The First Week's Impressions!

Hello all!!! Thanks for continuing to check in! I've been looking forward to updating this blog this week!

This post is a collection of some random thoughts I've had after spending a week in Bosnia. There are more, but I've tried to condense. Hope you enjoy. :)

- I went apartment hunting this week. Have you ever wondered where those avocado green and peach colored furniture and appliances went after their hayday in the U.S.? Well, in this excursion, I got to find out. (By the way, I hope to have pictures of my apartment in the next post!)

- Immersing yourself in a different culture is an extremely humbling event. Even though all my limbs and mental capacity are working strong (at least I think they are), I act and have to be treated like a child. I read no faster than a 1st grader sounding out all the letters, I have to be taught how to run a dishwasher (its different here), and I can't have anything close to a resemblance of an intellectual conversation! Plus, the fact that I'm a hot-shot coed softball player (or anything else you want to be proud of) doesn't matter- I'm just a foreigner who can't tell the difference between flour and sugar at the supermarket!

- Surprising to me, I feel more connected to the world now than before I moved here. Because I'm spending so much time learning the language, I'm spending a lot of time with my computer language software. When I need a mental break, I check my email, cnn, facebook, twitter, and other websites (usually in that order).

- I have a theory on why Europeans supposedly don't shower as often as those in the US. The showers here aren't nearly as refreshing as in the states... The water pressure is WEAK and the water is HARD. And, in case you were wondering, the two don't balance each other out!

- This would be a lot harder if I weren't joining a team here. Their help in finding an apartment, getting my white card (equivalent to a green card in the states), fighting off the urge to do too much at the beginning, and getting situated to the city has been invaluable. It makes me very appreciative of them and even more respectful of those that have moved to places not knowing anyone!

-There is a fascination here for red hair- you wouldn't believe all the different shades of red hair color I've seen (I have yet to see another natural redhead...) If it wasn't so incredibly obvious to other people that I'm a foreigner, I would probably enjoy this more. :)

- There's only been one time that I've felt overwhelmed, and that is when I was reflecting on how much support I have at home. To all my friends, supporters, family members, and others that have played a role in this, know that I am incredibly grateful for each of you and pray that you know your vital part in this.

- Last night, I had the privilege to watch a Bosnian accept Jesus as her Lord and Savior (this, my blogging friend, sadly, has not been a common event!!). First off, I was struck by how much this person was giving up in order to make this decision. All of her family and the majority of her friends are Muslim or staunchly non-religious. While she doesn't have to face the pressures others face in parts of the world (MANY Christians lives become immediately in danger), she made the decision knowing full well that there WILL be ramifications from her friends and family. She counted the cost, had a time of decision making, and then decided that Jesus was TRUE and worth it. As someone who became a Christian in bible belt of the US, where it is basically weird to NOT be a Christian, I have nothing to compare this to, and I fear that the normalcy of these decisions has caused a bit of apathy in the states. Often times we don't grasp how BIG of a decision this is- with what you give up, the change of life it leads you to live, and what you get in return.

Which led me to my second reaction: thinking about some of the incredible rewards that she inherited: freedom from slavery, inexplainable peace, complete forgiveness, an invitation to an intimate friendship/ relationship with the maker of the universe, untamed power at work inside of her, the ability to have joy in all circumanstances, and eternal life. May we (me especially), never forget what we've been saved from and what we've been saved to!

"Stagnant faith comes from knowing what you've been saved from, but not knowing what you've been saved to." Matt Chandler

Much, much more to come! Till next time...

-Kat

HELLOOO BOSNIA!!!

Hello all!!!

After GREAT extended layovers in Washington D.C. (I spent about 24 hours there) and Vienna (a 9 hour layover), I have officially landed in Bosnia! My next few days will be spent resting, getting adjusted to the time change (8 hours), and getting situated and moved into the city. After I get adjusted and can focus some mental energy on it, I'll start focusing on language learning. My next post should have more interesting thoughts on it, I just don't feel too coherent just yet. I just wanted to let everyone know that I made it!

Thanks so much for continuing to check out this blog!!!

Till next time,

-Kat

A MUST READ STORY: BECOMING DEBT FREE!!!

"And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul: and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own; but all things were common property to them." Acts 4:32-36

While I usually try to have some sort of witty opening story, quote, or something else I try to gain people's attention, I can't for this one. I'm too overwhelmed with gratitude, thankfulness, and excitement. Besides that, I don't think the story below needs any sort of embellishment anyway!

While I haven't made this very public, one of my main hesitations about serving overseas was my still-present school loans. I was aggressively paying these off until I started paying for seminary last summer. Because of that, MY PLAN of getting out of debt by this June seemed VERY dim. Impossible, really, unless there was a drastic change in my income and/or living expenses and/or education costs.

While this could have caused a dilemma for me, I strongly felt the Lord leading me to move overseas this fall. There was no denying it. I continued to move towards this goal and continued praying that my debt would somehow disappear before I left. I never started ignoring the debt- I just put it in the God's hands on whether or not it would be gone by this fall or not. This had been a prayer request of mine for almost 3 years now.

A friend of mine from college, currently a school teacher, asked me to have dinner last Monday night. What she said put me in a state of shock. She said that ever since we had a conversation about me possibly delaying my departure date due to school debt, she's been putting aside $500 a month to help me in this specific purpose! She did so for 20 months!!! (Quick.... do the math!!!) With her $10,000 gift, it is EXACTLY what I need to be completely debt free before I leave this fall!!! Praise the Lord for His incredible faithfulness in answering that specific prayer! I'm so thankful for her for being so generous and obedient to the Lord leading her to give!

What may have been the most shocking of this entire presentation was the graceful attitude that she gave it to me in. Psalm 37:21 reads that "The wicked borrows and does not pay back, but the righteous is gracious and gives. "  It was a combination of "you  really don't have to thank me," "its been fun for me to put it aside each month," and "I'm glad to do it." While I struggle to find any way to thank her, I have no doubt that the Lord has already been blessing her abundantly for doing so.

Even as I write about how excited I am that God answered this specific prayer (I've been on cloud nine since Monday), it brings up in me some huge theological issues that I can't help but address, especially since they are so prevalent in our culture... Do I believe that God ALWAYS hears our prayers? Absolutely! Do I believe that God always answers them the way we want Him to? No! It seems to me that God usually comes back with one of 3 answers- Yes, no, and wait.  At times we (including me! egh!) can put God in a waitress-ing role- asking Him what we want and expecting it to be brought the way and when we want it to be brought.

I'll try to not go off on too much of a tangent here (I really wasn't planning too), but I think any teaching that says anything similar to "If you pray hard enough and believe, your prayers will definitely be answered" are NOT biblical and are extremely damaging to the church. Its the whole, "Just claim it and it will be yours!" philosophy.  How many faithful families have prayed for healing of a loved one that ended up passing away? Even David, the one described as being after God's own heart, lost a son after praying faithfully and selflessly for God to heal him (2 Sam 12). There are more things to prayer than just faith, with not the least of those being the GRACE of God to give gifts to his undeserving children! When we start feeling like we deserve the things we're praying for because of OUR faith (when God tell us that he's the one that gives us the faith in the first place), that puts US in charge instead of the One giving the gifts. (If you disagree with me on this issue, I'd love to hear your thoughts. 

Okay. Whew. Now that I'm back from my tangent, let me say once again how incredibly excited and overwhelmed I am about how God answered this prayer with a resounding yes!!! It was totally the Lord's grace and provision that this came out. It definitely encourages me to more often pray for bigger things- for God to move mountains with my "mustard seeds" of faith. I pray that we will never forget that  "nothing will be impossible with God." (Luke 1:27)

Till next time....

-Kat

Bye-Bye Band Director World!!!

"For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it." Luke 8:23

It always amazes me how we can vividly remember the most random things. For example, I remember when my brother and his baseball team got in a swimming pool fight after a kid picked on 6 year old me. I remember badly scrapping my leg as a child and thinking it was better to bleed to death than to be taken care of by the crazy neighborhood lady that "saved" me. I distinctly remember hitting my first legitimate over the fence homerun and the 2 month slump that followed it. I also remember a pseudo "random" statement that was made to me my college pastor: If you love at least 80% of your job, you are one of the few lucky people that truly love their job!

There are many things I love about teaching and about teaching middle school students specifically. I love that it is one of the only times in my life that I am the least awkward person in the room. I love how impressionable and forgiving the specific age group tends to be. I love teaching the same student for 3 years and seeing them grow from the innocent "I want to please all my teachers" to the hormone charged 8th grader who's mood can be dependent on a good or bad hair day. Really, the only things I haven't liked are the insanely long hours, the annoying and persistent challenge of keeping up with the logistical stuff (inventory reports, paperwork, etc.), and the occasional conference with an upset parent who either forgets that I'm human or doesn't believe I have kid's best interest in mind. Realistically, I'm blessed to say that I have loved 95% of my job!!! 

I hope and pray it is no secret why I am leaving a job and students that I love. I leave because there is something, or more accurately, SOMEONE that I love more. Someone that is MORE THAN worth giving up of financial security, job security (at least... I hope I had job security! ha!), close proximity to family, great friends, and my "rights" to personal space. I love the one who has not only given me new life, but has also taught me that He is the only one who can fully satisfy my adventurous spirit. Someone who selflessly gave up his life for me and deserves nothing less than for me to give up my life for him. 

C.T. Studd once said "If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him." Sorry C.T, but I disagree with your choice of words... How can we call these things a sacrifice when we gain so much in return? Phil 3: 8: "I count ALL things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ... for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish..." Not only is Jesus the ONLY way for the eternal life, he is also the only way to live life to the fullest here on this earth.  John 10:11 reads, "I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly..." Psalm 16:11 "In thy presence is fullness of joy..." 

I feel strongly that God has lead me to this new life stage and feel excited and blessed to continue pursuing it headfirst. While a part of me is definitely sad to say bye to my students, my student's parents, and colleagues this week, I am excited to move on to this next step in my life and pray God uses it to minister to them specifically, encouraging them to take risks (even though I think the bigger risk is to NOT follow in what God is WHATEVER God is calling you to do) and live life to the fullest with and through Him. 

Thank you to all of you who have been asking where I am in the process of raising support. As of today, I have ALL of my departure expenses raised and about half of my monthly financial and prayer support. Lord willing (James 4:13-15), I am planning on departing 09/09/2009! The plan is for this summer to be filled with resting, me spending time with my family and friends, finding ways to enjoy the warm weather, continuing my seminary classes, attending awesome weddings, "dominating" coed softball games, and raising the rest of the financial and prayer support. 

If you are interested in partnering with me on this ministry, I would love for you to join the team! As you can see, I am still in need of financial and prayer partners. This can come in the means of monthly support, prayer support, or a one time financial gift. If you want more information on how to partner with me on this, please email me at katmoy@gmail.com and I'd love to answer any questions you have.

Thanks for always checking in my blog! Till next time... (and I assure you the wait won't be as long as last time....haha!)

-Miss Moy 

A Not-So-Surprising Announcement

If you're reading this blog, chances are you are NOT going to be surprised at what this post is about! I started this blog last fall with the intention of documenting my summer trip around the world. I publicized the trip as being a humanitarian aid trip. While the Lord allowed me to serve those living and serving in the various areas, the MAIN purpose of the trip was for me to seek out places that God may have me live and serve on a longer time period. This is why I traveled from the very laid back atmosphere of Eastern Europe to the high energy, efficient Asia and various other places in between. I wanted to see where I would fit in the best. Out of all the places that I've EVER visited, I've never felt my heart stir like it did while I was in Sarajevo, Bosnia. While I haven't submitted my official resignation yet to my school, I'm hoping and planning to move to Sarajevo, Bosnia this summer to serve the people there. 

So.... to help you navigate through what will probably be a massively long post, here are the FAQ's:

1. What lead you to the point of going into moving overseas?

After becoming a Christian my senior year in high school, I first caught the service "bug" my sophomore year in college. This is when I heard for the first time that there are massive amounts of people in the world that have never even heard the gospel. It shocked me that some places had less than a .01% Christian population when I was so used to be surrounded by it here! In the following summers, I went to Marseilles, France to pass out bibles and other materials to those passing through the North African ports (Summer 2003), La Paz, Bolivia to teach music and athletics at a summer camp (Summer 2004), and various other countries last summer (2008). Each time, the verse "the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few" began to make more and more sense to me. There are millions of people that had never heard the name of Christ and I desired to somehow be a part of serving them.

2. How did you go about choosing Sarajevo, Bosnia?

Dude. All I can say is that its totally God. I didn't choose it- He did. It wasn't even on my radar. I spent much of last summer ministering and surveying the areas in Montenegro in areas that are an overnight bus ride away from Sarajevo. When I had just a few days left in Montenegro and nothing specific on the calendar, I decided very last minute to travel over to Sarajevo basically to see the sights! What happened while I was there shocked me- the Lord gave me an interest and burning compassion for the people and their culture that I had not had in any place before.

3. What made you finally make the decision to go?

If you had read my blog over the last few months, you are probably aware that I was wavering back and forth over whether or not I was going to pursue this. I wasn't able to distinguish if this was the Lord's will or not for my life. To be honest, I was growing really frustrated by it all. One day I was convinced I was going and the next day I was confused again. When I finally had some time to rest over Christmas break, God finally brought me to my breaking point. Was I really willing to lay ALL my desires at his feet and follow him WHEREVER He lead me and do WHATEVER He asked me to do?

Up to that point, the answer was NO. There were still some non-negotiables that I was holding on to. For ONE specific example, I did NOT want to give up being a full time teacher (Man. I love those crazy middle school students!). The conviction came when I read 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 " For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for ALL, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised." By not putting ALL my desires in His hands, I was living for myself. How can I hold back for the One who has not held ANYTHING back from me?  It was only after reaching a place of complete submission and placing EVERYTHING in His hands that the direction clearly came. And, man, did it come. From that point, there hasn't been a doubt in my mind that this is what the Lord wants me to pursue right now.

4. What can you tell me about Sarajevo, Bosnia and Hercegovina?

First of all, I am no expert on the situation. I'm trying to read up to learn more about it and would love any insight any of you have. Here's what I understand to be true. Sarajevo has always been a central place in history, even though it hasn't always been positive! Just a few examples: Franz Fernidand was assassinated on a street corner in Sarajevo (remember that from your history classes?) and this basically started WWI. On a more positive note- Sarajevo served as the sight of the 1984 Winter Olympics. Probably what lies the most in people's minds is what happened in the past 20 years. Bosnia used to be included in the country of Yugoslavia, which now no longer exists. Yugoslavia split up into Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, and Montenegro. In the fight for land and naming rights, a brutal civil war broke out in the 1990's. Sarajevo became a central location for the fighting- the Serb forces ended up surrounding Sarajevo and killing normal CITIZENS of the city during normal trips to the bread store, clothes, etc. People had to live underground and in complete fear for years. All in all, 11,000 citizens were killed and the Islamic community was targeted the most.

The statistics now? There are still remnants of the war physically, mentally, and emotionally all around the city. The dominant religion is Islam and biblical Christianity is almost unknown in almost all of Bosnia proper. It is a very strategic place for Christian missions and humanitarian aid workers.

5. How long are you planning to be gone?

I'm officially planning on committing to two years of ministry there with the possibility of staying longer.  I'm leaving it open to what God wants me to do afterwards.

6. Will you have a job while you are there?

Yes and no... The unemployment in Sarajevo hovers around 45%, and it is strongly looked down upon when a foreigner takes a job. While I won't have an official bring-home-the-bacon sort of job like I have had in the states, I will be spending my time serving the people.   To pay for all of of the living and ministry costs, I'm currently looking for people that are interested in partnering in this ministry either prayerfully and/or financially as the Lord leads them to do so. I believe strongly that while not every Christian is led to physically serve overseas, all believers are to be involved somehow in overseas missions. This can include praying, or giving financially. Psalm 96:3: "Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among ALL the peoples!" 

7. So, why exactly are you going?

After the challenging semester of seeking the Lord direction, I can say with confidence that the only reason I'm earnestly pursuing going is because I feel that God wants me to do so. Its not because I don't like my job and want to move on to something "greater." (I know that teaching is a ministry in itself!) Its not for an adventure or to cross something off a "bucket list." Going back to 2 Corinthians 5:14-15: "for the love of Christ compels us." I love Jesus and all that He's done for me. Its for Him that I go, taking with me the hope that He would use me to glorify Himself amongst the Bosnian people.

8. So..... what now?

For now, I'm going to continue to love my middle school students (I plan on telling them these plans this week), hang out with my family (1 niece and two nephews now...whoa...), take classes at seminary (DTS), serve in my local church, sleep past 9 on Saturdays, hit a few softballs when the season starts, and raise financial and prayer support. Its busy, busy, but I'm grateful to be doing things that I love!!!

 I'll be using this blog periodically throughout this semester and summer with various updates, random thoughts, adorable pictures of my niece and nephews, and whatever else comes up along the way! Thanks for checking in!

Till next time,

-Kat