I Won't Run Away Any Longer

Since I've gotten home from Russia, I've been wondering what God had in store for me next. Well, God showed me a few weeks ago when I was offered an internship at my church for the summer. I definitely was not expecting this. But I am so excited that God has given me this opportunity. I get to work along side 3 other interns, the missions pastor, and our urban ministry. Much of what we do includes working in some of the most impoverished areas of the city.

The first morning we began by meeting with one of the guys on the urban ministry team. We went through the book of Jonah. It's a book I've read many times, and I've been hearing the story since I was young. Today was different though. Points were brought up that had never even crossed my mind.

"Jonah as willing to die for a city to be destroyed. Jesus was willing to die so that cities of the world could have life."

The city of Ninevah wasn't one that people were rushing to move into. It was an evil city. Because of this, Jonah went the opposite way. When the storm came, he eventually cast himself overboard, and was willing to die so he wouldn't have to go to Ninevah. God had a different plan though, and Jonah finally went. Upon hearing Jonah's message, they turned their lives around, and God showed his grace to the people and saved them. Even then, Jonah was not happy.

Throughout the discussion that morning, I began to see that I have been much like Jonah during my college years. The city I live in isn't necessarily the safest one I've lived in. I would do a block party here and there at some of the inner city apartment complexes, but never really engaged the people. When it came to the point where I had to choose my university, I didn't even consider one in the city of Memphis. I just wanted to get away. Middle TN was my destination. I lived there when I was younger, and I always wanted to go back. College was my chance. I know for a fact that that is where God wanted me to go to school, but I still ran away from my home town. Every summer I tried to get a job somewhere, anywhere, as long as it was outside of Memphis. And every summer, God said 'No, you will stay in Memphis.'

This summer I am actually doing something. I don't want to continue to run from my city. I want to embrace it, to love it. And not just to embrace and love the city- I want to embrace and love the people. That is what I am doing. I never thought I would step foot in some of the places we work, and now I go to them several times a week. I finally realized that it was time to stop running. I want to glorify God with my life. I don't want to be like Jonah and run. I want to be like Jesus.

I want to be like my Jesus.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fg1bx3oA0eU&feature=related

Random Thoughts from Shannon

It's 2 in the morning here, and I just can't sleep. It's one of those nights. So many thoughts about different things are racing through my head, which doesn't at all help me even come close to getting some sleep.

So originally I couldn't go to sleep because I didn't feel well. Usually lots of sleep is a result of being sick, but sometimes the opposite occurs, which has happened to me tonight.

So what are these thoughts that keep going through my mind? Well here they are...

*I've been in bed since 10, why can't I sleep?
*Chris Tomlin Christmas CD is awesome.
*I hope I'm not getting sick, and if I am, that it's not too bad.
*I go to Mocow tomorrow.
*I'm excited to go to Moscow.
*I was excited to miss 2 days of class due to this vacation. Then I found out that there will be no class those 2 days anyway because of holidays. Of course.
*I get to see Tyler Barthel when I'm in Moscow. (You don't know how excited I am to see someone from home here in Russia.)
*God is good.
*I love that I have a second family here. The Carr's are awesome.
*Rachel and Kelly are great. It makes me happy to hang out with them each day.
*Liliya is now in America. I hope I get to visit her when I get home.
*I leave next month.
*Not at all ready to leave here, but am excited for the day I will be back at my home church.
*There was a choir at the church I went to Sunday. Made me happy.
*Wow, I've been thinking about a lot.
*Jerrys
*Donut Country
*It looks to me like I will be out of Raiders Ridge next fall. And I'll be living with some awesome girls.
*I don't want people to see me but only Christ in me.
*I love living in Russia.
*I like not having to drive everywhere.
*I get to have Starbucks in Moscow.
*I just found out there is a Chilis in Moscow. Probably go there too.
*I like listening to Everfound's music. They are a band of 4 brothers, born in Russia, but now live in Colorado.
*Thanks be to Rachel for introducing me to them.
*I miss Haiti.
*I think it's funny but awesome that God has given me a heart for two countries that are so different.
*My friends here are awesome.
*My friends at home are equally awesome.
*I still haven't gotten sleepy yet.
*I love my class here.
*My mom's birthday is this weekend.
*I miss singing in the choir at church.
*I love seeing all that my home church is doing to reach people from Memphis to the ends of the earth.
*I am thankful for all the encouragement people have given me leading up to and since I've been here.
*I am also very thankful for all the prayers.
*This country is beautiful.
*I love my family.
*I love Skype because it not only allows me to talk to my family, but also see them.
*Heather is now a follower of Christ! (read the previous blog for details!)
*I wonder when we'll have chai with our babushka.
*I love the snow.
*I'm still awaiting an email from Meagan.
*I love my care family and am excited for the day I get to make them a Russian dinner.
*Kimberly goes to Uganda this week.
*God is good.
*I think I'm going to stop now.

Wow, you are such a trooper if you actually read all this! Ha. Just random thoughts from Shannon since she can't sleep. :)

I've Got the Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy Down in My Heart

Yesterday has to be one of my favorite days here so far. I was sick for a lot of it- I have a cold. But there were a few things that happened that made me forget that I was even sick.

Every Tueday Rachel and I go to the Carr's apartment after school and are there through dinner. I love being there because they have become like family. I went home last night with a feeling that the day had gone pretty well. I was happy.

Not long after we got home, our landlady came by to get our rent money, and her babushka (grandmother) came with her. She spoke to us a little bit in English and invited us over some day for chai. This made us so happy that we have decided that she is our babushka now.

Now to the best part! Heather, who is like a sister to us, accepted Christ yesterday!!! It acutally happened while Rachel and I were meeting with Chris, but we didn't find out until we got home that night. That doesn't really matter, though. She is now a follower of Christ! I am so excited for her and to see what the Lord has in store for her!

The Gift I Didn't Deserve

Tonight was such a great night and a humbling one. Something happened that is going to be very hard for me to forget.

There is a man that comes to one of the English clubs I help out with. He is a painter. When I first learned of this, I began to hope that one day I would get to see some of his work with the possibility of buying and bringing a painting by a Russian artisit home.

Tonight was the night. He brought some of his paintings to English club and gave the Americans in charge of the club two paintings. I was looking at them and was interested in a few. One in particular reminded me of a place I went just a few days ago. I looked at it, and he told me the price, but there was no way I could buy it. He was willing to give it to me in the moment and said I could pay him later. I didn't feel comfortable with this because there was no guaruntee that I would have the money later. Then he did something that I definately did not deserve. He gave it to me as a gift. It was hard to accept, but I did.

I got home and began to reflect on this. This man was a picture of Jesus to me tonight. I didn't have what it took to get this painting, and I wouldn't. But he gave it to me anyway. There is no way that I could ever be good enough to earn God's love because I have dishonored Him. I don't have what it takes. I don't deserve what He did for me. But He did it. Jesus paid the penatly for my sins. All I had to do was receive this gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.

I thank God for this man and for using this experience to point to Christ.

Feels Like Home

Wow! I have become horrible at keeping this thing updated. I guess I have just become so used to everyday life here, that even when something surprising or out of the ordinary happens, I only think to say something on Twitter or Facebook. But I guess this means I have a lot to update on since it's been so long since my last post.

I have almost completed three weeks of school now. Time has just flown. I love my class. Because I have taken Russian classes before, it is easy for me to pick up on a lot.

Rachel, my roommate, and I are in the same class at school. From the very beginning we figured school would be where we were going to meet most of our friends. Well, we got to class, and there ended up only being one other person in there. He is from Vietnam and only speaks Vietnamese. So it was kind of discouraging that we had no way to communicate with the only other person in our class. About a week into classes we were beginning to wonder if we were ever going to meet anyone at school, and all of the sudden we got a new student in our class, and he knew English! In the first 10 minutes of talking to him, he told us he was a Christian. We didn't even ask or anything, he kind of just brought it up. It was definately a huge encouragement. Then a couple of days later, two girls overheard us speaking English and chased us down to talk to us. They knew English and thought it was the coolest thing to meet native speakers. So we talked for a few minutes and exchanged contact info, and will hopefully get to hang out soon. Just when Rachel and I began to think that school might not be the best place to meet people, God allowed us to make 3 new friends. I guess we just weren't being patient enough. Our desire was to make friends at school for the purpose of making Christ known to them, and He provided them in His timing. This was definately a reminder of God's faithfulness and another way of learning patience.

Last night, for the first time, Rachel and I had people over at our apartment. We hosted a craft night where we made cards. It was a lot of fun, and I'm excited for the next one in two weeks.

The Carr family has become like a family away from home. I think it would be very difficult to be so far away from home this long if I didn't have a family like this here. I feel at home when I am at their apartment. I can just watch a movie, hang out with the kids, do homework, learn to bake, etc. They have definitely made me feel at home, and I am so thankful for them.

Since I've been here I've learned to be intentional about making Christ known in everyday situations. The things I do here are not much different than at home, but the way I approach them is much different. And this is something that I do not want to leave behind in December when I come back to the States.

I'll leave you with this...

In my devotion there was a scale to measure our head commitment to see people saved vs. our heart commitment to see people saved.

So here's something to think about. How committed in are you in your head to seeing people saved, and how committed are you in your heart to seeing people saved? It's easy to say you want to see people saved, but if you truly have a heart commitment to see them saved, you will do something about it. Saying you are burdened for the lost without trying to reach them means nothing.

So It Begins

Today was finally the first day of classes for me. The university started classes September 1, but mine didn't start until today. This was perfectly ok with me though. It just gave me another week to relax.

When we got to the univeristy today, we got our student IDs. It's kind of funny; I'm used to people back home messing up my name. It's always Shannon Shelby instead of Selby. Never would I have guessed that it would happen in Russia too.

I know most of you can't read it, but it definately says my last name is Shelby.

After that, all the students studying Russian went into the same classroom. There we met our professors (there are 4) and found out when class is going to be. Beginners from 10-130. I know I've studied for a year, but I definately am no where near the intermediate level. So I am taking the beginners class. There are three people in this class. Rachel, someone from Vietnam, and me. There are actually more teachers than students in this class, which I thought was interesting. We found this out and that was all for the first day. Oh yeah, instead of having to buy books, we just took the books and will return them at the end of the semester. The only way we have to pay is if we mess them up. That was definately a nice little surprise.

I'm definately excited to start learning more of the language. And even if I only get to meet that one person from class at the university, I'm excited. I can't wait to see how God is going to use me being a student at BGU for His glory!



A Feeling of Accomplishment

Today has been such a great day so far. I got to hang out with Eileen Carr and Rachel for a few hours. We went to a mall and looked in different stores for a while. I’m not usually much of a shopper, but today was fun. I didn’t really want to buy anything yet, but at one store I went to, I was able to buy a shirt for about $3. I think when it comes to shopping here scarves are going to be my weakness. There are so many cute ones here.

After we looked at a bunch of stores, we went to the food court where we decided to eat at KFC. Rachel and I both ordered in Russian for the first time. It was great, and the girl taking our order seemed to like that we were attempting to speak Russian and wants us to come back. After that we went to a grocery store in the mall and got stuff for baking muffins. So we went back to the apartment and made some chocolate chip muffins. They were so good. I definitely feel accomplished today.

I’m getting ready to head to an English club where I’ll get to see some of my friends and hopefully meet some new ones.

This was hanging out at Kelly's apartment for a movie night. Afterwards most of just just walked around town and got to know each other better.

I’m really enjoying being here. God has given me so many opportunities to meet people just in random situations, like at the bank or KFC. And I will meet even more when I start school sometime next week.

Glory to God for the things He has done!