This Might Be A Long One

So for those that have yet to hear, I am now in country. We landed here on Sunday at 2:45 in the morning and have been on the go ever since. We have stayed busy with both recovering from jet lag and diving head first into the culture. Today was personally one of the best days that I have had here so far, but I will start where normal people start...the start.

So Sunday morning, around 4 am, we all got to our apartments and...fell asleep...it had been a long day of flying and we weren't fully sure where or when we were. But after the sleep wore off and we broke through our mounds of covers into the chilling air (and the aroma of freshly baked cinnamon buns...), we decided to walk around the city in order to orientate ourselves to our surroundings. Our host missionary Marlene took us down the main street where we saw different monuments about important people as well as taking us into stores so that we may be able to figure out what shopping may look like in this new culture. After a long walk we turned ourselves around and started to head to the international church. We arrived just in time for the evening service and I was able to say hello to a couple friends from my previous journey here. The evening ended quite early after the service because most people were still quite tired from our journey over the giant "puddle" the night before.

Dawn breaks a new day and we begin to look into some of the things that we need to accomplish for this new week. Hearing rumors of a possible kids camp at the end of the week, we decided that we should try to tackle the larger task of immigration papers that loomed on the horizon. So off we went to get a few passport pictures taken and after about a 30 min wait (and a lot of photoshopping on their part) we were off to take on the next daunting task: district residency papers. This proved to be an impossible hurtle already as we were unable to do it without a letter from our language teacher. So we put it off until the next day. By this time it is already almost lunch time, Marlene is running out the door to get to her homeschool co-op class and we stayed to eat lunch. While we enjoyed our meal, Tomoko, a dear 10-year old friend of ours, started us on our unofficial language studies. We had such a great time that this class pretty much has not stopped. We constantly are asking Tomoko what things are, and how to say certain phrases. That afternoon we met up with Marlene at the co-op where we attended a small student-led bible study. We have decided as a team that we want to invest our time into this group and have already scheduled it into our weekly calendar.

Tuesday, we knew that we had to finish the deadly battle with immigration papers but were surprised when our language teacher showed up, took our passports and pictures, and returned a little while later with our district residency papers. God definitely heard our prayers for a smooth day of processing, and He didn't stop there. We then left for immigration itself, and were in and out within 2 hours (almost unheard of). God is great! We returned after a few more errands to talk about the kids camp for the end of the week. We figured out all the details for that and were set to run two day camps for some older teens about the issue of premarital sex. That evening we took a night to relax and did some small ministry prep stuff. 

So Thursday, today, the day that I said earlier was my favorite day so far. Why is that you might ask? Well you will see. This morning we woke up, like we normally do (praise God for that!), and prepared to leave for Hani Matrial. This is where we were doing the kids camp that day. We arrived and immediately began to pray over the area and for what was going to happen that day. This is an area that is dunked in a lot of spiritual warfare. Constantly, they are having to deal with shamanistic spirits and rituals that are being done around the kids camp. So we began to pray before the kids arrived and we didn't really stop until the end of it. As we were getting ready at the start, I went out to go get some food from the car but stopped suddenly when I heard my name. I immediately turned around to see 4 amazing people rushing towards me; this is what I had been waiting for since I arrived on Sunday. These were some of the girls that I had worked with a year and a half ago when I had been here before. They have been very dear to my heart and I burst forth with so much joy. It was really good to see them again and to be able to pray that God would continue to use them for great and wonderful things in his kingdom. I had the great opportunity to be at their baptism and I know that God has great things in store for all of them.

Please pray for these girls along with the other 9 teens that were at this camp. They are returning tomorrow for the second part of the discussions and we are praying that God would reach into their lives and change the cultural norms and presets that they might have. As I mentioned above, this is a very spiritually charged place and we know that it has been a constant battle their. So please pray against the ploys of the enemy, and pray that God's truth would be able to penetrate their lives!

Thanks

A Slight Delay

That last post that I put up was my update letter that I sent out to a bunch of people. There should be some available at Port Elgin Missionary Church, Bakerview Mennonite Brethren Church in Abbotsford, and my parents house (My mom has some). If you would like a paper copy of it, don't hesitate to ask them.

Besides that, I should probably mention to you guys about a few other things. 

First things first though,

It has been awhile. I have had an amazing time in Abbotsford doing my initial training period. The last time I had posted was right after Thanksgiving. I mentioned that we had shared it together as Trek and had a blast.

I think I also mentioned that I cooked my first turkey, which if you would like to see it...

There it is. I am quite happy with what came of it. The wings had fallen off, and juice was seeping out of it. Sorry if this makes you hungry.

Ok, well enough of food...for now.

So that is kinda what happened last time...like one month ago. So here is what kinda happened since then. We talked about a range of different things from Evangelism to Spiritual Authority, and also Cross-Cultural Relations. We had amazing speakers who taught us a lot and were able to speak and work in all our lives. During our second last week we had the opportunity to hear from Bryan Born. Some of you may know this man, others may not. He has been at CBC for the past few years and is actually the director of my program...well he was. He is now the President of the College and will be a wonderful addition to the leadership team at the school. He has spent many years in the country of Botswana and was able to teach us about Cross-Cultural Relations. It is amazing how I still learned so much from this man even though I had heard it all 5 times before in some of his classes. He has had such a life serving God that I am honoured to be taught by him. Some of the things that we talked about were the concept of time, the importance of language learning, and most importantly culture shock. Its amazing to think about the fact that I have had more conversations on culture shock than situations where I will actually experience it, and yet it always catches me by surprise. I can have as much training as possible, and I would still be caught off guard a couple months into the experience. Once the "honeymoon stage" leaves, will I even realize what is going on? I hope that I will be able to, but at least I have that extra possibility.

So I should probably tell you about what we are doing now. As most of you know, I should be in Central Asia now...key word being should. Thats right, we have not left yet, but are still enjoying the rainy weather of the Lower Mainland in BC. Because of the delay of one of our visas, we as a team have been held back an extra week. So all of those prayers that you may have sent out this past Saturday were very much appreciated...but they will also be very needed this coming Friday. We will be flying from Vancouver at 1 in the afternoon this friday the 9th. Please pray that there would be no complications and that everything will go well.

So, just so you know what we have been doing this past week, we have not been in limbo. Last Thursday we had our Trek Commissioning, and right after that, Ministry started. Friday and Saturday we finished cleaning up the Mark Center and moved out to our new place. We have been blessed to be staying with some amazing people. That afternoon and evening we went into Vancouver to have some time to relax as a team. Sunday we went to church with one of our amazing interns and then were at the disposal of our host family. We offered ourselves to do some work around the house, but they were intent with playing a few rounds of Settlers of Catan with us. Then Monday we spent the morning at the Gleaners cutting up peppers, and the afternoon was spent in silence at the Westminster Abbey in Mission. Finally there was today. This morning we spent some time at a coffee shop writing letters and then this afternoon we spent at the office doing work duties. It has been quite busy, but God has blessed me immensely during this time. I am going to head to bed now, it has been a long day, and tomorrow is going to be even busier. Tomorrow we have to say goodbye to the last team to leave (besides us) and it is going to be a sad day.

Well until the next time I write something, I will talk to you guys later.

Electronic Update Letter

Dear family & friends,                         November 2012

Here is my first update that I sent out for my mission trip to Central Asia. I wanted to create an online version of it as well. I have been at orientation now for two months located in Abbotsford, British Columbia. We started out the training not knowing fully where we were going to go serve. I can now say, since teams have been announced, that I am going with three other amazing people to Central Asia.

Adele, Anna, Steve, Taylor

           

Our team has been focused and encouraged by a couple different verses. Currently our team verse is Isaiah 9:2, “The people who walk in darkness, Will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land, The light will shine on them.” This has also been accompanied by     1 John 1:3 (for training I have been working through memorizing this book), “That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.” We also had Colossians 3:16,17 on our hearts, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

There is so much that I want to tell you guys about, but I don’t have enough space on here to do that. I am starting a blog to let you guys know more of what is happening during this experience. My blog address is: http://stevestrekexperience.blogspot.com/  

Two major prayer requests that I have are: 1) for my team, and 2) for my finances. As for my team, I have been given the great privilege and responsibility to be the team leader. Pray that I will be able to lead my team well in a Godly manner. Then for finances, I am still about $4,000 short on my fundraising. It would be greatly appreciated if you could pray for God to lay it on someone’s heart to help in this matter.

Feel free to email me at oneholyfire@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Blessings,             

Steven Atkinson