So, this weekend I went to Greenwood for our last meeting before we leave for Kenya! It was such a great, great weekend. We spent last night packing things and just hanging out. It was so great to see Brittany, Amanda, Chrissy, Steven and Dr. & Mrs. Hawkins. We had a blast and it was really good to catch up with them. I'm so blessed to have such extraordinary friends.

Today we got commissioned during each of the three services. It was very, very powerful. I really felt everyone's prayers surrounding us as we were standing up there. I think that is my favorite feeling in the world.. The actual feeling of prayer. It's amazing.

After Church we had our meeting and spent a couple of hours together before leaving. The meeting went well and we all left overly excited! 11 days.. 11 days until we're in KENYA!!!!!!!! YAY!

I want to ask that you all will begin praying for our team and those that we will meet. Please pray that God will begin preparing our hearts and minds for all He is going to do. I appreciate it more than words could ever describe.


I'll leave with just a few of my favorite quotes about missions.. :)

"A tiny group of believers who have the gospel keep mumbling it over and over to themselves. Meanwhile, millions who have never heard it once fall into the flames of eternal hell without ever hearing the salvation story."
- K.P. Yohannan


"Today five out of six non-Christians in our world have no hope unless missionaries come to them and plant the church among them."
- David Bryant


"Lost people matter to God, and so they must matter to us." -- Keith Wright


"This generation of Christians is responsible for this generation of souls on the earth!" -- Keith Green


“The light that shines farthest shines brightest at home." -- C.T. Studd


“God had only one Son and he made that Son a missionary.” -- David Livingston

It's really STILL an issue?

Hello friends!

So, I'm a complete slacker and haven't published a blog in quite some time. My life has been bombarded with exams, work and now pneumonia.. Yes, that is right, I have pneumonia. I think that I am the only one in the world that could manage to get pneumonia... in the summer! Thanks to a great doctor, three different steroids, an inhaler, a great antibiotic, a shot in the butt, loads of chicken noodle soup and endless amounts of hot tea, though, I feel like I am finally on my way to getting better. :). Enough about that, though.. Who wants to hear about pneumonia when you can hear about what is on my heart today? Ha!

Today's blog is about the ever so controversial subject of race. This subject is on my heart currently for a number of reasons. The main reason, however, that it is currently on my heart now, more so than typically, is due to a conversation that I had with a good friend a few days ago. He is an African American male and I am, obviously, a white female. I honestly can't remember what started the whole conversation about our different races, but it was a conversation that lasted well over four hours. I find it crazy that two people can manage to carry on a conversation about race for that long, but some how we did. We talked about everything concerning race. It was such a refreshing, yet disturbing conversation.

We both shared stories about how we had experienced racism in our lives and how our race had been the cause of various things. It is so shocking to me that racism is still an issue. It is 2009 and people really still care about something as small as skin color? It breaks my heart to think that racism is still an issue. Not only does it break my heart that people are still being persecuted and looked down upon because of their skin color, but it breaks my heart even more that those who are the 'racist' are missing out on the opportunity to get to know GREAT people.. because of their SKIN color.

I've been very, very blessed with eyes that have never seen skin color as anything more than beauty. How dull would this world be if we were all one color? I praise God that we aren't all the same. It would be so boring. Now, I realize that I am from a very different generation with very different views than those older than me. I've tried to understand how racism could still be an issue for older generations but I just don't get it. I also REALLY don't get how ANYONE in my generation has issues with race. It's just ridiculous to me. Racism is the one thing that manages to get under my skin, break my heart and make my blood boil all at the same time.

I don't really have anything big to say or famous last words to write.. I just had to get this whole race issue off my chest. With all this said, though, please know that I am praying very hard for a few things. First, I am praying that God will give me more patience in dealing with the never-ending issue of race. I am also praying that every new generation will continue to become more accepting and as time continues to pass race will become less and less of an issue.

-Rissa

30 days 'til Kenya... OH MY GOSH!!! :-D