Saturday, December 08, 2007
more pics
ok, so this is giving me problems and it is hard to write notes on each of these pics, so unfortunately, for now, they are title-less!
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Monday, August 27, 2007
Goodbye Chaka (RIP), Hello Kayla!!!
Our dear little kitty went missing (we think an owl got her), but our sadness didn't last long, as my dad brought home a 13 week old German Shepherd dog, Kayla on saturday. She is so sweet and adorable!!!
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Russia Recap
I don't even know where to begin telling about Russia! But I do know that I want to make sure that you know that our God is amazing and faithful and He worked miracle after miracle while we were gone!
I will start at the beginning. I am sure I won't get far tonight, so stay tuned!
We left Spokane a bright Friday morning, sometime in June....the 15th I think. We had four guitars (I think), a djembe (it's a drum), a snare drum, a violin, and other misc backpacks as carry-ons. They didn't make us check the instruments, for which we were very grateful. When we went to board, the ones carrying the guitars walked up (yours truly included) and tried to board with first class. Nick walked through without a problem, and then they stopped me and made a comment about boarding later. I said something about hoping to be able to board b/c of the guitars and he looked at the rest of us and finally let us board early! Yay! I sat next to a Christian man and we had a nice chat. Nick and Julie were able to encourage a man (likely a believer) to start going to church again. We flew to Chicago and we witnessed another miracle with boarding. Now, before I tell that story, I have to explain about my backpack. It was HUGE! I borrowed Shauns, b/c I had so much stinking stuff to carry on (pillow, spare clothes, what else....?) and it was a hiking backpack of sorts and was rather large. Rachel had the djembe on her back, and it was quite large and bulky as well. Because this flight was International, we were concerned they would not let us on with them. And we still had all those guitars. So, we were trying to hide in line, and look inconspicuous. Julie got pulled aside and they were making her check her carry on suitcase, b/c it was too big and then too heavy. Rachel and I were really trying then to hide. While they were dealing with her, they opened up for boarding and we walked on without a hitch, b/c they were distracted by Julie! Thanks Julie!
Oh, wonderful Lufthansa! Now, before I say my negative, let me say the positive: Lufthansa has great service and they feed you well, and often it seems. However, the plane we flew on for 8 hours had NO leg room. My knees literally were tight touching the seat in front of me as soon as I sat down. Not much room at all. Rachel and I tried to sleep on this flight, to avoid jet lag, but only rested for about three hours before we couldn't rest any more. We would prop up against each other and use each other for support as we rested. We finally relented to watching the two movies, b/c we couldn't sleep at all. We were sitting next to a dad and his daughter (also believers) on their way to Ehiopia to pick up two kids they were adopting! How fun and encouraging to talk to them!
Frankfurt was an interesting airport. NO drinking fountains. The faucets in the bathroom said drinking water, so we trusted that! Smoking is allowed in the airport, so you would have times when you would have to hold your breath and walk through a cloud of smoke coming from the smoking sections. We found a little coffee/pastry shop, but a cup of coffee was $7 or so, so we opted no!
Frankfurt to Moscow, God brought a friend named Victor our way. He was proving His faithfulness to us before we even got to Russia. Victor and his amazingly cute little two year old, Danilo, sat near a few of our team members. They all struck up a conversation and he too is a musician. He was super excited to meet us and we found out he too was headed for Arkhangelsk! Crazy! He said he was on the same flight and that he would help us in Moscow. We parted ways at landing and he came and found us after passport control. (There was no customs in Moscow, which was confusing to us, that after Passport control, we walked right out and no customs! yay!) He said he would meet up with us at the other airport in Moscow that we had to go to, and took off. Once we got to the second airport, he met us and helped us get all our luggage inside. We had tons of luggage, and he was such a servant helping us with all our stuff. Even though we had a contact in Moscow helping us, Victor helped beyond where Artiom could come. As we got to check in for the flight, Victor convinced them to not charge us the overage per bag that was over 44 pounds. That alone saved us a lot of money. Then, he took two of our action packers under his own name for us. That saved us more. We still had to pay for overages, but I think he probably saved us over a few hundred dollars. Praise the Lord!!!! We were so amazed at God's provision for us!
We got on our plane and realized that Russian flight standards are NOT what they are in America. The plane had rust on the wings, and literally stuff was breaking all over inside the plane. Course by this time we are all so tired that we didn't really care. We had been up for over 24 hours and were fighting exhaustion and nausea, so really, rust on wings? Who cares! We want to get to Arkhangelsk! I went to the restroom and was amazed at the "ghetto-ness" of it. Mostly wooden, a painted on toilet lid and reeking like an outhouse, it was an experience! It did feel more like an outhouse, than a airplane bathroom! :-)
We finally got to our destination, something like 36 hours after leaving Spokane. We were excited to meet Pastor Nikolay and excited to get to bed. We went to our home-stays and they made us dinner and then we crashed. Some of my team took showers. Mind you, the hot water had been turned off, so it was a cold shower! Not fun! I took mine in the morning and it was by far the coldest shower I have ever had in my life! The water was Arctic!
Church was the next morning and we were all fighting jet lag hard! It was a long day and we were very tired, but God's grace was so powerful and so evident, that it was sweet to watch Him work and sweet to recieve His grace and strength! Lunch was a funny story: Rachel and I were eating our soup and both wanted more, so got seconds on it. When we were most of the way done with seconds, Yanek looks at us and says: "You guys know there are two more courses, right?" We look at him in shock and were horrified, because we were mostly full by now! The main course was HUGE, and we as a team hardly made a dent in it! We learned that soup was the first course of a larger meal to come! (I LOVED the soups we had while in Russia! Yummy!)
After lunch, we had a meeting with the camp moms, the translators, and Nikolay to discuss details. We learned that we would have a lot more time to fill once we go to camp the first day that we had planned for. We had planned for two hours of activities once arriving at camp, and in reality, we were going to have five or six! We quickly came up with new plans for the day! This was one of the first of many times we had to be flexible and adjust! It was fun to meet the people who would be at camp with us. We realized already we had a lot of simliar names: Nikolay/Nick, Lilia/Leah, Ulyea/Julie, and Tanya/Tanya (We called her Totianna, so that we could be told apart more easily). We crashed again hard that night and were looking forward to meeting the kids the next morning and heading to camp.
Part Two to come later!
I will start at the beginning. I am sure I won't get far tonight, so stay tuned!
We left Spokane a bright Friday morning, sometime in June....the 15th I think. We had four guitars (I think), a djembe (it's a drum), a snare drum, a violin, and other misc backpacks as carry-ons. They didn't make us check the instruments, for which we were very grateful. When we went to board, the ones carrying the guitars walked up (yours truly included) and tried to board with first class. Nick walked through without a problem, and then they stopped me and made a comment about boarding later. I said something about hoping to be able to board b/c of the guitars and he looked at the rest of us and finally let us board early! Yay! I sat next to a Christian man and we had a nice chat. Nick and Julie were able to encourage a man (likely a believer) to start going to church again. We flew to Chicago and we witnessed another miracle with boarding. Now, before I tell that story, I have to explain about my backpack. It was HUGE! I borrowed Shauns, b/c I had so much stinking stuff to carry on (pillow, spare clothes, what else....?) and it was a hiking backpack of sorts and was rather large. Rachel had the djembe on her back, and it was quite large and bulky as well. Because this flight was International, we were concerned they would not let us on with them. And we still had all those guitars. So, we were trying to hide in line, and look inconspicuous. Julie got pulled aside and they were making her check her carry on suitcase, b/c it was too big and then too heavy. Rachel and I were really trying then to hide. While they were dealing with her, they opened up for boarding and we walked on without a hitch, b/c they were distracted by Julie! Thanks Julie!
Oh, wonderful Lufthansa! Now, before I say my negative, let me say the positive: Lufthansa has great service and they feed you well, and often it seems. However, the plane we flew on for 8 hours had NO leg room. My knees literally were tight touching the seat in front of me as soon as I sat down. Not much room at all. Rachel and I tried to sleep on this flight, to avoid jet lag, but only rested for about three hours before we couldn't rest any more. We would prop up against each other and use each other for support as we rested. We finally relented to watching the two movies, b/c we couldn't sleep at all. We were sitting next to a dad and his daughter (also believers) on their way to Ehiopia to pick up two kids they were adopting! How fun and encouraging to talk to them!
Frankfurt was an interesting airport. NO drinking fountains. The faucets in the bathroom said drinking water, so we trusted that! Smoking is allowed in the airport, so you would have times when you would have to hold your breath and walk through a cloud of smoke coming from the smoking sections. We found a little coffee/pastry shop, but a cup of coffee was $7 or so, so we opted no!
Frankfurt to Moscow, God brought a friend named Victor our way. He was proving His faithfulness to us before we even got to Russia. Victor and his amazingly cute little two year old, Danilo, sat near a few of our team members. They all struck up a conversation and he too is a musician. He was super excited to meet us and we found out he too was headed for Arkhangelsk! Crazy! He said he was on the same flight and that he would help us in Moscow. We parted ways at landing and he came and found us after passport control. (There was no customs in Moscow, which was confusing to us, that after Passport control, we walked right out and no customs! yay!) He said he would meet up with us at the other airport in Moscow that we had to go to, and took off. Once we got to the second airport, he met us and helped us get all our luggage inside. We had tons of luggage, and he was such a servant helping us with all our stuff. Even though we had a contact in Moscow helping us, Victor helped beyond where Artiom could come. As we got to check in for the flight, Victor convinced them to not charge us the overage per bag that was over 44 pounds. That alone saved us a lot of money. Then, he took two of our action packers under his own name for us. That saved us more. We still had to pay for overages, but I think he probably saved us over a few hundred dollars. Praise the Lord!!!! We were so amazed at God's provision for us!
We got on our plane and realized that Russian flight standards are NOT what they are in America. The plane had rust on the wings, and literally stuff was breaking all over inside the plane. Course by this time we are all so tired that we didn't really care. We had been up for over 24 hours and were fighting exhaustion and nausea, so really, rust on wings? Who cares! We want to get to Arkhangelsk! I went to the restroom and was amazed at the "ghetto-ness" of it. Mostly wooden, a painted on toilet lid and reeking like an outhouse, it was an experience! It did feel more like an outhouse, than a airplane bathroom! :-)
We finally got to our destination, something like 36 hours after leaving Spokane. We were excited to meet Pastor Nikolay and excited to get to bed. We went to our home-stays and they made us dinner and then we crashed. Some of my team took showers. Mind you, the hot water had been turned off, so it was a cold shower! Not fun! I took mine in the morning and it was by far the coldest shower I have ever had in my life! The water was Arctic!
Church was the next morning and we were all fighting jet lag hard! It was a long day and we were very tired, but God's grace was so powerful and so evident, that it was sweet to watch Him work and sweet to recieve His grace and strength! Lunch was a funny story: Rachel and I were eating our soup and both wanted more, so got seconds on it. When we were most of the way done with seconds, Yanek looks at us and says: "You guys know there are two more courses, right?" We look at him in shock and were horrified, because we were mostly full by now! The main course was HUGE, and we as a team hardly made a dent in it! We learned that soup was the first course of a larger meal to come! (I LOVED the soups we had while in Russia! Yummy!)
After lunch, we had a meeting with the camp moms, the translators, and Nikolay to discuss details. We learned that we would have a lot more time to fill once we go to camp the first day that we had planned for. We had planned for two hours of activities once arriving at camp, and in reality, we were going to have five or six! We quickly came up with new plans for the day! This was one of the first of many times we had to be flexible and adjust! It was fun to meet the people who would be at camp with us. We realized already we had a lot of simliar names: Nikolay/Nick, Lilia/Leah, Ulyea/Julie, and Tanya/Tanya (We called her Totianna, so that we could be told apart more easily). We crashed again hard that night and were looking forward to meeting the kids the next morning and heading to camp.
Part Two to come later!
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Goodbye America, Hello Russia
I wanted to write a quick update for you all. We leave bright and
early tomorrow morning for Russia! Are we ready? I think we are all
packed, minus a few items I have to throw in one of the packs
tomorrow.
Please pray that we would trust God!! There are a lot of things that
will cause us to "freak out" and cause us to lose sight of our trust
and faith in Christ! He is the reason for this trip and we want to
gloriy Him in all we do and say! Thank you to all of you who have
committed to pray for us! We need those prayers. We will not really
have a whole lot of communication while there. When we are at camp, we
will have none. No cell phones, no internet. When we get back, we
might. So, we have to trust that God will prompt your hearts to pray
for us, because we cannot just jump on the internet and tell you that
we are doing great or that we are in bed sick, etc! :-) I am reminded
that the missionaries of old were in our situation and they trusted
God. We too, must trust God! I am excited about that, and also nervous
about it too! God is faithful and I am so glad!
It is cold in Russia and LONG days, ok, really no dark nights at all!
Pray that as we adapt to the culture and cold, and food, etc......
that Christ would be our strength and comfort. Pray that we would
refresh ourselves in the Word daily and that we would minister out of
the overflow of what Christ has done in our lives. Yes, we will be
teaching music, but as a platform to tell the kids that Christ died
for their sins. Yep, we will be doing skits, some serious and some
really funny, but all as a platform to love the kids and to show
Christ's love to them. Yes, we will be performing, but all to tell the
kids they need a Savior to rescue them from their sins and be their
King.
I will close for now. I am confident that God will get the glory from
this trip and am excited that I have such a huge number of you praying
for us on this journey!
Love, Tanya
oh, P.S. If we get stuck in Copenhagen, that is probably me. I am
trying to scheme up a way to "conveniently" miss our flight and get
stuck there for a few extra hours. I have not come up with too many
good ideas, one involves being "sick"........
early tomorrow morning for Russia! Are we ready? I think we are all
packed, minus a few items I have to throw in one of the packs
tomorrow.
Please pray that we would trust God!! There are a lot of things that
will cause us to "freak out" and cause us to lose sight of our trust
and faith in Christ! He is the reason for this trip and we want to
gloriy Him in all we do and say! Thank you to all of you who have
committed to pray for us! We need those prayers. We will not really
have a whole lot of communication while there. When we are at camp, we
will have none. No cell phones, no internet. When we get back, we
might. So, we have to trust that God will prompt your hearts to pray
for us, because we cannot just jump on the internet and tell you that
we are doing great or that we are in bed sick, etc! :-) I am reminded
that the missionaries of old were in our situation and they trusted
God. We too, must trust God! I am excited about that, and also nervous
about it too! God is faithful and I am so glad!
It is cold in Russia and LONG days, ok, really no dark nights at all!
Pray that as we adapt to the culture and cold, and food, etc......
that Christ would be our strength and comfort. Pray that we would
refresh ourselves in the Word daily and that we would minister out of
the overflow of what Christ has done in our lives. Yes, we will be
teaching music, but as a platform to tell the kids that Christ died
for their sins. Yep, we will be doing skits, some serious and some
really funny, but all as a platform to love the kids and to show
Christ's love to them. Yes, we will be performing, but all to tell the
kids they need a Savior to rescue them from their sins and be their
King.
I will close for now. I am confident that God will get the glory from
this trip and am excited that I have such a huge number of you praying
for us on this journey!
Love, Tanya
oh, P.S. If we get stuck in Copenhagen, that is probably me. I am
trying to scheme up a way to "conveniently" miss our flight and get
stuck there for a few extra hours. I have not come up with too many
good ideas, one involves being "sick"........
Sunday, May 20, 2007
meet chaka
this is Chaka, the newest member of the family. we got her for my mom on mother's day. she is the sweetest kitten I think we have ever had. she follows mom and dad around the house all the time and does not like to be left alone. she is just nine weeks old. she loves to be held and fall asleep on us! needless to say, my parents are spoiling the furr off of her and we all wonder: will she really be an outdoor cat???
Friday, May 04, 2007
cute picture
shaun's birthday was the other day and so in honor of him, i thought I would post this adorable picture of us. this is at a harvest party we went to this last fall. he is "white trash" and I am a molecule of chocolate (my roomies were molecules of caffeine and lactose, so together we were a mocha.) happy birthday, naush!
yay!! an assignment!!!
we had a great meeting last night and got our assignments for Russia! We leave in 6 weeks, probably from today! yikes! so exciting and yet at the same time, my tendancy is to panic when I think about it! I have been putting off dealing with my anxiousness and the last few days have been praying through my fears. There is only so long you can put off dealing with issues...so...please pray for me as I work through the anxieties in my heart. God is so good and He is faithful! I am so glad for that, because even though we could plan everything, all those plans could change!
so...I am in charge of the Drama portion of the trip. I need to come up with 10 skits, some that present the gospel, some that are just fun ice-breakers. Any ideas? Please feel free to pass along any skits you have done in the past or any ideas you have! the other thing that I am helping with is the Musical Instruction aspect of the trip. Matt, Nick and I are in charge of this portion together. I will keep you posted on what we are planning, but theory instruction, choral instruction, individual lessons, etc. are part of this.
the more we plan this trip, the more we are reminded that this is an exploratory trip. we are unsure of a lot of details and many of those questions we have, won't get answered until we are over there.
i would love prayers for the following areas as our trip gets closer and closer:
1. Team Unity. A praise so far is that we all get along so well and really enjoy spending time together, which is a huge blessing. Pray that we would all protect that as we continue to get to know each other and as we continue to serve together and serve each other. Pray that we would each be committed to humility and love. Pray that our hearts would be intent on the same purpose: proclaiming Jesus, and proclaiming His glory!
2. Flexibility. Pray that our hearts would be calm and that we would be resting and trusting in the Lord. like I said, the trip is a pioneering trip, and we will need to be flexible when things don't go the way we want. The Russian culture is more laid back than ours, so pray that we would adopt that same laid back attitude! :-)
3. Creativity. Pray that all the details would come together easily as we plan for all the different activities for camp.
4. Life in the mean time. As I look at the coming 6 weeks, I have a lot to accomplish, for Russia and for life in general! pray that i would be a good steward of my time, and that i would be diligent to remain in the Word, and to be diligent to keep serving my brothers and sisters!
Thank you so much for your prayers and support! I am so grateful!
so...I am in charge of the Drama portion of the trip. I need to come up with 10 skits, some that present the gospel, some that are just fun ice-breakers. Any ideas? Please feel free to pass along any skits you have done in the past or any ideas you have! the other thing that I am helping with is the Musical Instruction aspect of the trip. Matt, Nick and I are in charge of this portion together. I will keep you posted on what we are planning, but theory instruction, choral instruction, individual lessons, etc. are part of this.
the more we plan this trip, the more we are reminded that this is an exploratory trip. we are unsure of a lot of details and many of those questions we have, won't get answered until we are over there.
i would love prayers for the following areas as our trip gets closer and closer:
1. Team Unity. A praise so far is that we all get along so well and really enjoy spending time together, which is a huge blessing. Pray that we would all protect that as we continue to get to know each other and as we continue to serve together and serve each other. Pray that we would each be committed to humility and love. Pray that our hearts would be intent on the same purpose: proclaiming Jesus, and proclaiming His glory!
2. Flexibility. Pray that our hearts would be calm and that we would be resting and trusting in the Lord. like I said, the trip is a pioneering trip, and we will need to be flexible when things don't go the way we want. The Russian culture is more laid back than ours, so pray that we would adopt that same laid back attitude! :-)
3. Creativity. Pray that all the details would come together easily as we plan for all the different activities for camp.
4. Life in the mean time. As I look at the coming 6 weeks, I have a lot to accomplish, for Russia and for life in general! pray that i would be a good steward of my time, and that i would be diligent to remain in the Word, and to be diligent to keep serving my brothers and sisters!
Thank you so much for your prayers and support! I am so grateful!
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
here i come
busy busy busy....I look at the next two months and I see weeks full of a busy schedule, and it will only get much busier when I find out my assignment in ther preparation for Russia. Thursday we have a team meeting in which we will delegate all the things that need to happen and then we get cracking on it: with about two months to do all the prep. God is so faithful though and I am so glad that He is and that He is in charge, because without it, we would fail certainly. But, by His grace, and by His strength we will be able to do all that He has called us to. And then He gets all the glory for all the miracles! Yay!
We had college retreat this last weekend and the theme was holiness. The last message was amazing and such a challenge! We looked at holiness in a practical way and it has been really neat to see God bring to mind so many thoughts and attitudes this week that are unholy! Whew! I am pretty much an unholy person. Not that I didn't doubt that before. Pride is so quick to creep into my heart and I have been lazy in fighting against it! oh that I would want to be humble and want to be holy! yep, my heart is full of wants and desires and I have to fight for holiness. being holy is not easy. Yet, it cannot be in my strength that I can be holy! Yet, I have to be diligent to fight sin and to replace sinful thoughts with scripture.
Funny story (totally unrelated, but we celebrated Shaun's birthday today and this is one story that my dad told me): I was seven or eight when my dad shot a deer (if you are weak at the sight/talk of blood, you might want to skip this...) So, I go over to him and say, "Dad, I want to see it's lungs." No joke. So, he proceeds to give me a tour of this deer's insides (an autopsy as he put it)-liver, heart, lungs, valves, etc. etc. So, he says by the time we were done, I guess I had blood past my elbows. I am sure my mom was thrilled! Makes me laugh, I don't remember it at all, but apparently tis true. So, now you understand how I can talk about anything and everything while eating (I know, I know, I try not to, but hey, with this background, at least now you have a little insight into the insanities of my brain!)
Ok, sorry for the rabbit trail! I would love your prayers for me and my team as we prepare for Russia: we are running everything but the food for a ten day camp with 35 kids and three interpreters. I am teaching until the day before we leave and so would love prayer that in the midst of business and prepping and teaching and working, that my heart would rest in God's grace and that I would pursue holiness.
We had college retreat this last weekend and the theme was holiness. The last message was amazing and such a challenge! We looked at holiness in a practical way and it has been really neat to see God bring to mind so many thoughts and attitudes this week that are unholy! Whew! I am pretty much an unholy person. Not that I didn't doubt that before. Pride is so quick to creep into my heart and I have been lazy in fighting against it! oh that I would want to be humble and want to be holy! yep, my heart is full of wants and desires and I have to fight for holiness. being holy is not easy. Yet, it cannot be in my strength that I can be holy! Yet, I have to be diligent to fight sin and to replace sinful thoughts with scripture.
Funny story (totally unrelated, but we celebrated Shaun's birthday today and this is one story that my dad told me): I was seven or eight when my dad shot a deer (if you are weak at the sight/talk of blood, you might want to skip this...) So, I go over to him and say, "Dad, I want to see it's lungs." No joke. So, he proceeds to give me a tour of this deer's insides (an autopsy as he put it)-liver, heart, lungs, valves, etc. etc. So, he says by the time we were done, I guess I had blood past my elbows. I am sure my mom was thrilled! Makes me laugh, I don't remember it at all, but apparently tis true. So, now you understand how I can talk about anything and everything while eating (I know, I know, I try not to, but hey, with this background, at least now you have a little insight into the insanities of my brain!)
Ok, sorry for the rabbit trail! I would love your prayers for me and my team as we prepare for Russia: we are running everything but the food for a ten day camp with 35 kids and three interpreters. I am teaching until the day before we leave and so would love prayer that in the midst of business and prepping and teaching and working, that my heart would rest in God's grace and that I would pursue holiness.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Miracles???
So, my question today is why don't I trust God like I should? I have seen His faithfulness over and over and over and over again and yet my heart still is so stupid and forgetful! Last night we had an AMAZING team meeting and my heart was so refreshed to pray and hang out with my team. Also, I was reminded how much there is that has to happen before we can leave. And, my heart was reminded that God is going to have to move mountains to get us there! and to keep us there! :-) We have to raise a LOT of money in about a month! yikes!!! If I didn't serve the Creator God of the universe, I would be scared. But, I know that if God wants us to go, He is going to do a miracle! And that is exciting! It is an exciting place to be where we have to trust God and we have to rely on Him. We were reminded last night that we know nothing (still) of what we will be doing over there! We know that the campground has been reserved for June 18th-June 28th! And we are assuming we will have the same kids that whole time. We don't know if we will have interpreters. We don't know if the kids speak any Russian. We do know we don't speak much at all! But, that is a good spot to be in, because all we can do is let go and let God! We have to remain dependant on Him and He is going to keep us dependant on Him, whether we want to or not! God is good! He is going to get the most glory out of this trip as He can and He IS GOING TO EXALT HIMSELF!!! And I am so grateful that we get to be used to do just that!
So....just a note about the logistics of this trip. Slavic Gospel Association, whom we are partnering with, is sending us over there to pave the way! To pave the way for the next ten years and hopefully ministry teams each of those years. This is a pioneering adventure! The church that we are going over to minister with, has never done any camp of this sort. Well, neither have we, in the music aspect. We have done sports camps alot and English camps, but not music. So, as we are breaking ground, it is exciting to think that we are paving the way for many more people to go to Arkhangelsk and minister in the future.
22 hours of daylight! That is what we will be experiencing! And I guess that we will be in the Arctic Circle! I will probably see the White Sea, as Arkhangelsk is a port city on it! And, I will get to experience real jet lag! (I am trying to prepare myself now for that!) I am not sure what kind of food we will be eating, but my friend Matt and I decided we need to know how to clearly state that we are allergic to certain foods (fish for him, nuts for me) and make sure that Russians will understand us. If there is only one thing I will be able to say in Russian, then that will be it! Hopefully, I will be able to pick up some phrases before leaving to be able to use!
Please pray for us! We are so desperate for prayer! Here are some prayer requests that I would love prayer for:
1. Immediately, that funds would come in quickly and fully for our trip.
2. Team Unity: we have a great team, pray that we would love each other, and serve each other and protect untiy.
3. Pray that God would open communication once we get to Russia, for love and unity with believers, and love for and boldness with unbelievers.
4. That we would each be faithful now to be in the Word daily, walking submitted lives to Christ, and that we would be diligent to fight sin.
Thank you so much!
So....just a note about the logistics of this trip. Slavic Gospel Association, whom we are partnering with, is sending us over there to pave the way! To pave the way for the next ten years and hopefully ministry teams each of those years. This is a pioneering adventure! The church that we are going over to minister with, has never done any camp of this sort. Well, neither have we, in the music aspect. We have done sports camps alot and English camps, but not music. So, as we are breaking ground, it is exciting to think that we are paving the way for many more people to go to Arkhangelsk and minister in the future.
22 hours of daylight! That is what we will be experiencing! And I guess that we will be in the Arctic Circle! I will probably see the White Sea, as Arkhangelsk is a port city on it! And, I will get to experience real jet lag! (I am trying to prepare myself now for that!) I am not sure what kind of food we will be eating, but my friend Matt and I decided we need to know how to clearly state that we are allergic to certain foods (fish for him, nuts for me) and make sure that Russians will understand us. If there is only one thing I will be able to say in Russian, then that will be it! Hopefully, I will be able to pick up some phrases before leaving to be able to use!
Please pray for us! We are so desperate for prayer! Here are some prayer requests that I would love prayer for:
1. Immediately, that funds would come in quickly and fully for our trip.
2. Team Unity: we have a great team, pray that we would love each other, and serve each other and protect untiy.
3. Pray that God would open communication once we get to Russia, for love and unity with believers, and love for and boldness with unbelievers.
4. That we would each be faithful now to be in the Word daily, walking submitted lives to Christ, and that we would be diligent to fight sin.
Thank you so much!
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
90 Days
I leave for Russia in 90 days from tonight I am told. YIKES!!!! AHH!!!! Wow!!!!!! Despite those exclamations, I am in denial. It is not reality yet, probably won't be until I am there, I realize. However, my heart starts to pump harder when I think about going. I am so excited! I am scared to death at the same time. We are teaching music. We are living with the kids, ages 9-14, for a week, 5 hours outside of the city. We are in charge of running the whole camp. We might be performing in the city some. And, that is what we know! Oh, yeah, June 18th-July 11th. $3000 ish dollars to raise. Ok, now that is it, that is what we know. Not much more. Crazy you might say. And yet, at the same time that my heart starts to FREAK OUT, I remember, God is good, God is sovereign, GOD IS IN CONTROL!! That is me yelling at myself to remind myself. Christ will be exalted. No matter what. And that is what I have to remember, as we get ready. We could make all the plans in the world and they could all be trashed when we get there. So, I rest in the fact that God is good and He is going to be exalted and He is going to keep us humble. And He is going to keep us dependant. And that thrills my heart to realize. I have not even left and God is working in my heart (and hopefully my team's hearts) to remember that we are nothing without His strength. However, at the same time, I would beg for your prayers! We cannot do this on our own. We need the prayers of His saints! I would love prayer for the following:
1. That my heart's focus would be Christ's exaltation
2. Team unity
3. Humility and Dependance on the Lord
4. Communication to open up with the pastor
5. Financially, that the money we need will be raised quickly and fully
I am going to Russia! Yeah, still a crazy thought! Yet, Lord Willing, I will be there in a little over three months. I would appreciate your prayers! Thank you!!!
1. That my heart's focus would be Christ's exaltation
2. Team unity
3. Humility and Dependance on the Lord
4. Communication to open up with the pastor
5. Financially, that the money we need will be raised quickly and fully
I am going to Russia! Yeah, still a crazy thought! Yet, Lord Willing, I will be there in a little over three months. I would appreciate your prayers! Thank you!!!
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
RUSSIA!!!!!!
I get to go to Russia!!!!! YAY!!!! I am so excited!!! And yes, I did hoot and holler when I found out! I got a message, so I don't even know who else is on the team or when we are going, but I know that I get to go! God is so good! Now begins the journey of faith building and stretching of raising support and also beyond that, trusting God to provide financially this summer! But He is faithful always and will complete what He has started!
I do know that I have to now get a letter of invitation from Russia in order to go! How crazy cool is that??!!!??!!
God is good!!!!
I do know that I have to now get a letter of invitation from Russia in order to go! How crazy cool is that??!!!??!!
God is good!!!!
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Trust?
It is this time of the year that we look forward to the meeting that starts the process for applying for a short term team for the summer. As I see where God has brought me the last year since last year's meeting, I am blown away by the work that God has done in my heart. Yep, Venezuela was 2006, what will 2007 bring? Yes, it might bring an overseas trip. It might bring other neat things into my life. But I know one thing that it will bring is this: a lesson in Trust ( a continued lesson on this important issue!)
Trust: do I trust the Lord? Do I trust that He alone is Good and that He alone WILL provide for me? I have been wrestling with trusting God reallly since Venezuela. Let me clarify. God used some things in Venezuela (His Word mostly) to show me that I don't trust Him. Sure, my heart thinks it does, but it doesn't. The Creator God of the Universe, loves me and cares for me, provides for my needs and stupid wants, blesses me, overwhelms me with daily grace and mercy, is working all things out perfectly in my life, is withholding nothing good from me and I lack trust. Why? Because I don't listen to His Word and I don't believe it. So, the last many months have been a wrestling with this, confronting my sin with the Truth of God's Word, yep, falling on my face in distrust and unbelief and all the while, God's grace pouring on my sinful heart.
That leads me to today. Still learning trust! I look forward to a summer that is full of UNCERTAINTY! No real source of income (as I teach and that means summer break and no money!), and a few other issues that cause my heart to worry and fret! So, what do I do? Worry and fret! Then God's truth confronts me and tells me to trust! Ok, Lord, only by your grace! Give me the faith to believe and trust You!
Along with that summer of no job, no money, etc. etc. etc. comes a huge desire to be used of God however I can be. AND!!! the possibility of going on a Short Terms Team overseas. As God gives my heart a desire for one particular place this summer, I am at a place where I need to trust again. Last year, I didn't really have one place I wanted to go, I was open to more than one place. This year, there is one place I really, really, really, really want to go. And yet, I know that if God puts me on another team, His grace will again comfort my heart and cause me to be joyful about that team and place. He always is faithful to guide my heart to a place that is ok, and joyful in where He places me. He is always faithful to overwhelm my heart with grace. He is always faithful to me, day in and day out, moment by moment! Oh may I be a faithful woman that brings Him glory at all times, in all areas of life!
(yep, the meeting is Sunday, with applications turned in soon and teams being chosen soon after! yep, praying for one particular place, but also praying that God would place me only on the team He wants me on, the team that I need to be on, where He can use me the most to His glory!)
Trust: do I trust the Lord? Do I trust that He alone is Good and that He alone WILL provide for me? I have been wrestling with trusting God reallly since Venezuela. Let me clarify. God used some things in Venezuela (His Word mostly) to show me that I don't trust Him. Sure, my heart thinks it does, but it doesn't. The Creator God of the Universe, loves me and cares for me, provides for my needs and stupid wants, blesses me, overwhelms me with daily grace and mercy, is working all things out perfectly in my life, is withholding nothing good from me and I lack trust. Why? Because I don't listen to His Word and I don't believe it. So, the last many months have been a wrestling with this, confronting my sin with the Truth of God's Word, yep, falling on my face in distrust and unbelief and all the while, God's grace pouring on my sinful heart.
That leads me to today. Still learning trust! I look forward to a summer that is full of UNCERTAINTY! No real source of income (as I teach and that means summer break and no money!), and a few other issues that cause my heart to worry and fret! So, what do I do? Worry and fret! Then God's truth confronts me and tells me to trust! Ok, Lord, only by your grace! Give me the faith to believe and trust You!
Along with that summer of no job, no money, etc. etc. etc. comes a huge desire to be used of God however I can be. AND!!! the possibility of going on a Short Terms Team overseas. As God gives my heart a desire for one particular place this summer, I am at a place where I need to trust again. Last year, I didn't really have one place I wanted to go, I was open to more than one place. This year, there is one place I really, really, really, really want to go. And yet, I know that if God puts me on another team, His grace will again comfort my heart and cause me to be joyful about that team and place. He always is faithful to guide my heart to a place that is ok, and joyful in where He places me. He is always faithful to overwhelm my heart with grace. He is always faithful to me, day in and day out, moment by moment! Oh may I be a faithful woman that brings Him glory at all times, in all areas of life!
(yep, the meeting is Sunday, with applications turned in soon and teams being chosen soon after! yep, praying for one particular place, but also praying that God would place me only on the team He wants me on, the team that I need to be on, where He can use me the most to His glory!)
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