Support Uganda Missions!

Hey everyone! We are in full swing raising funds for our return trip to Uganda which is just a short 6 months away. Right now we are buckling down trying to raise the portion of our funds which is the largest and most daunting: the plane tickets. Right now the cheapest we can find are about $1,700 per person. Which means for Jonathan and I a total of $2,400 needs to be raised in just the next few weeks. There is no possible way for us to do this ourselves. But thankfully we serve a God who is greater than that. He works in wonderful ways to provide for us. We do our part by doing as much as we can to raise the funds, which is where things like this blogpost comes in: we need your help too. There is a convenient button on the left side of his page that takes you to a PayPal page where you can enter in the amount of your choosing and help out. 100% of that money goes straight to the trip costs. Other ways you can help out is by buying one of the things we are selling for the trip. My Mom, who is going on the trip, is selling homemade scarves, I'm selling my artwork at Wake Forest Coffee Company, and we are all selling "Pray for Uganda" support bracelets (also at WFCC). Anything you can do will help out tremendously! We all thank you for your continued support!

Support Uganda Mission Trip 2014

 Hello friends and family!
I hope all of your holiday seasons were fantastic and that the start of your new year has begun well. The Stout family has begun the process of raising funding for this summer's mission trip to Uganda. We are returning to the same area we were at last summer to continue the teaching and work that we began. We are excited to be able to have this opportunity and look forward to building the relationships we have with our brothers and sisters in Busia.
This summer our desire is to be able to do three things:
1. Hold a Bible conference to teach the church members and teachers about the person and attributes of God.
2. To continue evangelism within the community and continue the relationships begun there.
3. To assist and fund the continuation of the building of Buteba Baptist Church's building.
Jonathan and I have approximately $4,000 to raise total. We need a good portion of this at the beginning of the process in order to pay for the plane tickets. I have created a Paypal link to donate to the trip to try to make the process easier for our friends and family. You are welcome to enter in whatever amount you desire to donate. Please just click the button at the side of the page and help us out in our ministry.
Thank you all for your continued support in both finances and in prayer.
Much love,
The Stouts 

Back to Africa!

We are going back to Africa! 

As soon as we returned from Uganda this past summer we began preparations for the next trip. We considered many options and looked at going many different routes. But it was decided we would do basically the same thing we did last year, except bigger and better planned. At this point in the preparations we have taken applications and volunteers and we have between 25-30 individuals praying and thinking about going. We hope that with a higher number of people and a broad range of talents we will be able to continue working in Busia and bless the church and community even more than this past summer. Our goal is to be able to spend a few days doing "hut to hut" evangelism in the village, a few days of teaching doctrines and a book of the Bible in men's and women's groups, at the same time have teams to minister to the kids in the school, and also work on a construction project for the church. 

Here are a few ways you can pray:

1. For the team to be solidified within the next month or so.

2. For the fund raising process for the whole team. 

3. For the planning and preparing process.

4. For the hearts of the people we will encounter.

5. For Buteba Baptist Church and her daughter churches as they minister right now to their members and community.

 

Our Weary Travels Home

Monday we went to the market to do some souvenir shopping. You can't go to a foreign country and not o to the market for souvenirs! So we did! We ran in and out of outdoor shanties where the merchants had set up shop. We got to exercise our bartering skills. Timmy was particularly good at this. Jonathan kept saying his thoughts out loud to me. Paul was just watching, cause he had no clue! We ended up with a lot of nice African things. Some for ourselves, some for others. Mom and I both bought African dresses: 

Dad, Jonathan, and Timmy got African shirts:

Paul got a T-shirt with the map of Uganda on it, sadly I don't have a photo of that. Once we finished our shopping we had lunch, bought some Ugandan and Kenyan coffee, then started off for Entebbe. Jonathan flew out that night because he had to be home sooner for work. We went to the hotel and saw he off (on the hotel transit), then we relaxed the rest of the evening. The next day we spent at the hotel or on the Lake. 

I know, we were suffering! Maybe not. We didn't really have much of anything to do, except catch up from being offline for a week. We went to the airport early and just hung out looking at overpriced shops. Finally our plane took off at midnight. The flight was relatively uneventful. I got two seats to myself which meant I could lay across both of them and sleep. The second flight, mom sat beside me and we watched movies together. We arrived in DC at 3pm on Wednesday and my mother-in-law and niece were there to drive us home. Which was fun! I got to sit in the back seat and hang out with my little niece, Ava! 

We made it back to Skippers, where Mom and Dad live and slept the night away. Sadly every day since I haven't been able to sleep in. I've woke up between 5-6 AM every morning till this morning, I woke up at 7 instead. Jet lag. Anyway, there are worse things. We already miss Uganda, especially our new friends in Busia. We are already working on plans for returning next year. Our hope is to build a team who can do two things: one, teach another Bible conference; two, put a roof on the church. They have been building this new church building since 2002, one brink at a time. They take up offering every week in two baskets, one for the regular offering, the other for the building project. We hope that next year we can "top off" their work by giving them a roof. 

Pray about, and think about whether or not you can help in one way or another, next year. Either by supporting, or by coming. I will hopefully be able to post specific ways to help soon. 

Blessings in Christ. 

Weekend in Busia

We spent our last weekend in Busia with the church rather than traveling back to Kampala with Pastor Michael. On Saturday we basically hung out with the Compassion Internaltional sponsor kids. We worshipped with them that morning in the church where they packed close to 300 children in that tiny room. Then we taught them Bible stories during their morning lessons.

In the afternoon we played games with them, the boys played footbal (soccer), basketball, and volleyball with them.

 Then we watched as the kids were given their new school uniforms for the year. That was such a treat! All the kids lined up and waited patiently for probably one of two new outfits they would be given all year long, the other being at Christmas.

A lot of the kids were wearing TOMS shoes. They are an organization where you are able to buy a pair of shoes for yourself and by doing that you pay for not only your shoes but also the production, shipping, and distribution of a pair of shoes to a child who lives in a impoverished area of the world.

This was also the day of Timmy's nose bleed. He had been suffering all week of a head cold due to the dry area and dust. So after days of congestion his nose had just about had it. Right after he had been spontaneously asked to do the morning devotions (five minutes before it started), his nose began to bleed. He stepped outside and everyone thought that the nose bleed was due to the Holy Spirit. We explained that was not the case, he had just had a cold all week they then thought he had malaria and needed to be quarantined. We then had to convince them he did not have malaria and we were taking preventive medication for that, it was just a head cold. Finally they believed us and someone went to get him tissues. 

Mom also had a funny experience that day. Shortly after we got there she saw a small group of kids near the school buildings and decided it would be nice to go hand out crosses. Little did she know, kids jump out of bushes (or wherever they hide) when there is the prospect of treats. She was rushed as soon as they realized what was going on. After a few minutes Sylver and Irene came to her rescue and lined them all up hoping that would eliminate possible mugging. Sadly she did not have enough crosses for all the kids who showed up. Maybe next time. 

Sunday was the church service. All nine churches meet at Buteba and Dad preached. They then had a gift appreciation "ceremony." The women of the churches gave mom and me beautiful cloths and handmade purses. The men presented Dad, Jonathan, Paul, and Timmy with plaques made from seeds and beans. Then they gave us gifts of produce. This included corn, avocados, eggs, and most interestingly: three chickens. Then they handed mom one of the chickens, this was the result: 

Give a city girl a chicken... Oh, it was funny. Unfortunately we couldn't keep any of the produce so we gave it to our driver, Michael. After the service we drove back to Kampala. Our intention was to do some sightseeing on the way, we were going to go on a tour of the source of the Nile in Jinja. Unfortunately we had a flat tire which took two hours to repair. But we were able to stop by the Baptist Seminary of Uganda which is in Jinja. We met one of the teacher/administrators there, Vernon Sivage. He invited us in, took us for a tour, then feed us and gave us water before we had to continue on. We arrived in Kampala late that night and went straight to bed, for we were exhausted! 

Friday: Follow up or Evangelism?

Friday was our follow up day. Our goal was to go to the houses of those who had accepted Christ on Monday and Tuesday and pray for them and encourage them to join us on Sunday for worship at Buteba. There was a slight hitch in our plan though. That was the day the government decided to hand out mosquito nets in town. Therefore many had left their homes and gone to town to receive the nets in order to lessen the malaria risk in their family. We walked for quite some time and passed many empty houses before we came to some where family members had remained behind to work while others had gone to town. The old man who had prayed on Monday was not there but some of his children/grandchildren were home. We presented the gospel to them and four oldest were saved.we continued down a little ways and came to a house where we had presented before but the old Catholic lady had discouraged them from believing. This time it was not just her daughter who was home but also her son-in-law. He sat and listened with his wife and this time they both confessed. At the very next house a brother and his sister heard the gospel and they too believed. We stopped at one home of a family where four had confessed on Tuesday. Only one of them was home but their son and daughter had returned home from school and we were given the opportunity to share with them. Jonathan presented the gospel and after a few clarification questions both confessed Christ. After praying with and encouraging them we continued on and came to the house of a Catholic lady. She was willing to hear us but after 30 minutes of conversation she persisted that she could be saved by her prayers to Mary and that by that Jesus would accept her. We prayed for her and went on our way. 

Just before we reached that house the men in our group decided to take us on a detour, up a high rocky hill. It was beautiful! You could see far off into the distance and on one side was Uganda and on the other was Kenya. You could look down and see the fields marked out and the huts on the edge of the land. You could see the medical center and the church and school. It was beautiful! Jonathan wanted to build us a house up there, I said the first requirement was that he build me a ski lift! 

In total there were about 13 more salvations, from our group and from the others. Dad had an encouraging visit with a lady they had spoken to on Monday. She had confessed Christ that day and when the group returned on Friday she had reported that she had spoken to her husband who is catholic and he had allowed her to choose for himself though he would not change himself. She asked for prayer for her habit of drinking which she desired to stop for she knew in her heart that what she did was wrong. This was a great encouragement that the people who we were speaking to were taking their confession seriously. 

Thursday: More Training

Thursday was the continuation of Wednesday's teaching. Dad continued in Ephesians through the beginning of chapter 6. We had discovered the day before that polygamy was a very prominent problem in the district. Unlike in the States, the laws for marriage are not as detailed. Many of the marriages are sanction by the community and the government considers that sufficient. So during the section of Ephesians 5 which deals with the relationship between an man and his wife, Dad stressed the need for godly men to follow Scripture and love their wife as Christ loves the church. He taught this along with the topics of "How should a Church Member live?" and "What is the role of the pastors?" 

After lunch we again spilt into our groups and mom and I taught the ladies and Dad and Jonathan taught the men. The men finished out Ephesians by looking at the armor of God and examining how the church should conduct herself when under persecution. I went a different direction and looked at what it meant to be a biblical woman. We looked first at the story of Eve and saw the reason why woman was created and how it was later distorted by sin. Then we looked at the stories of Sarah and Hannah and compared them to one another. The women related to these women very well for just as the women were in polygamist relationships so were they. They asked how they could live alongside their cowives and what kind of a relationship they should have with them. Many of them wanted to know if God could still use a second wife for his glory. They wanted to know how they could deal with the other women and how they could be witnesses to both them and their husband. Mom and I did the best we could with the help of Mrs Irene and answered those questions as gracefully and biblically as we knew how. This is a situation we do not see often in America nor is it a problem we had ever encountered. Many of the second ( third, etc) wives did not want to leave the man and were afraid of being put away because there was no way they could provide for their children. I read to them the story of when Sarah put out Hagar and Ishmael and how God provided for them in the desert. I told them that while it is a frightening thing to live without provision, God is faithful to provide for his worshippers. One of the things we told the women is that while they many not be able to escape these relationships themselves they can teach their children (especially their sons) to follow the biblical principle and by doing that they will save their children from their lifestyle. 

These are pictures of our group on Wednesday but on Thursday we had almost 70 women listening.

Wednesday: Bible Conference

Today marked the start of the conference. We opened the day with beautiful singing in Swahili, then Dad taught for two hours on Ephesians chapter 1. In this section he addressed the question "What is the Church?" He spelled out how we see that throughout biblical history God's plan has always been to make worshippers, and his ultimate plan was the creation of the church. He explained that we as saints are commanded to be worshippers of God. He spoke of how salvation is through faith alone and that works cannot gain us salvation. In addition, it is the Holy Spirit who seals our salvation in Christ. Because of this we will one day receive an inheritance as a reward in heaven for what we as believers have done on earth. He then opened the floor for questions the listeners might have. Two of the questions dealt with sin: 1) If I am a saint, why do I keep falling into sin? 2) What must I do to stop committing sin? These people were starving for the truth of the word and desired greatly the wisdom of the Word to sink into their everyday lives. 

This picture is of an old Pastor who sat on the front row holding his tattered Bible and reading glasses that looked as if they had been repaired a hundred times. Both days he sat and soaked in every word said.

In the afternoon we split up into two groups: men and women. Mom and I taught the women while Dad and Jonathan taught the men. The men walked through the second and third chapters of Ephesians. Mom read both of those passages, explaining some of the concepts as she went, and at the end asked if there were any questions. There were many questions and they continued until we had run out of time. The first was "How can I raise my children to be godly Church Members?" Another asked about gossip in the church, explaining that there were women in her church that were spreading rumors about her. Some women were dealing with adulterous husbands, and others with polygamists. One woman asked about a situation where her 6th grade daughter had gotten pregnant and her school would no longer allow her to attend. What should she do? Wait for the child to be born and care for it while her daughter is in school? Or would it be better to abort? We obviously advised the first option. Another woman asked about how to care for their family and avoid domestic strife/violence within the home. Mom and I and a couple other church leaders addressed these problems the best we could and we hope and pray that our words were taken to heart. We pray our words encouraged these women to stay strong in their faith and remain faithful to their husband and families. 

Mom and Mrs Irene (Pastor Lawrence's wife) who interpreted for us. 

Some of the 40+ women who came to hear us. 

Tuesday: The Great Harvest

Tuesday was much like Monday. We gathered at the church in the morning, prayed together, sang together, and then went out in groups again. Today we had a slightly different group than before: 

Sylver (our translator) 

 

Evangelist Charles, Pastor Charles, and Teacher Charles (left to right) 

Lydia

Jackson (Compassion worker) and Pastor Cosmos

We went out and visited 13 homes through the whole day. The first two homes we went into and shared with there were three professions. The next place we went there was an old Catholic lady who followed us from her house to the next three houses and discouraged the people there from believing the gospel. We pray that what we spoke would penetrate her heart for she heard the message three times. We also pray that those she discouraged would be given another chance to believe. 

The next place we went was the home of  an older man, his wife, and their numerous grandchildren. Both the old man and his wife, along with another woman who had stopped by to see the wide and heard, believed. He had many questions about the differences between Catholicism and the gospel. Along the way we met many who professed to be what is called Charismatic Catholics. Our translators and pastors explained what that was for we were quite confused. Basically, rather than praying to Mary and believing that their works through the sacraments would save them they worshipped and believed in Jesus through faith. Nonetheless they continued to follow many of the catholic traditions and beliefs, including their submission to the Pope. After lunch we went to a new section of the village to preach for we were getting too close to the Kenyan boarder and many in our group would not be able to go for they did not have passports. We went in the opposite direction, which involved piling 14 people in a van and driving up a narrow "road" leading towards the rocky hilly part of the village. This area was defined by a hilly area which was peppered with large boulders jutting up from the earth in some of the most strange manners. But in this area, which is home to a government medical center, we were able to speak to a few more people. We stopped at one house and two women and two young men heard the gospel and confessed Christ. After that we were able to encourage a couple who lived in the area and were believers already. They pointed us to the last house we visited. This very old man lived there with a few grandchildren. He was is the processes of marking out the ground for a new house, but he stopped his work to hear us. We shared the gospel with him and he too believed. When we joined back together that afternoon with the other teams we learned that 57 individuals had confessed faith in Christ that day. The local pastors were able to record the names and homes of the new believers in order to follow up with them. Some of which we did on Friday. We praise God for the great harvest he has brought in just two days. 

Monday: Day 1 in Busia —Evangelism

We started the day on Monday with a nice cup of African Tea and some fantastic bananas! We loaded up and drove a few miles down the road to Buteba Baptist Church (BBC), it is the mother church of the nine churches in Busia. Pastor Lawrence is the head pastor over the association. There we met our team of 20 people who we would be going with to do evangelism for the day. We were split into four groups, Paul and Pastor Michael went together in group Judea, Jonathan and I were in group Jerusalem, Mom and Dad were in group Bethlehem, and Timmy was in group Jericho. We went out once in the morning for an hour an a half and again after lunch for two hours. We went in different directions with our groups and walked miles through the village surrounding the church. 

There are many stories of the day's events which I could tell, but here are just a few. Jonathan and I went together and talked to many people and visited many families. The first house we went to we sat down and talked to a man. Jonathan presented the gospel and the man confessed with tears in his eyes. This is the first tome Jonathan had ever led anyone to accept Christ, despite his faithfulness to be a witness. 

Then there was a lady who we were able to talk to who accepted the gospel and confessed Jesus as Lord. Her name was Lydia. 

There was a timid little girl who was between 12-15 years old who would not respond to the questions of the men but when I sat down beside her and told her the story of Christ, her eyes lit up and she too believed.

At another house we met an older lady, we shared the gospel with her but she told us she believed she was fine how she was for her son was a deacon and because of that she would be saved. She would not be convinced otherwise. We continued on and spoke to many others and many more believed.

The first day's totals came to be about 36 professions of faith. From mom and dad's group there were 4 professions, from Paul's group there were 12 professions, from Timmy's group there were 11 professions (also because he had brought the knowledge of the gospel to the family's home they gave him a chicken!), and in our group there were 9 professions. 

We praise God for the salvation of 36 souls! 

Sunday: Worship and Travel

Saturday we drove to Kampala, Uganda, the Capital city of Uganda. We stopped at a coffee shop called Café Java and ate. For all my coffee shop friends, their Café au Lait was very good! Afterwards we went to the 50th year marriage anniversary for an American missionary who had been in Uganda for 32 years. That evening Pastor Michael informed Dad he would be preaching the next morning. So the next morning Dad preached two services at Agape Baptist Church where Michael is pastor. Jonathan, Mom, Timmy, and I sang two songs in the second service. It was then that we discovered that it was apparently seen as disrespectful for a man to sing standing next to his mother-in-law. Oops... Oh well, we were just standing in order of song parts. That afternoon we drove to Busia, Uganda on the east boarder of Uganda and Kenya. On the way, we stopped for chicken on a stick, which was sold by street venders who walked right up to your car in the street and sold it to you through the window. Talk about drive through service! Once we got to Busia we unloaded at the Rand Hotel where we stayed all week. We ate at the hotel with Pastor Lawrence and his wife, Mrs Irene, with whom we served all week. We went over the week's plan and hammered out the last minute details. Then we tucked our mosquito nets around our beds and slept quite well all night. 

The Conclusion of the Crazy Travel

There we were in Montreal... We got our tickets straightened out and made it to our gate with a few hours to spare. At 7:15 we took off on time for our 5 1/5 hr flight over the Atlantic to Amsterdam.
At this point we were still unaware of Jonathan's travel status. But, as the story was supplied later, he had arrived in Entebbe, Uganda, went through customs, and was treated by the driver who was supposed to take him to the hotel. He thought that he would be able to drop off his luggage, get the rooms, then go back to pick us up. Once he got to the hotel they told I'm out flights had been delayed and that we would be there tomorrow. So he bunkered down for the night and spent the day at the hotel.
Meanwhile in Holland... We had a three hour layover, two of those hours were spent running to opposite sides of the airport to get tickets and luggage confirmed. But we made the flight with an hour to spare and took off on our 10 hr flight to Entebbe, with a short stop in Kigali. Mm and Dad barely slept on either flight, but Paul, Timmy, and I got a few hours of sleep. Regardless, we were all exhausted.
Then came the moment we've all been waiting for, or at least me... We landed in Entebbe and made our way through customs, then we walked outside. Thankfully, Pastor Michael had been able to get ahold of Jonathan and he knew to meet us there that night. He was waiting for us with the driver outside the airport. Ten minutes later we were at our hotel and had our rooms. We went upstairs and got a nice hot shower. Well, the boys didn't, they didn't have enough water pressure so they took bucket baths instead.
The next morning, after a hot night of sleep under a mosquito net, we walked down to the beach, had a fantastic breakfast (coffee = fantastic, African Tea=fantastic, mangos = to die for), and packed up. We enjoyed a nice walk down the road and saw tons of monkeys. Then waited for Pastor Michael. Now it is 1:30PM and Pastor Michael has arrived to take us to Kampala.
Thus ends our journey in Entebbe.

Canada Connection Correction

We began our journey to Uganda yesterday morning. We left Skippers, VA (mom and dad's place) at 8:30AM, went to the bank to get our money, and arrived in DC by 2PM without any issues. (Special thank you to my lovely sis-in-law, Ryanne, for driving us.) We made it to our gate and chilled for a couple hours before being told that our flight was delayed 10 minutes. No problem, right, maybe not. Once we boarded the plane, we had to wait for 30 more minutes while the correct paperwork was given to us. Apparently there was some computer errors. Thankfully the flight was only an hour long. We hit the ground in Montreal with 30 minutes to spare. Unfortunately the plane which had been docked in our terminal before us had some mechanical issues and we had to be moved to another one. That took 20 of our 30 minutes. I quite literally ran off the plane and leaving the others to grab the luggage I flew through customs and in 10 minutes I made it to our departure gate. Again unfortunately, the plane had just pulled way.  I met back up with the rest of the group and we went through customs and started the reticketing process. That took 3 hours, but the lady was nice and helped us as much as she could. We were given hotel and food vouchers and they took care of us quite well. The cool thing was that the lady at the hotel told us, after we explained our plight, that she too was a believer and she prayed we would have a safe journey.
I know God has a reason for changing our plans, and we look to see that. In all things he does what is good. Here are a few things you can pray for today and tomorrow:
1. That we would have a safe flight to Amsterdam and then to Uganda.
2. That Jonathan, who is traveling separate, would also have safe flights, and that he would get the messages we left for him concerning our travel changes.
3. That God would be glorified in all this and he would give us gospel opportunities while we travel.

Update on Uganda!

The last month or so Jonathan and I have been hard at it for building a team. Right now we have 10 (including ourselves) team members. They are Jonathan and myself; my Dad, Marcus Daly, my Mom, Kathleen, my brother, Paul, and Jonathan's brother Garriell; from our school is Michael Hopcraft, Daniel Griffen, and Karhl Grubb; and last but most certainly not least my lovely friend Sarah Wells. We are all diligently working at raising the money to pay for the ticket deposits which are coming up next week. We have sent out letters, talked to churches and people, made and sold things, and brainstormed for ideas till it flooded all with the task of reaching our goal. We continue to look up things about the country and things about travel, in order to be as prepared as we can for the task ahead of us. I will definitely keep you updated as things progress.
Thank you so much for your prayers and support. If you would like to donate from this page follow this link:
http://www.indiegogo.com/ugandamission2013/x/2084876?show_todos=true

Uganda 2013

Something crazy has happened. I went from a little girl going on international mission trips to a married woman leading a short term mission trip. Just to be honest: this scares me to death. But that's ok. I'm not doing it alone. For one thing it is obviously joint with Jonathan. But most importantly God is in control. If He so desires that this trip be taken then it will. We have tons of planning to do, and tons of money to raise. The greatest wall we seem to be hitting is a lack of faith. We have quite a few people willing to go, but say they cannot because they cannot afford it. Those of you who have read my blog before know that I have never paid a dime for the trips God has sent me on. I've lived my whole life on the grace of God, so for me it is second nature to not even concern myself about the funds. Nothing is impossible with God. He is the Creator of the whole universe, if He wants something done, He can get it done. None the less this is the wall people can't seem to see over.
This trip is going to be from May 24th to June 4th 2013, and we will be in Kampala, Uganda. We have made contact with a Ugandan pastor who we will be helping. Most of what we will be doing is evangelism discipleship. One of the issues in this area is that the pastors and church members do not know how to make disciples. Our desire is to have "classroom" time to teach these pastors how to make disciples and afterwards have a time in which we can go with them to evangelize and make contacts with them. Our goal is to have classes for pastors, deacons, and other church members, and also have classes for women (taught by women).
More posts will come as we continue to learn more about what we will be able to do, much of which depends on the talents of the team that we take with us. Please continue to pray for us! Thank you!

The Coffee Shop Jesus

You know how we are always told to be a light wherever we go? Sometimes I'm not so great at that. More often than not, I just don't think to look around for opportunities to share the gospel when I'm out doing things. Some people are good at that... Me? Not so much. I tend to need someone to slap me in the face. Or maybe come running up to me screaming "Hey you! I need Jesus!" But that would make things easy, now wouldn't it? Jesus never said it would be easy. Actually he said it would be terribly hard (Matthew 24:9). So I started noticing when people came running up to me screaming their need for Jesus. 
Obviously they didn't put it in so many words. But it turns out that coffee baristas have all kinds of people talk to them. Think about it: you walk into a nice warm room full of relaxed people, reading, chatting, studing, meeting, etc., and you walk up to the counter to order yourself a comfort drink. You are there searching for something, everyone is. That is why they go to the coffee shop. Look for a place to escape your reality for just a minute and drown in the comfort of a sweet cup of coffee. 
Welcome to the coffee shop. 
The first person who talks to you, usually, would be me. The barista who asks you how you are doing and what they can serve to you. It takes a minute to prepare your coffee so you chat while she does it. You've already stepped into a relaxed environment and you kinda start to feel like you can let yourself go. So you talk, at first it is about this and that, but soon you've just indulged all kinds of personal information to this random girl you've never met before. 
This is the situation I find myself in all the time. It's like "Here you go, Sarah, have an opportunity today!" So what do I do? I talk back, sometimes they need comfort, sometimes just someone who will listen, other times they ligitimately need advice. And when that opportunity arrises, I would be a fool to ignor it. Now, no one want Jesus shoved down their throat (when something is shoved down your throat you tend to choke). So I introduce, usually to myself. After all, since Jesus has done such a wonderful work in my life they will see that, and want it themselves. 
Rarely do they just come once either. Once they have opened themself up to someone they usually come back. Then you have another opportunity, after all they already know where you are going to take it so you may as well. 
More often than not, you are introduced to their deep dark secrets, and that is ok. They are sinners, that doesn't mean run away. Jesus hung out with sinners (Matthew 9:12), why shouldn't I? I'm a sinner. I just have grace. 
Why not share it?

A Very Long Month

Sometimes there are times that are joyful and other times when everything that can go wrong goes wrong. The month of September was one of the latter times for Jonathan and I. In August we found out that we were pregnant! We and both our families were very excited! I was dealing with quite a bit of morning sickness, but I had started a new (and better) job in Wake Forest and was able to keep going to school and work despite it. But then September started... The day before my birthday my grandfather (mother's father) passed away from lung cancer and COPD. We had to go to Tennessee for two days, which was difficult seeing I was constantly nauseated and the driving took it's toll on me. It hit my mom rather hard but we all tried to support her and the family during the time. The very next Monday I had my first pre-natal check up, there we found out that I had a abnormal pregnancy called a Molar Pregnancy. Basically there wasn't enough DNA to give the baby life but my body tried to compensate for it by taking nutrition from me and feeding it to the tissue that was growing in my womb making me very sick. At the end of the week I had a DNC, we will still be able to have kids but we will need to wait a few months till we are clear to try again. A week and a half afterwards Jonathan's grandfather (mother's father) passed away, also from COPD. We went to South Carolina for the funeral and visited his family.
It's been a hard month, but God has sustained us through the storm. With the support of our church, family, and friends we have been encouraged to continue on. And we know that not only must life continue on but we must trust that the events of the past month will be used by God for good (Romans 8:28). We look forward to the next month to see what God has in store or us.

Real Life Missions

So I realize that I haven't been on any mission trips recently, but that doesn't negate my responsibility as a Christian to live a "missional" life. Right now at the stage I'm in, I'm not able to go on many trips (I'm lucky to find time to visit my family). But I have been busy. There is alot going on at my local church that I have been able to be a part of. Just learning to play a different part at church has been a wonderful experience. Jonathan and I both have experienced what it is like to be a lay-person at a church without living in the shadow of being the "preacher's kid". We are teaching Sunday School, working with our youth, we go to youth camp and events as chaperons, and we teach at VBS in the summer. I've been able to do things with the women's ministry and in short just help serve others without being expected to.
One of the biggest ministry opportunity in my life right now is at my job. I work at an itty-bitty, one-room store in the mall. And every day I work with my manager. It is usually just the two of us and we get to spend alot of time together. We have since built a very good friendship. There is only one thing... she is Muslim. Knowing how to share the gospel with her in a way that she will be accepting is hard. She has a very poor view of American Christianity. I have continually tried to let her see my life and the way I live in hopes that she will realize that my "Christianity" is different from what she sees others living out.
One of the hardest points of sharing with her is getting to the gospel. It is very easy to talk to her about God, or even some of the patriarchs and biblical characters. She very often will strike up a conversation about a moral topic and ask me what I believe about this or that issue. But I don't know how to breach the subject of Jesus. I don't want to preach it to her, I already know she doesn't respond well to that. No one responds well to having something shoved down their throats. Right now I am just waiting on and praying for, I guess, a "Divine Moment" to present itself and allow me to talk to her about it.
One of the hardest things though is that sharing the gospel has gone from something I do with random strangers or kids to something alot more personal. This woman is my friend. Every time I listen to someone preach or teach on sharing the gospel, especially when they are talking about a Muslim context, I perk up and listen like my life depends on it. Well, mine doesn't, but her's does. And that fact breaks my heart. So many times I come home from work or from one of those missions lectures with a heavy heart. I know that I am sharing in the heart-brokenness of God for the lost at those moments. Missions has become real now. Before it was just a nice idea. Sometimes the hardest thing is when she walks out of the back room after praying to Allah and she looks miserable. Like someone just maliciously killed her cat or something. But I know that the reason for these expressions is that she has no hope.
Right now I continue to search for moments of opportunity. I daily pray for her. And right now I'm in the market for material to help me know what to do and say. I'm also looking for a Bible in Arabic, her heart language.

Next Step In Life

One of the interesting things about following (and for me: reviewing) my blog posts and reading about the things that are going on is realizing that missions and ministry work happens not only when you're overseas or at a camp but rather noticing it happening during your every day life. Too many people believe that "ministry" is something you do in relation with a church or organization. Not enough people realize that real ministry happens when real Christian people impact real people. What also should be emphasized is that ministry is not just helping the lost but also their fellow Christian brothers and sisters. Most of the ministry that I have been able to be a part of since starting college have been of that sort. I have learned to be a real person and impact people during my every day life.

Last week, Jonathan and I were married. I am a wife. Which means that now my first ministry responsibility is Jonathan. I see him everyday. Everything I do, I must do with him in mind. If this doesn't teach one to serve I don't know what will. Our goal remains the same: to become international church planters. Our desire is to minister to the physical and educational needs of children in third world countries. How exactly that will play out, we don't know. That is still in the dreaming stage! But for right now while still pursuing our education we continue to actively minister in our local church, Grace, through doing basically anything we can get our hands into. We also both work secular jobs, he works as a manager at UPS and I am a sale's associate at a small store called Glitter. We continually endeavor to build relationships with those we work with praying that we will be a light for Christ through our influence.

Education, Engagement, Excitement, Etc.

A vital part of a missionary is his/her training. For me this means at least four years of college at Southeastern Seminary. I have officially completed the first year with 37 (after this summer class 40) hours towards my B.A. in Christian Studies and Humanities. Which I hope will give me a bit of a boost for the next three years of my education. I guess if I take 25-30 hours a year I'll have it done on time (I hope).

Another vital part of a missionary is their partners in ministry. There are many different kinds of partners that a missionary needs: prayer partners, financial partners, on-site ministry partners, just to name a few. But another kind of partner, one that I have found is a spouse. A Godly man who is souled out for overseas missions. Someone that I shall join with to spend the rest of our lives ministering for, worshiping, and glorifying the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ. This man, who proposed to me three weeks ago, is Jonathan Stout. The man I have prayed that God would bring into my life at the right time, in the right manner to join us together as one instrument for His service. He has show in countless ways through the last year that it is His will that Jonathan and I marry and do this.

One of the most recent way that He has very obviously shown this is through the events of the past three weeks. Jonathan has been waiting since January for a promotion at work which would support us financially. We had wanted to put off our engagement until he got the promotion, but he finally decided that if he did not have the job by the end of the school year we would step out in faith that God would provide for us and go ahead with the engagement. Three days before school was finished he proposed. The last day of school he was interviewed for the job. We then began to look at buying an engagement ring, budgeting and deciding what we could do and what we definitely could not do. We decided on something we could possibly squeeze out at this time, even if we had to cut back on some things. We bought the ring Saturday. Today, Monday, Jonathan got the call that he had gotten the job.

The way that God has made it extremely obvious about what we should do and that what we are doing is right and good is absolutely amazing! All praise for our relationship with each other, the love that we have for each other, and the commitment we have made to each other belongs to God alone! Never could we have ever been able to do this of our own will and power. Only by the God that we serve would our relationship be possible. Only by His great power and to His glory could our purity be upheld in this manner. I pray that God will continue to rain His blessings upon our relationship throughout the rest of our life.

1 Peter 1:8-9