Anticipation of the Unknown..........

Hey everyone!!! For those of you who don't know I leave tomorrow June 1 and will be gone until August 2, so if you need to contact me for any reason feel free to email me at vondermehdenc@mail.dbu.edu or just leave me a message on facebook and i'll try to respond to you within a couple of weeks.



Well this week has been a week filled with so many different types of emotions: fear, anticipation, excitement, eagerness, all bottled up inside of me. I haven't really ever gone outside of the country before, and I guess you could say i've lived a pretty comfortable life, and am very blessed. But starting tomorrow I venture on a journey that will be far from comfortable and i'm sure at times very trying. Today I got the chance to enjoy spending times with some of my family and friends from church. We laid out by the pool, ran, barbecued, and did other fun things, and I was really happy for my last day in the U.S., to be spent with people that I love. However, as I sat next to the pool watching my buddies jump in, and seeing who could hold their breath the longest, I couldn't help but ponder what my life is going to look like these next couple months. I mean honestly i've never done something like this before!!! When I first signed up for this mission I was excited, and eager to tell everyone where and what I'd be doing, but as the date gets closer and closer.........TOMORROW!! The reality of what I'm going to be doing has begun to set in. The fact that I'll be by myself, away from all of my friends, away from all my family, no electricity, surrounded with natives who have no clue who i am, eating their native food, 120 degree temperature, and who knows what else..............................to be honest leaves me a little scared. But the one thing I do know is that Satan is like a roaring lion roaming around seeking whom he may devour, and hating the fact that I'm going to a country to deliver a message of hope and love, a message that will change their lives. I love 2 Cor 4:16, " There fore do not lose heart, though outwardly we are wasting away inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory which far outways them all, so we fix our eyes not on what is seen but what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary and what is unseen is eternal." I'm sure there are lots of things that I can worry about and things that I can fear, but what I need to know is that my purpose is achieving for myself an eternal glory which far out weighs everything! The people of Niger are hurting, in poverty, and in need of the saving grace of Jesus! I am excited about that! that no matter what happens I get the chance to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them! In romans 15:13 it states, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. That is my prayer for this summer, that God fills me up so much each day that His love overflows into these peoples lives, changing them from the inside out!

This week mainly has been a week of preparation, learning to lean on God, i've always in the back of my mind thought that memory verses were kind of silly, but I have begun to realize the importance of them in my life, and what it actually means to hide God's word in your heart, and how throughout these next couple months the spiritual warfare will be intense I'm sure we all know the kids stories about the armor of God, but do we fully understand the importance of it, I mean do we really grasp it! I know I haven't, My hope is that throughout this summer when I am attacked, I can pull out the scripture that is in my heart and say LOOK!! this is what the word of the Living God has to say!! I hope and pray that God will give me the ability to fight satan's attacks this summer, and that is definitely something you can be praying for me about!!

Until next time I love all of yall!!! Please keep me in your prayers!!!!

Cody