CHINA KAT

It is truly hard to believe that another year has passed and 2010 is upon us. What a year! What an adventure God has taken me on.  I don’t even think I have stopped to take it all in or ponder it enough. One of my good friends the other day commented, “What a difference 365 days makes, huh?” Yes, indeed.

China was only a small blip on my radar a year ago, but not on God’s.  He told me to be patient and His plans would unfold, called me to trust in Him and just “be”. Interesting that the first two letters of Beijing are “be”.  Some of you might think that is looking into it too much, but I don’t believe there are coincidences with God and that He has ordained it all. I think…no, I know He knew what He was doing when he asked me to “be”, and then called me to Beijing!

It is hard to say this when you are in the midst of it; but I am thankful for the hard, difficult times because it makes you stronger and makes you all the more appreciate during the beautiful times. It makes you more aware of your blessings and the small things you may have overlooked or taken for granted before.  Everything is sweeter, more precious, more meaningful. Each relationship…opportunity…moment is more valuable than ever and is to be fully embraced.

I feel closer to God than ever before, yet I know I am not listening as much or spending as much time learning from Him as I need to be.  I plan on being more disciplined about that this year. It should not even be an area that needs discipline, for the most precious gift we have been given is the ability to approach the throne of our Father with grace and confidence & have a relationship with Him.  That is why I have HOPE.  That is why I am in China…because EVERYone needs to hear that incredible and amazing message of love, grace, & hope…and they are hungry for the Good News we have.

Every day is a new day.  Every moment is a chance for me, for you…to glorify God in our words, our actions, our love.  We have been given new life in Christ and are commissioned to take His message to the masses. We are ALLl ambassadors of Christ, and I pray that we will be His hands and His feet to the world…that we will not be complacent, get too comfortable in the pew, or argue over petty differences while there are still so many who don’t know Jesus.

May you be richly blessed in the year to come; overpowered by the amazing love and grace of our Father; seek ways to break through and advance His Kingdom, shine His light, share His love, and BE His Church.

I can’t wait to see what this year holds, what God will continue to do in China and throughout the world, and what adventure lies in store…it is most definitely quite an adventure of faith when you ask, “Here am I, send me!” You better be ready for what comes next!! ;)

Therefore, if you are in Christ, you are a new creation!! The old has gone, the NEW has come!! ~2 Corinthians 5:17 (with a few changes)

We just got finished with an amazing seeker’s group.  It is hard to describe how I feel right now-I am just overflowing.  These people are so special to me-I feel so connected to them and am thankful for each one of them. It feels like family.  I LOVE being on this journey with them and am SO grateful God has given us this opportunity at this time to be a part of what He is doing.  The Spirit is truly moving, and it is amazing.  I really love these wonderful people and pray their hearts continue to search for God’s amazing transformation.  The relationships that are forming and the discussions that are taking place are such a blessing.  Sometimes it is hard to imagine I am getting to do this.  It is something I have prayed for a long time, and now it is beyond anything I can express.  There is nothing quite as special as walking with someone as they learn about the incredible message of Jesus with His unfathomable love and grace.  Each time I speak His Good News it seems more incredible and means more.  Simple, yet absolutely and astoundingly beautiful.  We were reading one of my favorite passages tonight in Romans 5, which I feel is really at the core of the Gospel…

God, in His GREAT love…

sent Jesus.

For me.  For YOU.  For EVERY one.

For ALL time.

ONE sacrifice.

Awesome LOVE.  Amazing GRACE.

We REJOICE in that we are now His friends. His children…

ALIVE in Him.  Assured of salvation.  Given a new life.

It truly is unfathomable.  The most incredible message of all time…and we have been commissioned with it!! That is even more amazing. I pray that I can always be so bold to spread it wherever I am.  I know I have not always been. His message is for everyone, everywhere for all time…we are missionaries wherever we go because we KNOW His amazing plan of salvation for all mankind, and because God has entrusted us with the task of taking it to the world.  We have been transformed by His great love, grace, and mercy.  How can we not shout it from the mountaintops? How can we keep from praising His name?! Everyone needs the opportunity to hear THE Good News-will we be the ones to share it?

I am humbled and grateful our Father has asked us to be His hands and feet to His children.  I am grateful He led me to China and for each and every person He has brought into my life since being here. It feels like home because of them. I feel so full and blessed, in ways I could not have imagine nor could explain. I feel like I am getting more out of this experience than they are, though I truly pray their lives and hearts will be transformed by our Father-He has the power and is clearly moving in their lives.  I pray He is moving in yours, too.  What a mighty God we serve!!

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ~Romans 5:8

Happy Thanksgiving from Beijing!! I know this is a few days past the actual day…but every day is a day to be thankful, right?

I hope you were all reminded and remembered to be thankful for all of the blessings in your life, and especially for the great love, grace, mercy and sacrifice of our awesome Father and His Son! Actually, I hope you are reminded and remember that every day, as every day is a chance to live for Him!!

I was very blessed with my first Thanksgiving in China and the first one away from my family.  Even though nothing can replace being with family, it is awesome how God brings us all together in HIS family!! We were blessed on Thursday to be invited to the home of one of our sweet sisters and have a Chinese Thanksgiving! She cooked an amazing feast and we felt so special to be invited!! The Chinese do not celebrate our Thanksgiving, but I received many text messages during the day from friends wishing me Happy Thanksgiving with messages of thanks-because they knew it was special to us.  I treasure each one!!

Then, on Friday our mission team gathered for a traditional Thanksgiving meal.  I was in charge of the stuffing, green bean casserole, and mashed potatoes.  I have never cooked stuffing before and was unsure if I could find everything needed or if I would turn out well! Also, they don’t have ovens in most of these apartments, so you have to cook everything in a toaster oven…which with the help of my good friends, the Cooper’s…was purchased on Wednesday I will have to say that everything turned out great, and we had more food than we knew what to do with!! We ate, watched the Macy’s day parade that I had previously recorded, played the Wii, and laughed at Chuck Norris jokes (I have no idea how that even came about!) I am thankful for our team who is serving the people here in China, and the great time we have when we are together.  It makes it easier to be far from home!

I got this idea from someone else, but I loved it…so I think I can use it, too.  Since we cannot all sit around a physical table together and since we are spread out all over the world…we can pull up a chair here…at the table I have set on my blog.  I want to know what you are thankful for!! I’ll start.  I am thankful for…

A mighty Father who loves me unconditionally and forgives my sins as far as the east is from the west…

Wonderful family & friends who stretch across the miles and oceans.

The opportunity to live, serve & build relationships with the awesome people of China…friendships that are blossoming, hearts that are open and seeds that are being planted.

Online venues which have allowed to “meet” and be blessed by amazing people which I probably have never known otherwise.

A mission team who has the heart for people, a passion for seeing Jesus’ name spread, & who I have the privilege to serve with.

Those who are financially supporting our efforts, those who are praying for our work, and those who encourage my soul with their uplifting words.

A roof over my head,  food in my cabinets, clothes on my back,  shoes on my feet & clean, accessible water.  I know there are many around the world who don’t have these things which we often take for granted.

So, grab another helping of mashed potatoes and some pumpkin pie-and please tell us what you are thankful for!

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with THANKSGIVING, present your requests to God. ~Phil. 4:6

I hope this blog has not been having withdrawals from my recent lack of posts!

Greetings from chilly Beijing!! I am sorry that I have not posted as much as I would like-we have been very busy!! There is a lot that has happened over the last month or so, and hopefully those who are reading this have received my e-mail updates that I try to send out weekly (sometimes bi-weekly!) If you are not…Why not?! Let me know if you are interested, and I will add you to my e-mail list!!

Hmmm…where to begin? Well, we just finished up our first language book and are on to our second one! Did I understand or comprehend all that was encompassed in the first book? Ha, no…but I do feel like I am learning more each day…which is good! I do feel a bit behind, though in the vocabulary and understanding…so if you could please pray about our continuing language studies…that would be awesome!!

We have a lot of great things going on that God has blessed us with. Currently, we have 2 seeker’s studies going-one is on Monday night at the Cooper’s and one is on Saturday night at my place. The Monday night one has been going for a little over a month, and this Saturday will bring about our third Saturday night study. We usually average about 8-12 people a week, and they are REALLY seeking. They ask some incredible questions about creation, good and evil, praying, God’s plans, etc. They really keep us on our toes and challenge us to think deeper about our faith and who God is. Many of these who are coming are previous LST readers, while others are those we have met at English Corner, on the street, or in this apartment!

One particular lady I have been blessed to get to know…I actually met coming out of the elevator of our building one day. I was headed to the school for Chinese class with my book in hand, and she asked about it. I learned that she spoke great English as she worked for an American company, and we exchanged numbers. She came to church with me the following week, and then stayed for lunch and a party we were having afterwards. I have continued to keep in touch with her and run into her in the building occassionally. She came to our study last week and then we had dinner at a Korean restaurant on Sunday evening. I am excited about the relationship that is forming! I pray that it continues to grow and that seeds will be planted. I truly don’t believe there are coincidences here-God has really shown that He is arranging what is happening here. He continues to open doors and allows us to constantly meet new people. We are so blessed to be able to walk this faith journey with them, and are humbled by the opportunity!

At the beginning of October, we had a great group retreat that involved our sister churches in Bejing (in Jinsong and Haidian). We were able to go to this beautiful location located just outside of Beijing in the mountains, which was actually near part of the great wall. We were able to do this because of the National holiday they have where everyone gets a week off from work and school. As I have mentioned before, this was the 60th year anniversary of the PRC, so they went all out with decorations and a huge parade at Tiannamen square, which we watched on TV while on the retreat. Gary did a great job with his lessons on Moses, Abraham, David, Isaiah, and Jesus (which were translated into both English and Chinese-so we actually knew what was going on!) Susan and I also were able to help with some of the children’s classes; and we had a small discussion group with some of the other missionaries on our team and a great Russian family that lives here. We we were also able to enjoy time getting to know our brothers and sisters better, and explore a little of the nearby surroundings and village.

(Thanks to Marcus Riley for this great group picture!)

We have also been blessed with 3 more baptisms this month: Ting Ting, Michael, and Judy! They have all gotten involved with the church over the last month, and I have been blessed with getting to know all of them better.  Michael even comes to our studies sometimes, and has helped tutor us in Chinese along with an older member of the church.  We are so thankful for their help! We now know the stroke orders, can write some Chinese characters and recognize many more…as you can imagine, this is very helpful when living in China!

After a LONG search, God blessed me with an awesome apartment last week! It was quite a stressful search, but I am ever so grateful for God’s provisions! It is a great apartment and will be perfect for hosting our Bible studies and for having lots of people over.  I am excited about the opportunities and making it feel like home. Thank you to all those who were praying! Pictures will follow soon…

There is more to write about…like the early snow we had last Sunday, sitting at the head of a conference room table teaching the Bible to several women who have never heard it before, eating a scorpion, a trip to the zoo, an early Thanksgiving dinner, God’s timing, and some other thoughts I have had…stay tuned for the adventures from China! I promise to do a better job of not allowing this blog to become lonely!! I would love to hear from you so that I don’t feel lonely!

Thank you for the continued prayers, love, and encouragement-please pray that God will continue to use us to help further His Kingdom.  It is humbling to be able to have these opportunities and I pray that we will remember to embrace them all.  We are constantly reminded that the harvest is ripe and seeds continue to be planted as many seek Him…what a privilege it is to walk with them on their journeys of faith!

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Corinthians 13:14)

Ni hao from Beijing!

Well, this coming Saturday will have been a month since our arrival in Beijing. My how time flies! It has been a crazy and busy time as we begin our ministry and continue to learn what life looks like here. We have been blessed to witness five baptisms since arriving, and there was one more last night. The church seems to be flourishing, as last week there were over 60 people in attendance! There was an LST team here from California for 2 weeks, and we currently have an LST team from Texas who are doing great things. They held a Texas themed party on Sunday, which was a lot of fun, and we were able to make even more connections! We are very excited about the possibilities and the opportunity to build relationships with the people of China. It is amazing how many opportunities God continues to provide which reiterates what we already know: God is moving in China and the harvest is ripe!

We have been in language school for about 2 weeks now, and though our brain feels like mush, we are excited about this opportunity to learn Mandarin, which we hope will go even farther in communicating with the wonderful people here. We have also begun our own “seekers” group study on Monday nights, which includes several of our readers from our last trip, along with others who are interested in seeking to grow in their faith. We had 8 people show up for our first time of study (picture below), and were excited about that! We will also be adding a Saturday night study eventually for those who are more available on the weekends. We are setting these up as intentionally safe gatherings where they can ask honest and often challenging questions, and we can seek to answer them together. Along with this, we are studying individually with several people, and are constantly meeting new people in which we hope to have the opportunity to build relationships with and share the Gospel with.

I do have a few prayer requests:

I am still in search of an apartment and have to find one very soon since we are about to receive our new visa, when I will have to register again with permanent housing. I think I may have found one last night that would be great, but still need to work out the details. I have an extremely friendly and helpful person who helped the Cooper’s find their apartment and is now helping me. He is so happy to help us and has become a good friend! We are excited about the relationship that is forming with him, and would like to ask your prayers for him and that seeds will be planted in his sweet heart.

I am still in need of more financial support, though I am so thankful that more has come in lately. Please pray it continues to come in as I want to be able to focus as much of my time as possible on the ministry here, as opportunities continue to abound!! Thank you again to those who have already given financially and for your prayers for us.

I went through my first round of culture shock/homesickness this past weekend, and it was pretty rough. But, with the help of good friends and our Father, it only lasted a few days. We know we will face these times and they will be challenging, and we pray we can remember why He called us here and can support each other along the way.

I apologize that I have not written more since we have been here. Now that we are getting a bit more settled, I plan on updating more and sending out an e-mail once a week to keep you all informed of what God is doing here in Beijing and in our lives. If you are not currently on my e-mail list or you know of anyone who you believe would like to be added to this list or would be interested in helping our ministry out financially-please let me know their contact information, or feel free to pass this along!

I pray you are all being blessed immensely!! I am so thankful for each of you, and love you with the great love of our Father!!

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