17 days away. 71% raised. And We Eat. We Play. We Listen was a huge success!

Dearest friends,

Thank you so much to all who attended my benefit event this Saturday! I loved spending time eating, picnicking, playing, and listening to wonderful local music with you.
And the perfect weather was just the cherry on top to the most perfect day.
I can’t forget to thank my dear friends and talented musicians who played for the event:
Floodwork
www.myspace.com/floodwork

James Roquemore

www.myspace.com/jamesroquemore

Rudy Stockhausen
www.myspace.com/rudystockhausen

A listen to their work will not be regretted.

As an update, I wanted to let you know that I successfully raised $630 from my event!

WOW friends, I am both moved and humbled by your generosity.

What a beautiful community I have.In addition to the $630 raised at the event, I have gotten calls from people who were sad they unable to attend, but still wanted to give.

The total of these pledges amounts to $400, which puts me at $1030 raised this weekend!

Endlessly thank you to all who came out, prayed, and continue to support me in this fundraising process.
I am 17 days away from the trip and have raised $2710 of the $3800 I need.
It’s hard to believe I am already at 71% - I have been so enjoying walking with the Lord as I watch him faithfully raise my funds and call others to join my support team. Friends, please continue to pray for the remainder of my funds to come in. And as always, let me know of ways I can pray for you.

Thank you so much for the blessing of your friendship and interest.

Love always,
Sheena

26 days away. 40% raised. And I played petanque!

Yesterday was not my favorite day, but I got to do some of my favorite things: going to church, reading (Eat Pray Love, which is the story of my life, I feel), and picnicking with French people.

Last week I got the idea to contact French churches in Orlando to build some contacts for my trip. That Google search unfortunately was a dead end, as it turns out there are no French churches, or even French speaking churches, in Orlando (according to Google). This only spurs me to go to France even more.

I did, however, find Alliance Francaise, a group whose mission is to unite and encourage the French cultural exchange in America. On Saturday I spoke with the president of the Orlando chapter and was invited their monthly picnic at Mead Gardens, which I happily went to this Sunday.

I got to eat taboule and roasted chicken, along

with some wonderful red wine, and spoke French to many people! I told them a little about my trip, and while none of the people who I spoke to seemed to be Christian, they were excited for me to go.

Then we played a game of pétanque, which is a very ancient game of boules, kind of like Bocce. It was so fun!

Here is a picture I took this past fall of pétanque being played in Cannes.

These old men were so into it, I'm sure I overhead at least a few arguments, ha! Apparently this game is very popular in the South, so I will definitely be playing a lot of it this summer!

In other news, I'm getting very excited about my bar-b-que/party/house show this weekend. Do come out and join the festivities. It's gonna be a lot of fun! Here's a plug for my wonderful friends who are playing, take a listen!

James Roquemore

www.myspace.com/jamesroquemore

Floodwork

www.myspace.com/floodwork

Here's a link to the event, which also has all the information as far as time (2-11pm) date (this Sat, May 15) and place (myhouse!).

We Eat. We Play. We Listen.

HERE'S WHERE I'M AT: I have successfully raised 40% of my support need. THANK YOU THANK YOU to my dear friends and family who have supported, are praying, and will continue to support me on this trip. I'm so humbled, blessed, and excited for how you have all encouraged and loved me.

I am equally as excited to see who else God has provided to join my support team this summer! Perhaps it's you!

As always, you are most welcome to give here.

Ok.

So, I do have a few prayer requests.

I'm not sure if it's spiritual attack or what, but I am recently overwhelmed with a sense of ALONENESS and FEAR.

Please pray against this.

I'm learning to invite others to fight with me.

Also, please pray for redemption in some relationships in my life.

Please pray that I believe the truth of who I am created to be in Christ. Being captive to lies and insecurity is getting exhausting. I know my Lord and I know that in Him there is strength and freedom.

Dear friends, please pray. And of course, thank you.

35 days. And I learned how to surf.

I had an amazing morning today.

The Lord is so sweet to me. He loves abundantly.

This summer I will be going to France on a missions trip with Pioneers. Part of what I will be doing in France involves working alongside a surf ministry.

SURF MINISTRY! WHAT?!?

I have no idea what that would even look like nor have I ever been surfing!

Ok, so I remembered encountering a surf ministry in Cocoa a couple years ago while I was there with friends. So, encouraged that there was a surf ministry close to me, I searched on Facebook for "Christian Surfers+Cocoa Beach" and lo and behold, I found "Christian Surfers of Cocoa Beach."

I became Facebook friends with them and saw that they hold monthly bible studies and surf times. One was coming up, so I went to it.

It was this morning, and it was awesome. I got to share some prayer requests for my summer and for ministry in France. And then some people PRAYED over me.

Complete strangers, just brothers and sisters in Christ. Oh how beautiful is the family of God.

THEN they taught me how to surf.

I truly believe that Lord has anointed some kind of blessing upon my body, because I could not believe it that uncoordinated, CLUTZY, I-get-bruises-all-the-time-because-I-walk-into-walls ME stood up on the board ON MY FIRST WAVE.

Oh man. Just crazy. JUST CRAZY. And then I stood up on practically EVERY WAVE after that.

It was so fun.

I might be addicted.

In addition, they shared with me different resources, like great Christian Surfing films, and great Christian surfers, websites, etc. and GAVE ME A SURFER'S BIBLE.

Sweet blessings. Such sweet blessings.

God is good. So good. And I am SO STOKED for my summer. :)

40 Days Left & A [HUGE] Launch

Ok friends, here it is!!!

In an effort to creatively gather donations for my upcoming TRIP TO FRANCE with Pioneers ministries I have:

1. Uploaded my support letter online. It's handmade and fun.

See it here!

2. Created and LAUNCHED an ETSY account where I will be selling JOURNALS, CARDS, and so so much more.

Oh! A Pretty Pigeon is my etsy store. So excited!

The name is something James, my dear friend and travel companion this past fall, said while we were walking the streets of Paris. The timing, the day, everything was perfectly funny and we laughed about it for months...I could think of nothing better than such a fun memory for my etsy store name.

3. ANNOUNCED my BENEFIT SHOW. So excited for this.

"We Eat. We Play. We Listen." featuring the musical stylings of James Roquemore and Floodwork. I am making my infamous chili, cooking up some BBQ, and setting out a SLIP'N'SLIDE. Wrapping up the whole day with a night movie on the lawn.

Come out, be blessed by good food, good friends and good music.

May 15th. 2pm. My casa.

Click here to see the event on Facebook for more info.

EXCITING DAY. Oh man.

:)

And so much more to come...can't wait!

I can't hold it back...

Friends, get excited for some new things that will be launching soon.

I am!

Ok, That's all.

:)

Update! Update!

Hello dear friends!

It's about time for a little update, no?

Life has me so excited as I watch the Lord prepare my summer for me. Oh what a beautiful Jesus we have!

This Easter was a wonderful celebration of the redemption, hope, and JOY we all have in the promises of the Lord.

For Good Friday, I drove out to Winter Garden to go to a prayer experience hosted by Westwood Church. It was just lovely and I cherished the time I got to spend at each station of the cross.

While there, I ran across Sweet Traditions, a DELIGHTFUL French bakery and restaurant (that I will be frequenting, I am sure). I got a tarte aux framboises. While I savored every bite it reminded me of my sweet time this past fall and built excitement for the beautiful culture I will be able to minister to this summer.

I crossed the street and came across Lacey's music store, which was a vintage music treasure trove. I immediately connected with Lacey and we talked about life, love, and, of course, good music. I acquired a pristine record of Renee Lebas singing in French. It's called "Cherie, I Love You" and is filled with French classics and favorites from the 1950's.

That night I had a beautiful time with the Lord listening to Renee sing in French and praying over my summer in this wonderful country.

In addition, I have been learning the LANGUAGE through a podcast I discovered last year called Coffee Break French. These are 20-30 minute little snippets of language, culture, and grammar that have really been helping me learn French. I pair my time listening to this podcast with reading Harry Potter in French, a copy of which I picked up this autumn at a used bookstore in Paris' Latin Quarter.

Friends, as I grow more in love with this culture I become more moved to pray for them. PLEASE JOIN ME in praying.

As a FINANCIAL update, I wish I could tell you more of where I am with money. I am certain I have about $100 in, but Pioneers takes about two weeks or so to process money, so I am truly uncertain of where I am.

That being said, the deadline for $500 came and went yesterday, April 5th...I am sure I will definitely need all the help I can get because I don't think I am close to this amount yet.

If you have not received one of my support letters yet, please LET ME KNOW! I would love to send one to you. As always, if you feel so moved to partner with me financially, please follow the link at the top of the blog. I've made it super easy to give online!

More to come soon. Life is getting exciting and literally BLOSSOMING like the flowers around here. Until then, I will leave you by sharing a few things that have been blessing me as of late.

1. This Flickr Set of vintage Parisian pictures. Look at the passion of this culture. I can't wait to show these people the passion of our God. Oh France, I'm falling in love all over again...

2. The album Storyboards by Sleeping At Last, my hands down favorite band of the moment. Their music leads me to the Lord. AND THEIR ALBUM IS FREE FOR THE NEXT TWO DAYS! JUST CLICK!

3. The phrase "Il n'y a qu'un bonheur dans la vie, c'est d'aimer et d'être aimé." Roughly translated: There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved. Ahh oui, vraiment.

à bientôt! (see you soon!)

legit, again

I feel completely okay about writing in my Sheena Does Europe blog again, because...I'M GOING TO FRANCE for the summer!!!

Being back in Orlando has been just lovely, and I see the ways that God has me here, ways that He has so greatly BLESSED me and so greatly USED me.

But honestly, I've been heartsick and being back has been harder than I want to admit.

I was talking to my best friend Sarah, who I visited in Bilbao this past fall, on Skype the other day. In a moment of honest expression, I shared how I truly feel this has been the most amazing time in my life. With this past Fall as a catalyst, God has been developing and sharing with me a life of amazing miracles and amazing loves. I can see the Lord answering prayers, prayers I've prayed for years, and I see the ways the Lord is actively pursuing me and healing my life. I'm daily in awe of the Lord's love for me. Hallelujah. Hallelu.

Oh we have a great GOD.

However, even in the midst of the most lovely community, my heart feels torn and incomplete.

I talked to James for awhile the other day, and it seems we both have left our hearts in (Paris) France. I have spent days missing the culture and the people, the atmosphere of France and the ways and rhythms of life that I created while there. I miss sitting in beauty, being cocooned in love, and talking to strangers about beauty and life and love.

Awhile ago I got a message from my dear friend Gerin encouraging me to go on an Edge trip (short term summer mission project) with Pioneers ministries. I love Pioneers and all my dear friends there, and am passionate about the work of church planting that they do there. I am also drawn to their trips because they tend to be smaller and more intimate, with teams of about five or so.
They specialize in ministering to unreached people groups. Upon going to their website, I was praying about opportunities for my summer. I really do think God has arranged my life to spend my summer serving, and I want to be a good steward of such opportunity.

So I went to the website, thinking maybe there would be an opportunity to serve an unreached people group in Africa or perhaps the Middle East. I've prayed passionately for the Kingdom to come in these places, and while it's not France, I could see the ways I could bless and be blessed by a summer of service in these places.

Imagine my surprise when I went to the Pioneers website and saw their was an Edge trip to southern France. France?! Unreached peoples? What?
Yes, it's true. Basque country is a place of hardened and cynical souls to the Gospel. This was something I've learned and have learned as Sarah is living there and sharing her life with me. As details about this mission trip unfolded I learned that it involved working and serving in a hostel and building relationships and talking to people about life, and love....and beauty....and God.

Everything my heart was missing...

Is this real?

Well friends, I prayed, applied, and got accepted to go on this trip. I just found out yesterday.
Faithfully, I will leave on June 6th, and be in France, again.

I can't wait to post more details as I hear them and once again share with others my adventures in Europe.

So yes, I'm "doing" Europe, again. Oh love.