My Last Week in Utah

I dont know how time has gone so fast but it is officially the final week of my internship here in Utah. So much has happened over the last ten weeks its honestly insane.

God has used my time here in so many incredible ways. He has allowed me to connect with an incredible number of pastors and ministry workers spanning Nevada, Utah, Idaho and Wyoming. God has developed friendships in my life that are rooted, lasting and incredibly meaningful. He has also used my time to bring me along an amazing spiritual journey personally. There is no way to put into words everything that God has done in only a short time. There is one thing that has characterized my summer overall however.

The theme God has continued to stress in my life this summer is listening. Listening in a few different ways. First of all listening to those Ive been here to share Christ's love with. Although I 'knew' the importance of listening before, I have been challenged to deepen my listening skills when it comes to sharing Christ with people who need Him. (Nobody cares how much you know unless they know how much you care. Thanks Ken) Secondly the importance of listening to those in ministry ahead of me. There has been SO MUCH wisdom dumped on me (for lack of a better expression) this summer. Its pretty humbling to have had the opportunity to sit with men that have been active in service on the Utah field in some cases for longer than I have been alive. To be able to spend time with them, not in a classroom or seminar setting but at their home, experiencing life with them, what an incredible opportunity. I have gained an absolutely invaluable amount of knowledge from these men. And finally (as well as most importantly) the practice to listening to the Holy Spirit. This has been by far the most difficult lesson for me to learn this summer, and I am by no means done learning in this area (this is a lifetime learning course of study). I have however thoroughly enjoyed the adventure of hearing the voice of the Lord and obeying, even when there doesnt seem to be any rhyme or reason behind what the Lord may be leading me to do (like going downstairs to read, sharing certain aspects of my testimony, asking a certain question, making a certain phone call, the list is pretty much endless). If there is one thing that I can take away from this summer (obviously there are millions of things for me to take away) it would be that God loves us down to the tiniest of details. He knows exactly the perfect plan that He has for each and every one of us. And a life lived in obedience to His majestic whispers is a life lived in the fullness of the freedom of Christ.

I hope that made sense...

My last official summer prayer request: that God would provide opportunities for me to spend time with the people who have played an important role in my life this summer here in the Utah valley area. That God would bless my friends with safe travel to and from Utah this upcoming week. And that He would be preparing each of the EMI team members for our ministry this upcoming school year. (And of course anything and everything in-between that I didnt mention)

Thank you all so much for your faithful prayers over the course of this summer. I cant wait to see many of you soon!

St. George

I dont know where my summer went but I have officially arrived at my last full week in Utah. Totally crazy. Today I drove from Springville down to St. George, I will be spending the week down here with Southland Bible Church's youth pastor Jason. Basically gonna be going around doing different stuff that needs to be done, checking out some areas down here that dont have any Christian churches and talking ministry as much as possible. Im really looking forward to what God is going to do this week!

Sorry that its been a while since my last posting. A ton has happened during the in-between time! Last week we had three youth groups from Colorado come out and put on a VBS at Grace. I got to help out with that and had a great time getting to know each of the three pastors as well as their kids. Last Monday we took them to temple square and did that whole bit, it was really cool to see God working in each of the high schoolers, eyes were definitely opened that first day to the spiritual situation here in Utah.

On Thursday I had the opportunity to meet up with an LDS friend of mine that I met over last Spring break. We got lunch and had an honestly RIDICULOUSLY awesome conversation!!! We went back to the LDS institute after lunch (he is an institute professor) and God opened up more doors for conversation. I ended up talking with four LDS profs, through their questions about my summer, my schooling and my involvement with EMI God allowed me to flat out share the Gospel with them. It was pretty nuts. And by "it was pretty nuts" I mean it was totally and completely off the chain God working in Utah craziness.

As far as prayer requests go, I would ask that you all be praying for each of the institute professors that I got to talk with. That God would be working in each of them, calling them to Himself. That He would open more doors for me to continue to share with them (they want to get together and have a dinner for me before I leave for California). Also that God would continue to guide my heart and my actions towards the ministry He has set before me. And finally, obviously that God would use me here in St. George this week and that His will would be done!

Thank you everybody so much for your prayers. I cant wait to see you all and get to tell you all more details about what God has done this summer!