do me a favor and imagine the north pole…then imagine yourself walking through it with just a bathing suit. do you have that picture in your head? can you feel how COLD it is? ok. now you know how i felt taking a shower at training camp!!! haha! i am SO thankful for the one SHOWER i took this WEEK. the one time i SHAVED. and the one time i washed my HAIR. 🙂 if your sitting home reading this and its night time, think of me before you get into that warm shower and say a little prayer for my teammates because i have decided that i’m not showering for the next 2 months! and im...

Traveling is one of my passions. I would live out of a suitcase if it meant seeing new and exciting things all of the time. However these past few weeks I feel like I have been going, going, going. A recent family vacation (prior to training camp for my mission trip to India) seemed like an awesome idea at the beginning of summer. Somewhat like one last hoorah with my family before we say goodbye for the summer. The trip was amazing and worthwhile, but it left me exhausted getting to training camp. My body was physically and emotionally drained. However, slowly I could feel my soul being...

 Ok, so I know this is really weird but yesterday at breakfast I started thinking about Harry Potter and X-men. My team was sitting around the table talking about our spiritual gifts and encouraging each other in them. It just reminded me so much of Hogwarts or Xavier School for the Gifted (I know this isn’t the name of the school but this is all I’m coming up with). Anyway, it’s incredible how we have begun to form this community so quickly. It’s incredibly awesome to be surrounded by people who are interested in your gifts, your life, and who are so eager to...

Ok, so the last few days have been training camp. and, well it has completely blown me away..better yet, God has completely blown me away. I thought while I was on the field it was going to be hard for me to hear his voice, and through multiple situations I was afraid of telling people the things I new God was telling me. It was not until we were doing a little “drill” if you will. were we would close our eyes and someone from another team would come up and put there hand on us, we then had to pray that God would tell us something for that person (keep in mind we have no idea...

Monday was our last full day of training camp. After an early breakfast, all 100-something of us fire-breathing missionaries gathered in the meeting hall for our last worship together. As we took our seats, the director of training camp stood up and asked us to quiet down. He suggested we take a moment to stand in silence and listen for the Lord to speak. As we stood there, it was completely silent–except for the faint whispering of the Holy Spirit. In a very clear voice I heard the Lord say to me, “You will heal Alison tonight.”   Alison has acid reflux disease....

Flashback to the preceding couple weeks before training camp: as anticipation builds in my mind and heart there is excitement but as the same time, a frustrating feeling of dread that I cannot shake. The same string of thoughts keep plaguing me; “God, my life is in no way shape or form in order, and I have absolutely no idea what I am getting into. How can you use me to speak your love to other women when I feel like I am all over the place?”  Now come forward to Saturday night worship service in a auditorium full of flags from around the worlds and young men and women of...