Prayer

Hello Everyone!!!!!!!

First of all I would like to say THANK YOU! I know many of you are praying for me. The last week has been amazing and God is changing me and speaking to me clearly! Thank you for the time you spend praying for me. Thank you for supporting me in emails and regular mail!

Here are my prayer requests and praises! Know you have a huge ministry by praying for me and others here!

I realize that I include a lot in these emails. Some of you have requested it...some of you are probably wondering WHY THE HECK am I getting all of this information. Please allow the Lord to lead you to one area to pray for if you choose- Whether that be one of the youth, a request for me, my ministry through YFC...whatever! I don't want these emails to turn into monotonous lists!

Updates:
Josh, the YFC director, arrived home safely this past Wednesday. Thank you for praying for him while he was on a YFC intern recruiting trip in the states. I actually haven't seen him since he has been back. I am not sure what the outcome of the trip has been.
My health: I caught a cold in London but I am finally feeling better today. I have never been as sick as I have been like I have in the last six months. Praise that I am feeling better!
Trip to London: It was a great time! I enjoyed seeing all the sights. Laura and I were safe and we felt rested and refreshed after the trip.
Loneliness: It has been good. I think it will be an ongoing thing. Anytime you are in transition you have loneliness. I am grateful for how God is using it. I am also grateful for my down time. I would enjoy meeting more people my age but that takes time!!!

Those are some updates- my other updates include more prayer/praises...so I will just put them below.

General:
Jesse and Joy Larvick: This is the youth pastor I work for and his wife. They are going to have a baby anytime now. Pray for the health of Joy and the baby. Pray for Jesse as he transitions with work and the life with two children.
Westlake Youth: Pray for God to continue to give Jesse a good vision for the youth program. Pray for good support from the church and the parents of the youth. We are hosting a night for Parents in December. Pray for that time as we all come together.
My Teaching: I will be teaching the next two weeks in Sunday School. I am not good at it but it is something I want to develop this next year. Pray that I could understand things fully and then articulate them simply!
Youth For Christ Geneva: Continue to pray for unity within our team. Also pray for our Make a Difference Days we have for the students at the International Schools. Pray that the contact we make with the students would be beneficial for them as they are striving to be "whole" people.
Service Project 2007: Pray for a location to be settled by the end of the month. Pray for Paul as he is communicating with different sights around Europe. Also pray for the preperation that lies within the office.
Bethany: She works for YFC and is trying to finish her funding. Pray for people to catch her vision to work with Au Pairs. Pray for a Dallas company to support her (she recently wrote a letter for support).
Praise: I am starting to feel very settled and comfortable here! Continue to pray for a comfortable social outlet.
Praise: God is really blessing me through my personal study in the word and through prayer. Pray that God would continue to transform me. Pray for development in my study and in my prayer life.
Praise: My parents and brother are coming to visit the day after Christmas. It has really been the work of God in it all. Praise for the people who have been generous. Praise that they would be blessed because of their generosity. It truly is ministering to me!
My French: I would like to learn French, but for a good price! I would like to find someone or a class that is not expensive, but also where it would teach me the language.
I am also looking for someone to mentor me while I am here. Please pray that God would bring us together.

!!!!!!:-)!!!!!!!

Since I have been back from London the skies for the most part have been full of sun...you can see the mountain peaks! I LOVE it...maybe it was because I visited the Sun god in London...ha!

It has been very windy which makes it very cold..but I will take sun and wind over clouds and warmth!

Most of you know how I LOVE LOVE LOVE the sun (it usually involves oil and a swimming pool) so the weather forcast for the next several days makes me happy!

Love and miss you all!

Detox

I said to the Lord, "You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing."

Psalm 16:2

Have any of you ever gone on a detox diet? If any of you reading this blog are my former roommates you know what I speak of! Drink water the first day...add raw veggies the second...cooked veggies the third...fruit the next and so on. The purpose of the diet is to get rid of all the toxins your body has. We generally never made it past the first day...go figure!

For some reason I have been comparing the detox diet with my time here in Switzerland...hear me out (I can see some of you tilting your heads, smiling and in the nicest/"what in the world is she talking about" voice saying "O Marbes.")

Thia last week I have realized how this experience is MAKING me depend on God. For those of you that know me well know I like to plan and organize...way ahead of time, I like change, although I am very predictable and "safe." I am a self sufficient person. I like my independence and self confidence. A lot of time I pride myself on them. I am a dreamer and idealist. I set my expectations high. I am not saying all of these things are good...just stating how I see myself. I have always struggled with the idea of "letting God have control." I never have got it...probably never will completely.

Well, since being here I see how God is detoxing me of my SELF. He is grooming me to be in likeness of him. He has stripped away everything familiar...and I mean everything. He has placed me in a place where I am different. I find things hard that have always been easy. Insecurities come up when they never have. I second guess myself. Loneliness sets in at the strangest times. Some expectations have been dissapointing. People don't even call me Marbes here (most of you will understand the name identity I went through..ha)! Literally, the only thing that has been the same since my life started here is Christ. It is something you hear all the time, but until you experience it as a real part of your life it stays just an idea or a statement.

But the wonderful thing is that He HAS BEEN and WILL BE constant and by God's grace (literally) I have realized that and allowed that to be a part of my daily life. I almost feel as if He has been more constant than He was before. But I know that contradicts his character. My life has slowed down TRAMENDOUSLY since being here...there is something to say about being still and slowing down. By the detox of my SELF that I am going through I realize that I can't do anything (a simple truth that is hard to understand until you have to actually live it) apart from him. I am simply an instrument to be used/clay to be molded.

Some verses come to my mind (the ashley marble version): "Deny your self and take up my cross" "I am the vine and you are the branches" "I must decrease as He increases." All of these are great parts of scripture that have spoken to me time and time again...but this time it is different!

There will be more highs...there will be more lows. I am thankful for this experience. I know that all the transition I am going through is allowing for transformation. At times I have wondered what the heck...why am I putting myself through this...but I am thankful for this time of transition. I really see how God is working in it and becoming very personal. I see different ways of how God is active in my life. I see He is getting rid of me so that He can become more. I am thankful for His gentleness and His timing. Again, although there have been sad and lonely times I really wouldn’t change the condition of my heart for anything. I wouldn’t change it to go to a wedding, I wouldn’t change it to see a friend, I wouldn’t change it to have normality.

The great thing is that I have eight more months of this. The hard thing is that it is a choice.

I said to the Lord, "You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing."
Psalm 16:2

Trottinerbe

This past Saturday we took the youth up into the Jura Mountains. We went to a place where you could play swing golf, do archery and the infamous Trattinerbe. It was a really great time! I love my job!

Click Here to see pictures of that day. (they are the last pictures of the group...you have already seen some of these pics)

My London Trip

Click Here to see pictures from my trip to London