Just for fun...

Since I likely exceeded some of your "word-reading limits" in my post below, I thought it would be fun to post some pictures of what's been going on in my life this summer... Enjoy :)

A trip to the Royals game with some great friends from YAMS (the Young Adult Ministry at Covenant Chapel)

This cutie girl turned two and continued to add much joy to my life. :) (Her little 'sisser' is on the way and can't wait to meet her!)

My best friends and I got to celebrate Mac's birthday!


Some fun friends and I road tripped (if you can call it that) to Lawrence to see Jon McLaughlin in concert.

Had an AMAZING mission trip with great students from CovChap Middle School.


Said goodbye to the 8th grade (now 9th grade) girls who are awesome!


Spent some sweet time with much-missed friends from Indiana Wesleyan at the most beautiful wedding of Austin and Elise :)


Loved my four favorite kiddos in the whole world. :)


Spent my weekdays with two of the most fun kids ever, Lauren and Grant!

These guys make the summer feel complete!


And I got to spend great time with my great family.

Thanks for letting me share my wonderful summer with you.
God, be glorified in sweet friendships and the joy ONLY you bring to our lives.

Love,
Kristen

Change is coming...

Just two short weeks from today, my team of 5 other girls and myself will be boarding a plane in New York departing to Africa. I can't quite believe it is actually here and words fail to try to describe the flood of emotions I am feeling as the date quickly approaches.

Leaving for Africa feels like so many things...

It's "I've been dreaming and waiting for the day I could GO for so long and now I'm actually doing it," excitement.
It's "I'm leaving family and best friends that I love deeply and can't imagine my day to day life without," sadness.
It's "I have NO idea what to expect, how I will respond, if I will get sick, if I will struggle in ministry," fear.
It's "A season of life is now coming to an end...a season of ministry, a season of family, a season of friendships, a season of learning," grief.
It's "A new season is beginning, a season that God has promised will be 'far more than we could ever ask or imagine,'" anticipation.

But through all of these emotions...the wavering back and forth between being ready to board the plane right now and maybe just wanting to stay here where things are comfortable,

God is stretching my faith. And I have no choice but to trust Him right now. It's such a hard place to be, but SUCH a great place to be. To know that I'm called to say "YES" to wherever Jesus leads...and give up my desire to 'call the shots.'
AIM (Africa Inland Mission) has asked us to read the book "Ministering Cross-Culturally" by Sherwood Ligenfelter.
In the opening chapter, there was a part that stood out to me:

"We must consciously release our attachments to home, income security, convenience, significance in work or ministry, and even comfort of family. We must enter a new community of strangers, often without many if not most of the comforts and symbols of home, and begin as children, learning at the feet of those we have gone to serve... The challenges will shape us; the changes will trouble us. Our bodies will get sick, our minds will suffer fatigue, our emotions will sweet us from ecstasy to depression. Yet the love of Christ will sustain us..."

And that is the most important thing: that the love of Christ will sustain us. I truly believe that the steadfast love of the Lord is better than life (Psalm 63:3) and that this truth will fuel my entire existence in Rehoboth, Namibia as I work with children, interact with our host families, and share my life with teenagers and adults that I meet along the way.

Some things you can be praying for:

• The "goodbyes" - oh how hard these will be. Pray for my family and those closest to me-- that God will give all of us shared vision of the beauty of what He will accomplish during this time.
• Travel...with all the airport and luggage craziness, we could definitely use your prayers. We will be flying from Kansas City to New York on September 8, and then from New York to Johannesburg on September 10-11, and then from Johannesburg to Windhoek, Namibia on September 12.
  
• Our team training. We will meet for the first time in New York on September 8. There are 6 of us...pray for united hearts, connections, and a great time of getting to know one another.
• That our love for and trust in Christ will be STRONG and fuel our joyful existence... no matter how hard things feel.
  

SO much love for all of you... Looking forward to updating you SOON from Namibia! :)

Kristen

The joy of EVERY heart.

See the post below for the explanation and update of where we will be serving in Africa. I wanted to reflect a little more, but also wanted to spare you from insanely long posting, so I simply cut it into two different posts (I'm getting pretty clever, huh?) :)


Today in church, we sang a song entitled "Missions Flame." While I have heard this song before, today the truth of it was just exploding from my heart and I wanted to share with you all a few lines from it that are the complete motivation for my going:

"You should be the praise of every tongue
You should be the joy of every heart
and until the fullness of your kingdom comes
until that final revelation dawns
SEND US OUT."

So Kansas City, Tanzania, Namibia, or wherever the Lord leads me, I follow Him. And I surrender to HIS plans. He is the praise of my tongue and the TRUE joy of my heart and I believe with ALL my heart that He should be the praise of every tongue and the joy of every heart.

How you can pray:
Please pray that this motivation -for Jesus to be the joy of every heart -will remain CONSTANT in my heart and among the team.
Pray for the Lord to equip us with a supernatural love for all those we will come into contact with in Namibia.
Pray for our travel plans and arrangements -- that visas would come through on time and such.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for your love and encouragement and support!

God's GREAT plans...

...are so often different from the plans I come up with on my own.

It has been an amazing, yet interesting, couple of months! As Mackenzie and I have been preparing for the journey to Africa that lies ahead of us, God has continually been reminding us of the truth that He is in control of every last detail. Our plans have changed somewhat since that last time I updated you all...but I am so encouraged that even though our plans are different now than when we began, God's plans for us have not changed whatsoever!

About a month ago, we received word that Samuel, the leader of the orphanage and ministry we would be working with in Musoma, Tanzania, was in a serious and life-threatening car-accident. Since then, he has been healing at a miraculous rate, but is still recovering from many injuries. As a result, the ministry's expansion has been slowed and Africa Inland Mission has made the decision to withhold short-term teams from this placement site for the time being.

In the next few weeks after we received that information, we were waiting to hear from Africa Inland Mission about where they would place us next. Would we still be able to leave at the end of the summer? If not, when could we leave? And what would we do in the meantime once our summer jobs were over?

While these worries and fears were very present in the first week or so of waiting, God soon convinced me that I had to surrender all of them to the Lord and TRUST with every part of me that He truly is holding it all in His hands. Everything initiates in Him-- the creator and sustainer of it all.

We recently received confirmation that our new placement will be in Rundu, Namibia. (This is in the south-western part of the continent). It still looks like we will be set to depart late in August or early September. In Rundu, we will be working at The Sanctuary- which is a haven for children (mostly orphans) in Namibia who have no where to go. They provide holistic care for the children including: food, clothing, housing, medical care, and education.

It has been stretching, humbling, but also an incredible blessing to live in the reality that I have no control over the happenings of life and never had any to begin with! From the beginning, God has known what He was going to do with our "Africa plans," and none of the following information has come as a surprise to Him. I love knowing that and find all the comfort in the world from trusting that He will accomplish all of His purposes. That takes me giving up any plans or expectations that I have to acknowledge that God's work is always going to be more than I could ever ask or imagine. I truly believe that he is going to do just that: more than I could ever ask or imagine.

Learning from a man with a burden...

I'm graduated!! (And cannot possibly convey my excitement!)
The last two weeks have been amazing for me- with time to unwind, spend great time with friends, pack and unpack (I moved back into my parents' house for the summer), and continue our support raising. God is continuing to remind me that I MUST depend on Him for all the details about life, ministry, and finances for Africa.

As I am reading through the book of Nehemiah, I have been reminded of the importance of prayer as an expression of my utter dependence on the Lord to pull through and accomplish all that He wills. Nehemiah prayed passionately for his people when he discovered that they were being oppressed. He had a burden and he prayed fervently for the Lord to be attentive to his pleading. (Check out Nehemiah 1 and 2 for his burden and how the Lord answers his prayer). His example has been perspective-giving as I remember that my great burden is for people to know the hope of Jesus Christ -- for them to know TRUE love that satisfies, doesn't run out, doesn't give up. And so I must be in prayer, for the Lord to show me the way as I seek to share this with others. His way. His time.

We have raised $9,522 so far. This means that one of us is fully funded for our time in Tanzania! Praise the Lord!
However, we still have to raise $8,078 to meet our goal of $17,600 for both of us to be fully funded. God is providing in ways we never expected and has blessed us incredibly through faithful and sacrificial giving of our friends and church family.

Thank you for those of you who have joined our team of supporters-- through your care, through your prayers, and through your finances. I have been so humbled by the support you have offered!

Jesus, receive ALL the glory for what you have done, are doing, and will do.

These transforming words...

Here it is. The blog has begun as I am SO close to graduation (16 days) and SO ready to focus on preparing for my time in Tanzania.
Details have started to come together for our trip more this week... and I have had a renewed sense of excitement and anticipation for this adventure.
There are so many "whys" to this trip that I could possibly write a book, but the main 'WHY' is that I believe Jesus Christ is satisfying. Even on the days when my sin is so strong that I don't "feel" it... He firmly holds my heart and keeps me pressing on. He is worthy of my life. And so risking everything for the sake of displaying His worth for all to see brings me the MOST joy and brings Him glory. Life is exciting when I'm living this way.
That's how I want to live the rest of my life. So I follow Him. Even when reality creeps in and it is no longer just an adventure in the future, and the realness of it begins to confront me with real fears.

Lilias Trotter was a missionary in Algeria in the early 1900's. I have read about her life in the book Faithful Women and Their Extraordinary God by Noel Piper. Each time I have read the story of this woman who trusted the Lord with her WHOLE life, there has been one quote from her journal which has continued to move me to tears. These words have been confirmation from the Lord that HE WILL SUSTAIN and SATISFY. That even though I might not have realized what this journey of following Christ would mean for me when I began it, I trust the truth and know I have tasted the goodness of knowing Him. And that's more than enough for me to offer what I have to give: my life.

How many of us have said and sung with all our hearts "Anywhere with Jesus," but at the same time we did not realize all that it meant for us. Indeed at home, and surrounded by all that home means, we could not know. When the test comes we must not forget that "anywhere" means for missionaries something different...and let us take very good care not to make a misery of anything that "anywhere" brings us. To us in Algeria it must mean sometime or other, Arab food. Do we object to it? And mice, do we mind them? And mosquitoes, do we think them dreadful? In some parts it means close contact with dirt and repulsive disease. Yet if Jesus is there, what have we possibly to complain of?...
And yet let us evermore write over all our miseries, big, and for the most part very little, these transforming words "With Jesus." And then the very breath of Heaven will breathe upon our whole being and we shall be glad.


Yes, Jesus, WITH YOU means that there is nothing to complain of. Nothing to fear. Give me faith to trust you as I long to follow you wherever you lead...I can't wait to see what you have in store.


How you (and I) can be praying:
-Mackenzie and I are starting our support raising this month. Pray that we trust the Lord and recognize HIM as the ultimate provider. Pray that He would raise up a team of people to help us get there.
-Pray for us as we prepare emotionally and spiritually. Right now we are focusing on graduating... we feel as though we have put this preparation on the back burner. I need the Lord to fill me up and give me discipline to be in His word.
-We just received news today that we have two other girls joining our team. They will be there for 6 months, and we will be there for 8. Their names are Amanda and Molly Bea. Pray that as we begin communication with them, God unites our hearts.
-Pray that when we are in Tanzania, when we are physically sick, heart sick, and homesick, that God will bring to mind the words I have written tonight... and the words of Lilias Trotter who has gone before us, "With Jesus." It is never too early to pray for this...I know maintaining perspective will be a struggle.



Grateful for Christ's mercy in my life today,
Kristen