Hello everyone!  So much has happened since I've written last.  We are all ready to go on our outreach phase now.  I leave on Sunday with my team to go to Nepal.  There are about 35 of us going to Nepal which will be so much fun.  Within our group, we are split into 4 groups which are the people we will be working with on a regular basis every day.  We are all in expectation for the Lord to do amazing things.  He has already done so much in our lives in the past 3 months so we can expect nothing less than that in Nepal.  So, during our time in Nepal, we will be doing evangelism on a regular basis (4/5 days a week) then we will also be working with other churches and hopefully orphanages as well.  I can't wait to meet some Nepali children.  I've seen pictures and they are just so beautiful.  Anyway, here are some things to be praying for in the next 2 months.  I don't know if I'll be able to update this while I'm gone, but I will try!  Here are some prayer points:

Pray for our health - we don't want to be distracted about our goal to reach the Nepali people.

Pray for openness of the Nepali people - this is a country steeped in Hinduism (it is the only official Hindu country) and we really desire to see the Lord open their eyes to His love for them specifially.

Pray for unity on our group - we have great group dynamics, but we need to have a radical and amazing love for each other so that we can love the Nepali people. 

Pray for creativity - we want to reach the Nepali people in a way they will understand specific to their culture.  Jesus knows exactly how to communicate to the Nepali people and we want to be mindful of that.

Pray for salvations to happen - we know that God is preparing an amazing harvest and we want to be apart of what the Lord is doing there.  Whether these salvations happen inour presence or not, we pray that God will do a huge work in the hearts of these people. 

I can't wait to tell you all about this time that I have in Nepal.  I know it will be monumental for my life and for the lives of my team mates.  I can't thank you enough for being apart of this with me.  I love you guys!!

Hello again to everyone!  I hope this finds you well. I can hardly believe that I am in the ninth week of my training here!  It is unreal.  My group of us are starting to pray for Nepal every day until we leave.  The Lord is really stirring our hearts for this nation - He has such huge plans this country and we are so excited to be apart of what He is doing!  This morning when we were praying, He was really showing us the hopelessness of the nation and to pray against that - so many of these people have never known anything different from what they have lived.  How exciting it will be to show them a face to hope and life - Jesus!  I just can't contain myself when I think about what we will be doing while we are there.  About 4 or 5 days a week, we will be doing open air evangelism where we'll preach, do skits and music to present the gospel.  Afterwards, there is an invitation to receive Christ which is where everything starts.  There is always a pastor present at our open airs and we will introduce the new convert to the pastor.  For the rest of our time there, we will disciple new Christians so they know the steps to knowing God personally and intimately.  We really desire to see people come to know God and love Him.  We don't just want it to stop at a conversion experience - we want them to grasp onto the Lord and never let go.  I know I can testify that that is the only way to know God in a fulfilling way.  What is amazing is that He is so good to know - its not hard to choose Him when you fully know His character.  That has been the essence of my time here- learning more of the fulness of God so that I can trust and know Him more. Anyway, that's a bit about Nepal for you!

This week, we are discussing The Fear of the Lord which is a huge topic because everything rests on this understanding of God.  Our memory verse this week was Job 28:28, "Then he said, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and to shun evil is understanding."  A basic definition of the fear of the Lord is to love what God loves and to hate what He hates.  When I know who God is - ie. His character, what He has done in my life and in the lives of others, I will want to press into Him to know Him more.  In doing this, I will begin to have a hatred of sin - I won't want to do anything that would hurt the Lord.  I'll understand that sin hurts Him and that it ultimately hurts me which is why He hates it so much.  This is something that will require constant growth - I won't just wake up one day and realize I have the fear of the Lord.  It is a choice that I make every day to seek the heart of God and to desire oneness with Him.  It is a desperate longing for His heart.  In any relationship, there is a choice to pursue and that is what I have to do every day.  I pray, "Lord I choose You today, not my emotions, not growth, not the approval of others, and not my expectations for myself.  Give me Your eyes so I can love what you love and flee from anything that would cause you pain."  I guess that sums up what I know as of right now.  I have a feeling I am going to be learning a lot more and be challenged a lot more before the week is over.  Thank you for everything you all have written to me - I love getting your notes.  You are all so valuable to me!

Hi again!  I'm trying to keep up on this a bit more than I have been before.  Things are going really well - once again, I love it here.  This past week has been a bit hard because I've really been missing home especially since school started in Missouri this week.  It is okay for me to miss home though, as long as it doesn't take away from my experience here - which it hasn't quite yet.  I am so appreciative of my relationships with all of you - especially when I realize there are numerous people who don't have any relationships similar to what I share with many of you.  It just blows my mind honestly. 

Anyway, this week we are talking about Authority and Submission which can be a heavy topic for many of us.  There are so many bad impressions and pictures we have of those two words.  Unfortunately many of us haven't seen either of those words acted out in a positive way.  Today we specifically spent time on submission and obedience.  Submission is an attitude of the heart and is unconditional.  We often link it with obedience, but obedience is an action and is conditional.  In Romans 13:1, Paul writes "Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established.  The authorities that exist have been established by God."  Now many times when I think of this, I don't really agree with it.  But we can submit without obeying because obedience is an action.  We can respect and honor our authorities without obeying them.  Just like we can obey our authorities without submitting to them (which is what I find myself doing all too often).  That is just a bit of what we talked about today. 

So....things that you can be praying about this week:

-Saturday, we are having an event called Catalyst which is a time where we're going to bring in a few bands and speak about missions.  Please pray that people will be open to hearing about God's call and respond to it (whatever that may be).                                                                

-Keep on praying for Northbridge which is where I have my outreach every Thursday.  God is doing so many awesome things there.

-We've been meeting every morning to pray over our finances for our outreach portion.  We have to have our finances in about three weeks.  Thankfully, I have all of my expenses paid (thank you and bless you all!!) but there is still about $61,000 left combined for everyone in my school.  God is going to do miracles to get it in, but you can be praying about it.

Well, thats about it for right now.  To all my college friends - have tons of fun and take lots of pictures so I can know everything when I get back.  To the Crusaders - I miss you all SOOO much and am praying for you all every Thursday.  I can't wait to hear about the first Fusion (I still want to call it the Weekly Meeting).  To my family - you are the best in the world and I love you heaps.  Ok, talk to you all soon!  Bye!

Hello everyone!  I'm so excited about what has been going on here.  This past week, we've been talking about the Father Heart of God.  This is a deep subject - and really good.  God has such a strong desire to communicate with us and to dwell with us because he longs for us.  I think it is in John 17:26, Jesus is praying for believers that they will know the oneness they have with the Father.  God longs for us like He did for Jesus when He was on earth.  That is incredible!!! 

Our Thursday night outreaches have been going really well.  Last night, I spoke with a girl from Brazil that is living in Australia to learn English.  She and I are going to have coffee sometime this week and just talk about things.  It was awesome to tell her that God is so passionate about her and that He wants to speak to her even in Portugeuse.  She seemed really excited to know that.  THose are the things I take for granted so often!  Anyway, I have to go to morning chores, but I wanted you all to know that I appreciate you and am so blessed with your relationships!!