on the fly

Back to the real world of work

2006-01-26T17:59:00.000-08:00

Yes I'm back to school. I'm taking a lot of fun classes. I love Fiber Arts and I'm enjoying printmaking. It's really differnt working in 2-D again, but I"m ejoying it. This is my last semester before my show. It's also my last semester of German(hopefully). So now if I don't post for awhile you'll all know why. But the good news is that it is possible to get in touch with me now that I have a cell:)

2006-01-03T20:36:00.000-08:00

One more.

Fur Christmas and A Happy New Year(Late)

2006-01-02T20:39:00.000-08:00

I have had a great time being at home with my family. We have had lots to do and enjoyed a lot of family time doing it. All the tasks are so demanding. We are required to sleep in and stay up late, go to basketball games(my two younger brothers are amazing and are starters together), then we have to go play in the snow a little and of coarse play with my nephew and niece, Sorren and Chloe : ) It's been really fun.
The house was really full for Christmas. My mom's parents and her sister's family came to celebrate with us, as well as my sister-in-law Nichole's family. Mom is the best cook ever and made 20 baby hens so we all got our own bird(the kids thought that was the coolest (as well as the adults)).
I think one of the highlights for my cousins was going sledding for the first time. They loved it. It was hard getting them off the hill and into the van.
It seemed like it took hours of joy opening all the presents. The family started calling it the fur Christmas because I made all the girls fur wraps. It was pretty funny watching their faces, some were really excited and others weren't to sure about putting something that felt like a long hair cat around their neck(Chloe is warming up to the idea).
Well after Christmas and after the house emptied a little( and mom started making hills of food instead of Mountains) came New Years. The family did something they had never done before. About 8 years ago I went tubing and thought the boys would love it, as well as mom and dad. So we headed off to Montage Mountain. Now I'm not talking about tubing, I"m talking about TUBING. Yeah, with a lift and everything. It was great. We all slid down the chutes together and then were dragged back up while sitting pleasantly on our tubs(I think Dad might have enjoyed being dragged up almost more than going down:) I have to admit Dad it was a great feature.
So now I only have one more week with the family:( Dad has been helping me with some art projects. Oh, I forgot something. Mom and I took a day trip to Philly and went to the Art Museum. We met my good friend from school, Louisa, and had a great time discovering great art in the museum. One of my favorite exibitions was a collection of Laughin's photography. It was very intereting. If you ever get a chance check it out.

Happy New Year All!
p.s. enjoy the fur pictures.

Finally a word from the fly

2005-12-20T19:54:00.000-08:00

I've been busy at school studying my brains out. But it was worth it when I got my grades back today. My favorite class was metal casting. I think I've found my new art love. It is one of the best things ever. I can't wait for my show now. I'm planning on having a lot of bronze in it. The process is amazing(long too). I spent a lot of time getting ready for the pours. I now own the smallest pair of steel toed boots that can be bought at Wal*Mart. Not only do I love the process but I love all the metaphors in the Bible about metal. They have really started to make sense while watching the metal go through all the processes in my pieces. Also I've really enjoyed coming up with the subjects for my work this semester. I spent so much time on my ideas that it was really relaxing just thinking about them while I worked on the manual labor.
I didn't spend all the time in the lab. I also was able to be very involved in an extension and apply some of the lessons learned to real life. I love going to a hospital every Sunday and singing to the patients. When I first started going I thought it would be encouraging for the patients. But the more I went I realized how much I needed these times to work on my own life and be encouraged by the patients. The Lord saved one man and many more are still searching. The extension grew this semester from 25 to 50. Yep I'm pretty sure we doubled. It's been really great watching other students get involved and come to love it as much as I do.
Well that's some of the highlights. I'll have to cover some more while I'm home on break.

Back in the USA

2005-07-25T07:55:00.000-07:00

Well I"m back. I've been in 10 countries, 1 hospital, dozens of churches, around 40 beds, driven 10000 miles, my hair is a lot longer and I'm still white as ever. It's been a great trip.
I really learned a lot this summer about the Lord leading his children. I wasn't going to go on this trip and two months before the team left everything changed and I got on the team. I'm so thankful for the Lord's goodness in leting me travel with the BJU Muiscal Mission Team again. The second time around I learned a lot more. Not that it was always a different lesson but that the lesson was more clear the second time around. I'm excited to see what the Lord has planned out for my life. He has really burdened me for the need to go and tell others of His saving grace. I'm excited to see where He will lead me.
Thank you so much for all of your prayers for me. The Lord kept me safe and gave me several oppertunities to witness to people. My last oppertunity was on a park bench. Please pray for a man from Africa that is living in Switzerland. He was a soccer player, but hurt his leg and cannot play right now. He had several questions about my beliefs and why I would come over to Europe for a summer just tell others about them. He understands the gospel but is just not ready to give up this world. Please pray for his salvation. I gave him some liturature to take with him.
Also pray for a woman that is newly saved and does not have any support or christian friends. She needs real strength to be faithful.
I could go on with many more. Pray for the Christians in Europe that they will stay faithful and keep serving the Lord and have a good testimony.
I"m really excited to see what the Lord does and how He leads me. I'm praying about going back for full time service. We'll see what the Lord has. One of the main lessons I learned this summer is that He always has a plan for our lives and He will show it in His perfect timing. I was really having trouble understanding why I was so sick in Slovakia. It turned out to be one of the best growing times for me all summer. I really learned a lot about prayer and the ministry of prayer for the team. So even that was what was appointed for me at that time(Job).
Have a great rest of the summer.
Gracen

Deutchland

2005-07-05T13:08:00.000-07:00

Hallo All! What a great time in Germany. Our services have been going really well. Its been really great to go back and see old friends and meet knew ones. We just finished our visit at the Guetli in Swizterland. Such a wonderful time. We did a weekend conference on the Love of God. I was incharge of all the kids all day Saturday. It was so much fun. I made a lot of little friends(one little girl was even a great artist). She told me that she would make bible verse posters for next year. Wow its been a long time since Ive blogged. I dont know what all to tell you. We onlsy have 18 days left. I cant believe that Im that close to the end.
I was able to witness to two older woman at a nursing home last week in germany. In Germany the people go to the nursing homes when they are younger so its easier to find someone to talk to. Please pray for these two woman. They are very confussed with all different religions. Thank you for your prayers. I hope to have more time to tell you all about my trip and how the Lord has been changing me.
love,
Gracen

Feeling GOOD

2005-06-14T11:35:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling so much better today! So tomorrow I'm going to rejoin the team. The Waite family and I are going to leave early and catch up with them in Trencianske Teplice, Slovakia. It will be good to get back into the ministry and with the team again. It sure has been nice to have such a great place to get well. The Lord was really good in providing a great missionary family for me to stay with. I've also brushed up on my chess skills a little with 8 year old David Waite. I think he's liked having someone that was availible to play too. It was also nice to have a couple days of family time and feel normal. I even got to give Vivian, who's two, a bath. Fun times. Thank you for your prayers. I've prayed for many of you as I've been laying in bed a lot lately.

Sick as a DOG

2005-06-13T10:38:00.000-07:00

A lot has happened since my last update. Actually that was the last day that I felt good. I got sick as a dog while leaving Warsaw, Poland. In Krakow I spent two days sleeping and trying to hold down water. We thought that I just had a little bug and would be over it soon. Boy were we wrong. I handed my keys over to John Chest and went to sleep in the van for the first time this summer. About half way into the trip I really needed a bathroom. It was time for lunch anyway so we stopped. Dr. Dad spotted a KFC(how strange in the middle of Poland) so we stopped there. While the food was being ordered I went in to use the restroom. Little Johny helped me in to the store. I was getting pretty weak at this point. The chicken was taking a while so I decided to use the restroom one more time to be safe. To make a long story short I ended up blacking out and being carried back to the van by 6' 8" Danny(our German translator who is with us all summer, he's a big jolly giant). I didn't think that we were ever going to get to Kezmarok, Slovakia. To make this story even shorter. I ended up in the hospital after 5 days of not being able to keep anything in me. The doctor wanted to give me an IV, but they couldn't find a vein. After the fourth try I had had enough digging and I promised to drink like a camel. So things are starting to get back to normal. I was to weak to go on with the rest of the team so I'm hanging out here in Kezmarok with the Waite family until I can move on with the team. They have two cute little kids and we've been having a great time playing games. I hope to be joining them on Wednesday or Thursday. So please pray that I will get my strength back so that I can start singing again and join the team. O, the cause of this whole thing was some eggs with salmonella. I will not be eating any eggs for a long time!

Lithuania with the Thomas Family

2005-06-07T13:25:00.000-07:00

We had one of our best weekends yet with the Thomas family in Vilnius, Lithuania. We were able to do 5 services. We worked with a local orphanage for a day. That was really wonderful. I recieved one of my most precious gifts ever there. I was in my van on my way out of the drive way when I saw one of the little girls in my mirror come toward me. The little girl orphan was holding a balloon that had been given to her that day by another team member. She spoke some english and said that she didn't have anything else to give me but she wanted me to have her heart balloon and a big hug from her. I almost started to cry but I was able to hold it off until I got out of the drive way. She was so beatiful. I miss the kids already. They all just loved being hugged and smiled at.
The next day we did a concert at an old movie theater that has been made into a church. We sang and Sasha preached. After our team had finished our program Pastor Thomas got up and preached another salvation message. The Lord was really working and 3 young girls got save and three more got some things right with the Lord. It was very encouraging. We were all so tired and felt like there was going to be no way that we could sing. But the Lord uses weak vessels and He showed us that once again. I'm so thankful that other peoples salvation does not depend on our working but the Lords working through us and His Holy Spirit drawing people to Chirst.
Sunday we had a morning service at the the Vilnius church. Pastor Thomas's church gave there first check to a missionary that they have sent out to front here church to a neighboring city. It was so great to help the church celibrate a mile marking day in their growth. That evening we traved out to the neighbor little church and had a sevice there. They people couldn't believe that a choir of 27 americans would come to their little church.
Monday was a sad day. We had to leave very early at 7, but that didn't stop several of the church people from coming out to say good bye and listen to us sing a Russian blessing for them. The sadest part was watching the whole Thomas family cry as we drove away. It didn't help that it was raining too. The team and myself learned a lot from tender Pastor Thomas. He has such a love for the area that the Lord has placed him in. Pray for Vilnius as Pastor Thomas works on drawing it's people to Christ.

Auto Info

2005-06-07T13:03:00.000-07:00

Guess what country I'm in. I have a lot of choices to make while driving in this country. Avoid the lake size pot hole on the right, slow down and miss the slow baby size car in front of me with a man bigger than the care stuffed in it like a elephant in mom's civic, or pass on the other side of the road, cause what is a lane anyway? I think I'll do none of the above and just pass in the bike lane on the right. It's been really fun driving in Poland. Moscow was a real treat too. They don't believe in lanes. They have lines on the roads, but they just disregard them. It's a lot faster to just drive on the side walk. I saw that done several times. Three lane highways are always made into 5 or 6 lanes and every exit ramp has two lanes of cars. In the Russian kindergartens I think they didn't walk to the bathroom in a single file line. They have a first come first serve philosophy.

Greene Bus

Rusland

2005-06-06T12:52:00.000-07:00

Well a lot has happened in the last two weeks. We left Poland and moved on to Russia. It was a very smooth boarder crossing. Lily our translator came with us and it was so nice to have someone to communicate for us. It only took three and a half hours this year. We had a service right away that night. It was so good to get right into the Russian churches. I love the Russian people. They are very welcoming. All it took was a couple of smiles hugs and kisses from them and I was hooked. They are so eager to share there love for the Lord with you. We went back to the church in Tula that was bombed last year(if you haven't heard about this story yet, I'll tell you later). They have almost completed the building and the pastor shared more of the Lord's working in the growth and revival of the church through the event. We also went to the Moscow church that Sasha's is from. We had a great service and had a good time playing and singing along with them after the service. We spent several night listening to the pastors tell stories of the Lord's protection over them while in prision and also some that were saved from the arms of the Soviets. It was such a great experience to be able to get to know these people and learn from them. Praise the Lord a couple people recieved salvation at some of our servises. It was a real blessing to fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ in Russia. Thank you for your prayers. The Lord gave so much protection throught he boarder and also on the crazy roads. Love, Gracen

The Lord's Day

2005-05-22T10:59:00.000-07:00

Today is Sunday and it has been a great day of services here in Poland. Our first concert was in a little church that normally has about 12 people other than the Peterson family(the missionaries that we're working with this weekend). But we had about 35 people at the morning service this morning. About 20 of those had never been before. A man walked up to Dr. Dad after the service and said he need to talk to him about the Lord. Dr. Dad was able to lead him to the Lord. Praise the Lord. The man was Catholic and the Lord really opened his eyes during the service. Pray for the Petersons as they dicsiple him. Two of our girls are staying with the family tonight. They were praying for him this morning. It has been really encouraging to see the Lord answer this prayer the same day. Tonight we were in an even smaller church and were able to pass out several tracts around the area. We move on tomorrow and get closer to Russia. Start praying for our Boarder Crossing.
Good night!

Old Friends

2005-05-21T13:58:00.000-07:00

Wow! I'm really back. It's been so great to see all my europian friends from last year. I've been to about 3 of the same places. It was really great at Ebnot Koppel to have a German girl, Rachael, that I couldn't speak with last year because of language, come up and say hello and instantly state,"I leaned english this year so now I can talk to you." (No Dad I didn't even try to tell her that I had tried to learn German but it didn't work.) How do you explane to someone that just learned you language that you've been trying but were just excited when you passed the class. But it was really exciting to be able to talk to her.
I was also able to talk to an older woman that has been through a lot over the passed 15 years. Her husbad was a pastor and has left her and taken her son with him. But she was still looking to the Lord for her strength. Pray for her daughter that is bitter and doesn't want anything to do with the Lord.
Last night we went to Poznan, Poland and passed out 2000 tracts. People took them and many began reading them right on the street. The square was packed with people. It was so sad to see how many of them are living for short pleasures and had no hope for the future. Pray for the tracts. We could not speak to them in their language, but the tracts we our mouths for us.
Well I need to go to bed. Tomorrow we are doing to services. Please continue to pray for us. The Lord has been working in us and those we come in contact with.
Love you all, even over here in Poland.

Stash it or trash it...

2005-05-07T22:35:00.000-07:00

Well school is done. YES! But now I have the problem of having all my stuff and needing to figure out what to do with it for the summer while I"m in Europe. I had to leave school so fast that my roomies and I chucked everything into Galen(the green civic). It's one big heap. When to find time to organize(maybe if I'd quit blogging)?

The Beginning

2005-05-07T21:49:00.000-07:00

This summer I"m heading out for Europe with the Musical Mission Team. I leave from Atlanta on May 12. Then the driving begins.