Resignation

Well my friends, it is time to announce that I am resigning from the Nehemiah team of 2011. God has closed the door for this summer for me to be able to go to Israel. If you have donated directly to Royal Servants, then unfortunately I cannot return that money back to you. They can hold the funds that are already in there for up to a year, after that if I do not use it then it will go into their general fund for another royal servant who may need it. For those of you who gave me cash, or wrote a check in my name, i can repay that money if it is your desire. I will be personally reaching those of you who have donated to me. I deeply appreciate the support that you have given me and I do not know God's plans for me for the following summer, but for now, He has called me to remain right here in Yuba City, Ca.

Love to you all,
Brittany

Application

Due to the compassionate help of my church's mission committee, my application for the Nehemiah team of 2011 went out on Tuesday! I am now just in the process of waiting for the mail to arrive any day now with the Nehemiah preparation packet! It is so exciting to me to know that I am going to go to Israel this summer! It still boggles my mind as to how God wants me to be a worldwide missionary for Him. I dont think that He has made any mistakes here, otherwise, how in the world would I be able to stand here today being able to say that I traveled around western Europe for HIm, and am now in the preparation process of going to Israel for Him! If you would have told me two years ago that all this would be happening in my life, I would have thought that you were completely out of your mind! I am proud of the fact though that I have changed so much in my walk with Christ and that now I am so very proud to be able to call myself a missionary for Him. Not many eighteen year olds are able to say that! It is amazing how God has changed my life within the last couple of years, man, within the last six months!!! Imagine what the world could be like if even 100 more teenagers got on board with God in our community! Imagine what talented gifts God could give them......if only they were willing.......


For Him alone,
Brittany

Nehemiah!!!

So alittle over a week ago, I got a letter from Royal Servants. And this little letter I thought was going to be the same as all the others. But this one in particular held something of vital importance to me. This letter contained an invitation for the Nehemiah team next summer! Now to describe what Nehemiah is: it is a special team inside the Royal Servants that is for alumni that is by invitation only from any of your previous team leaders. And Nehemiah goes to a specific, special place that is not available to any of the other Royal Servant teams. I was invited by my Euroquest Team Leader, Curtis Burnam, to go with this years Nehemiah team to Israel and Rome, Italy. Now I am not a hundred percent sure, but I believe that we spend most of our time overseas-which is six weeks- in Israel, and then we debrief in Rome, Italy. Of course we will be at our new training camp facility in Wisconsin for two weeks prior to our going overseas. The over all cost for the trip, including my tickets to training camp, is $7,400. This amount is definitely more than last years amount for Europe; but I plan to start my fund raising for Nehemiah as soon as possible so that I may have ALL the money BEFORE I leave for training camp. I would really appreciate your prayers for this upcoming summer for me, especially prayers for my fund raising to come in the way that God plans it to. Thank you so much for all of your support and I am looking forward to another summer spent with the Royal Servants!!!

With His love,
Brittany

Everything...

Today I have realized that i have not written in a while, and for that I apologize. Today, well for the past few weeks really, I have been struggling with home life. Most of you already know this, but it is not getting any better. All I keep thinking about is the trip and how badly I wish that I could be with every one of my family members that I met three months ago. I still don't understand. Why is all of this so difficult? I can understand having moments of depression over all that I have been through. But CONTINUAL depression is not something that I realized would happen. I keep thinking that I can get through this. I keep thinking that everything is getting better. But then something small triggers me into the dwelling of what I had experienced the last summer and I cannot but feel isolated and alone. I have never felt so alone in my life. And it's not like I can just go into town and hang around my friends there, because since I got back, I found that I had lost every single friend that I had before I left. It is not that I am completely complaining about this because in this stage of my life, I do not entirely mind not having friends. Because in reality, all i want is my friends/family members that are all now scattered across the United States. I wish that things were different. I wish that by now a month after I said goodbye that things would start to progress. But they haven't. I am just a girl who has gotten her whole world ripped out from under her; and the worst part is that the enemy JUST WON'T leave me alone. Every vulnerable spot in my life he keeps pounding away at, and half the time I don't know how to handle it. I know that God is the same God that was in Europe with me, but sometimes I feel like I just can't connect with Him. I feel like I am so far from deliverance that is is ridiculous. I wish that it were not true, and at the end of the day I still hold on to the hope that He has placed in me. But there are days when I feel like I am far from strong enough. Maybe that's my problem. Maybe I just need to accept the fact that I am weak and He is the only strength that can save me. I just pray that that day of rescue happens soon enough. Because I honestly don't know how much more I can take.

I am not writing this so that you could feel sympathy for me, trust that that is not my intention. My purpose is that I feel that people should know the truth about me. The REAL truth. Most of you see me in church and see the smile on my face, but it is not a smile with a meaning that you think it is. It is a smile that represents me keep fighting and striving to stay above water. It means that I have not allowed the ocean's current to pull me under, no matter how tempting that may be. Since there might be questions on how I am doing, I thought that I would satisfy everyone's curiosity. I am not alright. But I am being carried by my Savior. Please do not get me wrong. Just because I have these strong emotions does not mean that I have given up on my strong faith in who God has and will be to me. I have not abandoned my faith in the slightest bit. If anything, I have grown stronger. I am just in a continual entrapment in which I pray everyday that God would not leave me alone to handle. I know and have COMPLETE faith that He will deliver me from the mouth of the lion! But until that day, I can only pray that He hears my cry and attends to me while in my darkest of sufferings.

With Him as my rock,
Brittany

Hello Everyone!!!

This is Brittany and I am finally back! I am in Arizona visiting my grandmother at the moment, but i return to the good ole Yuba City, California on Wednesday! So I technically am not home yet....but I am back in the US! I could write alot of things right now about how I trip went overall; but there is just honestly WAY too much to share to be able to narrow it down for you. I spoke to you all before i left how i challenged this trip to change me for the rest of my life. And that expectation was far beyond met. I am changed forever for the glory of God's kingdom. My sole purpose is to live out my life for Him. And while I was doing that throughout Europe, I found out who I REALLY am. My title lies in the blood of Jesus Christ. That is just to put it simple. I hope to be speaking in both services next Sunday at church; and if given the opportunity, i will share with you all of the main things that God revealed to me and spoke truth to me. I want to thank each and everyone of you for supporting me. I could not have been able to change for God and reach others if it was not for you. I had no problems when it came to safety and I just cannot express how much gratitude I have for all of your prayers! It has meant so much to me! I will continue the blog from here on in, and i hope to see you soon so that i can share my experiences with you!

With God in every part of my being,
Brittany

DEBRIEFING IN LONDON

I found this interesting and it gives a good insight as to what the Euroquest team has been up to lately:

EuroQuest: Switzerland, A Spiritual Retreat

Submitted by Lindsey Powell on Sat, 07/31/2010 - 12:37.

In route to Switzerland, we spent a day and night in Italy. We stopped in Verona (home to Romeo and Juliet) and experienced a small town in Italy, and then headed up to Lake Garda. We arrived by late afternoon, just in time for a brisk(!) swim in the lake.

Driving from Italy to the German region of the Swiss Alps is breathtaking. We passed countless bright blue and green lakes, mountains that shoot straight up from the valley floor, and went through over two-dozen tunnels--one of them 20 minutes long. Then, it was on to Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland. Curtis calls the 3 days in Switzerland, a ‘Spiritual Retreat' for the team. He did some teachings, we had a full free day for the team to explore, and we camped right in the center of God's beautiful mountainous creation.

The first morning, Curtis took the team up to the town graveyard and did a teaching on Christ's sacrifice and how our sins died with Him and we must give those up to Him and also forgive ourselves. In the afternoon, we all hiked to Trumbelbach falls- located half inside and half outside the side of the mountain. Our 2nd day there, it was National day for Switzerland. A huge firework show went off at 10pm in Lauterbrunnen, but also other shows in neighboring towns went off until late into the night.... and with the mountain walls, it was LOUD booming and echoing!

During the day off, many of the students hiked all day (10+ hours) from camp, through Murren, and all the way up to Schilthorn. They were tired, but really enjoyed the experience. Other students relaxed and spent the day in Lauterbrunnen.

One of the greatest things the team has experienced and learned this summer is witnessing by actions. Through our words, actions and way we live our life, it is a witness to our faith in the Lord and these students have shown that. At multiple campsites, the owners or diretors have told Curtis how well-behaved our team has been and that we are welcome back at anytime. At night in the campsites, we often have worship time. One or two of our students leads us with his guitar as we praise God. Everytime, other campers are intrigued. They come to join, to watch, to listen. Some start asking questions, others just start singing along. Back in Paris, some of our students had the opportunity to share Christ with girls there age after worship.

We are back in London and beginning to debrief, before heading back to the states!

Lindsey Powell

BRITTANY'S BACK IN LONDON

Well, as I prepare for my daughter to come home (she arrives in Las Vegas for me to pick her up on August 12th) I am taking the time to realize that the young woman I left at the Sacramento International Airport on June 25th isn't the same woman that I will pick up on Thursday. The emails and letters that I've had the pleasure of receiving from her over the last 6.5 weeks have changed for the better as time has gone by. She has spiritually and emotionally grown into a woman that society, our congregation, me and especially God can be proud of. If you haven't done so, please read the post of July 29th. It shows how far Brittany has come. Spiritually she is years ahead of many, me included. I thank God for molding her into who she is now and who she will become in the years to come.

She is my daughter, she is God's daughter. I am so lucky to have her in my life.

God Bless,
Julie