God is moving.....

Hey everyone!

Once again, everything is busy busy busy! I have just been working a lot and trying to get things organized and cleaned up! I really just wanted to tell you all about our Vacation Bible School that my home church held last week!

We started on Sunday evening and it went until Thursday evening. Our theme this year was "Power Lab" and it was great. I loved the songs and the teaching was right on. I had the opportunity to be in the skit each night as the crazy Professor Wilma and then was able to help teach during the Bible Story time. During my time with two other adults teaching each group that came around, we really saw God work! Our Bible Blast room was an interactive story from the Bible and let kids experience different parts of each lesson! It was hard work to tear down and set up the room each day but it was worth all the work put into it! God definitely guided our time with each group and gave us the awesome opportunity to see children come to Christ for the very first time.

I may have written some time earlier this year about how when I went to Missouri for my training the first week I felt very out of place. I was surrounded by people who had been in ministry with children for years (and some for just 1-2 years) that were leading hundreds of kids to Christ. I felt as though I was a little embarrassed because I had never led anyone to Christ (though I knew God had used me to plant seeds and that it’s not about the numbers!). I was so excited to receive this training because I gained the know-how and the confidence to properly and effectively lead someone to receiving Jesus!!! And I was even more excited when I was trained to teach others the same thing!!! I also knew without a doubt that it’s not about the numbers but rather that I have a willing heart to just serve Him and be obedient when He gives opportunities to share Him!

The VBS ended really well and we saw over 20 kids come to know Christ for the first time on Wednesday night!!!! PRAISE GOD!!!! We still have no idea what God really did that night or any day after that because He was doing a mighty work before we even met each child. He is so Good!!!

I hope you all had a wonderful 4th and hope to hear from you soon!

Blessings to you,

Steph

Home again, Home again.....

Hey everyone!

Sorry it's been so long since I've updated last....I have been going non-stop since I graduated from CMI. My visit to Liberty for the two week after graduation was great and I was so thankful to have seen Benj again and many of my friends and co-workers while there and my roommate and I were able to finally find an apartment, so thank you for all of you who were praying for that! God is providing and I am excited to get back to school.

I also went on a family vacation to Gatlinburg and it was so much fun. We got to go on a crazy long and hard bike ride and I went hiking with my brother and his fiance up to Mt. Leconte and though it was the toughest hike I've done, it was so worth it! We were able to see so much of God's beauty and I would love to hike it again!!!

To keep up to date here....I am at home now for the summer and working at the Bridge and I am so thankful to be work 30-35 hours a week!!! I really haven't had a lot of time to do anything else between working and trying to get my things in order and unpacked since I've been home! I was able to teach a couple of training seminars and received really good feed back and God blessed it so much! I have also had a potential invitation to teach at a friends church in North Carolina later this fall! I really love teaching these training seminars and it has already been such an eye-opener to how God works in my life! He is good!!! I have also been able to teach in the children's classes and I will be helping with Vacation Bible School next week!

I look forward to hearing from my friends in Missouri and the rest of my friends and family too!

I love and miss you all,
Steph

Visiting Liberty...

4-28-08

Hey everyone!

I am at Liberty and just loving it!!! It is so good to be back and I am excited to be able to finally be able to see Benj and all of my friends here! A friend and I are apartment hunting and I have also been able to visit everyone at the office that I worked in last semester and I am excited to go back to work there next semester! I will be here a little longer and I look forward to seeing everyone at home in a couple of weeks! I am having a great time and I get to meet with future internship students tomorrow for next semester to answer any questions they may have and to better prepare them for Missouri. I hope you all are well and feel free to email to say hey! I’ll blog soon….

Blessings,

Steph

Weeks 10, 11, & 12....

Hey everyone,

This will be my last blog from Missouri, but I will continue writing every week or two...

We have been having a great time, but it's very busy. I haven't had a whole lot of time for anything extra because we are wrapping up everything, handing in last assignments, and thinking about packing! We had a great weekend doing yard work at one of the instructor's home, then went through a progressive dinner Saturday going from house to house for different parts of a meal. Sunday we were also able to go to our church for the last time and then to dinner at a family's home that night.

Last night was our last Good News Club (a club to teach kids the Gospel) and it was amazing! We just knew that God's presence was there last night and the kids are great! I have been able to go to this club for the past 3 weeks and these kids have such a hunger for God's Word and to understand it. A disciple was known for their questions not their answers and these kids have truly amazing questions and we have been able to see their desire for understanding. How many times have I really desired to know more of God's Word like these children do? We who have been in the church for so long, know the right things to say and the right answers to questions about the Bible, yet we fail to ask questions and desire understanding. We want knowledge instead of wisdom and facts instead of the life changing work of God.

Even as my knowledge is increasing while in training here, I am realizing how much I have yet to learn. And I am thankful for that! My prayer is that I would always have the desire to learn more about the Bible and more about God and how He is working in my life and how He wants to use me. I never want to be afraid to ask big questions. Growing up my dad always made sure I knew there was no such things as a stupid question...I am thankful for that wisdom he had to share with me! If only more people (and more children) knew that today...

I hope to see you all next week and I look forward to sharing with you about my training...

~Steph

weeks 7, 8, and 9...

Hey Everyone, sorry no blog lately....nothing is really happening around here. Just lots of rain and boredom outside of school work. Tomorrow we are going to the Arch for the day and Union Station and we just finished out last practicum of the semester today! Praise God!!!! Here are some picture of our entertainment.....do you see the lack of it! The girls took me horseback riding for my birthday.....we spend our weekends at Panera in the next town over just for internet.....and the other is just a fun picture of me and the girls out by our lake/pond on a sunny day!!! i love and miss you all and hope to see you soon!
~steph

Week 8...

Hey everyone,

It is finally Saturday and this week just flew right by! I’ve got a lot of reading to do this weekend but these last 4 weeks should be a little lighter than before. This past week we started the last 5 weeks of training. We just finished a week of policies and procedures for CEF which, I had trouble relating to, but God definitely allowed me to pick up some valuable information for future ministry. We also went over some mission’s stuff which just amazed me and really gave me a new perspective on how many children are in different regions and it’s just amazing! So many countries are open to the Gospel and we don’t even know it!

Next week we are going to be learning about support raising and once again it will be with CEF, but I think I will be able to gain a lot of good information and training if I go in with the right attitude! Please pray that I can keep looking for good information that can apply to my future ministry outside of this organization and that I don’t become discouraged!

I also want to wish you all a Happy Easter! I am just having a restful weekend here, and tomorrow we are going to a couple’s house to have Easter dinner! A group of us young adults have been going to this couple’s home every Sunday evening….they work at headquarters and their kids are all grown so they invite us in and give us a place to go off campus since we are away from our own families! They are such an encouragement to us!!!

Before that I will go to a church that some of us girls and I have been attending and we just love it! The minute we stepped foot in this church, they welcomed us, talked to us, REMEMBERED OUR NAMES, and gave us a visitor’s gift. The next week they still remembered our names and just really made us feel welcome! It’s a church plant and still somewhat small but they are doing big things! It was refreshing to see a church work like they do, and they truly have the gift of HOSPITALITY which most churches do not have unfortunately. I’ve realized for future reference what a huge priority this must be in a church. People need to be a part of a family and community and they want to be accepted…don’t you? There are many organizations, occults, and the like, that do a much better job at making people feel loved and welcomed than churches do today! What is wrong with this picture? We learned in one of my classes that for every one Mormon that turns to Christianity, 7 to 10 Christians turn to Mormonism! Why, because they know how to make people feel welcome and part of their group. I would love to see Christians, including myself, step out of our comfort zones to make others feel welcome and apart of the body of Christ! They need Christ just as much as we do!!!!

Weeks 4, 5, and 6...

Hey everyone!

I’m so sorry it’s taken so long to update you all but it’s been a crazy few weeks! The last week of February was okay, but lots of work. Then we had a free weekend and had so much fun just laying in the sun and going out to eat and watching movies! It’s was a very restful and fun weekend.

These past two weeks I have been in a class called “Dynamics of Teacher Training” in which we learned how to teach training seminars wherever we go, training teachers how to teach children! It was the best class by far but the most draining! We had two weeks of non-stop assignments, teaching practicums, and to top it all off, most of us were trying not to get sick because the flu has been going around! I really can’t wait to come home and hopefully teach some of these courses!!!

Last weekend, I had a great birthday and I want to thank you all for your emails and cards and packages! They were all so great! For my birthday, my class sang to me and gave me a brownie with a candle in it and then the girls took me horseback riding in the afternoon…and it was a blast!!! After we got back, our class had a big birthday party for everyone and then a few of the girls and I watched a movie!

These two weeks, I have really begun to see that God is giving me a desire to really teach adults and train them so that they may in turn, reach more children than I could on my own. I want to equip others so that more children can have the Gospel presented to them clearly. We aren’t doing any favors by not giving them an opportunity to clearly hear the Word of God and the work of Christ. I can’t wait to teach teachers how to present the meat of the Gospel!!! This training has opened up a whole new world of learning about how God works through His Word!!! Yay!

I love and miss you all and hope to hear from you soon!

~Steph