Thanksgiving

As I reflect on everything that has happened in the past year I have so much to be thankful for. Last year at this time I would have never guessed I would be married and watching my wife make pies as we watch the Macy's Thanksgiving parade. Crazy what God is doing and what He will continue to do.

Well as a little life update the past month has been crazy. A month and two days ago we were married in Guatemala. A few of the pictures below.
         

              

After the wedding down there we spent a few more days in Guatemala then headed back to Pennsylvania. We settled into our house after a little delay regarding insurance and then had our wedding here.

We then went to Williamsburg, VA for our honeymoon and after returning we both started new jobs. Shauna at the Goddard School as a Pre-K teacher and me at Katapult. If you are wondering what Katapult is and what I do, watch the first part of this video!

We will soon be transitioning to begin raising support as we prepare to move back to Guatemala this coming summer so if you would like us to come speak at your church or small group or any other gathering let us know and we would love to tell you what we feel God is calling us toward!

So there's a little life update! We are celebrating Thanksgiving with the 4 "F's" today - Family, Food, Fellowship, and Football. We are also looking forward to begin the Christmas season as we do some decorating tomorrow and as we watch Elf! We hope you are thankful today as well as you remember to give thanks to the true Giver of Everything.

What am I up to Now?

Well many of you have been asking what I'm doing right now. So I thought it would be a good time to give you an update. Well I'm still currently working for Red Rock Landscape mainly mowing lawns (boy do we need rain!). On days I'm not mowing I help out on projects like this!

A 2 -tiered patio/ retaining wall with water-feature. You can check out
more pics from this job and others at Red Rock on facebook!

So it's nice to break up the week ocassionaly with something different then mowing. Last week youth group at church (Thrive) started back into the swing of things on Wednesday nights and I help to lead the middle school group. This month I will be in charge of leading the lessons before taking a break to go to Guatemala to get married ( I think that's a pretty good excuse). I'm leading some lessons based off of I Am Second videos which are pretty cool videos based on real people's stories of how God worked in their lives. I also have been helping out a good bit with leading worship on Sunday mornings at church. Another thing I have been working on has been Spanish. I'm on a 21 day streak of at least 15 minutes a day! I only have 8 more little circle levels to unlock if you know anything about duolingo.com. Its been a little weird not going back to Messiah when a lot of my friends went back last week, but that time in life came and went and I'm ready to move on and I don't really miss the work that's for sure :) I had to go back yesterday to see some people and to catch a little bit of some sporting events though :P. I have also been working on odd and ends regarding wedding planning and looking into what we will need when we live here after we are married. As far as ministry aspects go we will be spending a good bit of time in November and December preparing to speak at churches and getting handouts and letters ready to go so that we can start raising support as soon as possible. Side note if you would like to have us to your church or just meet with us in person to hear Shauna and my goals and vision for ministry in Guatemala let me know! 

The Phillies season has been gettting extremely long which means I'm pretty excited for Thursday night at 8:30! If you have no idea what that time means then you are not a true fan. The Steelers kickoff the NFL regular season! So excited for football to be back!

So there's a little update into my life right now! 

As I read in my devotions the other day I want to have fearless confidence like the disciples had in this passage from Acts 4:31. While they were praying, the place where they were meeting trembled and shook. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak God's Word with fearless confidence.

And to close this post with a quote from Doug Miller (radio voice for Messiah women's soccer), "Be blessed but more importantly be a blessing."

What do I do? Go to God

Wow sitting listening to worship music is so awesome. However, let me back track because the past three days have not be so awesome.

I've been struggling alot to know how I can prepare for my next steps in life. I feel like I'm currently in this limbo. I feel like I'm floating with nothing to do at this point. There's not much wedding planning to do until closer to the time. I can't start working on ministry stuff until some other parts begin to take shape and happen. My best friend is 3,000 miles away. I've felt useless the past three evenings. I felt kind of depressed and very alone. Although if you know me I love to work ahead on things and prepare, so that's why this time is a struggle. I knew in the back of my head I had not been putting my relationship with God first and it has been on the back burner the past month or so. I get up in the morning read a few chapters out of my Bible, write some things in my journal and that continued day after day. On Sunday I started going crazy and I knew I had to change something. So I started doing something different for my morning devotions and went back to the SOLO book (all my Thrive friends should know what that is!). That helped a little becuase I was able to get out of a rut, but didn't totally help, becuase I still felt like I wasn't accomplishing anything in my free time and in 3 months I know I'm going to be extremely busy. I felt depressed tonight too. I tried videoing Shauna and that didn't work so I was extremely depressed. I decided to watch a movie (Draft Day which I highly recommend if you are a football fan). That movie lifted up my spirits a little and got me pumped for football season coming up! So I was feelign really pumped so I decided so sit down and listen to some recently released worship music and make some new playlists on spotify. Wow, God challenged me in this past 45 min so much. I sensed God was telling me 

"You just need to take time to be with me. You are bored and depressed because you are not seeking me in your time. You are bypassing me and trying to fill it with other things. Seek me and you will be fulfilled. You will find me and you will never run dry." 

Some more lyrics "I choose to find You in this hidden place. I choose to find you here. I choose to listen. I learn the sound of your voice." So awesome. God told me that when I feel lonely, depressed, annoyed, am struggling I need to take time to be with Him. When I have nothing to do I need to Go to God.

That can be a motto through everything in life, "When you question what you are to do next, Go to God."

So for those who read this. I would love prayer so that I can continue to seek God through this time of limbo until things start to take shape for my life ahead. Also if anybody would like to chat with me about my future plans I would be more than happy to do that. :)

You can contact me via facebook, e-mail (abrucrew1@verizon.net), phone, or text (717.585.4099).

-Andi

Strong God

I love it when you can sense the Holy Spirit's presence in a time of worship. People raising their hands in worship and giving glory and praise to our amazing God! This is what I sensed this morning in church. We sang the song Strong God (Vertical Church Band) and the chorus of that songs says:

Sing out, lift your voice and cry out Awesome is our strong God, mighty is our God Sing out, raise your hands and shout out Awesome is our strong God, mighty is our God

As I continue to look ahead I am so excited to see what God is going to do in my life! I'm excited, but also am afraid of the unknown, but more than anything I'm just laying that burden at Jesus' feet (as the song from the gift of music this morning mentioned).

Life update:
Weddings plans are coming together (a little over 3 months away!!), and even more will come together for the Guatemala wedding when Shauna heads back down there. She leaves PA in a week :(. It's going to be hard being apart, but it will definitly be a time of growth for both of us before beginning life together! We will be living here in Dillsburg for awhile after our wedding here as we look to raise support to go into full-time ministry in Guatemala. God has placed it on my heart to use sports as a catalyst to tell kids and others about His love and grace. He has given my the passions and abilities and I am blessed to be his servant to spread His Word. I spent time talking with Daryl Fulp this week about ministry questions and information regarding Hope for Home which got me more excited. It's going to be a good bit of work as we figure out details, but I know this is what God has called me to and it's going to be so awesome!

God is a Strong God and He will carry me through!

All I Have is Christ

Last night there was an event at church where we spent time praying for persecuted believers. I had the opportunity to lead a time of worship and we played the song "All I have is Christ." It was the last song of the musical worship time. We sang through the chorus of that song without hardly any instrumentation and it was a powerful time of sensing God's presence.

"Hallelujah all I have is Christ, Hallelujah Jesus is my life."

If we believe that to be true then Jesus is all we need. Jesus is our life. Without Him we are nothing, but with Him we have a purpose we have a meaning in life. It was just amazing reminder and sensing His presence.

I also had the opportunity to play guitar in a band at Mountain Ridge Church on Sunday morning and the message was about just quieting your soul and hearing God speak. "Remember you aren't feeding the root, the root is feeding you." He is feeding us. We just need to take time and be with Him. As Shauna and I sat in church I mentioned to her a verse I thought was funny and so I  told her multiple times, "So don't get cocky and strut your branch." (Romans 11:20 MSG) Without the root the branch is nothing. Without Jesus we are nothing. All I have is Christ. It was just cool to see that idea come full circle from the morning to the evening.

It was a reminder for me to be aware because God is always working!

Here's the song for those who don't know it.

Life Update

Well since my last post a lot has happened in life! On April 4th I got engaged to this amazing girl! Krishauna Fulp

I have been asked multiple times in the past week where she is from and when our wedding is planned. Well to put it simply. She is originally from Ohio, has been in Guatemala the last 4 years with her family working under Hope for Home Ministries, but is currently in Ohio finishing up her college degree doing student teaching. We are planning two weddings. The first will take place in late October in Guatemala and the second here in Dillsburg two weeks following the first wedding.

After the second wedding here we will be living in this area to begin raising support to be full time in ministry in Guatemala through Hope for Home Ministries and Push The Rock.

There are so many details to work out, but we are both trusting on God and following His lead. We both have these plans set up, but know that God will be opening and closing doors and that following Him is most important.

As we continue to plan for weddings, finish school, and begin the summer working for Red Rock Landscaping, it will be a busy next 7 months, but there is so much to look forward to and it's so cool to see how God has worked even in the past 7 months!

Above all we want to give God all the glory and as this song called "Great Are You Lord" says:

It's Your breath in our lungs
So we pour out our praise
We pour out our praise
It's Your breath in our lungs
So we pour out our praise
To You only

So pumped and excited to see God work in the next 7 months.

You Make Me New

Well, this is the first post on my blog. Yeah!! Anyways I started this blog as a way to express my thoughts and update people of my life's journey. Right now is one of the few times I won't be busy for the rest of the semester. I will be starting to work with Red Rock Landscaping very soon on Monday, Wednesday, Fridays, and have classes pretty much all day on Tuesday and Thursdays. Then comes graduation. I'm looking forward to being done, and want the next seven weeks to go as fast as possible, but it's so weird thinking I only have seven weeks until my college career is over gahhhh!!!

However, as I was sitting here working on duolingo.com practicing my Spanish (very good website for learning languages by the way) a thought popped into my head that everyday God is making me into something new. Everyday He is giving me more wisdom and understanding about who He is. Everyday he is leading me new places and showing me new ways to spread His love. Everyday he is giving me new challenges and opportunities. He is allowing me to begin to learn a new language and just opening doors and allowing more and more details to fall into place as I look at the future after graduation. I am so excited to see God continue to transform me into who He wants me to be! He created me with passions, skills, and desires and I can't wait to continue to use them for a little while longer in this country, but pretty soon in this amazing country!

He makes me new everyday!

As time goes on I will be using this blog to talk about how God is leading and directing my life as well as stories and challenges and opportunities I have.