britt.miree.g.

Not here.......

2010-06-01T17:32:00.000-07:00

Cuz I've moved here------------------>brittanymireebrown.blogspot.com

You see, that wedding I was counting down to....well it thankfully happened!! :)

So....new name, new blog with new thoughts coming! :)

Hope to see you there!

Love,

-the former Britt G., the new Britt B.

[[4.10.10]]

2010-01-24T20:55:00.000-08:00

Going to the Chapel and I'm...

Gonna get maaah-ah-aah-riiiied!

Yes, on April 10th, 2010 I get to marry my absolute best friend,

Matthew Hansen Brown!

Here are some pictures of us in the very beginning.....

And...nowadays...

Our wedding is going to be at our church, Casas Church,

in the beautiful chapel on campus with our reception out in the courtyard area.

It's a huge DIY wedding because we decided we would rather go into marriage and our lives together not having completely blown all of our money on the big day so....

It will be a little unconventional compared to some but, I think it's gonna fit me perfectly!

Here are a few of my inspiration photos to give you a taste of what's to come! I have several projects to complete in the next few months and will be sure to post those too! Enjoy! :)

Flower Girl Bouquets...an upcoming project of course!

Lanterns, Lights & Candles everywhere!!

Candy Table & Cupcakes!

Teal & Salmon & Coral Pinks

So, that's just a sample to come! You can check out our wedding website at

theknot.com/ourwedding/BrittanyGelatt&MatthewBrown/

Only 76 more days!!! :)

So, I am no Mother Theresa...

2009-12-15T22:03:00.000-08:00

Leprosy. The word conjurs up the old bible stories I used to hear when I was little about Namaan the leper, who bathed in the Jordan River and was healed, or the ten lepers that were healed with only one coming back to give thanks. But I have never, ever been concerned about getting leprosy because it doesn't exist in my privileged Western culture. I rank in my mind next to the bubonic plague that once killed lots of people but isn't an issue anymore. Wrong.

It's not an issue in my world, but in Chennai, India, it is an 'issue' that equates to a death sentence. Perhaps not always death in the physical sense, but these people are completely rejected to the point that must move out of the city and into their own secluded colony where they can only associate with other lepers and the family members of the infected. So, it equates to the death of the humanity, their personhood, their value in this life.

I had the 'pleasure' of visiting such a leper colony. I use the term pleasure loosely because it was one of the hardest days for me of all our ministry days, but it has become a pleasure for me as I can honestly say I learned one of my biggest lessons on that day. I am a person that cannot look at blood, I cannot discuss phlegm and mucous and any and all infections send me shuddering away. Even now, as I just type out the words, my gag reflexes are kicking into super-sensitive mode! For me, the thought of going to a leper colony sent fear through me, mostly because I knew to even look at these people and their diseased and infected bodies would put a pain in my stomach, not to mention a nauseous gag permanently stuck in my throat. I tried to keep myself busy on the two hour car ride to the colony, even do some wedding planning before I was even engaged (which has now been taken care of! :>) Finally we arrived and my mind was reeling with plans to always keep my hands full, always stay next to someone, always look busy...anything to keep me separated from them. And I was successful at this for some time, until a man from another visiting team questioned me, "So, how are you doing with all this?" Really, man that I don't know?! That is an awfully personal question to ask a stranger in a clearly-uncomfortable environment??!! And it was just what I needed, like a knife to my heart, cutting me open with conviction.

You see, minutes before I had watched a scene that tore my heart to shreds and left me wanting to disconnect my leg from my body in order to give myself a good swift kick in my butt, for my lack of the Father's heart for these precious people. As I mentioned, there was another team of pastors from Washington also visiting this ministry with us and I had watched as one of the pastors interacted with one leper. He was a big and tall man, almost Jerry Falwell or John Candy sized and he stood there and shook the leper's hand, gave him a hug and then just let this short, petite man, forbidden from giving or receiving physical love, to place his head on the middle of the pastor's big old belly. And then he just stood there and that pastor rubbed that man's back for a good three minutes. Just to be touched, all that Indian leper could do was stand there with his head down, like an animal being petted by his master and just waiting as submissively and quietly as possible so that the T.L.C will last as long as possible.

That moment for me brought certain lyrics that I have sung so often to life for me, put feeling behind them, put an understanding in my raw heart to know and feel what it's like to ask:

"Break my heart for what breaks yours," and "Show me how to love like you have loved me."

It's so easy to sing but it's so completely different to really experience and understand those questions and pleas. My heart was completely broken for the love these people needed and the little I could give. But in that moment of feeling so inadequate, so foolish, so fearful, so helpless to be able to help, I realized that's where God wanted me; probably where He often wants me.

It's in the points of brokenness an openness and truly realizing we are weak and He is strong, that He can do the most in us. My fear disappeared in a short comforting prayer from a teammate, after that realization. Don't get me wrong, I didn't suddenly have the urge to go sit with a leper and rub their back, but I was no longer held back by that fear. I prayed for some of the people individually, I helped to lead worship for them, I participated in a drama for them, and I had such a passion for them that all I could do the entire time the Gospel was being presented was just pray and pray and pray. If I had ended that day the way I had started, I would have been to paralyzed by fear to anything but sit in horror.

My favorite moment of the time at this colony was the part in worship when it came time to sing the song, Blessed be Your Name. Imagine probably one hundred people, at least half of them clearly showing signs of the disease; people of all ages, a baby sitting in the lap of a grandfather whose nubby fingers destroyed by leprosy, are rubbing the little belly. Imagine hands with fingers missing raised to the heavens. Imagine faces lifted upward, with a nose missing. Then read the words to this popular worship song and reflect on what these people were able to not just sing and say, but DO. I was challenged by this over and over again in India: how easily I say I will praise God in the good and the bad and how quickly it can all fly out the window when the bad decides to show up at my door.

So, read these song words. Better yet, google the song on YouTube so you can listen and read and imagine a faith that will lift hands to praise, even when all five fingers are gone.

Blessed be your name,

In a land that is plentiful,

Where your streams of abundance flow,

Blessed be your name

Blessed be your name,

When I'm found in the desert place,

Though I walk through the wilderness,

Blessed be your name

Every blessing you pour out,

I'll turn back to praise,

When the darkness closes in Lord,

still I will say:

Blessed be the name of the Lord,

Blessed be Your name,

Blessed be the name of the Lord,

Blessed be Your Glorious name,

Blessed be Your name,

When the sun's shining down on me,

When the world's all as it should be,

Blessed be Your name,

On the road marked with suffering,

Though there's pain in the offering,

Blessed be Your name

Every blessing You pour out,

I'll turn back to praise,

When the darkness closes in, Lord,

Still I will sing

Blessed be the name of the Lord,

Blessed be Your name,

Blessed be the name of the Lord,

Blessed be Your Glorious name!

You give and take away,

My heart will choose to say,

Blessed be Your name!

I praise your Holy name,

My heart will choose to say,

Blessed be Your name,

Blessed be the name of the Lord,

Blessed be Your name,

Blessed be the name of the Lord,

Blessed be Your Glorious name!

ohhhhh Fall. Sigh.

2009-11-09T08:09:00.000-08:00

So, I know that Tucson doesn't have thee BEST fall season, but it's more than ya get in India. And, just reading everyones posts of Facebook about the sweater weather and their pumpkin spice lattes and football games has been making me verrrry homesick. We have five more days here in Chennia and then it's back to Oz and I am MORE than ready to get outta here. But....I still have five more days here. And I really want to make the most and be fully here, body and spirit, as God has placed me here for a reason. Please pray for me to continue to focus, put myself aside and choose joy even when NOTHING in me wants to!

One song that has been my saving grace, not just while I've been here, but this whole past year is the Desert Song, by Hillsong. I even preached about it and it's message a couple of weeks ago! I have listened to it over and over...and OVER again! It talks about the different seasons we go through in life and that regardless of which one we are in, we still have every reason to praise God. I sang it so many times at church but now I am really being challenge to DO what I sing. Totally different and NOT very easy! Maybe the next time I sing it, it will mean even more as I know understand even better just how difficult a thing it is to do. I thought I knew before, but I feel like I know even more now, as I've been walking through a desert, a fire, a battle, a raging river, you name it, all at the same time through various situations.

Check out the words below and if you would like to listen, you can find it at the bottom in my music player. And then...enjoy my pics of the Indiana fall season I enjoyed last year. Great memories and great displays of God's beauty in creation!

Thanks for your prayers and encouragement, they are like water to my soul!

Blessings, Britt :)

This is my prayer in the desert, when all that's within me feels dry,

This is my prayer in my hunger and need, My God is a God who provides,

And this is my prayer in the fire, in weakness or trial or pain,

There is a faith proved of more worth than gold,

So refine me Lord through the flames

I will bring praise, I will bring praise,

No weapon formed against me shall remain,

I will rejoice, I will declare,

God is my victory and He is here.

This is my prayer in the battle, when triumph is still on it's way,

I am a conqueror and coheir with Christ,

So firm on His promise I'll stand.

I will bring praise, I will bring praise,

No weapon formed against me shall remain,

I will rejoice, I will declare,

God is my victory and He is here.

All of my life, in every season,

You are still God and I have a reason to sing,

I have a reason to worship

And this is my prayer in the harvest, when favor and providence flow,

I know I'm filled to be emptied again,

the seed I've received I will sow.

Hm. Where to Start....

2009-10-28T00:21:00.000-07:00

>
Ok....I have a lot of updates so Im gonna do it in list form. I'm sure you, my readers, have noticed my ability to write quite a bit so...for your sake, I'm attempting to paraphrase. Lord, let my words be few.... ;-)

1. We have three weeks left and are currently on a little three day break: Its been really, REALLY great and much-needed. We went to a coffee shop, ate at an American-themed restaurant, went to the shopping mall and India's version of Knott's Berry Farms...except even MORE lame!! :)

2. Last week we painted in a day care to spruce it up...we even mixed our own paint and it ended up looking AWESOME!!

3. I preached this week at church and was fairly nervous, not to be in front of people, but just to bring the word. I used the Desert song as my motivation, because I've found myself experiencing deserts and fires and battles in my own time here and know that those will never cease to come into our lives so....It was good encouragement for myself.

"All of my life, In every Season, You are STILL God,

and I have a reason to sing, I have a reason to worship!"

4. I have tackled the challenge of eating forkless and only using fingers and have been pretty successful. I did however accidentally eat two chilies on separate occasions and each time, thought I might throw up my food from the week prior...NOT GOOD! I'm still dreaming of dairy!

5. We have been struggling as a team a little bit. Some of us have been experiencing discouragement because of situations going on at home and I know its just the enemy trying to distract us from being fully here, and fully dedicated to this ministry time. There has also been a lot of hurts experienced in just daily interactions leading to lack of unity, lack of respect, lack of excitement so.....pray for us to draw near to one another, look out for one another's interest, look to God above all and press on!!

6. I got my nose pierced. They do it with guns here so it hardly hurt at all....and it only cost three bucks....niiiice. Plus, it's been on my Do-Sometime-In-My-Life list so, it's cool I got to get it done in India!

7. I have gotten to spend some really good quality time with Matt and am so excited for what lies ahead for us. There have been really difficult times and really precious times and I'm so thankful to God for orchestrating this time for us to be together, to learn together, to serve together! It always helps to have your best friend around to vent to and laugh with because you do a lot of both in third world countries! :)

8. Did I mention I'm dreaming about dairy food??? ;-)

9. I've realized that life takes place more often down in the valleys, than on the mountains of comfort and with the glory of God. Not that His glory isn't down in the valleys too, but it's definitely harder to recognize as we're distracted by the trials and despair surrounding us. But, its how we live in the valleys that defines us. Thats where we are tested and strengthened, trained so-to-speak, to be able to climb back up to the mountain to rejoice in the Lord.

10. For the rest of the week, we will be working at an adoption center, mostly with baby girls who have been thrown out. Girls bring families a big financial burden with the institution of paying dowries still around and many are unwanted and throw out from the very beginning of their small lives. I'm praying for strength of heart as I hold these so deserving but unloved babies.

I appreciate your prayers so much. This has been such a challenging journey with many, many tears but I know that I'm being molded with eternal outcomes!

Love and miss you all!

Blessings,

Britt :)

Lice for the sake of LOVE ♥

2009-10-14T09:19:00.000-07:00

Lice.

Makes your skin crawl doesn't it? You're probly even scratching your head now as you're reading. Don't lie!! I know you are!! ;-) Well, last week we began a new ministry and met with the pastor that oversees it on Monday morning. It was kinda like our kick-off for our week working with his ministry and he explained how it worked and his heart for it and the vision behind it. Unfortunately, he started it off by telling us that we might get lice in the course of the week due to the nature of the people we would be working with. Kick-off?? More like kicking us while we're down!! Who the hecks gets excited about a place and people that will give us lice??

He went on to explain we would be working with gypsy children. They live in camps on the outskirts of villages. They catch their food: lizards, squirrels, snakes, cats, birds...Yeah, you get the idea. They live in tents, never bathe, are scantily clothed and their teeth look like those fake sets you buy for your halloween costume. They make and sell jewelry for a living (which happens to be beautiful!) and on top of that, send out their children in the evening to beg for food and money at the nearby bus and train stations. They don't even speak Tamil, the language most commonly used in the part of India where we are staying; they have their own gypsy language. You've heard about the unjust and horrible caste system of India, where the lowest are treated like scum of the earth? Well, gypsies are considered so low, they aren't even included in that system. The lowest caste here, even in their own shame and poverty, would turn and look down and reject the gypsies.

So, when we arrived at the Hope Centre, we were not to excited. The Hope Centre is a ministry where the gypsy kids come and are bathed and fed, given lessons on English, Tamil, the Bible, hygiene and manners. They get their clothes washed, their teeth brushed, their nails clipped and ultimately they are loved on and accepted in a culture and country where no one else will give them the time of day. As we met these kids for the first time, I sat hesitantly. They were so dirty and I was just imagining the germs!! I was thinking, " I need to go over and say hi, give that boy a high five, sit with that girl..." but then couldn't make myself move because of this irrational fear. But slowly it happened.....I remembered Jesus and got over myself. And then I fell in love with beautiful and sweet and full of life children who just need attention and affection and the light of Jesus shining on them.

I thought about the people Jesus hung out with in his days. The rejects, the outcasts, the lepers, the sick and broken, the poor and needy. He might have even been just as dirty as these children and he probly had lice a time or two in his day. Those things would never even cross his mind because and saw and understood their true need. And so, I opened myself up to give all of me and love these kids as much as I could in a week, praying God could help them to remember the people that came and played with them, held them, bathed them, played with them, prayed for them and that they would somehow understand that it was Jesus in us.

That week with the gypsy kids has now become my favorite week and ministry since being in India and I don't see how its gonna get topped. I miss them, especially my precious beautiful little Nandalah. I wonder how many times in my life, I miss out on joy because I miss that heart of Jesus. I want to keep learning this lesson over and over, even if it means I get lice.

Which, by the way...I never did! :)

Also...Sorry that I went picture crazy below but...I wanted you to understand just how beautiful and wonderful these children actually were!!! Annnnd, you can probly figure out who my favorite, little Nandalah is..... Enjoy! :)

A Comfortable Kind of Worship

2009-10-07T09:37:00.001-07:00

I'm sitting in church on a plastic lawn chair. My feet our bare. I have a shawl covering my hair as I sit with only women. My feet are resting on a hard, uneven and rough cement floor, with large rocks sticking up here and there, tripping my feet in discomfort. I'm sitting in a small brick building with large open windows, created as an attempt to provide air flow. There are now seats, only thin straw mats that might pad the prodding of the sharp protruding rocks...maybe.

The weather is a brisk high-nineties temperature. If not already at a hundred, it makes it there when you add in the 90% morning humidity. In other words, I'm dripping in sweat, everywhere & always! This church I'm sitting in is in the middle of no where, only accessible my a very primitive dirt road, as it is very much 'off the beaten path' of the city. In spite of all these conditions, I'm also sitting in the midst of close to sixty Indian people, fervently worshipping God in pure abandonment.

They sing for almost an hour, with no great church band setting the worshipful atmosphere. There is no great sound system producing their ultimate worship experience for the morning, just the percussion of their own hands and their voices lifted loud in praise. In the quieter moments (which a few and far between!), you can hear the clear, high-pitched sound of children's voices, worshipping right along. As you can imagine, there is no luxury of children's church available for these kids. But you know what? They don't seem to mind and they're certainly not bored. They're actually praising and singing right along. They're dancing and jumping, not caring who might be watching. In fact if you broaden the lens of your telescopic view on these children and pan around, they are actually ALL worshipping in this child-like abandonment, without a care. They don't let all the factors previously described distract tem, discourage them of prevent them from woshipping with their everything. Who knows how many miles they have walked, many of them barefoot, to attend church? That is, to attend a church with no A/C, no seats, no sound system, no worship band, no welcome committee, no ABF snacks...no comfort. But, they walk to attend chuch, where they can worship corporately, where they receive the word of God, where they receive encouragement for their upcoming week, a week most likely to be filled with trials and tribulations. See, I forgot to mention that this is also a persecuted church, persecuted in the sense that their church building was burned down as an act of hatred against them. So, they come for encouragement: to stand strong in their Christian faith when they live in a country of Hindus; to not fear the rejection that comes when you try to be a light in a land where living in the dark is the more desirable norm.

Talk about a heart check, an attitude adjustment. Don't get me wrong! I LOVE my church just as it is! I love its A/C in the summer and heat in the winter, its padded seats, the nearly professional and passionate worship team that leads me before the throne of God and the superb sound system that transforms my listening experience, to as if I was listening to a fully mastered CD. I love and appreciate all those things and I'm thankful that the Lord has blessed my church in these ways. But, it does make me wonder.

I wonder if I would still be as apt to show up to church and participate and worship passionately if there was no A/C...and I knew that ahead of time. And I wonder, if I knew ahead of time (OK, for the purpose of my illustration, just go with this next made-up scenario!) that the church was reupholstering all the chairs and there had been a scheduling conflict and they weren't going to back in time for the Sunday morning experience AND that, that same week all the bleachers broke...but church was still on...Would I still come? (If I wasn't already scheduled to sing!) OR, would I wave my 'Get out of Sunday Free- You deserve it, you go alot!' card? OR, would I still go, but with a bad attitude consuming my heart and mind the whole way to church, during church and on the way home from church?

Would I sing just as loudly if I was sitting Indian-style ( I now understand that term...they sit, in India...Indian-style? Get it?! WahWAAAH!), on a hard and bare floor with my backside going numb? How about if I had to ride to church, traveling five miles on a Tucson-summer-Sunday, adding in the humidity of Chennai?! If I was a true worshipper then, yes, but knowing me, I'd be peeved and moody and, oh yeah...dripping in sweat.

Before I came to this realization, as I was sitting in the middle of a service, visiting this persecuted Indian church...I was not demonstrating that heart of true worship. Actually, I was that peeved, moody and sweaty worshipper ( which is how I knew that, knowing me, I would be that from my last illustration! :>)

So, now I have four more Sundays here. That's four more opportunities to transform my worshipping heart, to be tested till its true.

"Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way." Ps. 139: 23-24

The beautiful faces of a persecuted church...

Welcome to Chennai! Let me show you Around!!

2009-09-28T07:40:00.000-07:00

Hey All!!

There is SO much going on...some hard, some easy, some discouraging, and some heart-warming...I guess that could pretty much sum up life in general though, huh?! :) I will try and crank out some more stories soon but Matt and I got to take a long walk together (which was a nice and refreshing break from the constant group environment and doing ministry) and I took some pics along the way so....hope you can imagine what we are experiencing here...just add a really foul stench hitting your nostrils every other five feet that you walk, a high percentage of humidity resulting in sweat rolling down your, well, EVERYTHING, and you will be all set!! :)

Love you all! Thanks for your prayers!

Blessings,

Britt :)

Hot, Humid, Stubbly (Matt, obviously!), and with No make-up (Me!) but happy to be enjoying this unique opportunity of serving God together!

Our favorite neighborhood dog Spike (he's actually the local temple dog) followed us all the way to the corner market and sat out on the steps waiting for us, until he was shoo-ed away by the owner. He is getting lots of love and attention from our entire outreach team. He's even clever enough to sit and wait on the steps up to our host home so that he gets petted by every single person on their way up!

Beauty saloon, hey?! I'll take a strawberry margarita then while I wait to get my hair did! ;-)

All of the cars have been decorated for a Hindu festival that just started on Sunday. They are worshipping everything that man has created that brings them money.

Some sort of Hindu religious symbol. These are drawn all over the place and are a constant reminder of how lost the people of India are.

There is such immense poverty everywhere. I feel like I am living on a different planet.

Beautiful colors are everywhere! The ladies wear such colorful and vibrant clothing.

They LOVE all of us white people! We are like celebrities, being waved at all the time as we drive and many of them can communicate with at least a lit bit of English.

Typical scene on the sides of the road...dogs, cows and goats roam free and feed in the many sources of trash.

Definitely NOT my favorites!! There are birds everywhere and they were so kind to poop all over our freshly laundered clothes that were hanging on the roof to dry!

These ladies have mad carrying skills! I dont think I will be attempting!

These girls saw the camera I was swinging around and walked up to ask if we would take their picture. It got a little awkward when I tried to join them...that's the closest they would get! :)

Boats...on beach...Duh! ;)

These precious kids wanted our empty bottles and then noticed our camera and of course wanted some pics too! They are SO beautiful!

They called for this other girl to come and get her picture taken too. Matt gave the little boy some sorta rupee and they ran off. We left too and then a few minutes later, we turned around to see probly 8 more kids following after us!! Word gets around when it comes to free rupees!!

Don't wave @ strange ladies....they WILL find you!

2009-09-22T08:55:00.000-07:00

Okay...first pretty funny story I have to tell. I'm not sure though how successful my audience laughing factor will be because, it might be one of those you-had-to-be-there kinda ones...but I'm gonna try my best!

So, we have spent two days now in Chennai, mostly resting, catching up on the time difference, adjusting to the humidity and spicy Indian food (way weird, but I've actually started craving yogurt and cheese...ooooh and cottage cheese..mmm).

Monday we spent a lot of time in our room with the A/C and watched a movie but after it was done some of us went out on the front porch that overlooks the street, from a couple stories up. We were just observing the people: how they were dressed, their different modes of transportation. They all drive so close to each other and there is a ton of honking to signify that someone would be passing and it just looks like a big pile-up waiting to happen. A lot of them drive on these motor bikes that are called 'scooty's' and the person on the back is riding sideways and barely holding on and every now and then, one will come by with a little kid up in the front, no helmet, nothing strapping them in and I feel the anxiety building up in me! Its stressful just to watch! We were up so high that no one was really seeing us or making eye contact. A few girls spotted us and then proceeded to stare at us the entire time they were in walking distance of us. And then a little later, this little old lady who was slighty hobbling stopped right beneath us, just staring up at us. The poor thing looked like one of her eyes no longer worked, from the coloring of it and she was very, very old. Kinda scary looking if I can just be honest. So we waved at her, and this is where it all went down hill

She starts motioning us to come down and were just trying to politely wave and nod our heads to say no. And she just keeps doing it. So slowly, our four girls turns to two as the other ones got nervous and went inside. My fellow student Dena, from Switzerland tries to call down in her pretty little voice," Um, do you sveak Englesh??" That would be a no. By now, she looks like she is starting to cry and rub her eyes and we didn't know how to respond to her so we just waved and went back inside. Alisson, who is probly one of my best friends on this DTS was really freaked out and we were joking about it. I asked her, "What would you do if we turned around and she was standing right in the doorway?" "I would freak out and run back to the bedroom and probly hide in the bathroom." And we were just lauging away.

Not THIRTY SECONDS later, I turn around........and there she is!!! Duh-Duhh-DUHHH! I couldnt even say anything, I was so nervous! I thought that maybe she was mad that we were waving at her and wouldnt come down so she came up to get us, to see us herself. And then, she just walks right in and just rambling to us in whatever Indian language she speaks, and stops right in front of us staring at us. Of course all of the homeowners and residents who would actually know what she was saying and how to handle the situation were M.I.A. Finally, I found someone and she started talking to her.

Turns out, she was actually the nanny of this family that we are staying with for many, many years and she still stops in whenever she pleases. Jokes on us! Im not sure if I can accurately describe the fear that we had, not legitimate 'were gonna die' fear...but just the silly kind where you are so scared that you can't stop laughing......Uhhhh...last time I wave at someone from the front porch. At least not in a culture where the front door is always open, and where anyone can just show up and pop in! YIKES!! :)

Punjabis, Here I Come!

2009-09-19T05:50:00.000-07:00

So.

My countdown to Outreach is over! I have survived DTS, I have packed up my belongings, selected six t-shirts (along with a few other clothing items, obviously! But not that many more!!) and will be heading to Chennai, India at five am tomorrow! My life will drastically change in t-minus five hours and I have no idea what to expect...ACCEPT...that God is gonna rock my world and I will probly never be the same! I've already learned that when you sing sincerely with all your heart things like, "Open up my eyes to the things unseen. Show me how to love like you have loved me. Break my heart for what breaks yours..." He WILL do it! So......sing with caution! :)

Ok, even though I don't really know what to expect about these upcoming months, I do know one thing: the Indian Pujabi will become my daily clothing choice. Check it out:

Mine probly will not even be that nice or colorful but, one can always hope! I will be sure to post some real pics once I start sportin' mine!

Anyway! I just wanted to give you a little idea of how we have already been sooo blessed and our trip hasn't even begun. We will be staying with a local pastor and his family and compared many others in this area, will be living luxury! We will have: filtered water! laundry facilities! internet! AIR CONDITIONING (home & transpo)! regular shower opportunities & with HOT water! :)
All of these blessing will really allow us to go out each day, hopefully refreshed and filled up so face some of the heart-breaking conditions of the rest of this city.

Here are things we would love prayer for:
1. Safe travels!! We fly to Singapore first and then on to Chennai.

2. Quick adjustment to the time
3. Avoidance of Traveler's sickness (some of us especially have already been fighting bad allergies and head colds so praying these dont progress into something worse after traveling)

4. UNITY!!! We had a difficult time in the beginning connecting and coming together, but had a few 'family talks' and were able to work out some big issues. Please pray the Lord continues to draw our hearts together in EXCITEMENT & ANTICIPATION for the things He's gonna do!

5. Patience! Although were blessed with more extravagant-than-usual living arrangements, we will be rather cramped...So, perhaps then I should include respect for others since a lack of that5 is what usually tests our patience ;-)

6. COMPLETE DEPENDENCE ON GOD (no explanation needed!)

Thank you so much for your prayers and encouragement up to this point. This is where the rubber meets the road though, and all those things Ive been working through in the past three months, all the stretching God has been doing, start to become worth it!

I will continue to keep you updated on this portion of the journey as up until now has been a lot of personal growth and inner adjustments. Starting now begins the part of me going and living for the Kingdom, shining His light to the darkness and extending myself on behalf of Jesus and you who have sent me here, through your financial support, your prayer support and your love and encouragement. Thank you from the bottom of my heart and please keep it coming!

I love and miss you all!
Almost done in Australia,
-Britt :)

My Australian Life in Pictures

2009-09-19T04:27:00.000-07:00

My first Maroochydore Sunset

Despite our faces...we actually LOVE our time together down here! :)

My favorite YWAM staff girls: Ash & Kel!

A taste of our community living....get it taste...the food?! Yeah.... :)

The DTS girls + some staff and mission builders

Girls house! Not tooo shabby, eh?!

This is how I feel about athletic events in which I have to participate....

and this probly doesn't surprise anyone!

July '09 DTS!!

And, how we reaaaally are....

Team India Girls!

DRUMROLL PLEASE! Annnd, Your outreach location is............

2009-07-23T00:21:00.000-07:00

OK...

Some of you probly already read Matt's blog and know but...pretend your surprised!!

INDIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will be living out the love we all have for Jamal, Salim and Latika of Slumdog Millionaire!! :) There will be two leaders, six girls and three boys on our team heading to the city of Chennai (formerly known as Madras). Our contact is a young pastor, who has formerly worked with YWAM and who our team leader Fleur has already worked with once before. We will be doing a lot of children's ministry, with orphans and street kids and potentially with some opportunities to be teaching English.

I am SO excited. I know I mentioned to a good lot of you before I left how I was really hoping that I would have the opportunity to go here and how I felt like the Lord had really put it on my heart through various people and circumstances. And so here I am with the opportunity to go!!

Please be praying for our team as we have already started preparations to go. We will be researching different parts about the city and culture and sharing with one another, planning songs, skits, lessons for when we get there, working on fundraising opportunities like having sausage sizzles and bake sales at the church and busking in the streets for money and overall, just working on team unity and praying that the Lord would just really reveal his Heart for these people and this culture that doesn't know Him!

Matthew 28:19

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father and the son and the Holy Spirit,

teaching them to observe all that I commanded to you;

and lo, I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS,

even to the end of the age.

blessings,

britt :)

One piece of humble pie...COMING UP!

2009-07-22T23:44:00.000-07:00

So.

I didn't realize how much I have enjoyed living on my own. Well, not technically "on my own" as I lived with the Bourlands buut, as in, I have not missed living with a bunch of girls in the dorm life setting. It is SO MUCH FUN...SOMEtimes. More often though, it has been a huge challenge for me. I am the oldest of the students and even older than some of the staff and it has been quite a challenge for me at times. I prefer to live muuuuch neater than probly most of my housemates (I did sign up for the house cleaning crew for work duty so that helps the situation a little!) I definitely landed two seriously messy roomies, possibly the two MESSIEST but...God is teaching me to just let it go. put aside your preferences and their weaknesses: put aside your self and put them first.

As most of you would know about my weird food allergies and diet, you would understand how difficult it is for others for make food for me. If it was just me, I'd eat an avocado, block of cheese, handful of almonds, some fruit, some yogurt, some chocolate and call that a dinner. So the staff here are working hard to try and accommodate me but again, in my selfishness....I approach each meal with this bratty mentality of "Really?! Salad again?!" And its like he's nudging. Brittany, at least you have food, at least you aren't starving. Be thankful for what I've provided. Please just put aside yourself.

And in so many other situations, I feel my pride and selfishness pushing to the surface: in listening to a staff leader who leads so much differently me that I often disregard what she says, thinking I could do it so much better and actually have before; in our moments of student and base worship where I'm only being used as a back-up harmony girl and I think, I've lead thousands before...why should I be the back-up?

And he continues to speak to me. What about the times you will have to listen to a husband or a boss and you don't agree? Do you do what you want or obey the authority I've placed over you? Be humble and just listen. And, Is that all that worship of Me has become to you? You singing beautifully for all to hear, front and center? Do you know that it pleases me more when you sing beautifully for JUST ME to hear? Be humble and don't worry about your position. Just sing to glorify ONLY Me.

So, on top of eating lots of salad, I'm eating daily doses of humble pie...and attempting not to complain about either! :)

Phillipians 2: 3-8

Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit,

but with humility of mind

regard one another as more important than yourselves

Do not merely look out for you own personal interests,

but also for the interest of others.

Have this attitude in yourselves

which was also in Christ Jesus, who,

although He existed in the form of God,

did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,

but emptied himself,

taking the form of a bond servant,

and being made in the likeness of man,

He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,

EVEN DEATH ON A CROSS.

blessings,
britt :)

how ya goin??

2009-07-22T23:32:00.000-07:00

OK, so this update is obviously WAAAY overdue! It has been difficult for me to find the time and means to do this...well, who am i kidding? More difficult on the means than the time...I totally took a three hour nap today! :) But there are only two computers at the house I'm at and then two more at the location where we have our lectures but pretty much ALWAYS taken...and when I happen to stumble on an empty one, its takes 15 years for things to load and always shuts down, courteously providing the memo that Internet Explorer has encountered an error and must shut down. Yes, this I already know. Soooo...since there are so many things I probly wanna update you on and I'm a lengthy and long-winded talker AND typer, I decided to break it up into categories and then you can read when and where you see fit!

I miss all my friends and family very much and am gonna have to sit down and work out a better means for communicating plan!! If you do have a skype account let me know and we could try and coordinate some skype dates; otherwise regular phone calls become super expensive and suuuper short! So, mine is brittgelatt and I look forward to chatting with some of you!

OK....now read on to the best parts of what God has been doing for me!
blessings, britt :)

prom...just let me explain :)

2009-02-13T20:52:00.000-08:00

okaaay. i worked at the tucson gem show this week and it was cool and weird at the same time.

the reason for it being weird is that i get hit on my international creepers all week. one guy even asked if i wanted to give up my job and start traveling with him and working for him at shows on the weekend. um, next thing he's gonna tell me is that he only has enough money for one hotel room for the both of us. so it was thaaanks, but no thanks!

a cool thing about it is that i had this giant realization that i had never really thought about before. i love creation and i thinks it one of the ways i feel really loved by God, like...he created that beautiful sunset to bless my heart to day. anyway, i was really bored at times at this show and so to pass the time, i would just straighten out all the different strands of the precious stones and gems and i would just admire them. they were such beautiful colors and patterns and textures, and some sparkled and some didnt, but they were all so uniquely beautiful. and 100% natural. and hand-made by God! the same God that made me uniquely and beautifully in his image. it just really hit me how awesome he really is, just in a new way i had never thought of.

so, as far as prom goes, this is another thing the gem show brought about. first of all, i didnt go to my high school prom. my junior year, i had to go to an important family function with my mom the weekend of, plus the guy i was "with" was lame and didnt ask me or wanna go and then my senior year, i was gonna go with a group of my best friends and had the dress, the hair do picked out, the tickets....and woke up deathly ill the day of. my dress still has the tags on it and i still want to wear it and look like i could walk the red carpet. because all girls want to feel like that at some point and thats kinda the point of all this.

a buyer/designer that shopped at our booth got into a discussion with the kris, the lady-booth owner i worked for all week, discussing these other oranizations that she works with. one of them happens to be working with CASA of Los Angeles (CASA stands for Court Appointed Special Advocate, working with foster children and social services from what I understand) to collect prom dresses for foster girls. you see, dresses and anything related to prom like makeup, shoes, accessories, hand-bags, are all considered to be unnecessary expenses and are not provided for the girls. considering where many of these girls have come from and what they have gone through, many of them are in need of emotional and physial healing and just to be found beautiful. and so this organization makes is possible for them to enjoy prom and feel so beautiful that they belong on a red carpet.

so i thought about the prom dress and others just sitting in my closet, collecting dust and space and wanted to give them up. i decided to check with some friends to round up some more and i now have 11 dresses hanging in my car with the collection of many more in the works!! its not even that big of a task of sacrifice to give the dresses up, but it just overjoyed my heart to know what it could do for someone. giving to the least of these really is a powerful and rewarding thing...it makes my heart happy for sure :)

okaaay new year: let's do this...

2009-01-11T00:31:00.000-08:00

Well, as you can see I jumped on this blog bandwagon almost 6 months ago.
but then, student teaching started, and then a new job started on top of that,
and then life gets going...and your computer dying for several months may bring all attempts to an end.

but, its a new year and im gonna make another attempt. so here goes...2008 brought along the good, the bad and the ugly. but i think every year has them so im looking to this next one with anticipation and excitement, knowing both will definitely come but knowing i will make it through whatever brought my way. have for 23 years now and i thank the lord for that.

soooooo here are the dreams, goals, plans and resolutions for this next year:

1. write on this again before another six months passes :)
2. stop biting my nails...its so unlady like. or so im told.
3. get back into piano playing. get so good i can sing AND play.
4. run the half-marathon that i told my friends i would do at the end of march and have been practicing for and have been almost dying and dont wanna do anymore. but said i would do it so...yeah.
5. get my nose pierced.
6. go to australia: see family, learn more about myself , learn how to honor God more, learn how to serve and love others for him.
7. make a budget. and STICK to it. learn to be a steward of the things God has blessed me with.
8. read the harry potter books for matt.
9. read the twilight books for jamie and jenna.
10. go to more shows and expose myself to the wonderful world of music. of all types.
11. go hiking more. enjoy the beautiful tucson landscape & weather.
12. attempt at song writing. and then sing one for somebody.
13. maybe try cooking more. maybe...still praying about this one...

and i think i have probably bored you enough. if you are even still reading this.
i will post pictures and updates as the resolutions are conquered! :0)

britt. g.

ahem...testing, testing

2008-08-31T20:06:00.000-07:00

hello all!

i was looking at someones blog and thought it was pretty kick-awesome and that i would like one of my own. and then when your wondering how im doing, since im not in tucson for the time being...you can just check this...and then if you really didnt care at all and was getting annoyed with my email updates...you're inbox will be in the clear, from me anyways!! ;-)

so...since its late and im just starting this...im just gonna get sign off and play with this for a little bit...the.end

grace&peace.

britt.g.

and here is a lovely picture from my new backyard in indiana...enjoy the green...i sure am! =)