Friday, July 22, 2011

Site Placement! EXCITED!

"The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance." Psalm 16:6


How true, how true! God has prepared a place for me and now I've found out about it! :) Can't WAIT to share with you! 


I received word last Saturday morning that I will be living and working at CMS College in Kottayam, Kerala!!! I will be living on campus in campus housing. CMS is in Kottayam, one of the larger cities in Kerala. CMS was founded in 1817 by the Church Missionary Society and (according to my admission letter-yes, I am actually enrolled in a college in India-how crazy/cool is that?!) is the oldest college in India!


Here's some thoughts/reasons why I'm so excited:


1) I am looking forward to being in a city. I was worried about ending up in a remote place with not much to do-if you know anything about me, you know that I need to have a lot going on! I greatly prefer a city to a rural setting-lots to do, lots of people to meet! 


2) I love colleges! I want to go to school my whole life! I love the university setting. Though I do greatly enjoy working with children, I prefer working with older students. (When I was student teaching, the older the kids were the more I enjoyed working with them by far!) I'm really looking forward to being with university students. I think this is an age range and setting which will be a great fit.


3) One of the big things I've really been praying about is for God to provide opportunities to use my music, and while I can't know just yet what I'll find once I get there, I feel like there will probably be a lot more musical opportunities for me in the city than there would be elsewhere. We'll see! :)


4) I'll have a variety of different things to do! 


Here are some of the things I'll be doing/may be doing:
·         Engaging a few classes on areas like developing communication skills, creative writing and media.
·         Involving in student activities including initiating and maintaining blogs which will enhance the skills of students.
·         Associating with College Chapel service, Bible study groups and college choir.
·         Initiating and developing a College Music Band.
·         Exploring and getting involved with possible activities at Lea Hostel
·         Visiting churches (if possible, Dalit churches) and associating with youth groups on week ends.
·         Visiting homes of students and staff and get a clear understanding of the community around.
·         Visiting different schools in Kottayam and engaging short sessions for the students.


...AAAND more! 
 Those of you that know me know that I have a really hard time doing repetitive tasks. I do well with a lot of variety of things to do-and where better to find this than a college? I am thrilled that instead of doing the same thing day after day, it sounds like I'll have many opportunities and groups with which to associate. Hooray!


It's really nice to finally have something to at least picture or imagine in my mind about where I'll be...up until this point I've had no image in my mind as to where I'll be-rural or urban, etc etc., but now I can at least begin to visualize it in some way and prepare. The more I think about my placement, the more I look forward to it! :) 


I'll be off in just a few hours now to the New Wilmington Mission Conference-the BEST WEEK OF THE YEAR! I'll be serving as high school staff again this year. Conference always is so powerful-I look forward to it as the highlight of my year every year! I am so excited to meet my girls that I'm be counseling and for all that God is going to do this week-He always shows up so mightily at NWMC! I look forward to sharing more with you about it later!


Blessings & peace,
Claudia 


God's Abundant Provision: A Million Thanks!!!!!

Dear friends,

Where can I begin to express my thankfulness to you all and my amazement at God's abundant provision in this time? Words just can't express it. But I'll try. :)

I sit writing this at Crestfield, where I served a year ago last summer as Worship Director. It's just astonishing how much has changed since then. I am in complete awe at all that God has done and is doing in my life and the lives of those around me-what a transformative time this has been in so many ways, but more than anything it's been a time of extreme abundance-rich in relationships, rich in encouragement, rich in growth and in responsibility and challenges-very rich indeed.

 I can't believe this-but all my funding is in. It was in before July even began! Let me state that first of all, I had not even sent letters to my close friends, nor to my conference family at New Wilmington, nor to HALF of my list of people I was going to send letters to.

Deep breaths-this makes me so emotional every time I think about it.

I received an email at the the end of June with an updated funding report that showed that I had met my goal. I double checked it, triple checked it, and then just started balling my eyes out. Thank you, thank you, I can't thank you enough. My church family has been extraordinarily generous in many ways. I can't tell you how it feels to have people I don 't even know give to my cause, or to receive a large anonymous gift... I can attribute it only the work of the Holy Spirit.

As soon as I found that out I thought, "I needed all of this support by NEXT July-it's not even July 2011 yet! Are you kidding me?!?!?!

Secondly, I had been preparing my big fundraising event, a benefit voice recital, since April!!! How crazy is it that I didn't even need to host my big fundraising event?! AND I haven't even gone to New Wilmington Mission Conference yet-a place abundant in mission support and rich friendships with a deep love of mission- I haven't even gone there yet!!!

So I thought, should I still give my recital? I decided to, and it was held on July 8th.

What an extraordinary difference it made to be able to give back to my church family in that way, not as a fund raising event, but just as a sharing, as a celebration! A big thanks to the @150 people who attended. I performed classical pieces in Italian, French, and German for the first half of the recital, and then spoke a bit about my upcoming time in India. The second half was a collection of American and English arias and I ended with four musical theatre pieces. It was such a wonderful evening in so many ways. I hardly even remember it, it just felt like a dream!

If you want to watch the videos from the recital, check them out on youtube: here's the link to the first one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOOCx0xXgP0

Friends from all over were there-church family, actual family, college friends, camp friends, conference friends, people from the community...I was really surprised by the number of people (we'd prepared a reception for 50 people-whoops! :)

It was really just a wonderful evening of celebration. I was very nervous but eventually relaxed and was able to really enjoy sharing with you all and celebrating with you. Though I shared that I had met the minimum requirement for my funding for the year already, I was still given over $2000 just that evening.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Words really just can't express my thankfulness-the support in prayer, in finances, in encouragement, has just been flooding in. I feel deeply as though I am being filled up and sent out.

Thank you-thank you for being open to His call, for being led in generosity, and for just flooring me with your love. I can't believe I'm going off with it all raised-what a relief and what a testament to His faithfulness.

So thank you, thank you, I can't thank you enough. I'm just so amazed...and so very grateful.