Getting Settled, Again

Hello again friends,

Well, it seems as if my life is constantly moving and changing. I wonder if I will ever truly be settled anywhere again. I am getting used to life in South Carolina as a working woman instead of a student. My roommate Linda has been back for almost a month now and it is SO great to see her again. We lived together for six weeks in North Africa and it was good preparation for life as roommates. We have a great apartment just behind campus so she can walk to classes. We have good friends as neighbors and are slowly getting our house looking like a home. The walls are still pretty empty, but we are working on that. We now have curtains and some borrowed furniture and that is a huge blessing!

I passed my pre-appointment interview a couple of weeks ago and now am well on my way to heading overseas full time this summer. I just need to get my school loans paid off, which I am trusting the Lord to provide for. Even with the best paying job, it is impossible for me to have them paid off before I leave so this is a huge "wall" I am walking around. Thank you for marching with me - I am excited to see how God is going to bring this wall crashing down!

Work at the March of Dimes is going well. Long days and much different than working at the church, though much of the work is similar. I am just getting used to things there, feeling more confident in knowing what I am doing and learning a whole new "march of dimes" vocabulary. Last week I told my supervisor that I am planning on heading overseas and that I can only work through April or mid May. They are looking for someone who can be there long term and I felt deceitful keeping my future plans from them when I have no intention of staying there long term. I don't know what is going to happen now, but they are most likely going to be looking for someone new. This is another leap of faith for me because I knew what the likely results of telling them would be. But I trust the Lord to be faithful and keep providing for me. I am still working through the temp agency so I trust that they will help me find another position if that is what becomes necessary. I appreciate your prayers in this as well. I trust the Lord to lead me to the place He wants me to be right now.

On another note, I have found a new church home. When I came back from North Africa my small church plant I was going to seemed to have disappeared. The plan was to join with another church this fall for a new church plant, but I am not sure when or if that is happening and I am not sure where anyone from my old church has ended up. So I started looking for a church down here. I have visited many churches over the last year and one thing that has been hard is that people aren't very friendly or welcoming. However, the church I have found is amazing! It is a little Baptist church that is full of mostly older people (60's, 70's, 80's and older)! They are so welcoming and loving! For example, this morning at church we got so loved on! Many people each week come up to us and tell us how glad they are that we are there and how much they want us to come back. You can see the love of Christ flowing out of them. We have been to lunch with a couple in the church and talked about ministry possibilities there. Not only are the people incredibly welcoming, but the pastor is amazing. He is a younger pastor and his preaching is amazing. He tells it like it is and every week speaks from the Word and his heart for evangelism is seen in each message. Every week I leave feeling fed and convicted. He reminds me so much of Pastor Jack! It is like I am back home and that is a great feeling!

I think that is all the news for now...oh, except for the fact that I chopped my hair off yesterday. Yikes! I am still getting used to it and don't really know what I think about it yet!

I apologize for not keeping in as good of touch lately. I do not have internet at home and I can't e-mail from work so I have the weekends to try to catch up with you all! Please don't stop writing, I love hearing from you and y'all are such an encouragement to me! May the Lord bless you and keep you this week.

With Love,

Josie