Several things:

First. We are under the 10 day mark! We are at 9 days until I depart for Guatemala! :D (I'm just a little bit excited, can't you tell?!)

Second. The blog got a new look! This new adventure I'm about to take deserves an exciting, fun new blog design, don't you think? I for sure do!

Third. Yesterday I was listening to Pandora, as I typically do. And, as per usual, I found a song I love. I grew up singing hymns, and I love the power these songs of the church hold. (I am in no way saying one type of worship music is better than the other. I personally love a good balance, but that is not a debate I want to get into today.) Anyways so I was listening to Pandora yesterday as I got ready for church and this version of This is My Father's World came up. It is such a gorgeous rendition of a classic hymn.

The earth is the LORD's and everything in it,

The world, and all who live in it;

For He founded it on the seas

And established it on the waters.

Psalm 24:1-2

And that's it for now! Enjoy the new look and the song! 

Prayer Requests

14 Days till Guatemala! (Note: countdown does not include current day. :) )

I just finished reading the book Humanitarian Jesus: Social Justice and the Cross by Christian Buckley and Ryan Dobson, one of my Greenville bookstore sale finds. It was a good, interesting read (timely, too) that takes a look at the idea of the Social Gospel and where it fits in to the Church's mission of furthering His kingdom. If you have an interest in social issues and the gospel, read it. I recommend it. The book is part explanation and part interviews with some of the leading Christian thinkers and voices of our time. I say it was a timely read, because I'm going to Guatemala in 14 days! And while I'm going to Guatemala for studying purposes, I'm also going to be working with Students International, a missions organization that has a base in Guatemala (this is the same organization I worked with in the Dominican Republic back in 2010). So while I hope to get lots of studying done, I'll also will be dealing with some of the social issues that are discussed in the above mentioned book. I read the book with a hi-lighter in hand and marked it up with various points that were applicable to my life right now, and where my life might be in the future. A lot of these points sparked prayer requests that I would love if you would be praying over as I get ready to head south (way south!) and during my time spent there. And for my life post Guatemala. I have a few quotes from the book, and the prayer request that they sparked in my heart. I believe in the power of prayer, and I recognize the importance of having a good support group back home as I spend this time in another part of the world. I am blessed to have so many people who support me in all that I do. The trips I've taken in the past, and the one I'm about to set out on would not be possible without the love and support of everyone back home.

What I took from Humanitarian Jesus and the Prayer Requests I have for Guatemala:

"He healed to reveal true healing. He fed to reveal true food. He quenched thirst to reveal everlasting water." (pg. 26)

My prayer: That my actions would further reveal Christ. That I would not just focus on what I am able to do, or what I am doing, but rather what he is able to do through me; what he is doing through me.

"Because men and women are made in the image of God, every person, regardless of race, religion, color, culture, class, sex or age, has an intrinsic dignity because of which he or she should be respected and served, not exploited." (From the Chicago Declaration, quoted on pg. 35-36)

My prayer: That I would treat everyone I come into contact with with respect. That I would see their intrinsic value and dignity, and help them to see it for themselves. That I would remember that I too, am a sinner in need of grace.

"Feeding a person's stomach is good, but connecting that work in evangelism that includes impacting his life in such that Christ can feed his soul is better. Preventing the causes of physical death is good, but passionately investing in a life to prevent spiritual death at the same time is better." (pg. 61)

My prayer: That I would keep the focus of my actions on His Kingdom. That I would remember He is the one who saves. Soli Deo Gloria.

"You and I are not going to change the world  no matter who we are, but we can serve Christ in His work of changing the world because of who He is." (pg. 69)

My prayer: That I would remember this is not about me. That I would remember who I serve and what He has already done for me. 

"I believe that the Lord places our footsteps in the paths that he has designed for us." (Franklin Graham, quoted on pg. 152)

My prayer: That I would remember I am here for a reason, and that He is in control.

"I think the heartbeat of Jesus is the most powerful thing. Following the Man and seeing how His heart broke. You have to see what broke His heart. You have to follow Him." (Brad Corrigan, quoted on pg. 188).

My prayer: That I would not lose sight of the cross, nor Him who died on it. That my heart would break for what breaks His.

That my words would be His words. That I wouldn't be afraid. That I will grow. That His light will shine forth. That hearts will be changed. That people will find Him. That His Kingdom will be furthered. That I will know that I can't solve all the world's problems, but that I can love. That I will love every person I come into contact with, even if it is difficult. That He will be lifted high in my life.

Soli Deo Gloria.

Countdown: 16 days!

Countdown: 16 days till Guatemala! Woo! I can't believe it's actually almost here.

I'll be keeping up with this blog (as much as I can) while I'm in Guatemala. I'll be posting updates, stories, prayer requests, pictures, triumphs and struggles as I go through this new life experience. If you'd like to stay up to date on what I'm doing you can click on the "follow this site" button and it will send you (I think) an email when I post. I'll also be posting to Facebook, so you can find updates there. I don't know how much I'll be able to post or what my internet situation will be, but I will do my best to keep y'all updated! Please keep me in your prayers as I get ready to go and during my time there. Thanks!

12 Months, Hundreds of Memories!

So here's the thing. I have been meaning to blog since I got home from school. You know, update people on the end of semester and finals, then Christmas came, and then New Years, and still no update. So sorry about that! But since this is the start of a new year I thought I would take some time to review the year we just completed. (Actually, I was just on a different blog where she did 12 pictures from 2011, one for each month of the year and I thought I would try to follow suit. However, I'm not sure I'll be able to narrow it down to just 1 picture from each month! So many to choose from!) Anyways. Here's 2011 in picture review!

January:

(Daniel LaBelle took this great photo during our weekend in Door County!)

Started off 2011 with a weekend of hanging out with friends in the DoCo! I don't get to see my friends from the greater Zion area a ton during the year, and so it was great to get to spend some time with a lot of them! (This year too!) The rest of January I spent at home, doing some work for camp, and finding ways of otherwise enjoying time without school work to do. At the end of the month it was back to school for second semester.

February:

A picture from our annual soccer banquet with my dear friend Jenny. February was mostly filled with school, but check out the exciting adventure that also occurred during February here! Ok. So Greenville isn't the most exciting place in the winter... :)

March:

Came home for Spring Break in March. My family got tickets to a Buck's game, and though we don't really follow the Bucks much it was a pretty fun time and cool experience. I celebrated my 20th Birthday over Spring Break. And I started coaching my first soccer team made of four and five year olds! I had so much fun with my itty-bitties, and was hopefully able to teach them a little about the beautiful game.

April:

Over Easter weekend some friends from Greenville and I packed up Rachel Irwin's little car and drove to Tennessee for a weekend of camping. We spent the weekend at Land Between the Lakes campground. I had a blast camping with my dear friends, even if we had to cut the trip a day short due to intense winds destroying our tent.

May:

In May I finished half of my college career! But let's back-up a bit. This picture is from our soccer team's trip to St. Louis to help with tornado relief. St. Louis experienced some huge storms and tornadoes this past spring, and we drove in to help with the clean up one day. The destruction was incredible, and it was a good reminder of how blessed I am. *Note: The lady in the middle of this picture is not part of our group. She had NO clue as to what was going on! May also marked the summer of weddings, the first of which was my cousin Joanna's wedding.

June:

June was a remarkably busy month, but the most exciting event of this month was the wedding of my best friend to the love of her life! (Read about the whole wedding weekend here!) It was such an amazing, and surreal weekend. I'm so very happy for my dear friend, and so glad I got to see her this past week! It had been far too long. Also in June I flew out to Phoenix to spend some time with my grandpa, uncle and roommate as well as attend the wedding of Joel and Kim Robinson, two dear friends who graduated from Greenville a few years ago.

July:

Thanks Laura for this picture!

July continued the Summer of Weddings with seeing my other best friend married to the love of her life! Anna and Drew's wedding weekend was such a beautiful and fun time. The whole wedding party was some of my closest friends and we had a great time hanging out and being a part of our friends' special day.

August:

After a busy summer of work I headed back to Greenville in mid-August for soccer preseason. Gotta love Southern Illinois in August! And you gotta have a picture of the four soccer Rachels!

September:

Took an amazing trip to Texas with my soccer team in early September. Spent several days playing soccer, shopping and walking around the Riverwalk area, singing and fellowshipping with my teammates.

October:

October was filled with soccer and school. But we did manage to take a break from all that and have some fun at the Homecoming dance. Love me a chance to get all dressed up and dance the night away with my girls!

November:

Meeting Mario Vargas Llosa! Some members of various Spanish classes traveled to St. Louis University to "meet" and listen to Mario Vargas Llosa speak (Spanish author and political figure, and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature). It was a unique experience that not many people will ever get to experience. In November I also was able to spend Thanksgiving with my dad's whole family at my grandparents house in Zion. It's always good to be with family!

December:

What would December be without an Ugly Christmas Sweater Party? Amidst studying for finals, finishing up classes, pulling some harmless pranks, and packing up my room to head back to Door County before studying abroad next semester, we were able to have some fun at Emily Rose's house in Springfield at an Ugly Christmas Sweater Party. And let me tell you, we were ROCKING our ugly sweaters!

Well there you have it! 12 pictures, 12 months, hundreds of memories. Here's to the next 12!

Candlelit Memories

Last night at Vespers we had a candlelit service, and as I watched all the little candles being lit one row at a time I started to think back to all the previous candlelit services I have sat through. Or stood through, because I guess typically by the time the candles are lit, you're usually standing. Anyways. I have several very clear memories of these services that really show I and my siblings and cousins got the most out of the candlelit services we attended.

Most of the memories I have of candlelit services come from my grandparents' church out in Phoenix, where I spent roughly half of my childhood Christmases. My mom's side of the family met at my grandparents' house every other Christmas, and every Christmas Eve we would all walk the couple of blocks up to their little church where we would join in the singing, and Bible reading, and of course, the candlelit service. After singing hymns and listening to others in the church sing their prepared numbers we would take the little candles we had been playing with all service and watch as one by one, row by row they were lit, making the whole sanctuary look like a little fairyland, with seemingly hundreds of dancing lights. After everyone's candles were lit we would march out to the lawn of the church where we would sing Silent Night and Joy to the World. And then as if on cue all the candles would be blown out...well not quite all. The Finger clan (with all 16 grandchildren) would still be running around playing with our candles as we tried to keep them lit as long as possible.

Memories I have of candlelit services:

1. A random kid blowing out one of my cousin's candles and the rest of us turning to glare at whomever would dare to blow out a candle that was not their own.

2. Using the candles as swords. The paper guards they put on so wax doesn't get all over you makes for a perfect hand guard in sword fights.

3. Trying to keep our candles lit the whole walk back to my grandparents house. (Only to blow them out as soon as we got back in their yard.)

4. Getting wax accidentally on our hands, and then proceeding to cover our hands with wax so that it could be pulled off later (we were weird kids.).

5. Seeing how small we could let the candle burn down to before it became too hot to hold.

Like I said, we clearly got a lot out of the candlelit services we attended as children. :)

Mario Vargas Llosa

So yesterday I had a really cool and unique experience that I want to share with you a little bit! I'm taking a Latin American Literature course for my Spanish course this semester, and as of late we've been reading some of Mario Vargas Llosa's work. Mario Vargas Llosa is a pretty famous writer in Latin America and in Spain. He's been involved in the political scene in Peru (ran for president in 1990 and lost to Fujimori) and has recently re-become involved in Peru's political scene. Vargas Llosa also won the Nobel Prize for literature last year. And yesterday, he was in St. Louis! SLU (St. Louis University) awarded him their literary award, and my classmates and I got to go! It was pretty cool to get to see him, get his autograph and listen to this guy whose works we've been reading speak about some of his experiences! Not many people can say they've had that opportunity. So here's a few pictures from this unique experience!

Here he is signing someone else's book! 

And here he is signing mine! SO cool!

Being interviewed!

So anyways. That was my cool experience yesterday! Not many people can say they've heard speak/ pseudo met a Nobel Prize winner! It was pretty exciting, to be sure!

“I learned to read at the age of five, in Brother Justiniano’s class at the De la Salle Academy in Cochabamba, Bolivia. It is the most important thing that has ever happened to me. Almost seventy years later I remember clearly how the magic of translating the words in books into images enriched my life, breaking the barriers of time and space...” 
― Mario Vargas Llosa

Fair Trade

For my Social Theory class ( haha I don't know what it means either...I'm partially kidding...but seriously...) we have a paper due this week. For this paper, we had to pick a global issue and apply a specific social theory to that issue (exciting stuff, I know.). Anyways. The topic I chose to research and qualify from a structural functionalism perspective (Don't worry. You don't have to understand that to understand this post. :) ) is the how fairly traded products are helping to combat the issue of unfair wages and working conditions. I thought I'd share a bit of what I've found with all ya'll. I'll spare you the boring theory parts of my paper, but the gist of it is that throughout the world the working poor are exploited by the wealthy upper class. In order to provide cheap products to consumers (namely those consumers in the United States), millions of people are forced to work for wages that are barely enough to survive on (We're talking people living on a dollar or a couple of dollars a day. And we want to complain about our financial situations??). The idea behind the fair trade movement is purchasing products that have been traded in a way that gives the farmers and workers that provide these products a fair wage for their labors. It cuts out the middlemen involved in the selling process, allowing the farmers and workers to receive top dollar for their product. It's a movement that has been gaining ground in recent years, and has the potential to change the lives of the working population all around the world. And it starts with us, the consumers.

In researching for this paper, I came across some information via the largest certifier of fair trade products in the US (Many stores or church groups sell products that are based on fairly traded principles, but they may not have the certified label on it. This just means that they haven't gone through the certification process. It doesn't mean workers aren't receiving fair pay for their product. You just have to be careful because sometimes stores will try to say something is fairly traded, even though it hasn't been.). This certifier is called Fair Trade USA. In order for a product to be technically considered 'fair trade' it needs to have a label on it that looks something like this:

As I said, Fair Trade USA is the largest certifier of fairly traded products in the U.S. This means that most likely, for a product to be considered fair trade it has to get the stamp (or label) of approval from this organization. I've found a lot of information on Fair Trade USA's website, and I'll post some of their videos on this post to help you become more informed about your purchasing power. One of Fair Trade USA's key points is that every purchase we make matters. When we make informed choices in our purchases we can be making a difference in the lives of workers all over the world. By purchasing a product with this label on it over a product that hasn't been fairly traded, we can be assured that farmers and workers are getting the most money for their product (because they don't have to go through middlemen, brokers, exporters, and all these other people who would be taking profits from them). We can also know that the higher profits these farmers receive will be used to build better communities, as well as used to make better products. And who doesn't want to be buying a better product for their dollar? So take a minute (or many minutes) to browse through these videos and others on the site, and become aware of the power we have as consumers.

And there's a bunch more on Fair Trade USA's website. I'm not saying Fair Trade will completely revolutionize the economic disparity much of the developing world finds itself in. But it could help for sure! And think about it. Products such as coffee, tea, sugar, chocolate, and bananas are some common fair trade items. We buy these things every day! Why not make a conscious effort to look for a fair trade certified label and directly impact someone's life for the better? You're already going to be using these items, so why not look for a fair trade certified label and help improve someone's life? Yes, it may cost a little bit more, but honestly I think it's worth it. I fully believe in the power of Fair Trade. Sometimes it's not always realistic to buy everything I need fair trade (especially being a college student), and not everything I purchase is fairly traded. But since I started researching for this paper, it's made me think about how easy it would be to just look for that label when I go out and buy coffee, or whatever else. I don't have much money, but I for sure have more than a lot of the people who work to make the products I buy all the time. It's really important for us to be able to make informed choices about what we purchase, and I know the next time I go out to get groceries or whatever else, I'll try to find certified fair trade products. Every purchase matters. And we can make a difference in the lives of so many people. Seems like the right thing to do, yeah? Just take some time to become more informed on this movement, and I hope you will consider starting to purchase fairly traded items! How about starting with that cup of coffee you drink every morning? :) Ok. That's all I have for now.