An Unexpected Turn...

Life is full of unexpected changes... Especially when you are on a journey towards the future... Mine has journey has recently taken an unexpected turn and I am looking forward to what the Lord is doing in my life... For those of you who haven't heard from me or through the grapevine I have news... Due to a recent cutback in hours at my current job I have come to the realization that in this small town a full-time job means anything over 20 hours... I have been barely scraping by on 32 hours a week at my job and after my trip home to NC I came back to be informed by my boss that my hours were to be cut back to as little as 25 hours a week. Upon receiving this news I promptly informed my boss that there is no way I can survive on less hours and that if this was going to be the case she should expect my notice soon... I had been praying about several possibilities that I had in front of me... I could get a second job and continue to strain to make ends meet... I could quit and try and find another full time job in town and hope its enough to continue living somewhere I honestly cant afford to live... Or consider and option that was offered to me a few months ago that I had been thinking about for a while... In Dec before my lease was up My father open handedly presented me with an offer... I could pack up all my furniture and things into storage and pack my car up with my clothes and things I need to live and move back home to live with them and get a job in Charlotte where Full-time means at least 40 hours a week and jobs are a bit more plentiful... And then when the grant comes through and Wild Fire is ready for me then I can pack back up and move back to Texas... At the time things were going pretty well and I was keeping my head above water... But January saw a turn around in my job and financial situation and I could see that the Lord was moving some of the Wild Fire Staff into new places... After allot of prayer and a two and a half hour conversation with Toni Hellums... I realized that the wise thing for me to do right now was to move home for a season... So in about three weeks my mother will be flying down to Texas to ride with me back home to NC... I want to thank everyone who has been praying for me through this season... I am so thankful for the people the Lord has placed in my life!

God Bless y'all! Alicia

Update Letter!

Nine Months...

If this were a baby it would be here any day now. I looked at the calender today and realized that as of today I have lived in Alpine for exactly nine months. Then I thought to myself that if this were a baby we would be experiencing breakthrough very soon. Although there have been a few setbacks it looks as though the Dilts family will be moving to Alpine in the next week or so. This is very encouraging because the timing feels perfect. I have been feeling the trickle of hope that big things will be happening soon. This is the catalyst that we have been waiting for! I am very excited and very encouraged which is a huge improvement on my emotional state in previous months. I feel that change is in the air and boy could I use some change right now! Thanks y'all for your prayer and support through thus season of uncertainty!

God Bless,

Alicia Zinn

Prints for Haiti!

In trying to think of ideas to raise funds I thought this was an inspired idea. This is a link that connects to an album containing many of my artistic photography pieces: Prints4Haiti
I posted them to this event in order to raise funds for my upcoming mission’s trip to Haiti. All profit made from this event will go toward my trip to Haiti this July! I hope to add more albums containing other people going on the trips photography so you can purchase prints to help them get on the field as well! Each picture has a small watermark in the bottom right corner this will not be on the print but on the back of any print will be the name of the photographer you supported. I hope that every time you look at the picture you will be reminded that you helped get them to Haiti and I would hope that it will become a constant reminder to pray for the person you supported and to pray for Haiti!

Haiti Trip Basic Info!

Hey everyone!

I know I am not very good about updating this blog. I am trying to get better about that. I just wanted to let everyone I am going to Haiti with Wild Fire this summer. I wanted to give everyone the basic information about our trip!

When: July 6-16

Where: Villages 40 miles from Port-au-Price

How much: $1800, includes airfare, food, lodging (all expenses, except food during travel)

Deposit deadline: April 6th, with $50 deposit;

Other Info: We will be doing relational ministry with the villagers, also doing children's ministry, distribution of food, clothing & care packages we are getting very excited about this trip! This is going to be one amazing mission trip!

I am pretty excited!

God Bless!

Alicia

Six months later...

I realized yesterday that I have officially been here in Alpine for 6 Months!

Wow where has the time gone? So if you are wondering what we have been doing all this time!

Waiting... We are all waiting. Waiting on the Lord waiting on the grant. There is just allot of waiting! But I have learned allot in the process of waiting. I am starting to discover more about God and more about me. This has been a growing process for me. Living on my own and learning to lean on the Lord for everything. It has been a tough two months starting off this New Year! I was financially in shambles and it looked like I was never going to get a job. Then when it seemed like all hope was lost and the grace was running out God showed up in the 11th hour. Why it appears that God likes to wait till the last minute is beyond my comprehension but He always shows up like He said He would. He made sure I was taken care of. I am! Praise God! I started work as a Part Time Admin at the Hospital District office 4 weeks ago and I couldn't be happier! It is so good to be working again and I really enjoy my job. It is not what I came here for but it is a step in the journey that will take me where I am going next. I have found that the road that takes us into the future is paved with more then good intentions but rather faith in God's plan for our life and trusting Him even when we don't know or understand what that plan is supposed to be! God has already blazed the trail we just have to be willing to follow in His footsteps even if we don't know what is around the corner, or even if it looks like we are never going to get out of the desert we seem to be stuck in... God takes us where we are supposed to be when we are supposed to be there. No matter what we think. Yes we have the power to move God's heart with our prayers but that doesn't change Him. He is God and He will always be God. He will always act like He has always acted. I have discovered in this journey when you don't like where you are at in your journey don't look around and say I hate it here I am leaving. But rather look around and say Why don't I like it here? What needs to change in me to bring me to appreciate this place I am in? How can I be made better? You are the only person who can change your perspective... You are the only one who can change how you look at things. Become an active part of the process growing and becoming who you are meant to be. Don't just get mad about that fact that you seem to be stuck in the same place. The Israelites walked around in circles in the desert for 40 years because an entire generation didn't want to go through the process of taking possession of the promise land. It is a slave mentality that I think really held them back an entire generation had lived as slaves for so long that they had forgotten God's promise of freedom and a land to call their own. An entire Generation had to grow up in freedom hearing nothing of God's promises before they were actually lead to the promise land. Just remember the desert you find yourself in may be there to change you not for you to change it. You have the ability to change yourself and your perspective! Take advantage of that ability! Embrace where you are and the process and you will not only find yourself in a new place but also find that you are a different person walking into that place!

I love y'all!

God Bless!

Alicia Zinn

Two months later...

... and now I update. I feel terrible that I haven't updated anyone on what has been going on... Transition is a tedious process and I am by no means an expert even though a lot of the time I feel like I should be. It has been a long and short two months but for the most part I am here and waiting. We are all waiting here.
Stepping out and moving here when I did was no small thing. It was a hard thing to do... I left my family while they were in the middle of a crisis to move 1500 miles away to do what exactly... well as of right now not much more than wait. In some ways it is sad because I probably could have done this in NC with more money in the bank and a family around me... And I know to some of you that is what I should have done. It is hard for some to understand why I left when I did I could have waited till the new year or something. But I know that I heard from the Lord and I know He is the one that told me August. I am here and doing well. I am learning to learning to hold onto what the Lord has told you and trust that He knows what He is doing. I am finding myself back where I was a couple of years ago (almost 3 years to the day Read about it here ). I am being reminded that I choose to submit to the Lord in obedience. I obeyed with my actions. But until the last few days I have had a hard time obeying with my heart. I forgot who this was about for a little while there. Just so you know it was never about me. Even if I thought it was. I am choosing to trust in faith that as long as I obey I will find myself right in the middle of God's plan. Even if it means being in the middle of nowhere I had heard of before this 3 years ago, doing little more than waiting and hoping that His provision of part time or temporary employment could help make financial ends meet. I need to go to bed but I will update you on where things are with Wild Fire when I get all the details. A lot has happened on that front in the last few days and I want my update to be accurate and clear!
Thank you & God bless!
Alicia