Settling in for the final 5 weeks

We've got 5 weeks of school left! I'm excited to be done for the summer. I'm looking forward to being with my fiance over the summer, spending time with my family, building things at my old carpentry job, spending time with my home church, hanging out with the youth from my church, going on adventure trips, and everything else that summer entails! It's been a great year, and it's flown by fast. God has taught me an amazing amount over the past year. I'm so grateful to be blessed with this time of learning and growing!

Being a very task-oriented person, I've got quite a few ideas for how I want to spend the last 5 weeks here. I'm going to be speaking at Lake Lundgren Bible Camp on the 3rd week of July, so I think I'm going to try to prepare my messages for that. I'm also planning to continue to bike, run, and use the bowflex. I'm thinking of taking another crack at a 100 mile ride. I've also got some reading I'd like to do. I've been working through a book on home repair that has TONS of info in it. It'd be nice to get that done before the semester is up. I've also really been enjoying doing some inductive Bible study! I'm doing 1 John right now, and I'd love to be able to finish that, which I picked to get "warmed up", and then work through Romans. I'm also continuing to go to the jail and preach on Wednesday mornings. Needless to say, I've got plenty to keep me busy!

In all of this though, one of my biggest concerns is to continue to spend time in the Word of God and in prayer. I realize that my standing with God has not changed if I miss my devotions in the morning (because of the righteousness of Christ). But, if I do miss my time with God, I feel like I am starving spiritually. I'm trying to get up earlier so that when I have to start work in La Crosse I will be able to spend time with God before work. Christ is my joy!

The pictures I included are from a couple of weeks ago when I was up in the San Antonio area doing some adventure stuff while we had the week off. It was a very refreshing time!

Chronological Bible Storytelling

I was putting together some stories for one of To Every Tribe's missionaries in Papua New Guinea this morning, and I was thinking that it might be cool to post them on my blog. One of the classes we have here at CPCP is called Chronological Bible Storying, and it teaches us how to prepare Bible stories in a simple format for teaching to tribal peoples. It's been an incredible learning experience, and I'm excited to use this out in the field. We did a lot of our teaching in Gavamas, PNG this past February with stories like these. The people are able to rememeber them and spread them around the village. God's glory is being spread through the Gavamas region! Enjoy!

Job (A story of a man named Job)

Job was a good man who had 7 sons and 3 daughters. He was very, very rich. He had many, many animals. Job feared God and turned away from evil.

A day came when all the angels came to present themselves to God, and Satan came with them. God asked Satan if he had seen his servant Job. He told Satan that Job was a good man who feared God and turned away from evil. Satan told God that Job feared God because God had blessed him and made him rich.

God let Satan test Job. On a day when Job’s sons were feasting at the oldest brother’s house, a great wind came and blew the house down, killing everybody inside. Job’s animals and servants were killed, and his camels were stolen. The only servants who were left alive came and told Job all that had happened.

Job said “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” Through all this Job did not sin or blame God.

Jesus took the curse of sin

The first man and woman sinned, and because of this, everybody sins. God put a curse on mankind because of this sin. Every single person after Adam sins. Because of our sin we will go to hell.

All of man has been cursed. God had a plan from the beginning to free us from this curse. He sent His son to die so that we would not have to go to Hell and be forever separated from God. Jesus Christ came down to earth, and he was 100% man and 100% God.

Jesus took on our curse. He took our sin and paid for it on the cross. He took our curse and died so that we wouldn’t have to die and be forever separated from God.

Because of Christ, we can be free from this curse if we believe in Him.

A Week with My Fiance

My fiance came down on April 22nd, and was here until the 30th. We had a really great time! I had classes all week, so she was able to sit in with us on those. We went to the beach a bunch of times, both to swim and then to camp with friends. It's nice having an island like South Padre 25 minutes away!

On one of our bike rides around Los Fresnos we discovered a little lake that had an alligator swimming in it! We sat in an a dead tree over the water and watched the gator for probably an hour. We also saw a lot of other wildlife, including snakes, turtles, and lots of birds. We are both are definitely in our element when we doing outdoor adventures!

Sarah and I also got to make a rough calendar for the summer while she was here. It looks like we'll be moving into the La Crosse area on June 19th. She's going to be living with a couple from my church, and I'm going to be back with my good friends, the Ganzemillers. I am going to be working with my old company, G-Mac construction, getting more carpentry experience. We are both looking forward to summer!

Our class this past week was on team development, and it was taught by David Depew. It was a very practical class that I think will have a big impact on us as we begin to form a team. We feel God is calling us to the East Sepik region, and quite possibly the Chambri tribe. Please continue to pray for us as we seek God's direction. We still have a lot of time before things of that nature will need to get decided though!

In my free time I am enjoying biking, running, lifting weights, and reading. There is a lot that I have yet to learn regarding building houses on the mission field, so I am also trying to do some basic reading regarding house construction and tools. This morning I was working through some of the "New Complete Do-It-Yourself Manual" by Reader's Digest. I'm enjoying learning new things, and it's exciting to know that these sorts of skills are invaluable on the mission field!

Great trip into Media! (We didn't die!)

Our trip into Media Luna was really good. God opened doors for us to have Bible studies several different times. We also got to do a larger Bible study with a more evangelistic twist. Our team invited lots of people to this larger Bible study. It was neat to see God bring people in & encourage them in His Word.

I hopped up on the roof of our house there in Media and got measurements. We're planning on putting a new roof next month. Jim, Gabe, and I also got to work on a map of the village, which was fun.

On our way back we had to tow AJ's suburban (with a bunch of us in it) because of a leak in the water pump. We got a taste of the sovereignty of God on our way back as were were in a position to get into a very bad car accident & God spared us. Although I'm quite sure I would have no regrets in going to be with my Savior, it was nice to make it home without injury! Praise God!

By the way, in case you didn't already know, as of January 31st I am engaged to the lovely Sarah Wilkosz! Praise God!

Back from PNG and Spring Break!

I know I need to do a post about our latest Papua New Guinea trip, but I haven't started working on that yet, and I wanted to post something in the meantime. Last week we had fantastic teaching from Jerry Bridges. He spoke for all of last week on "The Dynamics of Spiritual Transformation". It was very, very encouraging and sanctifying. Praise God!

We're heading out to Mexico this afternoon, and we'll be gone until Friday. Pray for us as we go into Media Luna. Pray that God would give us humility and love, and that we would be bold in preaching the gospel and lifting His name on high. Pray that the hearts of the people would be opened. Pray that God would keep us safe and healthy. Pray that we would realize more of His goodness and grace through the course of this trip. Pray that we would have many opportunities for building relationships, sharing the gospel, and teaching. Pray that we would eagerly make use of those opportunities!

The picture that I posted is from this past Monday when I was baking cookies for our dinner with Jerry Bridges. One of the fantastic things about being a student here is that we get to have dinner with our speaker on different nights of the week. Our group, the 4 singles and the Taylors, had Mr. Bridges for dinner on Tuesday. We were truly blessed by the week that he spent with us!