I Have Arrived....in New Jersey

Praise God for His grace and mercy, and for his provisions for me today in my travels.  I left Portland at 7:15 this morning and landed in Newark, New Jersey at 8:00 this evening, local time.  So, it was about 9 hours of air travel.  After I landed, it was 45 minutes of waiting for luggage and my wheels to arrive, and then a 50 minute car ride to my destination for the evening.  So, it's been a long day, but a GREAT day.  My first leg of the flight was from PDX to Salt Lake City.  It was just a pit stop, not a plane change, and it was a relatively short and empty flight.  I didn't get to talk to anyone, and I sat by myself.  However, in Salt Lake, the plane filled up and my row was quickly filled with two ladies.  One was about my age, maybe a year or two older, and the other young lady was high school age.  The gal that was my age quickly engaged me in conversation based on my thumb splint, and I found out she works in an infectious disease lab as a spokeswoman to the physicians, and tells them about the services that the lab offers.  I don't exactly recall what all she does, but her region involves Utah, Colorado and part of Nevada. She has lived in Utah for 2 years and hates it.  She recently got  a promotion, and with that promotion comes a move to Nevada.  She is a Believer, and she is happily married and her husband is also a believer and an artist.  She and I got to talking about what I was headed to New Jersey/New York to do, and she informed me that she envied my position in life.  We talked about being available to and for whatever God has for us to do and in whatever capacity he has for us to do it in.  Our flight was a short one, about an hour and 15 minutes, and about 50 minutes in, the high school aged gal piped up with a question about what kind of art her husband did.  Cindy was the high school gal, and Janelle was the gal my age.  Janelle's husband is a tattoo artist.  Cindy then informed us that she is headed home to Missouri for a long weekend visit for her younger sister's birthday, and that she is in a residential treatment program/boarding school in Salt Lake City for troubled teens.  THESE ARE THE TYPES OF KIDS I'M GOING TO HANG WITH IN NJ!!!  Opportunity one and two of the trip.  LOVE THIS!!!

So, if the trip would have ended right there, or in Denver, I could have come home and called this trip a success, and the Gospel would have been shared.  Praise God for his faithfulness to present opportunites when I ask for them.  I'm amazed and humbled.  But it gets better.  I get to Newark and find out I'm staying with Ray's friends right up the road from him.  Lizzy and Ivan.  Ivan is away on business until tomorrow, but their middle son, Marcos is home.  Marcos finished a degree in Chemistry, and is now going for his Master's in Divinity and has been hired by the Christian Missionary Alliance Church to be the missions pastor for a church plant in New Brunswick, NJ.  PLEASE BE PRAYING FOR THIS YOUNG MAN and for this church plant.  Their first service is this week.  They are way stoked about it, and this guy has the heart of a lion, lemme tell ya.  (For those that know Lee and Doris, the Christian Missionary Alliance Church is the one that they are connected to, besides our little body in Yoder). Anyway, these guys have fed me and put me up in amazing accomodations. 

Tomorrow I'll actually get to see Ray.  He had class tonight, so Sarah picked me up from the airport.  She helps Ray with the kids on Fridays.  These people have been really warm and receptive of me being here, and they are enthusiastic about why I'm here.  It's really encouraging.  I'll keep you posted on what my "assignments" are :) as I know.  I'm so excited to see how God is going to use me.  I'm just a willing and ready servant who wants to learn and......well, serve.  Whoa, right?  Cut me some slack, it's late and my poor brain is mush.  Thank you to those who have been praying.  I appreciate you.