Faith Without Borders

Dear friends and family, March has been pretty busy but also a month where it seems like my life is starting to normalize. At the beginning of the month I attended an International Women’s Day 5k. Almost all our women came and we had such a fun time together and this allowed me some time to get to know the women outside of work. Another big thing this month is that Beauty for Ashes (BFA) has moved into a new and bigger office building. We are still working on settling in and getting everything set up. I feel as though I should take some time here to remind you all what BFA is exactly. So BFA is a business that employs women in Nepal. The original idea was to hire women who in the past had been sexually exploited and needed a job after they had been through counseling and aftercare. In Nepal there is a stigma against these women and many of them often fall right back into the sex trade. Today BFA still aims to employ these women but we haven’t stopped there, they also hire women ...

Dear friends and family, Wow this month has been full of surprises! It stared out with me going to a region north of Kathmandu with two YWAM teams from New Zealand. There we did some local outreach (which included praying for the local police force!) and prayer and worship in the area as it experiences a lot of human trafficking. Then one of the teams and I got to speak at a leadership conference in a mountain village about two hours north. I loved spending time with this team as one of the leaders was in my small group when I served in New Zealand two years ago! I also just enjoyed spending time in the mountains away from the polluted city and learning about a new culture and way of life. I was blessed to do some discipleship of the Nepali believers, which is greatly needed here. This month I have also been slowly fitting into my place at Beauty For Ashes (BFA). Right now I am helping with some projects that help keep the business running as well as slowly getting to know the wom...

Dear friends and family, I have finally made it to Kathmandu, Nepal! I am so excited to be here after months of preparation. I have just finished up a two week orientation on the country’s culture, beliefs, festivals/ ceremonies and worldview. It was an intense time of learning but I am excited to finally put what I have learned into action. I have also just been adjusting to life here. It’s a little like urban camping. We don’t always have electricity, or running hot water and you never drink water from the tap here, easy everyday things involve a little more foresight and strategic planning than they do back home (count your blessings!). Regardless I am loving it here and cannot wait to see what God does! This Tuesday I will be traveling to a region northwest of Kathmandu with two YWAM teams for the duration of a week. This region is known for human trafficking, there is a whole village that has no young woman or children because they have all been sold into sexual slavery. Our ...

Dear friends and family, Merry late Christmas and Happy New Year! I am currently at my parents’ home in Northern Washington. Here I have been visiting with family and friends, relaxing and preparing for my year in Nepal. As some of you have heard I will be moving to Nepal January 20 th 2015. My time serving in Redding, CA has come to an end, the school I was supposed to co-lead got canceled (as a result I never went to Hawaii, Turkey or Lebanon as originally planned!). I will still be working with YWAM in Nepal and look forward to a different role there. I will also be working for an organization called Beauty for Ashes. This business provides opportunity and discipleship to women previously trafficked into sexual slavery, those who have been exploited and women at risk. I will be assisting in administration and discipleship of the ladies on a daily basis. I will also have to chance to do regular evangelism and I am hoping to lead a women’s Bible study. I am very excited to ...

Dear friends and family,             Wow so much has been happened this month! During my time here I have been taking a course called the Apostolic Missions Course. It is focused on understanding Islam and ways in which to reach them for Christ. The short of it is just being bold and share your faith; there is no reason to hide it! The world’s problem is not Muslims its nominal Christians who are too scared to share their faith!! We also received training on how to reach Muslims from Georges Houssney. He works for and founded Horizons International. He is originally from Lebanon and has spent the majority of his life reaching out to the Muslim community, training up missionaries and speaking out against the “insider” movement in the Middle East.             This month three other staff and I went on what is called a “faith outreach”. This is based off of Luke 9:1-9 and...

Dear friends and family,             Sorry it has been a while! So much has been happening here I don’t even know where to begin. We are over halfway through with the Discipleship Training School (DTS) and it has been cool to see how much the students have grown. Every other Friday night we all go out and do some street evangelism, so far the students and staff have been able to share the gospel with many different people and have even seen two people come to Christ and others return to the church. As some of you may know I have had a pinched nerve by my right shoulder for over a year now, which has caused me lots of pain and discomfort. A couple months ago now someone asked to pray over it and the pain instantly went away and I have not had problems with it sense, I have been healed, God healed me!!             My job as Director of Maintenance has been going well, I ...

Hey guys, I hope you are all doing amazing! Here is a mini update; so some big changes are headed my way. First off my job role has changed yet again while being here. I am no longer assistant to the base director, personnel or office manager. They have transferred me into being office reception, outreach coordinator and head of maintenance. Pretty crazy change I know but they did it for a good reason. That reason is because I will no longer be working with YWAM Redding after this coming December 2014. This means I will no longer be going to Hawaii in November or working with this base after December 2014. Originally I was maybe going to be assistant leading a discipleship training school (DTS) in January, but have felt uneasy about that. I took a week to fast and pray and God revealed to me that I was not supposed to lead the DTS. Instead I will be moving to Nepal for a year to work with Beauty for Ashes (BFA). BFA is a non-profit organization that provides jobs for women wh...