Give Thanks.

Jackie:

This has been the first Thanksgiving I have spent away from family but one I will remember. We spent a few nights up the mountain with the Kerrs as we watched the snow blanket the trees, roads and homes. The snowy mountains here are breathtaking and the quietness is almost loud...something I've never experienced on the east coast.

Andy Kerr read us a passage of a book he is reading and the author suggests that technically we could live the rest of our lives praying only one word, "thank you", and it would be enough. Oh if our lives could just be one long expression of gratitude how much more would we know God and know true joy.

Tis the season of thanks and I am extremely joyful tonight after hearing some great news that my darling cousin Perrin's cancer has not spread, the remnants of tumors have disappeared, her back is stabilized from the infusions and some enlarged lymph nodes are back to normal size. God is listening to our prayers and joy and hope fill my heart for what's ahead.

Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His love endures forever.

A Wedding and a Winter Wonderland.

Jackie:

Thursday morning we flew south to Oklahoma for Suzanne and John's wedding. After filling two barf bags via motion sickness, we made it to Tulsa to help celebrate and prepare for their big day. Suzanne was gorgeous as usual and the ceremony was perfect for them.

Tulsa was 75 degrees on Sunday and when we flew in to Kalispell we landed with snow on the ground and gusts of 30 miles per hour...while snowing. It was a winter scene ive never experienced before..or felt- 5 degrees. We were supposed to get back to Montana Sunday night but instead we could not make our flight from Denver to Kalispell due to the plane being "too heavy". Brenden and I ended up getting a free meal and nice hotel room which was actually a blessing have one night to ourselves before we go south.

In 2 weeks we head out down to Guatemala. All 5 teams have been preparing as much as we can with the understanding that once we get to our destinations plans can always change. If you think about it please pray for us all. We have teams going to Brazil, Turkey, Thailand, Haiti and of course, Guatemala. The situation down in Haiti has worsened (cholera outbreaks and rioting) so their team will need a covering of protection- physically and emotionally.

The photos above are from more snow, a beautiful bride and our team leaders whom we love- Brian and Mackenzie (If you know Mackenzie you will soon learn that good things come in small packages)

Winter Has Officially Arrived.

Today we all experienced our first official snowfall in the valley. Brenden and I had driven up the mountain a couple of days ago to get a sneak-peek but today we got the real thing. Everyone from the northwest part of the country..or Norway.. was not too interested but everyone else immediately reacted via snowball fights. It is still coming down at 11:30 and night and the roads are beginning to get covered.

Narnia

Jackie:

Well it's been a couple of weeks since we've been back from Washington. The fall colors have become more muted and snow is accumulating in the mountains. It feels like winter has really crept in and I think we can handle a bit of it before we find ourselves transplanted on the equator for a couple of months in Guatemala.

Brenden has found such joy from getting to work in the auto shop on the base these past couple of weeks and he is thinking there might be something there for him in the future. In our music track we are working on a few songs that were selected to be recorded in the studio. I am singing the female vocals on an original song written by another student in our school who is very talented on the piano and songwriting.

We've had two great speakers these past couple of weeks- Dan Baumann and Amy Sollars- both work at the YWAM base in Kona, Hawaii. Dan spoke about "life with Jesus" and told us many stories and experiences he's had traveling. Amy spoke about the Holy Spirit and shared some great stories as well. She grew up in the backwoods of Alaska living with no electricity or running water, and she and her siblings shot bears and wolves as young children. She reminded us through her teaching that Jesus left to send another, the Holy Spirit, to "aid you, assist you, help you, guide you, lead you, give you revelation of scripture, release his gifts through you, give you boldness, teach you, strengthen you, refresh you, empower you, anoint you, protect you, fellowship with you, help you pray, give you rest, give you wisdom, reveal Jesus in your life, be your friend, and comfort you." Pretty good news, I'd say.

Last weekend YWAM hosted a Masquerade Ball and students dressed up in various ways all covering their faces with masks. A friend of mine, Bethany, and I decided our entire costume was actually better than any mask so we took off our mask after 10 seconds. The photo above says it all.

This upcoming weekend we are Oklahoma bound to celebrate in the marriage of our dear friends Suzanne and John! In 3 1/2 weeks we are headed to Guatemala and look forward to seeing what the next couple of months have in store for us!

Oh, and the reason this post is called "Narnia" is because of the snowy photos. Brenden and I drove the faithful Saturn up Blacktail Mountain about 10 miles and these are photos from the top. It was amazing to be on base where its wet and rainy and then drive for a few minutes to find snowy tree tops in a magical forest!!

Brenden-

In most of our lectures within YWAM we have been learning many things about God. But, we haven't been learning just facts about the bible or how to become a good christian, we have been studying Jesus and his nature and character.

We sat in a lecture today with a man who was imprisoned in Iran for being a missionary. He lived in a 6 x 6 cell for nine weeks and everyday for the first week and once a week after they beat him. You might think what we learned today was how radical of christian he was or what a great thing he did. But, we didn't.

We learned about how God likes us. You may think, "okay, of course he likes us....he loves us." It took me a minute too. When was the last time you thought about God liking you, as in, wanting to spend time with YOU. Not, you praying for an hour and just continually asking God for forgiveness, but actually spending time with Him. It never occurred to me either until the speaker said it. It's hard to understand, but have we ever considered that God likes the things we like. I had to really consider what was being said here when the speaker asked us that. I guess I always picture God dealing with the world all day and listening to me but not actually interacting and wanting to be close. The truth is though, he likes us so much and wants to be a part of everything we do. And I'm not talking about little annoying Jimmy from down the street who wants to play, I'm talking about the God of the universe wanting to actually spend time with us and be close.

Being close, that one was tricky too. What do we think of when we think of the physical proximity of God? When I pray, I always feel like I have to pray for a really long time to get to him, or if I pray "hard" enough he might hear my prayers more. A previous speaker asked a girl in our class what she thinks she has to do to get closer to God. She said pray more and read her bible. He then spoke about how sometimes we envision God being far from us. In fact, at times that's always how we envision him. This idea of where He is makes it feel like we have to strive for him to be in our presence. But, the truth is he is truly close to us at all times. People often seem to think that when they make a mistake and sin that he leaves us. The whole purpose of the cross was that there would never be a barrier between us and God again. This blew me away. It changed my perspective on what he actually did for us. One of the coolest parts about this is that when we finally realize this, we can begin to be moved to do things for him, not out of obligation, but out of love. An example of this is when a husband needs to make an apology he might buy flowers for his wife, but a wife might appreciate flowers more when they come simply because her husband loves her and nothing is wrong. God is present. What is holding us back from knowing the closeness of God?

Montana Snow and Bellingham Mud

Last week 70 of us, students and staff, packed the vans and headed to Bellingham, WA for a week on what's called a "Mini Outreach". This was an opportunity to get out and practice what we preach. Since we are all going to be sent off overseas for a couple of months it's a good idea to see how we can all work together as a team. Each morning started in lecture and then the afternoons were spent breaking up and doing some form of ministry.

Sunday we all went to the speaker Matt Atkin's church MOSAIC. It was set in an old ball room downtown and the first thing you see when you walk in is "Don't Go to Church. Be the Church". They had tables set up all around the room so that everyone could sit, chat, discuss and eat an amazing brunch together prepared by the church body. I loved this way of doing church because it was so relational. They were very active in the community and met on Sunday's with the purpose of going out and being the hands and feet of Jesus, however and wherever needed.

The first afternoon of ministry Matt encouraged us all just to go into the city and walk around with no agenda. His theory was "how do you go and love people if you don't care about them or know anything about them?" So we all split up, went into Bellingham and talked to different people around town, finding out about the city and it's history. I love that my perception of "evangelism" has not only changed but been freed from such the idea that we have to go convert people. What freedom there is in just being a Christian in this world and intentionally loving people, the rest is up to God. And, how do we get that wrong so many times. People are people not projects.

We spent the week doing anything from landscaping, planting trees, cleaning out an old woman's house who was about to get evicted, promoting an Arthritis marathon to moving furniture into homes set up for people to leave homelessness.

Bellingham is about an hour and half north of Seattle and most people know that Seattle is usually raining. Well I didn't realize how much this weather would get to me. Mid week, after 4 days of straight cold, rain, mud and fog, the sun came out. It was incredible how much my mood changed when I could finally be outside and see the blue sky. After that week I decided to buy some vitamin D just incase.

Now we're back at the YWAM base ready to start the month of November. Feeling a little homesick as I know the holidays are approaching. The snow on the mountains is majestic and we are greatly enjoying this opportunity to live in such a beautiful place.