My Dearest Friends and Family,

Right now I am sitting in the sand staring out at the vast ocean and watching the waves come rolling in. One after the other. What a picture of the Lord's amazing faithfulness. I am writing because I wanted to share with those who have not heard that yesterday, I received an acceptance letter to the credentialing program in Mexico!!! When I opened the letter and saw the word, “Congratulations”, I simply wept from surprise, from joy, from excitement, from fear, from all the rushing emotions. But, “Voy a Mexico”!! So, after graduation, I will have four days to pack up, then head off to China for now five weeks, because I will leave China a week early, to fly to San Diego, have a three day orientation, then fly to Mexico, where I will live for NINE months with a host family!! AAAAHHH!! So intense.

That morning, before I received the letter, I was reading, Isaiah 47:8a, which says, “Now then, listen, you wanton creature, lounging in your security..” and I begged the Lord, that I did not want to live a life of comfort, that I want to live radically for Him. I asked Him to take me wherever it is that I may best serve Him. I was comforted by Isaiah 48:17b, which says, “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go”. That He will direct me, and then that afternoon I got the letter of acceptance. As much as I am scared, to leave all that is dear to me, and go live in a foreign culture, with no transition time, out of Masters (small little Christian school), I am so exctied. I am excited because of what this year program, will play into God's plan for my life. I feel as it is a stepping stone in preparation for God's purpose for my life. Dallas Washer, a missionary to Africa, who died there, and is buried at the hospital he built, has this written on his grave, because it was written in His Bible. “I have but one candle of life to burn and would rather burn it out where people are dying in darkness than in a land which is flooded with light”. That is my prayer, that is where I want to burn, and I am grateful and excited for this opportunity, because I pray that it is a stepping stone, to giving my life to a place where there is no light. Jim Elliot said, “A call is nothing more nor less than obedience to the will of God, as God presses it home to the soul by whatever means He chooses”. Pray for the boldness and strength to step out of my comfort zone, and to be obedient to the call of proclaiming His name to the ends of the earth!

I would love your prayers as I know many challenges and obstacles await, but I am stepping out in faith and trusting that this is part of “..His good, pleasing, and perfect will”

I love you guys, thank you for all your support and love,

Monica