Outreaches & Updates

hey everyone sorry that i haven't updated you in a while, so heres the updates :)
Mission Trip Information:
they are buying plane tickets for all of us (who have the plane ticket money) on monday/ tuesday of this upcoming week; i have my plane ticket money, its estimated for about $700- $800 but the only part i have left that i need still before i leave is about $250. That would be covering the rest of my trip from food, transportation, field of minisry school fees (madrid, spain) as well as lodging. The total cost of the trip has been estimated at $3500, and as you can tell i have almost all of it; and that is only because God has so graciously given me a church family who loves and supports me (and Ignite) so much that they chose to bless me with the amount i have. Its mind blowing at times to see how much i have, at first i didn't realize that i had that much but once i found out i was beyond esctatic that i had that much. The only thing is, now that all of that money from the scholarship (church) is going toward my mission trip, i still have to raise money for this winter's trip during my second semester at Ignite. I have not gotten the exact amount of that yet but i know that i currently have none of it, for the mission trip or for the actual school aspect of it. So if you are reading this and God has placed on your heart to bless me in this journey that God is taking me on you can send money to:
Elizabeth Ricketts M-31
1100 W Covina Blvd
San Dimas, CA
91773
***you can write checks out to Ignite, but for IRS purposes please do not put my name anywhere on the check, thank you.***

Current Future Plans
At this point in my life I will be going to Ignite for the second semester, and then transferring straight into Life Pacific College for the remainder of the 4 years. I am not sure yet what i will be majoring in, but i believe i might major in Cross Cultural Studies (ie. missions). After that i am not sure what i am going to do but i can see myself studying abroad maybe in Norway, Spain, or Morocco, but i have no idea what God has in store for me so its all just up to Him to let me know. After that point i am not sure what i would be doing but i will share with you a pretty awesome thing that happened to me that might indicate what i will be doing sometime down the road, if its in God's plans for my life. So here it goes: The last Sunday that the Hattem's were in SB, CA (well at least pastoring) i was somehow talking with my mom as well as Pastor Jim Scott and we got on the subject of how Vermont has only one foursquare church and that there was something with 30% of VT thinking something negative about church or christianity but i honestly don't remember... But anyways, so he looks right at me points his finger in my face and says, "you will plant a church in Vermont. go tell Mike Larkin to get a team together and prepare you." and that was it. so i took it to heart and wrote it down on my hand and after service i went back up to him and showed him, he grabbed his wife, Melinda Scott and they prayed for me. I then showed Mike later that night back at school and told him the story and he told me that he will get me ready if i am willing and i said yes and he said okay we'll get you ready. so thats my story and so i don't know what God's plans for my life are now because its always changing so my current plan is just this: Live each day waiting for what God says and just go with the flow of what he is saying. that could mean that i could be a missionary somewhere as well as plant church(es) in vermont...who knows...well actually, God knows, so its all good.
Outreaches
Tonight (April 10) around 26 of the Ignite students went to something called The Oasis, in Hollywood. Its basically a place where inner city kids go on friday nights from 7-11 pm and hang out (listen to music, dance, play video games, air hockey, basketball, football...) theres a snack bar where you can buy sodas, chips, cookies, and candy... and then for about an hour theres someone who speaks (sometimes a testimony-like tonight a testimony from a woman who was a former gang member with an amazing story) and then they hang out more then its done. Its a lot of gang members, wanna be gang members, inner city kids, homeless kids, and more who go there, so its sometimes hard to get into conversations with them but when you do its great. I got to talk a little with some people who were just talking about relationships and then another girl we talked about ear/ facial piercings to find a common ground (which is always helpful). its hard but its fun once you get talking with them.