God is so amazing!!!

First, let me apologize for the fact that I have not posted in forever! I have been extremely busy preparing to go, and I will be much better about updating this at least once a week when I am in Prague!

Now, let me tell you about the amazing things that have been happening since God put me on this amazing journey. As most of you know, I had to raise $8,400 in order to go on this trip. As of June 24, 2008, I had only $400 raised and was really starting to freak out about whether this was what I was supposed to be doing or not. On the morning of June 25, during my prayer time that morning, I asked God if I was actually following His will for my life or if I was just trying to impose my will on my life and call it God's (because it wouldn't have been the first time). By that evening, the most amazing thing happened, my church pledged to give me $2500 which is amazing because I really didn't think they were going to be able to support me financially! God showed me within hours that if I just trust in Him, He does provide and that I was totally following His will and on the right path.

That weekend, I had a garage sale to raise more money for the trip. The garage sale was an amazing experience! People who I knew could not support me financially were so willing to give me things to sale. The support that I got from friends, family, and friends of family was amazing. The generosity of these people touched my heart and really let me know the support that I have here at home. Even the people who came to the garage sale were amazing, giving me a few extra dollars or just giving me money when they didn't even buy things, they put me on their prayer list, and gave me amazing advice. The garage sale really was a blessing! By the end of that day, I had raised about $1700 from items that sold and the money people donated. It was so amazing and just a reaffirmation that if you trust in God and follow His will He will provide!

By the end of the next day, I had all $8400 raised through the support that had come in over the weekend! It is so amazing because it took me 3 months to raise $400, but once I really started trusting God, the money came in a matter of days!

I leave on Friday to go to training, so I am busy packing and getting my life in order to go. I am so glad that I had time to sit down and type this because it has been so inspirational in my life, and I think it is a testament to how amazing God is and how powerful trusting Him is.

Please remember to keep me in your prayers. Things to pray for include training, packing, homesickness, nervousness, my ability to teach, and just my general well-being in this next few extremely hectic weeks!

Talk to you soon,

Ashley