Russia? Really?

I've been neglecting my blog. I find that I have a lot to say and not a lot of time to sit down and write it all, so I just don't. I'm saying to heck with it, I want and need to get back in the practice of it so I'm just going to do a little bit at a time.

I've been busy. I went to the Red River Region Campus Crusade Winter Conference in Dallas the first few days of the year...it was incredible. I saw some of my dearest friends the first weekend in February, a few that I haven't seen since August. That was fun and I'll post pictures later. I have been working a ton, which is fun but I'm borderline burned out. We had freakish weather for like a week and the way Lubbock-ites responded, you would have thought the world was ending. I've had an awful sinus infection. We had a "Famous Couples" date party, my friend Ike and I went as salt and pepper. My sister got in an awful car wreck and broke her foot but we are so thankful that, for all practical reasons, she's in one piece.

The latest, greatest, most exciting news as of lately is that I got accepted to go to Moscow, Russia on a Summer Project with Campus Crusade!!!
I am so excited. I never in a million zillion years would have thought that's where I would ever go. The way the Lord has completely redirected my plans in the last six months has been crazy. I guess it all kind of started when I got home from camp. I was really sad and borderline depressed for about a month. I had had an incredible summer with some incredible people and all I wanted to do was go back. I had told myself that no matter what, that's where I would be in the summer of 2011. God obviously had some different plans. I'm not exaggerating one bit when I say this: I literally woke up one day and had a change of heart. No circumstances had changed. Nothing had happened. I woke up and thought to myself, "I'm not sure that I want to go back, and I'm not sure that I am supposed to." It was really sad for me to feel that way, and I even tried to talk myself out of it because of my relationships with people there. I couldn't seem to change my God's mind. So I began to pray about what the summer would hold. I should have prayed about it before I just subconsciously made a decision, but I am human. God has a funny way of reminding us of things, huh? Anyway, at CRU I kept hearing about these things called Summer Projects. As I learned more about them, I realized that they are all over the United States and all over the world. I have several friends that have been different places, and I've heard nothing but wonderful things. I kept hearing about Moscow. When I say kept hearing, I mean KEPT hearing. It seemed like everywhere I went someone was talking about it. To be honest, it was kind of annoying. Obviously it was a great experience, but look at all the other places you could go. You would choose Russia, really? And aside from that, I was planning to have to be in Lubbock for the summer, based on a position in my sorority I was anticipating. You can read about that here. When that didn't go as I had planned, I reluctantly looked into all different Summer Projects. I talked to my friend, the director of CRU at Tech, about a handful of different places, and he kept bringing me back to Moscow. I told him I would pray about it, but that there were some pretty major issues with dates for that trip, and that I wasn't sure I could pull it off. When I was at the Winter Conference, I met the leader of this project, and come to find out there are a few other people who would have to go a few days late like I would. I said I couldn't pull it off, but God can. So I drug my feet on filling out this intense application, but I did. Since doing that, I've had several people ask me, why Russia? My sister in particular has asked me why I don't go somewhere "cooler" like France or Italy or something. I can say with complete faith and honesty, that the only reason I am going to Moscow is because God told me to. If I'm being honest, I don't have a huge desire to see Russia. I would love to see New York or Chicago or Australia or Italy or Ethiopia or any of the other places that Campus Crusade has projects. But the Lord has just opened doors and completely directed me to Russia. How cool is that?? I can't wait to see what He has in store there.
So I am going to spend 6 ish weeks in Russia, building relationships and telling some of the 1,000,000 plus college students there about Jesus. Less than 1% of the population in Moscow are Christians. Moscow is the culture and educational center for most of the Asian continent.  Students come from the Caucus regions (the "stans"), Eastern Europe, Siberia, and Mongolia. If you know what the 1040 window is, a lot of people from there come to school in Moscow. (If you don't know what the 1040 window is, you should google it!!) It includes places that would not be safe for us to go share the Gospel. What is so cool and hard for me to imagine, is that if somehow we God can reach some of those people in Moscow, they can take the Gospel to their country much easier than we can. I can't even wrap my mind around that, but I am trying to learn to have an eternal perspective.

If you're still with me....

This is a video that was showed at CRU a few weeks ago. It's powerful. Take 4 minutes and watch it.

I'm going because there are roughly 140 million people in Russia, and less than 1 million follow Christ. That is .642%.

"Therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." -Matthew 28:19-20

I am going to have to raise a lot of money for this to happen. I know that if God has called me to this, that He will be faithful to provide the funds to get me there. If you want to join my team and partner with me in fulfilling The Great Commission, please let me know. I would be eternally grateful.


If you have made it this far, bless you! That was LONG.

I am excited about what the Lord is doing in Russia and in my life. And hopefully I'll blog more soon.

-m.