prayer.

So, I am sitting here trying to figure out what I would like to blog today. I don't have an inspiration, a lesson I'm learning, a great scripture passage, an encouraging note, or an update on things here really. In fact, I feel like I just want to write to you and ask you to please pray for me. The past couple of days here in Branson have been great, just a bit emotional. I have a few big decisions to make and a great number of people who are on my mind constantly. Here are a few of the bigger things you can be lifting up:

- Blair in Africa (health, hope, and heart for Him).

- Katy in Asia (perseverance and encouragement).

- Direction for my friends for the fall.

- Katie headed to Hong Kong in a few days.

- The group here who has only 1 term left. 

- Health here to stay strong. 

- For the Lord to continue to work in and through me, preparing my heart for whatever is next and also healing and redeeming it in the process. I need to remember that He is my identity and the provider of all my needs, even relationships. I miss all of you so much and can't tell you how much it means to me that you are all praying alongside me. 

fathers day!

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!!

I just wanted to take a minute to shout out to all the wonderful daddies out there!! I hate that I can't be with mine on this day. I hope he feels loved and appreciated. I am so thankful for three wonderful men who have raised, loved, encouraged, and put up with my crazy self for 20 years: Dad, Pop, and Grandbuddy!! The older I get, the more I know how blessed I am to have you all in my life! You each mean so much to me and I wish I could be hugging all three of you this very minute. It's a living testimony of obedience for my father to have this day with me and Blair (older sister) both absent. The fact that we are both serving our Heavenly father in different places only reflects our parents' obedience to the Lord as well. It's really a blessing that my Dad would rather us be serving Jesus than serving Him at home today. I am sorry I didn't get to talk to all of you but please know that I am thinking about each of you and so appreciative to have you in my life. I love you so much!!!!

-Brandy

Nothing Ordinary

I woke up around 8:15 to noise from the nurses station that is right beneath me. I get dressed and head to the dining hall for girls breakfast around 8:30. Breakfast varies from morning to morning.. my favorite is choc. chip pancakes on Saturdays! After breakfast we have flag and a skit for the kick off of the day. Then I head to the office to begin duties that are to be done. Around 10:30 AM the mail arrives. I sit for 2 hours sorting mail into 24 cabins. It's by far my favorite job at camp. It stinks because i don't usually get any mail and little Susie and Tommy get 34 letters a day from mommy and daddy. However, my ADD self is obsessed with tedious jobs and I love it love it love it. Around 12:30 I walk to girls lunch and put the mail in the counselors cubbies. We eat and laugh at different dining hall moments and then head to Bumble Bee. It's an award show for the clinics the kids participate in during the day (bball, soccer, kayak..etc). After the show, I head to do some quiet time on my own and get energized by the Lord and His word. After lunch, I check the schedule and head to the placements I've received for the afternoon. These consist of water slides, zip lines, pool, boat trips, bible class, etc. Around 6 we head to dinner and prepare for the party or the worship night ahead. This is a usual day at KKountry....but-the Lord seems to always amaze me how He turns the ordinary into extraordinary moments. The past couple of days I have gotten to see many friends who are working at other kamps from Auburn. I love hearing how the Lord is moving and working all around Kanakuk kamps. I feel like sometimes I tend to get annoyed with my jobs or with entertaining these kids but He is constantly reminding me it's not about me. The coolest parts of camp are the community and the ministry I share with others through the way the Lord has changed my life. I have gotten to speak and share my testimony with many women here and have had some amazing conversations and open doors with people. I have some of the closest friends here already and the way the Lord is orchestrating our friendships and lives is insane. He is so incredible and is teaching me so much about purity and serving. A verse I am constantly journaling is 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 which says, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in my weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." The way the Lord strips my flesh down and shows me vulnerable to others is a reminder that I have no strength or good in me at all apart from Him. He shines right through my weaknesses and overcomes my fears. I am trusting on Him to continue to push and transform me. Sometimes, kamp is really tough, but I see His supernatural power and strength emerge from these counselors and myself when we can take that one more question, one more skit, one more testimony, one more glass of water, one more song, one more job... He continues to prove He is Lord of the lives here and is working through us. As our bible study here is studying 2 Thessalonians, I am reminded by 2 Thess. 3:13, "And as for you, brothers, never tire of doing what is right." The community of friends and mentors here are also a huge part of my experience. These people are so incredible. I love seeing people so obedient to the Lord that they surrender their desires, their weaknesses, and their lives to walk into what He has called them to do. The Lord is working through the staff and is demonstrating Proverbs 27:17, "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." I am excited because it is getting closer to the time where I will be a counselor. However, I am not ready for this group of amazing people to leave. I love the environment and pray that you are also remembering these kids and me while I serve Him in Branson. Thank you for your prayers and encouragement. If you want to (I'll enjoy alot ...) you can write me.. You can send me goody packages but NOTHING edible is allowed. My address is 967 Lake Shore Dr. Branson, MO 65616.
Love!!

Life here

Hey Guys!! 

Kamp is great. The honeymoon stage is definitely over but I still feel like the Lord has me here for a very specific purpose. Serving others has stripped me and sharpened me each and every day. One thing I am learning is how it's so easy to serve and work with people you love. When someone here asks me to do something, regardless of the job if I enjoy that person it's almost an easy chore. I love working for and alongside someone that I enjoy. However, when a person I do not click as well with asks me to do something, it's very difficult to say yes-or to keep a positive attitude in the process. I know the Lord will bless the tougher decisions and make joy out of those times but it is so difficult to walk in that truth. It's hard to love and serve people who drive you nuts. The Lord is so faithful in His rewards. I am learning that I am glorifying Him in serving others and I pray that I will continue to strive toward the right service no matter how difficult the task. Another thing that I am learning is to really see the best in people. A close friend once asked me to assume the best of her at all times. Sometimes as humans, it's so easy to play the victim and feel that a person is just out to get us. However, most of the time the other person has no clue that we've even been hurt. It seems that we are naturally good at assuming the worst of people. I think the Lord is pushing me to always assume the best of others. When we do that, communication is easier, and the Lord gets the glory in the end. These are two of my struggles right now here at Kamp. Pray that I would serve everyone as Jesus did and that I would think the best of people and their intentions. 

The kids are great. The way they are always energized and excited to be outside motivates me. I love seeing them worship and surrender small but meaningful things to them to the Lord. It's beautiful to see lives being transformed right in front of me. I really love spending time with the other counselors and people on staff. The Lord is always moving and I love being along for the ride. This past week has been harder but I feel like it's just a time of teaching and I have faith and am trusting that He is refining me and transforming me into a mirrored image of Him. I hope everything is going well with all of you. Let me know if I can be praying for you. Love you all. Missing you! :)

Ministry

greetings earthlings!!
So, Kamp is totally awesome. God is rocking my world. He is so so good and I am so blessed to learn and grow deeper in my faith in Him. It literally breaks my heart when I know of people who are not experiencing the grace and freedom found in Jesus alone. I wish I could be in control of salvation sometimes, but I am reminded by the Holy Spirit that He is sovereign and just. Anyways, off that soap box... I am living with the office girls at Kamp right now because I am a volunteer. Really the only difference in me and the counselors is they are getting paid and living with campers and I'm not. I look at it as a free opportunity for room and board, play in the sun with kiddos, and grow in my walk with Jesus= no paid needed. I am constantly on the go because everyone needs extra help. I have been driving kids on tubing trips, sending kids down ziplines, swim lessons, skits, you name it-I'm doing it. I love love love it. My favorite thing about this atmosphere is this: when people are actively pursuing Jesus as Lord, there's this incredible bond that is supernatural and is the Holy Spirit working. It's like you meet someone here at Kamp knowing they love the Lord and their passion is to make Him known and it's an automatic connection. My friends at Kamp know me so well and have known me like 3 weeks. Here, we have to be real-open-vulnerable. It's like we see each other for who we are and depend on one another as a community to spread Jesus into these kids hearts. It's insane how close you get to people when you are forced by isolation from the real world. Which possesses a new question: Or is this the REAL world? It's a strange thought. When Jesus is the Lord of your life, it's an instant friendship because He is love. I believe without Him, true love doesn't exist. Therefore, in Him, love grows deep for one another and it's amazing to see that happen. I am being transformed constantly by His love for me and for this group of lives around me. I love pouring into these kids. I have so many stories and am learning so much that I wish I could stay in this REALITY forever. However, I do miss my family and friends. I just want to brag on a few for a second. I have a sister in Africa. I have a best friend roommate in Bali. I have friends packing up for Hong Kong. I have another friend in Asia. The Lord is planting the same fire in my heart that is in all of these. When Jesus is LORD of your life, He is above all things. His priorities are first. His words are crucial. Everything I do, I do because He is driving me to it. I don't work at Kamp for free because I am doing good in these kids lives or because I have some passion to save the world or make it a better place. I do it because Jesus tells me to. It's verbal, it's real, and it's truth. I am honored to pursue His call on my life and strive to be more like Him in all I do. My favorite thing so far at Kamp was teaching a bible study to 7 year old girls. The way they understand Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord," is astonishing. I know plenty of people who A. can't accept this as truth for "their" life or B. make it more complex than needed. Seeing 7 year old grasp the truth, the relationship, the One who was changed my life forever, is beautiful, amazing, and glorifying to my Father in Heaven who I love. I am here because He has me here. Not from my desire, but by His mercy. I feel a burning in my heart to stress more and more who Jesus is because it is overwhelming how REAL and POWERFUL He is in my life and I want everyone to know He is open and ready to live in their hearts. God gave Jesus as a free gift to us. Here's my bible study that I did with the girls...

CLIFF ONE
-man
-sin (only capable of wrong)

CLIFF TWO
-God
-Holy (only capable of doing right)

PIT
-in between us there's a pit of fire and rocks separating us from Him

PROBLEM-
God wants us to know Him and live with Him in His holiness but we are separated by sin. Therefore He gives us a FREE gift:

BRIDGE for the CLIFFS-
Jesus is the bridge. God gave us Jesus as a FREE gift that bridges the cliffs together and gives us the opportunity to do right and know God. When our lives are over, we will cross the bridge completely and enter eternal life with God.

A Gift- If I give you a marker, I am holding it out for you to take but it isn't actually yours until you take it from my hand. Jesus is there, out there waiting. All you have to do is receive Him as Lord of your life. It's beautiful. It's worth it. It's a 7 year old possibility and an eternal truth.