Patagonia and the Perfect Planner

I'm sitting up in a cabin in Bariloche, Argentina right now. It's like 2 am and I'm just answering some emails and getting back to some friends. I figured I would give you all a quick update on what is going on with me. We've spent the last nine days all over the southern part of South America, referred to as Patagonia. We have seen mountains, glaciers, volcanos, lakes, rivers, penguins, guanacos (a llama type thing), ostriches, and so much more. I can't even come close to explaining it so just look at the pictures I put up on facebook. They should be up by Tuesday. Anyway, it has just been unreal. So many awesome things that just scream the glory and greatness of Yahweh.

Sadly, I have slacked on my reading. I am only to about Psalms 42 (the beginning of book II) right now. The schedule has been all over the place (terrible excuse) and honestly I have just not been forcing myself to read, which is stupid. All of you who have been saved by the grace of God and experienced the joy of reading His word will know what I'm talking about. I always feel like I get to a point where I have to force myself to read it, which is stupid because I know that my joy comes from reading His word and being in His presence. It should never be a forced thing, but it so often is. Anyway, going back to Viña should help that a lot. I like routine and I'm just excited to get back into one.

Another big thing that has happened in my life over the last couple of days is that I was beauxed by Zeta Rho, my sister club. For those of you who don't go to Harding with me, it would take way too long to try to explain the club process to you and you still wouldn't get it. Basically, a girls club honored me by asking me to be apart of their club (that makes it sound a little weird but I'm cool with that). One of the awesome things about that is that Mark Baur and Tyler Samuel, two of my good friends that went to the Passion conference with me, also got beauxed. I told Mark that I am just super excited because this is just another opportunity to praise the greatness of our God around more people and show that He is our treasure and nothing else. So that's an exciting thing.

In all this madness that is happening in Chile, I have gotten to have some good, God-centered conversations with a few friends. I miss that talks that I had with T Payne and the Bens. I miss being able to go over to Mr. Webster's and just talk about the glory of God being shown in all of our lives or just text Dayton and talk about the awesome theology that we have both been working through. I miss walking next door to Mark's room and discussing ways that we can better lift up the name of Christ in our lives. I miss sitting down with my parents and working through what each of us believes and why. I miss those things. That is what I love, but at the same time, I know God is working to glorify Himself in what is happening here on this trip. Even if sometimes I feel like I am getting nowhere in my talks with my friends, God is working it for good. He is working for His name to be glorified even when I fall short. That is so comforting to me. I am learning to rely on Christ for my joy and satisfaction a lot right now because honestly I can't get it from anywhere else. There is not a whole lot of encouragement in my relationship with my savior outside of God's Word itself. That has actually been comforting.

Alright, this was a lot. There should be more to come next week since I will have much more access to the internet and my planned alone time with the Creator of the Universe. Until then, I love you all and can't wait to talk to you and testify to the Gospel of God's grace again. Be praying that my actions make God look great and not me.

All for His glory,

Mitchell