Next Stop, Huntsville!

Good evening ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to my small corner of the interwebs. I’m feeling extra bloggy tonight so let’s get going!

I see that some of you have received your GoNow letter from me! Of course, you read about my plans for the summer, but for those of you who haven’t checked your mailboxes, here is a short preview. I have applied through my school’s BSM (Baptist Student Ministry) to be sent as a GoNow missionary for the summer. After a long process of applications and interviews, I have been appointed to Huntsville, TX. Huntsville is home to some of Texas’s largest prisons. From May 18 until August 14, I will be staying at a hospitality house designed for those coming to visit loved ones in prison. This ministry takes a special interest in “the other victims of crime”.  The house provides lodging, meals, and spiritual support for families dealing with the incarceration of their loved ones.

For me, this means cooking, cleaning, answering phones, and doing whatever else needs to be done to help things go smoothly during the week. On the weekends, I get to spend time with the families and build relational bridges to Jesus. The temporary loss of a family member to prison can cause major strain on a family. During this difficult time, I will have the opportunity to talk about the hope found in Christ and the transformation he can bring to anyone who asks. Over and over in my own life I have seen the Lord bring a beautiful and joyful ending to a painful story. I love that I will be participating in God’s transforming power in Huntsville.

Know what else? There are a truckload of kids who desperately need Christ to change the trajectory of their lives. Check out these stats http://emu.edu/now/peacebuilder/2011/03/justice-for-children-whose-parents-are-in-prison/ . Without the ministry of the hospitality house, these children are on a path toward the same choices their parents have made. Through loving on these kids, we can teach them how to make their own positive choices. The house emphasizes keeping these children in school, a factor that decreases the likelihood that they too will end up in prison. These kiddos need to know that they are valuable creations of God and that he has great plans for their lives. And if I have anything to say about it, the time that they spend at the hospitality house will be a blast!

I don’t know if it has come across…but I’m excited!!! It is getting hard to concentrate on school, but these last few weeks are pretty important. In other news, I woke up this morning and told this day that I owned it. It belonged to me and it would be great. I should do that more often! It’s been a long and lovely day and I feel the kind of healthy tired that tops off a day. I am sure that I planned to say more, but I am anxious to get this posted.