The Countdown Continues

Hi!!

I have some heavy news and some excitng news to share with you. The heavy news is that my grandfather, affectionately called Grandcliff, passed away on the evening of April 19th. He had lived with us in Lenoir City for a little less than 3 years. We are very grateful for the time we had with him...for the lessons we mutually learned by living together. I think my younger siblings learned how to respect older people even when it was really hard and when they knew they were right, but learned to do it his way anyway. Summer said it well when she was reminiscing on the transformation our relationships took with him when he moved to close proximity to us. She said, "[Before] When we only saw him in the summer, we loved him because he gave us chocolate ice cream and coke and let us swing on his swing. Then he moved in with us and we hated him because he told us what to do and got in fights with us and everything. But, then we learned to love him even through the hard stuff, but it was deeper then." I know we will miss his funny sayings, his mannerisms, and his prescence. My family is in LA now for a time with extended family.

Stroud Family with Grandcliff, 4th of July 2009 in Monteagle, TN

Stroud Family with Grandcliff, Easter 2009 in Lenoir City

The exciting news is that today is April 26th which means in only 16 days I will be on a plane with Andrew, Seth and Kristen headed to Chennai, India to join alongside the Asir family in ministry to the marginalized of Indian society.

Between then and now, I have a ridiculously busy week of classes and assignments, a short week of finals, a birthday, spend time with my family, pack for India, and see as many important people in my life as I can. Yeah...that's what I thought...I must be crazy!

Seth, Kristen, Savannah, and Andrew = Team India

The Lord has been teaching and preparing me in so many ways this semester. I would say everything that has happened has in some way brought me closer to the Lord, strengthened my trust in Yahweh, or showed me I need to rely on him more. One of the coolest hands-on experiences we (the ACTS class) had was the opportunity to go to D.C. for IJM's global prayer gathering from April 8-11. The global prayer gathering is a yearly get-together of IJM staff along with people interested in praying for God's work around the world. It was so helpful to go from room to room and hear the heavy, desperate stories and needs from around the world and then turn directly to our heavenly Father and lift them up to him.

http://www.ijm.org/ -- visit IJM's website for more info.

Diana, Lydia, Meagan, Liz, Carrie, Johanna, Savannah, Nic, Kristen

Some of my classmates who went to IJM with me

How can we be praying for you, Savannah?

First, I echo Paul's sentiments for the Philippian church for all of you:

"I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of the partnership of the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel." Philippians 1:3-7

Secondly, there are some specific ways you can be praying for me and my team.

1. pray against spiritual warfare we are beginning to experience now and will experience in different ways over the summer

2. pray that all the details come together for each of us such as visas, supplies, spiritual preparedness, and rest

3. pray that our families will be at peace with us being in India

4. pray that we will be able to meet the people God would have us meet, be in the situations he has ordained, and most of all love him and others.

Lastly, I have raised a little bit less than half of my support, so if you are still interested in supporting me, you can send a check payable to Bryan College (for a tax deduction), memo line- BC Missions Fund to:

Bryan Missions Fund

Bryan College #7781

721 Bryan Dr.

Dayton, TN 37321

This blog and email are the main ways that I hope to keep up with you over the summer, so I hope this works!

Much love,

In Christ,

Savannah Stroud