Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Two and a half months in Ethiopia and we are finally back in Hernhut Germany. UPDATE COMING SOON.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Update: reading the bible in three months.

Here is my progress for reading the entire bible in three months.
I have read the following:

The Old Testment, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts 1 - 14, James, Acts 15, Galatians, Acts 16, Philippians, Acts 17:1-10, I Thessalonians, II Thessalonians, Acts 17:11-18:11, 1 Corinthians, II Corinthian, Acts 18:12-20:1, Ephesians, Romans, Acts 10:2-28:30, Colossians

Update: reading the bible in three months.

Here is my progress for reading the entire bible in three months.
I have read the following:

The Old Testment, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts 1 - 14, James, Acts 15, Galatians, Acts 16, Philippians, Acts 17:1-10, I Thessalonians, II Thessalonians, Acts 17:11-18:11, 1 Corinthians, II Corinthian, Acts 18:12-20:1, Ephesians, Romans, Acts 10:2-28:30, Colossi ans

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Update: reading the bible in three months.

Here is my progress for reading the entire bible in three months.
I have read the following:

The Old Testment, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts 1 - 14, James, Acts 15, Galatians, Acts 16, Philippians, Acts 17:1-10, I Thessalonians, II Thessalonians, Acts 17:11-18:11, 1 Corinthians, II Corinthians

Monday, April 12, 2010

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Update: reading the bible in three months.

Here is my progress for reading the entire bible in three months.
I have read the following:

The Old Testment, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John.

Monday, April 5, 2010

Update: reading the bible in three months.

Here is my progress for reading the entire bible in three months.
I have read the following:

The Old Testment.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Turkey.




After a plane ride and three train rides, the team and I arrived back in Germany yesterday morning (from Turkey). We all are super tired, and exhausted, but are also very excited and encouraged from the short amount of time we had in Istanbul.

We decided that our time while we were there would be strictly guided by God and not by our own plans. Each morning we worshiped and had prayer time to hear where God wanted us to go. Some of us would head to the house of prayer, and some of us would just go and see where God let us end up. The only things we carried with us were our cameras and guitars.

A place we found ourselves quite often was Kadicoy. Kadicoy is a beautiful part of Istanbul where you can see ships coming in and where a lot of Turkish people seem to be enjoying the beauty of the country. We always ended up coming back to the same place in Kadicoy.

Its incredible how much the Turkish people love hearing music and guitar and how much they like having their picture taken. The two things we brought were our means of connecting with people. Every time we went out people just seemed to flock us.

While some of us were out, there were others back at the house of prayer praying for opportunity, strength, discernment, and praying whatever else they felt impressed to pray. It is incredible how accurate some of these impressions were. They would write down any impression and prayer and at what time it occurred. It’s cool to see how accurate their impressions were in relation to the events that took place with those of us out in the city. At the end of the day, both groups would debrief and hear the stories of how God used them.

Some examples:
On the third day, Yvonne got the impression that there would be too many people for Sean to take a picture of. People would be lining up. The picture below is in Kadicoy; Sean and Corey are shooting Polaroids.




There was an impression of René playing his guitar with children. The photo on the left is Friday afternoon in Kadicoy.

On Tuesday, I was q-tipping my ear, and went completely deaf in my left ear. At 2:00pm, I decided I wasn’t going to go into Kadicoy but asked Sarah if we could go and ask the contacts we met if they knew anyone who could help. At the same time, Rene and Corey prayed that I would have discernment and know what to do to fix my deafness. I went to the contacts and they called a friend who came and fixed my ear. Apparently all it needed was to be flushed out with some olive oil and something that look like a really small Turkey baster.

There are plenty of cool stories of how god worked, but if I were to tell them all, I would be writing for too long. But there is one that stands out which I want to share.


On our first day to Kadicoy we did a ton of walking around… though nothing seemed to happen. No opportunities and very little contact with the Turkish people. We finally sat down, and allowed God to take control. We decided to just sit down, play some guitar and just hangout. Eline took out her guitar and started to play and the rest of us either took photos, had a snack, or just chatted. When it was time to go home, Eline had talked to an old man for two hours, I had fed the birds with a young boy, took some photos of him and his father (and got his fathers email address) and the girls had a lunch date with a girl the next day. It’s crazy how God works. We didn’t have to go to anyone, they came to us EVERY TIME.




One verse that comes to mind is “be still and know that I’m God”. When we attempted to reach out to people on our own strength, it was an epic fail. He really just reminded me that when we just allow him to do His thing, He does it, and does it well.

I’m super excited to be back in Herrnhut to see the rest of the students and hear their testimonies of each of the short term outreaches. We are back in Germany for a month and then head to our main outreach at the beginning of May.

I am suppose to go to Ethiopia but for some reason I keep doubting that is where I am suppose to be. I would love it if you could pray and just ask for direction or peace for Ethiopia



A mosque in the european side of Istanbul

Rene playing for some locals at a park.

Night time in Istanbul.

Turkish tea (called Chai in Turkish)

The squatty potty; Sean wasnt too impressed.

As far as my bible reading the bible in Chronological order, this is where I’m at

Genesis 1 - 22,Job,Genesis 23 - 50,Exodus,Psalm 90,Leviticus,Numbers,Deuteronomy,Psalm 91,Joshua,Judges,Ruth,I Samuel 1 - 16:13,Psalm 23,I Samuel 16:14 -19:11,Psalm 59,I Samuel19:12 - 21:15,Psalms 34, 56,I Samuel 22:1, 2,Psalms 57, 142,I Samuel 22:3-23,Psalm 52,I Samuel 23,Psalms 54, 63,I Samuel 24 - 31,II Samuel 1 - 7,Psalm 30,II Samuel 8:1-14,Psalm 60,II Samuel 8:15 - 12:14,Psalms 51, 32,II Samuel 12:15 - 15:37,Psalms 3, 69,II Samuel 16 - 20,Psalms 64, 70,II Samuel 21, 22,Psalm 18,II Samuel 23, 24,Psalms 4 - 9, 11 - 17, 19 - 22, 24 - 29, 31, 35 - 41, 53, 55, 58, 61, 62,Psalms 65, 68, 72, 86, 101, 103, 108 - 110, 138 - 141, 143 - 145,I Kings 1 - 4,Proverbs,Song of Solomon,I Kings 5 - 11,Ecclesiastes,I Kings 12 - 22,II Kings 1- 14:25,Jonah,II Kings 14:26-29,AmosII Kings 15 - 25, Psalms 1, 2, 10, 33, 43, 66, 67, 71, 89, 92 - 100,Psalms 102, 104 - 106, 111 - 125, 127 - 136, 146 - 150, I Chronicles 1 - 16,Psalms 42, 44 - 50, 73 - 85, 87, 88,I Chronicles 17 - 29, II Chronicles 1 - 21,Obadiah, II Chronicles 22, Joel, II Chronicles 23 - 26:8,Isaiah 1 - 5, II Chronicles 26:9 - 23, Isaiah 6, II Chronicles 27 - 32 I saiah 7 - 66,Hosea,Micah,Nahum, II Chronicles 33,34, Zephaniah, II,Chronicles5, Habakkuk, Jeremiah-6,11,12,26,7-10, 14-20,35,36,45,25,46-49, Jeremiah 13, 22-24, 27-29,50,51,30-33,21, 34, 37-39, 52, 40-44, Lamentations, II Chronicles 36: -8, Daniel, II Chronicles 36:9 - 21, Psalm 137,
and I am on Ezekiel

Thursday, March 18, 2010

mini-outreach team.

Tomorrow my team and I leave for mini-outreach. Below are a few photos of us. Please pray for us as we venture off. Pray for: Unity between the team, boldness and passion.
(photos by Keith Ryan White)

Consider us bonded!

This afternoon, a few of the lads and I had a intentional bonding time. Snow balls were whipped, shins were brusied, and clothing was soaked. Consider us bonded!
... the girls also had a bonding time. They probably talked about their feelings or something like that.
(photos by Denis Biesenbach)
"Even from ashes, God can make fire." - Lucy De Silva

Sunday, March 14, 2010

update.

Last Friday all eighty of the fall DTS students returned from their outreach programs. That put the number of students here at over one hundred and twenty people (which is way to many for the base to handle). The staff leaders decided that our DTS (of 40 students) would move to Jesus Haus(a hostel like apartment building) and the students returning couldtake our spots. We packed up everything, moved it all to storage and are now living out of our Mini-Outreach suitcases.

Many of us really enjoy this new residence. I get to board with only one other student (talk about luck!). His name is Alex - he is from Colorado springs. Some of the other students weren’t as fortunate and have to room with up to seven others! I am super fortunate to have Alex in my room. He is a very mellow guy who is also trying to read a lot. It works out perfectly. For the next few weeks the lectures will be here at the Jesus Haus rather than the Castle -- this is great because now I get a chance to sleep in more often.

I seem to be doing a lot more cooking here which is great. I’m not sure if I'm becoming passionate about it, or because I just like food, either way its is definitely forcing me to be more creative in preparing a meal.

Next Saturday I leave for my mini outreach to Turkey and will be back here at the end of March. In May, I will be travelling to Ethiopia for my longer-term outreach and will return to Germany to graduate in July.

Here is my progress for reading the Bible in three months I am officially past the halfway mark: Genesis, Job, Exodus, Leviticus,Numbers, Deuteronomy, Psalms, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings,2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Proverbs, Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, Isaiah, Joel



.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Slow Death.

I realized that I've blogged about the view of my walk to the castle each morning, though never have I shown you the view. Here it is-This is what i see every morning walking down slow death hill.


Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Berlin.

Bethany and Katie

Ryan and Satori
Berlin train station
Downtown Berlin
Old, Beautiful church
Berlin flee market...sketchy. (CAN'T WAIT TO GO BACK)
Women asking Zach for Money.

Brandenburg Gate.


Saturday morning, nine other students and I, decided to go to Berlin for a birthday weekend ( Zach and Laken) we left Hernnhut at 8am and arrived in Berlin at 1:05pm. It was a great time to just get away from the small town of Herrnhut to really experience the real Germany. Though most of our time was either spent eating or walking, it was great to just get away with a smaller group. Saturday night we stayed in a Hostel, and boarded a train home Sunday night. it was a great weekend with lots of laughs and new experiences. I can't wait to go back.

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Update: reading the bible in three months.

My official progress for reading the bible in 3 months:
Genesis, Job, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Psalms, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1Kings 1-11, Proverbs, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes.
This weeks photo assignment was to shoot some sort of motion series, Check out the shots Hannah got from our 3 hour session of flips.

http://hannahwoods.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

The Unpardonable Sin.

Today in class we had a heated discussion about what Jesus meant when he spoke of the unpardonable sin. Unfortunately a lot of people when away discouraged and upset; I myself didn't leave as either of these.

This was something I hadn't really thought about before... and so today during break I read, prayed and asked God for understanding. And as I was sitting with my laptop I got this crazy revelation... this is how I am understanding this piece of scripture:

So, Jesus says you can blaspheme against him and the Father and be forgiven -- yet if you blaspheme against the Holy Spirit then your sin is unpardonable! As I meditated upon this kept thinking: "why is it unpardonable to blaspheme the Holy Spirit yet not so with the father and son."

This is what came to me. You cannot be forgiven because the Spirit's job is to convict us of our sin so that we may be forgiven. Therefore if we do not listen to the Holy Spirit we cannot be convicted of sin. Without conviction there is no confession (or even the idea that we might need Jesus to die for our sins); and without confession (or seeing our need) there is no asking and no forgiveness.

When we have hard hearts and reject the Spirit's testimony then we are blaspheming and sinning. And because only the Spirit can convict us, how could we know our own need?

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Tonight I thought I would take a break from reading and do some photography. This pictures was taken from the top of a bus stop shelter. Beautiful winter night here in Herrnhut.
take a look at some photographs Ryan shot yesterday of me.

http://darterfly.tumblr.com/

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Update: reading the bible in three months.

My official progress for reading the bible in 3 months:
Genesis, Job, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,Deuteronomy,
Psalm 91, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1Samuel 1-23,
Psalms 23,59,34,56,57,142,52

Monday, February 15, 2010

This week's guest speaker is a lot like Jeff Pascoe: loud, passionate, and moves around. The topic today was "Hearing God's Voice" -- a topic that is so essential and important.

Basically David (the speaker) shared that hearing God's voice isn’t a gift that we are born with but instead is something that has to be built up. He went on to explain that hearing His voice is like a muscle. You cant just start lifting 200 pounds -- you start small and work your way up. The idea is that the more we use muscles, the more they can lift. In the same way, the more we listen to what God has to say, the easier it becomes to distinguish His voice.

Too much of the time (or all of it) we talk to God. We never actually allow room for a two way conversation. The thing I loved about today was that David didn’t just say how important it is to hear Gods voice, but he actually taught us HOW to hear his voice.

I’ve heard so many times that hearing God speak is important -- but I have rarely been told how it can be done. The rest of this week's topics are on the Holy Spirit but David wisely thought he should cover this before we got into that. To put learning into practice, I am going to begin really listening to God. Step one: give God the opportunity to speak.


How many times do I pray and finish without even listening to see if God has something to say. This week I will listen as much as a speak. Every minute of talk I'll listen for one minute.



This past weekend I picked up my glasses from Zitau. I'm not sure if I like them

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Friday, February 12, 2010