Go Hard or Go Home

There are exactly 9 days left.

5 1/2 will be spent around the people I've grown to love this summer. The other 3 1/2 will be spent at debriefing - catching up with all of Western Montana's summer missionaries.

Am I ready to leave?

Not. At. All. But I do look forward to the day that I step on Texas soil, feel the overwhelming heat, and run into my parents arms. I miss my family dearly and there will be so much joy seeing them for the short week I'll be in Dallas. But I fear I will never be ready to head to College Station.


It's been awhile since I've updated so this could get long..

Extreme Expedition: July 23-25
About 20 of us hiked into the Mission Mountains into Mullman Pass. It was about 5 miles and 4,000 ft in elevation change.. totaling about 7,500ft at the top. It was gorgeous.. I remember heading to Glacier at the very beginning of the summer with the Hasenyagers and seeing that range. I'm pretty sure that all of the organs in my body stopped working at the sight of the beauty and majesty of those mountains.. and to think that my God made those! Unbelievable. All in all.. the weekend was great! Daniel and I found some cliffs to jump of off.. a ton of great conversations circling around God took place.. and I was able to open up to Joy with a few things heavy on my heart. It was in a sense, our last shibang of the summer. There were a few people there who were working through a lot of things in their life. Pray that God would continue to show Himself to them. I know that one of the guys doesn't have a relationship with Christ.. please be praying for the relationships that he formed and that God would use them to reveal more of Himself. Pray for his salvation.

This is most of the group that was there.

The week following Extreme I was distracted beyond reason. Sadly, I knew what was distracting me and I didn't do all that I could to guard against it. The next weekend (July 29-Aug 1) was in many ways a wake up call for me. 

Thursday, Joy came over to spend the night with Courtney and me. I have thoroughly loved getting to know her this summer. She has spoken deep truth into my life and I've learned more about boldness by watching her. This woman has no fear. I love it! 

Friday, Courtney and I hung out with Naomi. This girl is precious. Happiness and joy surround her, and her compassion for others is beautiful. This summer I've grown to feeling like an older sister to a few of the girls here and I wish I had had one on one time with each of them. But I'm so grateful for the little time I have been given with them. 

Later that night, Joy wanted to take Kayla, Courtney and me to Hot Springs so we could soak in some awesome minerals. Okay, this is where it gets crazy.. The story goes that two years ago Joy had seen a truck advertised for sale at a house by Rainbow Lake. She stopped and talked to people living there. The woman, Linda, talked with Joy and helped her process through some tough things going on in her life. Linda is all about loving people, and that is the solution to making the world a better place. She is VERY non-confrontational. So, Joy thought it would be a good idea to to stop by again, give Linda back a book she borrowed, and talk with her.

To be entirely honest.. throughout the day my distraction level went through the roof and the last thing I wanted to do was go to Hot Springs. I wasn't understanding so much that was going on around me.. I was living in confusion and not willing to move out of it. As we approached the house, Joy told us the story of Linda and Pat (the man Linda lives with).. I totally missed the part where we were going to go talk to them. (Thanks satan, I hate you too.)

We pull up and all of us are hesitant to get out of the car (except Joy of course, her armor was fully on and she was ready for battle!). She called me out of the car and then something started to click.. it was like as soon as I opened the door that I felt we were there for more than merely returning a book and saying hi. 

All of us head to the door with caution and uncertainty, but with this strange feeling of peace and security. Then we engage in a couple hour conversation with Linda. God gave us the discernment to know how the Truth had been twisted in her mind and heart. God gave that to us so that we would all know how to be praying in that time. Many times my heart shattered for Linda. The Truth was there, but satan had twisted it just slightly enough to lead her completely astray. I contained my tears for her in her presence but my anger towards satan burned and I let them roll the minute I walked out of her house.

We later were able to talk with Pat. He's a Native American and part of his story is that he had been a preacher, telling others about the Gospel for years. Then one day, he was driving and a spirit told him to turn down an unknown road. He followed and somewhere along the way, the spirit told him that his calling was to spread the knowledge of his traditional ways.. his Native American ways. The spirit was telling him to walk away from the Gospel... and Pat did.

Pat and Linda live together and I am convinced that God has brought them together for His purposes. At the end of the conversation we all prayed together, in a circle, holding hands. I won't forget holding Linda's hand and feeling the disunity between us. While on my other side, I held onto Joy's, my sweet sister whom I was fighting alongside.

That night God opened my eyes to the bigger picture of Montana. I am just now starting to understand how prevalent worshipping the creation and post-modern thinking embeds this land.

Pray for Pat and Linda, please. Their words and understandings are so close and yet completely off. Pray that God would show Himself mighty, big, and loving in their lives.

This was my wake up call.

This is why God lead me to come to Montana this summer. To spend myself for the people here. To love in ways that I am not capable of without Him constantly pouring into me. To be vulnerable with people.. share my hurts, frustrations, mistakes with them. 

For the past two weeks or so, my dear sister and roommate, Kelley (who has been serving the Lord in Japan all summer), has been reminding me to Go Hard or Go Home (thank you Lecrae for your warrior songs). Last week.. it was hard to go hard but I didn't want to go home. Since this weekend, God has refocused my mind through His grace. I told Kelley that I expected her to be so spent in Japan that she would collapse into her parents arms when her plane landed. That is how I want my team and I to be when our planes land in Texas.

Thank you for your prayers, encouragement, and support throughout the summer. God has worked in glorious ways that I will never fully know.. but that is more than okay. : )

Continue to pray for the team. Tomorrow and Thursday are the last services we will be at. 

Pray for Daniel and I as we share with the youth tomorrow how God has worked in us this summer and our testimonies more in depth. 

Pray that God would be working in the youth's hearts and that He would bring those that need to hear. 

Pray for Courtney as she plans the Children's Church by herself and as she teaches dance to the girls. 

Pray for the kids who were at Day Camp to beg their parents to come back to OC.

Pray that God would be bringing families back to Him.

Pray for Caleb as he works with the pre-teens.

Pray that we all could Go Hard or Go Home this week.

LECRAE:: GO HARD from Adamson.TV on Vimeo.