SO FUN!

Well, turns out, we have gotten more than a dusting, and school was cancelled all day! God is good. :)

SNOW DAY!

Well I woke up this morning to 25 degree weather with a wind chill of 11 and a dusting of snow on the ground! The kids have school delayed for 2 hours. It is a pretty pathetic version, but we will take what we can get. :) Thank you Lord for just a tip of the tounge sample of what is to come next year! I can't wait for Parker & Hayden to wake up and see it, they are going to be so excited.
We are missing all of you and hope to see you soon. Let's keep out eyes open for people around us who are hurting this holiday season, I know that as fun as it is for all of us, it can be so hard for others, may God use us to show light in the darkness. Love to each of you...Here's to trying to make miniature snow men!

Happy Thanksgiving

Jeremiah 30:19: There will be joy and songs of thanksgiving, and I will multiply my people, not diminish them; I will honor them, not despise them.

Corinthians 4:15: All of this is for your benefit. And as God’s grace reaches more and more people, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
Richard & Alice

God Is in Charge at the Center

I'll leave a core of people among you
who are poor in spirit-
What's left of Israel that's really Israel.
They'll make their home in God.
This core holy people
will do not wrong.
They won't lie,
won't use words to flatter or seduce.
Content with who they are and where they are,
unanxious, they'll live at peace.
Zephaniah 3:12-13

Community

I was reading this morning and the author said: "Jesus did not write a book, he built a community. " It struck me that we have already begun that process. You are the community. I couldn't be more thankful for the nucleus of our team. Each of you has a critical contribution to make. God is making that more clear as the time approaches.

I have much to be thankful for.

Something to Consider

Crew, I went to monday night life group last night where we were studying Ecclesiastes and was really touched by these verses. Hope you will be too!

"Sorrow is better than laughter for by a sad countenance the heart is made better." Eccl 7:3

"Consider the work of God for who can make straight what he has made crooked? In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: Surely God has appointed the one as well as the other so that man can find out nothing that will come after him." Ecc. 7:13-14

Soul note from my Bible:
"Some things cannmot be fixed this side of heaven. Solomon observed that there are times when the crooked cannot be made straight: some peopole stricken with cancer will die; some disabilities will never be healed. Solomon advisses people to expect bvothe good and bad in life- to enjoy the days of prosperity and be prepared for the days of adversity. No one goes through life without facing difficulties and problems. God never allows our journey here on earth to become so easy that we lose sight of heaven, where God promises to wipe every tear from our eyes!"

That was really powerful to me and I'm so excited for the day. Keep your eyes on him and he will take care of youi!

Max spoke on hope wed. night and we sang "Great is Thy Faithfulness." It really touched me also because when he was talking about how we loose hope on things I was thinking about my sezures and not being able to drive which tends to discourege me at times, but when we sang " great is thy faithfullness" it said "morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed thy hand has provided." It really made me think about how I don't need a car and every time I have a sezure he is always right there with me providing me comfort. I really feel like God is speaking to me in so many ways right now. It is very exciting!
In Christ,
Abby

Prayer Request!!!

Hey guys!
I have a prayer request. I am applying to PSU, but just found out that I have to have 60 hours before I can be accepted. And I will only have 33. So I called the admissions office and asked them how I can have that 60 hour rule can be waived due to the nursing program being four years long. They said that I have to apply to a different school in the system and get accepted into the system, then apply to the nursing program at University Park and if I get accepted into the nursing program then I can be transfered into PSU.
I am sure that your head is swimming as much as mine was after the phone call, not to mention the tears about to come bursting out of my eyeballs! Good thing my mommy was in the room to remind me not to worry.
I know that my Jesus is amazing and he has my future in his hands but I have a problem with major worrying. There are so many things that can go wrong and so many what if's. But I just keep reminding myself that it is okay. I know that Jesus will take care of all of the issues and problems that may arise and in a year I will look back at this time and laugh. But right now it is scary. I don't know if this is a hidden or blind issue in my window thing, so I don't know if it counts. It might be just a katie issue.
So pray for me. I am submitting my applicatin to the PSU system sometime this month (depending on how fast I can write an amazing, tear-jerking, life-changing personal statement!). I will be applying to the nursing school when we visit this Christmas. Pray for me to stop worrying and trust. To Trust in my amazing God. Trust in his marvelous plans. Trust in his love and his power. I want to be able to jump first and fear later.
Thanks so much.
I love you guys!

Housing Info

Hey Everyone,

I was piddling around and found this report on the housing analysis of State College, just thought it was interesting. It was written in 2004, so a bit outdated, but seems still relevant.

Have a great wednesday!
http://www.huduser.org/Publications/PDF/CMAR_StCollegePA.pdf

Holiness

Amazing that Jeremy would be convicted on these things. Richard and I are at the Church Planters Conference at Antioch. It has been great. The most important thing I have heard is that Antioch gives strong encouragements to the teams they send out, but the only thing they mandate is holiness. Jimmy Seibert said, don't sell out your holiness to be cool, or relevant, or emergent or post-modern. That the lost are drawn to genuine commitment to living like Jesus. They happen to be relevant, but do not sell out to it.

This is helpful to me. I so much want us to be culturally appropriate, but want my life to be transformed to be like Jesus even more. My biggest challenge right now is letting him be my identity. "I have been crucified with Christ..." and to be bold in sharing my faith. I fear being seen as weird. Surely weird is not necessary, but I mainly want to be eternally relevant...and I guess that is pretty weird.

Whether or not God uses us to win one person...may he transform us to be a community after his own heart...that glorifies him in how we live.

What would it be like if I had no fear...and pure faith?

Pray

As you are looking into my Johari's window, I would like for my open pane to begin to grow. So I am going to open up with some specific prayer requests that are those in my hidden pane. I want for you to see me (the Christ in me). The pretty and the ugly. I would like for you to pray for both sides. here I go:

I desire to look more like Chrst and for Him to invade every part of me. I want to stop biting my fingernails, I want to start exercising, but I don't because I know that I will stop again when it starts to hurt. I would like to loose 40lbs and get down to 200lbs for the simple reason of presenting a healthy message. Better dental hygiene, Eating healthier, Wake up earlier, Go to bed earlier, Read Bible more, commit to memorizing scripture, Deeper more intentional prayer life, making time for meditation, Spirit led, Internally changed on a daily bases, I want the Character of God, Pray for my holiness, I want to be holy as God is holy. Pray that my thoughts that they would be held captive and they would glorify God. Authentic, Risky, Rawl, Real. better huband, that I would view my wife as a crock pot, I must continue to place blessing into her. May our relationship deepen. Intentionality, parent with grace, be transformed by the spirit of Christ, and finally (at least to this point) that I would strive to make Jesus known out of appreciation rather than obligation. Thanks for letting me be open.
Blessings, Jeremy

I Promise - Gary Smalley

Alice and I attended the Gary Smalley "I Promise" conference at CBC this weekend. The promises consisted of 1) I promise to conform my beliefs to God's truths, 2) I promise to be filled with God, 3) I promise to find God's best in every trial, 4) I promise to listen and communicate with love, and 5) I promise to serve you all the days of my life.

The bottom line for the entire event was M&M (memorizing and meditating) on scripture in order to keep the promises.

The bottom line for the first promise was that you are the sum of your beliefs. Your beliefs are much more powerful than your thoughts. Changing your beliefs requires changing your thoughts--memorizing and meditating. The second promise dealt with taking the expectation off of other people to make you happy. Realize that you can't change anyone, only yourself through Christ. The main point of the third promise was that stress is frustration over expectations, the gap between what you expect and what you're getting. You can either reduce expectations or thank God for the gaps and the personal growth that occurs. The fourth promise dealt with moving from communicating in the "Knowledge/Issue/I want to win" level to the "Love/Relationship/I want to know you" level. Another point of the fourth promise was why going after your brother's "Speck" is a waste of time and destructive. It sets up people as adversaries, makes the relationship unsafe, and creates codependency because the focus is on the other person. The last promise dealt with serving--opening our hearts first to God and getting filled with His love; opening our hearts to others so that God's love can flow to others; cultivating an environment of safety so that others are open to being served; responding to the needs and desires of others.

Nothing radical or revolutionary presented, but I really enjoyed his view on our heart and beliefs. Your thoughts lead to your beliefs (from your heart), which lead to your actions. He presented five core beliefs and the scritpure to reach our heart.

1) Believe God exists and God loves your and gave you His Word. Matt 22:37
2) You are a sinner and lost. Jesus is your salvation and boss. Rom 10:9, 10
3) Once you receive Christ, the powerful Holy Spirit lives within you. Acts 1:8
4) By faith, all your trials are transforming trophies. Rom 5:3-5
5) Serving God and others is God's highest calling for you. Matt 22:39

Of course, this was a marriage conference, but I thought some of it applied to Mission Imprint, especially the fourth and fifth belief, and the promises. It's all from his new book "I Promise" if you're interested. We were blessed and really enjoyed the conference.

May God richly bless you all this week. rb

Slogans of the Missionary

"I have but one candle of life to burn, and I would rather burn it out in a land filled with darkness than in a land flooded with light" -- John Keith Falconer

"God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supply" -- Hudson Taylor

"God isn't looking for people of great faith, but for individuals ready to follow Him" -- Hudson Taylor

"The Great Commission is not an option to be considered; it is a command to be obeyed" -- Hudson Taylor

"If I had 1,000 lives, I'd give them all for China" -- Hudson Taylor

"God uses men who are weak and feeble enough to lean on him." -- Hudson Taylor, missionary to China

"Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God" -- William Carey

"The spirit of Christ is the spirit of missions. The nearer we get to Him, the more intensely missionary we become." -- Henry Martyn, missionary to India and Persia

"He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose" -- Jim Elliot, missionary martyr who lost his life in the late 1950's trying to reach the Auca Indians of Ecuador

"We are debtors to every man to give him the gospel in the same measure in which we have received it" -- P.F. Bresee, founder of the Church of the Nazarene

"In the vast plain to the north I have sometimes seen, in the morning sun, the smoke of a thousand villages where no missionary has ever been" -- Robert Moffat

"If a commission by an earthly king is considered a honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?" -- David Livingstone

"Sympathy is no substitute for action." -- David Livingstone, missionary to Africa

"Can't you do just a little bit more?" -- J.G. Morrison

"Lost people matter to God, and so they must matter to us." -- Keith Wright

"The Bible is not the basis of missions; missions is the basis of the Bible" -- Ralph Winter

"Some wish to live within the sound of a chapel bell; I wish to run a rescue mission within a yard of hell." -- C.T. Studd

"If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him." -- C.T. Studd

"No one has the right to hear the gospel twice, while there remains someone who has not heard it once." -- Oswald J. Smith

"Any church that is not seriously involved in helping fulfill the Great Commission has forfeited its biblical right to exist." -- Oswald J. Smith

"The mission of the church is missions" -- Oswald J. Smith

"We talk of the Second Coming; half the world has never heard of the first." -- Oswald J. Smith

"This generation of Christians is responsible for this generation of souls on the earth!" -- Keith Green

"There is nothing in the world or the Church -- except the church's disobedience -- to render the evangelization of the world in this generation an impossibility." -- Robert Speer

"If God calls you to be a missionary, don't stoop to be a king" -- Jordan Groom

"If you found a cure for cancer, wouldn't it be inconceivable to hide it from the rest of mankind? How much more inconceivable to keep silent the cure from the eternal wages of death." -- Dave Davidson

"World missions was on God's mind from the beginning." -- Dave Davidson

"In our lifetime, wouldn't it be sad if we spent more time washing dishes or swatting flies or mowing the yard or watching television than praying for world missions?" -- Dave Davidson

"Let my heart be broken with the things that break God's heart" -- Bob Pierce

"No reserves. No retreats. No regrets" -- William Borden

"The reason some folks don't believe in missions is that the brand of religion they have isn't worth propagating." -- unknown

When James Calvert went out as a missionary to the cannibals of the Fiji Islands, the ship captain tried to turn him back, saying, "You will lose your life and the lives of those with you if you go among such savages." To that, Calvert replied, "We died before we came here."

"Someone asked Will the heathen who have never heard the Gospel be saved? It is more a question with me whether we -- who have the Gospel and fail to give it to those who have not -- can be saved." -- Charles Spurgeon

"The gospel is only good news if it gets there in time" -- Carl F. H. Henry

"Our God of Grace often gives us a second chance, but there is no second chance to harvest a ripe crop." -- Kurt von Schleicher

"Missions is the overflow of our delight in God because missions is the overflow of God's delight in being God." --John Piper

"God is pursuing with omnipotent passion a worldwide purpose of gathering joyful worshippers for Himself from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. He has an inexhaustible enthusiasm for the supremacy of His name among the nations. Therefore, let us bring our affections into line with His, and, for the sake of His name, let us renounce the quest for worldly comforts and join His global purpose." -- John Piper

"Go, send, or disobey." -- John Piper

"You can give without loving. But you cannot love without giving." -- Amy Carmichael, missionary to India

"Only as the church fulfills her missionary obligation does she justify her existence." -- Unknown

"As long as there are millions destitute of the Word of God and knowledge of Jesus Christ, it will be impossible for me to devote time and energy to those who have both." -- J. L. Ewen

"The command has been to 'go,' but we have stayed -- in body, gifts, prayer and influence. He has asked us to be witnesses unto the uttermost parts of the earth ... but 99% of Christians have kept puttering around in the homeland." -- Robert Savage, Latin American Mission

"People who do not know the Lord ask why in the world we waste our lives as missionaries. They forget that they too are expending their lives ... and when the bubble has burst, they will have nothing of eternal significance to show for the years they have wasted." -- Nate Saint, missionary martyr

"We must be global Christians with a global vision because our God is a global God." -- John Stott

"Believers who have the gospel keep mumbling it over and over to themselves. Meanwhile, millions who have never heard it once fall into the flames of eternal hell without ever hearing the salvation story." -- K.P. Yohannan, founder of Gospel for Asia Bible Society

"Tell the students to give up their small ambitions and come eastward to preach the gospel of Christ." -- Francis Xavier, missionary to India, the Philippines, and Japan

"The mark of a great church is not its seating capacity, but its sending capacity." -- Mike Stachura

"The true greatness of any church in not how many it seats but how many it sends!" -- Unknown

"'Not called!' did you say?
'Not heard the call,' I think you should say.
Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not to come there. Then look Christ in the face -- whose mercy you have professed to obey -- and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world. -- William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army

"It is not in our choice to spread the gospel or not. It is our death if we do not." -- Peter Taylor Forsyth

"If God's love is for anybody anywhere, it's for everybody everywhere." -- Edward Lawlor, Nazarene General Superintendent

"Never pity missionaries; envy them. They are where the real action is -- where life and death, sin and grace, Heaven and Hell converge." -- Robert C. Shannon

"People who don't believe in missions have not read the New Testament. Right from the beginning Jesus said the field is the world. The early church took Him at His word and went East, West, North and South." -- J. Howard Edington

"It is possible for the most obscure person in a church, with a heart right toward God, to exercise as much power for the evangelization of the world, as it is for those who stand in the most prominent positions." -- John R. Mott

"In no other way can the believer become as fully involved with God's work, especially the work of world evangelism, as in intercessory prayer." -- Dick Eastman

"What's your dream and to what corner of the missions world will it take you?" -- Eleanor Roat

"We can reach our world, if we will. The greatest lack today is not people or funds. The greatest need is prayer." -- Wesley Duewel

"Love is the root of missions; sacrifice is the fruit of missions" -- Roderick Davis

"Missionary zeal does not grow out of intellectual beliefs, nor out of theological arguments, but out of love" -- Roland Allen

"I have but one passion: It is He, it is He alone. The world is the field and the field is the world; and henceforth that country shall be my home where I can be most used in winning souls for Christ." -- Count Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf

"If you take missions out of the Bible, you won't have anything left but the covers" -- Nina Gunter

"If the Church is 'in Christ,' she is involved in mission. Her whole existence then has a missionary character. Her conduct as well as her words will convince the unbelievers and put their ignorance and stupidity to silence." -- David Bosch

"Missions is not the 'ministry of choice' for a few hyperactive Christians in the church. Missions is the purpose of the church." -- Unknown

"The concern for world evangelization is not something tacked on to a man's personal Christianity, which he may take or leave as he chooses. It is rooted in the character of the God who has come to us in Christ Jesus. Thus, it can never be the province of a few enthusiasts, a sideline or a specialty of those who happen to have a bent that way. It is the distinctive mark of being a Christian." -- James S. Stewart

"The average pastor views his church as a local church with a missions program; while he ought to realize that if he is in fact pastoring a church, it is to be a global church with a missions purpose." -- Unknown

"The Christian is not obedient unless he is doing all in his power to send the Gospel to the heathen world." -- A. B. Simpson

"The will of God -- nothing less, nothing more, nothing else." -- F. E. Marsh

"If the Great Commission is true, our plans are not too big; they are too small." -- Pat Morley

"If missions languish, it is because the whole life of godliness is feeble. The command to go everywhere and preach to everybody is not obeyed until the will is lost by self-surrender in the will of God. Living, praying, giving and going will always be found together." -- Arthur T. Pierson

"The history of missions is the history of answered prayer." -- Samuel Zwemer

"'Go ye' is as much a part of Christ's Gospel as 'Come unto Me.' You are not even a Christian until you have honestly faced your responsibility in regard to the carrying of the Gospel to the ends of the earth." -- J. Stuart Holden

"A congregation that is not deeply and earnestly involved in the worldwide proclamation of the gospel does not understand the nature of salvation." -- Ted Engstrom, World Vision

"To stay here and disobey God -- I can't afford to take the consequence. I would rather go and obey God than to stay here and know that I disobeyed." -- Amanda Berry Smith

"I believe that in each generation God has called' enough men and women to evangelize all the yet unreached tribes of the earth…. It is not God who does not call. It is man who will not respond!" -- Isobel Kuhn, missionary to China and Thailand

"To know the will of God, we need an open Bible and an open map." -- William Carey, pioneer missionary to India

"God is a God of missions. He wills missions. He commands missions. He demands missions. He made missions possible through His Son. He made missions actual in sending the Holy Spirit." -- George W. Peters

"The best remedy for a sick church is to put it on a missionary diet." -- Unknown

"The Church must send or the church will end." -- Mendell Taylor

Mission Imprint

No No Nordstroms
I just tried to flush Katie and Alice out of Nordstroms but was unsuccessful. Sorry Richard, I was thinking about you.
Only one purse, Katie!

Josh and Caitlin

Kay and I had pizza with Josh and Caitlin a couple of nights ago and they are continuing to pursue a job in SC. That is their first choice. Josh talked to an engineering firm in Bellfonte who showed some interest, though do not currently have an opening. He said he would take something part time in the beginning if necessary to get worked in.

They are on their way this Thursday to NYC to check out a job there, but it doesn't sound like a very strong lead...just a possibility. The more we talked to them the more convinced that they would be a very good fit with our team. But....God knows and His will be done. Pray for their NYC trip.

All OUT!

http://www.funnyjunk.com">

6 months 1 week!

Good to be Home!

Greetings, I appreciate the scripture Lara. I've been working in the Phoenix - Tucson area over the last 11 days. Several negative things happened that affected me and my unit. I was definitely feeling attacked until I started memorizing scripture. Praise God. Richard

The True Miracle

And I will give you a new heart with new and right desires, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony heart of sin and give you a new, obedient heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so you will obey my laws and do whatever I command.
Ezekiel 36:26

"Go to Hell"

What do you think: "Eternal Judgement" or "Battle Cry"?

Quote for the Day

"I will prepare and some day my chance will come."
- Abraham Lincoln

Hello Everyone

Good Morning Everyone,
Hope you all have had a good week. You are daily in my prayers.
I love you all.
Alice