I am nothing.

Wow, I am so sorry it has taken me so long to blog! A lot has happened, so I'll just jump right in.

On Tuesday, we will have a team of 123 high school students from Texas here. We are all excited, even though it is going to be a crazy and exhausting week. Pray for them as they are going through base camp to prepare to be here. Pray for the adults who are leading them here, especially the iGo staffers and they are getting all the last minute stuff done.

A week or two ago we were at the big temple with a team of 12 college students from all over. As I was reading through Isaiah, God brought Acts 17 to mind where Paul is in Athens. I flipped through and found verse 24-27 underlined. Under than in the margin I had written "Theme for summer '09". I hadn't read those verses since last summer. They are so powerful. God made the heavens, the earth, and everything in them. He does not live in temples made by human hands. "He is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything." As I was reading that, the climax of the Chris Tomlin song "Our God" was playing on my iPod. Wow. I just wanted to proclaim that our God is greater than all other gods at the top of my lungs. I had been discouraged, Jesus reminded me that He is greater though. I was reminded in His Word that He is greater, higher, and more powerful than anything. He will accomplish His purposes. As I was looking around, praising God in the midst of the darkness of the temple I saw an elderly woman digging through her purse. I prayed desperately that she wouldn't find her money so she couldn't pray to Buddha. I have no idea how far this woman travel to throw her money to Satan. After digging for a while longer, she found her coin purse. I was dismayed, then I stopped and listening to the song that was playing. I heard, "You alone can rescue. You alone can save." We cannot heal ourselves, or anyone else for that matter. We are fools to think otherwise. Paul planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. I am nothing. Those who came before me an those who will come after me are nothing. God alone brings growth and salvation. We are all working together not because He needs us, but because He chooses to us us. And it's not like we are better than those worshipping idols of this world. We are saved by grace, through faith, neither of which we can claim on our own. We would be incapable of faith if God has not given it to us. Nothing, absolutely nothing good comes from us. Anything good or worth while in us who are Christians comes solely from the Spirit dwelling withing, working on us continually. I am thankful for those reminders. I am nothing. He is everything. He is awesome in power and healer. He is for us, we have nothing to fear. The whole experience refreshed, renewed, and reminded me why I am here. God is at work and He has invited me to jump in with Him. I am so blessed. As this summer nearing its end, I feel like there is so much more I could have done. I am afraid I have been plagued with a bad attitude off and on. I don't know why, I love the Japanese people, I love this city, I love my team, I love what we do. I think I just let Satan get me distracted and didn't even realize it. I hate how he is so good at tricking me into the same things over and over again. As much as I want to beat myself up, I know that there is nothing I can do about the past. I can only focus on the future and set up defenses to things I struggle with. Like Paul said in Philippians 3:13-14, "...But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." I have roughly three weeks and a huge team left this summer. There is still a lot things I need to learn and a whole lot more things God is going to do. I am excited to see what it all is.

Please be praying for our team. Pray that we would use these next two days wisely and rest up for the Texas Super Summer team arriving on Tuesday. Pray against whatever Satan has up his sleeve. This summer has been amazingly smooth thus far, but this is our biggest week. I know he is not just going to let 123 people jump in with us without resistance. Thankfully our God is greater than he who is in the world. Pray for unity, health, rest, wisdom, and patience.

Pray for all the missionaries we are working for. Pray the same thing for all of them. They have been absolutely wonderful and helpful. Pray for refreshment for all of them. They have blessed me all so much. My friend Hunter and I got to go with our lead missionaries, Jeff and Kimberly, to Costco a couple days ago with them and their three boys. It sounds silly and small, but I think he and I both really enjoyed it. We got to just talk to Jeff and Kimberly as well as kind of step back into America a little bit. They really treated us like family, like they have all summer. As goofy as it sounds, that will probably be one of my favorite memories from this summer. I just love their family and everyone else we get to work with here. I will be very sad to leave them all.

Pray for divine appointments over these next three weeks. Pray that our friends will not be too busy to meet with us one or two more times. Pray for salvations, there are SO many that are so so very close to believing. I don't even care if I get to see it, I just want my friends to have abundant, eternal life. I want them to be in heaven with us.

Thank y'all for praying continually. I assure you that we feel every single one. We depend on prayer to keep us all going.