Where the Lord Leads...

What a week! Candidate Week is over…just as fast as it started. The week was great, full of sessions, workshops, meetings, and making new friends. Being surrounded by like-minded people was a great blessing. All believers have a bond with one another but there is a one-of-a-kind bond with missionaries. All of us are looking at going onto the field, have a calling over our lives that pushed us, and a love of the unexpected. This bond is unlike anything I have ever been apart of.
With how the week ended I can say I am fully appointed under Africa Inland Mission. (If you could see me you would see a smile from ear to ear and a heart that is OVERJOYED!) Yes there were moments of fear and unrest about how it would all end but…God knew. He knew that there was a need for a Short-Term Coordinator in the Central Region. He knew that a KEY person in the Central Region Office would be stopping by the US Office for one day this week. He already knew a time to sit and chat with that person was going to happen. He knew my heart was being pulled to an area that needs workers and that 5 unites (families, couples, and singles) from Candidate Week would be heading to! Lastly He knew I was going to appointed with AIM!
All in all it was an amazing week. One I will never forget. One that also leads me to Kampala, Uganda! I am so excited to work as the Short-Term Coordinator for The Central Region. The job is one that places me in a city working along side other AIM administers. The whole point of my job is to help the region get short-term people on the field. The region covers 6 Central African Countries encompassing: Uganda, Rwanda, Chad, South Sudan, ARC, and DRC. All the areas are working at bringing Christ-centered Churches among all African Peoples.

I made it!

Currently I am sitting on my bed at the AIM US Office! I am enjoying some apple slices and settling into the room while rocking out to JJ Heller. :) Even as I sit here.....it is so hard to believe that I am here!

It has been years in the making for this one week. God is soooooo good! However I wont lie. It is going to be very hard not seeing my 10 little owls tomorrow morning. But little do they know they will have a treat in their cubbies from me TOMORROW!

So here is the anticipated week. Your prayers are still welcomed. As the week goes on I will post about what I am learning, who I am meeting (there a great group of staff and candidates), and how God is moving.

Thank you all for your love and support. There is NO way God would have lead me here without all of you at home in the Bay! Love you all!

3:10am, no sleep, and my orange bag!

The day has come! I am sitting in the San Jose Airport waiting for my first flight. Some how I got up one time at 3:30am took a shower and was ALMOST ready when my ride come to get me. My orange bag is checked in and going all the way to Newark Airport while I get to enjoy 2 flights. While checking in I over hear people talking about how their flights were growned due to bad weather! As I sit here I am praying against any weather or ANYTHING the enemy would like to hit me with on this day of travel.

Yesterday was a blessing at church. I was called up to be prayed over and it was so SPIRIT-filled! It was a great moment and one that God used to speak to me. This week will life changing! As excited as I am I am SO nervous. Please pray! I will keep you all posted once I touch down.

A Few Weeks Away...

Hello Family and Friends,
A few weeks left till I am off to New York for Africa Inland Mission's Candidate Week. Things are coming together....but the "do get done" list is still long. Your prayers at this time would be a blessing.

This month is a short one for work and we are doing assessments so time is never enough. Also prayers for my sub would be great. She is a sweet and very skilled but with subbing there is always surprises.

Personal my health is not the best. For the last few weeks I have been sick with something that is just not going away. Wednesday I have an appointment to see the doctor.....health before I leave would be a great answer to prayer!

Lastly my spirit is getting nervous! Walking is God's will is always scary and exciting. I am asking God to calm my spirit and help it be open to what He has next for me. Thank you fort all your support and prayers.

-Hugs

Sweet Jerk Chicken Wraps

Hunger and wanting something healthy I tried a new idea I had. The idea included chicken, a yellow pepper, coconut oil, soy-sauce, and spices. The end result is WOW! It was easy, tasty, and thrifty. If you are never needing a fast yummy dish give it a try!

Sweet Jerk Chicken Wraps
1 chicken breast
3 to 4 tlbs of melted coconut oil
1/2 tsp muster powered
1 tlbs brown sugar
2 tlbs soy sauce
1 Yellow Pepper
Lettuce for wraps

-Thaw and cut the chicken into small chunks
-Melt coconut oil and add all other spices
-Marinade chicken in the coconut oil mixture in a bag for a few hours
-Heat frying pan and cook chicken (the oil in the mix is enough no extra for the pan needed)
-While cooking add Jamaican Jerk to chicken (enough to cover a all chicken lightly)
-Cut pepper into strips and add to the chicken

Use whatever lettuce you like best: roman, ice burg, butter

Add chicken and peppers on lettuce and ENJOY!

Christmas Blessings

(one of my biggest blessing, my grandmother)
The Holidays have come and gone....now we are all looking forward to the new year. Truthfully I am thankful the holidays are over. So much running around, parties to attend, and living in a world that has forgotten the real meaning of the season. But I can not start 2011 without looking at the last few weeks of 2010.

For the Luontela family we like spend time at home. Quite and peaceful. We had a great time together for the holidays and it was one that I will hold near and dear with God calling me overseas. I am so blessed to have had two weeks with my family. It was low-key but just what I needed, even if I did not know it. There was time of laughter, deep talks, and learning how to living all together again.


I hope you all were able to enjoy the time and see the blessings God gave us over 2010. As 2011 starts I know the Lord is working in our lives in marvelous ways. Blessings to you and yours for 2011!

Less of Me More of You For 2011

Welcoming 2011 in was very low key at my family's. My Grandmother went to sleep at 8pm followed by my dad around 10pm. I soon toddled off around 11:20pm with eyes that could just not stay open anymore. I believe the only one that made it until 12am was my mom and the surrounding neighbors with their fireworks. It is so clear that we are a party family.

For the first day of the New Year I stayed in my PJs. Not really being lazy but more of starting the New Year off with a relaxed feel. My Grandmother and I had fun watching the Rose Parade. Afterwards I had some time to think about what is unfolding in 2011. There is a lot coming and many changes! Many are exciting and others are nerve racking. But there is a theme I want to thread into the patchwork of the New Year. Something that is unlike anything else on my to do list, something that is so simple, and something that makes you work harder then you ever thought. Waving in and out of 2011 in my heart and mind is crazy, reckless, and unwavering LOVE.

We all know the greatest commandment is to love the Lord with all your heart AND to love your neighbor as yourself. Knowing and doing are two different things! This year I feel God calling me to push myself to really follow in the steps of Christ. My spirit knows there will come some easy days in LOVE and some that are just hard. But without the hard things in life we never know how strong God makes us and without the easy days we would forget how SWEET He is to us. Because, I will push myself to live I will learn a lot about me and my relationship with God but the strong undertow that comes with LOVE it that it is contagious. Deep in my heart I believe that Revolutionary Love can CHANGE this word.

Just think of the possibilities. People loving their neighbor as themselves...heart by heart, city street by city street, hearts and lives could be changed! Just thinking about the possibility I can see what Christ had in mind when He gave the commandment. There is no doubt that it is not easy, we have wavered far off course, and our natural nature does not like it. But I am called to love, we are called to love. So as easy or hard it may be day to day I seek to weave LOVE (not for myself) in and out of every aspect of 2011.