Wow, I cannot believe that a whole month has gone by since the last time I posted anything! Eeks!

I’m just gonna start out by saying that the month of August was an awesome and quite the emotional month. It is very hard for me to put into words every thought and emotion that has been rolling around in my heart since I’ve been here. I specifically had set the month of August to pray about what the next step is for my life. I felt desperate to hear from the Lord. Am I supposed to stay here in Thailand longer, or should I listen to this, sometimes almost overwhelming, homesickness and take that as a sign that am I to go home? And if that’s the case, then what? I really believed He would show me by the end of the month…but, before I get into that part any further I want to share what else happened this last month -

Tyndale Stubenrauch’s 1st and Chase Garsee’s 17th birthdays were celebrated. I love both of those boys dearly!

Tyndale with his lovely mama, Mary Beth, on his birthday!

Chase and me on his birthday  ”showing off our farmer’s tans”.

The Stubenrachs, the Garsees, and myself all went about fifteen hours north to a place called Korat. There, we met up with a few other great missionary families to have some fellowship and ministry time together. It was wonderful! So refreshing for everyone. The Lord was gracious to bless us with His presence the whole week we were together. Plus I made some great new friends, especially Margaret, who is such a godly young woman and fellow horse lover .

In the evenings a group of us went out to pass out tracts and evangelize. We had a lot of great responses! But, specifically, a certain man was born-again. Praise God, na (Translation: Right?!) ?! We spent a week in Korat and then on the way back down towards home, we spent another week in Bangkok so the Stuben’s and Garsees could meet with their social workers to work out adoption details for adopting their Thai sons. Bangkok is huge and it feels like there’s no room to breath . But, we had fun together hanging out and having some down time, aside from some of the stress of adoption issues. One day, Colton (18) & Chase(17) Garsee (my newest brothers ) and I spent literally TEN hours in one mall and we still had not seen every store by the end of the day! We had fun but, needless to say, we were pretty tired that night. Well, I guess not tired enough, cause if I remember correctly we still stayed up pretty late : ) .

Now, to get back into what God is doing in my heart…. While in Bangkok we stayed at a Baptist Guest House for missionaries. One morning, while washing dishes in the kitchen, the Lord confirmed in my heart that I am supposed to stay in Thailand longer. After wrestling so much between my love for being here and homesickness, I am excited to have peace and confidance that this is what I am supposed to do. Thank you so much to everyone who has been seeking the Lord along with me about this. I love you all so much and I appreciate your support more than I can say! I cannot give an exact length of time that I will be here, because that part is still up in the air for me (not God), but, I do know that I will be here for at least a total of a year. It is going to be interesting to see how it feels for my Dad to come in October and leave without me, but, I am thankful that God’s grace is and will be  sufficient.

So, that’s what has been going on around here! I hope everthing I wrote made sense . God bless!!!

The Hoars, Lavornes, Stubenrauchs, Garsees, Barron, Freddy, and Me! A great bunch of people on fire for God!!

 This is the letter I will be sending out this week in hopes of raising support for my trip . It is subject to change a little bit before I send it out though.

I just wanted to let you know how things are moving along! If you read it, you’ll notice that a date has been set for my departure!

March 23, 2009

Dear ____________,

   As you may already know, earlier this year my father and I took a trip to Hat Yai, southern Thailand. We visited our very good missionary friends Brian and Mary Beth Stubenrauch, their family, and the team they are working with. Our time with them was a wonderful and growing experience. I quickly grew attached to the Thai people, the country, and the whole team. The Lord also really drew me to Himself and I felt that He may have been using our trip as a tool to reopen desires I had in my heart, when I was a little girl, to be a missionary.

   I am writing this letter to you to inform you that the Stubenrauchs and the team have offered me an open door to come back to Thailand to serve with them and to give me an on-the-field experience.

   After many weeks of prayer, thought, fasting, and seeking counsel from my parents and others, I do believe the Lord is leading me to return for an extended stay. It is my prayer that by going back, He will continue to speak to me and show me if foreign missions is truly the direction He wants me to be heading. For it is my sole desire to hear His voice and obey Him.

I would like to ask you to please keep my family and me in your prayers as we make this transition in our lives. I will be leaving on June 9th and I have committed to staying until September (by the end of this time I/we will decide if the Lord is leading me to stay longer). This will be the longest and farthest I have ever been away from my family.  And, I also want to ask you to please pray about the possibility of financially supporting me for this trip.  It is my goal to raise all the money I will need for the time I will be gone by May 20^th or sooner if possible.  Below is a list of the needs I have and the estimated cost for each:

Plane ticket- $2,000 +/-

3 months rent, food, electric bills, emergency, etc. – $2,500- $3,000

Computer (So I can communicate with my family via email/webcam and also keep up with the GRN Kid’s Corner newsletter) - $1,060

Motor scooter- $800-$1,500 (I may be able to purchase a used one)

Approx. Total: $6,360-$7,560

 If you are unable to financially support me at this time, I completely understand; it is your prayers that I covet and appreciate the most.

 If you would like to receive email updates from me while I am away, I have inserted a small slip of paper with this letter that you can fill out with your information. Some space has also been made for you, if you so choose, to be able to write down any prayer needs you may have that I can be praying for, and, an envelope has been included for your convenience.

Thank you so much for believing in the call of God on my life and for your love and support. You mean more to me than I can ever say! May the Lord bless you!

Love in Christ,

Megan Zurowski

Please write your check out to:

Global Response Network

memo: Megan’s Thailand Trip

GRN’s address:

402 Coomer St.

Somerset, KY 42503

After much thought, prayer, and seeking wisdom from my parents, I would like to announce that I believe the Lord is leading me back to Thailand for an extended stay. I’m not exactly sure of why He wants me there, but I know whatever it is, it will be to bring Him glory.  It’s not official yet, but it looks like I may be going back in June and staying for three months or more.  I am VERY excited!!   I can’t wait to see what the Lord has in store for me there. Now, I am trying my best to trust Him with all the details that go along with making such a decision.  I would really appreciate your prayers as my family and I journey into this new season of our lives. Thank you!

It took forever for it to happen, but as of today it did! Please read carefully…

Previous weight: 127 lbs.

Current Weight: 124 lbs.

Goal weight: 118-120 lbs.

Lbs. I need to lose to get to that weight: 4-6 ( Previously 7-9)

Pounds lost since June 10, 2008: 3

I’m so happy!!!!!!

Today I have officially started to eat healthier. Yes, I have been doing okay not eating so much sugar, but I’m still having some difficulties. I feel so tired all the time and I know it’s from the carbs that are still in my diet. So, why I didn’t do this before I don’t know, but, now I have traded in my granola bars for almonds(example), my white tortillas for whole wheat tortillas, my frozen dinners for veggie burgers, brown rice, vegetables, and fruit, my cold cereal for hot whole grain cereal and fruit…the list goes on, oh yeah, and my whole wheat bread(which still has things in it that I can’t pronounce) to Ezekiel bread(whole grain). Some big changes? Maybe, but I think they will help me overall to be healthier and maybe(hopefully) lose some weight. I’m still going to be having foods that I usually eat, but just not as much as before. I still eat yogurt, but I’ve gone from “needing” one everyday to every-other day and I actually probably will still have cold cereal more often then I probably would want because there are many morning when all I have time for is a cup of cereal. I’m pretty excited about these changes and I hope they last and are not a fad in this season of my life.

Sometimes I feel a lot like Sarah in the book The Courtship of Sarah McLean. Sarah is nineteen years old and a daughter still at home. She is very thankful for her family and loves to be around them, help out, and be under her parents authority. But she is feeling some unrecognizable and unwanted discontent. At one point she realizes that her disconent is due to the fact that her heart’s longing is to a wife and a mother, but no man has courted her or has even seemed interested in doing so. That’s how I have been feeling lately. I love still being at home, working with my father at GRN, and I am more commited now to courtship and waiting for the man the Lord may have for me more than ever before. But it is still hard  to be patient because I want to be a wife and mother now. That is my ultimate dream. I believe that it’s the Lord’s calling on my life.  

 So what is God teaching me through all these thoughts and emotions? He’s teaching me how to be content with my calling as a daughter and to be satisfied with a KING. The King of KIngs. Yes, Someday my Prince will come…in the King’s timing.

Every Monday morning, GRN posts a video called *lifeonline. ‘Take a look at this weeks *lifeonline for a real glimpse at what real life is like in Southern Sudan. The people there are in great need of our prayers and support. Let’s go to God on behalf of our brothers and sisters in Sudan.

*Please allow this episode to speak to your heart and motivate you in your walk with God and people. Life is too short to not focus on what really matters.’

www.grnconnect.org

*We do not recommend the use of YouTube.

Hello! I’m still here .  Today is official update day! Yay! Okay, so here it goes…

My walk with the Lord is really going great. Everyday I am feeling refreshed and also down. Down because the Lord has been revealing some areas in my life that need some pruning, and refreshed because I know that in the long run it is bringing me closer to Him. Praise the name of Jesus!

Dad, John Follman and I are now in our new office space! I’m out of my basement corner! Yippee! haha. I really like the office; it has a nice feel to it.

 My not forgotten pregnant mother is doing very well. We found out that she will be having a scheduled C-Section in the last week of August. Not too much longer! Time is going by so fast. Not long ago she had her glucose test and everything came back with fine results. The baby is now approximately 17 inches long and around 3 pounds! Please forgive me for not having a picture of Mom on this post right now, but check back later today or tomorrow to see if I have edited this post with a pic.

Jeremiah is going to be starting back to physical and speech therapy soon.

I don’t understand how I could start losing inches before weight, but that is exactly what happened this week. I have lost 1/4 inch all over and I know that is not very much, but it really is encouraging! 

 Current Weight: 127 lbs.

Goal weight: 118-120 lbs.

Lbs. I need to lose to get to that weight: 7-9

Pounds lost since June 10, 2008: 0  

Inches lost since June 10, 2008: 1/4

I have posted a new recipe on Country Girl Recipes

So there you go! A few updates on the Zurowski Family.

Good morning! The guys arrived home safe and sound last night and we are so happy to have them back. Other than having jet-lag, they are doing great .

 Okay, commitment update. Well this week didn’t go as well as I hoped, but I do feel like there has been some progress . There were a couple of days when we had pizza, and one day I went to a wedding so I shared a piece of cake with a friend and I had a chocolate dipped strawberry(which tasted very good by the way.) . But really other than that I think that I did pretty well. The thing that I had the hardest time with was staying within my right calorie intake.

 Current Weight: 127 lbs.

Goal weight: 118-120 lbs.

Lbs. I need to lose to get to that weight: 7-9

Pounds lost since June 10, 2008: 0  

 ”For you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” – 1 Corinthians 6:20

 Warning! Very long post  !

  Back in March 2007, I made the commitment to myself, God and my family that I would cut as much sugar as I could from my diet to help make my body healthier and to lose weight. I also stayed on track with counting my calories and watching out for fat. The only times that I allowed myself to have food and drinks that were the least bit high in those things were when I went to weddings, birthday parties, on holidays, as a guest in someones home, and when I went out with a friend on a specific, scheduled day.  It was very hard, but I kept that commitment from March-July and during that time I lost 10 pounds. Cutting sweets and things from my diet caused my body to feel much better. I was less tired and more alert, I could think straighter, I had more energy and because of that I was able to exercise more, I gained more confidence, and it was a good test of self-control. But then I graduated and August rolled around and I spent the month down here in KY to do a dental internship with a friend of ours. I ended up going out to eat a lot and got off track with not eating sweets, and because of that I gained back four pounds. Fast forwarding to now, the total amount of weight that I have gained back has been between 5-7 pounds .  Now, I don’t wish to be like a model or anything. I love the way God has made my body, I just don’t like what I have done to it because of the lousy choices I have made. I want to be healthy and strong for the family that I am in now and for my future family.  I feel bad that I did not keep my promise and I just don’t like the fact that I have excess weight on my body that does not have to be there! Before I had lost the 10, almost 11, pounds last year, I was at the weight of 132 lbs. . For my height of only 5′ 1″ and my age, I was considered over weight. Having that knowledge gave me the determination to shed those extra pounds. Throughout the process I had help and encouragement from my family and a few good friends especially Liz Follman and Carole Mitchell. I promised myself that I would try my best to never see myself at that weight again if I could help it (excluding the fact that I know I will be over that when I have a child some day ) . As I see myself now getting closer and closer to that weight again for no good reason, the determination is coming back, so this morning I recommitted my self to my previous commitment and I am going to stick with it this time, because I believe that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me! Yay!

 My reason for writing about something that is pretty personal, is to stretch myself more by talking about something that can tend to be hard for me. And just as important to me, is to have accountability. I think that it will help me to stay on track if I know that I have made my commitment known to everyone including people that I don’t even know. My desire is to make my commitment a change of life, not just a temporary season until I lose the weight I want to. But until I do lose the weight, I will be posting my progress letting you know how I’m coming along. I know that there will be times when I feel like I have failed, but I will try my best to not dwell on those days and keep going. 

Any encouraging comments are very welcomed, appreciated, and needed :) . 

Current Weight: 127 lbs. (Yeesh! Did I actually type that out for all the world to see?! )

Goal weight: 118-120 lbs.

Lbs. I need to lose to get to that weight: 7-9

Pounds lost since June 10, 2008: 0