So much is happening as we barrel towards the summer, but let me start with an urgent prayer request:
I am heading out to training camp next Saturday, May 19th and the girls are heading out on the 1st of June. The reason all of us staff from Reign Ministries are heading out two weeks early this year is because we are trying to finish up the work on our new training camp in Wisconsin. We still have a lot of work to do in order to pass inspection by the state and be cleared to bring students in. The problem that just arose is that we found out we need to move up the inspection date most likely to sometime very soon, much sooner than previously expected. The ministry has scrambled some work teams to head up to the land to do some last minute work to prepare for the inspection and they are working there as we write this. Here is what we need prayer for:
1. That our plumber will come through as he said and get his work done next week!
2. For wisdom to anticipate what specific parts of the code the inspector will be most interested in reviewing
3. That we will be able to complete the final prep work in time
4. That the documentation binder we sent to the state on Thursday will meet their requirements and not create more questions in the mind of our reviewer
5. For God to orchestrate the entire day of the inspection (even that the inspector would be in a good mood!)
6. We will continue to have favor in the eyes of the state and community…that we will represent the Lord well in all we do
A Subletter has been found!!!!!
We have a subletter for the summer, praise the Lord!! A big thank you goes out to my mom, my mother in law and Carolyn Holcomb for thinking up the idea to announce our need for a subletter at the Oak Hills Women’s retreat last weekend in Tahoe. It is a perfect situation for us and sounds to be as well for the couple, Theresa and George DeLeon. God is faithful.
Our Nanny needs help:
We have a wonderful nanny traveling with us this year by the name of Sierra Ashmead. She was a student on our team from 2 years ago and lives in Pollock Pines. The fun thing is that her brother in law, Zach Neider, was my first recruit for Royal Servants 6 years ago. Sierra is in the midst of support raising right now but is struggling a bit. We know how important her ministry is to our children as she looks after them this summer, but sometimes it is difficult to raise financial support in the role of a nanny as opposed to a student position on one of our teams. If you would like to support her in any way for this summer, it would be very much appreciated. If interested, click: Donate and scroll to her name, Sierra Ashmead.
Oak Hillians:
We have three female students on our team that our traveling with us this summer that we are really excited about:
If you would like to donate to them, please click: Donate and scroll to their name: Clairissa Talley, Ericka Flickner, or Jordan Aldrich.
My Marathon:
Last Sunday, May 6th I ran the Avenue of The Giants marathon up in Humboldt Redwoods State Park. I ran this marathon last year with the goal of finishing under 4 hours but my final time was 4:00:52!! So I made up my mind to return this year and do it again to finally redeem my time and complete my goal. My final time this year: 3:55:38. But here is the kicker, the entire day before the race I had pretty horific diarreah that kept me bed ridden for a good chunk of the day. I was pretty convinced I was going to be unable to race but I went to bed Saturday night praying and hoping I would somehow feel good enough the next morning. I woke up in the middle of the night and took an Immodium AD and then took another one when I woke up early in the morning. Then, just before the race, I had one more bout of diarreah and therefore decided to pop a third Immodium 3 minutes before the race. As far as the race was concerned, I thought I would give it 3 miles to test out my stomach and pull out if it went crazy. It didn’t and I was able to finish the race. I think the dehydration of my sickness caught up to me though in the final 2 1/2 miles as I cramped in both legs all the way to the finish. Overall, though, it was a great experience again and one that was well worth the months of training and the at times obnoxious time commitment it required. I feel that God has taught me a ton through running, and it is something I have grown to love. Yes, I have now made the full transition and become a runner (something I would have NEVER thought would happen).
I (Travis) just returned from Wisconsin where I spent a week with other Reign staff working on the new training camp. There is still much work that needs to be done before we are ready for our official inspections which will give us the approval we need to bring students their this summer. We are all in with this new training camp and there are many people putting countless hours in to make this happen. We bought this property over five years ago and it has been a long road to get where we are and we still have a bit to go. But it is exciting to see it all come together and the property itself is truly beautiful. (80 acres outside of Pardeeville)
Because of the work that needs to be done on the new training camp, I (Travis) will be heading out there two weeks earlier than normal on May 19th. The girls will follow me out there on the 2nd of June. This means I will be gone for the summer in less than a month. Wow! This means we have just a few short weeks to wrap up work (Steph at Oak Hills), get our house in order, and prepare for life away from home for two months. And we still have NOT FOUND A SUBLETTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here are some pics (as well as some from Railey’s 2nd Birthday Party:
India Set Up Many, if not all of you, have heard by now that I (Stephenie) didn’t end up making it to India with the team from our church that went this past February. The day before I was supposed to leave, I realized that my visa was a 6 month visa, not the year long visa that I had had in my mind all along. And because it was a holiday weekend, all of my attempts to get a one day visa and catch up with the team were in vain. It was bitterly disappointing for all kinds of reasons – not the least of which was my humiliation at supposedly being past these “rookie” travel mistakes:). But the team had a wonderful trip. Another dimension of disappointment however, comes in that we were hoping I’d able to cement some of our plans for this coming summer while being face to face with our ministry partners – so now we are having to find creative ways to engage in the vast amounts of communication to set this kind of thing up well. Please pray for that process! Their internet connection is limited and the time difference is 12.5 hours different, so it can get complicated to say the least. We still need to nail down sleeping arrangements, food details, as well as a few more of our ministry ideas.
Nanny 2012!
Sierra Ashmead, India Team 2010
Great news!!! We locked in a nanny for the summer – Sierra Ashmead, who traveled with us as a staff discipler our first year in India! She is from our area, has tons of experience working with both little kids and teens, and will be a natural fit, being familiar with both Indian culture as well as Royal Servants culture. We have been so blessed with each one of our nanny’s in the past and this year is no exception — I couldn’t be more thrilled. It gives me the option of doubling myself both with the kids, and also with another leadership presence with the team if need be.
Subletters While we’ve got a couple little nibbles out there, nothing is holding much promise yet so if you know of anyone who is interested in a very cute, fully furnished 3 bedroom house (could be 4 bedrooms if need be) with a great back yard for the months of June and July ($900/mo), please let us know!!! (We’re trying to hide the rising desperation we are starting to feel) In the past, we’ve caught people in the middle of a move, or college students who are home for the summer, or young adults wanting to move out of mom and dads house for the summer, or even a family member who needed a place to stay during an extended visit. If you have the opportunity, pass this along to… well everyone really. Thanks!
It is that time of year again when we need to start looking for sub letters for our house for the months of June and July. That is when we will be off on another adventure with Royal Servants. So let us know if you know of any college agers that need a place for the summer? Or maybe you have a family member who you would like to live somewhere else for awhile. Or maybe a transition home during a move.
It is a three bedroom house in Folsom with an awesome play room, huge backyard, and backs up to the fields adjacent to Folsom Middle School. It is a rad house (Holcomb’s house!) Let us know if you have any ideas, we are all ears.
To be honest, we don’t know how we are going to find a sub letter, but then again, we never do. But God always provides, and it is always fun to see how He does.
I just wanted to give a quick update on what is going on with us:
-Steph is going to India in two weeks. She is traveling with a group from Oak Hills Church and they will be traveling to and working with the group we worked with last summer as well as this upcoming one, The Nehemiah Project. She will be gone for 10 days, which means I will have the girls on my own for that time, oh boy!! Pray for Steph’s trip that God will guide their steps and bless their time in Manipur.
-Recruiting is going well. It has been a very busy last month as I have been gallivanting all over speaking at youth groups. There seems to be a fair amount of interest this year among students for our Royal Servants teams. Just this last Wednesday night I spoke at a church in Modesto that sent four students with RS last summer. It was really encouraging listening to the impacting and life altering experiences they had in Sierra Leone and Costa Rica. This Sunday I will be at a church in Walnut Creek. I was day dreaming the other day as I was driving back from Modesto and it occurred to me how much I have changed when it comes to speaking in front of youth groups. Just 2 or 3 years ago, my nerves were out of control as I would almost obsess over an upcoming talk. But now, the nerves have all but left me and I really feel comfortable. As a result, it is a whole heck of lot more fun and I feel my ability to communicate clearly and succinctly has vastly increased as a result. It has been fun to see the progress.
-We have, as of right now, 4 young people from Folsom that look like they will be joining a team for this summer. Jordan Aldrich, Claire Talley (Oak Hills), Erika Flickner (Oak Hills) will be joining our India team, while Zach Collins (Oak Hills) will be joining the London team. How great is this? We are really stoked. It is the year of FOLSOM!
-Steph has begun working on a masters degree with Fuller seminary. She is just in the midst of her second course (on the Old Testament) but she is really loving it. I guess you could say she is a bit busy but that would just scratch the surface. I am really proud of her.
-I am heading to Texas on Monday to visit my Grandpa! I have not seen him in years and I really miss him. While I am there, I am going to interview him and record his life story. It is long overdue, and I am looking forward to it. Next Thursday or Friday my dad and I are going to road trip back all the way from Dallas to Sactown. Just a short little jaunt.
-Last week we were able to get away and take a short vacation to So-Cal. While there, we were able to stay with the Holcombs. We had a great time with them and miss them dearly. We also got to visit Dave’s church last Sunday and I even got to pop in on their youth group to talk about Royal Servants. Dave and Carolyn have been such important people in our lives and we feel a hole in our community through their absence.
YOU MUST FOLLOW THE FOLLOWING LINK AND JUST SIT BACK AND ENJOY THE GREAT VIDEO FOR YOUR FRIDAY!
Now, we didn’t end up sending out a Christmas letter this year (or ever, for that matter) so in lieu of that here is a family photo we took outside of Oak Hills on Christmas Eve.
The New Year- marks the beginning of my recruiting season in earnest. The The New Year- marks the beginning of my recruiting season in earnest.Here are the speaking gigs I have upcoming in January. If you know of any young people who are interested in or that you think would be excellent as a Royal Servants, please pass on the information or encourage them to come to one of these events:
Jan 4th—Calvary Chapel Placerville
Jan 8th—Journey Church Folsom
Jan 13th–River Valley Fellowship Yuba City
Jan 15th–Big Valley Church Modesto
Jan 21st–Lakeside Church Folsom
Jan 24th–Oak Hills Folsom
Leadership for 2012- We have recently solidified our leadership for our upcoming team. Erin Bidwell will be leading with us for the 5th summer, Marissa Jestice will be traveling with us for the 2nd summer, the 1st leading with us. Shaun Mohon will be leading with us for the 1st time, he was a staff discipler with our team last summer.
Today we leave to head to Mendocino with the Oak Hills youth group to lead the annual Lord’s Land retreat. This has become tradition for us and something we look forward to all year. It is a great time where we and the students can unplug from our crazy lives, focus on the Lord and rest in Him. This year we are going to be speaking on the concept of flying rightside up in an upside world. And because I am a film nut, we are going to be focusing on the themes that run through three films; INCEPTION, LION KING, and THE KING’S SPEECH. We are going to look at the power of ideas and their impact on our lives, not escaping the life God has for us, and importance of friendship and fellowship in helping live in truth. I am pretty excited about the talks and can’t wait to see what God has in store for us this weekend. Please pray for our time, we will be there today through Tuesday.
The new training camp is really starting to take shape. I was out there at the end of September helping with the build and since that time much has been done by those on staff who live close to our new land. It is really cool to see the buildings take shape, and to know how many great memories will be created at this place. Check out the link below to see pictures of Reign Staff finishing buildings in the snow!
Preliminary work on my upcoming recruiting season is going well. I have about 10 speaking gigs as of now and that number will grow in the next few weeks. Let me know if you have any places or contacts that would be good to explore. Or if you can think of a young individual that you know would be perfect for Royal Servants, drop me an email and let me know. That would be much appreciated.
Thanks everyone and God Bless,
Travis
Here is a video of a music video made with only JELLY BEANS. It took TWO years to make and included 288,000 jelly beans!!!!
If you know Steph and I (and you do) than you know that we don’t own the nicest cars in the world. Part of this comes through financial necessity, but a bigger part comes from our desire to have crappy cars. Why?, you ask. Well, crappy cars can get as dirty as your heart desires and it doesn’t matter. They are very easy and cheap to insure. They seem to have more character (some have too much character). Lastly and most importantly, you don’t have to worry about them getting a nick or scratch here or there. As you can see, there is a tremendous upside to owning a lemon.
And while once we were a proud two lemon family, we now have but a single ride.
What happened?! you ask. Well, unfortunantly our Corolla had an unsavory meeting with a pole in the parking lot of the church. When this first happened, I was bumming. But while driving on the day of the ”pole incident” Stephenie said something revolutionary. She said “lets look at this as an opportunity, God has always taken care of us and he will through this as well.” Lightbulbs started flashing, fireworks went off in my brain, and I looked at her with an expression of exasberation, understanding, intrigue, and constipation (unrelated and a rare feeling for me as most of you know).
And you know what? God has taken care of us. Sparing you the details, the situation has turned out better than we ever could have imagined and it is fun to see God take what normally is a bad situation and turn it on it’s head. It makes me want to take this experience and use it as an experiment for all other bad situations out there.
Plus…We have been playing with the idea of one car well before this evil pole befriended our car. Related to that, I have also been mulling an idea for quite sometime. And while in Colorado, Stephenie found a very interesting book in a discount bin that caused the idea to ferment in my head. All this fermentation has led to a plan………..(next post)
I have found myself at a lot of churches lately speaking to youth groups. Some have been big (think 200 students) and some have been tiny (think 5 & all boys). And each time I speak, I try to gauge how I’m doing by reading the faces and eyes of the students. Some have given me blank, my-mind-has-skyrocketed-elsewhere looks, while others constantly scan the room (guys mostly looking for girls or girls mostly looking for guys). One student even had an Ipod in his ear while I spoke. Then there are the students that try to engage with me because they have been taught manners but are in actuality are not interested. On the other side of the coin are the nodders, those who are so engaged that they constantly nod in affirmation (or just out of habit). And lastly are those with the intense stares and big eyes. These are the students that I know are locked in to what I’m saying and who I might see on the Royal Servant’s training camp field come June. Out of the 1000-1200 or so students I will speak in front of this spring, only 2% to 3% will be truly interested, while less than 1% will actually sign up to become a Royal Servant. But it is really fun to watch and see who that 1% ends up being. And when that 1% arrives on the training camp field to join the other 300 students from all over the country, it is a sight to see. And it always makes me reflect on how intricately and delicatly and often time unorthodoxly our God works in our lives as individuals to bring us to a collective whole.
For whatever reason, I have always felt particularly self conscious and awkward. Maybe the root lies in my hatred of silence within conversation. When silence within a convo lasts for anymore than a couple seconds and I cannot think of anything to say, I cannot tell you how chaotic things get inside me. My skin begins to flush and it feels as if several clowns are wrestling and punching each other in my stomach.
The worst was when I was younger and I reached the whole stage of talking to the opposite sex on the phone. Apparently, I was a generation to soon because all young people seem to do now is text each other. But back when I was in my “transitional” years, the thought of having to spend an extended time on the phone with a girl was enough to give me an aneurysm.
I have no doubt gotten better on the phone over the years, but I still have yet to master the cotton picking art of ending a conversation. I know, I know, it seems so easy. All you really have to do is say “goodbye,” right? I only wish it was so easy. I can’t tell you how many times in the last couple of months that I have thought that I properly ended a conversation on the phone only to hear the person on the other end still saying something as I hang up. Which is usually followed by me half-yelling a rushed “OK bye” at my closed phone. It has gotten to the point that I now start to tense up when I know a convo is nearing its end!
All this to say, if you are on the phone with me and it seems like I hung up on you…well…that’s because I did.
We currently have twenty two students signed up for our team. And while most Royal Servants teams have an unbalanced gender make up (almost always female heavy), we appear to be a perfectly balanced anomaly. 11 boys and 11 girls are signed up and in the support raising process. Awesome!!
Nanny—After a couple of weeks where we weren’t quite sure if we were going to have a nanny travel with us, we just got word that a young lady named Whitney Nemmicolo (one of our students from three summers ago!) has officially turned in her application and is set to travel with us and help us with Jovie. This is a huge relief and blessing for us, especially for Steph.
Subletting Our House—One thing that Steph and I are a little worried about is the fact that we do not yet have anyone lined up to sublet our house while we are gone. We have a couple minor leads, but nothing solid. If you know anyone who would be interested in renting a two bedroom house in historic Folsom for the months of June and July, let us know. The price is relatively really cheap and it would be a great place to live in the summer months, when Sutter street (a block and a half away) is most alive!
Oakhillian Royal Servants! —We have three young people from Oakhills signed up for our team! Sarah Wegemer, Marissa Jestice, and Zach Alder are all in the midst of raising funds for this summer. So if you haven’t heard from them already, expect a letter or a phone call from them soon! Steph and I are really excited to have these guys travel with us and to be able to watch God shape them in huge ways. Pray for them as God prepares their hearts and minds for this summer.
We have found a subletter! I repeat, we have found a subletter!
This was a definite answer to prayer. Kayla Henderson’s father is traveling down from Oregon for the summer and is going to stay at our house while we are gone!
Oakhillian Royal Servants-
The three Oakhillian young people who are traveling on our team this summer are in the process of support raising! They are working hard and learning a ton through the process. I know a lot of you have already given to them but if you haven’t gotten the chance and would like give to Zach Alder, Marissa Jestice, or Sarah Wegemer, go to the following link:https://www.egsnetwork.com/gift/gift.php?giftid=987CB98F-8E54-49C1-A741-DB61173F489F
Our team-
Our Ukrainian team currently has 24 students. 14 guys and 10 girls! (What an uprecedented ratio!)
I (Steph) wanted to share something with you about how God has been meeting our students in their support raising efforts. I know for most going through a missions experience, the lessons and life change that God wants to bring about in an individuals life really begins with the support raising process. It is the place you have to really wrestle with where our confidence lies — in God or money — it is where our faith and dependency on God is put to the test as they are 100% reliant on God to provide. It is an amazing experience to put yourself out there, not knowing how in the world your goal will be accomplished, and yet, God works his stuff and surely enough, His stuff works! Our students from Oak Hills have had some of those experiences already in their support raising efforts and these stories have been encouraging for me to hear, I thought I would share one of them with you.
A few weeks ago, Travis was giving a bit of an encouragement talk to our 3 from Oak Hills and challenged them to start praying specifically in regards to their support. He even went so far as to suggest that they come up with a specific number that they would want to see come in in a given week — kind of a gutsy prayer, I thought, but being the good church girl that I am, I would never have said that out loud. Well Zach took Travis up on the challenge and went home, prayed for a specific amount, without telling anyone what that amount was. Sure enough the last day of that week, my mom told me she had called Zach to tell him what she had sent in for him after he had done some back breaking work for my dad, and instead of the amount that he “earned” – the amount he was expecting – she had given a little extra and when he heard what it was, she said that he seemed unusually and overwhelmingly grateful and excited. Well come to find out, the amount that she gave, plus the other gifts that had come in that week equaled EXACTLY what he had prayed for.
We just finished our first week at training camp. This was the week where our fellow Reign Ministries Staff gathered and we opened up shop here on the hay field… Here are some of the things we accomplished:
We set up our tent/home (pictured below)
our tent from the out side
We set up the “big top” (a giant tent we use for the large group gatherings — worship, teaching, etc — also pictured below in process)
the big top frame
We raked and cleared the whole field of hay (usually a job the farmer does, but the hay sat for too long in the rain and went bad so he didn’t want it, which stuck us with it — my lay version of explaining things I have no idea about). Travis had fun doing “supermans” into the big piles, while Steph embraced the moment with a cowboy hat, braids, and country music – you’d be so proud mom.
We set up our office trailer (trailers with excellence!) so we could continue doing data entry, filing, organizing visas, going over health forms, etc with all of the information that is coming in from our students
We went through Red Cross CPR and First Aid training and all passed the tests — whew!
We have unloaded semi trucks loaded with food that we will soon pack in boxes to send over seas with our teams
We have reconnected with our fellow Reign Ministries staff, the other team leaders, re-establishing precious relationships and getting focused for our ministry this summer.
All in all it has been a great time of getting into the rhythm of the field. Tonight the Nehemiah Team (Louie’s leadership team that we used to help lead) came in along with all of our assistant leaders — exciting signs of life on the field!
Interesting and funny…
Travis hit his head on the van on our way from Chicago to the field. Although the object he hit was blunt — the force he hit it with made him bleed — it gave him a headache for a few days and a sizable bump, but nothing worse.
Jovie swallowed a penny, we’re just waiting for her to make change now…
the turkey playing in her rain boots
We’ve had several storms (but no evacuations… yet) and it has been chilly chilly chilly.
In a fit of impulsiveness, Travis buzzed his hair.
It has been a great start to the summer, God is so good and we are getting more excited every day as we look forward to what he has in store for us this summer. Steph led us all in our morning devotions today on Psalm 23:1 “The Lord is my Shepherd, I lack nothing.” It is a truly fun experience to be on the field, living so simply, with so few distractions, waiting upon God for what He has in store — We lack nothing!
Prayer Requests:
1. For our nanny Whitney as she continues to prepare for her arrival. She is dealing with some tough situations back home that seem to be getting harder and for her support raising which she got a late start on.
2. For housing while in Ukraine — our contact there has been working on it for months now, but has run into a stubborn lady. Pray for her to have favor on us!
3. For this week as we bond with Cody and Erin, our assistant leaders, and as we move forward with plans.
4. For our summer staff disciplers who are coming a week from today and our students who will be coming in 2 weeks. For their support raising, preparations, and continues preparation of heart.
Those were the words of the surgeon as he brought us out a test tube labeled “foreign body” yesterday.
We finally took Jovie into the Dr yesterday after sifting through a week’s worth of poopy diapers and not finding a thing. Last Friday Jovie swallowed what we thought was a penny and all week long we thought it was rather peculiar that her normal voracious appetite had waned to only liquid foods and only a tenth of what would be her normal amount.
We went into the clinic and got an x-ray and the second the tech had it developed she said, “Are you sure it was a penny?” Sure enough it was much larger and lodged in her throat. They called the surgeon up and got us right in to the hospital that was just down the street. As we were ushered in, Travis and I realized that our biggest nightmare was happening. To put it simply, it was not fun. We were terrified and broken hearted for Jovie as we handed her over to the doctors. The sense of vulnerability and helplessness was hard to handle. Thus began one of most difficult 45 minutes of our lives as we waited in the surgery waiting room. I (Steph) came down with a massive migraine that sent me to the bathroom twice to throw up while Travis paced back and forth in the hallway in front of the door that led to where Jovie was being worked on.
In the end, it all came out fine (quite literally). Jovie has a nice souvenir that will be taped in her baby book and we are back to life as normal on the hay field (with our change jar carefully tucked away). But I think Trav and I are still reeling a bit from all the emotions of the day. Please pray for Jovie for a complete healing of her throat. They said they had to pull pretty hard on that thing to get it out and are somewhat worried that it might have been ulcerated after being in there for so long. So the goal is to have her eating solids within the week. Please also pray for us as we jump back into things. Our staff come in today and tomorrow and their arrival starts a whole new intensity of the summer. One last thing — it may seem a bit silly — but our camera is missing, so if you could pray that it would be found, that’d be one of those extra blessings for us.
Funny and interesting:
Within 15 minutes of being back from the hospital, Jovie was on the stage and dancing. Shortly after that she saw my burrito and wanted to start munching down — she even took my plate and licked the beans off of it… Hungry girl!
We’ve enjoyed getting to know and bond with our senior staff this week — we all sat around in the dark last night listening to Cody tell a horrific and yet strangely entertaining story about his run with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain.
The hay field is still a soggy mess — cars get stuck at least daily and it will only become a more intensified mud pit as more and more people join us! But no terrible storms yet — thank you God!
Travis and I burnt the midnight oil the other night brainstorming and organizing for our week of training with our staff. We feel solid and confident going into it.
All of the Team leaders and our staff went to a Mexican restaurant the other day and pigged out. Who would have known that there is a solid Mexican Restaurant in the middle of farm town USA? That’s what you get when Mexicans actually prepare your food! Yum.
Our Nanny came in yesterday — we are having fun reconnecting with her after several years now. Yea Whitney!!! Still has a ways to go on support raising, so if you want to be a part of Jovie’s nanny fund, let us know and we’ll gladly point you in the right direction.
With Love,
TSJ
Travis and I in the office trailer while Jovie naps!
It has been an entire month on the field for Stephenie, Jovie and I and we are beyond ready to get off the training camp field. It has hands down been the hardest camp we have had since we joined Royal Servants. Why so hard, you ask.
1. The heat. Everyday this last week we have had a heat index well over one hundred degrees with the humidity somedays reaching near 100%. One night we put our students to bed in harsh heat and I almost felt like I was instituting torture as I watched them sweat and try to sleep. Our family has been OK, however, as we have a huge fan in our tent that has allowed Jovie to take naps.
2. The pick up in Chicago. Last Friday, we headed to Chicago to pick up our students arriving from all over the country. The problem was the weather, as a tornado warning swept through the city. Flights were diverted, some were cancelled, and our students were spread to the wind. I was at the airport that night until 4am attempting to pick up students meanwhile back at the training camp office, the power was out and they were running around with head lamps on, charging cell phones and computers in a van, while trying to keep up with parent calls and locating students. Steph was among those who stayed up until 3:30 am trying to sort out the mess from a logistical standpoint. We didn’t arrive at Training Camp until 12am the next night. It was the wildest and most tiring pick up in RS history.
3. Difficulties with our team. Don’t get me wrong, we love our team, they are a great bunch of young people. But we also had a couple of young men who that were a part of our team who had some serious behavior problems. Those problems were spreading among our team and at times sucking the life out of it. After agonizing over this as a leadership team for several days, we made the gut wrenching decision to send them home. We felt it was best for the team’s health and for our witness overseas. This whole experience drained our leadership team and we are in the process of recovering.
4. Health issues. So far we’ve gone only one day without taking someone to the Dr or hospital. Ranging from pink eye, to strep throat, asthma attacks, burns, and spider bites resulting in an allergic reaction to the medication prescribed. Our whole leadership team has had to take up each others roles at one point or another — exhausting.
I will now quit whining.
Our leadership team with the disclipers
This last week has been hard but we have a feeling that God must have something great for us in Ukraine if we are meeting so much resistance from the beginning. But praise God our team is doing well now. Through it all, we have bonded and are all ready and anxious to go over seas and see what the Big Man has for us. Last night we had our commissioning service and it was a special time for us as we worshiped and broke bread together.
We finish packing tonight and at 7:30 in the morning we board a bus for the airport. Here we go! Pray for us!
Worship under the big top
Funny & Interesting
-Kiefer Kuah showed up on Thursday to hang out on the field with us for a couple of days. It was great timing as I was desperate for a morale boost. Unfortunantly, we were so busy, we didn’t get to spend good time with him, but it was just good to have a family member here with us during a trying time.
-Terri Wegemer showed up yesterday for the parent day (Sarah is on our team!) She also brought a cooler full of ice. You would have thought she was the Beatles based on the reaction she recieved from our team. This was based on the fact that they had not had liquids on ice in over a week.
-Jovie is doing great following her “change” incident. She eats normal, poops normal, and her awesome personality has returned as well. She is undoubtedly the star of the field. And boy does she love the attention. If only she didn’t get her mother’s genes, what a handful! I kid because I love!
Beating the heat
-I asked a student yesterday what were the odds of getting hit by lightning. He, in turn and in all earnestness responded with, “I think the odds are 3 out of 6.” We laughed about this later as a leadership team until we cried. Nothing about his answer makes any logical sense. It was just classic!
Pray For Us
-For traveling mercies. We have an all night flight to Poland where we have a crazy short layover until we hop over to Ukraine. It will be a long and tiring couple of days. Pray for unity and endurance. (and on time flights — the airport in Warsaw is supposed to be terrible!)
-For our team. We have been through a trying week. Pray that God blesses us with laughter and fun and continues to bring us together as a family.
-For Steph, Jovie and I. We have not had a minute to ourselves in the last three weeks and we all miss each other. Pray that God provides time for us to reconnect and enjoy each other while in Ukraine.
-For our leadership team. We need a morale boost in a lot of ways. Pray that God fills in our gaps and showers us with grace.
Getting the team ready to leave for ministry one night
This entry finds us having been in Ukraine now for almost ten days. We feel well established in the pace of life and ministry with our team after some crazy travel days. Our original flight was canceled and we had to fly through Warsaw, Poland then to Vienna, Austria, before finally landing in Odessa, Ukraine — all in all a total of 25 hours in the airport or in the air. We landed at 2:30am but were missing 17 pieces of our luggage, so after figuring out which baggage tags went with what and filling out all of the paper work (3 times after getting three different sets of instructions), we finally boarded the bus and arrived at our “compound” around 4:30am. We were putting the students to bed just as the sun was coming up — a kind of strange experience.
Last week we spent the first few nights playing pick up games and inviting people to play in the basketball tournament we set up for Fri, Sat and Sun nights. The students did a performance after the tournaments and then were able to talk with people afterwards about Jesus. It provided some great connections for the church we’re working with — getting people excited about the English camp they have coming up and the next few weekends of tournaments. I just have to say that as a non-basketball player, they put me in charge of score keeping and timing the games — BIG mistake.
One highlight from this first week here was after one of these nights of ministry, we were about to gather our team up to head home and Marissa came running up to me with tears streaming down her face — I could tell they were tears of joy, so I asked her what had happened. She caught her breath and excitedly told me about the conversation she and one of her students had just had with a grandma and her family. She had just had an amazing conversation with them and at the end was sure they had decided to follow Jesus. It was truly a treasure to watch her heart rejoice and to see how God had impacted her through this experience. It is moments like these that make the summer worth it.
Funny and Interesting:
Riding the Mashrutkas (have no idea how to spell that) — the mini busses that take us where we need to go — cheap and very handy and we now know our route very well, but we did have one of our Sr staff get eaten by the door where he was stuck with his sturnum being crushed for a good munute while he yelled at the driver to let him out (in English) and the driver yelled at him to get out (in Russian). Not so funny in the moment, but hilarious upon reflection!
Jovie continues to do great — she is over her jet lag — thank goodnes, but now has a gnarly diaper rash. She loves the attention from the team and is getting spoiled rotten. Our nanny, Whitney is heaven sent and has become a great friend and leader on our team. Thanks to all of you who helped make her summer with us possible!
Travis and Mark - the missionary here in Ukraine (our main contact)
It is hard to believe that we are nearing the end of our ministry time here in Ukraine. It has been a hard three weeks for us here, but we believe that it has ultimately been a good three weeks for our students.
Tonight is our last night of basketball/street ministry. Pray for us as our students will be sharing the gospel with young people that they have spent the last three weeks getting to know. We want to end stong as a family and leave it all on the court as they say.
In two days, we will be entering the debriefing stage of our summer. Debriefing lasts for a week and is a way for us to help our students transition from the misssion field to life back home in the states. Normally we would be traveling to London for debriefing, but due to financial concerns, we are conducting the debriefing for the first time within the country we have been ministering. This presents a unique challenge for us a a leadership staff to help our students avoid complacency and monotony. But we have been working hard at planning some fun and meaningful activities that will mix things up. For example, we are planning on taking a day trip to the country side here, as well as possibly visiting a water park!
Sorry I am writing from such a vague point of view. When the summer is over and we have time to think and process this summer, I will be able to be much more specific. But we feel that as a leadership staff we are staggering to the finish line and trying to stay on our feet. We have had challenge after challenge this year, and just yesterday we learned of a hole new set of major issues that have popped up. We are tired, yet we are also clinging to the hope and growth we have seen this summer with students on our team. Praise God in spite of our selves!
Funny & Interesting
-One of our students, who is just hilarious and completely unaware of it told me the other day that in order for Navy Seals to pass their training, they have to stay under water until they are considered “legally dead.” And if they are able to be resuscitated, then they become Seals. I then asked him, “so they either die or become Navy Seals?” And without skipping a beat and in all seriousness, he replied “yes.”
-Jovie, who has had a horrible diaper rash and is now unable to wear them, has pooped on the ground twice in the last two days. No warning, just plop, right on the ground. This has sent our students into hysterics. Like father……
-While walking by a restaurant the other day by the beach, we spotted a very hairy man wearing a Man thong. Yes, you heard me right! I literally had the urge to gag and felt sick to my stomach. Only in Europe!
-I joined our dance team last night for a street performance after the basketball tournament. The dance ended with me doing an ode to Michael Jackson. I simply could not help myself, plus I think the brilliance of my performance brought a few to tears and opened hearts. I was changing the word with the King of Pop!
-Stuff is cheap here. A liter of pop is one dollar. A big mac meal at Mcdonalds is four dollars and a bus ride is 25 cents. Oh, and a load of laundry costs $2.50. This all means that our students are hopped on copious amounts of sugar at all times!
-Four male students on our team had lunch at a restaurant the other day and were amazed at how good their meal was. When they got back to our compound, they asked our translators what it was they ate. The answer they got back wasn’t pretty. Yep, they ate cat!
-The buses we ride here are called “marshrutkas.” They are all circa 1970 and have so many people packed into them that they become a grand experiment in space management and B.O. What is it about deodorant overseas? The power of that smell has me conviced that if scientist could harness it, it could power a small city.
-A bee just stung me on the side of the face while I sat here in MCdonalds writing this update. A) ouch! B) Where in the world did it come from? C) Liza Minelli that hurt!!!!!!!!!!
-After informing our male students that we would not be going to the beach any more due to the nudity there, one of our guys told some of his friends that he was so upset that he was going to run away and live with some Ukrainian friends he has met here! Um…Now I know what it is truly like to be the parent of adolescent kids. Mother, Father, forgive me!
Pray For:
-Our team to finish strong and evangelize to their best ability tonight during our last bit of street ministry.
-For the local church here. That the new members they have now that our team has helped draw in will truly become connected and grow in their young faiths.
-For the leadership team. We are tired and worn out and need some refreshment from the Lord. We are still facing major issues with some members of the team and could desperatly use some prayer for God’s discernment and wisdom with how to procede.
-Last week, we had to send home our third student this summer. Pray for him that God would somehow use this experience for good in his life and walk.
-For Steph, she is exhausted from juggling team leadership with motherhood. She is amazing and I don’t know anyone else who could have done what she does over the summers! I am a blessed man!
-For Jovie, her butt rash won’t go away and we are getting tired of cleaning up her poop and pee. You know what? Diapers were a great idea.
-For protection for all our team members and we travel around town here.
We love you guys and can’t wait to see some of you very soon!
We arrived back on U.S. soil on Monday night. Once our team stepped out of customs in O’Hare, we scattered like sticks to the wind. Some students were off to make a connection, some had parents waiting for them outside of the airport, and some were sticking with Steph and I to head to a local hotel and catch their connecting flights the next morning.
We finally said goodbye to our last student on midday on Tuesday. It is always a bizarre feeling to be completely responsible for so many young people for two months and then, bam, they are gone. But that feeling (stress) is not going away without a fight. It is now Saturday, but for the last four nights I have tossed and turned with dreams about team details and with the nagging stress that students need to be taken care of. I actually woke up in the dead of night the other night barking instructions to imaginary students in our hotel room. Stephenie then let me know that I was crazy and I came to my senses and went back to sleep. I’m trying to relax, but I’m finding the transition rather difficult. Regardless, we finally leave for home tomorrow evening and we cannot wait to finally step foot back at our HOUSE!
It has been a heck of a summer, and we need some time to recover. But we are grateful to the Lord for how He always takes care of us. We can’t wait to see all of you!
Here are some pics of our team from the debriefing week in Ukraine.
Me and Cody (our other male senior leader) getting midevil
Steph and I at a midevil Ukranian fort
We are weird, but we like to mix it up as a leadership
Steph and Jov and I recently visited Minneapolis for Reign Ministries staff conference. It was a good time of connection for us with the other families of the ministry and an exciting look into the future. Here are some of the highlights:
-We are setting this upcoming summer as the goal for our move to the new training camp field in Wisconsin. For several years, we have leased a hay field from a Christian retreat center in Southern Illinois. Last year, however, we were able to buy our own land in Southern Wisconsin. Now, before we can move there, certain infrastructure has to be completed. It is an outside chance we will make it by this summer, but we are setting it as our goal nonetheless.
-We have set a goal of 500 Royal Servants by 2011. Last year we had 280 so we have our work cut out for us.
-We had about 100 parents fill out an online survey judging their views of their student’s summer. The results were fantastic and were a great encouragement to us as team leaders. I will post a digital version of the results soon for anyone who is interested.
-We have about 75 people right now on full time staff with Reign Ministries. What does this mean—-a ton of children. At conference we had 19 children, 14 of which who were 5 or younger. A big thank you to Sarah Wegemer who came with us to conference and was a huge help with our Reign kids conference.
-After game planning with a few creative minds at conference, I am now currently working on putting together an audio database for Royal Servants. The idea is based loosely on the website: www.storycorps.org, which is a really cool website (check it out!). In short, I want to get short 1 to 2 minute audio clips of amazing ways that God worked through students during their summers with Royal Servants.
-Stephenie and I are in the midst of figuring out where we are headed next summer with Royal Servants. Time is definitely an issue as we need to nail this down as soon as possible in order for RS to start advertising and promoting next summers trips. Our first choice was Africa, but we are mulling this over with the fact that we have a young one on the way. The other locations we are looking into is India and possibly going back to Ukraine/Romania. We would love your input.
This is kind of random, but I recently came across this again and almost crapped my pants I laughed so hard. You must watch this!!!!
Well, the results from the poll in our last posting was overwhelmingly in favor of us heading to India with our Royal Servants team this summer. 58% of you, in fact, voted for India. And wouldn’t you know it, that is just where we are headed! Finally knowing where we are going this summer induces a big sigh of relief from Steph and I and now we can get down to the fun part–looking ahead to this new destination!
But I think the coolest thing about choosing India is that we will be using almost primarily Oak Hills contacts for our Indian ministry partners! One of those contacts who is already involved in helping us set things up is Michael (& Sarah) Jackson. We are also exploring Indian contacts with another Oakhillian, Tim Hooey! So this is definitly a family affair and one we are excited about.
I (Travis) will be heading out to Dehli with Tom Ives, the director of Royal Servants on the first week of December to check things out, set proper ligistics up, and meet mith potential ministry partners. Please pray for this trip that it will be fruitful and a great time of connection.
Below is a copy of a survey taken by 90 or so parents of Royal Servants from this last summer. It contains a bunch of interesting information and positive encouragement for our ministry. Plus, I recognize how boring it must be to hear me constantly toot the Royal Servants horn, and how much more interesting it would be to hear from others who have experienced the ministry first hand. Just keep clicking the images until they are big enough to read.
Tomorrow I will board three different planes on my way to Delhi, India. Once there, we (me and Tom Ives, the director of Royal Servants) will be staying with some friends from Oak Hills for eight days. Those eight days will be filled with us meeting with contacts, checking out potential places for our group to stay, and doing a little sight-seeing as well. The flights themselves will be extremely long but I have a history based book that is 500 pages long so I should be set. Northwest airlines!–Yuck!
Please pray for us that:
A) The food doesn’t kill me
B) Travel is smooth and uneventful
C) We very smoothly and easily are able to set up work and accommodations that will make a trip this summer practical.
I will try to post some pics of my trip along with some potentially hilarious culture clash stories.
I must preface these stories by first saying that I had a very productive and rich trip to India. Michael and Sarah Jackson were incredibly gracious hosts and Tom and I were able to accomplish quite a bit in preparation for our team this upcoming summer. I found India to be, if nothing else, fascinating. It is a country full of people, poverty, and color. It was hands down the dirtiest place I have visited, but oddly that aspect didn’t overwhelm the experience or overpower the qualities this country contains. Although I have a feeling it would be a deal breaker for my nana!
Story #1
During our few first days in Delhi we were carted around town by Michael to meet with various potential ministry partners. And I must say that I was thoroughly amazed and impressed by Michael’s ability to drive in this city. From a western eye, the vehicles there appear to be involved in a giant game of bumper cars. Cars and motorcycles come from all directions, merge at impossible angles at brisk speeds, all the while interspersed with donkeys, packs of cows, sleeping dogs, camels, and an occasional elephant. It is the most chaotic driving experience you can imagine. And the honking, it is constant! It is done, however, without anger, for a hundred different reasons. It was like listening to a symphony of horns, albeit a symphony that makes your ears bleed. Funny side note, the Indian government is actually running a public campaign to stop the incessant honking. One roadside sign I saw in Delhi said, very plainly, “Stop Honking.”
After a few days of being carted around, Tom and I decided to break out on our own to see if we could traverse Delhi on our own merits. So we made a plan, grabbed a map, and set out one day to visit the city center. Going out on our own meant taking the Delhi Metro, the Indian version of the tube in London. At first, I was very impressed with this Metro, as it appeared very new and surprisingly clean. And the ride itself was not bad at all. It wasn’t all that packed and we made the trip in a brisk 45 minutes.
Tom and I then spent the day trampsing all over the place getting familiar with the city, and the multitude of incessant beggars and merchants. And after a dinner at KFC (I know, I know, but we didn’t want to get sick!) we headed for the metro station to head back to Michael and Sarah’s. After buying our tickets and heading for the train I spotted it something disturbing out of the corner of my eye. What I spotted was the line for our train, snaking all over the huge waiting area. Now, long lines in foreign countries for public transportation are nothing unusual, so Tom and I got in line without much of a second thought. We surmised, by the look of the line, that it would be at least a couple of trains before we would be able to board. The Metro then pulled into the station and the first thing we noticed was how packed it was. Once the doors opened, a mass of humanity seemed to uncontrollably lurch out in a very quick and steady flow, like a dam bursting. And then the massive flow of humanity in front of us began to flow in the opposite direction creating a bit of a chaotic shovefest in front of the doors as people crammed onto an already crammed car. And the cramming just never stopped as the entire snake of people somehow magically made their way into the car until Tom and I made our way to the front of the line. Now, in hindsight and with more experience, we would learn to stop at this point and wait for the next car, but on this day we were not so smart. So we bounded on the train and entered what felt to be a meat grinder of sorts. Words cannot do justice to how claustrophobic this experience was. I was so crammed in this car that I could not reach my pockets with my hands (which were clinging to the roof in a failed attempt to gain leverage). Many times during the ride I would flow to other parts of the car not on my own accord, but because the amoeba of humans I was attached forced my movements. It was the longest hour of my life. And yes it took 15 minutes longer on this trip because it took forever to get everybody crammed in at every stop.
One stop in particular, will be seared into memory for the rest of my life. You see, it was hot in this car, crazy stinking hot! My face had turned a deep red and my side burns turned wet with sweat. And every time the train stopped, the small air flow that did exist would disappear and the air would immediately deaden. Well, on this particular stop, they had trouble getting everyone on board, so we sat at a dead stop for a good seven minutes. Now, seven minutes in itself isn’t all that bad. But when you feel like your head may pop off because it is reaching magma-like levels, seven minutes feels like an eternity in a cruel hell. Or if you are like me, it feels like spending one minute in a craft store. But God is merciful and good, and the train lurched forward again and we proceeded to the next stop. Now, in normal circumstances Tom and I would have gotten a good laugh from this, but the only time I saw Tom the whole ride was when we first entered the car. Because of the crush and pushing and jostling, we flowed in opposite directions and were unable to even see each other. Finally we plopped off the train and made our way out of the craziest subway I have ever been on. Call me a whiner or dramatic if you must but this experience was crazy-go-nuts!
So bear with me as this posting will be on the weighty side. Mostly because of the funny stuff at the bottom but regardless lets get begin.
Our India trip for this summer is coming together. We have confirmed that we will be working with a Christian school and hospital in the North of India, right smack on the Nepali border. This sounds like a great opportunity for us as we will basically be running the school, (which has 800 students) for two weeks. We will use a Biblically based cirriculum and have ample opportunity to build relationships and share our faith with a student body that is only 1% Christian. The vast majority are Hindu with a smaller percentage Muslim.
The path to get to this school, however will be brutal as it will require a 15 1/2 hour flight and 20+ hour train ride! (ouch)
Also, we have gotten our first student sign-ups for the team! So far it looks a little XY chromosome heavy but that isn’t always such a bad thing. Heck, I’m used to it.
Spring Speaking Engagements
Here are the speaking gigs that are set up for the next couple months
Oak Hills-Jan 26
Jim Elliot High School Lodi-February 3
First Methodist Yuba City-February 11
First Baptist Elk Grove-February 21
Auburn Grace-February 21
Calvary Chapel Diamond Springs-February 24
Grace Community (Tempe, Arizona)-February 28
Family Bible Church (Chandler, Arizona)-Mar 3
Centarry Methodist Modesto-Mar 10
Redwood Chapel Castro Valley-Mar 14
First Baptist Davis-TBD
These are the ones I have at the moment, however, I am working a few others as we speak.
If you know of any church that you think would present a good opportunity for me to speak at and promote Royal Servants, let me know and I will chase it down.
Now for the funny extras:
You must check out this link, I found it yesterday and it had me belly laughing for quite some time. Guaranteed to make you laugh and lighten your day. 11 Most Painfully Obvious Newspaper Articles Ever
And lastly but certainly not least. Here is a thread of emails that I have been participating in for the last couple of days. It involves an item I sold on Ebay (in order to raise funds for audio project I am working on for RS). The item’s auction was won by an individual in Nigeria. I subsequently found out that it was indeed part of a scam from Nigerians attempting to steal items off of Ebay. I then canceled the deal and withheld sending the item. What followed was some hilarious follow up emails by this gentlemen in Nigeria threatening me with all kinds of stuff. However, the best email he sent was supposedly from the FBI and is below. Please note the horrific grammer and the hilarious yet random pictures of some federal buildings in DC. Why they are included these pictures in this email is beyond me but that is what makes it so rich in my opinion! My response follows his email and it is also worth reading. Enjoy!
Jovie is talking up a storm. Also singing up a storm. Last night on our way to meet with the college group of Oak Hills at It’s A Grind coffee shop, Jovie was singing into her hand (microphone) and demanding that I (Travis) sing along to a jibberish filled ab-libbed song. She continued singing all the way up to and into the coffee shop and which point we had to quiet her down because all the coffee shop nerds were staring confusingly at this little girl loudly singing into her clenched fist. Yes, proof that she is my daughter! We are also getting stoked for the baby to come and it is getting super close. Railey Claire is due on Easter Sunday, April 4!
As far as Royal Servants is concerned there is news on a couple fronts:
A) I have finally collected enough money to go ahead with my audio database project. The next step is to do some research and buy a quality digital audio recorder that has the proper bells and whistles.
B) I have entered into my crazy go nuts speaking part of the year where I am constantly on the go and speaking at youth groups. I spoke yesterday at a christian high school in Lodi and had an overwhelming amount of interest (awesome!) Next week, from Wednesday all the way to Sunday, we will be speaking in Yuba City at a missions conference.
C) India prep is coming along nicely, the only major thing left to nail down is accomodations for our debriefing (which is our last week over seas during the summer). So far, our first choice rather rudely turned us down, but we still have a list of locales to work through.
D) We have had 17+ students pull applications off the web for our India team, and five of them have turned in their apps and are already in the preparation stage for the summer. This is a praise & a prayer request for more!
E) This one is rather interesting and I suspect God is behind all of it. I was preparing to take a trip to Arizona once again this year to speak at a few churches. Problem is, as I have been diligently chasing down leads in the last couple of months, nothing has seemed to be work. Every youth pastor I talked too turned me down, and even the churches I have spoken at in the past had weird scheduling conflicts that popped up. I found this whole process really frustrating and puzzling. My recruiting in this area (Sacramento) has gone much smoother and hasn’t had near as many obstacles. But after I received a phone call from my dad today, the mystery just may have been solved. My dad asked me if I was willing to speak with him about an important topic at the Oak Hills Men’s Retreat in March. Originally, I didn’t think I was going to be able to go to the retreat due to my Arizona trip. However the day before my dad called, all the remaining wheels for the Arizona trip finally fell apart. Coincidental timing? Perhaps, but I suspect God has his mittens all over this. I still am praying about speaking with my dad at the retreat, but I can’t help but chuckle at the timing of it all.
Lastly, on to the funny stuff.
Here is a classic clip that I think most will find very funny. The fall itself is very scary and at first it might not be that funny to you, but she did not get seriously hurt (I checked on it) and what I find so funny (as does Marissa Jestice, who turned me on to this) is the noises she makes and how calm and sardonically rich the reaction from the anchors is!) I also am required to mention that Stephenie does not think this is funny.
And here is the last bit of email interaction I had with the fraud attempters from Nigeria. It also is rich! (Click on it to view)
Here are the newest developments on the Royal Servants front:
1) In the last three weeks I have had the opporunity to speak at the following places:
First United Methodist Yuba City-I got to give the sermon at a tiny church in rural Yuba City. They asked me if I wanted to speak from their raised pulpit and I declined-and am still kicking myself for this.
Jim Elliot Christian School Lodi-My powerpoint didn’t work and I forgot to bring the promo DVD, so it was a bit off the cuff. But it also ended with the most interest I have ever had!
First Baptist Elk Grove-Spoke to 200+ students on a Sunday morning.
Calvary Chapel, Diamond Springs-Brought my nephew Zach along and also met up with a young woman who traveled with our Ireland Team last summer.
Cornerstone Church Yuba City-100+ students and hands down the most incredible music/worship I have heard live!
I have a few more speaking engagments coming up in the next couple weeks in the area.
2) Our India team is forming—Current numbers stand at 31 apps downloaded and 13 apps turned in!
3) India Planning—We just figured out our accomodations for our debriefing period in Delhi as we will be staying at a Catholic retreat center 20 minutes outside of the city centre. This is a great place for our team as it is quiet, nice and safe. Plus it requires a crazy/scary/really fun rickshaw ride to get into the heart of the city.
Pray for: More students, speaking gigs, and baby coming!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You Probably have already seen this, but it is awesome!!!!!
Steph and I went to the doctor today for her regular checkup. Our doctor had us to do a quick ultrasound and we found out that Railey is currently breach. Breach means that she is laying in the feet first position. They are going to bring us in tomorrow to the hospital tomorrow and attempt to rotate Railey to the head first position. Stephenie is really nervous about this procedure because it will require her to have an IV. This procedure also has the potential to be a painful for so please consider her in prayer tomorrow at noon!
We are only twelve days away from the due date, which happens to be Easter. I would prefer the baby come today, but I know that Steph is hoping she will come after Easter. We are (I say we like it is both of us who will be squeezing out a grapefruit!) yet again having this baby natural as Stephenie has a very healthy fear of needles. I was in awe of Steph during Jovie’s birth for how stinkin tough she is!
The countdown has begun. Oh boy, here we go!
This just became real.
I will update the results of the rotation attempt tomorrow right afterward.
Today Steph and I went to the hospital to see if our doctor could get Railey rotated from the breach position to the proper one. After hooking up an IV, the doctor took all of thirty seconds to spin Railey. It looked like she was doing a deep tissue massage maneuver with her hands. I think the speed at which Railey spun around suprised the doctor as she exclaimed “I love your Uterus!” (You don’t hear that everyday!)
So all is well as we just now arrived home. Now, it is waiting time for D-day!
We just returned home from a visit to the doctor’s office where we learned that Railey is in fact no longer breach! This is great news and means that now we can settle in to the waiting period without an eminent fear of a C-section for Steph.
There is just a little dilation at this point, but Steph did have some contractions last night so at least there is something going on.
I think I worded my last email a little funny unknowingly so if you believed that Steph was already in labor I apologize. I will send word the second we hit the hospital!
Anybody have any suggestions for inducing labor????
Last night at 7pm Railey was born. She weighed in at a big 8 pounds and 9 ounces with a length of 18.5 inches. She is a cute little chubbers.
Stephenie was once again amazing as she gave birth sans any medication. We arrived at the hospital at 11:30am yesterday which means she was in hard labor for about 5 1/2 hours. I could not be more proud of her for how strong and amazing of an individual she is.
Today is Railey’s two-week birthday. She is so old.
Everything has being going surprisingly smoothly since we brought her home from the hospital. She has slept soundly at night, and hasn’t even cried much when waking up for food. As far as everything else is concerned, it hasn’t been much of a problem as Steph is on maternity leave and I have been doing most of my work from home these last two weeks. This is all, however, one big rehearsal for the real challenge coming up in less than two months–Training Camp! There we will live in a small tent on a hot, humid hayfield for three weeks. Steph and I will be sleeping on a big cot and air mattress, Jovie will be on her own little air mattress, and Railey will be sleeping in this little pod/tent thing we got for her. All I can say is that it promises to be interesting.
Here are some new pics of Railey:
Subletters!!!!!!!!!!!Hoo-ray, we have found sub-letters! Angela Lopez and Ashley Louen will be taking up residence at our house for the months of June and July. Needless to say, this is great for us and makes things so much easier and smoother with our travels. We hope they have a great summer in our house and don’t get too annoyed with our co-dependent, slightly mentally challenged cat Peanutbutter!
Last year I had a very ambitious ideas to find someone to pray for each of the student’s on our team. The idea was great, but I very sillilly had plans of sending each prayer partner updates often on how their student was doing throughout the summer. I quickly found out once I arrived at training camp that this was a crazy impossibility and would take way too much time. But the core of the idea itself-to cover our students in prayer and personalize the experience between our Royal Servants team and our support team back home-is a great one and we want to continue it this year, albeit in an amended form.
Therefore, I am looking for 25 to 30 people who would like/be willing to pray for one student from our upcoming team on a daily basis for the six weeks they will be with our team. A summer with Royal Servants is a time that God really uses to form and challenge students and it is a really good thing to know that they are being lifted up to the Father in prayer during their time with us. If you are willing, let me know via email or this blog, and I will zip you the name of a student from our team.
Thanks!
One last random thing- A must read!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The other day Steph and I were in the car on a sunny morning motoring around Folsom. The conversation was light and not particular memorable . But then a funny thing happened as Steph asked me a question. But not just an average, everyday question. No, this question was hands down the most random that she has ever asked me. And perhaps the most random the world has ever known.
Steph: Do you know what city has a suprising amount of tulips?
Travis: No, which one? (followed by a pause when it registered to me just how unique the question was)
Steph: Minneapolis, they have a ton.
Travis: (laughing) Honestly, I cannot think of another question in the history of questions in which I would be less interested in knowing the answer.
Summer–It is coming up fast, I mean really fast. I (Travis) am 15 days away from leaving while Steph and the girls are 27 days away from leaving. Which means that we are in crazy mode right now trying to get ready to leave. Not only do we have all the details of leaving our home for two months floating around but we are also concurrently trying to button up our plans for India.
Here are some current fast facts!
-We will be at training camp until July 5
-We will be overseas until July 31st
-Our team has 25 students (21 girls!)
-Our flight from Chicago to Delhi=15 hours, train ride from Delhi to Raxual=24 hours
-Railey has a passport!!!
-This will be Stephenie’s 11th summer traveling with a Royal Servants team, Travis’ 5th
Gearing Up-We have a few items that we need to procure in preparation for living one month on a hay-field at training camp and one month in India. Before we purchase these items, we thought we’d ask if anyone had any that they would be willing to lend to us for the summer. It’s good stewardship and Stephenie tells me it’s green. We need:
4 rubber made bins
children’s DVDs (that you might be sick of, esp. Cinderella, Bug’s Life, Peter Pan, etc…)
Tomorrow morning at 6:18am I fly for Chicago and training camp. I will arive and spend eight days there before Stephenie and the girls join me on the 12th. While I am excited about seeing all of our Reign family, I will also miss my girls terribly this next week. I will keep this blog updated as often as I can while I am at training camp with pictures!
Pray for traveling mercies for me and here we go………………………………………….
We have just finished our second full day of staff week at training camp. It is so great to reconnect with all the staff members that I see only twice a year. Our time so far has been marked by a lot of work and laughter. We are in the process of setting up the field for the hundreds of students who will soon be on their way here. The only bummer in the last few days has been the absence of my family, who I already miss a tremendous amount.
Here is a video of me taking a spill while participating in the tradition of throwing ropes over the frame of our big meeting tent. I hope you enjoy!
I have now been at training camp outside of Lewistown, Ill for one week. I am currently close to giddy as I am looking forward to making the drive into Chicago tomorrow to pick up my wife and girls.
It has been a good week.
We really are a family here at training camp and it is a place of great fellowship. I love being part of a group so devoted to the cause of expanding the kingdom of God in and through the lives of teenagers. We have a lot of work ahead of us in the next six weeks and here we go..
Below are some pictures from this last week as we have been preparing the field.
This Blog was from a few days ago, but my computer cord died and I am just now getting it up.
Last night we had a big storm roll through training camp. There was just a ton of water dumped down on us and all sorts of lightning and thunder. It was kind of fun though as Steph, Jovie, and I lay on our air mattress and listened to the dumpage on our tent (Railey was cluelessly asleep in her bouncer). There was also an occasional lightning bug that lit its butt right outside our tent and prompted Jovie to point and giggle. To give you an idea of how loud the rain was, we had to yell just to understand each other even though we were right next to each other. And thank goodness we were able to stay dry even though the rain lasted over four hours!
Our d-group leaders arrived at camp on Saturday right around dinner time. They are once again a great group and we’ve had loads of fun doing leadership development teachings and activities, preparing them for their discipleship role with their students. Everything has kicked into student mode and we are now living on a tight schedule. Basically everything up to this point was preparing us for their arrival when our roles as team leaders are actualized. This coming Saturday the students arrive, and things kick into even higher gear. Pray for students who are in transit to us now and are undoubtedly nervous as all get out.
The girls
So far, so good. After a couple of somewhat uneven first days of sleeping patterns, we have settled into a nice rhythm. Jovie loves her time on the field so far. She spends all of her time outdoors searching for frogs, playing with her friend Abby, trying to attack flies, swinging, riding in her wagon, and getting boat loads of attention from everyone here. She does miss home, though, as she often says that she wants to visit Nonny, and Poppy, Nana and Poppop, and Molly, and K-K! And speaking of attention, Railey is a minor celebrity here as the opportunity to hold her is fought over. She is doing great though, even started sleeping through the night!!! It is getting hot here, however, in the last couple of days, so pray for their safety and that the heat remains manageable.
This morning we woke up at training camp with the task of taking down everything in preparation of leaving tomorrow. What usually is a long, difficult task was made all the more complicated by the fact that a storm was due to roll in by mid day. A storm would mean that all the tents and tarps, and equipment would get wet and then have to be dried out by the time we left. And with our bus leaving here at 7am in the morning, we simply couldn’t afford to have a storm. The threat of that storm sent all 400 of us on the field in to a focused energy tornado as we amazingly buzzed around the field helping each other take down the entire camp by 10:30am!!! What usually takes us about 12 hours took us only 3! It was amazing to see how engaged every single person was at the same time. And after all of that, guess what, no storm ever rolled though.
I must apologize for how long it has been since I have updated this blog. This summer has been so time challenging for us as we have been running our team while also parenting our two young gals. It has been crazy, crazy busy for us, to the point that we are looking forward to getting overseas, settling in, and finally able to take a deep breath. It has been overwhelming at times, but God is good and He brought it through us and blessed along the way as He always does. Instead of walking you through this entire last week, I thought I would bullet point some of the highlights (they will be random and all over the place) followed with a bunch of videos:
Our team is weird!-In a awesome way. I have seldom been around a group who is so diverse and different from each other. It’s kinda cool. What a strange group of people! 27 girls and 6 guys!!!!
Katie Albert surprised us the other day and stopped by training camp to say hello! She happened to be in the neighborhood.
We have a lot of students who have a lot of hurt and pain in their pasts. Pray for God to heal them and give them freedom this summer.
People here at TC are amazed with Railey, she just might be the most laid back and relaxed baby I have ever seen.
Delhi is hot right now, with every day going well north of 100 degrees, pray for our protection from the dangers that the weather brings.
Stephenie spoke a few days ago to the entire camp about forgiveness, while I got to lead the camp in our commissioning service last night.
Last year at TC was so hot it was unbearable at times, this year-actually cold!!! Our highs for this week have been 77, 81, 80, 79, 84–quite simply the best weather we have ever had here. And this after last week we were evacuated 8 times including 2 tornado warnings. This week-0 evacs!
We fly tomorrow night at 7:20pm and our flight is direct. 15 hours later we will touch down in Delhi, and the local time will be 8:35pm, Tuesday.
One of the highlights of my week was one of our students, Ani, out of nowhere busted out and started rapping as the time gathered around here and laid down a beat. It was out of left field but very awesome.
We shared the other night as a team all the ways God has been at work this week, and the response we got from students was awesome, there has been a lot of growth this week and God is doing His thing.
Sarah Wegemer is the greatest nanny of all time! She is doing great and is so good with the girls, we are blessed to have her.
Zach Alder, my nephew, left with the Nehemiah team to fly overseas early this morning. He was really excited as I was for him.
I love you all and can’t wait to see you when we get back home on the 31st. Please pray for us and lift us up to the Father. We will hopefully be able to update this blog much more once we get overseas. And away we go……..
It has been a long time since I was able to post anything. My apologies to those who don’t or aren’t able to follow the blog on Reignministries.org. India was very difficult to get internet access in, especially the place we were located. I felt the need to update you all always weighing on me in the back of my brain, but it just wasn’t possible. Simply put, it has been a crazy couple of months full of stress and awesomeness combined. But a whirlwind for sure and we are just starting now to decompress and reflect back.
Our time in India was both memorable and rich. Yet again, we experienced a summer of young people growing in their faith in front of our eyes. It is always hard to look back and sum up all that went into spending two whole months with a group of people, but I will try nonetheless as both Steph and I will post some reflections on this blog in the next couple of weeks.
For those of you who are curious here is a quick recap of our time in India:
First two days (July 6th to 8th) we spent in an old part of Delhi called Pahar Gange where we spent our time in a hotel acclimitizing and adjusting to the new time zone (12 &1/2 hours ahead!) The highlight of this time was when we took walking tours of Old Delhi and our students were overwhelmed with the poverty and craziness that they saw.
Next two days (July 8th & 9th) spent on a train heading to the state of Bihar in Eastern India. The ride was a whopping 24 hours long and quite a cultural experience. We each had a bed to sleep on, which was nice, although you had to get over the cockroaches dancing on the walls if you wanted to get some rest!
Next sixteen days (July 9th to 25th) spent living at the Duncan Academy and hospital compound in Raxual, Bihar which lies directly on the border of Nepal. During this time we facilitated a Vacation Bible School for the young people of Duncan Academy as well as visiting and doing ministry in local villages, and a leprosy colony. Other ministry opportunities included leading devotionals and afternoon activities with children from a hostel each day as well as leading a church service in English one Sunday.
Next five days (July 26th to 31st) spent in Southern Delhi for our time of debriefing. Here the students decompress and recive teachings on how to reflect not only on everything that God taught them throughout the summer but also to prepare ofr going home.
That is a basic rough outline of our summer with many great stories and amazing God moments that fill in all the details to follow. Below to fill in some of those gaps are is an update I just wrote that reflects back on the entire summer:
Well, the dust has settled. The train rides are over, the crazy rickshaw rides and coach rides are past memories. The mad dash to get home and put all of our students on their connections and headed home is settled and done. And the realization that we are home has now fully sunken in. We are no longer sweating record levels and consuming copius amounts of delicious curry! We are no longer witnessing bulls walk right through the middle of the most chaotic traffic you can imagine. We are no longer watching a monkey jump up and practically give Erin Bidwell a heart attack as she gazes out the window of our bus. And we are no longer taking daily cups of homemade chai.
To be honest, this summer was really a lot of fun. India is such a fascinating place. Trying to describe it is a challenge because honestly it is so different than any other place I have ever been (and I’m confident the same holds true for our students). So in lieu of trying to capture it with what would most likely be boring paragraphs, I thought I would try to recap my top ten favorite moments/things about this summer/India, so here we go.
10. Watching one of our students, Ani, out of nowhere, rap the connecting with God booklet at training camp. Two things passed through all of our minds as she started rapping- A)We had no idea it was possible to rap the CWG and B)Man, Ani can lay it down!!!! You have to hear it to believe it.
9. On one of our last days in India, Matt Duval and Alex Grandjean payed 10 rupees (about 20 cents) each to have a monkey climb on their shoulders and mess with their hair. I don’t know what was funnier, the monkeys or how excited Matt and Alex were. And then the owners of said monkeys tried to extort Alex and Matt for 500 Rupees each!
8. Knowing that we would be facilitating a Vacation Bible School for young people while in India, we as a team during training camp planned out several Bible stories that we could share. One of them was the story of Shadrach, Mesach, and Abendengo being thrown into the fiery furnace from the book of Daniel. The main theme of that story was that there is only one true God that we are to worship. We had no idea how powerful of a message this would be in India until we got there. The Hindu culture is one of hundreds of God (which Jesus is just one of many), so to see how God worked through our students through this story was amazing. And as we already wrote about, several Indian students responded that their desire was to follow the one true God! How awesome is that-God is good.
7. Every night in India, one of our students got the opportunity to share the Word and speak at a devotional time in front of the students who lived at the hostel on the grounds of the school where we were working. It was really fun to see each student share their faith from their own unique perspective and to realize the impact that their example and words had and will continue to have on the young people from the hostel.
6. During a prayer time one night right before the students headed to bed, one of our senior staff, Alex Grandjean, unintentionally prayed something that sent us all into hysterics and completely dissolved our prayer time. He said “Lord, we came to serve this summer, but we got served.”
5. After braving the Old Delhi train station and finally making it to our train platform, several of our students found it rather funny that the only spot on me that wasn’t dark with sweat was the breast pocket on my button up shirt. I was then donned “two-toned Travis” for how often I sweat through my shirts (which happened about once every 3.5 seconds).
4. Watching some of our students on our team love on the street kids in a shopping plaza in Delhi. These street kids are ignored and forgotten and never touched by anyone. So to see our students smile at them, speak with them, buy them ice cream, and hold them was truly an amazing example of Christ’s love.
3. The wife of the principal of the school where we were serving, Victoria, was in charge of all of are meals while we were at Duncan Academy. Now, while the meals were awesome and she really became like a mother to all of us, I will always remember her for how gaga she went over our daughter Railey. Every chance she got, she would cart Railey around the room with a big smile on her face.
2. During our VBS with the older students of Duncan Academy, each of our students led a group where they facilitated discussions about Jesus and the Good News. It was awesome to see how courageous and willing our students were to share their faith.
1. Roof top worship times as we overlooked the city of Raxaul. Somehow these times helped sharpen our focus not only on our big God who is doing big things among this community, but also on the people who are in desperate need of him. It was powerful to walk away from these, clear about why were we there and who we came to serve.
Thanks again to our students who were awesome and to our newfound friends and fellow believers at Duncan Academy!
I just recently got back from Minnesota where we had our annual staff conference for Reign Ministries. As always it was a good time as we told stories about our summers overseas and game planned for this upcoming year. I always come home from conference fired up for the upcoming months of recruiting and preperation for next summer.
One thing we did while at conference was travel to our new training camp site just outside of Portage Wisconsin. We now own 80 acres there and are furiously in the process of preparing it to take over as the training camp site for this upcoming summer. So far that has included tons of work clearing fields and building with tons of work (and building) still to be done. Below are some pictures–exciting!!
Listen to Student Testimonies Page above-I posted three stories told by Royal Servants alumni! Check it out. The links to the right-Check em out, good stuff. Especially Travis Videos–some funny stuff in there. Twitter feeds to the right–displaying twitter feeds from Reign Ministries and my own personal tweets. Flickr feed from the Reign Ministries account–full of awesome pics.
Our Community Group is Over
We recently took part in a small group with 5 other couples where we each gave something up for three months and then had to rely on the other couples for what we gave up. Sounds confusing, doesn’t it? For example, Steph and I gave up our washing machine and we not able to do our own laundry from August to November. Instead, we had to do our laundry at the houses of the other couples or drop it off for them to do. Before you applaud us for how hard core this was, more props must go to our friends the Hooeys, who gave up their cars for the three months. The group itself was a very interesting and formational group. It stretched us spiritually and made us realize just how little we rely on others to fill our needs (and are the worse for it). But I must say…it sure is good to have our washing machine and dryer back!
Lords Land 2010! A couple weeks ago Steph and I spoke at the retreat for the high school youth group at Oak Hills. We get to do this retreat every year at the awesome Lord’s Land Retreat Center in Mendocino. It happens to be where we married and is always awesome to visit. We spoke on the topic of spiritual anatomy. I (Travis) spoke on the mind and the importance of what we put into it as well as the feet and challenging the youngsters on who they follow. Steph spoke on the power of the tongue to bring life and death as well as the heart, the importance of it and how our life flows from it. All in all, it was a good trip and really fun to be around a good group of young people.
Steph The Sermonizer! This past weekend Stephenie had the opportunity of giving the message at Oak Hills. She spoke on the reckless joy of the incarnation and she was awesome! I am pretty proud of how studly she is. Funny note–In her message she included the joke “the salmon of capistrano”– which was a quote from the movie Dumb and Dumber. However, no one got the reference and the majority of the crowd was left baffled as to why the reference wasn’t the swallows of Capistrano instead. I can’t tell you how many people came up to us after the service to let us know that the reference was incorrect. Pretty funny! (I guess Steph is a regular Andy Kaufman!) Here is a link to listen to her messageRECKLESS JOY
It’s A Wonderful Life Last night at Cappuccino Christmas, an annual woman’s event at Oak Hills, I got to play George Bailey in a radio version of the classic It’s A Wonderful Life. It was a ton of fun and allowed me to attempt to impersonate good ole James Stewart, one of my favorite actors of all time.
Recruiting for summer 2011 Well, I am already off and running with recruiting for this upcoming summer with Royal Servants. I am currently in the midst of setting up my speaking calendar and meeting with local youth pastors. If you have any connections to local youth groups, let me know as I am always looking to expand my recruiting base and expose as many young people as possible to the awesome opportunity that is Royal Servants. I will post my speaking schedule as soon as it is solidified.
Jovie and the Toilet! Jovie is potty trained!!!! It has been a long time coming as we have attempted every trick in the book, but Jovie has finally done it. So weird to hear her go off on her own to the bathroom and do her business.
Pics
Video This is a random video, but I thought some of you would get a kick out of it. This is a guy going up to give his offering at his church. And don’t think if he offered to teach me how to do this that I wouldn’t do it. I love this guy!!!!!!
Recruiting–Well, we are deep into the recruiting process for this upcoming summer as I have been zipping all over Norcal meeting with youth pastors and speaking at youth groups and students have started downloading applications for our teams in earnest. Last week I had the privilege of speaking at Oak Hills and Calvary Chapel in Placerville, and this week I will be speaking at Centenary United Methodist in Modesto and Journey Church in Folsom. This is really the front end of the speaking season, so I will keep you all up to date on when and where I will be speaking. Please pray for me tonight as i travel to Modesto, that the students who attend the youth group tonight will have open hearts to the opportunity that Royal Servants presents to them in their walks with Christ.
New Website–Reign Ministries has completed a redesigned website and it is kick butt! Check out our profiles if you have a chance and bounce around the site, lots of really cool stuff. Click on the following link and scroll down to find Steph and I:
Staff Profiles
Family Update–The girls are doing great, Railey is now 9 months old and her personality is blossoming. She loves to laugh and talk in her own language and she is starting to stand on her own for anywhere from 1 to 4 seconds. Jovie just turned 3 years old and is one spunky/creative girl. She lives a in a crazy imaginary world. My favorite is when she pretends to be a girl named Kelly Sketcher (she made it up, don’t ask me!) and I play the character Doo-dah. She can go for hours as a character and don’t dare call her Jovie when she does. Below are some pictures of them from the holiday season. And below the pics is a funny video I thought you might all enjoy of a Chinese track athlete getting a little frustrated while hurdling (so funny!!)
I love how this guy is like ‘forget it, I’m just gonna bust through these!’
Important Meeting this Friday This is from an email a Reign staff member (Darla Hanson) about an important meeting that will take place today which will have a big impact on future training camps and how we do things in Royal Servants:
PRAYER NEEDED: On Friday I’ll (Darla) be helping with a crucial meeting between Reign Ministries and the WI Health Dept. This will determine what regulations we need to meet to be licensed in WI. It’s could green light our New Training Camp or send us back to the drawing board with very costly (tens of 1,000s of $ worth) delays. We want to honor the authority over us yet stay true to our program God has given us.
Tom, Margaret and I will be going and meeting in Madison at the Health Department from 1 to 2:30. (Central, 11 to 12:20 Pacific) Right now!
Basically, in a nut shell, because we are moving our training camp from IL to WI, we are dealing with county/health codes that could potentially force us to alter how we run our training camps. Everything we do at training camp has intentional purpose behind it and is important in the preparation process for our students. Please pray for the meeting this Friday, that the Lord will provide a way through the red tape and difficulties.
I am currently in the thick of recruiting for this upcoming summer (it feels funny to think about summer when it is down-pouring outside), and I will post an update on that in the next few days.
PRAISE THE LORD!! The meeting went so well. They were VERY impressed with our presentation and we have been approved to go forward as an exception in relation to the regulations. This is incredible news!!
We are in desperate need of a nanny for this upcoming summer. Do you know of anyone who would be a good candidate? If so, send us a note and let us know. We are beginning to run up against it time wise and it is starting to occupy an unhealthy amount of our brains!
Below are a couple pictures we took recently as a family. And since we never take pics, I thought I would post a couple
This upcoming Saturday I will be speaking at the Men’s Breakfast at Oak Hills. Of course I will be speaking about Royal Servants among other things.
One last thing. On April 16th, we will be holding an informational meeting about Royal Servants at Oak Hills. If you are interested or know of a young person who might be interested for this summer or a future one, then visit this link: Royal Servants Meeting I would love to have a ton of people at this meeting.
The last couple weeks have been interesting to say the least when it comes to the preperation for the India team. To make a long story short, we are now planning to work with The Nehemiah Project in India, the ministry run by fellow Oakhillian Tim Hooey! We are so excited for this change in plans, and really feel that this is a God directed move. Here is the link to the official announcement from our ministry website: http://reignministries.org/newstream/7049/looking-for-an-adventure/
Also, here is a blooper reel of a video that my nephew Zach and I are putting together for the India team as they prepare for the summer. I will update you’all soon on the members of our team.
This Saturday at 1:30pm at Oak Hills Church in Folsom, I will be hosting an informational meeting about Royal Servants. These meetings are always a lot of fun for those who are preparing for trips this summer with Royal Servants, and for anyone who may be interested. It is a great opportunity to have all your questions answered, connect with other future Royals Servants, and see a wicked awesome packing demonstration. I highly recommend anyone who is joining a team this summer to attend, as you will leave equipped with a bunch of great info and ideas as you continue to prepare for your trip. Families are of course welcome, snacks and drinks will be provided! Here is the link to event, where you can also RSVP if you plan on attending: http://reignministries.org/newstream/6849/2011-royal-servants-information-meetings/
Just wanted to give everybody a heads up in our search for a nanny. And yes, we are still in the “search” phase and have not found anyone yet. We aren’t quite in panick mode, but we are really starting to come up against it.
However, we do have one young lady who is seriously considering it as we speak. Her and her parents are going to get back to us right after Easter. This is the most serious consideration we have had yet. Please pray for her in this decision. But pray that she decides YES!
Also, one of the obstacles for a nanny is the fact that they have to raise their own support. But we have been so encouraged by several of you who have mentioned to us that you would be willing to donate to a potential nanny. Therefore, we are going to set up a nanny fund with Reign that anyone can donate too. Thank you so much in advance! If you are interested in doing that-shoot me a quick email @ carrtc@gmail.com and I will give the information and link on how to do that. We have an awesome support team!
We will keep everyone posted.
Meanwhile, preperation for India has been furious as of late, and I just recently got word that I will be heading out to training camp on May 14th this year, three weeks earlier than usual. This is due to the fact that we will be working hard to get our new training camp field ready. Plus, on top of that, we have decided to move out of our house at the end of May and move into a new house when we return in the early fall. So needless to say, things are a bit crazy right now. Pray for our sanity!
1) We have found a nanny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Her name is Emily and she is a friend of a friend from our area. We are so thankful that God has provided us with such a quality young person to serve with us this summer. Thank you for all of your support and prayers throughout this process.
2) I will not be heading to training camp until June 4th (instead of May 14th). Now, this comes on the heels of a bit of bad news as a delay in construction will not allow us to move to our new training camp this summer. This is a bummer but the upside is that I will get to stick around here longer and we will have a bit more time for our upcoming move. When we got this news on Friday, it actually was a big stress reliever for both of us.
3) I ran my first marathon Sunday up by Eureka in Northern, Northern California. It is called the Avenue of the Giants Marathon and we ran it through the redwoods! Next to Dominica, it is the most beautiful place I have ever been. My goal was to finish under four hours—I finished in 4 hours and 52 seconds. This was bitterly disappointing for me at first, but could not take away how much fun I had in the whole training process, and how much of a blast the actual race was. And yes, it was painful, very painful. In fact, right after I finished I was in such bad shape that an older gentlemen came up to me and pointed out where the first aid tent was!!! I literally could barely walk.
4) The Kings are staying in Sacramento!
Here is a video I made for the India team as kind of a stress reliever and team builder as we prepare for the summer, enjoy!!!
So I am pretty dang bone tired as I write this update. We have spent the past two weeks in a whirlwind of activity as we have A)moved out of our house of the last four years and packed all of our stuff into a POD and B)Prepared to leave for our two months with Royal Servants in Illinois and then India. For those of you wondering, the reason we have moved out of our house is that we will be moving into the Holcomb’s house upon returning from India. But we are sad to move out of our house of the last four years. It has been such a great house full of such wonderful memories of our family at it’s earliest stage. And we could not have had greater landlords. They were such a blessing and encouragement to us.
Tomorrow we get up early in the morning and head to the airport for another summer with Royal Servants. What’s funny is how melancholy I get every year at this point. It is hard to leave home, leave our family and friends and church. And it is hard to pack our lives up every year to spend our summers half way around the world. There is a part of me every year that says, “What are we doing? Are we nuts?.” In other words, we are not exactly overjoyed to leave home; we love it. And sometimes I wonder what all this transition does to or for our girls. It is easy to worry about them through the whole process.
But as hard as it is to leave home, the moment we get on the plane and finally take a deep breath and focus our attention on the summer ahead of us, we can’t help but get excited. And then, when we step off the plane and meet up with our fellow Reign Staff, it is like reuniting with this other home with our other family that we love dearly. And we think about the fellowship that we will experience and the front row seat we will have to what God wants to do in the lives of students and the ministries we partner with. So I guess all that to say, as hard as it is, it is worth it. And we feel lucky to do it.
So, here we go. Please pray for us this summer. Pray for our family that God would watch over and protect and that His grace would permeate our relationships and help strengthen us in challenging and stressful times. Pray for our team and the young people who are nervous but excited about seeking God this summer. Pray for the weather at training camp in Illinois, that the storms that have been whipping through the Midwest will avoid us. Pray for traveling mercies and smooth transitions. Pray for the continuing communication and work between us and our ministry partners in India as we continue to set up our trip and details are still to be ironed out.
You all are a great support team for us. It really means a lot that we know you are praying for us and thinking about us over the summer. So many of you have already been helping us in various ways up to get to this point. We just want you to know how thankful we are for you and how important you are to us and what an important role you play for us while we gone.
And a side note–if you happen to get the urge to send us mail while we are at training camp (June 4th to July 3rd) here is the address: 14253 E. Epworth Springs Rd. Lewistown, Ill 61542. You know, like a note of encouragement or a pepperoni pizza or a note for our girls.
It has been a good week so far. The girls had a little bit of a rough transition as they struggled with the change to Central time and the massive amounts of bugs on the field, but are doing well now and performing like veterans. It was sad though on the second day that we were here when Railey fell head first into the trough area where we get our water. She got a nasty strawberry on her head but was in a phenomenal mood just 30 minutes later. Jovie, on the other hand, is having a ball. She loves all the attention she receives from everyone on staff here and is a constant ham. She did have a rough night however on Thursday when a big storm whipped overhead in the middle of the night. The thunder was so loud that you could feel it. Jovie instantly woke up and started to cry. So I quickly grabbed her and put her in bed with her mom who comforted her and sang her to sleep. I then went back to Railey’s crib as the worst of the storm whirrled outside and the lightning lit up our tent like a strobe light. I stood there waiting for her to wake up to one of the explosive (only way to describe it) thunderclaps. But miraculously she slept through it all, unaware it was even happening.
Steph: Tonight was an exciting night at camp as we had our first batch of students come in — the Nehemiah team (including our nephew Zach and Marissa Jestice – as well as alumni from both last years team and our Ukraine team). Our India team leadership is all here now as both of our assistant staff have arrived. As well as our NANNY! (Steph is ecstatic). We will spend this week training as a leadership team and the various roles we will serve in (finances, food, medical, logistics). Travis will be vision casting for the summer and what he hopes we will be able to accomplish with our students and summer staff, and we will be able to spend some time preparing ourselves for how God may want to use us.
Lastly — because we have brought it up a few times already — we wanted to give you an update on how God has been providing for Emily — she is currently $4070 out of the $4400 required for the trip! That is great! Thanks to many of you who helped her out.
Please pray for us as we spend this next week building into our leadership and preparing for the craziness that awaits us this next Saturday as our first round of students arrive here at training camp. Pray also that the storms of this area swing around us and allow us sleep and Jovie peace.
Below are some videos took tonight as the Nehemiah team arrived at training camp and some pictures of the girls from earlier in the week. Enjoy!
Hi everyone — I’ve never actually done a post by myself and I’m doing it without Travis’ help! Yay for me!
I’m doing finances for our team this summer (I know some of you from the Missional Living Team are rolling their eyes and chuckling sadistically right now — but I promise, I’ve done them before and the ministry has not gone under…). It is not the most fun role on the team, but it is important. I get to carry large quantities of USD on my person, exchange money in some pretty sketch hole in the wall kiosks in Delhi and then carry suitcases of bricks of rupies (the exchange rate is something like 44 rupies to 1 USD) to all the remote places of India we’ll be in. I get to oversee all of the student spending accounts, be their bank and teach them how to register their accounts (like a check book — and at this point my mom is rolling on the floor laughing at the absurdity of that thought) and I get to track all of our team spending, balance our team budget and pay for all of our food, lodging, transportation, supplies, and cultural experiences (Taj Mahal). Now I have heard that God doesn’t ask us to necessarily be able to do the things he has called us to, he just asks us to be available. Well, I’m available! So I have a couple toddlers in tow, that’s okay… So Travis is the world’s worst receipt keeper, no problem… So we have to travel with cash and not travelers checks because no one in India knows what a travelers check even is, no sweat… And so I haven’t been able to balance a check book since I was sixteen and even then it lasted all of a week or two when I got my first paycheck, we’re golden!
Also in the world of finances, today happens to be the day that all of our students have to have 0 balances in their accounts. They have put their time in support raising and this is it. Some happen to have met the mark exactly. Others are over funded and have to decide whether they want to reimburse some of their domestic expenses (flight to training camp, immunizations, visa cost, etc), keep it in an account for themselves or an immediate family member to use next summer, or give it to the team to help others who are still under funded. And still others are under funded and are making last minute support calls or talking to their family about how they are going to cover the remaining balance. It can be an emotional time for some of our students — some are overwhelmed by the out pouring of support they’ve received, while others are stressed that they took this step of faith to come this summer and are not sure how the money part is going to work out. Even so, it is surprisingly an exciting time. Every year we have one or two miracle stories about how God comes through right at the clincher to provide in amazing ways. I love the fact that as a ministry, we have never had to send a student home from Training camp for being underfunded. Somehow, Every year, God pulls through!
I do like this role. Thanks for letting me give you a little peak into one of the lesser known jobs that go into successfully leading a Royal Servants Team.
If you are still looking for a more specific way to donate to our ministry this summer, we’ve gathered up some of the personal costs we have going into the summer below. In order to give toward one of these, click on the link.
Diapers and Formula for 2 months: $160
Probiotics to ward against foreign bacteria: $70
Staff discipler encouragement gifts (to be given on emotionally exhausting days and including one trip to Dairy Queen while at TC): $61.06
Nanny extras (meals out with our family, other little treats here and there to thank her for her sacrifice this summer): $100
Misc Supplies (New headlamp, tot chair, tot rain boots, carabeeners, batteries, toiletries, etc): $80
Baggage (including extra baggage for Railey who doesn’t get her own bag since she is still a lap child – yet she is the one with all of the formuala, diapers, pack’n'play, etc!!!): $245
Once again, we really appreciate all of the love and support you offer us every year — this year is no exception! We’ve been so encouraged by the notes and packages you’ve sent us at training camp!
Much love to you all,
Steph (I did it! Now lets see if I can figure out how to post this thing…)
We are back home! We are in the midst of crazy jet lag fog at the moment so my brain is unable to complete the cognitive function required to give you a proper update. Plus, we have not had enough time to properly process it yet earlier. I will just say that it was perhaps our best summer yet with Royal Servants. We had a great team and great ministry partners which led to God doing some awesome things. I will send out a proper update soon, but in the meantime I thought I would post a bunch of videos and pictures. Plus, below the pictures I posted every update we sent out over the summer through the Reign website in chronological order in case you missed those. Enjoy! By the way we are attempting to take a much needed vacation next week to decompress and reconnect as a family. Do any of you have any great and CHEAP suggestions for us!? We thought we would use the power of group think!
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Travel & Delhi
BY STEPHENIE CARR ON JULY 8, 2011 » ADD MORE COMMENTS.
Our team arrived in Delhi after our flight was delayed for a few hours in O’Hare. The 13 hour flight was not bad! And the new Delhi airport was beautiful to walk through. Not an accurate first impression of the city! That night we boarded our bus and thankfully our driver found a way to drop us off at the door to our hotel–instead of at the Bus Depot which is a 10 minute walk from the hotel–which means we didn’t have to wrangle up a crew of rickshaw drivers and taxis to get our bags to our hotel. Thanks to all of you who prayed for traveling mercies! We got settled into bed and started our battle with jet lag–some of us wide awake at 3 in the morning!
Our transition day in Delhi was a powerful one as our team experienced their first taste of the culture. We were privileged to have a Royal Servants alumni from 1985 who is a full time “worker” in Delhi, and has been for the past 10 years with her husband and son, come and share with our team. They are in the process of starting up a after care home for under-aged girls being rescued from sex trafficking in Delhi. She shared with us the heart breaking statistics and stories of some of these girls–most of them trafficked by coercion and deceit from poor families who think they are sending their daughters off to good jobs in the cities only to have them sold into the sex trade and into bondage. It was a heartbreaking, yet powerful experience for our team to learn about the issue that is ravaging lives. We then got on rickshaws and rode through GB street–the “red light district” of Delhi and prayed for the girls we could see peering out of the windows, the men walking the streets who may be headed up to “see” one of these girls, the people who held them in bondage and we prayed that God would raise up rescuers, fighters, advocates, and care takers for these precious lives. Who knows, perhaps some on our team would answer the call themselves!
After an afternoon of studying Mark, re-packing our bags and fighting to stay awake until 9:00pm, we finally turned into bed so we could meet our coach at 5:00 the next morning and head back to the airport to catch our flight to Imphal, Manipur. Once we landed, we walked across the tarmac and into a one roomed arrivals hall where the customs consisted of two men sitting behind a small desk. They took our passports one by one and hand wrote all of our information, which for our group of 26 took at least an hour. Then we loaded up our bus and 1 jeep and started the 3 hour ride up long, winding one lane mountain roads to Ukhrul – our home for the next 3 weeks. We’ve been here for 2 days now and are now accustomed to the time (for the most part), the squatty potties, the 9:00am lunch time, the cold bucket showers, and the lack of electricity for the majority of the day and every other night.
Yesterday was our first day of VBS with the children of the Peniel Home–a home for AIDS orphans, 20 of them to be exact. They are precious and we are loving the chance to play with them, sing songs, learn names, tell Bible stories and have little dance parties! We look forward to the next few weeks of loving on them as we live and work with them, tutor them and share the love of our wonderful savior with them. We have found the staff (the “sisters,” “brothers,” and the “parents”) of the home to be incredible servants of our God and wonderful hosts to our team
A grand welcome
BY GRACE HORST ON JULY 15, 2011 » ADD MORE COMMENTS.
We got a wonderful message from Erin Bidwell, assistant on the India team, about their first experiences as they arrived in India.
This past week has been jam packed with many events. It has been a privilege to see our team grow through serving those around them. It has been a blessing working with our ministry partners and truly humbling to see how they serve with all that they are, and don’t regret one bit of it. Their sacrifice reaps the reward of seeing lives changed. They have been such a wonderful example for all of our students.
The day after we arrived in Urkul we began our ministry. It started with a VBS for the children at the orphanage we are staying at. However, in their home they are not called orphans but brothers and sisters or sons and daughters. As soon as they enter the home they are family. Our team split into three groups that lead different ages of children (preschool-1st grade, 2nd-5th and Youth.) With the younger students our team shared bible stories, taught them songs and games, and built relationships. It was such a joy to watch how the children warmed up to our students as the days went on. They continually got louder, laughed more and had bigger smiles on their faces as the days continued.
The students that lead the older youth were able to help in discipleship training. They taught them the Transferable Truth’s, shared their testimonies, and began to build relationships. The students came faced with powerful stories of how many of their youth struggle with the same issues that youth do in the States. Some also had the joy of seeing several students commit their lives to the Lord after sharing their testimonies and discussing freedom in Christ!
The next week we went to a local school to work with even more students. The first day was a cultural experience day, where the students at the school welcomed us in traditional dress and chanting. They then proceeded to to sing, dance, put on a fashion show displaying their traditional dances, and finally act out and tell of their great history. Honestly, I have never been a part of such a welcome on a Royal Servants trip before! It was such an honor and a humbling experience.
In the days that followed our team had to pull together as we had one evening to plan a program that lived up to the welcome that we had received. Our team were such troopers as they let their creative juices flow. We sung our national anthem, put on a skit our events in our history, and shared about the U.S. Then our student split up into three groups once again to work with 90-130 students. It was a blast to watch them lead English games, share their testimonies, teach songs and preform the skills (dance, drama, and puppets ) that they had learned at training camp. I was so proud of our team!
Yesterday was a blessing as well, we were able to hike a local mountain with some of the youth that have been working with us. Talk about a mountain top experience. It was BEAUTIFUL! We could not stop talking about the greatness of God as we took in the wonders of His creation. We were also able to share in a time of prayer on the top of this mountain as we prayed for unity in their local churches and that a youth revival would begin!
Tomorrow we will be heading to a local village to visit with locals and share in three different church services. It is exciting because this village has not seen a white person since WWII. Getting there will be a challenge so we are praying that it doesn’t rain. We look forward to sharing those adventure with you next time!
Seeking Every Opportunity
BY TRAVIS CARR ON JULY 20, 2011 » ADD MORE COMMENTS.
Wow! What a trip our India team is having. Each day seems like a brand new adventure where God takes us to unexpected places and shows us unexpected things! Today we had the privilege of visiting houses in small groups where families live who have been affected by AIDS. What a heartbreaking experience. In our group (which included Kayla Pilarski, Zach Cupery, Lati Schoomer, and myself), we visited a home where a family of four live. The two parents have AIDS while their two kids do not. Their house consisted of a small room with a mud floor and very little provisions. We listened to them tell us how they originally contracted the disease through the father’s drug use back in the 90′s. We listened to the them talk about how difficult their lives have been and how much prejudice they have encountered here because of this disease. We also listened to them talk about how their faith in God has grown through their painful experiences! I was so proud of our students, as we all decided to contribute enough rupees (India’s currency) in order for them to pay rent for one month. They were so grateful and we had a wonderful time of prayer as we prayed for God’s healing and blessing to come to their wonderful family. But it was also heartbreaking to think that their incredibly cute boys would soon be orphans. Many similar experiences were shared by the other members of our team as they visited with other families across Ukhrul. Many stories of incredible times of prayer and tears shed by both Royal Servants and the families they were praying with. The Holy Spirit was active as our team shared Christ and the love of God with these hurting people.
I can’t remember a summer of so much adventure and so many stories! God has blessed us in so many ways through the people here. This is a Christian area, but that is mostly a cultural distinction. Many of them struggle mightily with drugs and alcohol. Many of them also struggle with living out the faith they profess that they are culturally attached too. We have found that much of the work the Lord has for us here is to be encouraging the church to truly follow Jesus and live a life of action. There is also a youth culture here that is being sucked into the media of the west, and are becoming asleep to the Gospel and the Kingdom of God. All of this makes our presence here very important. With every school, church, and group that we visit it has been so encouraging and amazing to witness the fearless proclamation of Jesus that have come from the young people on this team. They have courageously stepped up in front of huge crowds and shared their testimonies and messages and dramas. They have sought opportunities to speak with small groups and individuals where they have shared scripture and stories of how the Lord has shaped them. For the youth and the adults of this culture to see young Americans so passionate about walking with Christ is having a major impact here. (Dynelle gave and sang a song in a church service the other day and it was powerful!)
This area is so rich in culture and so unique. They do not see themselves as Indians as they are from a race of people that migrated from China centuries ago. They look different, they have a different dialect, and they have been attempting to break off from India and form their own country for 65 years! They are the Naga people, they are hill people. We are at 7500 feet and in every direction the vistas are hard to describe they are so beautiful. Every town and village is on a hilltop. It is lush, green, and tropical, and the weather is great. It has rained a ton, but we have hardly sweated the entire time we have been here. The downside is the rain has prevented us from doing laundry and we all smell like mildew! I could speak for hours on the history of the Naga people, as they used to be head hunters! But alas, I do not have the time.
Pray for us as we will be heading to a new village in two days to proclaim the Gospel of Christ and challenge the people there to wake from spiritual sleep and follow our Savior! Everyone is in good health and we are having a great summer. What a team we have, what a wonderful group of young people, what a joy it has been to travel and serve alongside them.
Until next time!
The Call
BY GRACE HORST ON JULY 26, 2011 » ADD THE SECOND COMMENT.
We received this journal entry from the India team today. This was written by Patrick Teesdale on July 17, 2011 but do to internet connection it was delayed on getting to us. We also have another blog written by Patrick on July 21, 2011 so be sure to check that out!
As the month has gone on, we on team India, have had a lot of time and opportunities to think about Jesus’ call to follow Him. We’ve been diving into a manuscript study of the book of Mark, and many of Travis’ talks and sermons have been on the first chapter of Mark, in which Jesus calls the first disciples. I’d like to reflect on this theme we’ve had as a team.
It’s never easy or simple to respond when the call comes. The fact of it is that we have trouble responding to His call because we are often stuck in our situations or struggles. We may have insecurities about the past, we may have a lack of confidence in what He says we can accomplish, or we may be struggling through an ego and sense of personal entitlement. One must wonder about what was going through the minds of the disciples as Jesus called them out of their boats, their professions, and their identities. They weren’t superhuman. They were average people. Evidence even suggests that they were only teenagers.
But Jesus called. And the amazing thing is that these first disciples, in spite of everything they experienced or understood, left to follow immediately. It’s a lesson in itself for the rest of us. The disciples were just people until Jesus called them to a supernatural plan. People like us.
And they could somehow let go instantly of everything when Jesus called them to something bigger. It’s clear from a moderate understanding of the passage that we in this modern day and age are perfectly capable of the same thing, all of us who claim Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.
So many of us have past issues that we try to work through on our own strength, many others just don’t feel prepared to do what Jesus commanded. And still more don’t feel worthy to take on the task, as though their sins and personal demons exclude them from God’s plan. But in delving so far into Mark, we start to understand something different.
We don’t have to have the strength to do away with our own darkness. It requires a light far greater than ours to pierce. But God provides that light as a matter of course, simply by faith in His ability to do so.
We could spend all our lives researching and preparing ourselves and never feel truly ready to go out into all the world. But Jesus didn’t call the fishermen to study and come see Him again in a decade. He called the fishermen to follow. God does not call the equipped, He equips the called.
And our sins are never a bar to His call. In the opening pages of Mark, He calls all manner of sinners and scumbags. Our value is dictated by Him, not by human standards. And God created us with value and worth.
Jesus calls us to follow, and we need do nothing more than obey.
Patrick Teesdale
Simplicity
BY GRACE HORST ON JULY 26, 2011 » ADD THE FIRST COMMENT.
We received this journal entry from the India team today. This was written by Patrick Teesdale on July 21, 2011 but do to internet connection it was delayed on getting to us. We also have another blog written by Patrick on July 17, 2011 so be sure to check that out!
The kids here are a blessing. Though orphaned or abandoned due to HIV/AIDS, there is a purity and innocence in them that remains untouched by the world they live in. In the first few days we were here, and many mornings since then, we’ve been taking the time to teach them. But I think that they have taught us just as much, though they may not realize it.
They have a song that they often sing in worship. I believe it’s called “In the Light.” It’s a very simple song, with simple lyrics about doing many things in, naturally, the light of Jesus. The wonderful thing about a simple message is that it can cover so much ground with so few words. And this song brings the message that everything we do, we can do with joy and contentment, because we do it in the light of Jesus.
Take walking, for instance. We walk everywhere here. The vast majority of it is hills. We can’t even get off the Peniel Home property without hiking up the hill they call a driveway. But there’s something beautiful about the simplicity of life here. The roads are either muddy or rocky, but you feel like you’re getting somewhere, and God has a plan there for you.
Cleaning is another one. Just today, we went off into town to pick up trash along a stretch of the main road. It was by no means a clean task. Every single piece of trash we found was buried in mud and rocks, and the plugged up storm drain soaked it all in dirty brown water. But it was an awesome experience, because we were practicing the love of Jesus not just for the town, but for the youth that we were helping in the endeavor.
And it’s not all hard work with no play. Singing is a great one. When the kids sing, they hold nothing back. They shout it out like they intend to lose their voices, and never mind little things like notes and timing. It’s one of the most blessed sounds any of us have heard, and leads many of us to stop holding ourselves back for fear. Worship is something else when you’re belting it out with no fear.
When we invite Jesus into the things we do during our day, He meets us there and blesses us with His presence. And we can do anything in the light of Jesus. Running, sleeping, eating, you name it. If it’s a verb, we can put Jesus into it.
And honestly, it’s what we should be doing. Letting Him into all aspects of our lives doesn’t just mean to open our hearts in the areas where it hurts most. It means to open our hearts in all the areas where it almost seems trivial. In the little things we do on a day to day basis.
It doesn’t matter where Jesus is in our lives, because He will bless it all.
About a week ago I returned home from Wisconsin where I spent the previous two weeks working hard with all the Royal Servants staff on our training camp. Two years ago, we bought 80 acres of farmland outside of Pardeeville, WI to serve as our new training camp. However, the amount of work required to prepare the land for training camp use has been substantial and it is only now that we can say with confidence that this upcoming summer will be our first on our new land. The two weeks was full of construction (yes, construction + me). And although it made for long days, we had a blast together as always. Just a great group of people. We can’t wait to see how God uses this land to impact students for years to come, pretty exciting!!!
Reignministries.org
