Thursday, September 8, 2016

September Life Update

Well, I think it has been a sufficiently long time since I have posted on this blog! So here is a life update for anyone that has been wondering about where I'm at. Maybe you have seen pictures on Instagram of a boy, and that got you wondering. Maybe you've been thinking I'm still in Atascadero, but just living under a rock somewhere (no, I haven't just been skipping out on church for a year -- yes, I did move).

I still am living in Sacramento, I am now a senior at Sac State. Lord willing this May I'll be graduated with a BS in Family and Consumer Sciences (think: Home Economics). Since living up here I have found a lovely church, an amazing community, and truly some of my best friends.

This summer I went to the Middle East, it was an absolutely lovely experience. I learned a lot about using my skills and talents for the Kingdom through an internship at a workshop. It was a joy and honor to be a part of what He is doing over there, Stay tuned as to whether there will be a return trip, you never know what God may be up to!

I do have a boyfriend, that's who you saw on Instagram. His name is Marc. We have been dating since April of 2016. Marc is 25 and lives in Chicago, and he's basically the best ever. If you think of it, please pray for us -- relationships are hard and long distance doesn't help! But I'm pretty sure he's totally worth it.

What else, what else .... I think that covers the big stuff. I am still completely addicted to coffee and eat way too much chocolate. Some things never change ;)


Friday, March 4, 2016

Outworking of God's Nudge

It's safe to say that God is always nudging me here or there (I mean every post including my last one includes a new worldview, crazy trip, or life mantra). It's also safe to say I love it. I have recently learned that I really love change and variety. I value it highly. While my roommate may not love it (I am constantly changing my side of the room, sorry Alyssa!) I think that God has really used it as a motivating factor in my life.

Last November I had been in Sacramento for a whopping four months and was starting to feel restless. I felt like God was nudging my heart to something but I had just no idea what it could be. I was at a conference one weekend and was so broken over the poverty in this world, the wealth that college students possess, and the weight that we are dropping the ball as college students. Being an American college student means my peers and I are SO RICH! I was so broken at this conference over the fact that we are exploiting this reality, not leveraging it for the Gospel and justice. So after crying a lot, I went to bed and got up for the last morning at the conference ready to eat bacon and try to feel numb, because not only was I feeling too much, but no one else was hearing what I was hearing or feeling what I was feeling.

I walked into a huge dining room and saw one person I knew, Patrick, our college group leader. So I sat with him. Turns out he was leading an info meeting at that table about a trip to the Middle East. I was at the wrong table because for a girl who wants to drop out of college, taking a college organized trip was not my idea of a good summer.

I tried to keep my head down and eat my bacon, but like, Patrick started talking about marginalized women. He started painting a picture of their needs and the needs of a culture that has been ravished by the logic of unforgiveness. He created a desire for me to see how the Gospel works in a culture and land so close to where it Walked. In that second, I pretty much knew, " Erin, you're going."

And I am. And I am thrilled. I have NO IDEA how I have gotten to where I am, why God has taken me over and through the roller coaster of these issues and landed me in college. I have no idea what God wants to teach me through this trip, but He has very clearly nudged me into a corner on this one.

So, here is my shameless plug, if you have caught the vision of this trip (I know, I added very little details, and if I have told you more, please don't comment anything about it for the safety of the long term laborers that we are partnering with. It's an uncertain time and we have to be careful with what we share, not everywhere is as accepting to different religions as the USA. That's what's up with the very few details.)  and want to be involved through prayer and giving, email me at eringoesfar@gmail.com. I have to raise an unbelievable amount of money (okay, to me it is, I'm a college student!) and I need supporters!

That's all for me today, folks. Stay tuned for trip updates and please, email me if you want to get prayer updates or info with giving!