The last two weeks were really fun and out of the ordinary. Thursday and Friday I attended a missions focus seminar from 8am to 3pm. We learned a lot from John White, a pioneer in simple churches. Did I just call someone a pioneer?!? Anyway, he's learning a lot about doing church in homes, and is teaching people about it. We talked a lot about listening to God, which was pretty awesome. I've also decided that working only two hours a day is pretty wonderful...I think I'll do it everyday (just kidding Lana). Seriously though, being able to take off time pretty much whenever I want (as long as I have the unused time) is a huge blessing. I work with very understaning people who really appreciate me.
On Saturday Jenica, Gregory, and I hit the road for Conroe, Texas (near Houston). Matt met up with us later that night. The drive to Houston was really beautiful, and the long road trip gave us the opportunity to listen to music that each of us likes. I think you can learn a lot about a person by listening to the music they listen to on a regular basis. We were visiting the Houston area to share our team's presentation with a church there. Jenica did an internship at the church a few summers ago, and she just loved it. After our visit with them, we loved them too! Everyone we met on Sunday morning and Sunday evening encouraged us so much, it blew our minds. We'll hear back from them in about two weeks to see how God wants them to help us.
Fast forward a week to this past weekend. Matt and I had our three year anniversary last week, so we went to Lake Brownwood State Park last weekend to celebrate. Sounds romantic, huh? It really was fun though...I better have liked it since I was the one who planned it! We stayed at a cabin at the state park. It was nice, but bugs ate us alive. Matt also got a tick that he had to burn off his thigh. We were really roughing it! We took the boat with us and fished everyday, and the weather could not have been better. I've fished most of my life, but I must admit that I've never unhooked my own fish. Matt's a wonderful teacher and encourager, and he managed to get me to unhook my own fish (all but the ones where the hook managed to get in their eyes, I made him do those). It was a wonderful trip. We'll see if I get around to posting some pictures from it.
A lot has happened since my last posting, but I've found lately that the last thing I want to do at night is get back on the computer after being on it all day. I'm pretty sure I've said that before...which shows how adamant I am about it. However, a lot of cool things have happened so I need to catch up on them.
The rest of my teammates got a little fire lit under them at our module, and Jenica has been doing an awesome job of contacting churches to help support us. She got a visit set up with a church in Houston and one in San Antonio, so May is traveling month for the team! We're really excited, because one of the things we realized at our module is that God has not only called us to share the Gospel with the people of Australia, but also to tell North Americans that God loves and cares about the people of Australia. Sometimes we feel like people don't think Australians need to know God, because Australia is not an underdeveloped country. However, so little people there know Him, and they're trying to fill their lives with other things that won't last. God has big plans for Australia, and we are excited to tell people about that.
One of the other cool things that happened was our mentor Gary contacted another church on our behalf, and we sent them a few of our fundraising packets this week. We got together twice last week to polish up the packet, and those two nights were really fun. We're opening up so much as a team, just having fun and being crazy around one another. One thing I found out about Gregory is that he's a pretty great dancer! He was not afraid to show off his moves as we listened to music....
I've also had some really good conversations with a man from the church my sister attends in Idaho. Their church just did a fundraising weekend for missions, and he was talking about the possibility of helping Matt and me a little out of that contribution. As is the case with almost every church we've talked to this year, he said unfortunately people are not giving as much as they did a few years ago (which is understandable, but still frustrating!) What has really struck me though is this, he has been amazing about keeping in touch with me to let me know the status of the church. He has also been really encouraging as to what we'll be doing in Australia. Most churches we contacted never even returned our emails...pretty crazy right? It's much better to get a no than nothing at all! As I told my sister last week, even if the church is not able to help us monetarily, the fact that they are praying for us and he has been so encouraging has been a huge blessing.
On a different note, another thing that has kept me really busy since last Saturday is painting our kitchen cabinets. We're doing this for two reasons, one being that they're really ugly and need to be painted white to help freshen up our kitchen, and the other is that we think painting them will help us sell this house. It's been a great first house, but there have been a lot of things that we've gotten used to being here everyday that are really quite ugly! It's little things really, like grungy looking light switches and a poor quality paint job on the walls. Needless to say, our Saturdays are going to be busy with little remodels here and there for quite a few months!
Our team spent this past weekend at Lake Brownwood Christian Camp participating in the "Kingdom Leadership Module". Those are fancy words for "we spent the weekend together at a camp learning from mentors and working together as a team". These modules are one of the facets of our training through the Halbert Institute for Missions.
When most people think of Christian leadership, they think of the one guy who runs the show. Jesus had a different idea, he wanted to make every person a disciple who leads in one way or another. At the module we had two very wise and wonderful men teach us and guide us in discussion with one another; Gary Green (our team's mentor) and Kent Smith. They did a pretty wonderful job of showing us what true Godly leadership is, and how to encourage its growth in ourselves and others.
I learned a lot throughout the weekend, so I'll try to touch on a few points without sounding too frazzled. I learned more about my teammates, one thing being the way each person thinks satan will try to attack our team when we're in Australia. That might sound strange, but it's good to discuss bad things that might happen so we know what to pray for God to protect us against. I was also reminded of who I am to God. I know that God loves me, but I easily lose sight of the fact that He wants to lavish me with His love. I am valued by God, and each day He is doing things to transform me. The even cooler thing is that this is not just something God has in store for me, but for everyone he has created. Another thing we talked a lot about this weekend was forgiving others. I thought about the fact that God created us to look out for those in need (just look at Jubilee). We were created to get angry when people are mistreated, and to reach out to help them. On the other side of the same coin, when we are mistreated we should forgive those who wronged us and trust God to send us a deliverer. That deliverer might be someone God has called on to help us, or we might have to wait for God to be our final avenger in whatever way He chooses.
I learned a lot more, but I'll end with the point that I think Kent would want us to remember above all; mutual disclosure is the pathway to true intimacy. When we disclose more of ourselves to God, He in turn shows us more of who He is. When that happens, our intimacy with God grows and we find our true identity. When our identity in Christ is made clearer, we become a more Godly leader, and our ability to minister and be a healthy part of genuine, Godly community grows. Wow!
Our team is reading a book called "The Shaping of Things to Come" by Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch. Okay, so everyone else is probably done but sorry Gary...I am not. However, I totally love everything that I'm reading in it! I don't necessarily agree with it all (although I do most of it), but I love what it makes me think about. For the past few nights I've been reading about action as sacrament, or a little more plainly how our actions are vital to our faith. This is what the authors say, "What we are trying to do here is affirm the inherent value of deeds themselves. Will they save us? No! Are they still inherently valuable? Absolutely, yes".
Here's my thought, our deeds might not save us, but they save other people. I'm not saying that I have the power to bring someone into a relationship with Jesus just by being nice to them, or that I get to decide who deserves that relationship. What I am saying though is this; if you know Jesus, how did that relationship start? Was it because someone took the initiative to teach your Sunday school class or even just be nice to you when no one else would? God works in mysterious ways and does not really need us to show Him to people, but it's pretty stinking clear that He chooses to use us because He wants to. I can think of countless stories in the Bible where someone found Jesus because a Christian listened to God when He said, "Hey, do or say this to that person in that chariot or sitting by the river". Good deeds are holy actions, and even though performing them does not save us they just might be the first step to God saving someone else. So please, do not be scared to do something nice for someone for a change!
Last Friday I drove to Wichita, Kansas. My grandmother on my mom's side is very sick, and my sister, mom, and I thought it would be a good idea to all travel to see her. My sister came from Idaho, my mom from Dallas, and I from Abilene. I was only able to see my grandma for one day on Saturday, but it was a great visit! She was alert and in good spirits. I think she was using as much energy as she could on being a good hostess for us. I had to leave on Sunday to get home for work the next day, but my sister and mom stayed behind a few more days. They said she was pretty tired the rest of the week. It is possible that it was the last visit I will have with my grandmother before she passes away, so while it's selfish to say I'm glad that it was a very peaceful and good one. Really I'm glad for her sake that it was a good visit, because I want her to be surrounded by good memories as long as she's around.
On Monday night my grandmother on my father's side, along with her daughter, drove in from New Mexico. They live in Iowa, and are making a bit of a cross country car trip to visit family and friends in the surrounding states. This is the first time they have been able to come through the Abilene area, so they were kind enough to grace us with their presence Monday evening. We ate out with my in laws who live in Abilene, and it was the first time my grandma and her daughter got to meet my in laws. Matt and I have our bed and used to have a futon, but we don't have the futon anymore. We gave our bed to my grandmother and her daughter, and I planned on Matt and I just sleeping on our couch and loveseat. Matt was pretty insistent that we borrow a blow up bed from his parents, so Monday night at about 1opm we were trying to blow up a bed with an inflator that was going dead from not being charged. It was quite a sight (and sound) trying to use that thing. We managed to get it blown up, but it was so uncomfortable! It was possibly one of the three most uncomfortable sleeping situations I've ever been in. Add to the discomfort our dog Bane next to us on the floor eating a rawhide chewtoy at 11:30pm and you've got stuff that only the best of dreams are made of....We barely got any sleep, but all I can do is look back on it and laugh.
Last night Matt's grandparents came in from Graham, so we got to eat dinner and hang out with them. It's always nice catching up with them, they're really sweet and super encouraging.
So this might be a record, I've seen three grandmothers in just over a week. I normally only see them about once every other year, but now I've seen each of them within a year. I think God is bringing us together with as much family as possible before we go to Australia...but maybe for energy's sake He'll spread the visits out a little more next time!
Wow, another one of those weeks where I feel like I can't catch up...or get to bed before 11pm. I think I might have said this last week, I'm beginning to feel like a broken record! Anyway, I'm tired but I have something worth writing about so here goes. Matt and I are part of home gatherings through Southern Hills in Abilene, that means that instead of going to the big building on Sunday mornings we experience being church in someone's home. There's a lot more that goes into it, but to be honest I'm way too tired to go into it! Feel free to post a question though...people rarely post comments on my blog. We meet on Sunday evenings. Home gatherings have been an awesome blessing in my life, I really connect to the ability to delve deep in relationship with a few people instead of seeing a thousand faces at a time that I can't seem to catch up with. There are about five of our groups meeting throughout town, and we have committed to meet together every couple of months or so. Last Sunday was our celebration time together, and it was amazing! I had a blast catching up with people I have not seen in a while. One of the things I appreciated the most was seeing how each of our groups shows a different characteristic of God. Like I said Sunday evening, our God is a creative creator and He's given us all really cool ways to help reveal who He is to one another. Here are a few pics from our time together, enjoy!
Last night I had possibly the coolest birthday party ever! I had a self defense party for my girlfriends at the kajukembo school where I work out. At first I was a little nervous that they would not really get into it, but everyone had a blast! My instructor taught them things that are practical and easy to remember, and they got to hit stuff! After that we did an obstacle course, because what fun is a birthday party if you can't act like a kid? I think my instructor had fun too, because my girlfriends are pretty crazy! After that we had a sleepover at my house. Matt was a great sport and spent the night with one of his guy friends. I can't remember the last time I had people over for a sleepover, it's been at least five years. It showed, because we all fell asleep by about 11:30!
What made this party so special is the fact that it will be the last one I have in the states for quite a few years. As some of my friends reminded me, we will Lord willing be in Australia by this time next year. Kind of sad, but kind of cool!
