It's not over

     It has been 74 days since I've been home from traveling around the world. I've loved and strongly disliked being back in America, back home, and back in school. My life feels so radically different than when I left.  I still don't know how to fall back into the life I left in August.
     God has graciously granted me 29 other people who are going through the same thing. I have a new family I never imagined I would be so lucky to have. God's given me more blessings than I know what to do with!
     Being back I've come to realize that the adventure isn't over.  I still have memories to be made with amazing people! I still have battles to fight. I still have random things to discover. Just because I'm not in a different country doesn't mean God can't show up and meet me in an entirely new way.
     My semester around the world has changed me in the best way possible. I am not the same person I was before I left and that is CLEARLY evident. God lit a fire in my heart that is forever burning to be challenged, to grow, to make change, and to love! I have been created to love and that is what I get to do every day no matter where I am.
     I am so excited for the rest of my Sophomore year at Concordia. I am excited to see what else God has in store for me and for the wonderful people I get to call family!

I just want to be asked a question

     It has been almost two weeks since I flew into LAX from Hong Kong. It has been 13 days since I ended my journey around the world. I don't know how to go about comprehending what I've done in the past four months.
     People ask me how my trip was and all I can really come up with is, "It was AMAZING. I can't even begin to put it all into words." Most people leave it at that. I knew not everyone would want to hear. I don't know how to decipher between someone who doesn't want to know and someone who doesn't know what to ask.
     I find myself simply wanting to be asked questions about my travels. I want someone to dive into what God has done in my life the past four months. I don't yet know how to explain it all without questions. Maybe I need to start questioning myself about it all.
    I feel so very blessed to have spent the past four months of my life traveling around the world with 29 other people. I have been shown Gods love and His kingdom in more ways than I ever expected. I am so excited to see where He calls me and where He calls the other 29. I know that great things happened with each one of us. I am overjoyed at the thought of what great things are yet to come.

six countries later...

...and I am now in Indonesia! Time has flown by at rapid speed. I have less than one month left of my journey around the world! I've spent the past three months in and out of international airports, and I have only two more flights left; one to China and then one headed back home.
     Right now I'm sitting in a little outdoors restaurant using free wifi in BALI. I'm sitting on a little round blue pillow on the floor wasting time on Facebook.  I don't have words to describe how amazing this place is. I plan to move to Bali at some point in my life, without a doubt.  I want to take everyone I know here so they  can experience this place with me.
     After being in India this place is a breath of fresh air. India wasn't bad, it just was A LOT all at once.  Being here I'm able to walk freely around a little artsy town.  I'm painting, journaling, and drinking juice ALL the time.  My entire body is happy.
     I'm excited for the next 28 days of this trip.  I know they're going to be amazing.  I'm also excited though to go home and share my experience here with everyone else!

Won't You dance with me

     Erica Norton, the amazing wife of my professor John Norton, has just introduced me to a song that has captured my heart completely.  "Dance With Me" by Chris Quailala is a song that captures one of my favorite things to do with God: DANCE!  My soul longs to dance with the Lord and this song stirs that desire even more. 
     I'm sitting in an airport in Helsinki, Finland listening to this song with big black headphones that drown out all the noises around me.  Members of my Around the World team are sitting, walking, and conversing around me but I'm in my own world.  Nothing else seems to exist but these words that drip out of this mans mouth, into my ears, and straight to my soul.  I want to so badly get up and begin dancing in the middle of this airport, there's plenty of room to do it too.  We're sitting down stairs near our terminal and there are big areas open, inviting me to frolic.
    I love that the Lord has created each one of us to have different passions and talents. Each one of us is especially unique.  These Around the World team specifically has so many unique gifts and passions in each person.  We all fit together like a puzzle to form something beautiful. I feel so blessed to be on this trip with all of these amazing people.



Dance With Me by Chris Quilala
Behold You have come over the hills upon the mountain

To me, You will run. My Beloved, You've captured my heart
Won't You dance with me, Oh
Lover of my soul,
to the song of all songs?

With You, I will go You are my Love You are my Fair One
The winter has passed and the springtime has come

Won't You dance with me, Oh
Lover of my soul,
to the song of all songs?
Romance me, Oh
Lover of my soul
to the song of all songs.

Final Days of Russia

     I've spent the last two days wandering around Moscow, Russia like a tourist. This is the first time so far I actually feel more like a tourist than a world traveler. We're staying in a hotel room with actual beds, real towels, key cards, elevators, and people who speak English at the front desk.  Yesterday we walked around the Red Square and surrounding areas.  We saw Lenin in the dead flesh, walked inside St. Basil's, roamed the streets, went into the inner city of the Kremlin, and hung out on a long pedestrian street. In total i took 386 photos yesterday in the span of 10 hours.  Today we split up and went to one of the biggest markets in Europe that happens to be right outside our hotel.  I bought some beautiful things: Russian dolls, Amber, Christmas ornaments, Russian socks, and them most amazing handcrafted leather journal.  It has been a very successful day.  And to end it I was sung an Aaron Bird original song, read a bedtime story by Brock Powell, and sung to by our very own Backstreet Boys (Sam, Macho, Steven, Brock, Aaron, Ben, and Ethan in spirit).  These men just continue to surprise us Around the World girls.  They really are some of the most amazing guys I've ever met and I'm so excited to spend three more months with all of them!
     It's strange that we're already leaving Russia; our time here has gone by so fast. It seems like our last few days especially were filled with A LOT of adventures and new people.  I will miss Russia, and I will miss the people I've met and grown close to over the past two weeks. Russia has been a bit of everything, both cold and warm (in two senses of each word).
     Tomorrow I head to Turkey to spend two more weeks traveling and exploring. I hope to meet more new people, experience more new things, and continue to be stretched.

RUSSIA

     Out of Argentina, onto a flight to Chile for 2 hours, learned Russian with Ellie, in Chile airport for 1.5 hours, on a flight to New York for 11 hours, sleeping horrifically in a vertical position, in New York for 8 hours buying supplies and hanging out, on a flight to Finland for 8 hours, barely making it on my last flight, figuring out I had a 100.2 fever, making it to Moscow, finding out that my luggage had been lost, filled out a ton of paperwork, got a bus for 15 minutes, stoped at a random Russian store to pick up some supplies i was without due to lost luggage, ate yummy pizza and Sabaro, back on bus for 4 hours, and I am now finally in Vladimir, Russia!! 
     I left Buenos Aires, Argentina Sunday at 5pm (Argentina time) and I finally made it to Vladimir, Russia last night around 8pm (Russia time). So it took me about two days to finally get here, longest experience of my life! Not going to lie it was difficult because I was super sick as we were flying; stuffy nose, soar throat, achey, chills, all the promises of a super bad cold.  But I am here now!
     I think I like it here in Russia. It rained today while we were out buying supplies; my very first foreign rain experience. The rain here isn't any different from the rain at home, although it felt significantly colder due to the 40something degree weather outside. I totally paid for a bus ride today too, prior to rain. It was a very exciting experience!
     OH so my bag totally got left in Helsinki, Finland. Six of our 30 bags got lost somewhere between New York and Moscow. So that was interesting, something else to add to my 100 degree stupid cold. But it was okay, it didn't bother me really. I knew i could get by a couple days with nothing but the clothes on my back and a few other things. My big bag is just a bunch of books, chargers, clothes, and DEADWEIGHT! That beast is heavy, I'm going to have some very nice muscles after this trip so look out.
     Russia succeeded in following through with one of it's stereotypes I was informed of prior to my arrival: I met a guy names Vladimir. Who else but a Russian would be named Vladimir? Nice guy, but it makes my heart chuckle a little, especially because the city I'm in is called Vladimir. Anyhow, I've noticed there's a pattern of chivalry with the men here. They really like helping all of us girls do things. When I first got here I was welcomed by a man who spoke some English, and he insisted on taking the 3 plastic bags I was carrying in my hand. It was something I could have easily held but he would not take no for an answer. I could get use to that I suppose. Oh, and I was bowed to twice tonight! This guy said goodnight on two different occasions this evening and bowed both times, very interesting. I was not sure what response to that should be, so I smiled.
     Tomorrow I have breakfast, class, lunch, service work, dinner, and homework.  There will be much more fun in there than it sounds, promise! I'm excited to see more of what Russia has to offer. It's a beautiful place that I feel as if I could be falling in love with. I'm working on learning more of the language, it's quite difficult though. Thank God for Serge and Paul, our lovely translators! Without these guys I would understand very little of this world around me.
     Well it's almost 12am here, and I still have quite a bit of homework to do so I shall be off. I'm excited for what God's doing with all of us here in Russia and I'm stoked to see what unfolds each day at a time!

so little time

I've officially been in Argentina for a week and I've come to find that I really don't have much time to blog. I hardly ever pick up my laptop, unless it's to do homework at 12am before class the next morning, or to quickly load pictures up on my computer. Each day is packed full with classes, serving, and adventure.  There's just not enough time in the days to spend some leisure time on things like facebook. Right now it's 1:30am here, so I'm choosing this instead of sleeping; whether or not this is a smart disicion shall be determined tomorrow morning.

Buenos Aires, Argentina is a fantastic place to start this trip around the world. The culture and lifestyles seem to be more similar to mine own then I expected. It's also nice that atleast a few of us can carry out legitamet conversations with people around the city. I am not one of those few. My spanish ablities are very minimal. I can ask where are you from, how are you, what's your favorite color, and what time is it...that's about it. So conversations is something I tend to not try too hard at, although I've gotten much better at it.

So far my days have consisted of a mix of classes, walking, sightseeing, haning out with kids in slums, yummy food, spanish, and plenty of amazing memories with awesome people. I love that i get to wake up in the morning, shower in a semicold shower, go down stairs and eat bread with dolce de leche, have devotions, have class, go out and about on the Buenos Aires streets, go hang out with kids in slums, then come back to the hostel and hang out!! This life is so amazing!! I love being able to walk around the Argentine streets, it makes my heart very happy. There's so much to see, smell, eat, and fall in love with.

I can't believe this is only the 1st week of this 4 month adventure and already so much has happened. All of us have already grown close together, and that's really exciting to see all of these relationships develop and grow. I'm excited to see what God has for us for the rest of our time here!!  For now I'm going to enjoy each moment as they happen.