Studying my life away and loving it!

Well, it's already November and we have finished half of the NT. This week we are diving into the book of Romans! Last week we studied: 1 Thess., 2 Thess., and Philippians. As always we went through each book five times.

We don't have any snow up here yet, but have been greeted by frost on the cars as I walk to cafetria in the morning to eat breakfast.

There are many things that I have learned while in SBS. But thing that keeps coming back to me is that God is so very relational. Why would He lower himself and come to earth in human likeness? He is the almighty Savior and yet we can have a relationship with Him? How amazing!

As everyday passes my thoughts are often brought back to South East Asia. I desire very much to be back there soon. Please pray for the Lord's direction in that.

I hope you are all doing well, please email me and let me know how I can pray for you!

By the way, the girl on the left in the picture is my roommate (Mia), and on the right, is my friend Jessie.

First week of School of Bibical Studies!!

One down and 65 more to go! Last week we went through the book of Philemon! Wow, who would of thought that a book that is only chapter long could have soooo much in it! I liked learning about what the book meant to the original reader and finding out what the culture was like when Paul wrote the letter to Philemon. There is so much to learn! I encourage all to check out Philemon! It is a story of forgiveness and it does not take long to read. We went thru that book first because it is so short and we are still learning the method of inductive Bible study that are teaching us.

Thank you so much for your prayers! I appreciate them so very much. Please pray that God will calm my spirit as I am trying to understand the method. There are many details that I have to memorize and it can be very overwhelming. I am fascinated by what I have read in Titus thus far - we will study it this week(along with Eph.)! Things that I never noticed are jumping out and I'm excited to learn more about the background of the book!

Please also pray for:

One of my staff (Victoria) is going through a rough time because her mom just had open heart surgery. Please pray that all goes well and God's healing hand is on her mother.

My health -

My friends working a country in South East Asia. I can't give many details due to their location, but do ask that you pray for peace in the country and for more discipleship for the new believers.

I hope you are all in good health and full of the joy of our Lord who is our life.

By the way the picture is of me and my mom while I was staying at my parents house :-)

Taking some time to rest

Here I am at the end of a busy of a summer. I’d hoped to send more emails then I was able to while I was in Brazil, but our schedule did not permit it. Thank you so much for your partnership in prayer! I appreciate you.

Brazil. . .
As you may remember our team spent the first three weeks in a small town called Paribia do Sul, just 2 hours outside of Rio de Janeiro. We lived in the classrooms of a warm and welcoming Baptist Church. There we ate almost all our meals and were even given hot chocolate in the evenings, as it was a bit cold at night. We became good friends with the people who attended there and know that we are welcomed back into their family.

Our main ministry in Paribia do Sul was teaching at the elementary schools. We taught about the four values that YWAM Rio sees are lacking in Brazil. These values are Integration, Responsibility, Initiation, and Diversity. As we taught on these values, we were able to plant seeds as the Lord led and motivate the children to not settle for the norm within their country. We also had teachings for the boys on “What it means to be a man” and for the girls “Where your value comes from”. Within these teachings we encouraged the children to dream about what they want to be when they grow up, being that many of them have never “dreamed” about their future.

One night we visited a school we had taught at during the day. We went there to just play music and hang out with the students (it was an English class, with a mix of ages). Matt and Brian played some songs and the last song was “Breathe”. The English teacher decided to translate the song after they sang it (she is a Christian) and that led into a huge things! The teacher shared her testimony; then Matt shared his and talked about how much God loves everyone. We know that many lives were touched with God´s love. After getting in a circle with the class to pray, I felt God leading me to talk to a girl who had been crying. And Matt felt God leading him to give a couple of students a hug, including that same girl. He told her that it wasn´t him giving her the hug, but God. Right after that, I shared Christ with her and led her to Jesus! Her name is Thaisonek. She has her own Bible and Christian friends who have taken her to the Baptist Church. Please pray that Thaisonek will grow in God’s grace and receive encouragement from her Christian friends.

On a Friday morning, a week before we went to the city of Rio, we went on a prayer walk around Paribia do Sul. As we prayed in the neighbor that we lived in, Lena pointed out a crippled woman and I knew right away that I was supposed to grab Brian and go pray for the lady’s healing. So, Brian, Junior (our translator), and I went to the house to pray for her and ended up leading the whole household to Jesus! (Three of the four of family members were elderly.) The family said they had been waiting for God to give them a “sign” before they would give their lives to Jesus. Brian said, “we are that sign!” We were totally blown away with the amazing things God did! We visited that house a few more times and bought them all Bibles. We also asked people from 3 of the churches in town to visit the family and take them to church. Only one of the family members could read, so we asked people from the churches to read to them. Please pray that this family will grow in an understanding of God’s word.

After about 3 weeks, we arrived at the big city of Rio de Janeiro! We once again work closely with a Baptist Church who welcomed us with open arms. This time our team was housed with various church members.

As you may remember, the Pan American Games were going on at this time, and YWAM had many evangelistic events for us to be involved with. For each event we gathered with about 100 other teams. For one of the events, we picked up trash on the street and had signs taped to our brooms that said “corruption” and “prostitution”. Though we were picking up trash, symbolically we were showing the city that we wanted to clean up more than that. During another time of ministry, we gathered around a huge stadium where one of the games was going on and prayed for God to change the city and bring those involved in the games to Him. Afterwards we passed out tracts and many were willing to receive them.

We also did ministry in the neighborhood of the Baptist Church. We fed the homeless one evening and prayed with many of them. We often passed out tracts, and though we didn’t see anyone come to the Lord because of the tracts, we know that many seeds were planted!

On a personal note. . .
This outreach was very successful, and looking back I am so thankful for the many relationships that I was able to build. I saw our students grow in Lord and in their heart for evangelism. For example, our Korean student named Soeug, is very gifted in speaking to strangers about the Lord. He knew by the end of outreach that God has special plans to use him to lead others to the Lord.

The Lord allowed me to experience many challenges this summer for which I am very grateful. It is in the rough times that we are able to experience purification. I have been extra tired these past few weeks and was taken back by my lack of energy! I didn’t realized it would take so long for me to regain strength! In the past couple of days I can feel myself gaining energy, I’m thankful to God for letting me have a nice bed to sleep in!

Now what?. . .
Well, the first week after returning Brazil we had lectures for our students on “Re-entering” into their church, family, and friends. The lectures were very helpful for our students, being that they have had such an intense 6 months of their lives and are winding down quite a bit now. It was also good for me to hear these lectures even though it was not my first time hearing about Re-Entry.

Last week I participated in an International Discipleship Training School workshop. Our base hosted it and 40 people total participated. Though I don’t know when I will be staffing DTS again, I know that every bit of information I received is helpful to the calling God has on my life. I look forward to re-reading my notes and letting it sink in even more.

I will be taking time to visit family and friends before the School of Biblical Studies (SBS) starts on Sept. 17th. I will be in Great Falls Sept. 4th-15th and look forward to catching up with those of you who are in that area!!! In case you forgot that I was planning to do SBS and what it is… It is a nine-month course in which students study all 66 books of the Bible. An inductive approach is taught, in which students observe what the text says and then let it shape their beliefs. During the school, students survey each book and discover the big picture, while also digging into the details, paragraph by paragraph. Emphasis is placed on understanding the cultural and historic background of each author and original reader of a book. The student interprets Scripture with the mindset of the original reader, then takes the timeless truths and applies them personally. Students are given hands-on instruction in the principles of observation, interpretation, and application. SBS staff will meet weekly with the students to aid in their personal growth, understanding of Scripture, and application of the inductive method. This school is the equivalency of two years of seminary, but does not cover how to teach or preach (though there will be a few assignments that give students an opportunity to teach).
By completing the School of Biblical Studies I will receive credits (through the University of the Nations) that can be transferred to a couple of Christian Colleges that are within the United States. I have already received a few credits from completing Discipleship Training School (DTS) and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). Though I am thrilled to receive credits, I don’t know for sure how and when I will use them. I am praying for God’s direction after I complete SBS and know that in His timing He will show me what’s next.

I am taking the School of Biblical Studies because I want to know God more and build a strong foundation for the ministry that the Lord has called me to. I consider this to be a pertinent school for me and my heart's desire is to be fully equipped so that God can use me more to further His Kingdom.
I am asking that you pray and ask God if He would have you support me financially (monthly or with a one time gift). The total cost is $6,750. But I have already been blessed with $3,350, leaving me with $3,000 to go. All gifts are tax-deductible. Please know that I only encourage you to give if the Lord is leading you to. If you feel like He is leading you to give a donation then just send me an email and I can give you more information.
I need your prayer support as well. This will be a challenging school for me, and will need the power of the Lord to get me through.

Prayer requests for SBS:
That God will prepare my heart and mind for the task before me
That I can manage my study time well
That God will provide for my financial needs

I just received an update from my friends in Thailand; here are some of their prayer requests:
That the missionaries at the children’s home will look to the Lord for energy and wisdom as they raise the kids
That the Phang Nga Christian Church will continue to grow in the Lord as they disciple new believers.