A Weekend of Thanksgiving...and Food...

So I have actually been wanting to write something again for a while, but I was unsure of what to write. I have been finding that a lot of things that have been happening are either very personal, or to hard to put into words. I have been finding that God is and has been moving drastically. He has a plan and there is nothing that we can do to stop it, so we might as well join it. We are participating in a reading plan called "Life Journaling". It is set up so that through the course of a year, you read the New Testament twice, and the Old Testament once. So this past week we read the book of Esther along with some other stuff. I would just like to point out the amazing plan and purpose of God. This book has been one that has caused a lot of discussion in the church, especially in the earlier periods in our history. Why? Because it does not mention God once during the entire thing. God is 'not' present; or so people think. I just see this as an amazing example of how we can be doing God's will, without even knowing it. In Isaiah 1:17 we, as God's chosen people, are called to, "learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause" — basically what Esther was trying to, and did do. So was God not present in the book of Esther? or was He just not mentioned? The Jewish traditions (feasts) were set-up in a cyclical fashion so that they could not forget about God. It was their way of teaching their children what God had done for them, and what he was still promising to do. We had one session on the Jewish Feasts and it was an hour and a half full of mind blowing information. We are blessed to have an amazing guy named Dan as the grounds keeper for the Mark Center. He used to live in Jerusalem and has taken up the tradition of celebrating the feasts with his family and is very knowledgeable in the historical, messianic fulfillment, and spiritual application of all the feasts.

So after that random jumble of information, I think I would like to speak on this weekend. It has definitely been a very chill time spent watching movies, going for hikes, and sharing meals. This weekend has had a very busy kitchen as we prepare for a thanksgiving meal for tonight. Two cheesecakes have been made, a couple batches of cinnamon buns, a delicious brunch this morning and currently there is a turkey in the oven and someone is making a whip cream fruit salad. It will be interesting to see how it turns out, considering that I am currently the one cooking the turkey...and I have never done it before. So I might see if we can take some pictures tonight and then I will upload it on to here. Other than that, I was able to share a thanksgiving lunch with one of my teammates and his girlfriend's family. It was amazing how 'at home' I felt. They welcomed all of us with open arms and open hearts. It was a great time sharing a meal and spending time singing some hymns afterwards. They are a very musical family and love to sing praises to our Lord.

Other than that, I guess I will now fully introduce you to my team. Here is one of our pictures:

From left to right there is Adele, Anna, Myself, and Taylor — and we make up the team that is going to Central Asia. Please continue to pray for us as we work together to grow closer to God and be filled with the light of Christ. Pray for unity and for everything to continue to come together. Currently we have a couple of hurdles that we have to work through. One is finances. The majority of the team has raised everything, but their are some who still need a considerable chunk. For myself I know that I am still in need of around $4000.00. If you would like to contribute to all that is happening in Central Asia please contact me or click on this link --> https://secure.mbmission.org/donate/cdn/C7739

For the second major hurdle, we have an issue with a passport that has been in process for too long. One of the team members is still waiting for their passport to be returned to them. Please pray that this process will be quick and that the passport will arrive as soon as possible. Thanks for your prayers! If you guys have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!

I guess this is an Intro and a bit about the Silent Retreat

So first I have to say that I was initially doing an update letter and then realized that there is too much going on in my brain to actually write in one letter. We are always told that our general update letters are supposed to be shorter and more to the point; and yet I still feel like I wrote a novel. So this is where I have chosen to go a little more in depth about things that have been going on, allowing you to embark on this journey of growing closer to God.

For the past three years at Columbia Bible College (CBC), I have been poured into by some amazing people. Whether these be professors, mentors, leaders, peers, or strangers, I have had my world rocked by some incredible situations. This definitely led to a greater mental knowledge of both the scriptures and the life of Jesus. I studied the scriptures. During these past few weeks of orientation I have been introduced to a poem. It is written by a women named Doreen Kostynuik. I'm not sure if I can write out this poem word for word, but the first stanza speaks to my years at CBC. I followed Jesus throughout the scriptures to see how he responded to certain situations. I saw how he loved the sinners and the lost, and how he reached out and touched the broken. I have also read and seen how He takes time out to recharge in God's presence and pray.

Now I have started to experience the second stanza of this poem. I have started to let Jesus look towards me, now, in this life. I am allowing him to touch me, the sinner. To hold me, the lost. To heal me, the broken. I am allowing God to fully be present to me and letting him work in my life. If I was to only talk about this little bit of my experience so far, it would take maybe a few blog posts. I was given the great privilege to participate in a 48-hour silent retreat that involved me, my bible, my journal, and God — thats it. Many people would look at that and think that it is crazy, a waste of time, maybe even 'hell-like'. I would like to say though that spending 48-hours listening to God (even if you only hear one word) is the farthest from hell that you can be on this earth. There is something about hearing the words "I delight in you" from God himself, rather than just knowing it from studying the bible. I pray that all of you get the opportunity to take time out (doesn't have to be 48-hours) to just relax in the presence of God.

So during this silent retreat, I did hear the words "I delight in you" and it was amazing. Words cannot fully express how you feel when you hear the Almighty, All Powerful God of all nations whisper in your ear that He delights in you. "Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, 'This is the way; walk in it'" (Isaiah 30:21). So this is now my challenge for you, even if you take 20 mins, try to give that to God in silence. You may not hear anything, thats ok. It takes a lot of practice.

I guess I should also mention about my team. This is going to initially be a little jumbled and discombobulated until I catch up. So for the first two weeks of Orientation there were only three people who knew where they were going: these were the global servants. So that left 16 people who had no clue who they were going with and where they would be going as a team. This unknowing caused some people a lot of stresses close to the end of the second week. Tuesday morning of the third morning, we all came in and went through our normal morning routines. This includes breakfast at 7:30 and then life journaling — reading designated scripture, journaling, and praying — from 8-9. Then at 9 we all gathered in the great room where one of the leaders revealed the team make-ups and we moved straight into worship. They have had many years of revealing teams, and they believe that this is the better way. Giving people space and the ability to respond how they need to respond. Some years it is full of smiles, tears, and stunned stares. A range of emotion can be shown during this time, even all by the same person. Well I should move on to revealing my team — which you can see on my prayer card that I am sending out —so here it goes.

Central Asia
Steven Atkinson
Adele Fauntleroy
Anna Brown
Taylor Ewert