"Joy to the World"

Christmas in East Asia

"Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:11

Christmas morning in the classroom!

     This Christmas was a very very unique Christmas season for me and seven new friends. We left for East Asia on December 17th not knowing exactly what was before us on our 2-week trip, but trusting that our Heavenly Father wanted to do something big. As the story always goes with God, He traveled with us preparing the way, guiding us by His Holy Spirit, always asking us to rely solely on Him, and teaching us how to be more like Christ every day. Jesus did many amazing things in our own hearts as well as in the hearts of students around us, and for that we owe Him MUCH praise!

Our team along with an English teacher at the college, Hailey (bottom right).

     Let's get one thing out of the way: Meet the team! Andrew (back left) is a senior Business and Political Science double-major at Washington State University - I'm next to him - and Matthew (back right) is a freshman Communications student at Spokane Falls Community College in Pullman. In the second row you find Teara, a senior studying Architecture at the University of Idaho, Olivia, a sophomore Music and Elementary Education major at WSU, and Lindsey, a senior at WSU studying Bioengineering/Pre-Med. Carla (front left) is a senior Psychology student and Myranda is a Criminal Justice student, both at WSU. Finally, there's Hailey, an AWESOME surprise addition to the team when we arrived. Hailey is a 23-year-old English teacher at the college we were working at. She hails from California and is the coolest girl. Ever.

Okay, so I think the easiest way to squeeze the most important details out of the trip is to go day by day. I tried to only put in the very coolest stories! :)

Base Camp

     What a sweet time base camp was! All 30 Resonaters who were heading for different places in E. Asia packed up and shipped out to spend a weekend in Coeur d'Alene getting prepped for the trips. We learned all sorts of cultural things, trip logistics, and spent a ton of time bonding with our teams, continually looking to Jesus to prepare our hearts to take His Gospel to the nations. In just two short days, I felt ten times more ready to take on the world in Jesus' name and more importantly the Lord humbled my heart and reminded me to wait on Him in all circumstances and trust in His power. Only by Him and through Him was anything going to happen on our trip. A good lesson to learn indeed!

Revelation 5:9 "You are worthy to take the scroll and open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation."

Travel Days

     We left camp at 2am in a small snow storm to get to the airport in time for our first flight. Our landing in Seattle was quite possibly THE scariest landing of my life! I think it was a good way to practice trusting the Lord despite our circumstance. We then hopped on another short flight to Vancouver, BC. Here, we found out that our bags had been mislabeled and were a little lost. This wasn't the greatest news since we were about to board our 12 hour international flight, but yet again, Father God reminded us that our things are not as important as His things and to trust Him whole-heartedly. 

The 12 hour flight was really fun! 'Twas my first time on a huge plane like that - and we got like five free meals! I became very thankful that I have no trouble sleeping on planes and actually got some good rest! Also, the lengthiness of the flight gave our team some good time to read Ephesians and to spend time seeking the Lord and letting Him prepare our hearts more and more. 

     We got to spend our first night in Asia in a lavish KFC in the airport which translated into excellent team bonding time! We left early the next morning and arrived safely in the small, absolutely beautiful place we would call home for the next couple weeks.

Getting on our international flight (also where we lost our luggage WOOPS).

Spending our first foreign money while sleeping the night away in a KFC.

We made it!

Ephesians 2:4-5 "But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive in Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions-- it is by grace you have been saved."

Day One

     Wednesday, December 19th

Explored the city...

  Our first day in the city started right when we got off the plane! With the time change we arrived just in time for breakfast and we spent almost the whole day just getting settled and looking around town. Our hotel was RIGHT behind the campus where we would be spending our time so we explored a bit and then hit the hay to recover from killer jet lag.

... and checked out the campus.

Psalm 43:3 "Send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell."

Day Two

Found favorite breakfast woman. (Ate there every morning ha!)

Met the 23 students we would work with for the 10-day English Camp.

  As a team, we started off every day discussing Romans and praying. We then found awesome street vendors for breakfast and got to hang around the locals a bit before we went to the college campus.

  While we were there, we were able to lead a 10-day English camp for third-year college students and it was the best!! We got to play hilarious games and challenge their English skills, all the while asking questions about their lives, families, future goals, and beliefs.



  The first day, the students were really quiet and shy but were very sweet and ready to practice their English with us! We broke up into small groups and introduced ourselves and began sharing about our lives. The girls in my group always had loads of questions about America and life here so it was really fun getting to chit chat with them about random things like individualism and freedom and relationships... They instantly warmed right up and we pretty much became best buds. Praise God!!

Broke into small groups for language/culture discussion! (My girls for the whole trip: Alice, Wendy, and Roman)

Funny Story of the Day:
My roommate Teara and I had a really exciting first morning together. I woke up in a panic to my snoozing alarm thinking that we had overslept and were going to be late on our first day of camp. Naturally I woke up Teara immediately and ran to the next room to get two other girls on our team up... (I'm so nice.) As the door slowly opens at the room next to us, I hear a tired voice asking, "Why are you up so early?" I'm already dressed at this point and am ready for the day and Myrranda so kindly told me the real time (not the American time I had on my phone which I was using for an alarm) and sent me on my way. I had gotten up at in the middle of the night thinking it was morning. Too embarrassing! But, Teara and I had a good laugh and became good friends after this experience so it's fine. :)

Romans 1:16 "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes..."

Day Three

Taught the students American games.

  Each day we spent the mornings with the students practicing language skills and playing games (these people were COMPETITIVE!). In the afternoon a couple team members would share a culture lesson and ask for questions. From this day forward, we left a question box on a table that students could put anonymous questions in. It turned out that some of the coolest spiritual conversations came as tangents from the questions the students wrote! Glory to God!! 

Romans 3:22 "This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."

Day Four

"Desert Island" activity

 This was a fuuuuuuuun day! We did our normal English camp stuff during the day and then got to spend the evening at an English Corner (a meeting time for any and all students to come and practice their English with one another). We were warned before we got to English Corner that the first-year students might get pretty wild (Americans don't make it to that particular area too often so the students FREAKED). I have never had to smile in more pictures in my whole entire life! Everyone thought we were celebrities or something because we literally spent most of English Corner dancing, singing, and taking pictures with the students. It was a blast, don't get me wrong, but now I know why famous people go crazy! It's exhausting!

It hurt too bad to smile by the end of English Corner so we improvised.

  In all seriousness, though, this was one of my favorite nights. I got to meet a young woman named Helen who decided to follow Jesus right after our team got back to the States. I feel so blessed to have had the chance-occurrence of meeting her that night and getting to pray for her everyday while I was there. And what WONDERFUL news it was hearing from a believer there that she had become a sister in Christ!!

Romans 4:20 "Yet he did not waiver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised."

Day Five
Sunday, December 23rd

  This was one of my most favorite days! We got to get together with local believers and get our hearts focused on Christmas. We celebrated the birth of Christ together, praised Him in song, and worshiped together as we read in the Word about Immanuel (Christ with us). This was truly a day that I will never forget. In my conversations with the believers there I learned so many things and God spoke right to my heart through the people there. Forever I will keep those believers in my heart and will constantly lift them up in prayer. I am so thankful for them and their devotion to Lord Jesus!

Romans 8:11 "And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through the Spirit, who lives in you."

Day Six

   This was an adventure of a day! We might all be able to agree that this was our group's most exhilarating day of all. We started the morning playing Head's Up Seven Up for like two hours. The students LOVED it! (We did too ha.) We did normal language activities and then in the afternoon were invited to a dance that evening. We weren't sure what kind of dance this school would have but were stoked at the opportunity to go and make more friends!
  On our way to the dance, a few girls on our team and I ran into a girl I had met at English Corner and were introduced to her buddies and were able to study with them for an hour! Lily became one of my favorite friends over our stay and God opened up a door for me to show her my Bible and explain what it was and why it was important. I know that there was a seed planted in her heart about Jesus and I pray that throughout her life it grows and grows into a decision to follow Him! We then went to the dance which turned out to be THE craziest experience of my life! We did some crazy choreographed dances and finished the night off strong with "Gagnam Style". I had so much fun meeting tons of people and this dance allowed us to know many more students on campus. Praise the Lord!

Us doing the "Bunny Dance". Hilarious!

Romans 6:16 "For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Day Seven

Playing a game called "Honey, if you love me". So funny!  

Wendy and I at the Christmas party!

  
  We were able to go to a new part of campus and play outdoor games this day. At this point, we knew the students pretty well and they had opened up a ton since the first day! We played a really silly game and our new friends were joking with us and having a blast! I loved how sweet and innocent their senses of humor were. We had a lot of fun together.

  That night, a student planned a Christmas party and invited us to join in! There were easily two hundred people crammed into a really small room playing games, dancing, and celebrating! We got a sweet invitation to be a part of the program and performed a skit using the Luke 2 story of Jesus' birth. 

  A cultural tradition in the city to celebrate Christmas is the exchanging of apples rather than gifts. Apples would be wrapped in bright paper and tied up in a ribbon to be given to friends and family. I think altogether our team received about fifty apples that night! (By the way, the apples there were the best apples I have EVER tasted!!) 

  The party was another awesome time to deepen our relationships with our new friends, always waiting on the Lord for opportunities to bring Him glory in conversation.

Our attempt to recreate the nativity.

Romans 8:31 "And if God is for us, who can be against us?"

Day Eight
December 25th

CHRISTMAS!

  This was, by far, when God chose to move the most in our conversations with people. Being Christmas, we were able to talk a lot about our personal beliefs about the holiday and the story that started it all - God sending His one and only Son to Earth to save His people. Every small group saw fruitful conversations with the students and the film we watched started to get the group really thinking about this guy named Jesus. We passed around a couple Bibles to show them where the story of Jesus' birth came from and were able to share why the Bible was so important to each of us individually. This was the day when our group saw the Holy Spirit's mighty work happening in the hearts of some of the students.

Philippians 1:6 "... being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

Day Nine

  Alice, Roman, and Wendy took me all around town today! We did a half-day of camp and each group was free to do whatever they liked with the afternoon and evening. 

1 Thessalonians 1:2-3 "We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had been so dear to us."

Day Ten

  This is about the time when the Lord refined in me the act of being impatient. I'm no good at it still, but I got some good practice at waiting for the Lord while overseas. We had made such sweet friendships, we had prayed and prayed for the students, God opened many doors to share the good news... Now, we had to wait for people to respond. This was a discouraging day for me personally until the Holy Spirit reminded me of a few important things: I'm not God. He is in control. In His timing, He will work. The rest of the trip it was a battle not to feel like I had failed. No one wanted to do anything with the gospel! But, I was so wrong in my thinking. God was working, just not how I expected.

Romans 10:14 "How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet that bring good news!"

Day Eleven

  A few days earlier, we received a few questions in the question box about relationships in America. By the grace of God we somehow managed to get a copy of "Fireproof" and showed the film on the second to last day of camp. Even though some parts of the movie are pretty cheesy, it did a beautiful job of showing examples of marriage, breakups, reconciliation, and most importantly - that a relationship without God at the center often leads to hardship and heartache. The movie taught the students about the Creator of relationships and straight-up shared the simple gospel: God made us and He loves us. He created us for relationship. We destroyed that relationship by going our own way in life. In love, God saved us from ourselves and sent His Son to take the consequence of our unfaithfulness. Now, our relationship can be restored with God through faith in Christ alone. AND MAN, there was not a dry eye in the place!! It was some of the coolest moments of my life seeing 23 students who had probably never heard the whole gospel before being introduced to the idea that there is a God who made them and loves them and wants to save them. It was so awesome!! Most of the students were crying because the husband and wife got back together. But there were a few who shared with their group leaders after the movie that they thought Jesus was a pretty important Guy. I know just the day before I was wondering if anything we were saying was getting through, and I got to witness the power of the Holy Spirit's work in hearts firsthand the very next day!! So awesome.

Romans 12:2 "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind."

Day Twelve

Last day of camp!

  After camp finished, the students wanted to take us to a special place - "The Lake". Right in the center of town is a HUGE man-made lake with a big gathering place for ceremonies and special events. We caught a cool show and hung out for a while and then just spent time messing around as a big group all around the lake. 

  Roman and Wendy made me ride a bike with them to the lake and insisted that walking was too strenuous. When we got to the bike rental shop, Roman chose the three-seater bicycle for us to ride and we were on our way! We got about two feet before we fell off and decided to get new bikes. Now, the city we were in was well developed with nice wide lanes for traffic to move freely about. What was scary, though, was no one cares about staying in the lanes. People honk and pass and do crazy things on the road, and I was about to ride a bike right in the middle of it all. Needless to say, I almost died. Twice. But, it was way worth it and we laughed the whole way to and from the lake.

The evening was absolutely perfect, and it was a wonderful way to spend our last night all together!

Romans 13:11 "The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed."

Day Thirteen

   Our final day we spent hiking a mountain. We climbed 2,800 steps to reach the very top and were able to pray over the city and all the people who live there. It was a great conclusion to an incredible trip. We had tearful goodbyes with our friend the next day before we left for the airport and exchanged emails to keep in touch. I think I can speak for everyone on our team in saying, we will truly NEVER forget this trip and the people we met on it. I know my life has been greatly affected by the time I spent in E. Asia and I am so thankful that the Lord allowed me of all people to participate in such a wild adventure. A MONUMENTAL thank you again to all the people who helped me go on this trip and who prayed before and while I was on it. 
  I am so thankful for a God Who loves His people Who changed my life and redirected my gaze to Him. He's writing my story now and I couldn't ask for a better one! I pray for blessings and abundant life in Christ for all people. All glory and honor and praise to God!
Love,
Alex
                                                                  

  

Philippians 4:4 "Rejoice in the Lord always."

Chapter One: Summer in Quincy, Illinois

One of my favorite spots in Quincy!

"And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ--to the glory and praise of God." Philippians 1:9-11

  To say that the Lord has been faithful in the last few months is the understatement of a lifetime, but here goes: God is good and His faithfulness continues to astound me every single day. This summer has been a season of learning for me; one that I hope to never forget. I remember praying in the final days of this past semester that God might use this summer to stretch and grow me like I had never experienced before. Well guys and gals, He has indeed. I had NO idea what to expect when I was packing up all my belongings and moving to Quincy for two and a half months but one thing I longed for was more of Jesus and more of Jesus was exactly what I got.

  Not knowing exactly what this summer would look like was definitely an exciting quality that the great move to the Midwest offered. I thought about Quincy with great hope and affection as I traveled from plane to plane, imagining all of the cool things that were surely ahead. I was STOKED to be back with my parents after a long year away and couldn't be happier to move into their lavish upstairs bedroom for what I pictured to be quite the adventurous summer. Looking back, the first month here in Quincy I was being filled and feeling fed only by the sense of adventure, the newness of the place, the fresh faces and ideas. It wasn't until I was given some time to step back and refresh in the Word one day when I realized all that God was working  on in my heart and all that He was doing around me.


Faithfulness example #1: Internship at the Crossing has been SO AWESOME! I get to hang out with some of the world's coolest high school girls and talk about the Lord all day e'ry day. Mmhmm!
Faithfulness example #2: I GOT A JOB! I get to wear a visor (who would have thought I would really come to love visors?!) Come visit Caribou Coffee any old time! We have good smoothies!
Faithfulness example #3: "The Fuel and the Flame"--A book that is blowing my mind (in a good way!!). Read it. It's about campus ministry but the heartbeat of the book is all about Jesus and it's a good read for ANYone, I promise.
Faithfulness example to never forget for all people for all the days of our lives: "But because of His great love for us, God, Who is rich in mercy, made us alive in Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved." Ephesians 2:4-5

  There is so much to be thankful for in life, in this summer, even in this day. GOD IS SO GOOD and I am learning more and more each day about Jesus' unceasing, radical, incomprehensible, self-sacrificial, grace-filled, abounding, immeasurable, undeniably merciful love for us and it is ROCKING MY WORLD. It's so easy to get distracted in daily tasks and get lazy or confused or frustrated; but what I've come to realize is the only answer in life that is sure, the only thing is life that is true, the only Person in life Who is truly good--It's Jesus. And His act of love, His death on the cross FOR US is the climax of the greatest story ever told! We get to live and breath and exist in God the Creator's love story. We get to be returned to the good God we were created for! He gives us life through Christ! He gives us His Spirit to guide us until the day when Christ returns. He loves us. He is good. HE IS FAITHFUL!

What a day. What a summer. WHAT A LIFE! And it's only beginning. When you think about spending FOREVER with God it's hard to let the little things of this life get you down. 

All glory, praise, and honor to our Lord forever!

I would love love LOVE it if you all would be lifting some things up to the Father with me:
Prayers for: the students of Studio, the leadership of The Crossing, the employees of County Market and Caribou Coffee, the city of Quincy
(More specifically): a hunger and thirst for Jesus and His Word every single day for myself and all believers in Christ Jesus and that this lost world would come to know Jesus in a personal, life-changing (eternal-life changing) way

Blessings, strength, peace, and joy in Christ Jesus.
Love,
Alex