Happy Birthday, Bevy! (She's my cousin!)


Praise God! I am thankful that He is willing to direct me step by step.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek first His will in all you do, and He will direct your paths" (Proverbs 3:5-6).

This has been a lesson I have been learning recently. I share it because I seem to doubt that the Almighty Creator and King can guide me to the best decisions. I am thankful that He is always beside me, no matter how alone or discouraged or hopeless I may feel on certain occasions. It is true that "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever" (Psalm 73:26).

Here are some stories of people that have put their trust in God, despite difficult circumstances.
This is my Women’s Bible Study that meets Sunday mornings at my church. We range in ages, ethnicity, marital status, and personalities, but I have been tremendously blessed by this group. One woman in particular has encouraged me and her name is Gloria. A few months ago, she learned that she may not have long to live unless she gets a stem cell match. Right now, she is encouraging others and showing Christ’s love in the midst of all the medical examinations, blood transfusions and chemo treatments. Please take a moment to pray for healing for Gloria because I think she would greatly appreciate it.

Another group of people that have put their hope in Jesus, despite hardships in their lives, are some of the campers at Camp Alandale. I was a counselor at the Junior High camp, and I had two girls who were such treasures! I had opporunities to sing worship songs with them, play outside with them, spend one-on-one time talking, and also studying God’s Word together too.

One camper, Evette (I changed her name in view of confidentiality), had become a Christian in the summer. It was a difficult decision for her because she had been abused, and recently lost her mother and grandmother so she felt "trapped" in the foster care system. I admired how she wanted to keep on attending her youth group at home, even though she felt as if she was losing some of her other friends in the process. Some of her closest friends are starting to ditch school or take drugs, and she has chosen to avoid following down the same path. It is a scary thing to do, so I feel blessed to have the opportunity to encourage her to continue to follow God with all of her heart. I shall be keeping in touch through letters, and I am hoping to see her again this summer at another camp.

Thank you for all of your prayers during my time at camp. I can see how God used them to open the minds and hearts of these campers to God’s Word and His powerful, life-changing love. (Note: Since the identities of thes children should remain confidential, I have shown pictures of the counselors singing together. It is such a fun and outrageous time for all the kids and the counselors to let loose and praise the Lord with cheers of joy and laughter!)

In regards to teaching, I recently had an opportunity to take 8 girls on a field trip to Balboa Park. I am an advisor for the LIL club (Learning International Languages Club). We stopped on the way at a Korean and Japanese market, and you can see us in the first picture. I think I was holding a dried fish, and we all had fun posing in the market. Then we watched a film about Africa, and then enjoyed a mulitcultural buffet of food in the middle of the park. (We all brought food from different countries, and we ate in the International Cottages area). By the way, when you see us doing something strange with our hands, we are trying to spell out "LIL" with our fingers. It’s cute, don’t you think?

By the way, a lot of people have been asking about my Indian family lately. I wanted to show a few pictures so you could see them personally. I am thankful to Sanjay (Josh) that he was willing to challenge me in college to follow God with all of my heart, and he was willing to share his family with me too! I consider them family, and I praise God to see what He is doing in all of their lives. In the first picture, you can see me with Josh and another "gabeg."

The second picture is with Santosh, who is the age of my brothers.

The next picture shows the girls of Josh’s family (Delfa, Grandma, Shoba’s cousin, Geeta and Shoba). The last picture is Shoba and Jaipaul (Josh’s sister and father). I remember many long talks with Jaipaul, and I am excited to see how God shall use him mightily in the future.

Here is also a picture of friends that I took when we went to Big Bear together. I thank God for each of these godly women!

Thank you again for all of your prayers. I have six weeks until I go to the Nationals Karate tournament, so I am trying to "slow down" a little in order to make more time for it. As one friend told me jokingly, that’s impossible for me. Oh well, praise God that He truly is my strength!