so many people i want to call…so many things on my heart….but no time!!! Ahhhhh!!!

Pray for me. Pray that I find strength in the Lord. I am tired and I am in need of refreshment! I am in need of encouragement from those who live Christ, love Christ, who are in Christ! My friends. My family. I miss you!

I am off to the orphanage yet again. Reason being, I will not be there for the next few weeks as I will be taking a short vacation to Sweden. I will visit some staff from Holsby; the Bible school I attended a few years back…so I guess that will be my rest and relaxation!!!

So I am blessed, even though as I sit and write this at 11:30pm knowing I still have to get lessons ready for tomorrow and Saturday, pack for the weekend, go to work in the morning, leave straight from there to the orphanage, come back on Sunday and have a day before I leave for Sweden… I am blessed!

I am ok.

Things are going well.

Very discombobulated at the moment, but goooood!

God is good and I am learning more and more about what t means to surrender to him and his call.

Did I say I missed you?
I Hope to write soon, but not too sure how and when that will be!

Cau!!!!!

I am Poooped!!!!

26 years old, and I feel like I am dying! Haha, can I actually say, “I am getting to old for this”? …NAH!!!!
Anyway I just returned home last night from the orphanage and I would have to say it was a pretty good time! I have bruises on my knees and legs, a big lump on the side of my head, and an aching back to prove it!!!
This weekend it snowed, and it snowed good! We woke up to lots of snow on Saturday morning, and of course what do you do in fresh snow??? PLAY!!!! And that we did!
I was tackled many times and I did some tackling myself!!! It was a blast! I got hit with a shovel to the side of my head that left me seeing stars for a bit, but other than that it was just a blast!













I taught English to the teachers and the director on Friday evening when I first arrived and then taught the kids on Saturday evening after dinner. We had two separate groups for the kids which made it way better for me! It was a lot of fun, and I just can say that I love those kids and I know that God has me there for a reason!

On Sunday morning after I packed up and was ready to leave, two of the teenage boys came and told me to go look outside… what I saw was a beautiful sight!!!
You may think; a snowman….or a snow fort…or something like that. NO1 it was better!
It was a BIG pile of snow right next the orphanage building wall (right under the window of one of the second story rooms!) I looked up and saw the window! Oh yes!!! And that when they asked me if I wanted to jump!!!
Who me? Jump from the second floor window into a pile of snow? Oh, I don’t know! That just sounds sooo….ummmm….soooo…FUN!!!!!!
Heck yes!
So I did! It was great!!!
Haha!!!

I love life! I love these Kids! I love Jesus!

Click here to see the slideshow

Back to the Orphanage...

I will be gone this weekend, as I will be teaching English again at the orphanage. If you remember please pray for that time, I always feel a heavy weight on my heart while I am preparing and while I am there… can you pray that Jesus is the center of my being and that his light will shine brightly in that place?
And that I would be bold and courageous during this time.

Thank you all!

I have Internet!!!

I was blessed to have a roommate who is a web designer, and needs internet!!! Whoo hoo!!! So I am connected once again to all…well at least for a month, until I move to my new apartment, where I most likely will not have internet… but we will see! But as for now I am blessed to have it! So “Skype me!” (And if you do not know what that means…you should…
Go to http://www.skype.com
And get hooked up!

It snowed!!!

Well for one day and then it was gone again ☹
But the past two days it has been unbearably cold, so I know as soon as we get any clods we will have snow!!! Whoo hoo, praise Jesus!
I know, I know! You all are flipping out wondering why I want it to snow…well I think I am ready!! it has been raining for months now and I would love a change in weather! I think I will be ok, and since it has come so late it will be a good ”taster” for next year!! Haha!!

Well come on, if it snowed in AZ and not here, you got to admit that’s not normal!!! So yeah!

Weird entry I know…sorry!

Just some great thoughts...

I have been reading a book that I would suggest everyone should read right now. My mom gave it to me for Christmas and I have not been able to get it off of my mind! It is just a book with so much truth that you can’t help but think deeply of it all the time!
It is called

The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennen Manning.

Here is one of a hundred places I have underlined…ahhh I is soo coooool!

“When I get honest, I admit I am a bundle of paradoxes. I believe and I doubt, I hope and I get discouraged, I love and I hate, I feel bad about feeling good, I feel guilty about not feeling guilty. I am trusting and suspicious. I am honest and I still play games. Aristotle said, “I am a rational animal”; I say I am an angel with a incredible capacity for beer.”

Ok ok, one more!!!

“something is radically wrong when the local church rejects a person accepted by Jesus – when a harsh, judgmental, and unforgiving sentence is passed on homosexuals; when a divorcee is denied communion; when the child of a prostitute is refused baptism. Jesus comes to the ungodly, even on Sunday morning. His coming ends ungodliness and MAKES US WORTHY.
Otherwise we are establishing at the heart of Christianity an utterly ungodly and unworthy preoccupation with works.”

Back from SofL...

I just returned home from a wonderful weekend at the 2nd School Of Leaders. This is such an exciting thing to be apart of, let me tell you! I have been blessed to have an opportunity to hang out with some amazing young leaders who are passionate about reaching the youth of Latvia!!
The program that we run is pretty cool. We have gone over so many topics that we hope will equip and train these young leaders to build a youth ministry in their home towns that will be solid and have a foundation built on the power of Christ!

These people are just amazing, and have a joy for Jesus that I sometimes covet (if I am honest!) and they are so ready to know how to make their youth ministries grow and to see people come to know Christ the way they do!!! Oh this is so cool!

Here are some pictures of the weekend…



Oh yeah it snowed! Well for a day, cuz the next day it was already melting…bummer, still not much of a winter here so far… but I am praying we will get some snow that will stick soon!

So, I am off for the second “School Of Leaders”

I am gone for the weekend. I hope to come in on Monday and catch up on communication with everyone. But we will see. I have no Internet where I am staying so I only have Internet access when I am in the office, and that is 2 days a week right now. Just so you know why my communication is a little different.

Be back on Monday.

Moved in!!!!

Well, I spent my first night in my own apartment!!! This apartment is just a temporary place to stay until I can move into the one that I have actually chosen to rent.
It is getting remodeled as we speak, and should be done in a month or two.

So this apartment that I am staying in now is pretty cool, I think! Not many others have shared the same thoughts as myself though. I have had responses range from:

“ooo, that area? Well just don’t walk around at night!” (Liva)

“I think this is the area where all the criminals come from” (Baiba)

“I need you to call me every morning to make sure you are ok” (Scott)

“ I would never live here” (Baiba)

And many more!

But honestly, I don’t think it is that bad. Now, I know, you are probably laughing right now because if you know me I really don’t mind “bad” places. But I do agree that it looks a little shady around there, but it is cool.

Funny thing is I know that nothing will happen to me unless my Jesus has a plan in it. So I will rest in that.

The apartment it’s self is amazingly nice, I think. It is remodeled and looks clean. It has a great view out the window… I will post some pictures soon.
Oh yeah, and one of my favorite parts…it is about 100 yards from a graveyard! Yesss! It is beautiful! Yeah I know you may think it is creepy, but I really like it! It is quite and well just nice!

Good News...and...Bad News

Bad news:
I do not have Internet access anymore! Well I obviously do, but just not daily like it has been since I came here 3 months ago. I will not be able to communicate as well as I have in the past. So we will have to work at trying to connect more than we have in the past.

GOOD NEWS:
I have keys to an apartment that I will be moving into until the apartment that I will be renting out gets remodeled. The people that I will be renting from have an apartment that they are looking to sell but they are not going to sell it for a few months, so they have decided to rent it out to me while I wait for my apartment to be finished!

Sweet!

So in the next few days I will be moving from Scott and Lisa’s to a new apartment!!! This is a huge answer to prayer as I have been living out of bags since my arrival here 3 months ago.

This will definitely be an adjustment to what I have been experiencing so far. So I will need your prayer. I have been quite comfortable living with the Runzo’s (and in Paul house while he has been in the states) but now I am moving from this community that now seems like family to me, to a place that is an hour away from them and I will be on my own during that time.

No TV.
No Internet.
No phone.
No roommate.

This is so good in so many ways, but scary too!

Good because I am glad to get out of routine and out of my comfort because I have learned over the years that doing that brings me into a deeper intimacy with my savior! And that I cannot wait to experience again!

Scary because I do not know the area or anyone who lives around there, so I feel isolated and alone, I do not know the quality of the neighborhood, I will be by myself walking home, and being in the apartment.

Please pray that I look to Christ in my loneliness before I look to others. But also that I will have the confidence to reach out to others when I need community, and that Jesus would give me confidence and peace knowing that nothing can happen to me that is not part of his plan, and that I am safe in his undying grip.

Also can you pray for the moving process? This apartment is an hour away and it is on the fifth floor! So it will be fun (even though my belongings don’t consist of much) to lug everything up five flights of stairs!

I miss you all so much! thanks for the comments ;)

Maybe...Just MAYBEEEE!!!!

I think I have an apartment! Well I will have to wait for another month or two while the apartment gets remodeled, but it is GOOD!!! God is GOOD!!!
The location couldn’t be better, the landlord couldn’t be better, the price is exactly the price I can afford, I could not ask for anything better!

Funny thing is, before I went to go look at this apartment I was praying that the Lord would do his will and that I would be ok with whatever his decision was on this apartment. And there was this voice deep inside of me saying, “Jaycee, you need to wait longer!” what?!!! What is that supposed to mean? Does that mean that this one is not the one? “wait longer”? but, how long?! I have been here for over three months and I am still living out of bags! Wait longer, yeah ok, no problem, but how long is “longer”? I was in turmoil over this, because the voice was so clear! It scared me!

what you say, but I think that I wIt scared me because I felt like saying, “God, I lobe you and I respectill take this apartment if it looks ok, I don’t know if I can just wait as I have for so long!” my fear was that I heard Gods voice, and I was willing to ignore it!

He fixed that when I got to the place to look at it though!!! We walked in and it was completely torn up! No way I could move in! But after talking to the owner who was renting it, I knew this was the place, and I knew now why my Jesus said I will need to wait longer! He was just preparing my heart! What an awesome friend I have in him!

So the apartment will be under construction for the next month or so, in the mean time I will be looking for a temporary place to go, if that is not possible I will just need to take a deep breath and hang in there for another month or so commuting the hour or more into town daily from the Runzos! Which I know I can do, and I count a blessing to be able to have a place to stay!


Here are a few pictures of what it looks like right now:

Back from "teachin"

So I am back from my first weekend officially teaching English at the orphanage! I have learned something while I was there this weekend, and that is;
Teaching English is just a way for me to come and build relationships with these kids and with the staff. I am not a teacher, and really never will be! But I do enjoy the thought of growing in friendship and relationship with the people there!

I taught English for 1 hours out of the whole weekend! The rest of the time was just hanging out, playing, eating, just living life with them! It was great! I was dead tired by the end of the weekend, but I was sooo worth it!

I will be teaching more next time, this time was just a “dry run” to see where the kids were at in their English and where I will need to start teaching. So it will look different next time, but none the less, I know that it is not the quality of my teaching skills that matter to them, it is the Quality of love I can give to them….and that my family is not a problem, since the love inside of me is CHRIST through me!!! Oh yeah!!! This is exciting!

Click photo to see more pictures

oph 2 learn sum english langage to sum kidz...

So it is four days into 2007! Crazy!

Here are a few pictures of my New Year celebration with 3 of “my girls”
Sintija (long brown hair) Santa (short brown hair) and Krista (Blonde/red hair)

It was a great time with them! I cooked spaghetti for dinner and French toast for breakfast…I KNOW!! I COOKED!!! Go figure! We set off fireworks, with only a few not going exactly up, instead, going into neighbor’s yards and blowing up (not joking!!!) and then stayed up till about 4am! It was a blast!!!

The past few days have been beautiful restful days for me here in Latvia. Not much going on and since it is the holiday I have had a chance to just take some time for myself and have enjoyed some great times with my Jesus!
Solitude is so sweet sometimes!

There is some good news to share… I might have an apartment!!! We go look at it on Monday and this one seems to be the most promising thus far! I cam see the Lords hand in this for sure, and even if we do not get this one it will be ok, I ma just really encouraged by the movement of God in my life! It is very sweet!
So if you could pray that Jesus gets his way in this whole apartment thing. I am ready to give it up to him, so he can do what he wants! I will let you know as soon as I know more…but… it is way exciting just thinking about the possibility of finally moving into a place I can call home!

So tomorrow bright and early (6am to be exact!) I will be waling out the door for my first official teaching engagement at the orphanage! I am totally unprepared and scared out of my mind at the thought of teaching English to such a wide range of ages! But I will take full confidence in Christ in me, knowing he is made perfect, he will be seen much more clearly in my weakness than in anything I ‘think’ I can do on my own!
What a blessing it is to know that he is made PERFECT in my WEAKNESS!!!!
Ahhh what a beautiful, crazy, out of the box Lord we serve!!!
I love it!!!

So I will be gone from Friday until Sunday evening…bringing “my girls” back to stay with me on Sunday night, as they go to school in Riga Monday through Friday. And then it is right back to work on Monday! Whoo hooo!!! I feel a sense of excitement in my soul for this coming year and what God has planned for us all!!!

Talk to you sooon!