I just wanted to let everyone know that I started a new blog:

www.laurainguadalajara.blogspot.com (even though I really won't be in Guadalajara until January). I won't be updating this xanga one as much now.

Currently Listening A Grateful People see related

We had our last girls' night the other night (or at least the last one here with all of us actually there). I expect some visits and some more girls' nights in Mexico though friends! It was just a great night....again I am just amazed at the kind of friends God has placed in my life. I can honestly say that I have never had a group of friends who would spend a Friday night just sitting around reading Scripture and taking time to pray for each other. Girls, that meant more to me than any movie we could have spent time watching. Here are a few pics from the night because of course we had to have a little "photo shoot."

Currently Reading Future Grace By John Piper see related

I can't believe how fast time is going by. Only 5 more days until I go to MLC! On Sunday night, my friend Bekah got home from spending a summer in Kenya and since then this week has just been busy. Me, Ashley, and Briana spent the night with Bekah that night and didn't go to bed until 6 the next morning. We had a lot of catching up to do!

Tuesday morning I got to eat breakfast with some of my friends who spent the summer in Guadalajara, David (one of the missionaries from GDL), and Donny, my college pastor. It was so good just to sit down and talk about our strategy to reach university students in Guadalajara. It got me even more excited about going. Tuesday night, my friend Danielle threw me a surprise party....and I was definitely surprised. I thought we were just having a "girls' night" and when I got there, there were probably 25 people there. But the sweetest part was that they incorporated a time of prayer into the night. My friends gathering around me, laying hands on me, and praying over me meant more than anything else they could have done. I'll just say that I cried.....imagine that...lol.

Then I met yesterday for lunch to discuss GDL again. I ate with Kathy Patton, Amy Shoemaker (past missionary to GDL), and Becky (David's wife). Again, it was just an encouraging time. I'm just amazed lately thinking about how good God is in surrounding me with the people He has. He has blessed me with amazing friends and just so many godly women that I especially look up to. So while this week has been hard, with saying some goodbyes already, it has also been encouraging and exciting to think about what lies ahead.

Currently Reading My Utmost for His Highest: Updated Promotional (My Utmost for His Highest) By Oswald Chambers see related

"When Jesus finished commanding His twelve disciples He departed from there to teach and to preach in their cities." Matthew 11:1

He comes where He commands us to leave.If you stayed home when God told you to go because you were so concerned about your own people there, then you actually robbed them of the teaching of Jesus Christ Himself. When you obeyed and left all the consequences to God, the Lord went into your city to teach, but as long as you were disobedient, you blocked His way. Watch where you begin to debate with Him and put what you call your duty into competition with His commands. If you say, "I know that He told me to go, but my duty is here," it simply means that you do not believe that Jesus means what He says.   Oswald Chambers in My Utmost For His Highest

This paragraph really struck me the other day. It is a great reminder that even if I feel I have some duty here, I cannot think that my "duty" is more important than what God has commanded me to do. This may not make sense to anyone reading this, but I am not going to go into a big long explanation on xanga. Sometimes I kind of feel like I need to stay here for my family and sometimes I even feel a little guilty for leaving them for 2 years. But I have to remember that this is what God has called me to and His plans are much better and wiser than mine. And the last thing I want to do is rob my family of the teaching of Jesus Christ Himself. Because while I learn more about Him and grow these next 2 years, I know that He is going to teach my family as well.

Jacob....this post is for you.

Today I ordered 3 John Piper books: Desiring God, The Pleasures of God, and Future Grace. I am really excited about reading them. I know it is still probably hard for you to believe that I have never read Desiring God.....especially considering how much I like John Piper. I also need to get Let the Nations be Glad. It will probably take me a while to read through four Piper books though.