The way this is going to work, is I'm going to post all of the entries in my journal with the date that it was written (So look at the ones from July 10th - August 5th, cool?) And you'll get to see what's going on inside my head each day that I'm on the mission field :)
HERE WE GO :)
PS, it might take a little while to get the whole month's entries up, so bare with me :)
Showing posts with label global expeditions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label global expeditions. Show all posts
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Saturday, July 24, 2010
7-24-2010
Tonight was awesome, yet sad as well. It started off as a surprise trip to the pastors' church. There we had a thanksgiving service in which they pretty much gave us dinner & a ginger blob that was soaked in oil and wrapped in newspaper haha. O indian food. It was good none-the-less, though :).
Ministry was a little bit rushed. Everything was a little bit behind schedule, but God worked through us none-the-less. We had a small group of people, mostly children that gatherd outside of the church to watch the program. We put on this program in the middle of the street. The people that we meet are all so awesome. I'm going to miss all of them so much! Tonight was pretty great :), but it was also really sad, because it was our last night with Gletseal as our translator.
Ministry was a little bit rushed. Everything was a little bit behind schedule, but God worked through us none-the-less. We had a small group of people, mostly children that gatherd outside of the church to watch the program. We put on this program in the middle of the street. The people that we meet are all so awesome. I'm going to miss all of them so much! Tonight was pretty great :), but it was also really sad, because it was our last night with Gletseal as our translator.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
7-21-2010
Ministry just keeps getting more and more intense. As we arrived at the ministry site, the spiritual atmosphere felt INCREDIBLY heavy. The area that we weree sent to was an area known for persecuting Christians. As a result of this, we were not allowed to give the net, however we were allowed to pray for people. So we went out & started praying for people as we usually did.
Soon, as I was interceding with Vivian for an older woman, another old lady walked over to me, hit me on the arm, held up her hands, and in tamil said, "Pray."
I started looking around for a translator, and a boy named Veejay showed up. He spoke enough English to translate a little bit for me. The old woman said that her eyes & her legs needed prayer. As soon as I got done praying, the old woman bent over & touched her toes. I was thinking, "ok... what's going on?" So I asked Veejay, "What is she doing? What's happening?"
He then responded in his Indian accent (complete with headbobble, mind you), "Her back has become as rubber!!!"
I started laughing and asked what that meant. He told me that she couldn't do that before. Her back was stuck straight, and she hadn't been able to bend over like that in years. We then started praising the Lord.
As we got ready to go, Emily started to experience some spiritual attacks which took the form of excruciating pain in her stomach. We prayed for Emily until it gave up, but as soon as we stopped, it started attacking Briana. So we continued praying, I don't think we even stopped until we got back to Oshi.
Soon, as I was interceding with Vivian for an older woman, another old lady walked over to me, hit me on the arm, held up her hands, and in tamil said, "Pray."
I started looking around for a translator, and a boy named Veejay showed up. He spoke enough English to translate a little bit for me. The old woman said that her eyes & her legs needed prayer. As soon as I got done praying, the old woman bent over & touched her toes. I was thinking, "ok... what's going on?" So I asked Veejay, "What is she doing? What's happening?"
He then responded in his Indian accent (complete with headbobble, mind you), "Her back has become as rubber!!!"
I started laughing and asked what that meant. He told me that she couldn't do that before. Her back was stuck straight, and she hadn't been able to bend over like that in years. We then started praising the Lord.
As we got ready to go, Emily started to experience some spiritual attacks which took the form of excruciating pain in her stomach. We prayed for Emily until it gave up, but as soon as we stopped, it started attacking Briana. So we continued praying, I don't think we even stopped until we got back to Oshi.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
7-20-2010
(7-19 was a free day)
All day today, I could feel God stirring something awesome up for our ministry tonight. We waited around all day for our briefing on the area we were going to. FInally, the info came...
We would be going to an untouchable village that had NEVER heard the gospel before.
My heart perked up, this is an UNREACHED PEOPLE GROUP!
The pastor told us that they were called 'untouchable', because in Hinduism, everyone believes that there is a "Brahma(measure of god)" inside of everyone. This is where the caste system gets it's different classes. The untouchable cast didn't have any Brahma, and thus wasn't clean to those with Brahma. So these people didn't even really have any hope until their next life, which we know they'll never get to.
The untouchables are some of the most dear people to my heart so far on this trip. NOBODY has ever shown interest inthem Nobody has ever bothered with them. They are also stuck under the oppression of the Hindu gods. What a hopeless situation!
I love the kids here. There were two little boys that stole my heart. I only wish that I could remember Indian names...they're so complicated! haha.
These people were SO open to us & our messag, which made everything to do with ministry that much easier. When the time for the Net came near, hands shot up! My heart was jumping! I prayed for two guys to receive Christ, and a woman with a heart condition for healing, a little hirl and a deaf woman.
In the middle of the prayer for the deaf woman, Kass, our TL got everybody rounded up & in the vans as fast as she and Jared, our other TL could. It was a 'don't ask questions' moment. As soon as everybody was back on the bus safely, we heard the news. There was a group that does 'social work' and keeps an ear out for christian groups & activity. There was a mob assembling as we were there, and they were quickly approaching.
As we were driving back to our base, I got a real sense of what it is to have a part in the persecution that the church here faces daily. We asked the pastor what would have happened if we hadn't gotten tipped off, and he said, "I as the pastor would have been killed, the men in the group would have been beaten, if not murdered, and the woman would have been severely beaten as well."
Wow. My heart is continually breaking over these people!!!!
All day today, I could feel God stirring something awesome up for our ministry tonight. We waited around all day for our briefing on the area we were going to. FInally, the info came...
We would be going to an untouchable village that had NEVER heard the gospel before.
My heart perked up, this is an UNREACHED PEOPLE GROUP!
The pastor told us that they were called 'untouchable', because in Hinduism, everyone believes that there is a "Brahma(measure of god)" inside of everyone. This is where the caste system gets it's different classes. The untouchable cast didn't have any Brahma, and thus wasn't clean to those with Brahma. So these people didn't even really have any hope until their next life, which we know they'll never get to.
The untouchables are some of the most dear people to my heart so far on this trip. NOBODY has ever shown interest inthem Nobody has ever bothered with them. They are also stuck under the oppression of the Hindu gods. What a hopeless situation!
I love the kids here. There were two little boys that stole my heart. I only wish that I could remember Indian names...they're so complicated! haha.
These people were SO open to us & our messag, which made everything to do with ministry that much easier. When the time for the Net came near, hands shot up! My heart was jumping! I prayed for two guys to receive Christ, and a woman with a heart condition for healing, a little hirl and a deaf woman.
In the middle of the prayer for the deaf woman, Kass, our TL got everybody rounded up & in the vans as fast as she and Jared, our other TL could. It was a 'don't ask questions' moment. As soon as everybody was back on the bus safely, we heard the news. There was a group that does 'social work' and keeps an ear out for christian groups & activity. There was a mob assembling as we were there, and they were quickly approaching.
As we were driving back to our base, I got a real sense of what it is to have a part in the persecution that the church here faces daily. We asked the pastor what would have happened if we hadn't gotten tipped off, and he said, "I as the pastor would have been killed, the men in the group would have been beaten, if not murdered, and the woman would have been severely beaten as well."
Wow. My heart is continually breaking over these people!!!!
Sunday, July 18, 2010
7-18-2010
CRAZY ministry today!
We went to a small city, and as we were walking through the city, I kept seeing images of Ganesh, the half elephant, half human god. I just felt such a heaviness throughout the entire city. Walking through the village, I smelled incense burning everywhere. Incense is usually one of my favorite smells, but just knowing that it was a sacrifice made it burn my lungs, and made me sick.
Everytime I see an idol or anything resembling an idol, it hurts my spirit. Seeing these things brings a new meaning to feeling the heart of God.
I felt like our ministry was set up for just another nominal night of ministry because the majority of our audience was children, and the rest were already Christians from the area.BUT during ministry time, there was so much that happened: A mute child spoke his first word, Jesus, a blind woman saw, a deaf person was healed and... We cast demons out of a woman.
A woman brought her sister into the courtyard and said, "We need prayer for our sister."
Here, it's important to note that the one woman was christian, thus referring to 'our sister' as the body of christ's sister (which happened to be her own sister). Because of this, we thought that they had another sister that wasn't there, so we proceeded to ask what was wrong with her, not knowing that the woman she had brought was the one we needed to pray for.
We asked the one sister what she needed prayer for, and she said that they thought she had a demon because she would disappear in the middle of the night, and when they awoke in the morning, someone would be dead.
So we started to pray, and Selvi, the woman that was brought, started manifesting demons.
The girls of the team circled her and started praying, and the battle was on. I took a place on the outside of the women, since it's not ok for men to touch women, even for prayer, in this culture. As we started praying, Selvi started convulsing and flailing, so the girls had to start holding her so no one got hurt. As we prayed, the demons would shriek & yell & try to get away.
After about an hour of praying fervently, being tossed back and forth by the attempts of the possessed woman to escape, losing my voice, and being directed by the Spirit of God, God finally set His daughter free. I feel as if there was at least 3 different demons in this woman. After it came to Selvi's point of deliverance, we lead Selvi into the church, where she fell to her knees at the altar & began praying to the One True God, Jesus Christ. Slowly, Selvi's hands folded & she said "Jesus". That's when we knew it was over.
I'm just SO in awe of the dramatic change that we saw in Selvi. Even her eyes brightened up after she was delivered and accepted the Lord.Her bindi was gone as well. The oppression of Hinduism was off of her life.
After talking to the Pastor afterwards, He said that this woman had been possessed for 3 years. He also said that the Hindu community said that if Selvi was delivered by the Christians, that they would start going to church & listening about Jesus. Guess what? She was delivered by the Almighty!!!!
God is so good & I am 100% in awe of what He can do!!!!
We went to a small city, and as we were walking through the city, I kept seeing images of Ganesh, the half elephant, half human god. I just felt such a heaviness throughout the entire city. Walking through the village, I smelled incense burning everywhere. Incense is usually one of my favorite smells, but just knowing that it was a sacrifice made it burn my lungs, and made me sick.
Everytime I see an idol or anything resembling an idol, it hurts my spirit. Seeing these things brings a new meaning to feeling the heart of God.
I felt like our ministry was set up for just another nominal night of ministry because the majority of our audience was children, and the rest were already Christians from the area.BUT during ministry time, there was so much that happened: A mute child spoke his first word, Jesus, a blind woman saw, a deaf person was healed and... We cast demons out of a woman.
A woman brought her sister into the courtyard and said, "We need prayer for our sister."
Here, it's important to note that the one woman was christian, thus referring to 'our sister' as the body of christ's sister (which happened to be her own sister). Because of this, we thought that they had another sister that wasn't there, so we proceeded to ask what was wrong with her, not knowing that the woman she had brought was the one we needed to pray for.
We asked the one sister what she needed prayer for, and she said that they thought she had a demon because she would disappear in the middle of the night, and when they awoke in the morning, someone would be dead.
So we started to pray, and Selvi, the woman that was brought, started manifesting demons.
The girls of the team circled her and started praying, and the battle was on. I took a place on the outside of the women, since it's not ok for men to touch women, even for prayer, in this culture. As we started praying, Selvi started convulsing and flailing, so the girls had to start holding her so no one got hurt. As we prayed, the demons would shriek & yell & try to get away.
After about an hour of praying fervently, being tossed back and forth by the attempts of the possessed woman to escape, losing my voice, and being directed by the Spirit of God, God finally set His daughter free. I feel as if there was at least 3 different demons in this woman. After it came to Selvi's point of deliverance, we lead Selvi into the church, where she fell to her knees at the altar & began praying to the One True God, Jesus Christ. Slowly, Selvi's hands folded & she said "Jesus". That's when we knew it was over.
I'm just SO in awe of the dramatic change that we saw in Selvi. Even her eyes brightened up after she was delivered and accepted the Lord.Her bindi was gone as well. The oppression of Hinduism was off of her life.
After talking to the Pastor afterwards, He said that this woman had been possessed for 3 years. He also said that the Hindu community said that if Selvi was delivered by the Christians, that they would start going to church & listening about Jesus. Guess what? She was delivered by the Almighty!!!!
God is so good & I am 100% in awe of what He can do!!!!
Saturday, July 17, 2010
7-17-2010
Today we had our first REAL ministry site.
We went to an area called the Umbai district. This is an area with over 300,000 people who are primarily Hindu. Many have never even heard of the gospel. I wish that I could speak Tamil. I just feel like if I had someone who could translate everything I needed, or if we had the ability to just speak tamil miraculously, that this ministry would be that much more effective. I talked to a young Hindu man tonight. He understood what we were saying about the One True God, but couldn't get past the ways of his country. "One God is America, many gods is India. That's way it is." is all he would say. It broke my heart, but I know that the seeds are planted. My prayers are with him.
We did ministry in the middle of the street in this village. This was our stage. We did our program & everybody seemed pretty entertained. As soon as the net happened though, spiritual warfare started up. All of the men started chattering, and the seamstress's shop next to us started blaring Hindu music, and cars drove through the middle of the crowd, all distracting those we were ministering to, but despite the devil's attempts, the Holy Spirit still claimed souls AND performed a healing of an old woman's eye sight. God is so faithful!!!
We went to an area called the Umbai district. This is an area with over 300,000 people who are primarily Hindu. Many have never even heard of the gospel. I wish that I could speak Tamil. I just feel like if I had someone who could translate everything I needed, or if we had the ability to just speak tamil miraculously, that this ministry would be that much more effective. I talked to a young Hindu man tonight. He understood what we were saying about the One True God, but couldn't get past the ways of his country. "One God is America, many gods is India. That's way it is." is all he would say. It broke my heart, but I know that the seeds are planted. My prayers are with him.
We did ministry in the middle of the street in this village. This was our stage. We did our program & everybody seemed pretty entertained. As soon as the net happened though, spiritual warfare started up. All of the men started chattering, and the seamstress's shop next to us started blaring Hindu music, and cars drove through the middle of the crowd, all distracting those we were ministering to, but despite the devil's attempts, the Holy Spirit still claimed souls AND performed a healing of an old woman's eye sight. God is so faithful!!!
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
India Journal - 7-14
India.
My first few minutes in Asia.
Just being here, I can feel a completely different spiritual atmosphere. The darkness feels kinda like an emptiness. I feel a strong presence in the emptiness though. It's definitely a palpable feeling of something, but of what exactly? I'm not sure, but I do know that I feel the presence of God so much stronger here than I feel it in the US. I guess it's just easier to see the light in the midst of darkness, ya?
My heart is just so burdened for these people. My heart is heavy. I feel like I can't do anything but pray for this peopl, for this land and for the principalities to be broken.
I just still cannot believe that I'm here. I've ALWAYS wanted to come here, and now that it's finally here, it feels surreal.
9:34 PM
Got to campus & met the other team. God has been good to them so far. I can see it in their faces. I can't wait to see how God uses US on this trip too. The kids at the deaf school that we are staying at are adorable. I've heard a lot of the kids have cut their Hindu bracelets off after hearing the gospel, and the other team has told us stories of going into Hindu villages that have NEVER heard the gospel before. I can't wait to hear and see what God has in store for us. AND I still cannot believe that I'm FINALLY in India...Just wanted to re-iterate that :)
My first few minutes in Asia.
Just being here, I can feel a completely different spiritual atmosphere. The darkness feels kinda like an emptiness. I feel a strong presence in the emptiness though. It's definitely a palpable feeling of something, but of what exactly? I'm not sure, but I do know that I feel the presence of God so much stronger here than I feel it in the US. I guess it's just easier to see the light in the midst of darkness, ya?
My heart is just so burdened for these people. My heart is heavy. I feel like I can't do anything but pray for this peopl, for this land and for the principalities to be broken.
I just still cannot believe that I'm here. I've ALWAYS wanted to come here, and now that it's finally here, it feels surreal.
9:34 PM
Got to campus & met the other team. God has been good to them so far. I can see it in their faces. I can't wait to see how God uses US on this trip too. The kids at the deaf school that we are staying at are adorable. I've heard a lot of the kids have cut their Hindu bracelets off after hearing the gospel, and the other team has told us stories of going into Hindu villages that have NEVER heard the gospel before. I can't wait to hear and see what God has in store for us. AND I still cannot believe that I'm FINALLY in India...Just wanted to re-iterate that :)
Sunday, July 11, 2010
India Journal - 7-10
The past couple of days have been crazy & great all together. God has been doing so many great things already. First, rain on arrival day which is especially awesome thanks to Zechariah 10:1, "Ask the Lord for rain in the spring, for He makes the storm clouds. And He will send showers of rain so every field becomes a lush pasture." and what do you do with lush pastures? HARVEST!!!! How's that for a Rhema word? :)
THEN, one of the groups that I have been taking care of got $73 dollars more than what they needed in, when just one week ago, they were looking at the possibility of cancelling because they still needed $10,000! God is so good, and I know that my life is about to change forever.
*In the Houston airport*
Sitting doing my quiet time before we board our plane to Dubai, I'm looking out the window & praying. I just looked down, and on the ground right outside of the window, guess what number I see? 777. Right there, on the tarmac. God's number. and there's three of them in a row! That means completion!!! God is TOTALLY in this trip, and He's totally anointed us to be here!!! I honestly can't tell you how blessed I feel to be a part of this right now. As I see these Indian people (travelers back to dubai) all around me, my heart is already filled with love. I don't even know these people, but I love them all the same.
THEN, one of the groups that I have been taking care of got $73 dollars more than what they needed in, when just one week ago, they were looking at the possibility of cancelling because they still needed $10,000! God is so good, and I know that my life is about to change forever.
*In the Houston airport*
Sitting doing my quiet time before we board our plane to Dubai, I'm looking out the window & praying. I just looked down, and on the ground right outside of the window, guess what number I see? 777. Right there, on the tarmac. God's number. and there's three of them in a row! That means completion!!! God is TOTALLY in this trip, and He's totally anointed us to be here!!! I honestly can't tell you how blessed I feel to be a part of this right now. As I see these Indian people (travelers back to dubai) all around me, my heart is already filled with love. I don't even know these people, but I love them all the same.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
It's almost time... =D
This is probably one of the last Pre-India blogs that I'm going to be doing. My schedule for the next few days is going to be crazy & as training starts for me on the 8th & the trip actually leaves for India on the 12th. Needless to say, it might be pretty difficult to get to a computer very often within the next few days.
Here's a glimpse of my schedule:
Tuesday: Last day as an encouragement rep for GE Groups. Wrap things up with all of the Youth Pastors I've been helping out & pass the rest on.
Wednesday: Work Registration for Team Leaders. Meet a few of the people that I've been working with over the phone for the past year =D
Thursday: Missionary Advisor arrival day. Work Registration & start some of my own training :D
Friday: Get to know my fellow MA's and do some leadership training.
Saturday: MISSIONARIES ARRIVE :D!!!!!!!
SUNDAY-Monday = group training & team building
Tuesday - Leave for INDIA!!!!!!!!
The way that the blogging situation is going to work while I'm in India, is I'm going to be journaling everyday from the 10th of July - 5th of August. After I get home, I will post each days journal entry on the blog with the date set to the corresponding day. SO - you can kinda get a sense of what's going on while I'm in India & get a little bit of the experience too :).
Your prayers are definitely appreciated for the entirety of my trip & I can't wait to tell you guys all stories about it when I get back!!!!
Be Blessed!!!!
Here's a glimpse of my schedule:
Tuesday: Last day as an encouragement rep for GE Groups. Wrap things up with all of the Youth Pastors I've been helping out & pass the rest on.
Wednesday: Work Registration for Team Leaders. Meet a few of the people that I've been working with over the phone for the past year =D
Thursday: Missionary Advisor arrival day. Work Registration & start some of my own training :D
Friday: Get to know my fellow MA's and do some leadership training.
Saturday: MISSIONARIES ARRIVE :D!!!!!!!
SUNDAY-Monday = group training & team building
Tuesday - Leave for INDIA!!!!!!!!
The way that the blogging situation is going to work while I'm in India, is I'm going to be journaling everyday from the 10th of July - 5th of August. After I get home, I will post each days journal entry on the blog with the date set to the corresponding day. SO - you can kinda get a sense of what's going on while I'm in India & get a little bit of the experience too :).
Your prayers are definitely appreciated for the entirety of my trip & I can't wait to tell you guys all stories about it when I get back!!!!
Be Blessed!!!!
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
7-23-2010
Today was definitely refreshing. We went to a christian village. It was AMAXING to be around such a HUGE group of Indian Christians! While we were there, an older woman walked over to me so I could pray for her. I called Yareth & Emily over to lay hands on her. She had problems with her vision, so we prayed. Her vision was low, as Gletseal described.
We all prayed for her & eavh time her vision improved. It was amazing to see too. When we first started praying for her, her eyes were cloudy and white with cataracts, but as we continued to pray, God restored her vision and the cloudy white color disappeared from her pupils!!!
God just keeps teaching me so much about faith. As I'm writing, God is convicting me saying, "You have faith for their healings, why not for your won?" I'm still working on that...
Someday, I'll never have to wear glasses or contacts again... I know it! :)
We all prayed for her & eavh time her vision improved. It was amazing to see too. When we first started praying for her, her eyes were cloudy and white with cataracts, but as we continued to pray, God restored her vision and the cloudy white color disappeared from her pupils!!!
God just keeps teaching me so much about faith. As I'm writing, God is convicting me saying, "You have faith for their healings, why not for your won?" I'm still working on that...
Someday, I'll never have to wear glasses or contacts again... I know it! :)
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Finally...
It's finally here.
The day that the Global Expeditions call center has been working for all year.
Through the burn-out, exaustion, stress, and all of the other struggles we've faced with no proof that what we were doing has been for any benefit, we pushed on...knowing that it would all be worth it in the end...
The end is finally here.
TRIP GROUP 1
MISSIONARY ARRIVAL DAY!!!!!!!!
On Monday, the missionaries are FINALLY ARRIVING!!!!!! Team Leaders came yesterday, and Missionary Advisors came today!!!! Missionary arrival day is almost here.
We have fought for these kids and groups to get here ALL YEAR LONG!
First, we fought to get them applied.
App 4 pages of 4, Application fee, parent authorization, pastor reccomendations, pending, COMPLETE!!!
Over and over. 4,000+ times.
App 4/4, app fee, parent auth, pastor rec...Silly GE Rep! error, wait 24 hours, pending...complete!!!!
1st call, 2nd call, group deposit, 50% deadline, ticketing..., Travel Release forms, Background Checks, Passports, 100% deadline ARRIVAL DAY!!!!!!
Day after day, this is what it looked like.
From Early September - mid june.
This is what my life looked like.
"It's a great day at Global Expeditions, this is Kyle, how can I help you?"
"Hi, this is Kyle from Global Expeditions, do you have a minute to talk?"
Millions of times I've spoken these words. After hours and hours of talking on the phones, endless notes, benchmarks, trip codes, trip letter dates.
I've spoken to many varieties of parents: angry parents, excited parents, nervous parents, parents who are afraid to let go for a week, parents who won't even consider letting their children go on a trip even though they're 20, parents who didn't care, parent's who didn't speak english or spanish but randomly spoke romanian, parents who pretended not to speak english, parents who are worried about the conflict in Mx even though we're nowhere near where the travel advisories are in effect, and finally more often than not parents who are actually cooperative .:)
I've spoken to many varieties of students too: Students who are super talkative & won't let you get a word in edgewise, students who ONLY reply in one word answers, students who are afraid to let go, students who are afraid, students who are adventurous, students that will only go if their friend goes, students who get jobs and drop from the trip, students who procrastinate in applying for a passport, students who are fake, students who love the Lord, students who are complacent, students that cannot wait to get on the mission field, and students whose lives have been changed by the trip they took last summer...
And more than any of these, I've talked to some awesome youth pastors that fight through the influences of the world because they want to see the love of Christ come about in the students that they mentor. These people are amazing, and after spending hours and hours on the phone with them, fighting in prayer for them, and through all of the worry about not making deadlines, and financial miracles happening, hearing the awe in the voice of what the Lord is doing is all worth it. I can't wait to talk to them about their trips after they get back and see what the Lord has done in the lives of their students AND adult sponsors.
All of the work is worth it.
Everything that we've done this year is FINALLY coming to fruition.
"And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up." Galations 6:9
:)
The day that the Global Expeditions call center has been working for all year.
Through the burn-out, exaustion, stress, and all of the other struggles we've faced with no proof that what we were doing has been for any benefit, we pushed on...knowing that it would all be worth it in the end...
The end is finally here.
TRIP GROUP 1
MISSIONARY ARRIVAL DAY!!!!!!!!
On Monday, the missionaries are FINALLY ARRIVING!!!!!! Team Leaders came yesterday, and Missionary Advisors came today!!!! Missionary arrival day is almost here.
We have fought for these kids and groups to get here ALL YEAR LONG!
First, we fought to get them applied.
App 4 pages of 4, Application fee, parent authorization, pastor reccomendations, pending, COMPLETE!!!
Over and over. 4,000+ times.
App 4/4, app fee, parent auth, pastor rec...Silly GE Rep! error, wait 24 hours, pending...complete!!!!
1st call, 2nd call, group deposit, 50% deadline, ticketing..., Travel Release forms, Background Checks, Passports, 100% deadline ARRIVAL DAY!!!!!!
Day after day, this is what it looked like.
From Early September - mid june.
This is what my life looked like.
"It's a great day at Global Expeditions, this is Kyle, how can I help you?"
"Hi, this is Kyle from Global Expeditions, do you have a minute to talk?"
Millions of times I've spoken these words. After hours and hours of talking on the phones, endless notes, benchmarks, trip codes, trip letter dates.
I've spoken to many varieties of parents: angry parents, excited parents, nervous parents, parents who are afraid to let go for a week, parents who won't even consider letting their children go on a trip even though they're 20, parents who didn't care, parent's who didn't speak english or spanish but randomly spoke romanian, parents who pretended not to speak english, parents who are worried about the conflict in Mx even though we're nowhere near where the travel advisories are in effect, and finally more often than not parents who are actually cooperative .:)
I've spoken to many varieties of students too: Students who are super talkative & won't let you get a word in edgewise, students who ONLY reply in one word answers, students who are afraid to let go, students who are afraid, students who are adventurous, students that will only go if their friend goes, students who get jobs and drop from the trip, students who procrastinate in applying for a passport, students who are fake, students who love the Lord, students who are complacent, students that cannot wait to get on the mission field, and students whose lives have been changed by the trip they took last summer...
And more than any of these, I've talked to some awesome youth pastors that fight through the influences of the world because they want to see the love of Christ come about in the students that they mentor. These people are amazing, and after spending hours and hours on the phone with them, fighting in prayer for them, and through all of the worry about not making deadlines, and financial miracles happening, hearing the awe in the voice of what the Lord is doing is all worth it. I can't wait to talk to them about their trips after they get back and see what the Lord has done in the lives of their students AND adult sponsors.
All of the work is worth it.
Everything that we've done this year is FINALLY coming to fruition.
"And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up." Galations 6:9
:)
Monday, March 8, 2010
Boise, ID Acquire the Fire
Hey y'all,
So, I just got back from the Boise, ID Acquire the Fire event. It was an awesome time, paired with a not so awesome 30+ hour bus ride, but it was definitely worth it. I got to represent Global Expeditions while we were at the event and talk to people about summer mission trips.
Basically, what my week last week looked like: We left Tuesday at 5PM, drove from Tx to Boise, and arrived in Boise at 12AM Thursday morning, slept in the bus til 7AM, then set up stuff until 6, went to our host homes, went back to the venue at 8 Friday morning, set up more, opened doors and worked registration from 4 til 8, and then worked the booth a little bit then, got back to our host home at approx 11, got back to venue at 6:45, and worked the event til 9, then finished packing up by 12AM, and took off back to Tx midnight on sunday. We then drove and arrived back today at 11AM.
Despite the hectic schedule that Acquire the Fire entails for interns, God definitely does tons through our efforts and shows the fruits of our labors in every single thing that happens. One of my favorite things that happened this weekend was something that was an incredible divine appointment, it happened like this:
We woke up at 7AM on Thursday and decided to get breakfast before we started setting up for the day, so we took the bus to the nearest McDonalds. While we were standing in line, a little girl and her mother came over to us and asked us if we were performing at the Morrison Center this weekend. We explained to them that we were setting up for ATF, and gave them the times for the event. They came to buy tickets friday evening, and attended the rest of the weekend. We were pretty excited that God was going to be presented to them, but we had no idea how much of an impact this event would have on this woman and her daughters. Friday night is the night which the drama takes place, and if you've ever been to an ATF, you know how intense the dramas can be. This drama is no exception, it touches on subjects such as teen pregnancy, abortion, pride, losing children, and forgiveness, just to name a few. After the drama, we saw the woman walking out of the theater with her family, and she was crying A LOT. Jessica and I walked over to see what was going on & if we could pray about anything for her. She told us that the drama touched her life in an amazing way because 15 years ago (in a month) was the birthday of her first daughter who miscarriaged. She said that she had never realized it, but she had never dealt with the emotions or dealt with forgiveness within this situation. God had shown her how to use this forgiveness in her life during this event, and had broken her even more with His love than she's ever been broken before.
There are hundreds of stories like this that occur every weekend thanks to the ATF Ministry Team and the support crew of interns that travel out with them. I'm so blessed to be a part of an organization that acts as a missionary organization in every opportunity that it gets.
So that was one of the biggest things that happened to me this weekend. :)
I'm trying to blog more frequently, so keep an eye out :)
So, I just got back from the Boise, ID Acquire the Fire event. It was an awesome time, paired with a not so awesome 30+ hour bus ride, but it was definitely worth it. I got to represent Global Expeditions while we were at the event and talk to people about summer mission trips.
Basically, what my week last week looked like: We left Tuesday at 5PM, drove from Tx to Boise, and arrived in Boise at 12AM Thursday morning, slept in the bus til 7AM, then set up stuff until 6, went to our host homes, went back to the venue at 8 Friday morning, set up more, opened doors and worked registration from 4 til 8, and then worked the booth a little bit then, got back to our host home at approx 11, got back to venue at 6:45, and worked the event til 9, then finished packing up by 12AM, and took off back to Tx midnight on sunday. We then drove and arrived back today at 11AM.
Despite the hectic schedule that Acquire the Fire entails for interns, God definitely does tons through our efforts and shows the fruits of our labors in every single thing that happens. One of my favorite things that happened this weekend was something that was an incredible divine appointment, it happened like this:
We woke up at 7AM on Thursday and decided to get breakfast before we started setting up for the day, so we took the bus to the nearest McDonalds. While we were standing in line, a little girl and her mother came over to us and asked us if we were performing at the Morrison Center this weekend. We explained to them that we were setting up for ATF, and gave them the times for the event. They came to buy tickets friday evening, and attended the rest of the weekend. We were pretty excited that God was going to be presented to them, but we had no idea how much of an impact this event would have on this woman and her daughters. Friday night is the night which the drama takes place, and if you've ever been to an ATF, you know how intense the dramas can be. This drama is no exception, it touches on subjects such as teen pregnancy, abortion, pride, losing children, and forgiveness, just to name a few. After the drama, we saw the woman walking out of the theater with her family, and she was crying A LOT. Jessica and I walked over to see what was going on & if we could pray about anything for her. She told us that the drama touched her life in an amazing way because 15 years ago (in a month) was the birthday of her first daughter who miscarriaged. She said that she had never realized it, but she had never dealt with the emotions or dealt with forgiveness within this situation. God had shown her how to use this forgiveness in her life during this event, and had broken her even more with His love than she's ever been broken before.
There are hundreds of stories like this that occur every weekend thanks to the ATF Ministry Team and the support crew of interns that travel out with them. I'm so blessed to be a part of an organization that acts as a missionary organization in every opportunity that it gets.
So that was one of the biggest things that happened to me this weekend. :)
I'm trying to blog more frequently, so keep an eye out :)
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Panama
As you may remember, the very first step in my voyage away from home as I was graduating from High School was my mission trip to Panama with Global Expeditions, which many of you probably remember receiving a letter from me about requesting your support financially. I was extremely blessed in just about every way possible concerning my trip. I’ll give you a little bit of a summary of what we did while we were there, and then I’ll elaborate on some of the most impacting things that happened to me while we were there.
During my trip to Panama, I was put into a team of 24 students under the direction of two of the best team leaders IN THE WORLD as far as I’m concerned. Their names were Waikiki and Ana. Within this group of 24 students, I served as a ‘Missionary Advisor’ and was in charge of two awesome men of God named Martin and Colton. Our team also decided on a name for ourselves during one of our first meetings as a team, this name was “Team Contact”. We chose the name based on our desire to be able to make contact with the natives in a positive way and also make an amazing impact on their lives regarding the subject of Jesus Christ.
As Team Contact, we traveled to Panama to begin making an impact in these peoples’ lives. This unreached people group that we had our hearts and our prayers set on reaching was a tribe of people called the Kuna Indians. While the children of the areas stole our hearts, God broke our hearts for the Kuna people during all of the preparations we had made, but what God had in store for them, and us, was completely above and beyond anything that we could ever imagine.
We had the privilege of going to two extremely different environments of Panama, but despite the differences there were also many cultural and traditional obstacles that we would have to overcome as we fought for the souls of these people.
The first village trip that we took was to our island of Soledad Mandinga.
After a grueling boat ride that lasted for HOURS on the choppy waters in the Caribbean off of the east coast of Panama, we arrived upon an extremely small island. As our motor boats drew near to the cement dock, we all readied ourselves to start making our first impressions on the natives and began praying over everything that we would be doing over the next week. We hadn’t even been on the island for five minutes when we got our first assignment. Waikiki had talked to our translator & come upon some information that said that the Kuna people on the island were in the middle of a project in which their main objective was to haul sand from one side of the island to the opposite end in buckets to make their volleyball court more comfortable and fun to play on. After a couple hours of moving all of this sand in the grueling Central American summer heat, we finally got a chance to rest & get to know the natives a little bit. This place was an amazingly beautiful island in the middle of the ocean off of the east coast of panama, but the primitive conditions made it more brutal than a trip to the beach haha. We quickly learned how to take ‘bucket showers’ and use a ‘squatty’ when we needed to use the bathroom. Unfortunately the presence of the squatty made it impossible for us to swim in the ocean, if you know what I mean.
One of the biggest things that God worked on me the most towards the end of our first village trip and through the rest of the whole trip to Panama was the use of Idols that the Kuna people still worked with. For me, at first it was difficult to understand the whole concept of idol worship, especially in terms of modern times. They used the idols to guard them from the demons that the gods would send to attack them in various ways . They would also perform interesting pagan healing techniques and stuff that for us would be difficult to understand. I really struggled with this in particular, just because I didn’t understand why they would still cling to their old traditions even though they had seen the glory and magnificence of our God during the time that we were there. God worked on me a lot though, consequently leading me to start casting away idols that were present in my life. He gave me an understanding that just because I hadn’t had any carved images that I worshipped, I still had some of my same old idols that would take up all of my time and my focus, and that I needed to get rid of those. God definitely weeded those out of my life when I was in Panama and when I entered the Honor Academy.
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