leah's lamp stand

This school semester is coming to a close and things are getting crazy here.  I got my class schedule for the summer and fall and I will be staying busy!  My class load is heavy but I know that I can do it and I can stay focused to learn as much as I can and enjoy this last crazy school year.  I am asking for prayer during this time, that I can stay healthy, well rested, and not feel overwhelmed or over stressed.

Also, I am excited that I have sent in my application for my visa for the Philippines and have all the business aspects of my trip taking care of on my side of things, now I just am waiting for a response as to whether I was accepted or not.  You can be praying for that, I’m not worried about it but I still want to leave that in God’s hands and His will in this.

It’s exciting and nerve-wracking to look at the calender and see that it is only a little over a month before I head off to Cebu! I feel like time has gone by so fast and that, just yesterday there was 6 months left before I left.  And here I am, on the home stretch with the goal in sight and now I’m sure it will feel like I am sprinting to that time! I still would like prayer for preparation, for my heart for what God will show me and teach me and for what God wants me to show them and teach them.  There is still a lot of planning to do in this next month but God has it all laid out and know exactly what is going to be happening while I’m there =)

Have a great week and I will post again soon!

Sorry that it has been so long since I posted.  These last few weeks have been crazy! I’ve been getting ready for the semester to end with lots of homework and studying to do!  A couple weeks ago my college chorale went on a 9 day tour to Chicago.  We went all over Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois.  It was a great time and always a blessing to meet all these people and be ministered to as we minister, as well.  This last week was not a good week for me.  On Sunday evening I started getting a sore throat which turned into a horrible virus of some sort that kept me in bed all week.  I still am recovering but as of Thursday, I’ve been able to go to classes and do what I need to slowly.

Adoration on Chorale Tour 2012

Lots has happened in terms of my upcoming trip to the Philippines.  I got my tickets and traveler’s insurance which is a huge burden off my shoulder!

My flight itinerary is:

• Leave Minneapolis Airport at 8:35am on 5/31 and arrive in Detroit, MI Airport at 11:19am
• Leave Detroit Airport at 12:30pm and arrive in Seoul, Korea at 3:20pm on 6/1 (huge time zone change)
• Leave Seoul Airport at 7:50pm and arrive in Cebu at 11:35pm on 6/1 (13 hours ahead of MN time)

So, if I did the math right, with time zone changes, it’s a total of 26 hours of travel!

Coming back is not as nice:

• Leave Cebu Airport at 1:05am (yes, am) on 7/2 (my birthday!) and arrive in Seoul, Korea at 6:30am
• LONG LAYOVER! almost 11 hours….
• Leave Seoul Airport at 5:20pm and arrive in Detroit, MI at 5:35pm (huge time change, longer than a 15 min flight haha)
• Leave Detroit Airport at 7:35pm and arrive back in Minneapolis, MN at 8:34pm

So, I get to have a really long birthday but mostly spent in the airport.  My total time in the airport or plane coming back is about 30.5 hours, with the time zone changes. 13 extra hours of my birthday =)

Also, I have a good amount of money that will be going to help the college and church in Cebu! I am very excited about what God has planned for that money! It has been exciting to see the money come in and see God working through this!

Prayer requests for right now would be for my health to keep getting better so I can get over this sickness; for me to get my school work done and not over-stress about it; for the details of the trip to be worked out and figured out and that the Holy Spirit would put his hand in that planning; for the extra funds to be used responsibly and in a way that is pleasing to the Lord.

I hope you all have an amazing week and I will try to post again next week!

Many blessings to you!

I have a quick update that made me tear up today! I went to check my mailbox and there was a list of the money I raised which usually means that I reached a goal.  Well this time was no exception! I have raised a total of…. you ready for it… $2255!!!!!!!!!!  I cannot believe how amazing this felt and how blessed I feel! It was great to see the names on the list and seeing that all these people support and care for me and what God is doing in my life! Thank you all for the encouragement you all have given me! Seeing those names and feeling that encouragement has given me that extra boost to keep striving forward no matter what obstacles Satan may throw at me!

I am celebrating this week and very excited to keep seeing God work!

So I have reached my original $1500 goal! Woohoo! It’s been crazy to see God work so quickly! This is truly exciting, but this last week I discovered that my original budget was a little off due to unexpected rise in airfare, visa and traveler’s insurance.  So, I have decided that I am needing to raise my budget from $3000 to $3300 (so, I need to raise $1800 instead of $1500).  I have faith that God will provide this unexpected money need because He always provides!

Last weekend I was able to go home for the week and it was a much needed weekend of rest and relaxation before a crazy week! Getting back into school after spring break has been difficult and not very exciting… I am trying to stay strong and finish out the semester strong! I have a lot left to do and I feel like at times it is hard to focus on school while I am planning to go to the Philippines! I have been praying for strength and perseverance to finish this last month and a half! But I can do anything through Christ! =)

Prayer requests for this week would include being able to stay positive and strong to finish out the semester.  Also, that God will provide the money needed to go to the Philippines.

Thanks everyone for following my journey and keeping me in your thoughts and prayers!

Can you believe it? I am only $145 away from my goal of money raised for my trip to the Philippines! So that means I’ve raise $1355! PRAISE GOD!! I am so blessed and getting even more excited to go! I will be buying my plane ticket either this weekend or early next week! Wow! All of this is coming together!

Just a reminder, any extra money that I raise will be going with me to give to CPBC and City Church. So if you still want to send money even after I reach my goal, it will be going towards a good cause and will be helping the people I will be working with!

Thank you to everyone who has helped support me! I know I keep saying this but I am really thankful and honestly could not do this without all of you!

This last week has been a nice, relaxing week.  It was spring break for Crossroads. I am heading up to my parents house tonight with my boyfriend, Andrew, to spend the weekend there with my family.  I will be going to my brothers apartment in Minneapolis tomorrow night to just hang out and play some Wii! And Sunday morning I will be going to Valley Christian Church and am excited to see everyone there!

I will post again when anything new comes up or next weekend! Hope you all have an amazing week! God bless!

I am over halfway to my goal! Woohoo! As of Friday morning, I raised a total of $755! I am so excited about this! The Lord is really providing and I could not be more excited!  It has been awesome to feel God working in my life and be able to see it! Seeing the money come i is making me more anxious to get to Cebu! No new plans yet or too much other updating. I will be buying my plane ticket next weekend, hopefully! Please pray that God will provide a lower price and something reasonable! It’s been hard watching the prices rise and not be able to purchase yet.  But God always provides, and I have no doubt that He will in this case too!

As for other things in my life, I have been really sick this weekend.  which has been frustrating but I guess I needed the rest.  This week is spring break at Crossroads so I will have time to rest, hopefully and get caught up on school work and maybe even get ahead! =)  Next weekend, I will be going to my parent’s house with my boyfriend, Andrew, and spending some much needed time away and with my parents! Cody, my puppy that we had to give away when I moved to Rochester will be visiting that weekend, too! I am very excited to see him again!  Also, I will be going to Valley Christian Church, the church I grew up at, on Sunday! I always love going there and seeing everyone!

Well, that’s all folks, for now! Thanks to everyone who is supporting me and following my adventure in missions! I couldn’t do any of this without all the support I get from all of you!

It is the end of the first week since I sent out my letters.  I went and got a print out of what I raised so far and was very pleased to see that I had raised $375! Praise the Lord! I was incredibly shocked and excited about this because I wasn’t expecting it.  I don’t really know what I was expecting but surely God’s plan is much better than mine! Thank you to everyone who has been praying for me and what God is going to do through me in Cebu!

Everyday I keep thinking that it’s only a few more months until I am back in the Philippines! It makes my stomach turn with excitement, mixed with some nerves of course.  I’m ready to see everyone there again and experience more of what the Philippines has to offer and what God can do through the life of His people.  I also am excited for the warm weather. Even though it’s been a mild winter up here in MN, it is February and I am ready for spring…  The weather here has been tricking me with thinking that maybe it will get warm.  I also have the weather for Cebu on my phone and it makes it harder knowing that it is so warm over there (mid-80s) and not so warm here (30s most days)…  I also have been working on some Cebuano words, like the title of my first post “musta”, which means “how are you?” or just a greeting like “hey!”  It’s hard learning another language when no one around me speaks it, so it’s good that I enjoy learning new languages otherwise I would probably have given up already!

School this semester has been kinda hard.  I am staying on track but I feel like there is so much on my mind and now that I am officially a senior, senior-itis is starting to kick in, even though I’m not graduating this spring.  It’s just that I can see the finish line and its so close!  But I know I will make it, I always have!

I hope to write again soon with some more exciting updates on my upcoming adventure! Thanks for all of your friendships and support!  God bless!

Hello all!

On my last post I said there was some exciting news to come! Well, here it is!

I am going back to the Philippines for the entire month of June this summer! I am very excited to be there longer this time and experience the culture more.  I will be helping out the same church, City Church, and the same school, Central Philippine Bible College (CPBC).  This is something I have wanted to do since I left there last summer.  The people there have amazing hearts and have become good friends.

I started some of my planning and looking at flights to check prices out.  I do not know what all I will be doing while I’m there, I just know that school starts for them in June.  I will update you all when I find out more details.

For now, if you could pray for me and the plans that God has for me, that His plans would come to the front lines and not my own.  Also, I committed to paying for $1500 of the $3000 needed for my trip, I still need to raise $1500.  I sent out a letter to most of you this last week asking for support, I will attach that letter, as well as the donation card I sent with that.  If you did not receive a letter or you lost the card that was in there and would like to support my trip, you can print out that card and send it with a check made out to CROSSROADS COLLEGE to the address on the card (which is my school, for tax deductible reasons) I would really appreciate all the help I can get!  Thank you to all of you who are participating in this ministry, whether through prayer support or financial support!  I could not do this without all the support everyone has given me so far and the support that God will continue to provide.  We were never created to go through life on our own or minister on our own, all of you are an important part of this ministry!  Thank you!

God Bless,

Leah Damon

Click here for the Support Letter

Click here for the Donation Card

Hello everyone!

This is my new missions blog! On this site I will post update on what God is doing in my life and prayer requests.  To start out, I will post my first and latest newsletter about 2011!  Hope you all enjoy and stay tuned for some exciting news coming soon! =)

God Bless,

Leah

Click here for Newsletter January 2012