Right now I’m sitting in my favorite coffee shop in our city! In less than 15 hours I’ll be waking up to move my heavy bags to the airport, and start the 24 hour journey back home!!! It still doesn’t feel quite real yet! I almost didn’t think this moment would come! haha This past week we have been packing, meeting with friends, and even leading shrt term teams around the city here! It’s been beyond busy!

Me and the three others on my team had a “last supper” with one of our best friends here. Her name is Teresa. We actually met Teresa while she was working here at our favorite coffee shop!!! She has been facing many difficulties with her family while we’ve been here this year. We were laughing and joking a lot during our last dinner with her, but the end became very intense.

We noticed that she had all of a sudden became very quite. When we looked at her, she started to cry! These were her words, “before I met you guys, my life was very unhappy. I am unhappy because I cannot trust anyone! But now you are my best friends and I will never forget you!”…………………………………wow! No eye was dry at that moment. Teresa is a friend that we’ve had many great conversations about God with! He definitely has His hand on her life, and her heart has definitely been softened to Him. As we leave to come back home, there are many friends like Teresa that we wish we could have just a little more time with. But we are trusting God to finish the work that He started in their lives.

This has been an unforgettable 9 months and there will be many stories to tell when we get home! Aside from the 24 hour plane ride coming up, I’m really excited for what’s coming up in the next week! However, it’s true that part of my heart will still be here in Asia. Please keep us in your prayers as we’re traveling home tomorrow morning. Look forward to seeing you soon!

We met Jerry playing basketball about six months ago. And even now, most of the time that we spend with him is either on the court, or discussing about the Bible! Jerry comes form a very poor village in Asia. He’s naturally a very motivated individual and just loves living life to it’s fullest! He has just the kind of personality it will take to inspire scores of people in this nation towards Jesus!

Jerry’s not the only one either! Right now, there is a core group of about 6 more people! As a team, we’re still working on coming up with the best way to help them grow. Please keep us in your talks to God about that! Thank you all for your support! There’s only less than 50 days until we head home! Unbelievable!

About a month after we arrived in this country, we hired a language tutor. At first, our teacher (whose English name is ECHO) was very shy. But as the months went by we all became ver close to her. She started to become more a friend than a teacher to us, and after a while we found out that she is also a part of the family!

During a really special conversation that we had with her one day, she told us her desire to go to a Bible School in a nearby country! She was planning on telling her parents and asking them to help her with money. Naturally, we were very excited for her, and told her to tell us if she needed any help!

After two weeks went by without hearing anything about it, we got a call. She wanted to meet with us outside of our language lesson time; and that brings me to the beginning of this email. She spent a good half an hour telling us about the school she wanted to attend, her heart behind going, and answering our question about it. Then we took some time to tell her how much we supported her and believed in her and wanted to help her (with money)! This is when her face met her hands! It was such a special time! I’m not sure about everything that was going through her head right at that moment, but I think that she was feeling some of the favor of God on her life!

Echo is a graduate of a top 100 University in this country. Her vision is to be trained at this Bible school and then reach out to the Middle East (she knows that people like us are not very welcome there ). I want to know if you would join me in supporting her. The cost for tuition for 2 yrs is $1400 (i know, pretty cheap!), the school has worked out a work study program so that room/board is free, she also needs about $200 for a return plane ticket; and money to travel, as the school will be doing some “hands on” work. Her family is unusual for this country, in that she has 2 other siblings. That also means that her parents are not very well off. That’s why she came to ask us for help (this is more humbling for Asian people than American)!

Thank you all! Keep Echo in your thoughts to God! Other things here are going great! Three more of our friends joined the family yesterday at our weekly “party”! It’s utterly amazing! Thank you all for being a part of this with me!!!

As a team, we have all been learning so much. Right now on the campuses here, it is final exam time!!! And let me tell you, they take these things more seriously than I did in college! Between all their business, we're trying to steal as much of their time as possible before they leave to go home for the holidays!

Just yesterday, I was out to lunch with my friend Daniel. We talked about his new part-time job for a little while, but eventually, we got to talking about God. He was telling me about a time a week ago when, for the first time in his life, he had turned to God for help. In his words, “I was surprised at myself!” He continued to tell me how this new part-time job was actually an answer to his prayer to God!!! As we continued on in the conversation, we both realized how much God cares about our every circumstance in life!

Like I said, the first semester is coming to a close. By the end of the week, most of the students will be home for Spring Festival! Me and the rest of the team here, will be traveling a little over the next few weeks too! We will be attending a conference, and relaxing a little too! Then we will be visiting some of our friends at their hometowns. This is a great opportunity to see how they really live!

The week before Christmas was very busy as we were planning to hold a few parties for our friends. We were calling friends, making up skits and games to make it exciting, and making sure our plans were fool proof. Midway through the week, we found out that a girl on our team was going to be going home for Christmas because her mom's health suddenly worsened. So in the middle of the business, we were feeling the pain of someone close to us.

Our first Christmas party was nothing like we imagined it to be. About four out of the expected twenty showed up. At this point, we were doing our best to not lose hope. During the next two days, there was revival like nothing I've ever experienced. We held two more Christmas parties for our friends.

Two nights after our first one, we planned to spend a special Christmas time with our closest friends here. Throughout the whole day there seemed to be a lingering spirit of peace. That night something happened that we hadn't expected. We shared with our friends the Christmas story in a way they had never heard it. We felt their hearts melt as tears welled in their eyes.

There were four of our closest friends there that very special night, everyone of them asked Jesus to become part of their lives!! What a joy it is to see someone you care about find an answer to their deep longing for hope.

Earlier that week we were joined for Thanksgiving by the rest of our team. They have been living in another city for the last 3 months. We had a great big turkey dinner, with amazing mashed potatoes and stuffing!

A few days later an opportunity came up for us to travel to a small village right outside the city. This was a place that a few of the permanent people here have been talking to God about for some time. Our goal was to walk and pray and break the ground in the spirit.

When we arrived at the village we traveled by horse and buggy down the narrow streets. The whole experience was very exciting and new. Many of the people's faces looked as though they had never seen a foreigner before.

At the end of our time something very unexpected happened. We got the opportunity to visit a small “family group”. Through an interpreter we were able to encourage each other and bless one another. It's humbling to be in contact with a group that is glorifying our God no matter what the cost. How amazing it is to see first hand, the faith of those that must worship in secret!

I was running down the road in old form. I knew then I would be doing this everyday from now on! I found old railroad tracks to run on. It provided more challenge to step in between the wooden beams, but nothing was going to get me down now.

After a while, I decided I was tired enough to turn around and start on my way back. At just about that point I noticed the pain in my legs and lungs. “Where did that come from?” I thought to myself. As I went on, my great achievement started to seem less amazing. This was enough to discourage me from running the next day……and the days after that.

I think most of us have experienced the joys of trying and trying to run regularly. And then the great discouragement that comes when we actually do get out there. Our team here has just begun to do some things that we have been intending to do. One of those things is starting our own English Corner (That's where a bunch of college students get together to practice their English with one another). This is a great way to feel out which students are hungry for God, and who has good English.

We will be meeting many new students through this. We are praying to have many divine appointments through this. Though we know that God can really use us in this way, we also know that when we start to move forward, the enemy comes against us. Pray that we would holdfast to Him so that this doesn't turn out like my isolated running experience. It only happens by His grace. Thank you all for continuing to pray for ever thing that is happening here.

As our team jumped from the pool to the hot tub and back again, I couldn't stop thinking about how awesome of a time we were having. We had done a lot of biking riding and had been pretty busy in the past couple days, and a few hours in a hot tub seemed perfect. I know, I'm making you envious right?

I think the extended amount of time in the hot tub was getting to me, because for some reason I decided that it was a good idea to sniff my hands. Well, I'm not going to tell you what I thought they smelled like, but let's just say that it's something you never want to smell when you're in a pool. The method of cleaning this hot tub was to empty it about once a week, no chlorine needed. Well, it was shortly after that we got out of the hot tub.

When I look back on the night, I still think it was perfect. Most likely no one had done there business in there, the water was probably just a little old. But we could've thought the worst, and totally turned our amazing hot tub experience into a disaster.

As God is using us here to change the lives of future nation leaders, He has also been teaching us how to not let the little things in life discourage us. I thank God that He has me where I am today! This week I received some very encouraging emails. I just can't stop thinking how it is only by the mercy of God that I'm where I am today. Let's continue to pray that His Kingdom is advanced!

Every time I'm around my Momma, she wants to know what is going on in my life. Her main concern is that I'm doing ok. And when I'm really down, her number one priority is to find out why. I always feel that it is her desire to be a big part of my life, and that should make anyone feel important. And every time I'm around my Dad, I always get an earful of how awesome I am! I can be assured that around him my confidence in life and about myself will increase.

On the other side of the world, our team has been experiencing some discouragement. From personal struggles, to struggles with our families back home, to threats from other believers here to hinder what we are doing. But our Big Daddy has been telling us some awesome things. He's saying things like, “You are doing exactly what I want you to be doing!”, “I have you here for a reason!”, “I will never leave you nor forsake you!”, “I love you with an everlasting love!”

It has been so special to have God saying these things, when we feel like we've been failing, or when we feel like down-and-outers. This is the God that we want to share with the college students that we've been meeting with. We have been under a noticeable spiritual attack. And even though it is hard, as a team, we've been going through it together. We are committed to seeing the will of God fulfilled. Thank you so much for your prayers!

Our little adventure started with us climbing and passing our bikes over the gate to our apartment complex. And as we rode a little ways down our street we saw something that we had never seen before. Now those of you who have weak stomachs might not want to read the next sentence. We saw a dog that had been skinned and cooked, so that the face looked as though it was growling. Now if you've never seen a dog like this, I assure you it is a sight to see. What excitement huh?

“I should feel tired,” I thought to myself. We were half way there and the city seemed so peaceful at this time of night. Where normally the streets were packed with cars and bikes and people, we were free to ride as we pleased, and we were going fast! Something about the wind blowing through your hair and it being 4AM, makes you forget about the strain that riding a bike at 2000km elevation has on your cardiovascular system. I was totally excited though!

Our schedules are getting more and more busy as the days go by. We are meeting with new friends and going on more weekend trips. It is quite exciting to see what God is doing. However, through the course of being busy, we naturally grow tired. Hard to believe I know!

But I'm learning about where our God says in the Bible, something about giving us everything we need for what He gives us to do (2Pt 1:3-4). I've heard it said so many times, but now we're actually seeing it in our own lives. Just like the excitement of that early morning bike ride made me forget that I should be tired, the seeing the things that God is doing in and through us is so charging. And it totally makes me forget that I should be tired!

I'm glad that you can share in this with me! Please continue to pray for the friends that God has put in our paths. We can see that He has been working in them already! He is also working in our hearts! We have been experiencing more and more unity among our team. It is definitely more fulfilling to do this with awesome people right by your side. I hope that you all are doing well. Thanks again for your prayers and support!