Update Coming soon!

For the Lord is good
I will lift Him higher
Everywhere I go I will
Lift Him Higher
Higher Higher Higher...
Higher...
Everywhere I go I will
Lift Him up Higher

-African Hymn I learned in Kenya

Oe last update

SO you all know about my preparations for my trip to Kenya. I leave on Sunday, June 14th. I get back on the 25th. By the 30th I will post pictures and a journal I kept while there. I am taking this time to let you in on other parts of my life, as there are a few things you might not know.

I received a 4-year type two Air Force ROTC Scholarship. Praise the Lord! What that means is, The Air Force is giving me $87,000 to pay for classes, tuition, etc. It does not cover room and board, however, Elon has agreed to pay for it because I got the scholarship. I will also get a monthly stipend of $350 starting in October. On Thursdays I will commute to NC A&T to take a military science class to fulfill my duties to maintain the scholarship. After I graduate, I owe four years of service to the Air Force. In my opinion, that's a fair trade. God is so great, He has really provided for me. He is so faithful and true, I definitely do NOT deserve His grace.

Graduation is tomorrow! I almost forgot to include that bit of information. High School has flown by for me, and I can hardly believe I will never Step foot on CHS as a student again.

I finally found a summer job. I am the smoothie girl at Woodall's Fitness off of Highway 42E. I start after I return From Africa. Come by and buy a smoothie from me:)

I move in to Elon on August 28th, and classes begin on the 1st. I am still undecided on a major, but that's OK, this means I can explore!I find out my rooming assignment as well as who my roommate is on July 1st. Pray that we will be able to have a good relationship and that God will be Glorified in it. I don't know who she is, so she could be a christian, or perhaps she is not. Either way, I will share my faith with her so pray for courage.

Thanks again for all of your prayers and support! I can't wait to tell you all about Africa and how these next few months work out.

I couldn't resist

I was mainly using this blog to update you on kenya and things, but I could help myself, this is just too cute to pass up!

Some last minute money came in and so my real total is

$2,653

In one week I will be in Kenya!

Final Preparations

My total financial support is:

$2, 353!

Praise the Lord! My original goal was about $2,000. After flight plans changed, it got raised to $2,400. I am heading to Colonial Baptist Church to pay the remaining $47 on Wednesday. God has really answered my prayer on this. I didn't expect to get nearly this much support, Praise The Lord! and a BIG thank you to all of you for you prayers and support! I am so thankful for each and every one of you. Thank you to Cornerstone Faith Fellowship and The Underground, for praying for me and allowing me to share with you guys! To my family and Friends: Thank you so much for everything, all of your prayers, wishes, and thoughts. I love you! To my Colonial Family: thank you for always asking about how the trip is going and how you can help! you guys are so dear to my heart, and I love you guys!

Preparations for Kenya are going well. Praie the Lord! I have almost all of my financial support, hopefully I can give you an estimate by Tuesday. Thank you so much for your prayers. I have faith that God will answer them. I want to give you a little more insight into what we are going to be doing while we are over there. (I will give exact flight times hopefully be Monday) We will be flying out of raliegh on the 14th. from RDU we will stop in Dulles in Washington, DC. We will then head across theAtlantic and land in London. we will have a 12 hour layover there, and we will get to travel into the city and explore for a bit! That evening we will be heading out to Nairobi, where we will take a 6 hour van ride to Choimim. Origionally, we were going to spend the night in Nairobi. However, due to the Flight change, we will not be staying in Nairobi.

We will be doing many things in Choimim. Our trip leader, Damon davenport, will have us in several schools doing different activities for the children. we will be doing story telling, games, soccer, and dancing. I will be helping out with soccer games, ad I am helping with the dancing team as well. I will get to work with the choir there, and teach them dancing movements to songs. I am so excited about that. Of all people, I never imagined me teaching through dance! When we will not be working with the kids, we will be painting, taking shifts at the hospital and orphanage, and visiting with the locals.

I cant believe I am only two weeks away from leaving! Please pray that my passport and visa come in. Those have been obstacles lately, and I need them in soon! Pray that my team is safe while we are there, and pray for the people we come into contact with while on the trip. God is so mighty, I just know that great things are going to happen! Thank you for everything you are doing, Praise the Lord!

Kenya!

OK, so I promised I would give some details about Kenya, so here goes...

Facts about Kenya: Kenya is located in Eastern Africa, and It borders 5 countries, including Somalia, Ethiopia, Uganda, Sudan, and Tanzania. It also stretches out to the coast of the Indian Ocean. Kenya was liberated from The British in 1963, and it hosts 39 million people and over 46 tribal groups, each with their own language/dialect. However, sice it was a british colony, most people in Kenya do speak English. It has big cities and small rural villages, not unlike here. In Nairobi, you can find buildings, eat at restaurants, and even buy diamond rings. However, most of the Country is rural. Chomin, the place where we are staying, as a small village, and everyone lives in small huts. A major "crop" is tea, and i hear it is very good, if served hot. I forgot to mention that i will onlly be allowed to bring a small bookbag with everything for the trip. Damon, our team leader, is going to teach us the fine art of washing cloths the old fashioned way:)

While there, I will be working in the school, in the orphanage, and in the hospital. Along with painting and other needed jobs, i will be working a lot with the kids. This is probably my favorite part of anticipating the trip. It will be so cool to interact with these kids, to play soccer with them ( I have a feeling they are going to kick my butt) , to sing and dance with them, and just serve them.

You may be thinking, Well, Ashton this is all great, but why in the world do you want to go to africa and do all of this? The biggest reason is Matthew 28:19: "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of The Father and The Son and of The Holy Spirit."
God command us to GO! and now He has given me a divine oppurtunityto go and to make disciples in Kenya. Praise the Lord! Also, this will be a great time to see if perhaps, this is the kind of place God wants me to be someday. And maybe I will go and He will reveal a different path for me to take for the rest of my life. But maybe Africa really is where He wants me someday. I have surrendered it completely to Him.

I am going to need a lot of prayer before as well as during the trip. Your prayers are vital to the success of this trip. Pray for my team and I. Pray that The Lord will prepare our hearts and minds as we embark on the trip. Pray for the people we will be ministering to, That God will soften their hearts and that we will be able to connect with them. Most importantly, Pray for God's will to be done. There are many practical needs for this trip. First, I have to raise about $2,000 to go. Pray that the funds will come in. Please pray for our safety and our health as well. I know it is kind of an obvious need that you might not think about, but please, do pray for that. We will be much more effective if we are healthy.

As our training continues, I will put updates on here, as well as any praise repots or prayer requests. thank you so much for your prayers!you guys are vital to our success.

"! tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain..."
(Mark 11:23)

Updates Cont'd

** this blog is quite sloppy, just warning you! Just a couple of quick updates for those of you who have been praying for me!

The future is drawing ever nearer and now, thankfully, a bit clearer(rhyme?). In June, the 14th to be exact, I will be flying into Nairobi Kenya, and from there I will be taking a 6 hour van ride to a rural village called Chomin. I still have to get my shots for that trip, yes! We will be going during the rainy season. There are 16 of us on the team, and I believe I am one of the youngest to go on the trip. While there, we will be working in the orphanage, school, and hospital. Yesterday was our first official team meeting, and in the middle of the meeting, it hit me. I am traveling to Kenya. Africa. it is for real. More on Kenya later.

I am going to Elon University this fall. In fact, in a couple of weeks I will be at freshman orientation!I am waiting on the air force Scholarship (4-17-09) to let me know. I still don't know what I want to do. But I mean, What an answer to prayer all of this has been! Thank you so much for praying for me, it is so encouraging to see the power of prayer throughout this entire process! Well, more on this later too.

As for what's been going on in the present, this semester has been such a blessing. It has been a pretty easy load. I am in a musical this spring, Once upon a mattress. and it's about the old nursery rhyme the princess and the pea. I am the evil queen aggravain. Ha! you should come-it is May 14, 15,16th at the high school. Come and see me being an evil scheming diva.
I am reading Matthew. I am in chapter 3 now, and I am learning about John the baptist. I am recertifying my CPR so I can be a lifeguard this summer.

and that is all for now. More details to come, I promise:)

I got a full ride Navy ROTC scholarship to UNC chapel hill. Except I can't use it because I didn't get in to UNC.

Ironic?

Blood poured out, body torn
Rusty nails, crown of thorns
Awesome love held you on my tree

Swollen face, thirsty cries
Pounding blows, lonely sighs
Awesome love held You on my tree

Only you are worthy to receive all I can give,
Only you are worthy to be the reason why I live,
Only you are worthy to be the object of my praise,
With a thankful heart my empty hands I raise...

Sin-crushed heart, broken soul
Blood-shot eyes, God-shaped hole
Awesome love held you on my tree
Awesome love holds me on my knees

"Awesome Love "
by Jason Holdbridge

In Case You were Wondering...

...I got into The University of Hawaii. Rachel, we can just dream about actually going there. :)


...

Let's read us some Oswold Chambers

My Utmost for His Highest

January 28th, 2009

How Could someone so Persecute Jesus

Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? —Acts 26:14

Are you determined to have your own way in living for God? We will never be free from this trap until we are brought into the experience of the baptism of "the Holy Spirit and fire" (Matthew 3:11). Stubbornness and self-will will always stab Jesus Christ. It may hurt no one else, but it wounds His Spirit. Whenever we are obstinate and self-willed and set on our own ambitions, we are hurting Jesus. Every time we stand on our own rights and insist that this is what we intend to do, we are persecuting Him. Whenever we rely on self-respect, we systematically disturb and grieve His Spirit. And when we finally understand that it is Jesus we have been persecuting all this time, it is the most crushing revelation ever.

Is the Word of God tremendously penetrating and sharp in me as I hand it on to you, or does my life betray the things I profess to teach? I may teach sanctification and yet exhibit the spirit of Satan, the very spirit that persecutes Jesus Christ. The Spirit of Jesus is conscious of only one thing— a perfect oneness with the Father. And He tells us, "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls" (Matthew 11:29 ). All I do should be based on a perfect oneness with Him, not on a self-willed determination to be godly. This will mean that others may use me, go around me, or completely ignore me, but if I will submit to it for His sake, I will prevent Jesus Christ from being persecuted.

Are my own ambitions concerning my college plans getting in the way of God's will? I feel like these past few days (mind you, i only started reading a few days ago) These passages have been written directly to me! Pray that I will lay my ambitions at Christs feet and surrender it.

So my mom and Corey and I went to the mall today. I got my pageant/prom dress!



wild, isn't it? so unless the Pageant director doesn't approve of it then this is the one I will be wearing :)

Pros and cons

OK, so I am debating between Gardner-Webb and Elon University. I tend to make better choices when I mak pro/con lists, so here goes:

Elon

Pros:

• Wide range of majors
• Pretty campus
• Christian groups on campus
• amazing food (4 different eating halls with everything form Buffets to greek food to delis)
• nice dorm rooms
• wide array of area churches
• Lots of intramural sports
• a ballroom dancing club
• excellent work out facilities
• everything i need (salons, stores, walmart) all within a 5 mile radius
• 1 1/2 hours away from home
• 25 minutes away from friends at UNC and UNCG
• 1 hour away from Corey at liberty
• several singing groups
• koppertops (volunteer organization that focuses on therapeutic horseback riding)
• habitat for humanity
• 60 different study abroad locations for me (including Kenya!)
  
• adopt-a-grandparent!
• low cost 24/7 clinic on campus
• medium size classes with access to professors
  
• tradition
• great freshman programs
• 25 minute drive once a week to afrotc classes
  

Cons:

• Not a christian school
• expensive

Gardner-Webb

pros:

• Christian SChool
• Small, nice environment
  
• lake
• small class sizes
• worship center on campus
• everything in walkingdistance
• boiling springs is a small, one stoplight town (literally)
• Campus police on call, escort you to you dorms late at night, ride segways, kind
• allwoed to have car all 4 years

Cons:

• Small
• low variety of majors/programs
• not very good food
• everybody knows everybody
• feels kind of like high school
  
• 4 hours away from everybody
• one stoplight town
• not much to do on weekends
• dorms not very good
• 1 hour drive once a week to afrotc classes
  

thats all for now. i may edit this later.

6 Reasons Christians must suffer

Today as my dad was driving me home from the doctor's office, i picked up Anne of Avonlea, the sequel to Anne of Green Gables, and began to read. I got to chapter 4 when a piece of paper fell out of the novel and onto the floorboard. I bent over and retrieved the thin little flyer and examined it. it was just a little announcement sheet given to me at Colonial one sunday a few months ago, and I had written notes on a sermon on the back. Curious, i began to read the points that Pastor Aaron had made on the topic of suffering for Christ.

As I examined this little piece of paper, I began to realize that God has been teaching these things to me lately. Isn' that funny? When you look back on things that you've read before, or taken notes on, you realize they didn't affect you much at all at the time. And God has an interesting way of bringing them back to you at the exact time that you need to hear it. and a light bulb goes off in your head, and you think "oh, i get it."

Why Christians Must Suffer:

1. Suffering deepens faith and holiness.
I had jotted down two Bible verses beside the statement: Hebrews 5:8 and 12:10.
WHen we suffer as Christians, God works in us and we are able to grow. This reminds me of an illustration that Thomas used in a sermon. He explained that scientists tried to grow plants in a perfect greenhouse, where they weren't disturbed by wind, or drought, or animals. they were given the perfect amount of water at the precise time. The only problem was, because of the absence of wind, the roots had no chance to burow into the ground and the plants could not survive for long periods of time nor could they be taken out of the greenhouse without dying. The factors that made the plants suffer actually helped them grow and thrive.

2. Suffering llows us to test and purify our faith.
How can we test ourselves if we never are in a real situation outside the comfort of peace? Yes, when we have those mountaintop expieriences, it is great and it God gives us energy and strength, but we need to use that strength when we are faced with hardship and trials. Suffering gives us an oppurtunity to see what we need help with, what we need to work on. if we don't test ourselves, we grow blind to our faults and arrogant in our own ability, which leads to the third point.

3. We must suffer so we can stop relying on ourselves and start relying on God.
Suffering shows us how small we are and enables us to realize that we can't do it alone. It gives us the oppurtunity to surendur, truly surrender our rights and allow God to rescue us. It is so easy, while in a church setting, to surrender everything for Christ. It is so easy to lay everything at His feet when everything is going good. It is't until we suffer and lose everything that we can test our faith and rely on The one who Can rescue us.

4. Suffering affects and incerases our future joy.
Suffering allows us to grow in our relationship with God and increases our faith, so that whether the future holds happiness or sorrow, we can have joy. and even if we continue to expierience trials, we can "rejoice in harship" and praise God!

5. Suffering is what it takes to make others bold.
This is a big one. We often wonder why God puts us through certain trials, and why He makes us suffer so much. But how encouraging is it, when you are going through something difficult and agonizeing, to talk with someone who has been through it themselves? they help you with prayer, and practical advive that helped them out of similar situation. we all have a testimony that help certain perople. I can reach some people in a way that nobody else can because of my trials and how God has shaped my life. And you can reach people i could never reach by what God has done in your life. A wise man once told me that you never know the seeds you plant.

6. Suffering makes a sleeping church wake up and take risks for God.
I think this one speaks for itself.

Suffering is inevitable, and yes, it stinks. but it allows us the oppurtuniity to bring glory to God, though we may not recognize it at the time.