Kathmandu, Nepal...

I've seen another Christmas and embarked on a new year. Happy new year by the way. It's been amazing to come along side our contacts here and work with the local church leaders. We have been in Kathmandu for a little over 3 weeks. It's going by so quick. There is a lot of confusion about God here due to the prevalent influence of Hinduism. You can see its affects in the culture whether it be the driving, the packed vehicles, or the confusion of what to do in life. In the midst of this chaos God is bring order to people's hearts and bringing them to Himself. We have the privilege to be apart of this ever day. Hopefully the following description will give you a good picture of what our life looks like and the means God is using us by here.

Everyday we wake up, in the chilly weather, to a warm cup of milk tea. As I sit down eventually the Bible gets cracked open for awhile before breakfast (usually eggs and toast) is ready around 9am. Then we meet around 10am as a team till about 11:30am. This usually consist of listening to a Mark Driscoll sermon on video, but sometimes we get taught by Robby (the contact). Then conversation about the sermon proceeds. Then a morning break follows until about 1pm, give or take an hour, and lunch is ready. After lunch we get ready to go out and distribute Bibles and the gospel. We pack roughly 30 each in our backpacks and head out on the streets of Kathmandu. At any given moment we are walking up to people asking them if they want the Bible as a gift. Usually a couple questions get asked, answered and eventually culminates in asking if we can share about God and what he says in the Bible. Then we get shut down and move on or they say okay (usually this is the case) and we proceed to share the gospel in a couple of minutes. Then the challenge to turn to Jesus is given and at this point most just say thanks and go on their way, but many have said they want to turn to Jesus and be saved. We give out Bibles and share the gospel till around 4pm and head back home. The rest of the night includes dinner, reading, talking, playing cards and anything else till we are ready to go to bed.

It's such a blessing to be apart of this. Please pray that this would be a genuine repentance and turning to Jesus by these people. That they would get connected in a local church and know other believers. Also that the people we gave Bibles out to would read it and that God would water the seeds planted and bring them to himself.

I will be writing again soon...

Buy a book to further discipleship... As you know I'm staffing a DTS. This gives me the oppurtunity to personally disciple students on a daily basis. Discipleship is a passion of mine and I absolutely love that God has given me this opportniy. Discipleship includes being an example at all times and also taking advantage of oppurtunities to encourage, challenge, and teach. This time around I really feel challenged to be intentional about teaching. I want to go through the book Doctrine by Mark Driscoll which goes over the basics of Christianity in depth. My ideal plan would be to go through this section by section and weekly discuss and explain more about the content, while we are on outreach. The students will be pouring out constantly and this would be a good way to pour into them and teach them. I don't have the financial means to buy the books and would like to ask you to help me. You could buy a book and send it to me (Amazon is the cheapest, click here) or send funds and clarify that it's for buying books. I will need 11 books. If you have any questions please contact me with the info given.

DTS has started...

The fall DTS (Discipleship Training School) kicked off on September 11. If you don't know, I am staffing the DTS, once again. Things started off with a great opening night. One glance around and you would notice all the nicely dressed people (with high expectations), great tasting food, and coffee (of course). The stage was set for opening night to kick off. After sharing the vision of the base, schools (DTS and SBFM), and staff introduction we welcomed the students. Unknown to the students we would shortly be announcing that we would be going on a camping trip that we call exodus.

Exodus is not your average camping trip. We only allow minimal things. For example pillows, toothpaste, and toothbrushes are not allowed. The students are limited with the clothes that they bring also. It is an amazing experience (as some of you may no first hand). The students bond very quickly over this time due to the intense conditions and sharing testimonies. After returning we began lecture phase officially. We have had 3 full weeks of le

cture and the school has been running for a month as of the 11th. The s

tu

dents have been learni

ng that the Lord truly wants to be i

nvolved in their lives and last week the learned the big picture of the Bible and how the Old and New Testaments connect. They were able to see for the first time how the Bible is centered around Jesus and the cross. It is amazing to see their hunger for the Word increase after realizing this. I absolutely love it. The

y are already growing so much and I'm expecting the Lord to keep on working in them

The "Big Red" and Back

It was such a blessing to spend three months devoted to studying in the Big Red. I can't believe that its been two months since I left. Time goes by so quick. It was quite interesting to be back in a school setting for the first time in three years. We had lectures five days a week, read multiple books, and wrote essays every week. By living in the same house as all the staff and students I was able to make friends quickly and found that you can really get to know someone even though theres a language barrier.

The school really helped to give me a bigger picture of how the biblical worldview (how God calls us to live in the Bible) has positively influenced this world(I'm not saying everything Christians have done was good). I loved learning about how countries were influenced by Christians throughout history and how we are reaping the benifits from what God did through them centuries ago, especially throughout the time of the great reformation. It really showed me that God can do amazing things through people who stand up for Truth and it can have a lasting affects on generations to come. This made me think about how God wants to use us now. He wants us to stand up for the Truth about who he is, the gospel, and that he has told us how to live in the Bible. The fact that the Bible applies to all areas of our lives was one of the biggest things I learned. God stirred up a passion to read and see what he says about all areas of life and principles that he has given us to live our lives by. God wants to get glory from all we do and we are ambassadors of Christ everywhere we go. Another huge thing God reminded me of durring this school was why we love him and do all the studying and applying of the Bible to our lives. We must remember that "We love because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19). It is so simple, but so important to never forget. In the midst of all the studying and gaining knowledge it is so easy for pride to slip in unoticed. This is what happened with me at some point and God had to remind me that if it wasn't for him I wouldn't even know him, let alone be able to study his Word. When we realize this truth it humbles us because we realize that we are able to love God, his Word, and all people only "because he loved first". It doesn't matter how much any of us know because we are all on the same level and that is we don't deserve anything, but God has shown us unconditional love and we are able to love him because of this. I pray that we never forget this, have the right perspective, and give God the praise for all that we have and know (mainly himself).

This school really showed me how important it is to do the hard work and be well equipped so that I can disciple people more affectively. God has given me a huge heart for discipleship. I love being able to invest in people's lives and see God change them. I really feel like my time studying in the Big Red was just the beginning of lifetime of learning, training, and growing that God will use to help me disciple people more effectively. Thank you so much for all your prayers, support, giving an ear to listen, speaking wisdom into my life or just taking the time to read about what God is doing in my life.

Flying Solo in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

I'm officially on my own in Asia (well God is always with me) and God has totally been taking care of me. I said bye to me team on the 17th, which is hands down the hardest thing to do after spending 6 months with them, and then took a bus to downtown KL (Kuala Lumpur). Before traveling to KL I was in contact with a friend of a friend that I met while in Thailand (I hope that made sense) and I was suppose to meet him in KL Central at the McDonald's at noon. I just had to laugh at what I was doing. I didn't even know what he looked like. Adrian met me at the McDonald's and right away started taking me around to do things I needed to take care of. We were able to go apply for "my pass" to "The Big Red" (I will start to refer to it like this). God totally had his hand in the matter and I was able to apply for a long enough pass for my stay in "The Big Red". Such a blessing. Also, Adrian has taken me all around and showing me the shopping areas and how to take the train there. He took to me to my new home for the next week and told me that I could stay there for free (God's blessing me so much).

This city is huge and there's so a diversity of people here. One second I can feel like I'm in Malaysia, another America, another "The Big Red" and yet another Bangladesh. This city is so multicultured. There's even a Borders with a Stabucks in it (God totally blessed me with that haha). I embarked on my first book by Martin Luther and it was amazing to read about him and the reformation. I will be heading back to Borders after I write this (some things don't change). It's been amazing here but I really miss my team. I know that God has me in His hands and that this is where God wants me. Knowing that I'm in God's hand and that He will take me exactly where He wants brings so much comfort to me. My trust in the Lord has been tested more then ever. I guess not knowing where I'm going on a day to day basis, in Asia, forces you to trust in God. He knew and knows how it will work out and has planned it that way (thank God He planned it not me). I love him and his ways amd pray I continue to be molded in His Image. I'll keep you all updated as much as possible. Much love in Christ.

The Life of a Bule In the Jungles of Indonesia

A month and a half and I am reflecting back on my time here already, contemplating the future but still focusing on the present. 6 weeks of encouraging the Church, investing in students, and being on one the craziest adventures ever. Where to start is a great question. For most of our time here we've been going around speaking in churches. I've had the opportunity to speak a few times and I have absolutely loved it. You learn so much from doing your homework on a subject. Also, when you are speaking and see that person in the crowd that gets it, it makes it all worth it. I've loved speaking but I have truly enjoyed seeing the students step out and speak on a regular basis. They are doing an amazing job. I enjoy helping them prepare and look up scriptures, bouncing ideas back and forth and just encouraging them. It's been a blessing to see God challenge and stretch them during this time.

Having to preach so much and really dig into the Word has sparked a hunger for the Word and a desire to know the answers to hard questions in them. I absolutely love it. I've really had the opportunity to have great conversations and just discuss the Bible and who God is. My absolute favorite setting is this: being out in the jungle, at our home (which is as basic as it gets), sitting on the porch (accompanied by others) after a long day of ministry, Bible and coffee Indo style(that is with tons of coffee grounds and overloaded with sugar, no creamer) in hand, the wind starts to pick up and before you know it its pouring rain, and then the setting is just perfect and someone speaks up and starts the beginning of hours of discussion about God, the Bible and life. Then you realize its extremely late and decide to crawl into your mosquito net and go to bed. I Love it. It's such a blessing. They have grown so much and so have I. It seems the crazy conditions are just what we needed.

The conditions have been a blessing and just flat out fun. We usually get into a dump truck, boat, motorcycle, pick up truck or just walk and eventually arrive at a new village (our new home for 2 to 4 days). We meet the person in charge (usually the pastor or village leader), sit down at their home, drink tea, eat snacks and get a bunch of durian or rambutan(these are the fruits hear in Indonesia, which are amazing). After about 10 to 15 minutes we get up shake hands with them and get shown our new homes (usually an elders home), scout out the wooden planked floor and claim our sleeping area. After getting settled in we usually ask where the river is and if we can mandi (shower in Bahasa). We walk or take a motorcycle there, jump in, try to do some flips and what not, hope to see an ular (that's snake in Bahasa) and then eventually head back. Things stay eventful on they way back because every person we see is looking at you(this is an over statement but you get the picture hopefully) and trying to take a picture of the Bules (that's foreigners). After getting back you here someone say makan (eat) and know its lunch time. We sit in a circle on the ground bless the food and dig in. After this we relax until ministry that night (unless you are speaking, in which case you would be working on your sermon). Relaxing consist of pulling the chess board out, reading the Bible or another book, having theological discussion, making a coffee and just ponder life at times. Dinner strolls around and is very similar to lunch. When its time for ministry we get dressed up, pray for the people speaking and then head to church. On arrival we head to the front and take our seats. We eventually go up introduce ourselves, sing a song, perform a drama and then give the sermon. After this has all taken place we end with worship and when Bapa Terima Kasih (Thank You Father) is played everything comes to a close. We stand up and shake every ones hand (this is not an overstatement) and then head home. We get home, get comfortable and relax. Then someone says "Coffee?" and of course we all reply by saying yes in unison. By the time the coffee is ready we have schemed up how to set up our mosquito nets for "primo" sleeping conditions (its quite amazing to see it complete), and pulled the Bible, books and chess board out. Then everything is set for the glorious porch scene to take place. After, an hour or 2 we decide to call it quits and crawl into our mosquito/safety nets and rest up for tomorrow.

I enjoy it so much. God is doing amazing thing in the people here and our team. I have really been blessed so far. Thank you so much for all your prayers in support. Until next time. Ray

Merry Christmas From the Equator

Merry Christmas everybody. We have been in Borneo for about a week now. I absolutely love it. While we have been here we have been able to help build a preschool and also last Sunday we were able to go to three church services. I had the privilege to speak at the first church. I spoke on the hope and joy we have in Jesus out of 1 Peter 1:3-9. After preaching I invited them to come forward if they were going through difficult times and wanted us to pray that they would be reminded of the hope and joy we have in Jesus and what He's done for us. It was amazing like fifteen people came forward and our team was able to pray for them. I loved seeing the student in action. They didn't hesistate for a second to come up front and pray for people. I was so blessed by that. We also had the opportunity to perform a drama, share a testimony, and sing songs with the churches here. Tomorrow we will be off to the villages for five weeks. I'm excited for what God is going to do. Please keep us in your prayers throughout this time. I hope all is well for everyone. Merry Christmas and a happy new year.