Visiting the Summit

This past week was Homecoming Week at my alma mater. I have a number of college friends who still live in the area and I figured others would be in town for homecoming, so I thought it would be a good time to visit. Also one of my former RAs was speaking at the Bible Conference so I was excited to hear him preach! I love hearing people's stories of the journeys God's been taking them on over the years, seeing how people have grown in their understanding of Christ, and seeing what their kids are like! It was a short, sweet trip, but a reminder of God's faithfulness and how thankful I am for the people He's used in my life to shape me into the person I've become.

Always a privilege to have Doc Harris leading worship!

Home of some of the best calzones ever!
I always plan to stop in whenever I visit.

Finn and I enjoying the fruits of our labor
(granted it was mostly his enjoyment and my labor!)

Photo of the Day

View of Lake Winnipesaukee from Mount Major

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NETS Mission Trips

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Learning pastoral ministry can't happen by only sitting in a classroom. That's why the curriculum at NETS has so many practical elements! This past week the entire student body at NETS was split up into three teams and sent out across the country on mission trips. One group went all the way to the north to work with a NETS grad in Onekwaya West. Another group went to minister with a NETS Distance Coordinator in the town of Tsumeb. And the third group went to work with a children's ministry in neighboring Okahandja. Here are a few testimonies from the trips.

“I was not looking forward to the mission trip because I knew we would be working with kids. I thought it was not my calling or ministry. But God proved me wrong. One of the things I have learned is that kids are precious to God. I understood what Christ said that we should be like little kids. Kids are precious to God and they are created by him and Jesus Christ died for them, too. We as believers have a responsibility to show love to these kids because it was so obvious that this was what they needed: LOVE. I remember a saying that 'God qualifies the unqualified.' So for me that was one of the things that I learned from the mission trip: God is the one who qualifies us to do His work in this world.”
~Thomas (Okahandja)

"While we were worshipping God on Sunday morning we learnt that one of the homesteads in the bush had completely burnt down the previous day. We went to visit and it was a shock. The people had lost everything. It was such a privilege for us to go and comfort them by praying for them and giving them blankets and food. We had taken second hand clothing from Windhoek with us and so far did not have the chance to distribute it. This was a golden opportunity and the clothes greatly blessed the people. They were so encouraged, telling us that they had been advised to go to the witch doctor because of what had happened. But instead it was God who took the initiative by coming to them as He sent His people to help and encourage them."
~Russell (Onekwaya West)

Miles to go before I sleep

The open road

Many missionaries dread home assignment because it means they have to travel around the country visiting all their supporters and speaking at churches. Then they return to the field more tired than when they left! But I've realized what a joy and privilege it is to have most of my ministry partners be my friends. In other words, the people who regularly pray for and support me are people I want to see anyway! So that means coming back for home assignment isn't about "reporting" to random missions committees, but it's catching up on life and investing in relationships. Thus my cross-country road trip over the past month has been a great joy reconnecting with old friends. :)

My college buddy now teaching at Cedarville University

I drove over 3500 miles across 9 different states to visit friends and family who have spread out all over the place. One of the coolest things is seeing how God has sovereignly put each person in a completely different place to each do a small part of His greater work. Sometimes it's easy to have blinders on and not see beyond our own lives and troubles, but God is doing so many great things through people all over the world and, go figure, He's doing it without me! I just need to be faithful with the little part that He's given me. What a privilege it's been this past month to get little glimpses of God's greater work through all my friends.

Mini-reunion with some college friends

Sunset over Lake Michigan

Got to attend a friend's wedding. Congrats John & Molly!

Enjoying the sunset from a friend's boat

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Travel Adventures

Early Monday morning, when the sky was still dark and the city was still quiet, I began my long journey back to the States for my 6-month home assignment. My travels got off to a beautiful start with one last sunrise over the desert as I was walking across the tarmac to catch the plane for my 6:30am flight to Johannesburg. After 5 hours in Joburg, it was on to Doha. Most people were sleeping on that long flight, but I was trying to stay awake to help my body clock adjust to Eastern Standard Time. So I ended up chilling with a bunch of the flight attendants in the little area where they store all the food trays and drinks and stuff. I had some great spiritual talks especially with one young lady from India who professed Hinduism, although she was more generically pluralist than Hindu. She had lots of great questions about God and the Bible and things like how Jesus could be God and why God allowed evil in the world. After probably an hour's conversation, interrupted only by the occasional flight attendant rounds, she let me pray for her and I encouraged her to keep reading her Bible, especially the Gospels. Sometimes you never find out what happens with the seeds you plant, but I pray hers bears some fruit.

On my next flight I was seated next to an elderly, atheistic, South African man who was on his way to the States to visit his daughters. He kept going on about evolution and how everything is just random and the Bible is just stories. I asked him, "If somebody gave you indisputable evidence that God exists, would you even then be willing to change your mind?" And he said, "Yes, but no one can," which basically means "No." Interestingly, I later overheard him talking about spiritual things with the guy seated on the other side of him. But of course everything is just random, so that couldn't be Providential. ;)

I landed in Philadelphia with a 1:50hr layover. The immigration room had 56 counters but only 4 people working, though after a long wait I finally made it through. I collected and then re-checked my luggage, and proceeded to security for my next flight. On my first attempt, my boarding pass was denied. So the elderly gentleman at the desk, who also happens to be the slowest walker ever, walked over to his supervisor to ask what was up. I was told I needed to go downstairs to get my boarding pass reprinted. So having done that, on my second attempt going through security, they decided that they needed to search through my carry-on bag. By now my flight had already started boarding. Not finding anything even remotely dangerous, they finally let me through. But I had arrived into Terminal A and my flight out was from Terminal F, all the way on the other side of the airport. So I caught the slow-driving shuttle to Terminal F, convinced that I could've walked faster than that, and of course my gate was the very last gate in the farthest terminal in the whole airport. Naturally. Speed walking through the terminal I made it to the gate with 3 minutes to spare before they closed the doors. Not exactly the way I had hoped to be welcomed to the States.

All that to say, 35 hours, 4 flights and 3 continents later, I finally arrived safe & sound.

One Day

Every year in the middle of July my church organizes a youth event called One Day. This year was my first, and I was asked to play on the worship team. The theme of the day was #Relevant. We started with fun ice breakers and loud worship music. Throughout the day there were sessions with talks about how Christianity is relevant in our world today. Then the youth were divided up by age into small discussion groups led by our young adults.

According to the schedule, to close the day we would have an evening "Jam Out Session." But before we cranked the amps up to 11, our pastor sensed that people really needed an opportunity to respond to what they'd heard, so while the band played softly in the background, he gave an invitation for people to follow Jesus. Twenty-one people came forward that night, some to follow Jesus for the first time, others to recommit their lives to following Him, and others just for prayer. Those twenty-one lives ignited and motivated our worship celebration! After that the room was electric as we sang and shouted and danced and lost our voices worshipping our Savior.

Over 130 youth and young adults attending One Day 2016

Spitzkoppe

Spitzkoppe is a natural rock formation in the desert of Namibia and popular tourist destination for photographers, climbers and campers. My parents have never been, so we took along a few friends from Arandis to climb around the rocks for the day.

Ancient Bushman cave paintings

Bushman cave paintings of a hunt