Wanted: Good Travelling Skills

Ben loves to travel. He is in his early twenties and has been to 15 countries already. In America you don't often run into such "super travellers". He said he is good at travelling. He'll take his backpack a pair of underwear and adapt to any kind of situation, sleep in $2 hostels and talk to anyone who might come across his path.

We all love to do some things and are really good at them. Sometimes we wonder what God would have us do. Surely it's not in God's will for us to do things we love, because Christianity is all about sacrificial living.

Then again God must know why He has wired us a certain way. I love to hang out with people and God has lead me into a ministry where I spend most of my time hanging out with people.

God is interested in us and in our character and growth. I believe in living sacrificially we need to bring our skills and dreams and desires to God and ask what He would have us do with them. Many times it is something we'd never dreamed of.

We are created for a greater purpose, greater adventure and greater faith. Our fear of the unknown and our lack of trust in a God that truly is good binds us from stepping into the life He had in mind before we were born.

P.S. If you love to travel check out living on a ship for two years or trekking in Nepal or backpacking across North Africa. Reckless abandon man!

Horizon

The team got up early in order to be on time for devotions at the Horizon School. We didn't know quite what to expect. But we were pleasently suprised. We shared in front of nearly 80 students maybe. They were so attentive and as Michael would say, "They were tracking with us." They asked many questions. Afterwards we took a small group out to lunch at Rubios (home of the fish taco) and had a great talk with them. I think we were able to challenge them and show them opportunities.

Free Pizza and Prayer

We were just at Cal State in San Marcos. Intervarsity got money from the school to buy 40 boxes (!) of pizza to give out to the students for free. As we handed out pizza to the students we also gave them flyers inviting them to come to the prayer room on campus.

The prayer room's going on for 48 hours and there are pictures, maps, lighting etc to inspire prayer and for people to express themselves. One of the guys was in the room today praying for the faculty to come to faith. The next minute a teacher stepped in and said, "I need to come and spend time here in the afternoon".

After that he prayed for Christian students who aren't plugged in and soon after a student stepped in to find out what the room was all about and how to get plugged in with other Christians.

Sweet.

Los Angeles

We are in Southern California now. We had a day off so we connected with Paul of SVM2 who lives in S. California. He showed us around downtown LA.

Prayer for Burma

There will be a Global day of prayer on Sunday March 12 for Burma (Myanmar). Burma is a country in South East Asia. The military government which seized power in 1962 has since waged a brutal war against rebel ethnic groups and has been carrying out acts of genocide against its own people.

The acts of genocide are still continuing. A recent article in the Daily Telegraph gives an overview of the facts.

In 1997 during the Burma Army offensives the Free Burma Rangers were formed, when villages were destroyed, people killed and over 100,000 thousand fled their homes. Over 2 million people are now displaced inside Burma. In the face of the overwhelming force of the dictators army, the Free Burma Rangers organized with the idea that no one can stop people from giving love and serving each other. During this time the Global Day of Prayer was started.

Take time on Sunday to pray for Burma.

This Generation Rocks!

We're in Arkansas at John Brown University at the moment. This morning Richard Sharp (British guy who is in OM) spoke in chapel. He got students to stand up front to represent world religions to indicate how much of the world is Christian/Muslim/Hindu and also how many non-Christians live in parts of the world where they can hear the gospel.


Then he had twelve students stand up and represent the missionaries in the world. Eleven were in a part of the world where the gospel is available. Then Richard asked whether students wanted to see this change and would there be any that would be willing to say "Here I am. I'm not much, but I'll go where you'll send me."

The most amazing thing happened. Half of the students (about 500 all together) flooded the front of the chapel. Half of the students! The rest stood up and said they would be committed to sending the rest out!

I've never seen a response like that. I pray (and would you pray too) that God would help these students to remember this and that they would actually go and send. The Holy Spirit is really on the move...and is raising this generation up!

John Brown University

Head Heart and Hand, that is the motto of JBU. Christ over all. It was here that I was challenged into missions. It's great to see OM and JBU partnering together this week for World Awareness Week.

Richard Sharp gave a great message this morning. He really got everyone's attention after throwing water from his bottle out into the crowd and 'baptizing' them. Richard shared on the impact that the spirit has had over the past decades. Also Samal Jakobsen (Exdouloi) has been promoting us. I've had quite a handful of students come to our booth saying that Samal sent them to us. I had a great converstaion with Daniel, a Senior Engineering Student. I also shared in a Freshmen Design class. Heidi is getting ready for her Journalism class talk for tomorrow. Things are going well. And there is good response.

Arkansaw!

Erik and I arrived in Arkansas yesterday. We flew into this tiny airport that many people don't know even exists. It's only been in use for a couple of years. Wal*Mart has its headquarters here and the tiny plane was full of business people on their way to the Wal*Mart hq's.

We're at John Brown University and Richard Sharp from OM, is the main speaker. He spoke this morning on how God has always used suffering to build His church. When the church only has Jesus, it is devoted to only Him and not the stuff that so easily distracts us. It's amazing how God's Spirit really has moved in non-western parts of the world in the last hundred years through all kinds of political and natural disasters.

World Watch List 2006

Every year Open Doors publishes their “World Watch List” of 50 countries where Christians are persecuted the most. And for the fourth straight year, the isolated communist nation of North Korea remains atop the 2006 list.
To make a powerful impact on this oppressive situation that our persecuted brothers and sisters in North Korea are in, you can commit to regular prayer on their behalf.

Huntington, Indiana

We arrived this morning at Huntington University in Huntington.
A very nice campus. And we are looking forward to get more involved in the missions emphasis week and campus life. Tonight we will go to the basketball game between Taylor and Huntington.

From Victory to Florida

So, yesterday the US hockey team lost on olympic ice to the Finnish team. Go Finland! So far, we're undefeated. Next we have to score against the Russians...

This morning Michael and I flew to Orlando, FL. At the moment we're at the Campus Crusade HQ's enjoying their hospitality. They have ponds (or swamps?) right in front of the buildings. Apparently they've had alligators in there. I was sure they were just trying to trick the Finn...but I guess they were serious.

We're here for a conference called Fusion. It's for 20 and 30 somethings, so a step up from college age. Tomorrow morning I'm looking forward to hearing what Dan Kimball has to say about the "emerging church". It is an interesting concept for sure and it's on everyone's lips here in America.

Prayer then and now

Did you know that the "Birthplace of American Foreign Missions" is in Williamstown, MA? In 1806 a group of college students had a prayer meeting out in the fields. Because of the rain they had to seek shelter by a haystack. They continued there prayer meeting and they dedicated their lives to missions.
Two hundred years later we see again that students are praying on their campus.

To learn more about how you can get involved in prayer for your campus and the world; check out this website.

Team Moose in Idaho Two Weeks Ago

Snowmobiling is fun!

We had a couple of days of on the mountains of Idaho on our Northwest tour.

Pacific Lutheran in January

So, we're a little late posting these pictures...
This is our team with Aaron (amazing dude) at Pacific Lutheran where the students did 48 hours of prayer. Every slot was filled! And this is a pic from the actual prayershack.

48 Hours of Prayer at the University of Oregon in January

Rome

Yesterday we visited Rome (in Georgia). We were part of the Missions Fair at Berry College. We met some of the students on this beautiful and very large campus. We had one specific meeting with a group of students that wants to start a 24-7 prayer on their campus. It was exciting to be at their first meeting and encourage them to take the next steps. We will come back to the campus in a couple of months to pray with them again. It is great to see that all over the country students are praying for their campus and for the world.

Toccoa Falls

We got back from the Northwest on Friday and Erik and I drove a couple hours north from Atlanta two days later. At the moment we're at Toccoa Falls College.

Last night there was an international fair. Missionaries from different organization presented clothing, food and stories from all over the world. Our OM team took pictures. We had a bunch of native costumes with us and we dressed people up wearing them and took pictures. We'll send these pictures later to the students as their "missionary prayer cards". You can imagine that this was quite the hit. Students being excited about getting to wear all these costumes and getting their pictures taken.

We also have these temporary tattoos and we were tattooing people. That's always fun!

This is a great school. Everyone's really friendly and it's easy to get to know people. Thanks for your prayers!

If You Lead Me Lord

At one of our meetings we sang this song.
We want to share the lyrics with you.
Invitacion Fountain (Words and music by Michael J. Pritzl)

All who are weak, All who are weary
Come to the rock, Come to the fountain
all who have sailed, On the rivers of heartache
Come to the sea, Come on be set free

If you lead me Lord I will follow
Where You lead me Lord I will go
Come and heal me Lord, I will follow
Where You lead me Lord, I will go
I will go, I will go

All who are weak, All who are weary
Come to the rock, Come to the fountain
All who have climbed, On the mountains of heartache
Reach to the stars, Come on give Your life
All who are weak, All who are weary
All who are tired, All who are thirsty
All who have failed, All who have broken
Come to the rock, Come to the fountain

Day 20 - NW Tour

4:00 AM Alarm; 4:15 Get up; 4:30 Shower; 5:00AM depart Moscow, Idaho; 11:00AM arrive Seattle Washington; 11:30 still looking for Car Rental Return; 12:00 Check in to Airport; 1:20PM depart Seattle; 9:00PM arrive Atlanta.
sleep...