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September 2009
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All four teams have made it safely to their o-treach
locations.
What
REACHers Are Saying…
At the beginning of the fifth week of REACH Discipleship
Training School, participants were asked different questions about their time
so far in training. Here is what they had to share…
Regarding teaching sessions:
“The teaching the past two days on
‘Stinking Thinking’ has really helped me in that I need to face up to reality
instead of hiding behind ‘what if,’ ‘should of,’ and ‘if only.’ I am a
worrier so the ‘what ifs’ really hit home with me. Also I was really
encouraged by the healthy vs. unhealthy guilt. So many times I am always
condemning myself and feeling bad about myself, so that really
helped. In general, learning to listen and discern our self-talk and
false beliefs and turn them into God's truth was really helpful for me
to not listen to the lies I tell myself.” -Samantha
“This
past week Carmal led a session titled 'The Gospel of Wholeness.' The session
largely dealt with empty wells in our lives and the process of receiving and
granting forgiveness. An empty well is an attempt to find things only God can
provide. I was impacted because I never realized all the empty wells I've dug
in an attempt to find purpose, identity, and worth instead of bringing my
problems to God. The section on forgiveness spoke out to me because I've
never really considered the thought that there is a method and process in
achieving forgiveness and how much of the process had to be bathed in prayer.” -Jake
“I
would like to share some of the things that I learned during the session on
the Father Heart of God by Mel Shetler. In Ephesians 1, it gives a list of the seven desires in everyone’s
heart. We all have a desire to be
heard, understood, chosen, included, safe, blessed, praised, and
affirmed. My Heavenly Father redeemed
me and forgave me so that I would be made holy and blameless in His
sight. All these things are too good
to be true! He also brought up a more sobering
question and that is, ‘Where do I fail to represent the Father’s love?’ My desire is to represent Him well
everywhere I go and to love everyone the same way that He loves me and
you.” -Sara
Regarding team intercession:
“Since being on REACH, God
has shown me how His power can flow through prayer. Each week our
team has intercession time together. God keeps showing up in
different ways. One time when praying together, I thought to myself, I
would really like my teammates to lay hands on me and pray. Well, just a
few minutes later, without me saying anything, Andy says, ‘I feel we need to
pray for Rachel.’ Wow, I didn't even have to voice my desire. The Holy
Spirit knew and relayed that without my help. Another time,
the Holy Spirit brought one of Andy's brothers to his mind. We
began praying for him. Later, we found out that not only had his
brother needed prayer at that time but that God had answered
the need. PTL! I am excited about what else God has in store
for us, where we will see His power. God does really move and
answer prayer. I am so thankful.” -Rachel
“Team
intersession has been a really cool experience for me. It has helped me be
more open to different styles of prayer and worship as well as praying with
others. Also it helped me grow in my relationship with my team on a different
level than just talking about every day things, and it brought me into a more
intimate relationship with God. Overall I would say intersession is a really
cool time of team bonding and growing closer to God.” -Toby
Regarding team prep:
“In preparation for cross-cultural
outreach, it is necessary for the Turkey team to complete an online TESOL
course. TESOL stands for Teaching English to Speakers of Other
Languages. The goal is to become certified to teach English in
Turkey. It usually takes about seven hours a week. Thus far it
has gone exceptionally well. The team is overwhelmingly excited for the
opportunity to serve God by teaching their language overseas.” -Micah
“Team prep is a great time of both
learning about my outreach country and getting to know my team. It is a
great bonding experience where we get to see how our teammates learn, watch
as we vent our various frustrations, and laugh at our own mistakes. Team
prep is usually spent learning language or preparing for some presentation or
skit. Though it is not often something I look forward to, it is usually
just as fun as any other time. Working together as a team during
team prep has been one of the best ways of getting to know them.” -Nathanael
Regarding community outreach:
“The rest of the Thailand team and
I have been going to the Zone for outreach. It is an after school program for
elementary through middle school kids. I work with the 4th and 5th grade boys
and girls. Most of them are unchurched and the ones
that do attend church are Muslim. I have been working a lot with a little
Muslim girl named Doua. She is so bubbly and is so
excited to help in any way she can. I hope that I can continue to get to know
her for the next three months and that God will use me in her life.” -Jackie
“When you volunteer at Manna Café,
you run into a large variety of people. Some of them I would call ‘weird’
others I would call ‘broken.’ One conversation I had with a ‘weird’ one was
on how the number on his ticket shows how he is doing on God’s scales. I
don’t remember his logic behind this theory, but I must say that it was very
hard to convince him otherwise. One conversation I had with a ‘broken’
person was on the topic of grace. It seemed that he had been through a lot in
life and just could not accept the fact that people who constantly do wrong
cannot be punished. Once again, I was getting nowhere with him. These
conversations I have with people show me that although we are all different
and have many views on some important things. God loves us all the same and
wishes that we should know exactly that.” -Larry
Regarding the prayer vigil:
“We
had a 24-hour prayer vigil/fast here last weekend. Starting at 6:30 Saturday
night for 24 hours straight we had at least three people in the prayer room
praying and one person outside the prayer room reading the Bible. We all
signed up for one hour shifts, we had to do at least three hours of prayer
and one hour of reading in the 24-hour period. For part of my time, I signed
up for 1:30-4:30 am. It was really cool being down in the little prayer room
in the basement with at least two other people at a ridiculous time in the
day, just praying for whatever we might need, or want for our outreach, or
want God to accomplish through us in the next year. It was also really cool
even when I wasn't praying to just think that the whole day there were people
praying, it kinda gave the house a more quiet, sacred atmosphere. I think we all enjoyed the
feeling, and the unity, and sense of God just making his presence
especially felt during the prayer vigil.” -Jordan
“Our Prayer Vigil started Saturday
at 6:30 in the evening. It was like any other prayer vigil, or so I imagine,
This was my first one. As I walked down the stairs a sense of prayer-like
attitude filled the air. I slowly pulled the curtain to the side. There
sitting on the floor was a person reading Psalms! As I passed, the
person gave me a fleeting glance. I passed on by and entered the dark and
serene prayer room. I sat. As more replacements came we began to pick up
where the last group of prayer warriors left off. This hour of prayer went
along smoothly, with only a few awkward pauses and some off tune but passion-filled
songs. Then my replacement came and I stumbled off to the bible reading
corner. There I read an hour’s worth of Psalms. It was strange to think that
in a tiny hall where your voice echoes you would speak quietly. Well,
unfortunately for the prayer people in the next room, my voice seemed
unusually loud, and no matter how much I tried to quiet my voice, it
would not yield. And to the credit of the people who were praying, they did
not have the heart to shut the door. Later on, when talking to the people,
they said I was ‘really loud.’ By the end of the reading, and near the end of
my voice, my replacement came and I headed back to the prayer room. There I
began to pray again, when my eyes ran across a map and landed on the Pacific
Ocean. I tried to disregard it, but God would have none of it. He told me to
pray. I, of course being human, pushed it to the back of my mind, when the Bible
reader happened to read something about a boat being tossed in the ocean.
I took my cue and prayed for all the people lost at sea and for the
searchers. Though the rest of my prayer times were uneventful, I felt like I
had accomplished what God had asked me to do. And that folks is all that
we can do.” -Danielle
Regarding recreation:
“Rec is
a fun time ever Tuesday afternoon from 1-3:30 p.m. It is when all the REACHer and staff goes out and get some exercise. It is a
time to learn fun and new games. Rec usually
involves running of some sort. It is a very fun and happy time.” -Jesse
A
heartfelt thank you to all you family, friends and supporters of our 2009
REACHers. Thank you for liberally sowing good seed
(time, energy, finances and prayers) into their lives. May the harvest
be plentiful!
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