My husband and I were fortunate to have time off during the holidays this year. In addition to connecting with family and friends, traveling, skiing, and relaxing, I enjoyed using some of that time to reflect upon 2013. To that end, today, I'm...
Today I'm linking up with Amongst Lovely Things to share some of my favorite posts from 2013.
Post with the most clicks: Why I Submit, a post I wrote for Rachel Held Evan's one-to-another link-up. This was a fun post for me to...
I've made several trips to the post office in the past few days, mailing support letters from members of our mission trip team to their family and friends, asking them to support their trip prayerfully and/or financially.
While standard in many...
I'm currently knee-deep in mission trip preparations for my team's 2014 trip to Rwanda. As part of this mission trip preparation, I'm working hard to shatter any Messiah complexes my team members might have.
That Messiah complexes exist in teens...
One of the greatest gifts my Mom gave me is a love of reading. I grew up in a house that was loaded with books and I loved reading, even as a small child.
Today, my house is the same way. We have books everywhere: Three dedicated shelves as...
Youth workers live busy lives. As soon as one trip or program ends, the next begins. So it is with mission trips.
As soon as you pull into the church parking lot at the end of your trip, inevitably someone asks, "Where are we going next year?" or...
During the wee hours of our summer mission trip, I realized one of my student leaders was in the midst of a spiritual crisis.
Just before the trip, her atheist friend asked her, “Why do you believe in God?” In that moment, she realized she didn't...
The other day, this tweet from People caught my attention:
Christina Aguilera takes an emotional trip to Rwanda, says "I know I will go back." http://t.co/aAU6D0QTeN
— People magazine (@peoplemag) September 26, 2013
Having grown to love Rwanda...
Summer's nearly over and your youth group members are returning to school. As a youth worker, you know what that means, right?
Even if your bags are barely unpacked from this summer's trip, it's time to start planning your next mission trip.
...
On the way to our summer mission trip in Red Lake Indian Reservation, an ELCA church graciously allowed us to spend the night in their facility. The next morning, we worshiped with them.
Later, many of my students commented on how the church we...