New Chapter

My time at Impact 195 has come to an end and a new chapter is starting. 

God has taken me on the biggest adventure of my life this year and I am confident that this is just the beginning. As a step out in faith and trust him with everything I have, I know he is going to continue to take me on a life long journey with him. I am so blessed to have been able to devote this last year of my life fully to getting to know my father in heaven more.  He has grown my heart for his children and filled my spirit with his peace and joy, I could not ask for me. Every day as I ask for his desires and his heart he is faithful to give them to me. Now as a start this new chapter in my life I am excited and eager to see what God has planned. The unknown is always a little scary to start, but I know that as I keep my eyes fixed on the Lord he will direct my steps. I will be going home to Va to start an internship with a church there and to enjoy being with my family for a season. My heart is to go out in long term missions so I will also be there preparing for that. Gods timing is perfect and I am confident that he will lead me in that. Thank you all for the part (big or small) that you have played in my life over this last year. I could not have done it without all of your love, encouragement, prayers, and support.  

Love always, 

Marisa  

Turkey 2012

And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. John 14.13

Just eight months ago, I had joined a team of i195 classmates heading to Nigeria to make the love of God tangible and real. Many people came to faith in Jesus on that trip and some 300 physical healing took place before their very eyes as God revealed Himself to me and the Nigerian people.

I found myself on a very different kind of trip this April with sixteen others in Istanbul Turkey, where Christians sharing their faith was not well received from strangers. Winning souls to Jesus in this country required the steady building up of relationships over time. I wasn’t experiencing the types of experiences on this trip, that I had in Nigeria. I began to question God and how He was working. Finally I concluded that something in me needed to change.

I prayed that night that God would change my heart and give me more of His heart. I prayed to be able to see the Turkish people though His eyes and not my own. When I woke up the next morning, I could already sense that something was different.

Eager to start the day, the team headed out on their daily walk to the trams and ferries to get to their English clubs and various outreaches. Suddenly, I started seeing things that I had not seen before. I know the street was the same and it was just crowds of people but my eyes started to lock eyes with the people that we were passing by. As I stared into each face tears started to fill my eyes and in that moment God spoke to me. First He said, “I love these people.’ And then He said, ‘I came to seek and to save the lost and these people are lost…’”

I knew that His desire was for each and every one of the multitudes to know Him and spend eternity with Him. My heart broke for every face that she saw. God answers prayer when we pray what lines up with His heart. Because of this particular answered prayer God has given me even more of a longing in my spirit for His children to come know Him as their Lord and Savior.

Pictures in Turkey 2012

Istanbul!

 

      The view of the Haggai Sophia out my bedroom window- once a church during the Byzantine Empire,  became a mosque during the time of the Ottoman Empire - now a museum.

 
 Teaching English to Iraqi refugees <3

                                              Ephesus!

 Face painting and ministering to people on the Island.

 We took a ferry over to an Island with 300 other believers (The largest ever gathering of such a   group in Turkey on over 700 years, getting ready to minister to over 60,000 people)

People tie a piece of string to trees at the bottom of the mile long mountain and unravel it on the hike up as they made a wish and     hoped to get their prayers answered.

 Tangled in a web of lies

Praying for a crippled man. 

                            

 Prayer is the greater work

January 2012

My last Term at Impact 195 began on January 10th. I enjoyed spending 6 weeks at home and having opportunities to visit with friends. I can’t believe how fast the time has gone by nor can I believe how much the Lord has changed me and worked in and through me in the last 9 months! The Lord has truly been taking me on an incredible journey of knowing him more and making him known to those who are lost and broken in the world. He has shown me love like I have never experienced before, he has provided for my every need, he has been transforming my heart to become more like his own, and he has given me a peace and boldness that I never knew was possible for me to have. I still have more learning to do and experiences to have but each and every day I am growing and walking and being transformed by Christ Jesus.

For those of you have been walking along side me on this journey, thank you. Thank you for your prayers and your support, and for all of your encouraging words. I am truly blessed to have each one of you in my life. My prayer for you has been for all of you to experience him in a new way as well. I pray that through my testimony of how God has been showing up so mightily in my life you would come to know him and trust him more. As it says in Proverbs 3:5-6, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding but in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight." May 2012 be the year that you clear space in your life and take hold of the plans God has for you.

My goal this term is to take 100 people/groups/families/couples with me on the mission trip in April to Turkey. You may not be able to be there with me physically but you will be with me in my heart as I go and share God’s love with orphan children, feed and clothe lost and hungry people, work on a building projects, and pray with people – I will take you with me. Your love for others you may never meet on earth, and God’s love will together reach farther and overflow with leftovers because of your participation. Therefore, I have sent this email to 100 contacts – most represent more than one person, so the multiplying already begins because instead of taking 100 people with me, it could be 2 or 3 times that many! I get excited thinking about it!

Thank you for supporting me in this and for all of your prayers! I can't wait to share stories from the trip with you! <3

Blessings,

Marisa

Who God is...

Saturday, October 8, 2011

I want to share with you a story of the Lords faithfulness

Last week this time I was sitting here at school long after school had ended (This has become a regular thing for me the past couple months without a car) and I was praying and asking God to do a miracle in my finances. I did not know how I was going to make my tuition payment on Friday the fallowing morning. So as I sat in the prayer chapel with my friend Angela we began to pray together and cry out to God. It was such a sweet time together and with the Lord. Angela also had a payment to make and was just as desperate as I was to see the Lord work in a mighty way through this circumstance that we were both in. At the beginning of our prayer time we were feeling a little down but as we began to press into the Lord more and more we could feel his peace and joy all around us. I was praising the Lord for the opportunity to even be asking him for a miracle. I mean how cool is that to be able to see God in such and awesome way and to be able to feel his peace through all of it?! It’s such an amazing thing to experience. Friday morning comes and I was able to make a small payment toured my tuition. It was not as much as I was hoping to be able to do but it was still a good step. Saturday night the lord blessed me with the opportunity to get a babysitting job. I was praising the Lord for providing that for me. Then later that night I realized that my wallet was missing. I retraced my steps and figured out that I had left it when I had picked up some dinner Friday night. I was so upset at myself and just the whole situation. I was like “really God? Now?” …like it was his fault or something. So I made it through the night and Sunday morning I was pretty frustrated. At around 10 o’clock in the morning after hours of trying to figure things out and get things done on my own I sat on my bed and began to cry. I had been trying to do things on my own and I was not engaging God in it. In that moment the Lord spoke to me and reminded me just how much I need him. He showed me how I had been trying to do things without him. The Lord brought me to a place once again that I needed him fully, oh how thankful I am for that. God is so faithful to bring me back to my knees. The rest of my day was spent talking to the Lord and just reflecting on all that he has brought me through and done for me. That night I ended up going back to the place I had lost my wallet and I found it! Everything was taken out of it except my driver’s license and a few others things but just that was such a huge blessing to still have. The Lord showed me so much through this. He showed me how to let go of things more and how to trust him fully to provide for everything I need.

Provider

Tuesday morning came and as I walked in to school someone comes with excitement and open arms to embrace me and tell me that someone gave me $400 for my tuition. Wednesday I was able to get another Job to put more money for tuition. Friday morning I woke up to an envelope on the counter for me with $325 dollars in it. J God is so amazing! This week alone with the job the Lord provided for me and the checks that came in I was able to drop my tuition payment for this term down to just $135. The Lord has blown my mind this week.  

What has the Lord brought you through? Where have you seen his faithfulness in your life?

That is what I will be spending the rest of my day meditating on… his goodness and faithfulness in my life.

I love you all! Thank you for your prayers and support! God is answering prayers! <3

He is worth it

Saturday, October 8, 2011

My God is an awesome God. I have no doubt he is going to provide in a mighty way right now, just like he always has. The way he provides is sometimes not what we want or what we think is best, but he knows best and he knows what we need. Right now he is allowing me to go through a hard time and tough circumstances. He is once again giving me an opportunity to trust him with everything and to see him provide for my every need.

I am currently praying for a place to live. I do not have the funds to make my rent payment anymore. I am also praying for the remaining funds for my tuition. I have applied and tried to get several jobs but due to my transportation (or the lack thereof haha) I have not been able to get a job. I am taking babysitting opportunities as much as I can, but it is just not enough. Please keep me in your prayers and all the things above as I continue to trust in the Lords faithfulness to provide all that I need these next few months of my time here in San Diego.

I know God is doing a work right not that I can’t see and that even if I could see I probably still would not understand it. But that’s okay because I know him and I trust him in whatever it is that he is doing right now. He is in control. One thing I know is God is so much bigger than all of this. I have no reason to worry or be anxious. I know he will provide and I know his plans for me are bigger than anything I could ever hope or imagine for myself.

Thank you for all your prayers!

Love & Blessings!

Risa <3

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. -Galatians 6:9

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. -Proverbs 3:5-6

Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit. -Jeremiah 17:7-8

Starting Term 2

September 23, 2011

What God has been showing me. <3

I have been back here in Cali for almost 3 weeks now. I started my second term here at Impact. It has been a very challenging start back, but God has been showing me so much and growing me each day in trusting him more. God has been showing me how big he really is and how much bigger he is than any circumstance I could ever come against. It has been a challenge to come back to school with no job and no car but God has also been using those struggles to help me press in to him and to build relationships that I would otherwise not have had the opportunity to build. Because I do not have a car my amazing friends/impact family has been showing me how much I can trust & depend on them and how much they love me by helping me get around to where I need to be. : ) With each time that I have to plan a ride somewhere or ask for help I see the opportunity God is giving me to build a relationship with those people that he has put in my life to be by my side and help me out. He is showing me what real love, friendship, and community really looks like. <3

Thank you all for your continued prayers and support. Know that God is working and he is answering your prayers! I love you all!

Blessings!

Love,

Risa

Nehemiah Trip ♥

September 23, 2011

Hey everyone!

I hope you are all doing well. : ) I just wanted to share with you a few highlights from the past couple weeks!

 Nehemiah Trip!                             

This past week I had an amazing opportunity to get away from the busyness of everyday life here in San Diego to study the book of Nehemiah with my awesome term 2 family. It was it was an  absolutely gorgeous place up in the mountains. God did an incredible work on my heart and in my family’s hearts while we were all pressing into the Lord during the teaching and fellowship and quite time. God showed me things about myself that I had never recognized before. He opened my eyes to new truths about who he is and he gave me amazing leaders and friends to experience it with. It was a wonderful week of practicing the presence of God. Each morning the Lord woke me up early. I found this amazing place up on the top of a hill overlooking the view of the mountain range. There was this huge rock that I climbed up on and I watched the sunrise come up from behind the mountains. It was a beautiful picture to me of God’s faithfulness, and how he holds true to his promises. As I was sitting there I was just smiling and reflecting on how great and awesome God really is. I was reflecting on all the things he has done for me and what he has brought me out of. While I was sitting there the lord brought to mind one of my favorite songs called “God Who Answers Prayers.”

God who answers prayer

Bless the Lord with all that's within o my soul

I cry out with all that I am make me whole

Here I stand I place all my hope in you

My Healer will see me through

God who answers prayer

Faithful you will be

In my darkest hour

Your promise I believe

My Savior, my God on High

The One who has brought me life

I surrender all that I am

Into your hands, I'm in your hands

This song is a reminder to me of Gods promises and his faithfulness in my life. And it reminds me to just be still and know that he is God, and he is in control. <3

Psalm 46:1 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

I have found a new love for Vietnamese food. ♥

My first Vietnamese dumpling! : )

Time to reflect & meditate

 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.♥

Philippians 4:8


Sunrise



 Lamentations 3:22-23

Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.♥



The view from my rock

"I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." ♥

Second Term Begins

September 17, 2011

My second term has begun and this time my financial needs are even bigger.  Having used most of my savings first term, my desire right now is to have the finances to cover my training to be a missionary.  My parents are helping me with my room and board and I have put in applications for jobs.  One obstacle to working is the fact that I don’t have a car and getting rides or taking the bus to school is challenging!  So I am praying for a car and for the funds for tuition for this term and next term.  At this time, I am not seeking to participate in a mission trip after this term since I don’t have any pledged funds towards that trip. My main goal is to pay my tuition for both terms (total of $4,000) and then go on a mission trip after my third term in March (@$3,000 for trips).  When I finish at IMPACT, I plan on applying for a 6-month internship or a long-term mission trip assignment.  During that time I will need to raise funds for an extended trip of up to 2 years in the mission field.  Since this is the course I believe I will be taking over the next 3 years, I am asking you to consider partnering with me to complete my training and prepare me for a long-term, extended time as a missionary.  I greatly appreciate the prayers and financial support I have already received and am so blessed to have you all in my life!  If God chooses to make it possible for me to complete this journey, I know it will be because you joined in the working out of His plan!  Jeremiah 29:11 says “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  This verse is for YOU and Me.  God has a plan for your life – THANK YOU for joining me in this journey in whatever way you are able.  

Pictures from Nigeria Trip - YOU were there with me!

July 2011

The blind will see
We have been hungering and thirsting for Him to move on our behalf and do miracles so that the people of Nigeria might see and know Jesus Christ is Lord and be saved. I asked God yesterday that we would see peoples sight restored and people healed from eternal separation. Here is how God moved...Out in a village in Enugu Africa God brought this young boy to me. I had prayed for many people that day but this boy was special. When the boy came up to me he was staring down at the ground. I tried to ask him what he needed me to pray for him but I got no response. I ask a translator to come over. She asked the boy for his request. The boy spoke in there native language and expressed to her that he wanted me to pray for his eyes to see clearly. My heart melted for this little boy. I laid my hands on his face covering his blind eyes, I began to pray for God to heal him fully. Before I had even said amen this little boy lifts his head up and with joy declares that he could see clearly! He said "while you where praying something came off of my eyes and i can see clearly now!" God is faithful to show Himself strong on our behalf and this child of God now has sight in The Name of Jesus.

Over 300 people received physical healing in our two days at this medical clinic. God is good!

Me and my friend Good-News. =)

My menties at the high school we spent two days at.

EIGHTEEN DAYS IN NIGERIA, AFRICA

July 2011

It is hard to summarize the 18 jammed-pack days in Nigeria. The Lord did miraculous things on our trip and I feel so blessed to have been a part of the incredible work He did there. The Lord opened my eyes up to his amazing, almighty power. He showed me His heart to lead people to Him and His heart to heal broken hearts and the physical needs too, in a way I have never seen or experienced before. The trip was incredible and life changing. I don't think I have quite been able to process it all yet, but one thing I do know is that the Lord touched hundreds and hundreds of people’s lives in Nigeria because YOUR PRAYERS AND FINANCIAL SUPPORT made it possible for us to bring them a new hope that they so desperately needed. "The Lord allowed me to be apart in the amazing healing work he was doing there. Over 260 people experienced the Lords healing while we were in Nigeria. I remembered something the Lord had spoken to me just a few months before as a prayed for the first person who God healed. She was a blind woman at the leprosy center where we were on outreach. As she began to tell us the colors we were wearing with her brand new eyes the Lord had given here, tears ran down my face and God spoke to me and reminded me of when he healed me and how he said he was going to use me to bring healing to others. So as I sat there staring into this woman’s eyes God said “This is why you are here” My heart broke and that’s when I knew my purpose and calling; to be the Lords hands and feet and to bring his hope and love to the lost and hurting."  I literally prayed for hundreds, possibly thousands of people during the 18 days. Among our numerous outreaches in the community, we visited a prison, leprosy center, orphanage, high school, and churches. We held a two-day medical clinic and even visited with the King of Nigeria in his home.  Nineteen of us traveled on the crazy roadways in vans that were made for ten people and had seven guards with us at all times. We learned to eat spicy rice and chicken over and over again, drink only 16 oz. of water in a day many days, never use a toilet with a seat cover, to be without electricity often, and take only bucket showers for almost three weeks. In Nigeria my faith grew, my heart was stirred, I was exhausted and energized at the same time, and I grew spiritually on fire for the Lord. I learned that God can do exceedingly more than I could ever imagine and that He brings Hope and Comfort to those in need through ordinary people. I learned I wanted to go back to Africa – I learned I want to be a missionary when my time of training at IMPACT is complete. 

PREPARING FOR THE MISSION TRIP

July 2011

As I neared the end of first term, I had the opportunity to go on a mission trip. I had felt the Lord calling me to go to Africa since I was about 14 years old, but even so I was placed on the Romania team instead of Nigeria.  I did not have the money to go, but I was going to trust the Lord to provide and wherever He wanted me to go was okay with me.  The day all the money had to be turned in, I had only raised about $300 and I needed $3,000. I was taking in my $300 and this time I knew I had to go all in on my end and that He would do the rest. So with my bank account emptied and over $1,700 to go, I posted on Facebook at 4:00 in the afternoon that I needed the rest of the money by that night to be able go on the trip. And that is when YOU responded to what God was teaching me and helped me to raise all the needed funds by 9:00 that night!  By the next day, I had enough funds that I would get some of my own contribution returned to me and I had raised enough to go to Nigeria, and I was placed on the Nigeria team instead!  I am so thankful for each of you - for your willingness to support me and to be a part of the amazing things that the Lord is doing in my life as He prepares me for the mission field and for taking part in the work He did in Nigeria.  I have learned that I am not alone, and that it is only through the support of others that I can have the privilege of being His hands and feet to many people around the world and be able take the Love of many Christians to those who are desperate for God’s love and grace.

IMPACT 195 LESSONS

September 17, 2011

I have been on a crazy roller coaster of new adventures, difficult decisions, surrender, joy in Christ, peace that only comes from God, trials that I have never had to come against thus far in my life, miracles and life-changing experiences. This all began when I made the decision to step out in faith and stay in California to go to IMPACT195 with no pre-planning done – I moved out here from across the country after a week of IMPACT Open House.  I did not know where I was going to stay or how I was going to pay for anything - food, rent, tuition, etc...But, I felt the Lord speaking very clearly to me that it was time to let go and listen to the prompting he was so strongly putting on my heart, to give up the comforts of living at home, leave friends and family, and two great jobs to experience Him in a way that I had never experienced Him before; in a way that my heart had been longing for. Just days after I made a decision the Lord provided a place for me to live; and because of my previous jobs I had enough money for food and rent.  As I walked into school on the first day I was feeling pretty excited for what the Lord was going to do but also very overwhelmed with all the trials I knew I was about to go through. One, because of the decision I made with staying and leaving all my support and two, because I knew that whenever a person sets out to follow the Lord – the enemy doesn’t like it and starts working overtime to discourage you and to bring hard times.  So on the first day of school I had no tuition paid for but I had about a $1000 dollars in my bank account for rent and food. I again felt the Lord telling me to let go and trust Him and know that is He was a BIG God able to do BIG things.  So I put down on my financial form that I had $1,000 dollars towards the $2,000 tuition cost.  When I arrived at school that day, the very first news I heard was "Your tuition for Term 1 was paid for anonymously by someone.”  I was overwhelmed with gratitude and joy but I also felt pretty bad for not having really trusted the Lord for it. But regardless of anything I did, He blessed me abundantly. Now I could keep my $1,000 and pay for room and board. This was the first of many lessons on really TRUSTING the Lord on this path to becoming a missionary.

Through IMPACT195 Term 1, I learned what it felt like to truly be loved and how to begin loving other people in the way Christ loves, not in the way I thought was good enough but rather in a 1^st Corinthians Chapter 13 kind of LOVE. The Lord has been completely transforming my heart to be more like Him. I am not perfect at this and I know I will never be but day by day I'm learning to be better, and to rely on Hm more.  I want to be His hand and feet and understanding the depth of His love for me helps me to express that to others in a real way.  A LOVE lesson, my love has limits but God’s love is infinite and unconditional.

My Testimony

I want to share with you what the Lord has done in my life and the work he is doing in me right now. My story with the Lord really began when I was 14 years old. At the time I could not see it, but God was taking away everything I had and everything I knew in in the busyness of this world in order to draw me close to him. He was preparing me for an amazing journey he wanted me to take part in with him. From the time I was 14 to 18 years old God was working mightily in my life. They were the hardest years I have ever gone through but they were also some of the sweetest and most incredible years. In just 4 short years I was diagnosed with a pain disorder called fibromyalgia, I was also diagnosed with anxiety and depression and I was anorexic. My world felt as though it was completely falling apart and I was in control of nothing. As the pain got worse so did the depression, which led to me starving myself more as I tried to feel in control of something in my life. I would cry out to God and ask him why he would be allowing me to go through so much pain…I did not understand. But the longer I was in it the more I began to seek God more and more. Just to get through days were I could not get out of bed because the pain or depression was too bad or I just felt too weak, I would pray and read my bible. My prayer life with the Lord grew in to something I HAD to do to survive, to make it through each day. God became my only friend, my only hope, and my only joy and peace. He had never felt so real to me. I could feel him holding me as I held on to his promises that he was seeing every tear that I was crying behind closed doors. My love for the Lord was growing more and more each day as I depended on him more, but I was missing something. I still was not surrendering my pain and struggles to him, I was just asking him to take them away.

On April 3, 2011 The lord called me up on to a stage in front of about 80-100 high school students at a church youth retreat to share my story with them of the journey the Lord had been taking me on for the last 4 years. I had never met most the people in the room and I am terrified of speaking in front of people and on top of that I had no clue what I was going to say. I told God “no way!” but he kept telling me to go…finely after several minutes of me saying no I hear him loud and clear and he tells me that he will heal me if I go up there… “In my timing I will heal you”. I walked to the front of the room and I began to share my story of what the Lord had been doing in my life and what he had been bringing me through. I told them that I surrendered all of it to him and if it was his will for me to live with the pain for the rest of my life I would still praise him and that my desire was that he would just be glorified though my life. That day the Lord healed me. The Lord also told me that day that he was going to use me to bring healing to other peoples live.

Now I jump ahead to May 9th, 2011 just one month later. I fly to CA from my home in Virginia to visit a friend. It’s during Rock The House. The Lord stirs on my heart in a mighty way to stay in CA and join Impact. I never would have been able to step out in faith to join Impact, leave my family without even saying good bye, and leave my jobs and all my friends, if he had not shown himself so faithful to me through my life and the moment when he healed me. For me Impact was just an answer to prayers so when God put it in front of me I made the choice to step out in faith a trust that he would provide everything I needed and that’s just what he did. I had not tuition money, he provided. I had no place to live, He provided. Food, clothes, He provided. Just a few short weeks later the opportunity came to go on a mission trip. I had no money for it but I knew that the Lord was calling me to go out on the mission field and that if he wanted me to go on that trip that he would provide. It took me giving everything I had but the Lord met there and he stirred people’s hearts and I was able to raise about $2500 in one night. God is so faithful.

I went to Nigeria Africa and was able to experience God in a way I never had before. He showed me just how BIG he is. The Lord allowed me to be apart in the amazing healing work he was doing there. Over 260 people experienced the Lords healing while we were in Nigeria. I remembered something the Lord had spoken to me just a few months before as a prayed for the first person who God healed. She was a blind woman at the leprosy center where we were on outreach. As she began to tell us the colors we were wearing with her brand new eyes the Lord had given here, tears ran down my face and God spoke to me and reminded me of when he healed me and how he said he was going to use me to bring healing to others. So as I sat there staring into this woman’s eyes God said “This is why you are here” My heart broke and that’s when I knew my purpose and calling; to be the Lords hands and feet and to bring his hope and love to the lost and hurting.