a promise to all

He will not suffer thy foot to be moved:
he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
Psalm 121:3

Conception to Birth

Greetings to all. This entry is actually accompanying the previous one that Kathy wrote. It was a unique experience for me to hear an author explain his book and his feelings and stories behind it. William P. Young, author of The Shack, is one more example of how God planted a seed in one person's life, and then He tended it to bear the fruit that it has produced. The Shack truly does have an amazing birthing process to it.
What has been happening to me? God. More specifically? During our base intercession time I was truly moved. I won't mention the topic now, but it does relate to what I shared in a previous blog entry. Question: have you ever had an Idea that wouldn't go away? You knew it was a good Idea, but it must have originated from your own human thought process. Over time anything related to your Idea catches your attention when it normally wouldn't have if the Idea wouldn't be there in the first place. (A simple example of this is when you look to buy a new vehicle. You think you would like a four-door Jeep Wrangler. Once you realize this you start to notice them everywhere you go. And before you wanted it, you never even saw them on the road.) So far, for me, I've known that I've had an Idea. But it got stronger, and I saw more representations of this Idea throughout everyday life. I was thinking all of this was simply in my head. Thursday morning a shift happened. What was in my head moved to my heart. I felt the shift. It was like nothing I've ever experienced before. The closest I can relate this to from my own life is how I knew that I needed more training in discipleship, and then Father placed it my heart to go to YWAM.
So now what do I do with what's in my heart? Pray. Pray for confirmation and guidance. (Could you pray with/for me, too, please?) If Father has His way, and I hope He does, then the three of us are in for a great adventure!
Speaking of adventure. . . . The other week I got a taste of adventure. Some people on base got to climb our 32 ft. climbing wall one evening. And this next monday we might get to again. It was so fun. Yes, I was secured to some one on the ground at all times. Also on base is a one hundred foot pine tree that is rigged to climb. I am looking forward to that as well. The tree is a part of our Ropes Course and is meant to teach us to overcome our fears and to reach our goal(s). Sound like fun to anyone else?
Well, I'll sign off now. I will be sure to update you on my (former Idea) new Desire. Oh, I do have a Scripture to go along with this. Philippians 2:13 : "For God is working in you, giving you the desire and power to do what pleases Him."
Don't forget to read the entry just underneath this. This one is meant to accompany that one. Our Heavenly Father's Love To You, Carson

Friday, July 25th

Yet another week of learning...learning...learning. I(Kathy) am reminded as I am writing this that we are all students in this life and we are all learning no matter if we are in a classroom or not. Being in a classroom with a teacher is only one of many, many ways that we can learn, yet it is certainly not the only way. God can speak to us and teach us through any circumstance that we find ourselves in, any job, any ministry, any family, and this learning never stops, if we choose. Because we are finite(limited, human) beings, we will always need a relationship with our infinite(immeasurable, exceedingly great, not limited to time or space) father to help us in this life.

This week we had Matt Rawlins come and speak to us, he currently lives in Singapore, but is from Salem, Oregon and he spoke on "who is God?" He told us on Monday that by Friday we would probably have more questions than answers and this is true. He covered a lot, but woven through the fabric of his teaching was "God is good and He is Big". He mentioned that most christians don't wrestle with God being Good, but we often question if he is big enough. Is he big enough in my finances, is he big enough in my relationships, is he big enough to take care of my failures. Is he bigger than any mistake I have ever made in my life? He then went on to taking us through our Solar system and to the world that God has created. I would invite each of you to check out Nasa's website, I believe it is nasa.com. We think that earth is SO big, yet earth is a drop in the bucket compared to all else that God has created. A million earth's fit inside the sun! Matt remarked this week that when we begin to feel 'insecure' in our faith, we should just go do a study on the universe that he has created, that he 'spoke' into existence. Study the vastness of his creation. Do a study on fish. Do a study on stars. Did you know that we have over 2 billion stars and do you happen to know how big one star is? I didn't. Yet, God knows each star by name and by his knowledge, not one star is unaccounted for(Isaiah). Wow. He talked about us being created in God's image. What does this mean? God is sovereign, God is good, God is all-powerful, all-knowing. Does this mean that we are all-powerful and all-knowing? He explained it to us as this:there are 2 aspects of God; his nature (sovereign, all-knowing, all-powerful, BIG) and his character (loving, caring, GOOD). When God says we are created in His image, we are created in the image of his character, not his nature. This makes a lot of sense.

A few things that I took out of this week are a)God is a whole lot bigger that I have believed Him to be b)He is better than I thought!!! c) what is man that he is mindful of us? Yet he knows us so intimately, even down to our very cells d)the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and true relationship with Him e)I am not in control.

I want to pass on a quote to you from Henri Nouwen. This quote has really impacted me this week, so much so that I went and bought a journal and am preparing to paste this quote on the front of it. Here goes:

"For most of my life I have struggled to find God, to know God, to love God. I have tried hard to follow the guidelines of the spiritual life---praying always, working for others, reading the scriptures---and to avoid the many temptations to dissipate myself. I have failed many times but always have tried again, even when I was close to despair. Now I wonder whether I have sufficiently realized that during all this time God has been trying to find me, to know me, and to love me. The question is not "how am I to find God?" but "How am I to let myself be found by Him?" The question is not "how am I to know Him" but "how can I let myself be known by him"? and finally the question is not "how am I to love God" but "how am I to let myself be loved by God?" It might sound strange, but God wants to find me as, if not more than, I want to find God…I am beginning now to see how radical the character of my spiritual journey will change when I no longer think of God as hiding out and making it as difficult as possible for me to find Him, but, instead, as the one who is looking for me while I am doing the hiding." (Can the finite find the infinite or must the finite let himself be found by the infinite...added by me)? Henri Nouwen

Just a thought....

Also, we had the priviledge of having the author of the Shack (book), William (Paul) Young, here at the Ywam, Salem campus, he was here on Monday and Tuesday speaking in the counseling school. Carson and I got to sit in on one lecture and also got to hear him speak in our Tuesday evening service. We are planning to get copies of his testimony, what he shared on Tuesday (highly recommended), and if anyone would like a copy, please let us know, and if you haven't read the book, we would highly recommend it to you. Paul mentioned that when he wrote the book, the Shack, he wrote it for his children and when he tried to have it published, noone wanted it. So he and 2 friends opened up a new publishing company, just so they could publish it. In all, they spent less than 300$ in marketing (and this is generous). Basically, God got ahold of the story and is using it to His glory. People all overthe world are 'having conversations', which Paul is really happy about. It is the number one book being read in chinese universities, they have sold over 2 million copies, and now there is a movie in the process of being made via David Cunningham, the son of Loren Cunningham (founder of Ywam). He mentioned that the other day Will Smith was in an interview with Queen Latifah and as they were talking he turned to her and said "boy, do I have a role for you" (he had just read the shack). And if you don't know what I'm talking about, you'll just have to read the book. Carson and I have a extra copy, so let us know if you want it and we'll send it to you, or you can find it at any local bookstore or Amazon.com. By the way, Paul mentioned that The Shack is a metaphor for each of our souls. The Shack is us. Interesting.God wants to "habitate" our shacks, he doesn't want 'visitations'.

We'll, I have said too much. We hope you all are well, many of you enjoying fair week! We miss and Love you.

Oh, Matt Rawlins (who was with us this week) happens to be an author and he has an excellent book that has just come out, in fact we got to pray and comission the book with him, it is called "there's an elephant in the room" and it is about effective communication in businesses, in churches, and just basically any relationship. You can order it on Amazon.com and you can check out his websites for his other books at http://www.anelephantintheroom.com/, http://www.thegreenbench.com/.

Carson will probably be writing too, so you can hear what God's been doing in His life. We would LOVE to hear from you via comments on this blog or via email, hershy414@yahoo.com.

Kathy

Every week on thursday morning we have a base-wide time of intercession for a paticular country or for particular workers from this base that are in other countries. This week we prayed for the Amdo Tibetan people who live in Western China in Sichuan, Gansu, and Qinghai provinces. This group of Tibetan people are mostly Nomadic people as they herd yak in the mountains. The Amdo are friendly, cautious, hospitable and devoutly religious people. They are and have been difficult to reach because of their nomadic lifestyle. I (Kathy) was able to visit this region of China in 2002. One thing that gripped my heart during this intercession time was a picture displayed that was titled 'Himalayan Art' with the 'lost sheep' scripture written on it. I got a sense of how much God loves these people and just like a shepherd and his sheep, he cares about every one the same and He wants to find every one. I want to share the verse and the picture with you: ""Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the 99 in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he hasfound it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And wen he comes home, he calls together his friends ad neighbors, saying to them, 'rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.' (John 15). "All the nations whom Thou hast made shall come and worship before Thee" (psalm 86:9). God bless you all, have a wonderful weekend.

Dakota is hooked on a new movie right now, lady and the tramp (doesn't sound good, but it's a cartoon with dogs). She calls it 'puppers'. She asks to watch it every morning and every night now for about 2 weeks. :) We (mommy + Dakota) are just recovering from a bout of a stomach bug, mommy got hit a little harder than Dakota. I've been able to go to classes today, but yesterday I was in bed for most of the day. This week we are talking about 'relationships' with Luba Iliyn and I certainly don't want to miss any of it. Carson was busy tonight climbing the climbing wall that they have here on the base, someone got pictures so I will post those soon. Last night he went on the zip line, which is the wire that runs over 400 ft. long and is 40 feet high and goes 45 mph. I think he is looking for a little adventure:) It is hot here right now, it has been over 80 degrees everyday this week, but it doesn't feel as hot on the base because of all of the trees. We miss you all, hope you are all well!!!! (pictures are of dakota watchingher 'puppers' movie and Dakota and daddy watching buggs bunny in the morning)

Kathy

Going Deeper

Hello. Hello. How are you? We are doing well. This past week was an intense week full of inner healing. Our classroom time was led by Jerry and Linda Praetzel. They have been a part of YWAM and this ministry for approximately 15 years. After yet another week of class, I (carson) have to say this about my experience: it is better than I could have imagined. Kathy is also enjoying and learning from it in a great way. God = Wow! So, after a heavier week today our class went to Silver Falls State Park. The waterfalls were beautiful, and the mini vacation was appreciated. Dakota played in water that was not in a bathtub for the first time.
This past weekend we went to Portland to see that city. Along with us went three other teammates. We had a pretty good time walking around the city and "touring" Powell's Books. That place was huge. Somehow four of us ended up in the same aisle, the christian aisle. I have now been officially validated. For the first time in my life I was able to validate my parking garage ticket. I must say, life is fuller being validated.
Dakota has been her usual cute self. Last week she was watched by different people because Carol wanted to sit in on our class. So Desi (see previous pics) watched her for a couple of mornings, Petra (also see previous pics) had her for a morning, and another girl named Marina watched her, too. All three of these girls are wonderful with her. Interesting fact: all three of these girls were orphans as children (they have been adopted.) Has Dakota found her ministry? We'll just have to wait and see.
Have I found my ministry? I, too, will have to wait and see. But God has been stirring me for the past while. As I hear stories of girls/women who have had horrible things happen in their lives because of treatment from males (brothers, fathers, uncles, husbands) my heart is directly hit. Some boys/men have even been mistreated or abused by the same types of men. This is very upsetting. How are these wounded people supposed to find a loving God who is in charge of the universe when they can't even find a loving male in their lives? I can remember a while back that pastor Conrad said a line one Sunday expressing the need for the fathers of this world to be brought back into our lives. Amen! What does this look like for me? I'm not sure, but I do know that God is directing me in this way. You can pray that God would continue to guide me and reveal more of His calling for me to me. If you are a man reading this, then please, go kiss your wife, hug your daughter, or tell a girl in your life how loved she is. Hey, be ambitious, do all three if you can. If you are a woman reading this, then please know and feel that our Heavenly Father thinks the world of you.
We are both still very excited that we are going to Thailand. Tomorrow morning our team will be praying about what specifically we will be doing. A possibility of going into Myanmar for at least one day is still on the table. Please keep praying for us in regards to how we will be most effective on our Outreach.


God's Blessings Upon You

Carson, Kathy, Dakota

Well, an update is finally here! We apologize that it has been soooo long since the last one. Our excuse is: internet service to our room has been down for a while, and it just became available again today. Not good enough? We just ask your foregiveness. The three of us have been doing wonderful. Classes are going well, and I (carson) will give you a rundown of what has been talked about in a little bit. Dakota is still having a blast with her new friends. Some pictures of the people in her life during this time will (hopefully) be posted with this. It just depends on how severe my computer illiteracy is.

The biggest news that you may want to hear is that we are going to Thailand for our outreach phase! The class is pumped. Specific tasks and evangelism fields are yet to be revealed, by God, to us. But at least we know the destination now. Most likely we will be in the northwest part where trips into Myanmar (Burma) will be possible and likely.

Okay, the topics we have covered in class: Hearing The Voice of God, Spiritual Warfare, and Lifestyle of Repentence. All three were phenomenal! Spiritual Warfare was presented by Dean Sherman, who has written a book with that same title. Did you know that spiritual warfare is going on right now where you are as you read this? It is everywhere all the time. During the lifestyle of repentence the speaker told us amazing true stories of his dad. Why did he do this? Because of all of the horrendous stuff that happened to him, he did not lose his faith in our Father. And the point being that we can see His faithfulness to us, and choose to live our lives to serve Him out of gratefulness for His always loving us and being with us. When we were talking about Hearing the Voice of God I (carson) found a new friend: the Holy Spirit! The Spirit was made so much more real and personal than I ever knew before. It's hard to describe the topic for this week, but we've only just begun. Probably by the next update I will be better able to share what it was about.

Dakota's friends make up a unique group of individuals. Carol is the lady who takes care of Dakota while we are in class. Desi is a student in another program here. She originally comes from Bulgaria. Petra is a worker on the Ropes Course here on base, and she was born in Romania and has lived in Germany for several years. Petra tells us that Dakota reminds her of one of her younger sisters. Leah is a girl from our class who we like to hang out with. One day at a park downtown Dakota had her first carousel ride. She really enjoyed that. One of her semidaily routines is to travel upstairs to Desi's room and waits for her to let her in. Once inside, Dakota climbs up on Desi's bed and eats dry cereal while Desi gets ready. It is very amusing. Dakota is almost like a little mascot running around here.