Urgent Prayer Request

I found out today that the camp director, Mr. Albert Hagan, at Eagles' Wing has been diagnosed with cancer. If everyone will pray for him that would be much appreciated. Also, we are a couple guy staff short of having a full staff, so please pray that this need will also be met. If anyone knows any strong Christan males between 11th grade and Senior in college that would want to give up their summer to serve kids from disadvantaged homes in New Mexico, please let me know. God Bless! Isaiah 52:7

What's Next?

The reason for starting this blog in the first place was to keep in contact with everyone while I was away in New Mexico at Eagles Wing's Youth Ranch. Well, I get to do that again. I will be leaving for Mountainair on May 29th and will be there for 10 weeks. I am very excited about it and I have already begun to pray for the kids that will be there, some of them by name that I hope and pray will come back. I have begun to meet, or at least as far as you can meet someone on Facebook, some of the staff. We have four, I'm pretty sure, staff from last summer returning this year and I am very excited because my best friend from Northern Kentucky, Sammie Shea, will be serving with me this year. Please be praying for the staff, starting even now, so that we will be prepared to serve with the love of Christ and especially pray for our kids that they will be receptive of the Gospel and will readily accept the Amazing Love He has for them. Pray also for protection from our eniemy, Satan, for I know he will try in evey way possible to stop our work and cause us to be complacent and stagnent. Pray that he will be shut out of the camp and that anything that would distract us from Christ's love would dissolve in the overwhelming power of God's mercy. Thank you all for the prayers and support and be looking for those posts with the kids names. I will post the names of the staff as soon as I find out all of them. God Bless. Isaiah 52:7

Report on Asia

Sorry I have taken so long to report on my trip to Asia.

It was, in one word: Amazing! We were able to go into three English schools and talk to the students about Christmas and New Year. We told them about American holidays, culture, and our education system. Then we would open up the class to discussion. Many of them asked if they would be accepted in the States, if they could find work, or if they would be discriminated against because they are not American. They all wanted to know if they were to come to America would they be able to make a life for themselves. They also wanted to know whether we were discriminant against Muslims (that is what many of them are) and if we feared Muslims because of 9-11. No, they were not the jihad type, they were actually very friendly and open. Everyone was excited to talk to us and take a "photo" with the "bule" (white people). And they were probably more supportive of our president than the average American, everyone loved Obama, and I was asked many times if I voted for him. My answer of course was, "You have to be 18 to vote in America, I am not old enough." Because this country is not open to Evangelism we were not able to just strike up a conversation about Christ and Salvation, so we had to go about it in a different way. We would always take time to explain our views of Christmas as a celebration of Christ's birth, but we couldn't just start talking about His death and go from there. They had to ask us and pursue it themselves. No, we didn't have a great harvest of souls while we were there, there is still only one believer in the city (to our knowledge), but we were able to plant seeds and to water where others had been before. And we got to make contacts to keep up with and continue a relationship with via Facebook. Yes, we can do Facebook Evangelism. We were able to go to some of the local parks and to "meet and greet" the locals on New Years Day, so while you in the States were counting down, I was eating some unknown fruit with a Muslim family. I was also able to befriend a girl (who spoke really good English) for the afternoon (yes, I am FB friends with her now). She helped me figure out what to eat for lunch, honestly I still don't know what I ate (except that it had chicken and rice), and then we just hung out for the rest of the afternoon watching the outdoor concert (some Asian girl sang Michael Jackson songs), and this monkey collecting money. We went and got this beef-on-a-stick thingy, it was fried, I don't know what part of the beef it was made of though, oh well, it was good. I also got to meet her family, they didn't speak English, and take pictures with them.

Funny story, the day we went to the second school we went to the market earlier that morning. That was really cool, but not my point, I bought this traditional shirt that was all fancy and what-not and decided to wear it to the school. Well, everyone at the school thought it was cool that I had one of their shirts on, then they asked me where I worked I told them it was a print shop where we make T-shirts and monograms. After explaining what a monogram was, they all quickly assumed that I was a fashion designer! Why? I make shirts and like their fancy Asian clothes. I am still not sure how they put those two together and got that but... whatever. And no matter what I said, I couldn't convince them otherwise, so that school got a visit from a clueless fashion designer!

But all in all, the trip was amazing, exhausting, and amazing again! Saw some very weird things, ate some very weird things, but loved every second. I have now eaten water buffalo, squid, and sushi. I have almost missed a plane from Singapore and rode a crowded subway full of Asians with cell phones. I have rode in multiple taxis down the wrong side of the road, at full speed, thinking I was about to meet my Maker cause this Asian who can't speak English is coming within inches of these cars and motorcycles, and we sometimes had as many as 4 people in the back seat because we couldn't afford a 4th taxi, but I lived to tell the story! I have washed my hair in multiple airport sinks and gone 52 hours on 5 hours of sleep! And slept in a hotel with cockroaches that are two or three inches long and had sightings of rats as big as house-cats, although we did have a gecko friend in my room of that I was glad (they eat bugs). But all is well, and I'd do it again in an instant!

As of right now, I am praying about an opportunity to go back to Africa in May. I don't know if I'll be able to because of various reasons but I will try to work around those. But I do know that at the end of May I will be going back to Eagles' Wings for the summer. That I am excited about! Keep praying for me and my opportunities for missions. And thank you all for praying and giving for this trip.

Romans 10:14-15

14 Days and counting!

I now have 14 days till I leave for SE Asia. I have received all of my funding, $4,225, and sent in the last check. Thank you to my amazing church who gave $2,735 all together. It has been amazing to see how God has worked to get me the funds. I have gotten money from people I have never met that someone I know told them about me and they sent me money. My Aunt gave me $500 for Christmas to go towards my trip, the second time she has done this (last year for Africa). And when I first started raising the funds my church told me that whatever (no matter how much) I lacked they would pay for it. The security that gives is amazing, they even suggested giving it all at one point, I had to talk them out of it (believe it or not). I have had one very faithful lady give me $40 a week for 2 or 3 months, as of today she has given $440.

As the great hymn goes "Trust and Obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to Trust and Obey." He is faithful and will provide, when I started out I thought that the trip would only cost about $3,500, but as my domestic ticket has cost far more than I first anticipated it has become more. But God has taken up the slack and provided way more than I could have ever asked.

Romans 10:14-15

40 Days

Well, I will be leaving for SE Asia in 40 days. I have the rest of my money due on the 4th of December and right now I have $2,245, I need about $1,600 more. Our group is now down to 12 people and I do believe my fellow High Schooler is no longer going which makes me the only one in HS, again, but that is ok I am used to it by now. It is going to be a very interesting trip, we will be encountering a very different culture in a very different place.

Romans 10:14-15

What is going on!

So my preparations for my trip to SE Asia is going well. I have recieved $1,285 to date and my next dead line for funds is on November 7th and I have $1,500 due that day. We have a team of 15 people college students, high-school students (proud to say I am not the only one this time), and two adults going. We will leave on December 26th and return on Janurary 4th (I will arrive home on the 5th due to flight delays). We will travel from LA to Tiwan, then to Singapore where we will spend the night. The next morning we will leave and take a ferry to the island and a small plane to fly us inland. Then we will hike, or take a taxi, or donkeys (not quite sure of the last mode of transportation) to the city we will be ministering out of. We get to live out of backpacks for the 10 days we will be away, hmm, light packing! We will be visiting univerities, villages, and English school classes to teach the Gospel. This is (as Darren so rightly dubbed it) the Amazing Race of mission trips. Please be in prayer for our team as we prepare and gather funding and support for our trip. Then pray for our continued safty while in country and traveling.

Romans 10:14-15

Next Stop!

After returning home from New Mexico, I have had a whirlwind of things to do. I have traveled to Kentucky and back, gotten a job, orientation at college, and am now going to college. But most importantly I have committed to going to Southeast Asia. I'll leave here on the 26th of December and will arrive in country the 27th or close to it. We will be doing cross-cultural work in schools and homes. Sadly we still need people for the team. We have 5 signed up and need a team of 21. We are in dire need of males considering the ratio is 4:1 (the only male being the leader). I also need funds. I have $0 of my $3,525, I have sent out letters but that probably won't raise it all. I hope and pray and know that God will provide the funds and everything else that I need for this trip.

Romans 10:14-15