he sends his angels like the wind..

I sit here again on the porch surrounded by the darkness of night. The weather resembles fall back home.. warm enough to be comfortable in a tshirt and shorts but a slight cooling breeze blowing through. The leaves scattering beneath my feet and the occasional slap of the window shutter mixed with the distant laughter of children in the streets become the sounds I tune into. I'm reminded of a passage I read in Hebrews this morning.. "He sends his angels like the wind".. My heart is at rest. Most likely due to the fact that its the weekend ;) This evening has been so life giving so far. Me and two other girls went on a long walk at sunset to another area of town and found a tall outdoor staircase that led to a great view of the city below. I don't think I realized the beauty and extensiveness of this city until I was able to view a portion of it from above. After getting back Tim told me he had purchased a guitar for our team! I was so excited I miss playing and being able to have live worship. I took the guitar and played a little and worshiped alone. it felt soooo good :) :) just what I needed. Such a beautiful start to the weekend. This week was a crazy one for all of us we had so many assignments due and we were being challenged a lot in class.

Our speaker was a guy named Brett and photojournalist from Kentucky he taught on photo stories and literally everything he said I wanted to write down. He is a wise man with incredible insight on the world and how to relate to people and was "pushy" in a good way with us really challenging us to get out there and meet new people and really encouraged us over and over again in way we are here and our purpose as photographers and how this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and to really give it all we've got. I think he came at just the right time as many of us were settling back and getting lazy. (you can read about my photo story under my assignments tab). This week was full of long days of shooting for a story of a ballet studio i'm doing downtown, walking there and back a bunch of times, skipping dinner to be able to be at the dance classes when they start, then staying up late editing and also on top of the photo story having research papers due and quizzes and other presentations and photo assignments. By far the busiest week yet. One habit i've gotten into since being here is getting up early. I try to wake up at 6:30 or 7 every morning to have that bit of quiet time to myself to get ready for my day and spend some time with the Lord.

I've been following a read-your-bible-in-a-year thing and its been great so far :) As I read through Romans the other day I felt a lot of questions coming up but then those questions would get answered in the next few verses. Its been cool getting back into the old testament as well and the promise to the Israelites but how they turned so badly from the Lord. Isaiah is one book were I have trouble understanding, I know there is so much good in it but I get overwhelmed trying to figure it all out.. but then I'll read in the new testament and see where is makes references to the prophecy in Isaiah and it all makes sense again :) The bible is awesome like that, there is so much in it and I'm excited for our middle east coarse when we get to study it more in depth.

The struggle of trying to mix outreach/ministry into our busy schedule with school is still a constant battle. Where we are at right now and with our business its really become important to recognize the ways we can serve day to day with people on the base and people we talk to in the community. It may not look like the way it did in the Philippines with bar ministry and speaking in churches, but its the day to day little things and learning how to act out the LOVE of Jesus moment to moment. exciting news though.. YAY... we have TWO weeks of outreach starting Wednesday night :)

Wednesday our team stops classes for two weeks and takes a 6 hour bus to Rio De Jinero to help aid in flood relief from the nations most recent disaster. I'm so excited to go and experience this tragedy that this country has gone through and to really hear peoples stories and be able to work along side of them to bring hope back into the devastation. Please keep this time in your prayers and that we can really serve them and bring fresh hope, and love into those communities and really be humbled and work along side of them.

I think this update has succeeded its length and I applaud you if you've read the entire thing please feel free to contact me anytime you want more info on what we are doing I will try to update more often as internet connection allows. (marisa.groff@gmail.com)


[What I want is the world to remember the problems and the people I photograph. What I want is to create a discussion about what is happening around the world and to provoke some debate with these pictures. Nothing more than this. I don't want people to look at them and appreciate the light and the palate of tones. I want them to look inside and see what the pictures represent, and the kind of people I photograph. - Sebastiao Salgado ]