Boyz 2 Men {A hard goodbye}

We had to say goodbye to a close friend yesterday.  It had me singing this song all day....

Tyler we miss you already!!!!

I met Tyler 4 years ago, at the LAX airport as we both had just flown in to attend our DTSes up here in Pismo Beach.  We took a train up together, got stuck in a bad storm... he was my first friend on the school.

Brandon and I have experienced so much with Tyler at our side... we got to reminisce over lunch yesterday.  It was difficult to realize we had to say goodbye.  We've shared a TON of great times together.

Our DTS....

Tyler came back to Pismo and joined staff at the same time I did.

We spent Christmas in Bonanza together.

Then we got to staff our first DTS together...

Brandon and I got to join Tyler while he was leading an outreach to Nicaragua.  It was my first time in Nica, Brandon's second... and it was great to share that with our friend.

Tyler was Brandon's best man at our wedding.  He was GREAT man!

Tyler visited us in Virginia when we were leading the DTS there... he helped Brandon pick out chocolate frosting for me when my prego cravings were kciking in.  For that alone, I am so thankful for Tyler.  :)

He has been such a great friend.  We are going to miss him.  And how he is always is making funny jokes and faces.  And his musical talents....

But.... its good that he has left... because he is going to Switzerland to attend this school.  YWAM's leadership training school (LTS).

We are SO EXCITED for him.  And cannot wait to see what he learns while there, and where God will direct him afterwards.

You can check out Tyler's blog.   Seriously, check it out.... he is a great guy and is going to be doing some amazing things for the Lord.

Tyler, we miss you!  We love you.

P.S.
ivv8c4rf45ff      .... that spells 'I love you Tyler" in Shiloh language!

Okay...we can start blogging again!

Hey everyone, sorry it has been a while since we last wrote a blog. We have been so busy getting married and honeymooning and stuff, the usual. So anyway, first things first...

We finished our Discipleship Training School in June and had 6 of our students graduate. It was a fun graduation that included presentations, speeches, and of course, the certificates. It was sad to see all of our students leave to go home. When you live in community, hang out, minister, pray, and basically just live with a handful of students for months, you end up fast becoming friends. Andrew, Philip, Lisa, Eric, Alex, Logan, Brian, and Justin - we miss you guys! We hope and pray you guys are doing well!

A week after the graduation was our wedding! That kept us so busy having so many things at once, but the wedding turned out so beautifully. Kirsten will post a blog about that with pictures later...

Our honeymoon was beautiful as well, our parents blessed us with a beautiful hotel in San Jose Del Cabo in Mexico. We were down there for ten days soaking up the dry sun...I think Kirsten will write about that later, too.

Well, now we are back home with YWAM getting started for the next season. Planning, planning, and more planning! I just recently became the assistant Base Representative, which basically means I represent the base as a whole whenever needed. At YWAM Pismo we have a flat line leadership (kinda like the knights at the round table), but when we need a leader to represent the whole group, we have two Base Representatives to fill the role of leadership.

Also, Kirsten has just become the facilitator of our Fundraising/Advertising department, as well as our Hospitality department. So she is keeping busy with those things, but she is such a natural with both so I am sure it will be a breeze with her.

Kirsten and I have both just started a new ministry for Pismo Beach. It is called Surfers For Missions International (SFMI) and I will talk about that later in another blog, since that will probably take up too much space... :) Just look for it in a few weeks, I'll write about it later.

Plus, we have our next DTS (Discipleship Training School) to think about. We have a lot of planning ahead of us for the DTS. We are so excited to be leading that side by side with each other! We are so blessed to be able to work together.

So we've got quite a bit on our plates for the next few months. We are very excited for the challenges that lie ahead, all for the glory of God! Thank you everyone for your prayers and support, we love you all! We will write more soon...

Brandon (and Kirsten)

Nicaragua Outreach!

Hola!  Buenos!

What a fun-filled, touching, and humbling 2 week outreach!  First of all, it must not go unsaid: Nicaragua is a BEAUTIFUL country!  It goes unnoticed many times on travelers minds because of past civil war, extreme poverty, and little developed tourism.  However, its a beautiful place to visit, and it has all the natural beauty of say... Costa Rica (maybe even more).

Brandon and I joined the team already there in Nicaragua at a house in the town called Ticuantepe.  Its a rural, smaller town outside of the capital, Managua.  The contact we had for Nicaragua has a home where teams can comfortably be hosted.  And it really was comfortable!  Its hot there, VERY HOT, but compared to how most of the locals live, we were practically in a 5 star hotel.  It was humbling to have to focus our hearts on ministering to people with tin houses when we were in a gated home with running water and electricity.  Brandon and I were both uncomfortable living in such a nice house, it just didn't feel right.  

But, due to other contacts falling through, we actually did not work in La Chureca the way I thought we would... instead we spent most of our days walking around Ticuantepe and praying for families.  We quickly noticed how HORRIBLE our broken spanish was, and Brandon and on of the students, Andrew, decided to ask God to send us a translator.  After praying for a while, they felt like the Lord was telling them to "follow the wind", so as silly as it seemed, they did.  After about an hour of walking with the wind, and asking everyone if they spoke english, still no translator had been found.  Then finally a woman ran up to them and told them to come with her, they did, and she led them to a young, 18 year old girl named Veleska.  Veleska had taught herself english, and was not only able to translate, but when Brandon explained who we were and why we needed help, she was excited and willing to help!  Praise the Lord!   His provision for translation was more proof for us all of how much we can trust God to provide what we need.

Veleska went with us every day, translating our conversations with locals, and also our prayers.  She was a huge blessing to us, and we were able to really minister to her and encourage her too.  Our prayers for the families of Ticuantepe were centered around making sure they knew who Jesus Christ is, and that they would believe that He does love them and care about their needs.  We prayed for healing of sickness and injuries, and also for God's provision for the families.

For us, one of the most touching encounters was with a family of a grandmother, two moms, and two little girls.  The older of the two (8 years), walked with a terrible limp.  After visiting with them a couple of times, we learned that she was born this way, and wasn't given but a few days to live.  They doctor tried convincing the mother to give up and go home, but her mother had faith to trust that her daughter would live, and after a month of being in the hospital, she was finally cleared to go home.  The little girl had a smile like the sunshine, and although she struggles to walk, she had more joy than any of us did.  It was very touching to realize that simple things, like walking, can mean so much to someone like her.  We had a chance to pray together with the little girl, and her whole family, holding hands, and we asked Jesus to protect her joy, and heal her body.  She had said that she really wanted to be able to run and keep up with her little sister, and we had faith to believe that one day she will.  Before we departed, we gave them clothing, coloring books, and toys.  My heart still longs to see God heal her... and I am still praying for her even now.

I personally had a tough time, for 2 reasons: 1. I got REALLY sick for about 3 days and 2. I learned that I have a prejudice towards spanish (the language).   The sickness beat me down quite hard, probably a flu.  I had a very high fever, body aches, and more... but, as with most flus, 3 days, and it was gone.  But as for the prejudice, THAT was something I struggled with a lot while there.  God had to keep teaching me and revealing to me my bad attitude, and grow within me a love and appreciation for the culture.  

We did go to La Chureca for 1 day, to help out at a school on the dump for a few hours.  We didn't go very far into the dump, but the part I did see, was heartbreaking...  Families, living in trash, eating trash, wearing trash.  It was a very disgusting and hard thing to see.  It reminded me of the verse, James 2:5 "Has God not chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he has promised those who love him?"  The people of La Chureca may seem to be the poorest of the poor in Nicaragua, but many of them know Jesus, and love him, then they are more rich than a king! I wish we would have had more time there, because there is so much love to be given to La Chureca.

The last 3 days of our trip, Brandon and I (and staffer, Cat), left the team, to scout for future surf ministry opportunities.  We first traveled with a friend we met randomly in Managua one day, to San Juan del Sur.  We stayed at a rugged and tiny little surf hostel.  And there was a local surf contest being hosted just north of the town, in Maderas, so we took a van ride up to it.  It was very "off the beaten path" and for Brandon and I, it couldn't have been more perfect.  As much as we loved the populated city/town ministry, we were dying to get back to the ocean, and back to the less-traveled roads.  The contest was amazing, Nicaragua has some stellar surf breaks, and even better surfers.  We foresaw a chance to bring a team down the the future to help host the contest, and instead of bikini contests for entertainment, we would give a gospel presentation!  Brandon had the chance to surf Maderas, and caught a much needed "warm water stoke"!  

The next day we traveled 3 hours on a dirt road in a school bus to Las Salinas, or better known as Popoyo.  The bus dropped us off at a 3 way stop, with no one in sight... a local told us he'd go up the road and try to find us a ride... so while we waited, we figured, might as well start walking.  

To our relief, JJ Yemma picked us up (we had almost walked the WHOLE way, haha).  He runs the famous Popoyo Surf Lodge in Nicaragua.  And he moved down when he was 18 years old, got married, became a believer, and now he not only runs a successful and unique surf camp, but he is constantly ministering to the locals.  We were welcomed with love by his wife Kim, and two friends, Dawn, and Mike.  Shortly after arriving, Dawn and Mike showed us the break, and Brandon paddled out with them.  Even on a choppy and bad day, it was some of the best surf I've seen in a while.  Cat and I took the longboard out and had a blast.  Before walking back up to the houses, JJ met us on the beach, and we all circled up to pray and thank God for bringing us YWAMers together with them.  Mike let us stay at his guest house, and Dawn cooked for us.  We didn't stay but that one day and night, but it was they most amazing time of meeting a group of people with the EXACT same vision and passion as Brandon and I.  We were able to briefly discuss sending more teams down to partner with them.  They have the ability to build homes for the locals, hand out rice, teach english, run bible classes, and work at nearby orphanages.  Combine that with the world-class surfing, and lets just say, Brandon and my little missionary mouths were frothing at the chance to return to Popoyo and bring teams with us.  

The last day of our scout-trip was spent traveling back to Managua and debriefing our outreach.  God opened a lot of doors in those last 2 days, and Brandon and I are over-excited to begin stepping forward into them!  This fall might hold some surprises!!!  We'll keep you posted!!!

Looking Back Over the Past 3 Months...

Our DTS students and outreach leaders left this morning.... Brandon drove down the 2 teams (Nicaragua and India), while I stayed behind to finish cleaning up the house.  Its such an exciting transition as the teams leave to begin their outreach phase, and its very enlightening to look back and think about the past 3 months of their lecture phase.  We had so many good times, and it was an honor for Brandon and I to watch them grow, challenge themselves,  and learn so much about God!

Serving one another... (by Brandon)

On Monday we had a very intimate time of worship. While we listened to worship music in the background, we read in scripture the passage about Jesus washing the disciples' feet. While Jesus is washing his disciples feet, he then instructs them to do the same. It's funny how we as a church body pick and choose which of Jesus' instructions we will do. During the last supper after the disciples take communion, Jesus instructs them to continue doing this to remember him. And, traditionally, we do communion once a month in church. So why don't we wash one another's feet?

So, during worship we set up washing basins so the students and staff could wash one another's feet and pray for one another. It was a very powerful time and quite a humbling experience, both washing and getting your feet washed. It is amazing the connection you feel when you wash someone's feet and serve them. It was really a good time and a good reminder that our role is to serve one another.

Logan washing my feet, and then praying over me.

Lisa washing Hoover's

Cat washing Lisa's

Justin washing Andrew's feet

And praying for Andrew

Washing Cat's feet

Serving and blessing Cat

On the mountain top...

On a wonderful little outing with a lovely friend, I was reminded why I neeeeeed to be out in God's creation.  My friend and I took a great hike up to a hilltop in SLO.  I had become so consumed in my daily life that I had forgotten just how beautiful California's mountainous landscape is.  Since I enjoyed it so much, I then decided I would share the experience with my one-on-one girl, Lisa.

So, on Saturday, we woke up and I took her to the always beautiful Mount Bishop.  It was a colder day, with a foggy sky.... not exactly the desirable conditions, but, nonetheless, we were determined to enjoy our day.  The hike is probably a favorite of mine, and I was hoping to share the fun with Lisa.  She quickly began to enjoy it, marveling at the ever-growing view as we climbed the lower fields.  

The trail begins in a cow farmers field, and actually gets very vertical very fast.  It tapers off in a brushy forest resembling the Lord of the Rings... but the best part lies just up from that... the trail begins to become a dirt laden rock climb, as you crawl in between boulders and up through what resembles a dried up waterfall path.  Its absolutely stunning.  Lisa's excitement kept growing.  Finally we emerged to the actual "hiking trail", which is a winding back and forth path along the mountain side, bordered by stones, and rocks, ironically fenced off for safety purposes by barbed wire.  This part of the hike becomes super social, as more and more people seem to magically appear.  We followed it up, and around, and up, and around, until, yes, FINALLY, we hit the tip top.  We turned around, and.....      silence.... the fog had lifted just enough to see the city of SLO below, the mountain range in the background, and the ocean lining the horizon.  It was stunning.  On the top of the mountain are massive boulders, so we, being oh-so-adventurous, climbed all around on them, discovering little caves, and testing our fear of heights.  

It was a huge reward... and it made me think of how many times I have climbed a mountain with God, how many times I have walked through tough seasons, and when I have made that hard, tiring, uphill climb, and I stand on the top, I don't appreciate the view and perspective that standing on the top gives me.... but as I looked around that day, standing on the top of Mount Bishop, I realized that I could see so far, it was a beautiful place to be, and all of a sudden, I had a new appreciation for the mountains in life.

"the mountain peaks belong to him"

~Psalm 95:4

Gettin' along and fearing the Lord.

Our team of surf students just finished their 10th week of lectures!  And for some, it was a pinnacle moment of their DTS.  We had a speaker named Donna Macgowen, from the Denver base, travel out here to speak and teach on 'Fear of the Lord'.  And a fearful week it was!

Most of the students were skeptical of a female speaker, but by the end of the week, she had left a huge impression on them.  She made them come out of their comfort zone, and gave them new ways to express themselves before God.  Her perspective on fearing the Lord was exactly what some needed to hear.  I watched as several of them let go of so many burdens, grudges, or insecurities.  Tears flowed, anger was dealt with, and they slowly grew closer and closer together as a team.  Come Wednesday night, I had to sit everyone down for a "family meeting", which was not well received.  Apparently some of the students had been holding in some complaints against us staff, or the school in general.  So we talked.  And talked.  And talked.  Argued.  Compromised.  Made peace, and from that moment on, all the attitudes in the house changed!  It was a victory in the waiting!  

We ended the week by going up to the highest rocks behind our house for a breathtaking view and a debrief time.  I loved seeing the refreshment in the students faces, they met God in new ways because of lectures, and they met each other in new ways too. 

January Newsletter

Already the school has started!!!  Brandon & I are so excited for the DTS to be commencing... its our favorite time, when students travel from all over the world, to come to our base, and begin to be discipled.   This newsletter marks our first one that we wrote together... we decided to combine them... (basically to save trees!).  I believe if you click on them, you can read each page...