Its been an absolutely nutty weekend. For those of you who know whats happening you'll know its been a huge rollar coaster of emotion to some huge depths, and yet God always takes us out of the valleys, although they defiantely hurt when we're there. September 20th I wrote in my journal, "How quickly things can change, how quickly joy can turn to sorrow or laughter into pain." And yet tonight it'll be a completley different story.

(Rundown for everybody that has no idea.... Sept 20 some of my teammates took my guitar and my backpack containing my laptop, camera, wallet etc. home in a cab... except for it didn't make it home as everything was forgotten in the trunk of the cab... and trying to find one cab driver in Panama City can only be done by God.)

Now everything hasn't made it back and I'm still praying it does... and yet God continually blows me away. But until then... lets take a walk through some scripture that pulled me through this weekend, grab some coffee or tea and take a minute to do this with me. I know that scripture speaks to us all at different times but I pray that even as you read and think about these that God will continue to reveal his character to you... just as He's been doing to me.

Psalm 37:3-7a

"Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him."

Psalm 38:9

"All my longings lie open before you, O Lord: my sighing is not hidden from you."

*Psalm 42:11 (5-11 too)

"Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Saviour and my God."

*Psalm 51:12

"Restore to me they joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me."

*Isaiah 26:3

"You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast because he trusts in you."

*James 1:2-3

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverence...."

*1 Peter 1: 6-7

"In this you greatly rejoice, through now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith- of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire- may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed."

*John 14:14

"You may ask me for anything in my name and I will do it."

& again...

*John 15:7

"If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be given to you."

& again...

*John 15:16

"You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit- fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other."

*Romans 8:38-39

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present or the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to seperate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus."

*Psalm 139:7-10

"Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens you are there: if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea (Panama???), even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast."

*Psalm 36, Psalm 40, Psalm 95, Psalm 100

(any of those guys....)

Thanks for taking a trip with me, I love you guys all so much!!! As always... more to come.

Well... we're not getting deported tomorrow!! Yeah! This morning our request for an extension was granted and we've been excepted for a 30 day extension to our tourist visas. We have Panamanian identification cards and everything. At the end of the 30 day extension (October 18th) we'll be passing in our applications for our missionary visas and we should be set up for the rest of the year! Thanks so much for all your prayers!

So an update on the crazy missionary/ tourist visa situation.... as uncomplicated as I can attempt to make this. We registered at the immigration office this morning and then applied for a 30 day extension to our current tourist visas. The only thing is that we won't find out until Tuesday morning whether the extension has been approved. Until then we wait and pray. Worse case scenario is we do a mad jaunt to Costa Rica on Wednesday and re-enter the country. Basically the idea is that a month from now we'll pass in the application for our missionary visas and then be completely finished with this bureaucratic mess. Please continue to pray that we'll have favor with the immigration office and that our extension will be approved. The officer we dealt with this morning had John 3:16 posted on his carrel which was a cool encouragement after the 5:30 am wake up call. Also... one of the girls on the team is still sorting out with Canada how to get a criminal record check done from overseas and its not looking good, so continue to keep that in your prayers.... lots of love!!!!

Just some random pics for you guys..... enjoy...

The weekly meeting we were at today. The place was hopping with students a half hour before we even got rolling.. it was awesome.

Jessica, Steve, Sarah and I at the 30th anniversary of the signing of the canal treaties and the land breaking for the canal expansion.

The long awaited view from the apartment... I love waking up to this every morning.

Bathroom graffiti in Panama... 10 points to whoever translates this first (Jon you don't count).

The view from the mountaintop.... where we were at a retreat with the staff and students the past weekend.

I hate being sick. I absolutely hate it. I feel irritable and frustrated when I have no right to be and I don’t have the energy to do the things I normally can do. I question things when I shouldn’t and all in all don’t function well both physically but also emotionally. When I’m at home I talk to my mom or grab a cup of tea and cuddle into my favorite sweater and sweats and sit with my dog or on my couch with my favorite music. I can have a bath or do whatever I need to do to take care of myself. So it’s hard when I’m not able to do those things anymore. I absolutely love it here and yet there’s times, like this evening that it’s hard to be somewhere that’s not quite home yet. I’m too hot to cuddle in a sweater and it’s too sweaty to drink tea and my family (my dog included) is over a thousand miles away. But it’s also times like this that I have nowhere to turn to but to my heavenly Father. He’s the only steady and constant thing in my life when all else is changing and moving and scary or frustrating at times.

Psalm 73:23-26

“Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

In John 7:60-71 Jesus is deserted by “many” of his disciples as his teaching is hard (vs.60). It’s not exactly the most encouraging bible story and yet it has one of my favorite verses in it. In verse 67 Jesus asks the Twelve whether they also want to leave him and Simon Peter answers, “Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” (vs.68-69) I love that. “Lord to whom shall we go?” Where else would I turn when I feel alone or ready to throw in the towel? To whom shall I go? “Whom (else) have I in heaven?”