love God love people - The World Race 2008

christmas gift

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.

And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere -

in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

Acts 1:8

Hmmmm.... so to me that sounds like a promise. You WILL receive POWER, not you might receive power, or if you are in the correct country you will receive power, or even if you pray hard enough and are good for long enough you will receive power. It says you WILL receive POWER when the Holy spirit comes upon you. I believe that the Lord is a good daddy, and wants to give good gifts to His children. and everyone knows christmas time is all about getting presents right? (insert heavy sarcasm) But there is one gift that i think God wants to give out a lot more, but maybe, just maybe, we aren't asking for it enough. The gifts of the Holy Spirit. I experienced these gifts first hand on the world race, seeing people get healed, hearing people prophesy, listening as people prayed in the spirit. I got to witness and be a part of that power! and to be honest i haven't seen a whole lot of that power since i got home. I have seen it, but not nearly as much and i want to know why? we have just as much access to that power here in America. God is still just as present and working here. so are you asking for that POWER this year, or one of those cool leopard print snuggies that i can't stop hearing about???

"Then, after doing all those things,
      I will pour out my Spirit upon all people.
   Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
      Your old men will dream dreams,
      and your young men will see visions.
In those days I will pour out my Spirit
      even on servants-men and women alike.
And I will cause wonders in the heavens and on the earth-
      blood and fire and columns of smoke.
The sun will become dark,
      and the moon will turn blood red
      before that great and terrible day of the Lord arrives.
But everyone who calls on the name of the Lord
      will be saved,
   for some on Mount Zion in Jerusalem will escape,
      just as the Lord has said.
   These will be among the survivors
      whom the Lord has called.

Joel 2:28-32

So i guess what i am saying this morning is that i want to see people using that power, that gift, that God has given us. i want to see people get healed. i want to see people get freed from depression and anger and abuse and addiction. i want to hear about people dreams from the Lord, and i want people to come up to me and say the Lord spoke to them and they got a word for me. maybe that last one is a bit selfish, but that is one of the perks of living with people who are in tune with God, and walking in His spirit.

hope this finds you all enjoying the holidays with the ones you love, whether in the room, or across the country, together in the Power and Spirit of the Lord.

love. obedience.

i was filthy rich and spoiled

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

generally while i was on the world race i didn't think of myself as filthy rich and spoiled. blessed? absolutely! having the time of my life and experiencing God in crazy new ways. yes. but not necessarily spoiled. that was until i got off the world race. it has now been almost three months, and i find myself feeling quite poor at times. i have a job now, and a couple of dollars in the bank, but that really has nothing to do with "wealth." i was thoroughly confused while out of the states as to why so many past racers were still hanging around the world race, living in little communities in Colorado and Michigan. i kept asking myself why there weren't moving on to the "real world." now i am starting to understand.

the hardest thing about not being on the world race anymore is not having the community that i had. i was so spoiled, filthy rich with community and i didn't even know it. i got back to kansas not expecting to find community there, so i didn't look for it, and of course i didn't find it. but i was so excited to get back to san diego, where i thought i had community before. i figured i would click in here, and i would fall into community here, and it would be just like the world race, only in san diego. well that hasn't exactly happened.

i find myself missing that community more and more each day. i realize i am doing a little more wallowing in self pity each day, reminiscing about the "way things were." but as i read books on community, and think back, i also remeber that community didn't happen overnight on the world race. it took months to really become "family," and we were living together 24/7, so why do i think it could happen in a month here? and to be honest how hard have i really tried to press into community here?

so i am sitting in the living room on thanksgiving. dreaming of what community could look like here in america. and i am not sure exactly what that is. but i believe the Lord is faithful. community is a gift from Him. so i will continue to "press in" to community in san diego. and i know that the Lord will provide community here, that i will find people that truly know the power of the Holy Spirit, that prophesy big things, that call out the "stuff," that want to see this world changed in huge ways for the Kingdom!

love. obedience.

update

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT

so we are spending our last month just outside Jinotepe, Nicaragua, in an area called the barrio, which in Spanish means "" It is a nice area, lots of wind, which keeps it cool, and keeps most of the mosquitoes away!

We are working in the area, building relationships with people, hanging out with lots of kids, doing some trash clean-up and whatever else is needed. I had to opportunity to preach on Sunday in church which was good, haven't really done that much since our overload in Africa =)

I spoke on love, based on 1John 2:7-8, 4:7-21. If you haven't read there lately I recommend it, the Lord has taught me so much on what love is this year, and is continuing to teach me. One major point I took from the passage is this; if you aren't loving fearlessly, you probably aren't loving at all. Jesus never worried about consequences when He loved, and He knew what a lot of His love actions would bring, crucifixion. I used the analogy of surfing. If you are scared when you surf, and you don't charge the wave, you end up on top of the wave and get dumped over, and then you aren't really surfing, you are drowning. But if you are fearless, and commit to the wave, then you ride down it, and you don't have to do anything, the wave does all the work pushing you along. It is the same way with love, if we are fearless, the Lord is the one doing all the love through us, we just have to charge after it and not worry about consequences.

Time is wrapping up out here, thank you again and again for all your support, for reading my ramblings, for praying, for commenting. It has meant so much, and fueled me along through these past 11 months. I cannot wait to hang out, get coffee, swap stories, and live this life with all of you in the states. If you want to hang out and you are in the Kansas area, I will be there from September 5^th through the beginning of October, and California folks I should be back sometime mid October.

love. obedience.

He is the same.

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Hebrews 13:8

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and forever.

As I was lying in my tent last night unable to drift off to sleep because of the combination of Dan working on his lumberjack skills in his tent, and the half a cup of Coke that I drank at dinner (i swear i am a 90 year old man) i had plenty of time to think about whatever crossed my mind. one of the things i was thinking about was re-entry and what things i want to share about my trip, and what i have learned that i can explain to people in a short amount of time, because no matter how much people say they want to hear about the trip, the truth is i probably only have five minutes before i start losing most of them. so i was thinking about the crazy ways i have experienced the Lord this year, in ways i never have before, and realized the the change hasn't come because God works any differently out here, but because i have changed. The God i thought i knew growing up until i was 13 when i would have told you i was a Christian because i went to church and knew all the bible verses my teachers asked me to remember is the same God as the one i fully accepted into my heart when i was 13, but didn't know what to do with, is the same God who i started actually following and learning about when i turned 15 and cracked open my bible because i wanted to, is the same God who i served working at a church for the two and a half years in San Diego before i left for this race, is the same God who i experienced in even new and more radical ways the past 11 months. He doesn't just heal the blind in a hospital in Uganda, or take cancer out of a 15 year old boys leg in Romania. He is the same. He wants to do those things for all His children, no matter where they are. there are people right in their comfortable homes in America who have demons in them that need to be cast out, and He is just as willing and able to do it there as He is in a church in India. don't wait around for a third world country or a world wide missions trip to experience all the Lord has for you, because He is the same yesterday today and forever, in America or in Africa.

love. obedience.

counter-culture is the life i chose

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

If James Dean was the rebel without a cause, Jesus is the rebel with one.

-Gary Best

This is my life, it goes against the grain of normal American culture. I chose to raise close to $14,000 so i could go work for someone else. so i could pay them to live in less tha ideal conditions.

and i wouldnt change it for anything. and i couldnt have done it without the support from all of you!

this is my house.

this i my bathroom (note shower in front, and toilet in background).

this is my backyard.

this is my leg (notice 4 million bug bites).

these are my shoes.

this is dinner.

these are my neighbors.

this is the life i have chosen.

you have helped make it possible. thank you will never be enough, but from the bottom of my heart, thank you!

I have raised almost every penny that i need to cover the cost of this trip, but there is still an oppurtunity for anyone who would still like to donate. i spent close to $1000 out of my pocket taking care of pre-trip things such as shots, plane rides to training camp, and international insurance. those things are re-imbursable if i raise about the $13,800 that i need, which would be such a blessing when i get back to the states as a buffer while i am looking for a job. so please, pray about, ask the Lord if He wants you to continue supporting me financially, and most of all keep the prayers coming, they are the life-blood of what is going on out here. nothing but love for all of you.

love. obedience.

with freedom comes responsibility.

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT

alright so i am a slacker, and here is day two of my creativity and fasting blog series...

things are going well with the fast, got a tangible answer to prayer on day one of the fast. it is funny how i can know that God is going to provide, not have any idea on how He is going to do that, but trust, wait, and boom... there it is. well that happened on Monday. and then the Lord revealed new things to pray about during this time, and again He answered more prayers. i am amazed at His faithfulness again and again.

anywho, i tried to record two different songs in the last two days, and couldn't get either to work, so i finally decided that i must just need to post a t-shirt design. these are super rough cuts, and still need lots of work, but it is what i have so far, and you can understand the basic idea.

love. obedience.

day 1: hugs or atm?

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT

sorry i am a little late on my blog for day one... the first day of fasting always seems the hardest for me, and yesterday was no different. during the day i was fine, but got the usual headache last night from not eating all day. but i got a little curveball last night which equaled some nasuea to go along with it. not sure how you can get an upset stomach when you haven't eaten, but i did it. ha. so the combination of not sleeping the night before, not eating all day, and headache/upset stomach = an early night of sleep for this guy.

none the less here is the first video. i wrote this song just a week ago while we were traveling around the country looking at castles and palaces. that really didn't have any correlation with the song, but it's what was going on when it was written. enjoy.

ps. no comments about the faces i make while playing guitar. i can't help it. i've tried.

As I'm walking around through this sea of faces,

Heads down, feet drag, eyes roam from here to there.

Everybody going, to their own places,

Their hearts all showing years of wear and tear.

So why don't we break these chains,

That shackle our hearts to the floor,

Swing wide, the gate called love

And let freedom roll out the door

Suburbs new houses, and every door is locked

Seclusion is comfort, no need for a change.

Neighbors are all strangers, there's fences all around

Our houses and our hearts and our closed minds too

So why don't we break these chains,

That shackle our hearts to the floor,

Swing wide, the gate called love

And let freedom roll out the door

Call Madonna a prophet, she spoke truth back then

It's a material world that we're all living in

Do our hearts have visa written on them

Do we show our love through hugs or an atm

So why don't we break these chains,

That shackle our hearts to the floor,

Swing wide, the gate called love

And let freedom roll out the door

love. obedience.

creativity. fasting. love. obedience.

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT

so last night as i lay awake listening to rain (and Dan's snoring) i couldn't seem to shut off my brain. it was one of those nights where i didn't get to sleep until 4:45, and the alarm going off at 6:45 came way to early, and i had a lot of time to think about a lot of things. and of course i though many a time that i should just get up and write this down, but then i decided that i would lay in bed and try (unsuccessfully) to get to sleep, and so now i am reaching deep into my short-term memory to conjure up and recreate some of the things i pondered in chronological order...

1:30am-2:40am: one thing the Lord was revealing to me through my tossing and turning is that fasting is a spiritual discipline just like reading my Bible, praying, worshiping, and gathering with fellow believers. the difference is that i don't fast. i mean i have fasted maybe twice in my entire life. you see i am really good at making excuses against fasting. ie: "i am a growing boy, can't sacrifice those calories," "i eat 9 meals a day, i might die if i skip them," "i don't have anything really huge going on in my life that needs fasting, you only do that during a crisis." etc. etc. so as i thought about this i realized that maybe i should quit making excuses, and be obedient when i feel that little check in my spirit, and feel the Lord asking me to fast, instead of figuring out reasons why i don't really need to fast.

2:40am-2:45am: up drinking water and taking a potty break.

2:45am-3:45am: next up on the most of the night brain-churning was creativity. in the first few months of the race i began asking the Lord to give me some new creative outlets. you see i consider myself a fairly creative person inside my head, but getting those ideas out in a tangible way turns up pretty badly at times. when it comes to art, i have the gift of making even stick figures unintelligible (thanks mom, haha). i love music, but have never really worked hard enough at it to become better than mediocre in a few different areas. i love taking pictures, but leave my camera in my bag way more often than i take it out. hopefully you are starting to get the picture... so i asked the Lord for more outlets, and He of course answered. since then i have written about 6 songs, designed a few t-shirts, and even put a couple sketches in the old journal... nothing that will make me millions in the american pop culture scene, but encouraging to me none the less.

3:45am-3:50am: another drink of water.

3:50am-4:40am: my conclusions. in lieu of these things, i am going to be taking the next five days and attempting to fast. i know in the Bible it tells us to comb our hair, and wash our face so no one knows that we are fasting, and so i assure you i am not telling you this to get any sort of praise or recognition, but more to finish the thought process, and explain the hopeful results. as i spend time fasting, i am also planning on recording the songs that the Lord has allowed me to write, and consequently posting them here. i will blog once a day for the five days of fasting, posting either one song or one t-shirt design (rough cuts of both of course) and share anything that the Lord is teaching me that day.

4:41am: sleep at last...

so that is my plan. i hope something that i am learning will encourage anyone reading. i hope you ask the Lord to give you creative outlets. and i hope most of all that you are obedient to His call on your life, no matter what it is. i'll be back tonight with the first edition...

love. obedience.

prune(ing)s. not just for geriatrics.

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT

"I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn't produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more."

John 15:1-2

Last week Dan and I had the opportunity to do a little grape vine pruning. I have never done this before, nor has Dan, but we figured how hard can it be... a snip here and a snip there and you got a nice little bundle of grapes all ready for eating.

As it turned out, it wasn't too terribly difficult, but while doing it the passage in John about God being the gardener and us being the vine came alive to me. I was pruning away, and as I cut that story kept popping into my mind. I was cutting off large ends of the vine, which looked strong and healthy, but were bearing no fruit. Some of the vines I cut seemed to be the thickest vines on the plant, and some of them were holding up a lot of the weight of the grapes, but they still had to go. What I learned is that if the vine isn't producing fruit, it is sucking up nutrients and other good stuff that the grapes need. The pruning was definitely a "painful" process for the vine, part of it being cut off, but in the end it will help produce better fruit in the vines that actually have grapes on them.

"For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned."

John 15: 4b-6

love. obedience.

timisoara here we are-a

Sat, 30 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT

wow. it has been awhile since i invested some time in the blogging world. let's see what has happened between then and now... we finished our time at Casa Shalom and it was an awesome month. sorted through a 40 foot trailer full of goods from Germany and had a two day yard sale with food, an orchestra, and one golf cart driven by crazy romanian teenagers. (luckily no one died). i mentioned Pavel in one of my last posts, the boy with cancer in his leg. we prayed for him a bunch while he was there, he went back to the doctor and they said the cancer was still there, and he was going to need to have his leg amputated. he came back to Casa Shalom to decide if that was what he wanted to do, and decided to get a second opinion and some more prayer. after a few days of praying he went to another doctor who did a completely new bone scan and said there was no cancer! he still had an infection that needed to be cleaned out, but no more cancer, and no more talk of amputation. praise the Lord!

then we headed out to Brasov, Romania for some debrief and rest. had a good time there, the city was cool, the Hindes came out and filled us up, and we got to celebrate their wedding aniversary while they were with us, which was a great time.

and now we are in Timisoara, Romania. working with a couple different ministries, one involves hanging out with some awesome kids with disabilities, taking them to the zoo/pool/mall. we are also working with a ministry called Potter's house, which is an after school program for kids with less than awesome parents/home-lives. Our contacts are great, we got a washing machine and a real coffee pot. can't complain about anything these days.

love. obedience.

as tears burn my eyes

Tue, 5 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT

As I was sitting in church on Sunday, through a three and a half hour service that was all in Romanian, I had some time to sit with the Lord and walk through some things. We had a 15 year old boy named Pavel come to Casa Shalom with his mother Thursday of last week. He had bone cancer in his leg when he was very little, had surgery and got it removed, then had the cancer return last year, had another surgery where they grafted bone from his hip, and put it in his leg where the cancer had returned. Now a year later the cancer may be back, and the area where he last had surgery has major infection. He is in pain all the time, and cannot walk on his leg much at all. So we prayed for him for three nights in a row, then again Sunday morning at church, and then he went to the hospital Sunday night. We are still waiting to hear how things went, he was supposed to have the infection drained from his leg.

The thing about Pavel is that he has more faith than most people I have ever seen. He was prayed over before, and he believes that Jesus is going to completely heal him, take all the cancer out of his body, remove all infection and pain. He believes that so much that he doesn't want to take medicine. He believes that so much that instead of resting last year after the surgery, he walked to school, because he loves to learn, and wants to do big things with his life. He prays with such passion that tears fall from his eyes as he literally cries out to the Lord. And as he is crying out to the Lord he isn't just saying Lord take away this pain, he is thanking the Lord for forgiving his sins, for loving him, asking the Lord to watch over his family, telling the Lord that he knows God is able to heal him. It really makes me think about the passion that I have, or sometimes don't have, when I am praying...

but back to sunday, as I was sitting in church, and Pavel was up front, and the pastor and congregation were praying in unison for his healing, and claiming that healing, and cheering as the pastor closed the prayer, I looked in Pavel's eyes, and while he tried to walk back without his crutch, and be strong, I still saw pain. A lot of it. And it broke my heart. And 8 months of that same pain in peoples eyes around the world hit me. And I saw 8 months of suffering, and hunger, and poverty, and persecution, and then it was my turn to have my eyes fill with hot tears. I cried out to my heavenly daddy and said WHY!? Pavel has faith, the people we have spent time with for the past eight months have had faith, I don't understand sometimes why you don't just heal them. I know You are able to do it. I know You love them more than enough to do it. I know You don't want to see them suffer, and that it hurts You more than it does me, so why?

So I walked out of church with no big epiphanies regarding these things. My heart still hurts. I still don't understand, but I do know this much...

"For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord."They are plans for

good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope."

Jeremiah 29:11

love. obedience.

(ps. i stole all these pictures from the world race blog of best pictures of the month. and one from baby-face Jeff Mitchell. thanks all you great photographers.)

if i had a dollar for every time i fell in a manhole... i'd have a dollar.

Mon, 4 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Yup. I fell into a manhole a few days ago. It happened as I was mowing the grass at the lovely Casa Shalom, the ministry we are working/living at this month. A few of you reading this will understand, but there is one very important thing to remember when mowing the lawn: straight lines. As most kids were starting to find excuses to quit mowing the lawn when they were younger I was itching at a chance to do it for the first time. My dad is an amazing landscaper, and we have always had nice green lawns, with intricate flower beds, and stone tree rings filled with flowers around all trees, which makes for quite the maze while mowing the grass... and on top of that a yard just looks that much nicer if the stripes from the lawn mower are straight as an arrow. So finally around the age of 12 or so I got to start mowing the lawn, the backyard first of course to fine tune my straight lines. And then I graduated to the front, and could pretty well keep straight lines even when maneuvering around various landscaping obstacles. Then in high school I started my own lawn mowing biz to make some money, and mowed around 10 yards a week, all with as straight as lines as I could do. All this to say, while it has been awhile since I have touched a lawn mower, I still remember what's important when I jump behind one.

So that is a huge background intro into why I fell into a manhole. Bottom line is this: I was concentrating real hard on keeping the lines straight, and as I was maneuvering around the old concrete slab with the manhole in the middle I was so focused on not messing up my stripes that I stepped on the edge of the the lid, which was only halfway on, and fell straight down, catching myself with my hip and elbow. Don't worry, I am of course super strong, and was not injured. The comical part for me was that after I fell in and realized what had happened, and that I wasn't hurt, I started yelling as if I was in the worst pain of my life, and had just had my leg removed by a rusty old lawn mower. Why you ask did I do this? Because Christi was standing next to me and I saw a look of sheer terror on her face as I was falling, and wanted to see how she would react. ha. It was worth it, she sprinted over to me faster then I think I have ever seen her move, and was simultaneously trying to turn off the mower and see if I was okay, and not have a panic attack from what I could tell. Meanwhile baby-face Jeff Mitchell was also standing nearby, closer than Christi, and he just meandered over to watch, claiming later that he knew I was fine. Thanks Jeff and Christi, one for your comedic, yet loving show of terror, and the other for your manly lack of concern, although deep down I know you were scared for my life.

So this was only supposed to be an introduction for another more serious blog, but it appears this one has taken on a life of its own, so I will just leave this one as is and start another for your reading pleasure.

love. obedience.

the beard...

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Pre-race baby face.

Month 1 Philippines: adolescence begins.

Month 2 China: things are starting to get noticeable

Month 3 Kenya: Now we are getting somewhere.

Month 4 Uganda: sorry no pictures, this is early month 5 Tanzania...

Month 5: end of the month with the Maasai... combo beard and brand picture... ps never been called Yesu (Swahili for Jesus) so many times in my life.

Month 6 India: i should officially buy a Harley

Month 7 Ukraine: i got tired of eating mustache with my meals... so i exchanged the beard for a mullet. i think it was a good trade.

ps. apparently at some point in my life i picked up Ukrainian trick bowling. here is a video to prove it...

fasting the Lord's way...

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

I was talking to a teammate the other day about a certain speaker who I had heard a few times, that somewhat prided himself on being "cutting edge," or going against the mainstream in his talks. She knew him, and had heard a story about how at one of his speaking engagements he stood up, read the "Sermon on the Mount" from Matthew chapter 5, and sat down. There was a big controversy because he got paid a substantial amount to speak, and all he did was read a passage of scripture. But then again how can you really argue that that wasn't good enough. Would he have had some words to speak that would be better than what Jesus had to say? It was an interesting conversation, and it led me to this present blog where I simply want to share a passage of scripture. Take it as you will. Go read it in your own Bible. Read around it and get some context. Hopefully the Lord will use it to speak to you like it did for me.

Isaiah 58: 6-12

⁶ "No, this is the kind of fasting I want:
Free those who are wrongly imprisoned;
lighten the burden of those who work for you.

   Let the oppressed go free,
      and remove the chains that bind people.
⁷ Share your food with the hungry,
      and give shelter to the homeless.
   Give clothes to those who need them,
      and do not hide from relatives who need your help.

⁸ "Then your salvation will come like the dawn,
      and your wounds will quickly heal.
   Your godliness will lead you forward,
      and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind.

⁹ Then when you call, the Lord will answer.
Yes, I am here,' he will quickly reply.

"Remove the heavy yoke of oppression.
Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumors!
¹⁰ Feed the hungry,

      and help those in trouble.
   Then your light will shine out from the darkness,
      and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.
¹¹ The Lord will guide you continually,
      giving you water when you are dry
      and restoring your strength.
   You will be like a well-watered garden,
      like an ever-flowing spring.

¹² Some of you will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities.
Then you will be known as a rebuilder of walls

and a restorer of homes.

love. obedience.

lately...

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

So we are officially in Ukraine. And I finally got my laptop that I ordered before the race started in time for it to be shipped to me before I left for the race... then there was the problem of being back-ordered twice, the order canceled once, re-ordered, shipped, stolen off my friends desk, found without the battery, cord, or start-up discs, those missing items purchased, shipped to my teammates house in Colorado, shipped to AIM in Georgia, and finally made it to me in Eastern Europe. Turned out to me more of a hassle for a $99 laptop then I thought it would be.

All that aside Ukraine is nice, we are a bit outside Kiev in a small town with nothing around us, which is super calm and quiet and relaxing. We have 8 days of debrief, so plenty of time to rest and relax and fill back up before we head out to our respective parts of the country.

India turned out to be my favorite country of the trip so far, which I was not expecting going into it. The ministry that we did was awesome, encouraging believers in a place where there is more persecution than I have ever seen before, hanging out with guys and girls our own age, answering questions they had, and prayer walking around different Buddhist and Hindu temples. Our contacts were awesome, totally faithful, trusting the Lord for everything.

So back to debrief, I took a little break in the middle of this blog, and am now finishing it... we are in Lugansk, the city we will spend the next 3 weeks in, getting ready for our first day of ministry. Our contact here is a great guy, he and his wife adopted two Ukrainian children about 7 years ago, and consequently have now come back with their kids as full time missionaries. He teaches different english classes, and through those relationships gets the opportunity to share Jesus's love with many of his students... we will be joining him in those classes, building relationships with the students outside of the class, bringing them to our apartment, having movie nights, going to coffee shops etc. as well as visiting some orphanages in the surrounding villages amongst other things.

So that's where we are, what we are doing. It is now month 7, over halfway done, on the back side of things, but still a lot of learning, and growing to go. I still need about $1200 to finish of the support raising, so if you are reading this and feel a little tug to give you can still do that by clicking the link on the left side of this page. Thanks to everyone for all your prayers and encouragement it is felt out here in big ways.

love. obedience.

life's a dance...

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Well as you can tell Dan's country music is really starting to influence my life these days... not. I made this title only so I could change it; it should really go something more like this for me right now: life's a 1950's model wooden roller coaster and I am getting thrown all over the place.

Why you ask is your life like a 1950's model wooden roller coaster? Good question. I suppose I will compare it to different parts of the afore-mentioned roller coaster. First I will say that there are definitely good parts, just like that first invigorating drop on the Timberwolf... Ministry is great this month, we have been going to different believers houses and encouraging them, and hearing awesome testimonies. We are also staying in the Himalayan Mountains, so besides the chill in the air it is an absolutely gorgeous place.

But. Just like on any good wooden coaster after the drop comes the jerking, bumpy, "the safety devices in this thing are still up to code with the 50's" parts of the ride. As I am sure a lot of you heard our amazing sister and leader Lindsay headed back to the states at the beginning of this month. There was the first bump. So without a leader someone was asked to step up into that position... and that person was me. Now I know the Lord called me to this position, and I am confident that He is going to (and already is) grow/teach/stretch/refine me through this new responsibility. That doesn't make it any easier of a jerky left hand turn on this here roller coaster of a life. And then there is another awesome drop that makes you forget about what your body just went through, and that is going out to a village and praying for people to be healed, and seeing their faith and hunger for more of the Lord. But it seems that just as soon as it started, that drop is over and you are suddenly smelling the faint hint of the vomit of the last person who rode this ride just a little too quickly after eating that delicious ham sandwich for lunch...

Hopefully this isn't too depressing of a post, just sharing my feelings and how life seems to be going right now. I know it is a season, and seasons pass, and again it isn't all bad or tough, but those times definitely seem to be making their presence known a lot right now. I will leave you with a little encourager that I have been passing on to a lot of the believers here, and consequently hearing a lot in my own quiet times with the Lord.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you

and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Jeremiah 29:11

Nothing to worry about.

love. obedience.

The biggest schmogesborg of crazy people, funny stories, awesome experiences, and random events I can remember from the past 6 months.

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

So I decided as we come to the halfway point in the trip I would do a little recap of things. This will in no way be exhaustive, only what I can remember at this moment, but I hope you enjoy and it gives you a little picture of how things go when you travel the world for 11 months going to a new country each month,,,

if someone asks you to go white water rafting in the Philippines I would suggest respectfully declining, because chances are good that you will be doing less white water rafting, and more sitting in a old canoe while some middle aged locals paddle you around complaining about how much you weigh and spending over 50% of the time standing in ankle deep water jumping from rock to rock pushing the boat... unless you are into that, in which case you should go for it.
if you have an opportunity to go into squatter villages do it. They are some of the most welcoming people I have met. They were hungry for the love of Jesus, and some of the people we met in month one are still commenting on our blogs, even though they have next to nothing and it costs money to use the internet,.
if you are ever on a 30 hour train ride across mainland china try to get a bed in the middle of the car unless you enjoy waking up to the sound of every asian on the the train hawking their morning phlegm into the sink directly opposite your paper thin walls. (ps also try to stay away from anyone named Braedon Tabor as those people apparently get train sick and have been known to throw up on their bunkmates/teammates)
if you ever desire to know what famous actors/musicians etc feel like feel free to go to a high school in mainland China. No need to get permission, just walk right in and the crowds will swarm. If you want to go into a classroom and sing the Titanic theme song that is fine, the teacher will most likely leave the room because they are embarrassed, and every child will know the words to that song, so they will sing along.
noodles, dumplings. No other food need be mentioned when no one else speaks any English, so prepare your stomachs.
mountain hiking is a fun adventure when up north near Tibet. Don't forget your black asian dress shoes, those seem to be par for the course when enjoying this activity.
when jumping across the pond to head to Africa make sure you bring your dull knives, they come in handy when slaughtering your own goat for dinner. A little extra sawing, but it gets the job done.
no need to take any of the meat from the bone when cooking, and if you happen to have just big pieces of bone, go ahead and throw that in the pot also.
ugali. Look it up.
bring your dancing shoes, African worship is a full body experience, and it will change the way you worship the Lord forever, in a good way.
if you ever hear the words "in fact it is not far" it is a dirty lie. Don't agree to walking that distance unless you like marathons.
one six passenger bus in Africa = at least 25 people on board. Period.
one bicycle = at least 3 people and maybe a few live chickens hanging upside down from the handle bars.
rafting the Nile is by far one of the top 3 scariest things I have ever done. As we stared into the water at the last rapid we were about to go into, affectionately named "the bad place" and I was legitimately trying to think of ways I could talk our guide out of going through it you know things are bad. We survived and I of course immediately after made fun of all the "weenies" that went around it because they were too scared, but now you all know the truth.
don't stop praying the sick to be healed, we prayed for a man in the hospital three days in a row that hadn't opened his eyes in 6 months, and on the third day he opened his eyes! Praise the Lord
don't be discouraged if you don't see immediate results we prayed for hundreds of other people who weren't immediately healed, but I trust the healing will come in the Lord's time.
if you go visit the Maasai tribe look out for the fresh cow's milk. It is really fresh. Like right out of the cow fresh. Yikes.
also, if they offer yoghurt I recommend politely saying no thank you, unless you like sour milk with a strong hint of smoked sausage, because that is what you will get.
traditional tribal decorations on your arm is cool. Sorry mom =)
saying goodbye to a sister after 5 months is a very difficult thing to do, but knowing that the Lord has called her somewhere else makes is a bit easier. Love you Lindsay.
putting on a bigger coat is also not easy, but nobody wants to wear a coat that fits perfectly, then there is no room to grow. (spiritual coat of course)
in India a head nod up and down means no, and side to side means yes.
our second day in India during church I saw my first demon manifestation while a group of us guys were praying for a man. Not as scary as you would think, but definitely proves the legitimacy of spirits in case you were unsure.
funny that the first demon I saw came after leaving Africa where all we heard about beforehand was how it was everywhere there.
curry + my belly = lots of practice on the squatty potty. I am officially a professional, although I still contend that it is impossible to get a complete number 2 finished when you are in the squatting position... too many folds in the belly stopping the free flowing.
showing in most third world countries consistes of a bucket and some cold water. aka showing is optional.
shaving your beard is also optional, or in my case not shaving is mandatory.

So that is just a small touch of my life the past 6 months, there is so much more, the Lord is so good and has shown Himself in so many ways. Hope you enjoyed, feel free to heed some of this advice the next time you travel around the globe.

love. obedience.

Tanzania

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

hmmm... so i have been in Tanzania for two weeks now, and i can honestly say it has probably been the longest two weeks of the trip thus far. we have been doing mostly the same ministry as we did the past two months, not really working any harder hours or anything like that, so i am not sure why i am feeling so exhausted at the end of the day. maybe it is just the fact that we have been in Africa for three months now, doing the same thing in each country, and it is month five, so all remnants of a honeymoon stage have worn off, who knows?

none the less, in spite of everything the Lord is still so good, and is still faithful in teaching me new things, and i still wake up every morning and thank Him that I have the oppurtunity to be waking up in some country outside of the USA. I have been worshipping with music (mainly me playing guitar either by myself or with others) everyday this month. before we left our last debrief Cindy said she felt like that was something i needed to do this month, and it has been so good. even if it is only a single song when i wake up, i definitely have been close to the Lord in new ways through that constant worship in my life.

here in Tanzania we have been doing lots of door to door, we have church three times a week, we have gone to a couple different schools and colleges, and spent a few days at a disabled camp. the disabled camp is a government run facility (sort of kept running by the government) where people with major disabilities can live, get fed, and basically stay out of the way of functioning society from what I can tell. the problem is the government really doesn't give them enough money for ample food, or rooms, or a kitchen, etc... so the people that are staying there, who are supposed to stay there all the time, instead go out to the streets and beg, so they can use that extra money for food, or whatever else they want to buy. we went there two days, and got to pray with people and encourage them, and it was a good time, there was definitely some awesome older men there that had quite the ornery (sp?) streak in them.

love. obedience.

Nelson Mandela

Sat, 7 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

no not the African leader that you are thinking of, this one is more of a future leader. a few weeks ago while i was still in Uganda i asked the Lord to show me someone, or something, or somewhere that I could go where I would see more of Him. well He answered that prayer in the Lira hospital, with a 7 year old boy named Nelson. He likes to be called Mandela, so that is what everyone at the hospital yells when they want his attention. He has the ability to put a smile on everyone's face on those hospital grounds with just a smile of his own. with that smile he also grabbed a hold of my heart with both hands and held on tight... so tight that when i had to leave him for the last time he effectively ripped out a large piece of it with those little 7 year old vice grips that he calls hands.

this video will show and tell you more about Nelson and his condition, but I want to finish by sharing what the Lord taught me through my three days with him. He taught me the difference between faith and trust. you see i have faith that the Lord can heal Nelson, and I had and still have faith that everytime i pray for him the Lord will heal his body. but the difference is when i left that hospital, i immediately started thinking of the quickest way i could get Nelson's story to Oprah so she could throw some of the ridiculous amounts of money she has at him and get him all the medical attention that he needs. so i realized at that point all the faith i had when i was praying was gone, and suddenly i was trusting in Oprah's (or whoever's i could find) money, and not the sovreignty of the Lord. I have to have faith and trust that the Lord can heal him, and trust that no matter what happens it is all God's will. so please join me in praying for Nelson, and having faith that the Lord can and will heal his body, but also trusting that no matter what happens, God's will is being done, and it is what is best for Nelson.

love. obedience.

team Lunchbox

Tue, 3 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

so i am late as usual with the info on things going down in these parts... (sorry mom) buuuuuuuuuuutttt... we got new teams.

we were informed before Uganda that there might be some changes coming up and sure enough there were. It was a bit tough to handle at first, because team Karis really was my first love on the world race, but we all are trusting that the Lord knows what He is doing, and we really aren't splitting up the family, just making it a bit bigger.

so i am now a proud member of team lunchbox, and we are taking around that bread of life and sharing some holy water with everyone we meet... there are a few new links up on the side for my new teammates, and of course keep praying for all my Karis family as well. Tanzania is going well, we just got in yesterday, so i will be posting some more info on that soon, love you all, miss you all.

love. obedience.

faithful in the little things?

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

So I was sitting under a mango tree reading my bible today (what a great way to be able to open a blog) and as I was reading Luke 19 the parable of the ten servants really convicted me. I am sure most of you have read the story before, the rich nobleman has to take a journey, so he leaves ten pounds of silver to ten of his servants. You only hear about three of them from here on out, one makes a profit of ten times as much as was left with him, another 5 times as much, and the third simply buries the treasure because he knows the nobleman is a hard man and doesn't like losing money, so he doesn't want to risk losing what was given him. In the end the ten pounds of silver that he buried is taken away from him and given to the servant who made the biggest profit...

Now I in no way look at God as a greedy nobleman who hates losing money, but I do see Him as a loving father who gives good gifts to His children. The conviction came to me in the form of which servant have I been lately. Am I getting God ten times the return on the gifts He has given me? 5 times? Or am I simply burying His gifts because I am too scared to use them?

I am in the middle of Africa. That is a big gift! I gave teammates who love me and encourage me daily to be more like Christ. Another huge gift! I am meeting new pastors, going on door to door evangelism, visiting different churches almost daily, how many more gifts can I get?!

So again the question, am I being faithful with these gifts, and making a Kingdom profit, or am I simply going along, shaking hands, smiling at some kids, and heading home?

What are you doing with the gifts God is giving you? Are you being faithful with the little things, because I promise He wants to give you more. And if not are you prepared to have those gifts taken away and given to someone who will use them in big ways?

love. obedience.

bus rides and marriage auctions.

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

so last post is definitely going to be a tough one to top, but I guess I have to try. We are in Uganda after a 12 hour bus-ride from Kaptagat, Kenya to Kampala, Uganda. We were supposed to spend one night in Kampala and then head to Lira, but because of illness running around (not me, don't worry mom) we stayed for three days. Then we hopped on another bus and headed to Lira on the 6^th... that was a fun bus-ride mainly because of the numerous stretches of road that had speed-bumps every 10 yards for a good mile or two. Yuck. Especially when you are sitting in a jump seat at the front of the bus because there aren't enough seats for everyone and your knees are against the front dash when riding normal, and smashing against that dash every bump. Complaining? Nah, just sharing some fun points of African travel days =)

so we arrived in Lira, and spent the first few days painting a school, or harvesting corn. The ministry that we are working with has started two schools, and has a large farming program. A couple of us also spent Saturday working with about 100 kids that the church has partnered with Compassion international to sponsor, put through school, feed, etc...

we also had the privilege of attending a traditional African wedding yesterday after service. Weddings and marriage in general seem to be somewhat of a theme for our squad lately. In Kenya the pastor that we were staying with prophesied that someone from our squad would be married within a year of leaving the race. Yikes. (not me again, sorry mom) so then during church announcement time rolled around and the first announcement was pointing out the couple in the church that was just back from their honeymoon. This was followed by lots of cheering, dancing, clapping, and upbeat music while the couple stood up awkwardly and people ran up and hugged them etc. then came the next announcement, announcing that so and so were engaged! This set off another round of music, cheering, dancing, and a rumba line of the worship team going and getting the couple and bringing them on stage. The pastor than congratulated them, and proceeded the congregation to not look at them as single anymore, so any guys that had any ideas about the girl or vice a versa better just forget about it.

Think that is the end of it? Of course not, after the couple sat down then the pastor decided to talk about how anyone who was single and wanted to get married was going to, so open your eyes, and refocus your binoculars, because that special someone might be around, and in fact they might be one of these wonderful white people up front! Wait a minute... What did he just say?! Oh yeah, pastor was getting ready to auction us off hahahahaha.

That was it though, and we didn't get any marriage proposals yet. So things are good. There hasn't been running water in the boys house, so I may not have showered since the day after Christmas... maybe. =) love you all, thanks again for your prayers and support, they are felt out here in big ways!

love. obedience.

so i jumped in a Kenyan river after Cindy fell in...

Sun, 4 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Interesting title, and I am sure you are wondering what it means. Well it means that on Sunday after church Cindy, Katie, Patrick and I went to look at a waterfall, and as we were crossing and re-crossing the river downstream from the waterfall we came to a part that was a bit wider than the rest, and the current was a bit stronger than the others, and the girls were a bit more hesitant to cross than before. So I nimbly hopped across (ha) and held out my hand to help Katie across first. She decided it would be better for Cindy to go first, so she backed up and here came Cindy. She waited awhile, weighed her options and decided against crossing as well. Here comes the problem in the story. As Cindy was backing away from the rushing water both feet slipped out from under her and in to the water she went. Her head was immediately pulled under and away she went. I was standing there and tried to grab her as she went in, but unsuccessfully only grabbed a bit of her shirt which was immediately pulled from my grip. So I did what any good brother would do and jumped in headfirst after her without really thinking about how smart that would be. Cindy grabbed for any rocks she could get hold of, and I grabbed for her, and eventually she got a rock, and I got her, and we were safe in a small pool only about 15 feet away from where she fell in, and really only 20 seconds or so had passed. With the exception of a few bruises on our knees, we were both only a bit cold and shaken, but not seriously hurt at all. Praise the Lord.

So now you are asking yourself why is he writing this blog, is he really that prideful and wants to toot his own horn that much? I can assure you the answer to that is no. I learned a lot of things about myself, the Lord, and what it means to love in that 20 seconds. Seeing the absolute terror on Cindy's face as her head went under the water is something that I never care to see again. It made it so easy to not think for even half a second about myself, all I cared about at that moment was getting her. Because I care about her. Because she is my sister and I love her. Those of you that know me, know that I don't use the "L" word much. I tell my family I love them, and I love a good California burrito, but beyond that I am not much of an "I love you" kind of guy. So Cindy and I got out of the water and the adrenaline started to wear off, and suddenly I had a strong urge to cry. I mean really cry. Like shoulders bouncing, can't breathe sobs rolling out uncontrollably. Again for those of you who know me I am not much of a crier either. It is well known in my family that "the Clayton men cry over the yellow pages," but I don't think that starts happening until at least 40, so while I am expecting it to happen one day, I don't think I am quite there yet.

So why did I have this urge to cry, and why did I jump in that river without thinking twice? Well after a few days of thinking and processing it I have realized that I am beginning to love a lot more than I ever have. Because I am learning so much about the Lord's love for me, I am gaining to ability to love others without fear. I am slowly beginning to feel the urge to tell my teammates that I do love them. Because I do. Because God is giving me that ability through showering His love on me. Once we let God start really loving on us, and showing us His love, even those of us with the hardest hearts, who never cry, and never tell people we love them, start feeling strong urges to cry, and tell people we love them, because we realize that we really do love those people around us. They really do mean that much to us. But before I can love others, and care about them so much that the thought of losing them in a river causes me to jump in after them in my Sunday clothes, without taking half a second to think about my own safety, and then want to cry when they are safe, and actually tell them that I love them, I have to first really receive the love of my Heavenly Father.

So my encouragement to anyone reading this is receive. Jesus wants to love you. Our Daddy in heaven wants to show us that He would/will/and has done so much more for us than jump in a stupid Kenyan river. He gave his Son to die on a cross. For you.

love. obedience.

the fine print

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

I got a little time on my hands this morning, since I stayed home from church with what the Kenyan's call a runny stomach (diarrhea), so I figured I would expound a bit on what went down in China...

Chiner (as the locals pronounced it) was a tough month. My team was alone in northern china as close to Tibet as we were allowed to go. We went to 5 different cities, one for only a night in transit, and the other four for anywhere from 3-6 days depending on how we were received, the opportunities we had to minister there, and what we felt like the Lord was telling us as a team. We were warned before we got into mainland that we would be followed almost everywhere we went by the secret police. Sure enough, immediately after arriving in our first city we got our first two followers (we called them bogey's). They travelled on the same buses we were on, stayed in the same hotels, and pretty much made us paranoid about everything we did for the first week.

We didn't leave our hotel much in that city, spending around 20 hours a day in the room, and when we did leave to get food, it was only three at a time, leaving the other three to watch the stuff on our rooms. This also happened to be the only hotel we stayed at that didn't have any showers, and the toilets were communal squatty potties down the hall and around the corner. Needless to say this was the hardest part of the month for us. We would spend three of four hours together in the morning praying, worshiping (quietly), and reading the word as a team. Then three of us (two ladies and a guy) would head out to get some food. This was a task in itself since no one spoke any English, literally none, and we knew about three words in Mandarin. We had a cheat sheet with some foods on it, so we did okay with the point and pray method. After we ate our lunch we headed back to the hotel and let the other group go out. Then we spent the remainder of the day in the hotel room doing different things, hanging out, more reading, or trying to translate all the crappy Chinese sitcoms that played constantly on TV.

The second city we went to was my favorite, because Tangi met a friend on the bus who spoke a little English, and in turn led us to meet more English speakers. She happened to be a 17 high-school student, and through her we also got to visit our first school, and of course become the aforementioned rockstars. In this city we met and became friends with a couple named Peter and Laura. Laura was an English teacher at a middle school, and Peter was a Chinese teacher at a different school. Laura spoke very good English, and Peter's wasn't too bad, so with them we actually branched out from our noodle diet a couple nights, and got to see some cool parts of the city. We also visited both of their schools, and were paraded in front of class after class for question and answer sessions, and in front of the entire school one evening to watch "Son of the Mask" (the awful sequel to the Jim Carrey movie "Mask" that the students somehow found hilarious).

Our third city was sketchville. After arriving at our hotel room, some man showed up, came in our room, sat on the arm of the chair I was in (even though there were open spots on the sofa) place his hand on my upper thigh (this is culturally acceptable between men, weird for me) and started talking to us as if we were old friends... in broken English of course. He took us out to lunch, and proceeded to tell Braedon and me how dangerous the city was, that the people were bad, and that we should be careful. Crap. He left us after lunch and we never saw him again. We did meet a different man on the bus that took us around that city, showed us the Buddhist temple, and took us for a day trip up into some nearby mountains. We didn't leave our hotel rooms after dark in this city, and cut our stay short from the intended six days, to three days because we just didn't feel safe or that the Lord wanted us there any longer.

Finally we headed back to the main city that we would meet back up with some other teams before we headed to Beijing for some sightseeing and relaxing. We were the first team back, so we visited our main contacts, encouraged them as much as we could, did some much needed laundry, and ate food that we couldn't even dream of for the past three weeks. It is amazing how good dairy and cereal sounds when you have only seen noodles and dumplings for a month.

So in the end the Lord was faithful. I spend more time in the word than I ever have in my life. The Lord put a hunger in my for the Bible that I didn't feel I would ever satisfy while in those hotel rooms. I of course didn't understand why He was filling my up so much when I couldn't do anything with it, but hindsight is 20/20, and now I am in Africa, and being asked to preach with 20 minutes notice, give people words of encouragement for the Bible, etc, and I have a lot of stuff stored up from that time in China. Praise God.

Hope this wasn't too long for some of you, and that it at least started to satisfy others. I love you all, thank you so much for all your prayers and support! I would not be here if it wasn't for you. I still have some money to raise, so if you feel like the Lord is asking you to give, you can still donate by clicking the link to the left. Thank you again, I know that the Lord is going to bless each one of you for your continued support as He is blessing me out here.

love. obedience.

this is Kenya...

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

So I have to apologize for the double post action, that is what happens when I only go to the internet caf once a week, and it is African internet, so anything you do takes 5 times longer than normal...

Anyways. Africa. Kenya. Gnarly. It is hard to even put it all into words, but I am going to do my best, and through in some pictures to help supplement things where necessary. Week one in Kenya consisted of door to door evangelism in the morning, and open air meetings in the evening. Door to door was something I was nervous about in the beginning, but ended up being amazing. Cindy and I went out with a Kenyan pastor (Titus) and figured since he spoke Swahili and we didn't, we would support him in prayer, and occasionally if someone understood English we might throw in a word or two... WRONG. The first two ladies we met Titus was chatting away in Swahili, I was thinking about who knows what, and out of nowhere he turns to me, tells me the woman are already saved, and opens the floor for me to encourage them with a word from the Lord. Ha. That is what I get for thinking we weren't going to do much. And that is how it went for the next week, Titus talked to people whose houses he invited us into, then he turned to Cindy or I and told us if the people were saved or not. After that it was either taking them down the "Romans Road," and presenting the Gospel, or encouraging them with scriptures, or things we felt like the Lord was giving us for them. My two favorite experiences from that time were the morning we walked around a corner to a hill where 100+ people were doing laundry, collecting water, etc, Titus began to yell at them all in Swahili, gathered most of them right in front of us then turned to me and said, "brother, the Holy Spirit has gathered this crusade for us, give them the word." Ahhhhhhh was of course my initial reaction, but then I remembered that the Lord was going to speak not me, and as I opened my Bible to Matthew 5, and went for the beatitudes, Cindy confirmed me saying that was the passage the Lord had just then laid on her heart, and we went for it.

The other was another day when we encountered a woman who was muslim, and after about half an hour of talking with her she was accepting the Lord into her heart, not knowing exactly what she was going to do when her husband got home (her Muslim husband), but trusting that Jesus was going to take care of her. There are so many more stories I could share from last week, salvations, praying for healing, and just seeing the Lord work in crazy awesome ways.

The open air meetings consisted of the three teams that are together here in Eldorete and some Kenyan pastors going to an open field area and plugging in some big speakers, a keyboard, and two microphones, and making as much noise as possible for 30-45 minutes until we have a big crowd of (mostly drunk) people wondering what is going on. Then we do some more worship, give a couple testimonies, preach the Gospel, and then pray for people who come forward needing either specific prayer requests, or who want to be saved. One night we did a drime (drama/mime thingy to music) that showed Jesus being crucified, two demons tying a girl up, and then Jesus breaking free from the cross, the demons dying, and the girl being set free. It is powerful to say the least, and this night there was a lot of spiritual warfare going on already. I was playing Jesus (no jokes necessary) and as I was being nailed to the cross something happened that is still hard for me to explain. Basically from my feet to my stomach slowly started to go numb. It started in my feet and crept up my body until it got to my stomach and stopped. I literally could not move my feet until the part of the skit where Jesus breaks off the cross, and then I was fine. It was an incredibly weird experience, and right as I could move a hysterical drunk woman carrying a baby burst from the crowd and threw herself into my arms crying... I just kept going with the skit and a couple pastors pulled her away and led her to the side where some of the amazing girls on the squad prayed with her. All in all it was an intense night, and definitely the most tangible attack from the devil that I have ever felt.

So this has turned into a small book and I am going to go ahead and end it here, this week we are doing a pastor's conference at the church, with 5 sessions a day, worship before each session, and a workshop somewhere in there as well. I know it is going to be awesome, please pray for energy for the team, as some people are feeling tired already. I love you all, thank you so much for all your prayers and support! I would not be here if it wasn't for you. I still have some money to raise, so if you feel like the Lord is asking you to give, you can still donate by clicking the link to the left. Thank you again, I know that the Lord is going to bless each one of you for your continued support as He is blessing me out here.

love. obedience.

all together now...

Mon, 8 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

one big collective sigh... ahhhhhhhh! so in case you were wondering we survived China. it was an interesting month to say the least. we were rockstars in Chinese high-schools, a circus parade in small towns that had obviously never seen white people in real life, we ate more noodles and dumplings that i ever want to mention again, we stayed in hotels that only cost $13 a night for a reason =)

but God is good. we did what we were supposed to. we grew as a team, and as individuals. we met friends, we saw snow, we climbed mountains, and then we ate some more noodles.

and now we are in Africa. and a little part of me feels home. we are ministering in a city called Eldoret, working with a pastor here. his main ministry is to street children around his church. yesterday was our first Sunday, and Pastor William told me at 8 AM when i asked him what he was preaching on that he wasn't. all he was going to do was stand up and say world race, then it was all up to us. ha. so guess who got to preach in his first African church service. you got it. and of course the Lord provided. and the gospel was shared. and 20+ men came up to receive Christ. and i am not going to guess whether they were just coming up so they could get a good meal after. i am just trusting the message of God's love for them penetrated their hearts. and they are going to be men of God, and pastors, and missionaries, and people who don't go back to the glue that gets them high, or the alcohol that gets them drunk...

so things are great here. i miss you all. God is good. happy thanksgiving. (we ate pizza) merry christmas. pictures soon, although as you can imagine the African internet is not as speedy as some would expect.

love. obedience.

see you on thanksgiving

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

headed out for nothing but chopsticks and noodles for the next month. consequently i will not be posting any blogs, checking e-mails, having internet, communicating with the outside world etc... =)

please keep my team in prayer. it is going to be an intense month.

please continue to pray about supporting me financially, i still have a little left to go. (check out support me link on left side of page)

can't wait to share amazing stories around thanksgiving when i am back in communication.

love. obedience.

Sabbath

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

"For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." Exodus 20:11

today is team Karis's day of sabbath. so what does that mean? when we only have a month in each country how can we really afford to take an entire day off once a week and not be sharing the love of Christ with the people here? easy. if we aren't taking a sabbath, what are we giving the people? ourselves. not God. so today i am resting. reading. blogging. listening to music. eating. and i feel the Lord rejuvenating me, and it is beautiful.

don't forget to rest. fill up on the Lord. let Him fill your cup to overflowing so He can spill on people and not you.

love. obedience.

The Cut Through Video

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

here is a video of the before and after work done on the cut through path that team Karis and some others worked on for the first week of ministry in the Philippines. the Lord totally blessed the work, and provided workers who knew what they were doing, supplies, safety and the oppurtunity to not only build a sidewalk, but to form relationships with people in the community as well.

love. obedience.

pray on,

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

so it's funny how the Lord takes one thing and turns it into another. today i wanted to take some cute litte pictures of kids wearing a whistle that a friend gave me, so he could put them on his website. innocent enough motives, but somewhat selfish... well as He usually does, the Lord had a different idea. Cindy and i went to the tunnel. pictured below is the entrance to the tunnel, with a few photos from inside.

some young adults that live in the squatter community inside the tunnel

farther down the path that leads into the "houses" of the community.

so once inside the tunnel we met up with jason, a man who lives with his mother and sister in the community. he speaks decent english, so he has appointed himself as our tour guide whenever we come in. as soon as we got inside he took us to the house of two very old ladies, and told us about the help they needed. Olga and Basing are both easily in their 80's, have no income for food, no immediate family to support them, many health problems, and probably weigh 100 lbs between the two of them. Jason told us they hadn't eaten since yesterday, and were only eating once a day. Olga has one eye that is clouded over and obviously doesn't work, and Basing has just gotten out of the hospital for lung problems. they cook inside the house, so it is smokey from the charcoal, and there is no airflow whatsoever. Cindy and I both felt a need to get them some food, so we gave Jason 100 peso;s (a little over $2) and he bought them two Kilo's of rice, some sardines, and some noodles. then we got to pray over them. they were so thankful, both cried, and could not stop thanking us. it was amazing to see the Lord work through us, even though we could not speak their language, understand what they said, we could pray for them, and i truly believe they understood that more than bringing them food, we were showing them the love of the Father, who has not forgotten them, when it seems everyone else has.

then it was time for some more...

This is Mario and his family (with our tour guide Jason to the right). This family is a light in a dark place. the entire community in the tunnel has a fairly dark feeling to it, with lots of perversion, drunkeness, and laziness exuding whenever you walk in. This family is going to, by the blood of Jesus, change that community. Mario used to have a men's bible study that he led, and we are praying he is able to start another one. His granddaughter (the one in the middle with the bandage on her forehead) is sick, and they recently took her to a "spiritual doctor." he told them that she had a curse on her because another family member was mad at them and put it on her. when they told us this, Cindy immediately felt like we needed to pray for her, so we sat down with the family, and laid hands on her. as Jason translated Cindy led her through the salvation prayer, and then boldly asked the Lord to heal her, and in the name of Jesus for any evil spirits that had been cast on her to leave! we prayed for awhile over each member of the family, asking the Lord to bless Mario, the head of the family, and everyone else as they minister to the people in the tunnel. i am excited to see what the Lord is going to do through this family, please keep them in your prayers, as the devil will definitely be on the attack as they boldly shine brightly for Jesus in that dark place.

and of course one cute little girl who was thoroughly confused by the double flash on my camera...

love. obedience.