HAPPY DECEMBER!

HEY, EVERYBODY!


Happy Thanksgiving and Merry almost Christmas! This holiday season is definitely shaping up to be one very out of the norm for me. We had our Thanksgiving meal last Wednesday evening, passed out food to the homeless on Thursday morning, and spent the rest of the weekend on the beach and having crazy adventures around the island of Maui! I can't wait to see what's in store for Christmas in Asia! :)


This will probably be my last update for awhile. It's been pretty busy the past few weeks and we are only down to DAYS left here in Maui (about 5 1/2)! Here's a quick update on what's been going on since I last updated:


The week following my last update was about the Holy Spirit. It was a very interesting week, to say the least. To sum it up, the Holy Spirit definitely moved among us and did a lot of cool things, including confirming to me, yet again, my next step in life: becoming a counselor. God never lets us wonder when it comes to following His will!


Following that, we had a week about current issues in ministry which focused on postmodernism and the Emergent Church. This week was SO interesting because I never knew much about postmodernism and had never even heard of the Emergent Church. It was very eye-opening to some experiences and ways of thinking I'd come across while in college. For those of you who haven't heard of it, I would encourage you to look into it. It is quite scary because we learned how postmodern ideas (mainly the relativism that is so prevalent in our culture) have infiltrated the church. On the surface, the Emergent Church seems great (focusing on social justice and doing good to others), but in so many ways they have lost focus of Jesus and what the Bible says about truly godly living. If you want to know more about it, I'd love to share more, but it might not be until I get back from outreach!!!


This week, we've had a speaker, Ron Carlson, speaking about different world religions and cults. We've gone through Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormonism, Hinduism and Buddhism; we will be learning about Islam tomorrow. For our Monday evening lecture, Dr. Carlson spoke about Evolution. Coming from my biology background, it was definitely an interesting lecture to hear after four years of hearing about it from a secular standpoint.

Thank you to those of you who have been praying for me! For those of you who have heard about me being sick, I wanted to let you know that I went to the clinic today and they told me I only have a cold! This is good news considering one of the girls in my school has recently been diagnosed with mono. She's doing pretty well, but your prayers for her (Tara) would be greatly appreciated. As of now, it's looking like she'll still be going on outreach! In a somewhat related note, one of our team members will be going home instead of coming on outreach with us. Through various circumstances, she feels this is where the Lord is calling her at this point in her life. It's hard for her and all of our team, but it is clear that the Lord has the BEST in mind for her. Keep her (Brittany) in your prayers as well, especially because she has some pretty major, pre-existing health conditions.

I just wanted to leave you all with some passages the Lord has placed on my outreach team's hearts:

*"Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." - John 14:27
*He is like a tree planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. - Psalm 1:3