Buenos Dias! Que tal? Si Nate, I had my first official work day in El Papalote Mexico we were building walls (putting foundation blocks) for a new church; we will lay concrete blocks tomorrow. I've also experienced a spanish spoken church today. The main point of the sermon was to be weak for Christ (2nd corinthians) and to boast for Jesus.
Right after church we got a notice that a child has gotten injured before the service. A two year old baby girl named Alejandria dipped her hand in oil prepared for cooking. Her father tried to take the oil off but ended up removing her skin. They went to the hospital but the doctors refused to give her the full help she needed because she was a indiginous native. It broke my heart walking into their house (Made of straw / plastic) watching this precious girl suffer and to see the injustice in Mexico. Watching her parents cry reminded me of how sad it makes God when any of his children suffer.
In some ways the people here are more blessed than we are, because they are not content and are hungry for more than earthly things. They are hungry for the word of God. This reminds me of Matthew 5: "Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the Earth. "
We cant transform the corruption in Mexico first hand but we can help change the hearts of people here and lead them to Christ. Dwight Hires and his family will do whatever they can to pay for the help she needs but I urge you to pray for her to be healed. Pray for her parents they feel the guilt of not being able to provide for her and her five children. Dios le ben diga.
- Nate
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Friday, March 11, 2011
Students are safe in India and all is well.
Received word from Jim that they landed in India and everyone is well. They didn't hear about the earthquake until after they landed.
Jay Kennedy
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Direction
I had nowhere to go.
After my departure from camp Qwanoes, I was crushed. I havent felt this emotional in a long time. It was not because of my premature departure at camp, it was because I felt that I let down myself and others. Before this year my life was content. "Go to school, work, church and get married, thats life right?" Now its in chaos because i know better.
"What prompted you to go to Kaleo?" Some of you may have seen glimpses of my desire to change. My goal for this year was to find out what those changes needed to be. The first semester was difficult for me because I had trouble trusting in myself and others At one point in time I gave up and saw no point in trying. Where was God in my life? People continually approached me with a smile on my face and i brushed them off . I rejected them because I didnt want to accept the convictions taking place within myself.
At times during second semester, I felt I was taking small steps to change, however i was merely changing my external actions and not my interal thoughts. In my head I got caught up the small details such as Calvanism vs Arminism and predestination. The focus should have been on understanding the foundations of which my belief is founded on: God's Love for us. Jesus has said the greatest commandment is love; this is the principle in which Jesus taught us to live. You, the Kaleo body has shown me this this year through your actions.
Throughout this experience I learned to rely more on God. I have lived life planning and depending on myself while conforming to the norms of society. My success was defined from the worlds point of view not from the Bible. This experience has been an eye opener because it has pushed me out of my comfort to seek out God's will and rediscover myself.
I boarded the ferry that night thinking "I had no where to go". While lining up a guy helped me with one of my bags and we began to talk. His name was Aaron, a 21 year old living in Victoria. He was a single father who has been suffering from depression since his accident in 2009 which crippled him from working. We began sharing our testimonies and I discovered that he was a reborn christian. Soon enough I realized I was speaking into his life, telling him of God's desire to know him, the gospel, and the true meaning of being a follower of Christ. We both prayed and went our separate ways. His last words for me was: "Now go and live life the way God wants you to."
When I arrived at Tssawssen I realized i needed a ride to the mainland but saw no means of getting there. I looked around and saw an old classmate from two years ago, who happened to be there because his sister was five hours late. He offered to give me a ride and we began to share
our stories and process it. We discussed we, Christian's role in secular universities and how we ought to stand up for what we believe in. Can there be non theistic objective morality? Our priorities and the world's priorities differ; they cant overlap. Jim told me one day when he was dropping me off at the ferry. "A monkey cant grab the nut from the jar if he already has something in his hands." Let go Nathan.
As I fell asleep that night it all made sense.
The next day I attended the Apologetics Canada Conference in Coquitlam Alliance Church. I went in there with no expectations and was blown away. They flew in professors from the U.S. that covered issues confronting New Atheists to The Existence of God to why God allows suffering. It was enlightening hearing from educated Christians teaching from a critical point of view. That night ended with a high grade archeologist claiming to have found Sodom and Gomora (One of the last unmapped locations cited in the bible) I remember vividly a pottery shard they discovered on the site. On one side of the pottery was molten glass which at first glance scientists thought to be Trinite (A decayed substance that resulted from the Atom bomb) on the other side of the pottery was unscathed pottery. It was not Trinite; this artifact was discovered in the mid bronze age. It was interesting to get the holistic view, not just the theological but historical and geographical evidence. (If you want my full 2000 word notes on the conference let me know and ill give it to you)
A few days ago Jay confronted me with an opportunity. An anonymous donor has given me an a fully paid solo missions trip to Mexico.
I was blown away.
As I'm writing this to you the plane is landing in San Diego. When you have read this I'll be on my way to El Papalote by car and I am going to work with Northern Lights Ministries. I have left Qwanoes as a student of Kaleo but now im venturing to be a disciple of Jesus. I don't know what God has in store for me, all I can do is pray and have an open mind.
I also wanted to say I miss you guys dearly. Be safe.
Love, Nate
P.S. Make good choices!! ^_^
After my departure from camp Qwanoes, I was crushed. I havent felt this emotional in a long time. It was not because of my premature departure at camp, it was because I felt that I let down myself and others. Before this year my life was content. "Go to school, work, church and get married, thats life right?" Now its in chaos because i know better.
"What prompted you to go to Kaleo?" Some of you may have seen glimpses of my desire to change. My goal for this year was to find out what those changes needed to be. The first semester was difficult for me because I had trouble trusting in myself and others At one point in time I gave up and saw no point in trying. Where was God in my life? People continually approached me with a smile on my face and i brushed them off . I rejected them because I didnt want to accept the convictions taking place within myself.
At times during second semester, I felt I was taking small steps to change, however i was merely changing my external actions and not my interal thoughts. In my head I got caught up the small details such as Calvanism vs Arminism and predestination. The focus should have been on understanding the foundations of which my belief is founded on: God's Love for us. Jesus has said the greatest commandment is love; this is the principle in which Jesus taught us to live. You, the Kaleo body has shown me this this year through your actions.
Throughout this experience I learned to rely more on God. I have lived life planning and depending on myself while conforming to the norms of society. My success was defined from the worlds point of view not from the Bible. This experience has been an eye opener because it has pushed me out of my comfort to seek out God's will and rediscover myself.
I boarded the ferry that night thinking "I had no where to go". While lining up a guy helped me with one of my bags and we began to talk. His name was Aaron, a 21 year old living in Victoria. He was a single father who has been suffering from depression since his accident in 2009 which crippled him from working. We began sharing our testimonies and I discovered that he was a reborn christian. Soon enough I realized I was speaking into his life, telling him of God's desire to know him, the gospel, and the true meaning of being a follower of Christ. We both prayed and went our separate ways. His last words for me was: "Now go and live life the way God wants you to."
When I arrived at Tssawssen I realized i needed a ride to the mainland but saw no means of getting there. I looked around and saw an old classmate from two years ago, who happened to be there because his sister was five hours late. He offered to give me a ride and we began to share
our stories and process it. We discussed we, Christian's role in secular universities and how we ought to stand up for what we believe in. Can there be non theistic objective morality? Our priorities and the world's priorities differ; they cant overlap. Jim told me one day when he was dropping me off at the ferry. "A monkey cant grab the nut from the jar if he already has something in his hands." Let go Nathan.
As I fell asleep that night it all made sense.
The next day I attended the Apologetics Canada Conference in Coquitlam Alliance Church. I went in there with no expectations and was blown away. They flew in professors from the U.S. that covered issues confronting New Atheists to The Existence of God to why God allows suffering. It was enlightening hearing from educated Christians teaching from a critical point of view. That night ended with a high grade archeologist claiming to have found Sodom and Gomora (One of the last unmapped locations cited in the bible) I remember vividly a pottery shard they discovered on the site. On one side of the pottery was molten glass which at first glance scientists thought to be Trinite (A decayed substance that resulted from the Atom bomb) on the other side of the pottery was unscathed pottery. It was not Trinite; this artifact was discovered in the mid bronze age. It was interesting to get the holistic view, not just the theological but historical and geographical evidence. (If you want my full 2000 word notes on the conference let me know and ill give it to you)
A few days ago Jay confronted me with an opportunity. An anonymous donor has given me an a fully paid solo missions trip to Mexico.
I was blown away.
As I'm writing this to you the plane is landing in San Diego. When you have read this I'll be on my way to El Papalote by car and I am going to work with Northern Lights Ministries. I have left Qwanoes as a student of Kaleo but now im venturing to be a disciple of Jesus. I don't know what God has in store for me, all I can do is pray and have an open mind.
I also wanted to say I miss you guys dearly. Be safe.
Love, Nate
P.S. Make good choices!! ^_^
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Well, the Argentina team has landed in Buenos Aires...
And boy, is it ever hot!
It has been a crazy time getting here, from the get go! So as some of you (or all) might already know, we had a bit of a passport scare with Michael's passport having gone missing on Monday night. We realized it at 10 pm when it was too late to get it from the island to the mainland in time for our flight. So while we were trying to figure out where it was, we stopped to pray. No joke, just after we finished praying, Michael thought to call his mom to check if it was in the bag that he had given her for after Argentina. Sure enough, it was in that bag! Then the challenge was getting it to Vancouver from Port Moody. Enter Chris Downey. He saved the day! He brought the passport and we were able to make our flight on time, with all of us onboard.
Thus began our approximately 25 hour journey to Buenos Aires. And that's not including ferry time. Most of us got really bad sleeps (or in my case, no sleep at all) on the plane and so we are at about 35 hours being awake. I don't know how we're still functioning...
Buenos Aires is gorgeous and the weather is amazing! Actually, it's super hot and humid but it is definitely an improvement on Vancouver's weather... Sorry, Vancouver team! Here's hoping that you'll have sunshine while you're there.
Please pray for us as we begin preparing tomorrow for a retreat this weekend. Pray for the kids who are going to come and pray for us as we lead this retreat. We got to meet some of them about 45 minutes ago and they're super cool, so it should be really sweet!
God is good and He goes with all of you as you go! Praying for you all! Love you!
It has been a crazy time getting here, from the get go! So as some of you (or all) might already know, we had a bit of a passport scare with Michael's passport having gone missing on Monday night. We realized it at 10 pm when it was too late to get it from the island to the mainland in time for our flight. So while we were trying to figure out where it was, we stopped to pray. No joke, just after we finished praying, Michael thought to call his mom to check if it was in the bag that he had given her for after Argentina. Sure enough, it was in that bag! Then the challenge was getting it to Vancouver from Port Moody. Enter Chris Downey. He saved the day! He brought the passport and we were able to make our flight on time, with all of us onboard.
Thus began our approximately 25 hour journey to Buenos Aires. And that's not including ferry time. Most of us got really bad sleeps (or in my case, no sleep at all) on the plane and so we are at about 35 hours being awake. I don't know how we're still functioning...
Buenos Aires is gorgeous and the weather is amazing! Actually, it's super hot and humid but it is definitely an improvement on Vancouver's weather... Sorry, Vancouver team! Here's hoping that you'll have sunshine while you're there.
Please pray for us as we begin preparing tomorrow for a retreat this weekend. Pray for the kids who are going to come and pray for us as we lead this retreat. We got to meet some of them about 45 minutes ago and they're super cool, so it should be really sweet!
God is good and He goes with all of you as you go! Praying for you all! Love you!
Monday, March 7, 2011
Making Disciples of all Nations
The Mission trips are here! I can't believe how quickly they came. May God do great works through us, and I hope that this can be a time for us all to learn to lean on our Father when we don't have the strength ourselves. God be with us!
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