Not the same.

We got back home to Juarez around 9 last night. It is so different here without our mexicans. However, there is a change of plans. Instead of the mexicans heading straight from Monteray to Africa they will be coming home on Tuesday. The money hasn't been coming in as fast as we were hoping and we feel that we need to be together as a team before we head out. We currently still need $20,000 for the trip. We have enough to buy plane tickets but we want to be able to eat when we get there so we are waiting on the Lord to provide the rest of the money. We are seeking God to see if we need to cut something out of the schedule or if He has something more for us but until He tells us differently we are sticking with what He has given us.
Amarillo was great! It was a good time to relax, meet new people, spread what God is doing and raise funds. I am not sure what this upcoming week will look like at all, Ty is going to talk to us about that in a few hours. I'm guessing it will include a lot of praying and some ideas of fundraising. No matter what happens, it's going to be a crazy week! If you guys could pray for rest, organization, and for the 18 hour bus ride that the mexicans have back on Tuesday that would be great!
Thanks!
Kelsey Rae

SNOW!!

Cadillac Ranch

While here we have done the perfect amount of stuff.
We have talked with a lot of small groups and today's we went to the local college campus, we have had plenty of downtime both together and with our host families, we have gone to the Cadillac Ranch (a crazy farmers form of art) and we have been saturated in prayer.
I love it here!
I miss the Mexicnas!
I cant wait for Kenya!
I am very grateful!
Sorry theres not more but i am very tired!
Love you guys!
#sorrytherearesomanyexclamationmarks!

Amarillo

Y'all ever been to Amarillo Texas? I feel somewhat like I'm in a western movie.
Ok here's the trip details:
After eating brunch on saturday we waited around for Ty's parents to pack up because they were at the base for the board meetings. The goodbyes were weird! Saying goodbye to all the Mexicans was strange, I'm just excited to reunite with them in Kenya! The Thurmans rode in the van with us until we got to the office where their car was parked. We did most of our traveling in New Mexico actually. We stopped at a steak house called K-Bobs, Ty's parents payed for us. It was really good! Overall the trip was about 12 hours with waiting in the border line and eating. We decided to all stay the night at the Thurmsns because it was like 1:20 and we didn't want to have to go to our separate host families that late. We had to leave the house at about 7:45 to get to church. That means we got about 4 hours of sleep with the time change and everything. Ty's church has three services. We got introduced in all of them and in the first two we left after that to talk to the Sunday schools (like small groups before church). The last one we stayed through the whole service and ate the lunch they had after. The whole time we were selling salsa for a donation price of $5. We had made 56 little cans of salsa and we should have made like 150 cans! We ran out before the third service and there were a lot of disappointed people. Overall we made $1,019! It was so fun! I have never enjoyed talking to people at a church before. They were all so welcoming and passionate! The whole day went so fast! The service we sat through felt like it was only a few seconds! Ty told us that it was a bit of culture shock because the mexican services are so long! After church Marissa and Elizabeth went with their host family and me and Lauren are back at the Thurman's house for now. I think we are going to go to our host family's house after the prayer meeting we are attending tonight at St. Stephens. I'm excited to see what the rest of this week has for us!
Some things I am grateful for:
The smell of a home, the decorations of fall, donuts in the morning, blankets, an english sermon, carpet and God's faithfulness and provision. He is great!

Outreach

This week has been crazy! With class as many times as we could have it, deep cleaning everything, book reports due soon, creative arts projects, writing testimonies and packing on top of our regular job duties. But it's all great cause it's all in preparation for outreach!!! :)
We are doing a thing called state-side outreach before going to Kenya. On Saturday the Americans will be heading to Amarillo, TX for a week to talk to small groups and churches about DTS and our experiences here. We will be staying with families while there and I'm excited to stay in a real house. After that we will be coming back here for another week before heading out. The mexicans on the other hand will be going to Montarey, Mexico and staying there for 2 weeks and heading straight to Africa from there.
I'm really excited how things are working out! I packed today, well organized more like and it was so weird! It's strange to think of other people living in this apartment and not being here.
We will be arriving in Nirobi, Kenya on the 7th of November. For the first 3 weeks we will be staying at the YWAM base called Athi River. Then we will be moving on to Kisumu, Kenya where Michael's Life for Children Ministry is. The rest of the logistics are still unknown.
For all of our travel it costs each of us $1,750 in total. We have yet to raise $8,000 of those dollars to be able to buy plane tickets, which we want to do tomorrow. We saw 8,000 come in today so it is very possible but I still am asking for your prayers. Class has been a good reminder of all The Lord can do and I know He can provide and the power of our prayers.
Thank you all so much for being a part of this awesome part of my life!
I want to send you all a fair warning. I have been posting a lot. And i know mush of you appreciate this as you have told me so. But, we have no idea what the Internet situation will be in Africa. I am saying this now so you guys can prepare ;). I love you all!!

 Grand Rapids I miss you and all your fall loveliness (as Lauren would say)

Fear of the Lord

This week we have Ed Sinke (we were disappointed it wasn't spelled with a z) here talking about the Father Heart of God. We had class tonight and it was one of those classes that you don't plan for but you feel God leading to elongate on something. That something was the Fear of the Lord. He showed us two slides with two different verses on them. Looking like this:

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 John 4:7-8

What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim it from the roofs. Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in Hell. Matthew 10:27-28

He had us take a close look at those two verses and then tell him if there was a contradiction. I said, "no"
"why not?"
"because to fear the Lord is a different type of fear"
"what do you mean?"
"it's to have reverence for Him"
"what do you mean?"
"ummm, it's like respect."
"what do you mean?"
And from there we argued. I gave up and Marissa took over trying to explain that she thinks that it is that He has the ability and then Ed went off with Old Testament stuff that she couldn't handle. Elizabeth gave it a try (recognize the fact that at this point the mexicans had n idea what was going on because Lalo didn't have time to translate. He tried and Ed stopped him) and I don't even remember what she said, it was really good but again she got shot down.
His point with all of this is that we only gave him spiritual answers. We have to be able to talk to non-Christians in a way that they can understand, without all our spiritual jabber. Another point he was trying to make was that we cannot give a captivating and real answer if it hasn't been reevealed to us by the Father Himself. If we just hear it and repeat it the there will not be an effect. We cannot preach what is not ours! This hit me hard. He even asked me how mad I was at him. I realized that I was frustrated that I didn't know and I couldn't give him an answer. He replied, "that is a really good place to be, as long as you don't stay there."
Wow. The rest of the class all i wanted to do was enroll in seminary! I have had a real want to study the Bible for a while now and it has kept coming up. I just don't know personally what that looks like for me, and I'm not sure if I'm ready. I know that God will show me exactly what He wants with my life and I am excited to see if that is in it!

Another thing he brought up was this:
We go to Church why? We expect Him to be there right? So, how much time do we spend preparing to meet God on Sunday mornings? Or for us, before class even? If we were meeting someone important (like the president) we would go prepared. The reasoning he gave was this: we don't prepare before meeting with God because we don't have the fear of the Lord. It comes down to really not caring (its not a big deal to us). I still haven't wrapped my mind around all that this encompasses and tomorrow we are going to dig deeper into the Fear of the Lord but it's something to think about.

Ed has brought so many new ideas to a topic that I wasn't expecting them to come with. I'm excited to see what the rest of this week entails, especially because it has impacted so many people in the past. Ty said that many times if he asks a YWAMer what the most influential week was for them in their DTS they would say The Father Heart of God. Please pray that our hearts will be open to hear and our minds will be clear from any other thoughts.
Ps. You guys are great!

Luchadores!

The maintenance man here is named Felix. He is also the pastor of the church that meets on base. He and his wife held a luchador fight at their 'comedor' right down the street on Saturday. We decided as a group that we wanted to sell candy and pop (I get mocked for saying that word) for the people who show up. So on Friday we went over there for an hour and a half Nd swept and mopped the whole place. Then on saturday we got there 40 mins early to help set up (we did nothing but watch). During the whole thing there was clowns, Mario and luigi passing out candy with a gorilla and a cat, little luchadores, big luchadores and then the main luchadores. At intervals there was worship music and they provided hot dogs for everyone. The main luchadores put on more of a show than a fight. It was supposed to be the battle between good and evil. Afterword Felix gave his testimony and talked to the kids about God. It was a long day as we stayed at helped clean up, staying a total of 6 hours. And I hate to say it but we actually lost $20. So today we sold the extras after church. Eli was a great little salesmen. We still have some left but we are now in the positive! :) looks like we'll all get about $10. That's ok though because more people heard about us and our outreach. I feel like our entire weekend was focused on those luchadores!

We got a little bored and the lighting was sweet!

Joshua playing hiding from his dad (Felix) behind me

Eli being an awesome salesman!

Ps. It was super hot this weekend, especially today. I wore a sleeveless shirt and my shoulders got burnt!

Relationships

The answer to all DTS questions was our topic this week, Relationships. Elaine Alegretto came and spoke to us. She is the funniest sweetest lady I have ever met. We have so many funny quotes from her written in our notebooks! A favorite is, "it's so great that we can laugh". Also today she told us that Jerk was not a good word and she apologized for using it. It was the title of a book she was talking about :). The whole week was a good reinforcement to things I have previously heard and just a fun time in general. This class was a bit different too because we had some students from the colegio (the school here on base) come and listen too. We had class in the chapel instead of the multipurpose room and I thought I wasn't going to like it but it was just fine, maybe better. Elaine left today and so we had night class on both Tuesday and last night. We also had family meetings almost every night and creative arts has been long. We have had almost no free time and it has been stressful bit still a good week. There was one bad thing about this week. One of our past teachers, Stephen Taylor and his wife lost their full term baby yesterday. They have two boys, one old enough to understand what happened. It was hard for all our staff because the Taylors used to be a part of our staff here before they moved to Tyler, TX. I ask that you pray for them and their family.
Romans 15:13

Dios Asombroso

God is so amazing! It is incredible! At the beginning of this post I stated out loud to those at the table, "I already titled a post God's Provision!" He is continuing to show us how awesome He is and how He will provide. Yesterday, we had a family meeting about finances and Ty brought up the idea of what if, and plan B. This was very discouraging but we had to face the facts, the money wasn't coming in. Well, I think that ignited a spark under us all. Us girls got together for a prayer time for an hour and a half past lights out, we agreed to stay accountable in ways we have all been struggling and I began to ask what else I can could do. This obviously was God's sovereignty. God was saying, "Hello! Finally! You understand! Look what I can do when you obey!!!" I can say all of this because as of today everyone's tuition is paid off! We all still have our outreach fees but this is the home stretch! God is so faithful and loving. We celebrated tonight by having cake and thanking God for everything and acknowledging that we believe He will provide the rest. Thank you guys so much for your prayers. They have been so encouraging, you don't even know! Continue to keep us in your prayers and enjoy the love He has for you!

2 corinthinans 12:9-10

Great Friends

I just have two quick stories to tell you guys :)
1. We went to a different church today. Olivo (Olive Tree) is the church that the kids from Rancho go and so we wanted to see what it was like. It was really good and we all liked it a ton! One thing though that I want to share is a very small part of the whole sermon. We were to turn to our neighbor and say, "God wants to use you". As I was sitting next to Marissa and Leydhi I proceded to turn to my right and tell Marissa, "Dios quire usarte" and she responded. I did the same to Leydhi and she being funny said, "No, Dios no quiere usarte" and then said, "Dios ya esta usando te" (God is already using you). That was great. I don't think she had that planned or thought that it would make any difference but it did.
2. Today, I spent about an hour laughing and singing with Elizabeth. First off, we have hospitility together so pretty much we clean an apartment together. We were just goofin' off and having fun, being bothersome to each other and loving it, that sort of thing. Then, we went back to the room and attempted to work on our VBS projects. That lead to trying to remember good kids songs and doing a lot of looking up online. Then Elizabeth hit the jackpot. She found a document online with a ton of old and not too old hymns, kids songs, worship songs and all of the above. We spent about an hour going through the 300+ lyrics they had. It was so much fun! There was a ton of Rich Mullins songs and a few Kathy Traccoli. (This reminded me of you mom! Remember when you went on her cruise? ;) )

Anyway, those were just two ways I love my friends. They are my family, my sisters and my friends and I love them all. God definitely put us all here together. He is so sovereign!

God's provision

Wow. I feel like I have a lot to catch you guys up on! Let' start with yesterday as that is most important and freshest (is that a word?) in my mind.
Yesterday was no ordinary day. The boys went to get their passports early in the morning and by God's provision they were able to get them yesterday! This is incredible and we are so thankful! The girls got to sleep in and then us Americans went over to the office in El Paso. We went over there to help with the fundraising banquet for the new childrens home. The childrens home, Rancho Los Amigos, right now is falling apart and can only house about 30 some children. They have all the plans and the land for a new childrens home but we are lacking the 2.5 million dollars to build it. Well now less than that. We had the banquet at a church in El Paso and we had about 160+ people there. We were waitresses and although it was hard work it was really fun! Overall we raised $115,000! It was great and very very tiring!
It was cool to see the way that God is starting to provide for the new childrens home and I can't wait to see how He continues to provide for us. I am still so excited to go to Kenya! We are getting more prepared for the kids, and the communication is getting better but I still feel that I am not mentally prepared. But I never really am until I get on the plane. Ty keeps telling us that for finances we do the possible and let Him do the impossible. And I believe we are doing just that. I am excited and of course anxious to see how God provides and very posistive and grateful that He will do so. If you want to help financially you can email me at kelseyraek@gmail.com.
If you want to help us by staying in prayer here are some prayer points:
- Communication between Ty (our leader) and Kenya
- For posistive and believing attitudes
- Fears to be lifted
- Preparation for the kids programs
- Mental preparation
- and continuing unity in our group.

Thanks!

A Heart like His

Meet Alex. He has had a rough past and it shows through his present, in his everyday actions and behavior. He truly loves all of us, he is great in the kitchen and he knows what he is taught. We all have been praying for Alex a lot lately and continuing to try and show him that we have his back. This week we have been talking about the Holy Spirit. Last night we had a quick night class and an awesome time of worship/prayer. So, we all prayed for Alex like we have done in the past. However this time was different, for me if no one else. I had this overwhelming feeling of love for Alex. A love that only a Father could have. I felt so enveloped in a longing for Alex to break down his walls and connect in a new way with his Father. I was in tears and finally understanding God's heart for us. It was an incredible experience! I will continue to pray for him and ask that you do the same. We have been reminded a lot not to tell people the difficulties of others so they can pray because the line between help and gossiping is so thin, so I am going to leave it at that. Alex is from Juarez and he loves the Lord.

I want to also ask if you guys could continue to pray for finances. We are striving to get all the classroom phase tuition paid for by friday, and it's a stress on all of us cause we are a family.

Thanks!

God is Good and He is Here.

I love nights like these

I had him lay down and I traced him :) he thought it was the coolest thing.

I told him to do big eyes and he did this :)

Phillip and I during our chalk date :)

Tonight has been a wonderful night! First, I got to talk to Jenny on Skype! I loved every minute of it and I get so excited every time I think about it! Her base is fricken sweet!
Second, while on my way to dinner, walking by myself, I felt like I could conquer the world. Why? I was trying to figure that out myself on the way. I believe it is because I have recently wrote down a list of the things I miss. Why would that make me feel like I could conquer the world? Because most ot the things I missed were present on that short walk to dinner. The lovely fall weather, my fall outfit, the breeze, the feeling of strength and vigor and most of all the smell. For some reason it smelled like a mix between camping and fall foods. Who knows how or why it smelled like that, but for moments like these I praise our Wonderful Savior who is Sovereign and cares deeply about us.
Third, we had a wonderful dinner of pasta with alfredo sause and shrimp.
Fourth, I had my chalk date with Phillip (pictured above)! It was fun and wonderful. I love that boy!
Fifth, I talked to my mom on the phone tonight! I love her and wanst able to say it on the phone because our call cut out. I love you mommy!!!!!
Sixth, our phone call cut out because the power went out. This may seem like a bother and frustrating but I took advantage of it. I made some chocolate milk and watched as it began to rain. It finally rained again!
Seventh, I bought a candle that smells like apple cider on sunday and i finally lite it tonight! I am sitting here right now enjoying the smell of apple cider and dreaming about Robinettes.
Seven is the number of completion and so my night has been completely wonderful. :)

I am grateful for nights like these and know that God loves me and what I love.
I hope you guys will have a wonderful night as well.
Drink some apple cider for me :)

Short weekend

The coffee/dessert night went really well friday night! It was hectic and busy but it was really fun! I especially liked it when we got to eat the desserts and the drinks :) Your prayers really helped and I thank you for that! We made $310 dollars and decided to split it between those who still needed to pay for their class tuition. We were all so tired that we made a democratic vote not to go to church on Sunday. So we all slept in and most of us went to get burritos for brunch a couple blocks down. Then Ty had to go into the US and asked if we wanted to go, so all the Americans went and we spent most of the day there. While there we picked up the new teacher for this week. His name is Stan Cosby and he is Ty's home church pastor. He is speaking about the Holy Spirit this week and i can't wait to see what God has in store for us!
The weekend went by so quickly! I feel like these last couple of weeks before outreach will just fly! I desperately want some way to slow them down a bit. I want to go to Africa, no doubt, but that just means that it is closer to the end of the school! I am also getting a little nervous about outreach. That is something you guys can keep in prayer. I need to start getting mentally prepared about going. One thing I believe I forgot to mention about outreach is that we are not heading to Africa right away. We are doing a "state side" mission for 2 weeks before we go. The Americans will be going to Texas and the Mexicans will be going to Montarey (sp?) Mexico. We are not all that excited about this because most of us just want to get to Africa and we don't like that we are going to be split for 2 weeks! But we feel that this is something we need to do.
This is all for now :)

Sunny days

Just doing some cleaning. Deep Deep cleaning.

Yesterday we had class and then cleaned til a little before dinner. It was crazy! the whole staff came and cleaned. There were probably 15 people in the kitchen at one point! But, everything looks so great now :) Today during brunch cleanup Lalo decided to get everyone and everything wet with the sprayer. I of course had to spray him :). Soon the whole kitchen floor was wet and the dishes were not even done.
It is a wonderful day out today! I went and read on the playset and I was so happy! Almost renewed in a sense. It was the perfect amount of hot sun beating down and cold breeze passing by. No humidity, only the suns wonderful rays resting on my skin. When I returned into the air conditioned apartment I realized that I had been sweating just a little. And somehow that was still perfect.
Right now I am supposed to be heading to bake for the Coffe fot Kenya night that we are having tonight. Ty keeps telling us about how a ton more people are going to be here than expected. So if you guys could pray that everything runs smoothly, the staff are generous and that God multiplys the desserts, that would be wonderful! I'll let you guys now how everything works out!
I can't believe it is already October and that outreach is this month! It is a little nerve-racking financially speaking but it is so exciting in every other way!
Kelsey Rae