Oh, man. This is an incredible card, found at www.etsy.com. Jesus loves his peeps! If I had found this last week, a lot of people would be getting Easter cards from me this year. But this saves me money, anyway. Happy Easter!
Friday, April 10, 2009
31 Years
So it's past midnight here on Guam, which makes it my birthday! I am now officially 31 years old. Ridiculous. Sometimes I actually wonder if it is possible. Maybe there is some kind of mistake? The only problem with this is that I actually do remember most of those 31 years. So they must have happened.
Today is a weird day-- I'm with people I don't know very well in a place that I don't know very well. But this year has been one of huge blessings. I went to Scotland! I spent the summer in Portland! I got to go back to New Zealand, visit friends in Australia, lead an amazing DTS, and came to Guam. A year ago, I would have guessed very few of these things. I am very blessed. I have seen God working in a lot of people's lives and even got to be a part of that work. How awesome is that? And through it all, I almost always had a bed to sleep in. (Okay, now I have a couch, but it's a pretty good one.) Beds are things that I have discovered cannot be taken for granted, because sometimes you don't get one. But they are so awesome when you do. I have had pretty much a whole year of sleeping in beds. That is amazing. I hope that I never get to a point where I wake up in the morning and am not totally grateful for the bed I slept in.
Anyway, I am also grateful for all the totally undeserved and fabulous things that I've been able to do this year, and am incredibly thankful for the amazing people who have been in my life during these past (alleged) 31 years. And I'd like to thank the Academy... just kidding. Have a great my birthday, everyone!
Today is a weird day-- I'm with people I don't know very well in a place that I don't know very well. But this year has been one of huge blessings. I went to Scotland! I spent the summer in Portland! I got to go back to New Zealand, visit friends in Australia, lead an amazing DTS, and came to Guam. A year ago, I would have guessed very few of these things. I am very blessed. I have seen God working in a lot of people's lives and even got to be a part of that work. How awesome is that? And through it all, I almost always had a bed to sleep in. (Okay, now I have a couch, but it's a pretty good one.) Beds are things that I have discovered cannot be taken for granted, because sometimes you don't get one. But they are so awesome when you do. I have had pretty much a whole year of sleeping in beds. That is amazing. I hope that I never get to a point where I wake up in the morning and am not totally grateful for the bed I slept in.
Anyway, I am also grateful for all the totally undeserved and fabulous things that I've been able to do this year, and am incredibly thankful for the amazing people who have been in my life during these past (alleged) 31 years. And I'd like to thank the Academy... just kidding. Have a great my birthday, everyone!
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Sigh
Well, here I am. I was kind of waiting to update my blog until I had something exciting to share, but... well, it doesn't seem like things are happening very quickly here, so I am going to write anyway!
It has not been an easy couple of weeks. I am surrounded by amazing people, which is huge, though. Terry and Kay are very wise and fun to be around; Carrie is great; last night I got to hang out with some girls I became friends with when the team was here, and I was so blessed by them. I look forward to spending more time with them.
Ministry-wise, things are a bit murky. Sorting everything out with the building that we had been using hasn't been as straight forward as we wished, and getting things started around here just takes a lot of work, really. We started up a discipleship group for new/young believers last week, to give some really solid, foundational teaching... a bunch of people said they would come, but most didn't. Those who did were 45 minutes late. Guam time! It felt like pulling teeth in a lot of ways, so I'm hoping that once some momentum gets going, it will get better.
We've been praying a lot about what to do and when and how... there are actually a lot of opportunities. The thing for me that is frustrating is that a lot of those opportunities feel like things that I actually should not do. There are churches that want ministries started, etc., but nobody in the church wants to run them, so they are looking for outside help. But I feel like, as a short-term resident of this place, there needs to be someone else to carry these things after I go. A five month program would work for five months, but then what? There has to be someone willing to learn to do it and take over after the five months. But nobody seems to want to. Even when I thought the DTS was going to happen, there were people to train up to carry on and to lead the next one, which was part of my purpose in leading it. So... we'll see. I'm praying for opportunities to work with and train others to do really strategic, meaningful ministry that is actually bearing fruit, not just creating activities. Oh, the possibilities!
Anyway, that's me for now.
It has not been an easy couple of weeks. I am surrounded by amazing people, which is huge, though. Terry and Kay are very wise and fun to be around; Carrie is great; last night I got to hang out with some girls I became friends with when the team was here, and I was so blessed by them. I look forward to spending more time with them.
Ministry-wise, things are a bit murky. Sorting everything out with the building that we had been using hasn't been as straight forward as we wished, and getting things started around here just takes a lot of work, really. We started up a discipleship group for new/young believers last week, to give some really solid, foundational teaching... a bunch of people said they would come, but most didn't. Those who did were 45 minutes late. Guam time! It felt like pulling teeth in a lot of ways, so I'm hoping that once some momentum gets going, it will get better.
We've been praying a lot about what to do and when and how... there are actually a lot of opportunities. The thing for me that is frustrating is that a lot of those opportunities feel like things that I actually should not do. There are churches that want ministries started, etc., but nobody in the church wants to run them, so they are looking for outside help. But I feel like, as a short-term resident of this place, there needs to be someone else to carry these things after I go. A five month program would work for five months, but then what? There has to be someone willing to learn to do it and take over after the five months. But nobody seems to want to. Even when I thought the DTS was going to happen, there were people to train up to carry on and to lead the next one, which was part of my purpose in leading it. So... we'll see. I'm praying for opportunities to work with and train others to do really strategic, meaningful ministry that is actually bearing fruit, not just creating activities. Oh, the possibilities!
Anyway, that's me for now.
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