More than Words...

That's how I feel about my trip to the Amazon. I'm not sure I could ever fully put into words the way God worked in my heart and the things that He did in those 9 days. It was really an amazing time, and the things that I brought back with me are too many to count.

The highlight of my trip was getting to lead two little girls to the Lord. These girls have a really intense home life, and would have been impossible to leave them there not knowing that they had Jesus. Here's a picture of us praying with the girls and then with them after we prayed:

I was on the VBS team for the week. For anyone that really knows me, they know that I could not have been happier than to be put on that team. It was such a great experience for me, different than any other time I've gotten to work with kids. It was more than just running around the village & playing with them. It was being bold with them, and sharing Christ, and really letting them know that God loved them. It was really a special time. Here's a picture of our VBS team....they were so much fun to work with!

Back: Kenny, me, Katy, Bridget, Front: Jen, Deny, Lisa, Clauder, Beth

This trip has reminded me that I need to be bold with my faith not only on the Amazon, but right here where I live. I was also reminded there of how alive I feel when I am doing missions. I love serving God's people in the nations. I'd like to think that I will end up doing work like this more long term sometime in the future.

I'm so thankful for all of you who supported me through prayer and with your resources. This trip wouldn't have been possible and wouldn't have been such a growing experience without you.

I really wish that I had more energy to write more about the trip, but I'm pretty spent after going straight back to work this week. Here's the link to all of my pictures http://picasaweb.google.com/sarah.d.welch/Brazil2007.

Ready or not...

I'm headed for Brazil in the morning! I can't believe it's here. It really snuck up on me! The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind. I worked Connection with our junior high kids last week. We stayed at a hotel & put on a day camp for these apartment kids. It was SO fun, and such an awesome experience to watch my girls get their hands dirty & serve. Really, really amazing! Here's a couple of pictures from the week:

SarahBeth & I made shirts - we were the crafts leaders :)

My sweet Maddie helping the girls with crafts
Me & Sweet Tori!
Spencer, SarahBeth & I won a ball at Dave & Busters. We took it to the apartment complex the next day and it was deflated within about 10 minutes!

I'll update when I get back from Brazil!

Iron Girl

I don't have a lot of time to update, but I thought I'd at least put some pictures from the Iron Girl. In brief - I'm glad I did, although it was the hardest thing I've EVER done! I finished in 1 hour 58 minutes, which is faster than I thought I would finish. My fast goal was 2 hours. I'm not sure if I'll ever do another one, but it was a good experience overall. Here's a few pictures:

Lisa looking in disgust at the canal we had to swim in the next day! There was definitely a "No Swimming" sign about 3 feet from where we started the race!

The morning of the race. You can tell we're newbies...everyone else was wearing their spandex with pride, we were covering ours up!

Finishing the bike....I almost fell off my bike right here!

Finishing!!!!!

LB, me & Julia - I had great supporters!

Me & Sarah - she finished in time to cool off & then take pictures of me finishing!

Proof I finished :) Swim 500m, Bike 20K, Run 5K.

Harry Potter

This month has been full of Harry Potter for me! I had never seen any of the movies, even though I had read all the books, so Julia & I went back and watched the first four movies in preparation for the release of the fifth movie. After I saw the fifth movie last weekend I decided I had to re-read the sixth book in order to get ready for the release of the last book this weekend. I finished the book last night, and I think i'm grateful for a small Harry Potter break before my book arrives tomorrow. One night this week I was reading it before I went to sleep, and I'm pretty sure it gave me nightmares!

Two days until IronGirl...I'm getting a little nervous. I know I'm capable of doing everything separately, but putting all the parts together definitely makes me a little nervous. The swim is definitely the scariest part for me - I am NOT a swimmer. My goal is just to finish, get my pink medal, and possibly never do another triathlon! It has been so good for me - it's caused me to be very disciplined in my exercise routine and I'm in the best shape I've probably ever been in. But, I think I'm going to go back to just running for a while. Dad & Deb are going to come down in December, and we are going to run the White Rock half marathon...should be fun to do something with them!

The thing that excites me the most right now is Brazil. After our meeting on Sunday, I just wanted to go home & pack. Put me on the plane now! I looked at pictures of my Brazil trip from college this week, which made me even more eager to go! We're praying the the plane crash in Sao Paulo this week won't cause any problems for us, as they are thinking of shutting down the airport where the crash happened. We will actually fly into the other aiport in Sao Paulo, but I've read that if they shut down the aiport, it could disrupt air travel all over South America.

I'll post pictures if I can find anyone to take them at the race on Sunday.

Pictures from the 4th & Jess's Wedding

I got some pictures from Sarah, so here's a little bit more of the the 4th & Jess's wedding:

At the lakehouse!
Nat & I showing off our mad Guitar Hero skills!

The boys & their fireworks

Jess's wedding with Sarah & Steph - so fun!

My favorite people in the world at Jess's wedding!