How He Loves

I can't let December end with no blog entry.

How He Loves

He is jealous for me,

Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realise just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us so,
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all

Yeah, He loves us,
Oh! how He loves us,
Oh! how He loves us,
Oh! how He loves.


We are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.
And Heaven meets earth like an unforseen kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way…

"I don't have time to maintain these regrets." Short and simple. December ending and the new year about to begin. Time to let go of theses regrets, these sins, for good. Give them all to the Lord. No matter what I've done or not done He loves me.

Jealousy

When I was preparing for the summer I had to read a book Spiritual Warfare by Timothy M. Warner. Today I found some notes I made while reading it. Simple notes. The book was talking about Satan's jealousy. I wrote "Satan is jealous of me." It made me think of the song "How He Loves." Part of the song goes, "He is jealous for me," 'He' being God. So I got to thinking, Satan and God, both jealous. How can that be? Both jealous of me? Really? Stop. Right there. That's my problem, and it can make a world of difference. Satan is jealous OF me. God if jealous FOR me.

God is jealous for me. Jealous for me, my attention, my dreams, my life, my everything. . Exodus 20:4-5a "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. ⁵ You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God." Why shouldn't he be? He made me. He made everything. He deserves my attention, my praise to Him, my everything. It all belongs to Him so He has every right to be jealous when we don't give Him what is His.

Satan on the other hand is jealous of me. Genesis 1:27 "So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." We are made in the likeness of God and Satan is jealous of that. Not only are we made in the image of God but we are also heirs. Heirs to salvation. Romans 8:17 "Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory." We are meant to give God glory and Satan is jealous of the glory we give to God. Here is a passage (2 1/2 paragraphs, please bear with me) from Spiritual Warfare that says it better than I can:

...Satan knows that while we humans have been created in the image of God for this high purpose, we need an ongoing relationship with God to accomplish that purpose. Further, he now sees us as the avenue through which he can carry on his war against God. If he can lure us with his offers of information and power or intimidate us with his shows of strength, he can, he believes, frustrate the plan of God.

Thus Satan's jealousy of God provides powerful motivation for him in this war. Jealousy is one of those stronger emotions as far as moving to action. Allowed to develop unchecked, jealousy passes through three stages. First, we see what someone else has and we want it. At the second stage, we realize that the object of our jealousy can never be ours; so we hate the other person for having what we can't have. And finally, that hate leads us to try and deprive the other person of what he or she has, whether that be something physical or something like one's reputation. Lucifer quickly reached the third stage, and his one ambition today is to deprive God of His glory and to keep us from participating in it.

The Devil cannot deprive God of glory in Heaven, but he can keep God from having His rightful glory ascribed to him by people on earth. He does this by keeping them blind to God's true character and to His purpose in creating and re-creating them and by keeping them ignorant of the power which is available to them to achieve that purpose. And when some of the people on the earth do seek the Lord and try to walk in His ways, Satan can at least keep them from living in a manner that is "for the praise of his glory." The key in either case is to get them to live self-centered rather than God- centered lives, to buy into his lies about life, and to substitute Satan's kind of power for God's power.

Give God the glory He deserves. The glory that is His. Don't let Satan try to interfere. Do not let Satan win. God is jealous for your (my) me. Give yourself (myself) to Him.

Hosanna

There are, like other songs, many things I could say about this one. I'll limit myself to two, which tie together pretty well.

I see the king of glory
Coming on the clouds with fire
The whole earth shakes
The whole earth shakes

I see his love and mercy
Washing over all our sin
The people sing
The people sing

[Chorus]
Hosanna
Hosanna
Hosanna in the highest [x2]

I see a generation
Rising up to take their place
With selfless faith
With selfless faith

I see a near revival
Stirring as we pray and seek
We're on our knees
We're on our knees

[Chorus]

Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like you have loved me

Break my heart from what breaks yours
Everything I am for your kingdoms cause
As I go from earth into
Eternity

[Chorus x2]

Hosanna in the highest

"Show me how to love like you have loved me...Break my heart for what breaks Yours, Everything I am for Your kingdom's cause. " This summer that was the cry of my heart. There were times that I felt so disconnected I would just dwell on the words, make them my prayer. I wanted to give my all to the children but felt like I was constantly holding myself back. I didn't know how to just let go and give my all. Several times in Trans when we were at the beach with the kids I would think about this. And there were times when I knew God was breaking my heart for these children and it hurts sometimes. I thought about it and how many times do we sing that, "Break my heart for what breaks Yours," and actually mean it because I mean be honest it's not fun to feel brokenhearted. To feel like you want to help but there is only so much you can do. To get just a glimpse of what these people go through everyday, their entire life, and realize I am only here doing this temporarily. I am going home soon. I won't have to deal with this again. It's heart breaking, truly heart breaking. And all you can do is cry. Cry and pray. As heartbreaking as it may be it is also in a way a welcoming feeling. It's like when a light bulb goes off in your head but instead it is a fire lit in your heart. You feel just a piece of what God feels for His children. You feel just a minute bit of what His heart feels.

Trans. A village with a couple hundred people. All the kids in that village and I only recall seeing one toy. One. And it was homemade. It was an empty gas or oil can turned sideways and made into a car. It had windows and doors cut out and old flip flops cut up into wheels. How many toys did I grow up with? Barbies alone I'd probably have enough to give each girl in the village one. Ok, maybe not each girl but close enough. This is what sparked me to put together a shoebox for Operation Christmas Child this year. I've never before put one together. It was so fun and such a fulfilling thing to do. I enjoyed so much picking stuff out and got excited about everything I'd be sending to a child that I'll never meet, never know. As a community ministry the BCM was collecting boxes. I admit I was expecting less than 10 boxes.. We haven't had much support with the community ministries. We had close to 30 boxes! You just don't know how thrilled that makes me! Every box is one more child who gets a Christmas gift and gets the Gospel shared with them. Praise the Lord!

Kids (Nona, Afebi, ?) with the toy car

the toy car

May the Words of my Mouth

Hearing what some people were saying at the LSU v. Florida game brought this song to my mind.

May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart
Bless Your name, bless Your name, Jesus
And the deeds of the day and the truth in my ways
Speak of You, speak of You, Jesus

For this is what I'm glad to do
It's time to live a life of love that pleases You
And I will give my all to You
Surrender everything I have and follow You
I'll follow You

Lord, will You be my vision, Lord, will You be my guide
Be my hope, be my light and the way
And I'll look not for riches, nor praises on earth
Only You'll be the first of my heart

I will follow
I will follow

I will follow You

"May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart, Bless Your name, bless Your name Jesus." There were certainly words being said that weren't blessing His name. Being in the student section I'm not surprised at all to hear some of the things I hear. I just don't understand how some people don't hear how ignorant and stupid the sound sometimes. And immature. That's not my point though. What really upsets me is when I hear some of these things coming from people I know who claim to be Christians. They don't just claim to be Christians, I mean I know they are, but what they say certainly wouldn't make an outsider think that. The specific things I'm thinking of weren't even that bad if you were to rate them but they don't need to be said nonetheless. I admit I used to have a bad language problem. It's like i would turn it on and off though depending on who I was with. School friends, say whatever I please. Church, watch my mouth. So I'm no saint who's never uttered a bad word. That's who I used to be though not who I am now. "Be perfect, therefore, as Your heavenly Father is perfect." Matthew 5:48 As Christians we are supposed to live our live in a way that represents Christ and brings glory to Him. This includes our actions, words, and thoughts.

From the Inside Out

There are so many great thoughts in this song that there is a lot I could say. I don't know whether to mention them all or just the first thoughts I had when I was originally going to post this. So we'll see what I decide at the end of this. :)

A thousand times I've failed
Still your mercy remains
Should I stumble again
Still I'm caught in your grace
Everlasting, your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending, your glory goes beyond all fame

Your will above all else
My purpose remains
The art of losing myself in bringing you praise
Everlasting, your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending, your glory goes beyond all fame

In my heart, in my soul
I give you control
Consume me from the inside out
Let justice and praise
Become my embrace
To love you from the inside out

Everlasting, your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending, your glory goes beyond all fame
And the cry of my heart is to bring you praise
From the inside out
Lord my soul cries out

I don't think I can talk about just one point in the song without eventually mentioning all the others. "A thousands times I've failed, still Your mercy remains, should I stumble again, still I'm caught in Your grace." How many times have I messed up. Wished I could take things back...but I can't. God is gracious, giving me forgiveness I don't feel I deserve. He is merciful to not punish me every time I stumble- and believe me it's been many time. I have stumbled and and I have fallen. We all will stumble, and that's okay. The problem is when we fall. Maybe sometimes the fall is unavoidable. But what about those times when I see myself beginning to stumble and I just continue on and don't try to stop myself. I knowingly choose to continue what it is I shouldn't. I need to catch myself before I fall.

"In my heart and my soul, I give You control." How many times do we (I) sing this and not mean it? Do we realize what we are saying when we sing this? I give YOU control Lord. It's not about me. It's not what I want, what I desire. It's not what I have planned for my life. No. It's all about You. It's "Your will above all else." Not mine. Yours Lord. Yours. "Your light will shine when all else fades." How amazing is it to think about that. If all our plans crumble and fade, His light will still shine. Or if everything around us is just pulling us down. If we're surrounded but nothing but evil. Everything that the world can give us fades away. But His light, it will forever shine. It will shine when all else fades. We can always, and should always, rely on Him.

I could go on and on some more. It'd be so much easier actually talking about what this means. What it means to me. Not having to try and get it into logical order, and written (or typed) words. But whatever. His glory goes beyond all fame. Not mine. This isn't for my glory. It is to bring glory to Him.

God of Jacob

I said I had more to say about this song. I didn't realize I'd be saying it so soon. I had once before blogged about it on a blog I didn't keep up and had a much longer entry but it was about the song's relevance with occurrences in my life then. So now, I actually don't ahve as much to say about it. So short and simple it will be! Anyways.

God of Jacob

We bow our hearts, we bend our knees
Oh spirit, come make us humble
We turn our eyes from evil things
Oh Lord, we cast down our idols

So give us clean hands, and give us pure hearts
Let us not lift our souls to another
And give us clean hands, and give us pure hearts
Let us not lift our souls to another

O God, let us be a generation that seeks

That seeks your face, O God of Jacob
O God, let us be a generation that seeks
That seeks your face, O God of Jacob.

This generation, now, needs to be the generation that shakes things up. The generation that spreads the gospel like wildfire, to everyone, everywhere. Really everybody, every generation needs to be that generation. Let this be your prayer. My prayer.

Who I Am Hates Who I've Been & City On Our Knees

Why is it so hard to change? It's easy (sometimes) to see the changes we want to make and even to know how to make them but actually making the change is so difficult sometimes. For me personally it's laziness and lack of effort. I want so desperately to change who I am now into someone better for the Lord. This song sums it up.

Who I Am Hates Who I've Been
by: Relient K

I watched the proverbial sunrise

Coming up over the Pacific and

You might think I'm losing my mind,
But I will shy away from the specifics...

'cause I don't want you to know where I am
'cause then you'll see my heart

In the saddest state it's ever been.

This is no place to try and live my life.

[Pre-Chorus]
Stop right there. That's exactly where I lost it

.See that line. Well I never should have crossed it.

Stop right there. Well I never should have said
That it's the very moment that I wish that I could take back.

[Chorus]

I'm sorry for the person I became.

I'm sorry that it took so long for me to change.
I'm ready to be sure I never become that way again
'cause who I am hates who I've been.
Who I am hates who I've been.

I talk to absolutely no one.
Couldn't keep to myself enough.

And the things bottled inside have finally begun
To create so much pressure that I'll soon blow up.

I heard the reverberating footsteps
Synching up to the beating of my heart,

And I was positive that unless I got myself together,
I would watch me fall apart.

And I can't let that happen again
'cause then you'll see my heart

In the saddest state it's ever been.

This is no place to try and live my life.

[Pre-Chorus x2]
[Chorus]

Who I am hates who I've been
And who I am will take the second chance you gave me.

Who I am hates who I've been
'cause who I've been only ever made me...

So sorry for the person I became.
So sorry that it took so long for me to change.

I'm ready to be sure I never become that way again
'cause who I am hates who I've been.

Who I am hates who I've been.

While I was away this summer I had all these plans of how I'd change once I got back home. I would make sure to spend time daily in prayer and reading the Bible. I would depend on God and not myself. Pretty much all the things most people say when they come back from a church camp or whatever and they're on that "spiritual high." How many times before have I told myself those same things before? Too many to count. How many times have I actually made those proposed changes in my life? I don't know but none have stuck with me. It works for a little while then life gets busy and I let those things slip away. I hate myself being this way. I want to commit to making these changes and actually make them happen.

Also kind of along the same lines I've been recently thinking how it disgusts me how there are so many hypocrites. They claim to be Christian, they come worship at TNT, they go to church, they've been D-now leaders, they've gone on mission trips, and they get wasted on the weekends. That is probably one of the things that irks me the most about some people. Like i said it disgusts me. It truly disgusts me. Then I realized I am no better then they are. I might not do anything "bad" but what am I doing nothing. I go to church, TNT, mission trips, and do nothing. I'm not spending any time outside of corporate worship with the Lord. I disgust myself. I think the biggest insult I could be given would be to be called a hypocrite when it comes to my faith and that's exactly what I've been. A hypocrite.

While I was thinking about all this I was thinking about when to start making these changes I want to make. But why wait for some certain day? Why not tonight? That's when City on Our Knees came in my head. A new song from Toby Mac that has been playing on Klove a lot recently. It says it perfectly. Why not here? Why not now?

Tobymac - City On Our Knees

If you've gotta start somewhere
Why not here?
If you've gotta start sometime
Why not now?

If you've gotta start somewhere I say here
If you've gotta start sometime I say now
Through the fog
There is hope in the distance

From cathedrals to third world missions
Love will fall to the earth like a crashing wave
Tonight is the night
For the sinners and the saints

To rescue life in a beautiful display
It's all up tonight
When we step across the line
We can sail across the sea

To a city with one king
A city on our knees
If we gotta start somewhere
Why not here?

If we gotta start sometime
Why not now?
If we gotta start somewhere
I say here
If we gotta start sometime
I say now

Tonight couldn't last forever
We are one choice from together
Family, we're family
You and me, yeah you and me

If we gotta start somewhere
Why not here?
If we gotta start somewhere
Why not now?

no song this time

Saturday I has a strong feeling of missing the children from the village, Trans. All of a sudden, I don't know why I even started thinking about the village, but I thought about Nona and the other children and started missing them. Nan, content just sitting quietly by me at the well holding my towel while I waited for the shower stall thing. Nona, being with us practically all the time (I mean we were at her family's house after all) and teaching her to play slide. Nan and Nona chattering away while the others slept and I read, saying all our names and where we're from then doing my hair for me. Afebi and her sweet smile. Carmalita, the first time we met her she gave such an almost mean kind of look and would scoot farther from us each time we got closer. Then at the beach when she took my ponytail out to get the sand out my hair, she really went to work at it too. Emila, that scared look she usually had, but she finally gave me a high five, and then held my hand and said my name one day. Even Efri, with his "sticky fingers". And all the rest. It wasn't helped by me putting all the pictures I got printed into albums today and yesterday.

Nona

Emila and another girl

a beautiful darling

Nan and Afebi

? and Efri

boys at the beach


kids hanging around our house


I just love this picture. This is from our first night in the village.

"Da." The final goodbye.

I could post so many more pictures but I won't get carried away and wills top with these.

God of Jacob

We sang God of Jacob during debrief this summer. The second time through it we sang it differently. Normally it is like this:

We bow our Hearts
We bend our knees
Oh Spirit come make us humble
We turn our eyes from evil things
Oh Lord we cast out our idols

So give us clean hands
Give us pure hearts
Let us not lift our souls to another
Give us clean hands
Give us pure hearts
Let us not lift our souls to another

And oh God let us be
A generation that seeks
Seeks your face
Oh God of Jacob
And oh God let us be
A generation that seeks
Seeks your face
Oh God of Jacob

The second time we sang it through it was like this:

They bow their Hearts
They bend their knees
Oh Spirit come make them humble
They turn their eyes from evil things
Oh Lord they cast out their idols

So give them clean hands
Give them pure hearts
Let them not lift their souls to another
Give them clean hands
Give them pure hearts
Let them not lift their souls to another

And oh God let them be
A generation that seeks
Seeks your face
Oh God of Jacob
And oh God let them be
A generation that seeks
Seeks your face
Oh God of Jacob

And I loved it! I really like this song and eventually will get to an even longer post about it. Just changing a few words gives the song such a different impact. Changing those few words made it not a prayer for myself but a prayer for all the lost souls. I'm having trouble getting into words how strongly I felt about it.

In Timor we didn't see a lot of idol worship and offerings to nonexistent gods but in just the few days I was on Bali I saw plenty of it. And it breaks my heart knowing there are all these millions of people destined to hell because they don't know Jesus Christ. They spend all this time sacrificing, and leaving offerings to gods that aren't there, gods that can't help them. I mean, how must it feel each day when you go to leave your offering and the offering from the day before is still there. Doesn't it feel like your gods are rejecting you. Don't they wonder if their is something else, something greater.

This needs to be our prayer for the people of every nation who are following after false gods, worshipping idols. That they would cast out their idols and cease to worship them. That they would come to know the One who offers salvation. The One who does not require the daily sacrifices because He gave His life as the ultimate sacrifice for us so we don't have to. The one who gives salvation freely to any who call upon His name. Jesus Christ.

I asked Stephanie, who led worship when we sang this song, if she came up with singing it this way as a prayer for others or if she had heard it that way before. She said she was talking to J&J and they mentioned how we too often sing about God and not often enough do we sing to God. Instead of singing "Him" and "His" and etc., singing about God, they would sing "You." And I agree whole heartedly when Stephanie said, "think about it...how true is it?" It is very true. It is good to sing about God but sometimes we need to just make it more personal and sing to Him. Here is more of what Stephanie said,"So, I started thinking about some of the songs that I really adore and decided to try a couple when I sang. It makes everything so much more personal and intimate when we can turn our prayers into songs."

Majesty (Here I am)

"Forever I am changed by Your love." God can show His love in so many ways. This summer I felt His love through 22 children.

Majesty (Here I Am)

Here I am humbled by your Majesty
Covered by Your grace so free
Here I am, knowing I'm a sinful man
Covered by the blood of the Lamb

Now I've found the greatest love of all is mine
Since You laid down your life
The greatest sacrifice

Majesty, Majesty
Your grace has found me just as I am
Empty handed, but alive in Your hands
Majesty, Majesty
Forever I am changed by Your love
In the presence of your Majesty

Here I am humbled by the love that You give
Forgiven so that I can forgive
Here I stand, knowing that I'm Your desire
Sanctified by glory and fire

Now I've found the greatest love of all is mine
Since You laid down your life
The greatest sacrifice

So I realize this song is more about the Lord's saving grace and love then what exactly I'm about to go on about but it's that one line, "Forever I am changed by Your love," that got to me two Sunday nights ago. It was my first Sunday back home and music was one of the things I began to start missing while I was gone. Anyways.

You might feel God's love through a certain individual. Maybe you feel it through nature, watching the sunrise or set, gazing at the vast amount of stars. This summer I felt God's love from a bunch of children. Not only the 22 kids at the children's home but also the kids in the villages. And the adults too. I'm not quite sure yet how they've changed me, but they have.

I never thought it was going to be so hard telling the children bye. I thought that right as we were leaving it might really hit and there'd be a few tears shed and that'd be it. Quite to the contrary though! There were very few dry eyes as we all spoke and said goodbye. I can't forget the tears streaming down all the girls' faces. Marget and Jened crying as they both held on to me and I to them. Jeni and the sweet note she gave me. The two bracelets Jeni gave me and the one bracelet another girl gave me, I believe it was Dede but I'm not sure and it kills me that I can't remember which girl gave it to me. What little they had they're willing to give away. (Speaking of giving away, I let them have the pictures I brought with me so your picture might now be in the hands of a child in Indonesia if I had a picture of you with me :) I'm getting off topic though.) Even some of the boys trying not to let their emotions show. Even remembering it now it is still heartbreaking.

A few nights before we were to leave I was wondering what did I actually do there? What difference or impact did my being there have? I struggled with this a lot actually. And then one night when I was in the room by myself Amena and Dede came, armed with just a traveler's English/Indonesian dictionary, to talk with me. We talked as much as we could about various things for quite a while. Dede drew an imaginary line down from my forehead, pointed to one side of me and said, "America," then pointed to the other side and said,"Indonesia."

Whether I ever figure it out or not the kids, or at least some of them, saw something more in me then what I could see. And it's that love I felt from them, that even if I don't fully understand, has somehow in someway changed me.

Heart of Worship

I'm sorry Lord for the thing I've made it when it's all about You. Yes, it's all about you Jesus. How true that is and how sorry I am.

Heart of Worship

When the music fades
And all is stripped away
And I simply come
Longing just to bring
Something that's of worth
That will bless Your heart

I'll bring You more than a song
For a song in itself
Is not what You have required
You search much deeper within
Through the ways things appear
You're looking into my heart

I'm coming back to the heart of worship
And it's all about You
All about You, Jesus
I'm sorry Lord for the thing I've made it
When it's all about You
It's all about You Jesus

King of endless worth
No one could express
How much You deserve
Though I'm weak and poor
All I have is Yours
Every single breath

I'll bring You more than a song
For a song in itself
Is not what You have required
You search much deeper within
Through the way things appear
You're looking into my heart

I'm coming back to the heart of worship
And it's all about You
All about You, Jesus
I'm sorry Lord for the thing I've made it
When it's all about You
It's all about You Jesus

Its all about You
Jesus

As we were singing this song last Sunday night in church it really hit home with me. Our last week in Indonesia we taught this song to the kids in the children's home to sing on Sunday morning in their church. Teaching it to the kids started out as a bit of a train wreck. I think we were reluctant just to get it taught (I must add though that by Sunday it sounded great). We never did have it translated into their language for them to understand what it was they were singing. The thing is, it is in my language and yet while we were there I totally missed the meaning of it.

When we were teaching it I felt like we had four people singing it each with our own slight variation of some sort, not to mention the kids who had never even heard the song before also had their own tune for it going on. I'm used to hearing it one way so to me that's the "right" way. Then we would practice it so many times that the kids would get restless; I would get restless. This is what my focus was on. This is what I made it.

I made it about me. I made it about how I wanted to hear it. I made it about what I wanted to be doing instead of going over it for the 4th time in a row. It's not about me. It's all about You, Jesus.

There is no right or wrong way to sing a song when you're worshiping the Lord. "When the music fades all is stripped away... I'll bring You more than a song for a song in itself is not what You have required...It's all about You Jesus." The music means nothing if the intentions are not right. It's about why we are praising the Lord. Why, not how (how, as in song, prayer, scripture, etc.). What is in our hearts and in our minds as we lift this song up to the Lord? Are our hearts and our minds really on the heart of worship-Jesus? "You search much deeper within, through the way things appear, You're looking into my heart. I'm coming back to the heart of worship and it's all about You." Everything we are is because of Him and everything we do should be for Him. "Longing just to bring something that's of worth that will bless Your heart...I'll bring You more than a song...King of endless worth, no one could express how much You deserve. Though I'm weak and I'm poor all I have is Yours, every single breath."

Just a quick update

to let you know everything is okay with us. If you heard about the earthquake a few days ago or the bombings yesterday they were both on different islands then where we are at. Please continue to pray for the safety of all the teams here and that we'll use our remaining time, less then two weeks, to our fullest advantage in sharing the love of Christ with the people.

Not too much has been going on. We made a trip back to the village 5 hours away one day to help pass out medicine. We will be going back to that village to retrieve our team phone that was "misplaced" there. It'll be our 4th time having to tell those kids "bye". On Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays we are going to the refugee camps and having Sunday school with the kids. We shared the message of Jesus and salvation in the villages on Monday and Tuesday but weren't able to in the village Wednesday. We will do it next Wednesday. The middle schoolers are back at the children's home. The rest of the kids will come back next week. We'll only have a week with all the kids back and then it'll be time for us to leave.

Just for fun. This is some of what we eat. Rice, chicken, rice, noodles, rice, potatoes, rice, fish, rice, green stuff(lots of vegetables fall under this category), rice, chicken, rice, carrots, rice, tofu, rice, chicken, rice, goat, rice.

-Emily

update

Well we are back at the children's home for the remainder of our time. We really enjoyed our time in the village and I think I can speak for all of us and say we all wil miss the children and people from the village. We did the same things there we've been doing, with the main thing being leading Sunday school each day for the kids.  

The last day that we led Sunday School in the village we were planning to teach about the death and resurrection of Christ and slavation. That same day there was a christening in the Catholic church so we were expecting significantly fewer kids to show up. We were a little late getting to where we have Sunday school and when we got there there were less then 10 kids. We waited a little longer to see if any other kids were coming. I can't describe the joy i felt when slowly but surely more kids started coming from all directions. God is so good! There were about 40 children which is about what we were having the other days and 5 parents. Many of the kids that came came for the first time that day.  I don't know if any kids accepted Christ that day but we told the most important message we could ever share with them. We were able to  plant that seed. 

-Emily

another update so soon!

The plan as of now is to leave tomorrow and to stay in the village for 8 days. We will continue to do the bible stories with the children there as well as bible studies with the adults each day and whatever else we can (such as fetching water) to help out some of the families. On the 1st Cecil along with our supervisor will be flying out to another island. Please pray for their safe travel. Please also pray for the health of our team. We are all getting sick with coughing and runny noses.

-Emily

quick update

The village was not nearly as rough as we were expecting it to be. We led a bible story and songs each day there just like we did in the other villages we visited. We also did some prayer walking through the village, visited with a few people, and had house church with some of the adults one night. In the afternoons after the story and songs we would go down to the beach with the kids and play games. We got to watch the sunset when we were at the beach. It was amazing! Watching it I am in awe and am reminded of God's great power and beauty. We will be going back to the children's home for a few days and it's still up in the air whether or not we'll be able to go back to the village. Sorry this is such a short update. We are almost halfway through, time sure flies by! Thank you so much for your prayers and comments!

-Emily

Emily says...

We have continued staying at the children's home and building relationships with the kids there. We have visited 4 refugee camps/villages. Just to give you an idea of these villages, one of them was a large building with basically cubicle like structures made of sticks which were the families' home. Going to these places really gives us a new appreciation for many things we take for granted. Monday we will leave the children's home to go stay in a village similar to the ones we have visited. We are a bit nervous because we don't know what exactly to expect, what we will be doing, or even how long we will be there! We are ready though. We'll really be putting "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength," to the test. I know we can do it, for us it will only be a few weeks at most. Some of the children we have gotten to know at the home are from this village, not to mention the many other children we haven't met yet who live in these villages. It's not just a few weeks for them, it's life.

Just a few more random tid-bits: we've been having an unwelcome visitor in our room the past few nights while we are trying to sleep. A rat!

There are some things that seem pretty universal: 1. God, 2. smiles, 3. high-fives, 4. kids with bubblewrap

To the Jefferson people, we are going through the book of Acts for our daily quiet times, this makes me think of y'all every morning.

so far...

We all got here safely. Our first four days were spent on one island for orientation. Most teams are staying on that island. Our team and one other flew out Monday to different islands. Right now we are staying at a children's home. We will be there for two weeks. In the afternoons we've been going to refugee camps and sharing stories with the children. When our two weeks with the children's home are done we will be going to the villages. We don't really know to much what to expect in the villages.

Please keep the other teams in your prayers too. Because of the island we are on we shouldn't encounter the problems one of the other teams have had but they were questioned by police and all their materials were taken.

-Emily

Soon and very soon...

but not until after about 22-23 hours in the air, we will all be at our destination. Krista is already there. I'm not sure when Ashley leaves, either tomorrow or Tuesday and I leave Tuesday. Ashley and I should be meeting up for the last leg of our flights. As of right now I'm not feeling excited or nervous anymore, though I'm sure this will change the day I'm supposed to leave. I'm not feeling much of anything except ready, ready to just go ahead and get over there and begin doing whatever it is we will be doing (vague much, about what we'll be doing?). We'll spend our first few days in orientation before heading off to where we'll be the rest of the time. Please pray for safe travel.

Departure

Ashley here. I am getting very excited about this summer. I can't wait to meet everybody and share the goodness of Jesus with these precious people! Pray for our team!

Three Weeks Until

Well Family and Friends we will be leaving in roughly three weeks. I can not believe that our time to leave is here already. I am so excited to see what is in store for Emily, Krista, and I. I know we will be blessed beyond measure. Pray that we will do God's will and that He gives us insight to do the right thing with the right words. It will be tough to leave each and every one of you. But, this is what He has planned for us and all of us will be blessed. Keep in Prayer!
God Bless.

Ashley

Here's the plan!

I'm trying to get the hang of this (using the blog that is) but I'm not sure I know what I'm doing yet. Krista, Ashley, and I (Emily) will try to keep you, our family and friends, updated throughout the summer on what we're doing.

-Emily