There are 9 days until Christmas and it still doesn't feel like November was just here. This week was our last full week of lecture. Next week we have 3 days of lecture and then after work duty on Wednesday, we are free to leave. I am going home with my friend Ruth. She lives in Bovaria, Southern Germany. Her dad is German and her mom is Swiss and they have 7 children. I am very much looking forward to spend time with her and also with a family. How depressing would it be to stay in Herrnhut on Christmas break, very depressing. I was very excited when she invited me to stay with her, the sentence that followed the invitation was, "Now, we just need to find 4 more people to come with too. 3 of my siblings are going to be gone this year, and I just can't stand an empty house at Christmas time". My following comment was, "This is going to sound really weird, but ummm, I have this friend, in Switzerland, and we wanted to hang out during Christmas time, do you think it would be possible for him to come to?". She was so excited. I explained how one of my bestest friends (yes, I know "bestest" isn't a word) is doing his DTS in Switizerland and he also had no where to go for Christmas. She was like, "yeah, sure I live 10 minutes from the Swiss border, that'll work out well". Totally a God thing. I am very excited to see Charlie, but it freaks me out that lecture phase has flown by, and 5 days after break, I am on my way to Africa. WOW!
I appreciate all who have been praying for our Congo team. Here are some updated prayer requests: Currently we are working on our visas. They should be here sometime this week if there are no complications. Also, we are still short about 10000 Euros as a team, nothing God can't take care of, but as the deadline approaches we need to consistently pray for this. Thank you all! I love you guys! Please update me on things at home!!!! I always enjoy hearing from you all.
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Democratic Republic of Congo
Well...I have to thank all of you for continually praying for my outreach team. If the subject of this blog didn't give it away, my team is heading to the Democratic Republic of Congo on January 2nd. It has been an incredible experience growing with the team in unity.
A few days before our deadline of Thanksgiving, we met for prayer as a team. It was Monday night at 9pm and we were all exhausted. It was the first time we had really prayed together seeking Congo as a team. Man, let me tell you, it was powerful. We all relaized that it was about letting go of Congo and realizing what the purpose of our team was. Was it to go to Congo, or to serve God? Once we all acquired the purpose of our team, the Holy Spirit flooded the room. Our prayer time lasted 2 hours or so, and within that time, we began to get visions and pictures of the team and where we were supposed to go. We met for prayer 3 more times before our Wednesday night meeting. God continued to speak to the whole team. He spoke to each one of us about going to Congo. Whether it was pictures showing the outline of the country Congo, images of African children, letting us feel at peace even if we were unsure, it was clear that God was direcing us towards Congo. The morning that we had to decide where were going, Ryan shared how his mom had been in a car accident, she was T-Boned and pushed into oncoming traffic where she was hit again. She was rescued by an off duty paramedic who was standing on the street corner when it happened. He rushed to the scene and held her neck until the ambulance got there. When she got to the hospital for observation, she was talking to one of the paramedics who had brought her there. Due to the large amount of medication she was on, she was going random events in her life, she eventually shared about how her son is heading to Congo. The paramedic stopped what he was doing, and asked why, she explained, he said "I will pray for them. I am from Congo." Wow. I couldn't believe it. Also our leader had gotten into contact with a pastor in Congo, he was in search of a YWAM DTS team, he didn't know Jon's purpose, but once he found that out, they both continued to pray about the chances of us going there.
After we all laid Congo down, we began to see what a precious gift it was to be able to go there. We really saw what an opportunity and amazing experience it would be to go there, and we would wait for God to give it back to us if He that was what he truly wanted. In the mean time we just wanted to work on building our team and listening to His voice. By the chain of events that happened in those couple days, we began to see God really speaking, yet we were still conscious of His voice. The Wednesday that we had to make a decision by, we met for prayer in the morning. During this prayer time, we recieved several impressions, especially that God was giving us Congo back. We left from the prayer time, continually thinking about this challenge that was facing us head on, but knowing that we had to have an answer by that day. That night, we were meeting with the Base Leader who told us we had to have supernatural confirmation. It was during worship time that God spoke to me, telling me that He wanted to give Congo back. I waited a bit, heard it again, and then thought about when I should tell my leaders. I waited until singing was over, then I couldn't find my leaders. Then lecture started and I couldn't leave, and then finally on break, I found my leaders praying in the staff kitchen. I told them, via note, and left. At lunch time, we met as a team, and they shared the results of their prayer time. They said once again, God spoke and felt like Congo was where God was planning for our team to go...It turns out, when I brought the note in, they were praying for impressions of confirmation for going to Congo. So cool how God's timing works out...
That night we shared with Jan. We talked about how we saw God calling us first into unity. Before we could think about the country we had to unite with one another and re-adjust our focus to Him and not Congo. We shared every single event we could think of that pointed to Congo. There were no dramatic events, but we shared our hearts and our confidence that God wanted us to go to Congo. We finished and he seemed unsure and then said, "During my prayer times, I have been feeling Congo is where you are supposed to go. One requirement, satellite phone. Otherwise, I am very excited."
So here we are planning a trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo. It's unreal. It has been my dream to go to Africa for a while...and here it is...happening. We still don't have a lot of details about what we will be doing, but have somewhat of a rough sketch. For the time being, we are praying, figuring out our budget, praying, planning dramas, praying, meeting together to learn about each other, praying, working on learning french, praying, fundraising, praying...you know how outreach goes.
I ask that you continue to pray for our team when you think of it. I will work to send you details as we find them out ourselves! I really appreciate your support. It makes my day when I get comments or emails from you guys at home! Love you all!
Here is the Jesus-Congo Team!
A few days before our deadline of Thanksgiving, we met for prayer as a team. It was Monday night at 9pm and we were all exhausted. It was the first time we had really prayed together seeking Congo as a team. Man, let me tell you, it was powerful. We all relaized that it was about letting go of Congo and realizing what the purpose of our team was. Was it to go to Congo, or to serve God? Once we all acquired the purpose of our team, the Holy Spirit flooded the room. Our prayer time lasted 2 hours or so, and within that time, we began to get visions and pictures of the team and where we were supposed to go. We met for prayer 3 more times before our Wednesday night meeting. God continued to speak to the whole team. He spoke to each one of us about going to Congo. Whether it was pictures showing the outline of the country Congo, images of African children, letting us feel at peace even if we were unsure, it was clear that God was direcing us towards Congo. The morning that we had to decide where were going, Ryan shared how his mom had been in a car accident, she was T-Boned and pushed into oncoming traffic where she was hit again. She was rescued by an off duty paramedic who was standing on the street corner when it happened. He rushed to the scene and held her neck until the ambulance got there. When she got to the hospital for observation, she was talking to one of the paramedics who had brought her there. Due to the large amount of medication she was on, she was going random events in her life, she eventually shared about how her son is heading to Congo. The paramedic stopped what he was doing, and asked why, she explained, he said "I will pray for them. I am from Congo." Wow. I couldn't believe it. Also our leader had gotten into contact with a pastor in Congo, he was in search of a YWAM DTS team, he didn't know Jon's purpose, but once he found that out, they both continued to pray about the chances of us going there.
After we all laid Congo down, we began to see what a precious gift it was to be able to go there. We really saw what an opportunity and amazing experience it would be to go there, and we would wait for God to give it back to us if He that was what he truly wanted. In the mean time we just wanted to work on building our team and listening to His voice. By the chain of events that happened in those couple days, we began to see God really speaking, yet we were still conscious of His voice. The Wednesday that we had to make a decision by, we met for prayer in the morning. During this prayer time, we recieved several impressions, especially that God was giving us Congo back. We left from the prayer time, continually thinking about this challenge that was facing us head on, but knowing that we had to have an answer by that day. That night, we were meeting with the Base Leader who told us we had to have supernatural confirmation. It was during worship time that God spoke to me, telling me that He wanted to give Congo back. I waited a bit, heard it again, and then thought about when I should tell my leaders. I waited until singing was over, then I couldn't find my leaders. Then lecture started and I couldn't leave, and then finally on break, I found my leaders praying in the staff kitchen. I told them, via note, and left. At lunch time, we met as a team, and they shared the results of their prayer time. They said once again, God spoke and felt like Congo was where God was planning for our team to go...It turns out, when I brought the note in, they were praying for impressions of confirmation for going to Congo. So cool how God's timing works out...
That night we shared with Jan. We talked about how we saw God calling us first into unity. Before we could think about the country we had to unite with one another and re-adjust our focus to Him and not Congo. We shared every single event we could think of that pointed to Congo. There were no dramatic events, but we shared our hearts and our confidence that God wanted us to go to Congo. We finished and he seemed unsure and then said, "During my prayer times, I have been feeling Congo is where you are supposed to go. One requirement, satellite phone. Otherwise, I am very excited."
So here we are planning a trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo. It's unreal. It has been my dream to go to Africa for a while...and here it is...happening. We still don't have a lot of details about what we will be doing, but have somewhat of a rough sketch. For the time being, we are praying, figuring out our budget, praying, planning dramas, praying, meeting together to learn about each other, praying, working on learning french, praying, fundraising, praying...you know how outreach goes.
I ask that you continue to pray for our team when you think of it. I will work to send you details as we find them out ourselves! I really appreciate your support. It makes my day when I get comments or emails from you guys at home! Love you all!
Here is the Jesus-Congo Team!
Sunday, December 03, 2006
thanksgiving...
Since I am living in Germany right now, Thanksgiving isn't really something that gets celebrated. In fact, on Thanksgiving Day, we has mashed potatoes for lunch, and I thought that was going to be the closest thing we got to a typical Thanksgiving meal. But there are too many Americans here for that to happen..
Adam got us all together, we delegated the work, and at 3:00 last Saturday, we all got together for an amazing meal. It went much better then anyone could've planned, I think we were all surprised by how well the food tasted and that there was enough to go around. Before the festivities on Saturday we had some hang out time...
It was a pancake party for my Finnish friend Riikka. It was so fun to have everyone at the apartment and spend one on one time with everyone. However much we enjoyed each other, the pancakes were the highlight. Pancakes, tasted like home. Thanks to my wonderful mother, I also was able to have peanut butter on them. Excellent food.
We couldn't find a turkey, or cranberries, or sweet potatoes, or, or, or...so there was a lot of stuff we didn't have but that made things much more exciting.
The stuffing of course, was the best part of the meal. My mom makes the best stuffing, and I am willing to fight with anyone who disagrees. So before Saturday, I thought, why not try to make it, they have everything in Germany that I need for that. Besides stuffing is the best part, you cannot have Thanksgiving without stuffing. The best part of stuffing is the sausage. You need ground sausage for stuffing, but we are Germany, they love sausage, so they have that here...NOT! We spent most of last Saturday trying to find a solution for this, in the end, we squeezed the meat out of a bratwurst. Yucky. What a special experience that was to share with my dear friends, please take note of the pictures. Some other stuffing issues we had, no celery or sage here. However, Adam did buy two different plants that resembled celery, but in the end, were a leak and some other random vegetable. Yeah, not to worry, it was a hit, despite the lack of ingredients.
After our meal, we went and played games with all the American staff and Americans in Herrnhut. It was a very memorable day, and I am thrilled that we got to spend the time together...
Also you will notice the random costumes. I hope you recognized Charlotte and I were pilgrims. The Friday before our special Thanksgiving we had a nations party. Since we didn't get the chance to dress up for Halloween, we went all out. Everyone wore the traditional clothing of their country or another one. What did we think of when we wanted to dress up as traditional americans? How about the first Americans? So we did our best...thought you might want to see pictures of the world's cutest pilgrim couple...
How was everyone at home's Thanksgivings? I would love to hear about them and see pictures!!!!
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