: )

Just want to say thank you to all of you who are keeping me in your prayers and giving me your encouragement. : )

It was a tough beginning this week, but I'm doing alot better now. I was just dealing with alot of stress, exhaustion, and homesickness. I took it all to God and just cried out to Him to help me get through this week. God ceases to amaze me by His unending faithfulness! Yes, I was still tired and yes, it was still hard, but somehow God renewed my energy and gave me a new motivation to keep going. And it actually ended up being a great week. God totally turned something that seemed dark and cloudy into something I will never forget: God hears me and He is faithful. : )

Today we had "Faith Day." It was SO cool! The leaders took us to downtown Salem and dropped us off and gave us an envelope with ten dollars and a list of things to do around the city. We weren't allowed any other money or cell phones; just our IDs. And the money the gave us couldn't be spent on ourselves or each other; it had to be someone else. It was such an awesome experience! We just walked around Salem, waiting for God to lead us around every corner and to show us what He wanted us to do. We and my partner (we were split into groups of twos) walked with an old lady around the park, gave some food to a little kid, talked to a homeless guy, went into a Catholic church and prayed for all the people, prayed over a tattoo shop (we don't know why! We just felt led!), talked to and prayed for a man who was involved with a transitional home for teens who are socially inept, and gave money to a man who was in line to buy a hot dog and a mom with a little kid on her hip. It was one of the coolest things ever! At first I was totally nervous, because it was all totally new to me. But then, just the feeling of talking to someone, or giving something to someone and having it totally change and brighten their day- it's like the best feeling ever! : )

Yeah, it was pretty awesome, and I totally view people differently now. Salem is such a diverse and beautiful city. I loved taking it all in.

Also, my friend Arielle came home today! Well, came back to Salem anyways. : ) We're gonna try and hang out tomorrow, if I can get most of my homework done.

Next week is Plumbline week, aka "Forgiveness & Repentance Week." I keep hearing how emotional and intense it's going to be- SO PLEASE PRAY FOR US ALL! It's emotionally draining but also one of the best weeks of DTS because it brings everyone together on a whole new level.

I'm continuing to receive financial support- THANK YOU!

Sorry for the sporatic updates. I wish I had time to write more and post pictures, but time is SO limited here with my schedule. Thanks for reading though.

: )