Piano for Me to Practice On

So yesterday I was on the phone with my mom while driving home from Hobby Lobby. We were talking about the many things involved with me going to University of Houston: when to go, roommates, scholarships, etc... and the topic came up about a possible audition. I would need to prepare a repertoire. However, the only piano I had to practice on was an upright 15 min away. Now an upright is better than nothing, but to really get prepared for an audition I would need a Grand Piano. The touch is so much different. So mom mentioned stopping by a lutheran church she remembered seeing nearby where I live. Funny thing... I was passing by that church that VERY moment. So I decided to stop by. :) I hung up with mom and told her I'd call her back in a few with the verdict. I walked inside of the building and was pleased to see a nice sized grand in the sanctuary. Then I walked into the "church offices" section and told the receptionist my dilemma and asked if the piano was ever available for me to practice on. She said she would call the music director. Funny thing... as soon as she dialed his number, he walked in! So I told him my story and he took me in to see the piano and we talked schedules. The result was that I could come most any day (mondays were best for both of us) and just see if the room was empty. I can use it anytime its free! Oh, and get this: He said he often gets calls for accompanying jobs that he can't fill because of schedules, so he asked if he could refer people to me. !!!!! I'm gonna start working up my sight reading skills. :)
So needless to say I was very excited to call mom back and tell all! Yay!

Thank you Jesus!


♫Missyroo♫

In between trips home...

I made my first trip home two weekends ago and it was a blast! It was so refreshing to see my family and friends again. Yes, we live in a world of communication but there is nothing like seeing a person face to face. And you can't hug over the phone. :) I will be home again March 5-7. I'm looking forward to seeing everybody again!

Work is going well. I got a raise a couple weeks ago! Yay! Thank you Jesus for favor! First paycheck with the raise comes Friday! Just in time to pay rent. :) Speaking of rent...
Our lease finishes up April 30th so we are in the process of looking for a new place to live. We want at least a 4 bedroom house. Please be praying for us as we search. A bigger driveway would be wonderful too. Parking is dreadful here. We would, however, like to stay in this general area. It is VERY ideal for our ministry since it is within walking distance of the 3 refugee apartment complexes. Its also 5 min away from Chick-fil-A. :) I will keep you updated on the house hunt...

Still no piano here. I'm having to play guitar and the guitar here has really old strings and the top one does not tune correctly because something on the neck is messed up. JC said I can borrow his old guitar so I will remember to bring it back with me next month. A friend/neighbor of Larry and Terry has a piano and I have played it once. I'm hoping to play it again tomorrow! Also, Billy and Cindy have a keyboard that I get to play whenever we have house church at their house.

I guess thats it for now. Thanks for your prayers!

~MW~

My February Newsletter

Second Month in San Antonio

A few days ago marked the one month aniversary of my stay in San Antonio. If I had to describe my first month in a few words I would say it has been: exciting, challenging, educational, and just plain good. It has been
Exciting because I love new things and this is a new place with new people and new things to do.
Challenging because I have left my favorite people in the world at at home and I really, really miss them. I miss my animals and piano too. :) Perhaps the hardest challenge for me was the request of one of my dearest friends to be her Maid of Honor and embracing that role knowing that I could not be there to do everything with her. However, I know the Lord has a plan and He is helping me to do my best over long distance.
Educational in that I am learning about living on my own, working with different people groups, working at Chick-fil-A, etc...
And it has been Good, because in everything that I have done, all the challenges I've been facing, and everything that has happened, God has been right there to walk me through it. He has taught me, held me, corrected me, and loved me. And He has given me such a peace that I really cannot complain about anything. :) I am so grateful for His grace and love.

I am well into February now and it is promising to be a VERY busy month. I have settled into a 30+ hour-a-week job and the XTI homework assignments are starting to pour in. :-) I have also begun building relationships with refugees and that requires time as well. This particular week will be especially busy because I am going HOME this weekend! I will have to get ahread on homework and chores so that I am not overwhlemed when I return on Sunday. I am up for the challenger though! This week also holds extra excitement because I will be able to visit with some friends who are in town on Wednesday and Thursday! I am very excited. I hope the Lord continues to bless me with these opportunities to hang out with dear friends from home.

XTI Stuff

We have been studying leadership and storying in our XTI class this month. Leadership, because every missionary is a leader, and storying, because stories perhaps the most effective way of transmitting the gospel(which would explain why Jesus used stories so much). :) One of the key things we have learned about leadership is "empowerment." Giving of yourself so as to build up others to do the calling of God. Basically what Jesus did with the disciples. He poured Himself into them and gave them authority so that they could carry on His ministry after He was gone. So we have been studying the different stategies and aspects of Jesus's leadership and it has been very enlightening.
As far as storying goes, I had already learned much of what we are doing in Uganda. I thoroughly enjoy doing stories though. Liz and I were assigned a story for Sunday house church and we loved every minute of our preparation and presentation. We learned so much because to tell a story you much KNOW it exptremely well. We delighted to dive deep into the word of God so that we could give a good story. It was a blast and we want to do it often.

In other news, I am getting to know the other XTI trainees now and I really enjoy hanging out with everybody. We had a game night a week ago and that helped everyone to grow closer. We have started to hang out on our own outside of XTI class and house church. We had Christina and Laura over for dinner and a movie a few nights ago and it was so much fun. We concluded the night with a pillow fight and all I have to say it, pillow fights are great relationship builders. :) It adds relaxation and fun to a relationship. Not that I expected to "not get along" with anybody here, its just always hard to get settled in to a new place where the relationship are already formed and you have to join in and find your place. So, all that to say, it is going nicely and I love the XTI group. :)

Refugee Stuff

When I last wrote to you I mentioned that I had been assigned to work with refugees from Myanmar. Last week I asked Larry if I could switch to Iraqis instead. When I return to Houston next year the plan is to begin working with the Iraqis there so I figured it would be logical to start working with them here. : ) Larry aggreed and I have begun building relationship with a family just recently arrived from Jordan(where they had been for 10 years after leaving Bagdad) They have 7 kids, one of whom is still in Iraq. The girls with them are Maymona(23), Delahl(20), Aesha(14), and Stephana(I think) she is 4 and the two boys are Mustafa(17) and Adjabuhti(2). I prbably misspelled a few of those. The parents names are Kalehd and Serera. I have only hung out with them 3 times but I have enjoyed my time with them immensely. I have become aqquatined with a few other iraqis in the complex as well and I look forward to the day when I know them all by name.

Hannah and I have become involved with an ESL(English as a second language) class that it taught in an apartment complex nearby. It is directed to Myanmar people. We met with the leaders two weeks ago and listened to them brainstorm. They had been doing this for a while but decided it was time for some more organization. They only expected about 8-9 people to come to their class the next week but amazingly, 25 burmese people showed up! Karen(the leader) was very overwhelmed at first but she adapted quickly and did a wonderful job of giving their lesson. Over the next few weeks we will be assessing each person to find where they are in the English education. Most barely speak a few words and many, it seems, are not interested in changing that. So it was very encouraging to see 25 people show up at the class Thursday. I look forward to learning from Karen and seeing these people become more comfortable in their new home here in the States.


♫ Please pray for me as I head home this weekend. It will be a busy weekend so pray for rest!
♫ Pray for me and my new Iraqi friends. Pray that I find favor with them and we become good friends!
♫ Pray for Larry and Terry as they teach us and mentor us( its a big job!)
♫ Pray that I find a piano or keyboard soon! I miss my music!
♫ I need a computer of my own so if you could pray about that too that would be awesome!

Thanks!

I wish to thank you all for reading this and keeping me in your prayers! I truely appreciate it!

Much Joy!
~Missy~

4119 Copano Bay
San Antonio, TX 78229

281-702-2355
serving_him_7@sbcglobal.net
missyroow.blogspot.com

Great Weekend and more

So, Jaye came to visit last weekend and we had a blast! We went and saw the San Jose Mission and Mission Concepcion. San Jose was fantastic. We loved it. Oh, and we ran into a guy wearing a Northside Falcons jersy, and it turns out he is on the team that Jaye's dad is coaching back in Conroe!! What a small world! :) On Sunday morning I went with Jaye to visit the church her sister and brother-in-law go to. The music was great. I miss that. Esp. at Breakaway. :( But it was good! I'm glad I got to go. We also watched two movies with Kristen Chenoweth. They were both hilarious. Love Kristen Chenowth. :) All-in-all it was a wonderfully refreshing weekend! I'm so glad she was able to come visit!

Chick-fil-A is going well. I'm getting quite comfortable in the kitchen. I don't have to ask about every little thing I do and I'm getting pretty fast at most everything. Well, fast in comparison to how I've been doing. :) Hahaha.... got my first paycheck the other day. Oh! Great little story... so rent was due a few days ago and I didn't have enough so I had to draw out of my savings. As I was leaving the bank I was talking to God and I said "Hey God, I could sure use a little cusion here with my finances. I have 50 bucks to live off of till my next paycheck. Maybe you could put it on somebodys heart to help support me?" and he was like "Missy, you have money in your savings." I replied, "Yea, God, I know that. But you know how much I hate taking money out of there. Besides I'm saving up for a keyboard and a laptop. Please?" :) I could just hear Him chuckling. haha... I left it at that. So the next day, I was setting up the ladder at work to get something off the top shelf and Mark walks by(hes an older gentleman who, I think? owns the chick fil a?) and hands me a $10 Target gift card and says, "this is for your outstanding work." I was like, "oh! Thank you!" :) I guess that was God's way of saying, hey, I hear you. I love you. I got you covered. :) I love Him. He's just too sweet. :)

OH! More news, I asked Larry and Terry if I could switch to working with Iraqi refugees instead of Burmese because when I come back to Houston next year I will be working primarily with Iraqis. So I've been visitng a new Iraqi family near by. I love them. The father is blind and they have 4 girls and 2 boys. The girls are 23, 20, 14, 4. And the boys are 17 and 2. They are just recently arrived from Jordan (they spent 10 years there after leaving Iraq). When I first met them they had only been in the States 4 days. They speak almost NO english so I'm always having to get a translator. So far its been great. I'm really excited to get to know them and others as the weeks go by. I love new friends!!!

Liz and I are telling the story for this coming house church meeting. Every week somebody else tells a story. We are going chronologically through the gospels(I might have said that already). Basically we are studying Jesus's leadership by looking at it from the disciples perspective. So Liz and I had this great idea of telling our story with one of us telling from Jesus's point of view and the other telling it from the disciples. We are both excited and can't wait to study tonight and practice. And then Tuesday Liz and I are telling another story for XTI class. I love storying!!! We did a bunch in Uganda and I loved it there too.

I guess thats all for now! Thanks so much for your prayers! Stay in touch!

Missyroo
serving_him_7@sbcglobal.net