Storm Lake, Iowa-Home for the next two years

"There's no way, Ryan. No way I'm moving out here to Iowa."

That was my reaction as we drove through 8 hours worth of farmland, country, and more farmland. I saw only pigs, cows, and horses, and something was missing. People! I had never felt more and more like a city girl as we drove through hundreds of miles of nothing but "fresh" air (smelled more like cow poo) and crops and fields. Ryan laughed at me the whole time, reminding me of all the dangerous and difficult places I have been to overseas and here in the States- yet, Iowa's farmland of more pigs than people, made me more uncomfortable than I have ever been in my life.

As we neared Storm Lake, a quaint little town of about 10,000 people showed up. The Lake sorta appeared out of nowhere, because we went from nothing but farmland, to a pretty blue lake and green surrounding it. We met up with the search committee, church, and town, and through the weekend of being there, God was tugging on our hearts. We left Storm Lake with our hearts burdened by the need of the church and people at Storm lake.

God is the only one who could ever have changed my heart and attitude about living out in the middle of nothing. DEfinitely was not my ideal of a place to live or work, but the past few weeks God pressed it on our hearts to go. The ministry aspect of this place will definitely be the most challenging place I have ever been, because of the circumstance of the church, people, and the dynamics of the town, but I'm really curious about how God will use us there. I'm pumped, because Ryan and I will have the opportunity to work in ministry together for the first two years of our marriage! We will be sending our prayer newsletters to send out to our friends and family as we make our way out there. Keep us in prayer-we will definitely be needing it:).