Thanksgiving

I know that I've said this a billion times, but you have to hear it a billion times more, THANK YOU!! During this Thanksgiving time, I am sooooo thankful for everyone that has supported me in getting here (emotionally, financially, and through prayer!) This experience has been so amazing and so surreal, and I never want anyone of you to forget what a blessing you have been to me! There is no way I could be here on my own, and I just want ya'll to know how thankful I am for every one of you! :)

I can’t believe the school year ends this week at Palabra de Vida! The regular Bible Institute students have their exams this week, then we have Missions Conference all next week. Then I get on a plane back to Georgia for the holiday!! J The time has gone by sooo quickly, it’s bittersweet! I’m so excited to see everyone back home and celebrate Christmas, but at the same time it’s sad to think that I’m 1/3 of the way into the program!! I honestly don’t think I can even put into words all that God has taught me here already, and I can’t wait to see what He has in store!

Please please please pray that God would provide a way for me to come back in January! I know He has more for me here! Right now the plane tickets look to be just over $2,300, of which I have about $200…. If you would please pray! I am overwhelmed by this, considering my first tickets were only $1,500, but I know He is able! If you feel lead to help out in any way it would be a huge blessing!! You can facebook me, email me at : danielle.gross97@yahoo.com, or get in touch with my mom, Vickie Gross.

“As for me, may I never boast in anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross my interest in this world has been crucified, and the world’s interest in me has also died.” Galations 6:14

<3

The Adventure Continues...

“These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.” 1 Peter 1:7

The way that gold refining works is that they have to heat it to a liquid state and then all the impurities rise to the surface and they can be skimmed off the top. This is the best way I can think to describe the last month. All the stresses and frustrations that come with living in a foreign country surrounded by a new language really amplify every other problem you may have. These “pressures” really do make the truth come out and all the attitudes of your heart really come to your attention. I’ve heard sermons on sanctification before, but until now it hasn’t ever been that real. Let me tell you, it has not been fun to see my ugly side, but it is a humbling process to see that really I am no good! On my own I am a dirty rotten sinner in need of constant grace!

This last month I also finished reading Francis Chan’s book “Forgotten God”. It was so good, if you haven’t read it you should! Not to take any of Chan’s thunder, but just ask yourself, how different would your life look if one day you woke up and didn’t have the Holy Spirit. Would you even notice His absence? As Christians we are indwelt by the Almighty God of the universe, but how many of our lives actually reflect that power? God is unchanging and timeless, we don’t have a weaker, watered down version of the God f the Bible- He is still as real and powerful and active as we have read about! Francis Chan’s words are so much better than mine, so read his book! That’s just a tiny glimpse of how it impacted me! J

Yesterday, PDV hosted a “Famliy Picnic” on campus. We were expecting over 3,500 people, so the entire week leading up to it sports were canceled and everyone worked every day to prepare. When Saturday came it was so cool! I couldn’t have understood it before, because the culture difference, but it was a beautiful thing! Over 4,200 people from different churches throughout the province came in buses and spend the day just enjoying each other with music, games, and different shows/presentations throughout the day. There are two shows that our school does, Show Infantile for kids, and Renacidos which is the real life story about a couple who were drug addicts and gave their lives to Christ at the camp here, then went to the PDV “rehab” (I forget the name of it, but it’s like a rehab meets Celebrate Recovery) and then came to the institute (I think) where they found out that they had AIDS. It’s a really powerful drama! I heard this morning that over 300 people accepted Christ at the picnic yesterday (but I don’t know the official number yet)!!!! It was a wonderful thing to be a part of, and it was crazy to see the cultural differences—where in America churches put on individual events for everything, it was cool to see I don’t even know how many different churches coming together as the larger body of Christ to reach people and just fellowship together! <3

P.S.-I’m learning to play the ukulele. Random I know, but just thought I would throw that in.

Argentina: 1 Down

Well, I have officially lived in Argentina for a whole month now! Time has gone by so quickly! At times I feel like I don’t know enough Spanish to have been here for so long, but I am realizing that I understand much more than when I first arrived and am able to communicate better when I try to. My main goal for this month is to really push myself to use as much Spanish and as little English as possible. You would think that that should be easy considering I’m in another country, but I almost always with PBB students or other Bilingual students, and so the natural tendency is to just speak in English, so I have to make a conscious effort to say what I can in Spanish!

As the seasons are transitioning, a lot of the PBB has been getting strep throat and similar sickness :P Luckily I just got Pharyngitis and since it’s the weekend now I should be able to get some rest and recover more quickly than if I would’ve gotten it at the beginning of the week.

This past week we have had the greatest professor! His name is Jaime (Jim) Evans, and he is honestly one of the most fascinating people I have ever met!! He was teaching us Timothy, but really we spent most of the class just starry-eyed listening to his stories of the mission field. He is 74 years old now and spend his life in Peru as a missionary to the tribes along the Amazon River. (Don’t worry, after hearing his stories, I am NOT going to the jungle! At least not on a long-term basis lol)!

One thing that did really stick out to me today that I thought I would share was 2 Timothy 4:11. Paul is ending his letter to Timothy and asking him to come and visit soon because he is alone. He lists the people who have abandoned him and says "Demas has deserted me because he loves the things of this life and has gone to Thessalonica." This is something that normally I would skim through and just think oh this is just personal stuff for Timothy's information, but in class we always go through the books we study verse by verse, and it really stuck out to me. I don't want to be Demas! I love home and I love my family, but at the end of the day I need to love God and doing His will more. I don't want it to be said of me that I gave up my mission because I love the things of this world. So as much as I want to be at the fair tonight, or want to live down the street from my sister when I grow up, I want at the end of my life to be able to apply Paul's words in 2 Timothy 4:7 instread: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful."

For those of you who are praying me through my time here, you can pray for: those of us who are sick, that we would get well so we don’t have to miss much class, for Spanish comprehension, time-management (I now have to have my room cleaned and be out the door by 7:00 am which has completely thrown off my routine!!), and for the funds to return in January. Also pray that God would begin to show me where He wants me next fall (as far as what school).

Love and miss you all!!

<3

Argentina: Primavera!

Spring has sprung here in Argentina (which is a very odd after leaving Georgia summer and then enduring a few weeks of Argentine winter)! The last week was very exciting, and very busy! We started our regular class schedule, BUT it was anything but a normal week for PBB. Monday we were finally able to go to Buenos Aires which meant one important thing: WALMART! This was really important to all of us because after living out of a suitcase for 3 weeks you realize all the things you forgot, what you need to get settled and organized, and what common everyday items are not so common after all (like hand soap)! After our much needed visit to Walmart, we went down to the main plaza and viewed a few historic sites such as “The Pink House”, The First Catholic Church of Buenos Aires, and the Monument of May 25^th (it’s kinda like the Washington Monument, but much much smaller). Then we spent the rest of the day on Florida Street just window shopping, it was a lot of fun! (For pictures, check my facebook J)

Tuesday we started our classes, Spanish and James. It was nice to start out Bible classes with a book that I’m already know and love! It’s also only 5 chapters long so it isn’t an overwhelming amount of information to retain. Wednesday, September 21^st was the first day of Spring, also known as “Students’ Day”! To take advantage of the day, all the students were divided into 7 groups and spread out across Argentina to evangelize in different ways. We went to schools and parks and did different ministries like skits, games, illustrative, door-to-door, and open-air evangelism. My group went 4 hours away to a city called Escobar. While we were there we partnered with a local church we divided in to two groups and went to two of the main plazas. We went around and invited people to come watch an illustrative gospel presentation. Afterwards we went around and talked with some of the people individually about the presentation and give them tracks with the church’s information on the back. I was partnered with a girl named Courtney as my translator. She is from North Carolina and she did PBB last year. It was cool to go around talking to the people, but it just makes me want to hurry up and learn Spanish! She ended up doing most of the work because since I don’t know enough Spanish to understand their questions and stuff and so she would just respond when they would say something and I didn’t even know what was going on sometimes :/ The good thing is that as a result there were 52 decisions made just in our city! The next day we found out that as a result f all seven groups combined there were over 600 people who made decisions for Christ!!! It was so awesome! :D

The rest of the week was normal, I started work and sports finally! My job is “Mayordomia” (which is just cleaning) and my sport is Volleyball. So this is what my schedule is like: (In Argentine Time, which is one hour later than Georgia).

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
6:00		Wake Up	Wake Up	Wake Up	Wake Up
7:45		Class	Class	Class	Class
9:30	Class
10:00							Church
10:20		Chapel	Chapel	Chapel	Chapel
1:00	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch
2:30		Study Hall	Study Hall	Study Hall	Study Hall
4:00		Work	Sports	Work	Sports
7:00		Dinner	Dinner	Dinner	Dinner	Dinner	Dinner
8:30		Study Hall	U.M.E.	Study Hall	G.E.A.	G.E.A.	PBB Service
11:00	Lights Out	Lights Out	Lights Out	Lights Out	Lights Out	Lights Out	Lights Out

So that’s my life lately, if you wanna chat on skype or something I would absolutely love it, just check the schedule I posted to see an idea of when would be best!

<3

Update from Argentina...

It’s hard to believe that I have been in Argentina for 10 days already!! I feel like I’ve been here for a long time, but at the same time it has gone by so quickly! I would be lying if I said that each and every moment has been perfect, but even with the difficulties of adjusting to a new culture, I am learning to depend on God and let him teach me in every situation. This week has been very….challenging… lol We are supposed to be at breakfast each day before 7:20 (which is 6:20 Georgia time) and if you know me you can see the problem! Aside from the issues of adjusting, I love being here! The campus is such an interesting and diverse place I just love meeting all these new people and hearing their stories!

This upcoming week we will be going to Buenos Aires to do some open air evangelism on the 21^st for “Spring Day”. It’s the first day of Spring here in Argentina and everyone takes a holiday to just go out to parks and enjoy the weather. Pray for us as we prepare to share the Gospel in the city and also for those who we will be talking to that God would prepare their hearts to receive the message!

<3

La Vida de Argentina!!!

After a long, stressful summer of working, fundraising and preparing, I am finally at Word of Life Argentina!! God definitely blessed the fundraising and I was able to raise the entire cost of tuition and my plane ticket here and then back home in December. I am still trying to raise the next $1,500 to come back in January, but that doesn’t need to be done until December. I landed in Buenos Aires at about 9:30 Wednesday morning and since then I’ve just been trying to get to know as many people as possible and just get adjusted to everything. Everyone here is really nice, and I know it’s going to be a great year! Hopefully I’ll be able to write every Saturday to add some normalcy, but I can’t make any promises because the internet here is really sketchy so sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. So far so good, my only bilingual roommate is out doing ministry in Buenos Aires for the weekend, so it has been very interesting trying to communicate with my other roommates in Spanglish, but its getting better. I’m also just trying to adjust to the water and everything here, so that is always so much fun as well… Next week we will have our official orientation week and get into a normal schedule, until then it’s mostly up in the air and a lot of free time that we don’t know what to do with! I’m going to try and post pictures on facebook after this, but it didn’t work out for me yesterday, so fingers crossed! J

Here are some quirky tid-bits just for fun!

-Argentina does not have Peanut Butter or Ranch Dressing!
-We eat bread. LOTS OF BREAD! Lol! Even on the plane the meal consisted of pasta, crackers and cheese, a roll, and a cookie.
-Dolce de Leche is the bomb! They use it a lot too, kind of like peanut butter or nuttella…
-Girls aren’t that into sports, and if a girl plays soccer she is considered “weird and macho”

(I’ll be sure to give you some more random quirky information as I find out more of these things. :)

<3

Revival

re×viv×al –noun- restoration to life, consciousness, vigor, strength, etc.

Usually when we think of revival we picture a flooded alter or reminisce on weeks full of church services with scheduled speakers to give the congregation a jumpstart of sorts. This is not what I’m talking about. The revival I’m talking about is a personal realization that we have pushed God into a corner (or completely out of) our lives. Sure we go through the motions, showing up to every service, dropping an envelope in the offering plate, read a verse or two in the mornings, maybe even serve and teach others about God. But somehow these all just became things we do, habits, mindless activities that fill our lives. Somewhere along the way we have lost our fire, we forget our passion, and if we aren’t careful we lose sight of our desperate need for God in every aspect of our lives! If we don’t lose sight of Him altogether we get to the point of treating him like Santa Claus, this unseen being whose only purpose is to give us what we want as long as we behave. Sure we pray, we pray to do well on our next exam, for our sick dog, for our future spouse to come our way. But do we ever pray just to pray? Do we ever just spend time to tell God we love Him and think He’s awesome? Do we thank Him any time other than the third Thursday in November? Too often, my answers are no! And life just becomes life and God just becomes “Santa Claus” and we wonder why we aren’t content. Life wasn’t meant to be a series of events we ask God to fix! I want my life to be a beautiful offering, the passionate pursuit of my Savior! And He wants to be the center of our everything! He is right there with us all the time, but most of the time He only hears from us at the table or in bed—He wants us to pray without ceasing! That might sound impossible, but think of it this way, you either are or know a person who cannot hold a face to face conversation without texting someone else at some point. Same thing! God wants to be the one on the other side of the text—the person that can’t wait, the one who distracts you (rather than the one in front of you who keeps getting interrupted!) Let’s take God out of the corner and back to where He belongs, the center of our lives!

This is what has been on my mind- I’m not exactly sure what sparked it, or how to explain it other than God. Just God. He has restored me to the consciousness of who He is and who I am (a great contrast I assure you!!) He has restored my “vigor” to pursue His will for my life, (regardless of how near or far I will be from my sister!) and has restored the life back to my relationship with Him!  Hope you like my ramblings, there are definitely more and better to come! <3

Maintenance

So I would just like to give an update on my hCG journey. I finished my 40 days of drops and 500 calories on the 28th! I ended up losing 25lbs, which I am happy with considering I spent 2 weeks fighting a mystery cold, survived a Bachelorette Party, Rehearsal Dinner and Wedding, Mother's Day, Easter, and a few birthdays and misc. get-togethers--all without ruining my diet!! :D

Now I'm on to the hard part: Maintenance! The only guidlines given for the first three weeks are no starches or sugars and I have to weigh every morning. (The three weeks after this I get to eat anything, but still weigh in every morning.) You might be laughing thinking I'm crazy for considering this hard, but it is!! I would much rather have strict guidlines telling me exactly what and how much to eat than having to try and figure it out for myself! It makes life much more complicated and very tempting!! So far I have not been doing well with it either, I've been going up and down within a range of 1-3lbs the past few days, so I need to figure something out and get it together quick before I get on an upward slope! SOO tonight, I'm back in the gym! It's going to be hard getting back since I haven't been since like March, but I know I need to suck it up and do it!

I'm going to try and do better about writing more often and keep up to date as far as what I figure out for maintenance!! Till next time, check out Tenth Ave North's "Beloved"- I can't wait to see them live in a few weeks!!!!

<3

Day 39, Puzzle Pieces

I’m not good at this whole blogging thing…I started out with the intention of writing at least weekly if not daily, but I don’t even do that! The only reason I’m writing right now is because I literally have nothing else to do! Yes, I am 22 years old, it’s a Friday night and I have nothing to do. Lame, I know. Anyways, I’ve been thinking about something for like a week now that I really wanted to write about so enjoy!

Have you ever been working on a hard puzzle? I’m talking 1000 pieces of sky hard! And you’re going along working your puzzle and you find a piece that’s just the right shade of blue for the empty space you need to fill, but just can’t make it fit! You try and try but it won’t work! Instead of giving up though you insist that it must go there and refuse to set it aside. I mean this piece has the right shape and color and little bit of cloud that matches up just right, but no matter how you turn it, it is NOT going to work out! You walk away in frustration just to immediately find the right piece next time you come to work it! Or worse someone else hands you the right piece. I may be the only one who has ever done this, but I doubt it. I say all this to say that we do this with God. (At least I do!) I see something that I think should fit perfectly in my life, but no matter how hard I try something is just not right! And rather than graciously acknowledging that it must not be what God has for me, I stubbornly continue to try and force pieces of my life together on my own meanwhile God has something perfect planned for me, if I would only listen and let Him put the pieces in place. 

Again, I don’t know, I might be the only person on the planet who struggles with this, but I kinda think not. I don’t know if anyone is going to read this, but it’s mostly just been bugging me and I’m writing it in hopes that it’ll help me follow some of my own advice. I just keep hoping I can make that piece work though! If you are reading, I apologize for any grammatical errors, I really don’t feel much like proofreading or trying for perfection on this one.

P.S. -23 & Regina Spektor "The Call"

Day 28, Wonderland

Ok, I’m back! Those of you who know me know I’ve been sick for the past week and a half :P Sickness is not really conducive to weight loss in case you were wondering! I gained a whopping 5lbs during the first few days!!  Luckily that didn’t continue the whole time, about halfway I started losing again and lost 9 which let me pass the 20lb mark and I’m back to a weight I haven’t seen since my freshman year of college (‘06-‘07)!! I am in “Wonderland” and I never ever ever want to leave again! :D Now I have 12 more days to see what else I can lose!

On an unrelated note, Medical Insurance, it’s pretty important! The meds the Dr. prescribed me were going to cost over $600!!! Luckily, we had the same thing at home already and can get it refilled under my parents insurance, but man—that’s ridiculous!

Argentina- I’m super excited!! My dad has actually been chill about it since after the initial shock, so that’s good. Also, I’m going to make shirts to sell to try to raise the money! I have the idea, I just need to get Amber to draw it out for me…I’m definitely NOT the artistic one!

This is going to be a great week- I feel it! :D Busy, but great- One of my best friends is getting married Saturday, so my week is going to be filled with shoe shopping, tanning, nails and hair!! (Just a few of my favorite things ;)  

PS: I <3 Kate Nash’s “Nicest Thing” and One Republic’s “Good Life”. Just sayin.

Day 11, Argentina

This has been a crazy week for sure! I have lost 11 pounds so far, which is right on track, but I am going to increase my green tea and started taking vitamins to hopefully keep it up. The biggest thing on my mind though is the fact that I’ve been accepted to WOL Argentina in the fall!!! (For those of you who may not know, WOL (Word of Life) Argentina is a Bible Institute in-you guessed it, Argentina.) I’ll be going in September as part of their Bilingual Program, where I’ll take intense Spanish classes (the equivalent of 300 course hours!) and also Bible Classes. Along with the excitement of getting the acceptance email Tuesday morning, came the stress of the dreaded conversation with my dad! Breaking the news to him was so nerve-wrecking, and it went about as expected- he’s furious! So now I’ve been trying to stay out of the house and out of his way as much as possible to try and ease the tension. It also means that even though it’s finally out, I can’t really talk about plans or anything openly at home because it will just irritate him more. So yeah, fun stuff!

On a lighter note, I am making a list of things I can’t wait to eat when I get done with hCG! This is brought on by my mom who, after months of me telling her that we should try Marco’s pizza, decided to get it for everyone last night, and go on about it to me and insist that I try it when I can! Thanks Ma! lol

1.       El J’s (the best Mexican food EVA!)

2.       Marco’s

3.       Chinese! (From anywhere-not so picky with the Asian food)

4.       Olive Garden

5.       Emilio’s

6.       ______________ Suggestions?

* And no, I do not intend to eat these things all at once, but over the span of however long my break is! I don’t want to end up back at square one!!!

PS: I’m definitely looking forward to experiencing some Argentine cuisine!! (In moderation of course ;)

Day 7, Forgiveness

After a long weekend of terribly tempting situations, I woke up to find that by not giving in and sticking strictly to my diet guidelines I've lost a whopping 8 pounds!!! Seeing results like that are better than any General Tso's Chicken or Apple Pie I could've indulged in and make every hunger and craving worth it! 

I want to make this about more than weight loss though. While that is a big part of my life right now, it's not everything by any means. When I was driving home on my lunch break today, I was wondering what I could write about today, and God brought to mind a thought he had given me a few months ago (again while driving) that I never shared. It was about forgiveness.

At the time, I was really struggling with letting go of a certain situation in which I felt betrayed by someone I trusted. I said that I wasn't mad anymore, but anytime the person was around I was instantly reminded of the hurt and had to physically walk away to keep from showing my frustration. I was in my car and heard the song "Manifesto" by The City Harmonic on the radio for the first time. If you've not heard it, you should you tube it (after you read this ;), it's awesome. In one part he sings the Lord's Prayer. If you've grown up in church (or even if you haven't) you're probably familiar with it enough to quote it, but as I was singing along a lump in my throat stopped me at the line "forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespassed against us." That line hit me right in the face- how much more have I betrayed God than anyone on earth has ever betrayed me? How many more times have I hurt Him than I have ever been hurt by anyone? And how much farther did He go to forgive me than I would ever have to go to simply let go of another's offense? And how much purer and complete is the forgiveness He has shown me (countless times over) than the forgiveness I show to others?
I am so glad that when I offend God, He is faithful and just to forgive me! He doesn't hold on to a cosmic grudge and gossip about how wrong I was to anyone who will listen! He doesn't say I'm forgiven only to bring it back up next time I drop the ball! Praise Him that He doesn't change who He is or how He loves! That being said, when we pray to be forgiven only to the degree to which we show forgiveness to others, it isn't going to change the way that God forgives us, but rather it should change the way that we forgive others (drastically!)! Obviously we are human, and unable to show the complete and perfect forgiveness offered to us by God, but if we forgive in the way we want to be forgiven (especially in the light of the way we ARE forgiven and the price that bought that forgiveness) I think we will be quicker to let go of our grudges and eager to forgive more completely.

Day 4

I’m full of random thoughts today, so I’m just going to list them rather than trying to find a cohesive way to write them nicely.

a)      There really is something to not going to be angry! I was so frustrated last night and woke up with a headache this morning! :P

b)      Grocery Shopping is always a good thing to do when starting a diet. It’s kinda hard to follow strict guidelines when you don’t have the food in your pantry!

c)       Hunger clouds your thinking.

d)      Lunch conversation with Mom, Amber and Megan: Me-“I feel like a coke-head living in a crack house” Amber- “coke-head?” Me: “Well I didn’t want to say a crack-head in a crack-house, because that would just be too much crack!” And they all just laughed at me… this is seriously how mine and Amber’s conversations go like 97% of the time!

e)      Trusting God to provide was easier when I didn’t know HOW MUCH I needed Him to provide… as if now that I know the figure it somehow lessons His God-ness, and ability to handle any situation! I know He has it all under control, I just have to remind myself of that constantly to keep my stress-aholic self from freaking out!

f)       I LOVE LOVE LOVE Tenth Avenue North!! I don’t know how they do it, but they have the most amazing songs that are scarily dead-on sometimes. If you haven’t heard them, you should! They’re pretty awesome :D  Here is my latest favorite song by them:

         Times

I know I need you
I need to love you
I love to see you, but it’s been so long
I long to feel you
I feel this need for you'
and I need to hear you
is that so wrong?
oh oh oh, oh oh oh, oh oh oh
now you pulled me near you
when we're close I fear you
still Im afraid to tell you
all that I've done
are you done forgiving?
or can you look pass my pretending?
Lord I'm so tired of defending
what I've become
what have I become?
oh oh, oh oh, oh oh. (repeat 4)
I hear you say "my love is over,
its underneath, its inside, it’s in between
the times you doubt me, when you can't feel
the times that you've questioned 'is this for real?'
the times you've broken, the times that you mend
the times you hate me and the times that you bend
well my love is over, its underneath
its inside, it’s in between,
these times you're healing
and when your heart breaks
the times that you feel like you've fallen from grace
the times you're hurting
the times that you heal
the times you go hungry and *are tempted* to steal
in times of confusion and chaos and pain
Im there in your sorrow under the weight of your shame
Im there through your heartache
Im there in the storm
my love I will keep you by my power alone
I dont care where you've fallen, where you have been
I'll never forsake you
my love never ends, it never ends mmm, mmm
oh oh, oh oh, oh oh

g)      Lastly, I found out what a Melba Toast is. Apparently by “toast” they mean “cracker”. They’re great. And by “great” I mean “tiny”! lol Enjoy!