What should I do?

So the last few days have been full of information and last night I found myself overwhelmed by all the information that I was trying to process. We went to the team meeting on Wednesday, and then we had some more meetings on Thursday with Andrew and Dustin. I have been able to ask some more questions about Avant, the team, and then some of the team member's personal testimonies/difficulties/experiences so far. It has been great. The conclusions that I wrote in my journal last night are these four things:

• I know God wants me in missions, that is pretty clear!

• It is becoming more and more clear through conversations with the team members that Avant is the organization I want to be with as a missionary.

• I don't know how I would do this as a single woman, so I guess I have seen the need to get married... hmmm.

• I don't want to leave Italy in 3 weeks! And since I felt God's call on my life to be a missionary, I have been against the idea of any sort of missions work in Europe, but now that I am here, and have met others from Europe, I am realizing the need for non-traditional reproducing churches. I want to be a part of that!
  

SO with all those big things to end yesterday with, I don't know how God will work it all out or what it will look like, but I was able to sleep last night! :)

But then today came. Yeah. Today. Wooohoo.

I guess today was the test after a day of wonderful, amazing things! I had one thing in my head I wanted to do and was most excited about, but we didn't get to do it at all. I did hear great things from Natalie Debelak about being a missionary, resolving conflict, being a mom on the field, etc. The thing she kept telling Janae & I was that she has constantly had to say "I choose to be happy about this, even though it is not what I was told was going to happen" Yeah, that was good to hear! Like really good to hear.

As soon as we left her house, we missed our train, got on a bus, waited, waited, waited, finally the driver said (we think) something about a flat tire and that that bus would not be going, so we got on another bus, but that one would be sitting for a while because the drivers just decide to take smoking breaks for however long they want... so we decided to try the train again, so we RAN back to the train station... made it on the train, made it to Jacob's Well, and missed our meeting with the Avant guys about more team stuff that I am so curious about! Yay! :( That made me sad.

Gabriela was waiting for us and we went from there to the aquarium. We were there for a really long time. Was pretty neat, but I have a hard time in those places, so most of my time was spent trying to keep a positive attitude.

We went to dinner and then to a birthday party for the french lady who had been in our Italian class. That was fun. On our way back, my phone locked up while I was texting Dustin about beach plans for tomorrow and I was left with no way to contact anyone. Then we had to wait for the bus again and I began to evaluate my day. This is what I have come up with:

• The verse that God has brought to mind constantly through my day is Habakkuk 2:3, which says: "These things I plan won't happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, do not despair. Just be patient! It will not be overdue a single day!" If anyone doubts this verse, I'd love to tell you countless stories of how true this is! I am the most impatient person I know, but wow, God still has a plan that works out so much better than mine!
  
  
• I am getting frustrated so easily (on the inside!). Combination of events of the day, lack of sleep, and physically not feeling the greatest since I rolled out of bed. But as I sat there waiting to come home on the bus, I realized that normally I hang out with lots of guys, and the last few hours I had spent a significant amount of time with girls that are very different from me and I think I have started to miss my boys back in Chicago! I love the girls I've been with, but yeah, I think I miss my boys. :)

Anyway, thanks again for the encouragement that many of you have sent my way this week, all of those little comments and posts are so encouraging to me, you have no idea! Thanks for your prayers. God is doing something. Pray for the things on the lists. Pray for my attitude, it affects everything, so pray that I have a good attitude!

We are finishing up our 3rd week out of 6 in Italy, not sure where the time has gone! I think I could live here like this forever, not really sure I want to go back to Chicago to finish school!! :) And yes, I say that despite all the sarcasm above and the difficulties of the transportation in this city!