Christmas is nearing and the water is freezing. Its supposed to snow a little bit here in Kansas in the next few days. By next Wednesday the forecast says the temperature will be 6 degrees... I don't know if I even have warm enough clothes for that type of weather and an ice scraper is definitely on my next shopping list.
We recently had a Thanksgiving break in which I went up to Minnesota to spend Thanksgiving with extended family. It was nice spending time with them and catching up. They also took me pheasant hunting which was a blast! The picture on the right is my Uncle Corky and I in Wisconsin on a hunting farm. We Got 9 out of 10 birds. Unfortunately I had to return to Kansas that day so I was unable to enjoy my catch but i'm sure they had a great dinner with all this food. I am loving the midwest. I do miss home a lot though and I am excited for my 10 day visit starting Wednesday, December 16th. Until then we have been cramming in a lot of assignments and preparing for our outreaches. The Kairos class and I have been practicing a few plays which we will perform for Christian schools and youth groups to inspire them to become passionate about serving our Lord. I recently heard that the greatest need in missions work today is mission mobilizers. This is the focus of our 18 day East Coast road trip called Speaking Blitz. We return from the Speaking Blitz and leave 10 days after our return for our Honduras trip. I am really excited for the busy year ahead of me.
I have been really getting to know the other people in the program with me and we have become a really good group of friends. We all recently went to a 24/7 prayer ministry called International House of Prayer (IHOP). It was an awesome and stretching experience. Today we helped World Vision set up a big display for Africa in which people come and walk through to experience life in a specific African Village. The experience takes about 20 to 30 minutes and it takes you through a real persons life if Africa. They are expecting thousands of people to come through in the week that it is set up. The picture on the right is a picture of the setup from above.I started a new book for Kairos recently called Abbas Child by Brennan Manning and I am doing a book study on Philippians also. The homework is very tedious but I am so excited and thankful for everything I get to learn. Some of the topics we have been learning in class lately are: how to hear God's voice and how He speaks to us, understanding God's guidance and how to seek His will, and have also been learning about self image and how to have confident humility. God has really been expanding my understanding of His power, character, the greatness and uniqueness of his Kingdom, and of the Body of Christ (both as individuals and as churches as the parts to a whole) which He works through. I am so thankful to be a part of His inheritance. Next week a man named Wick Nease is coming to teach us about The Father Heart of God. There is a quote I heard yesterday from the pastor of Life church written by Costa Deir that states, "The greatest crime a Christian can commit is to limit a limitless God." I love this because it is humbling and is a reminder to me to trust in Him and to allow Christ to work in and through me rather than living on my own and checking in on Him.
Prayer requests:
- That God blesses the host families who have opened up their doors to us students and that we students might be a light of Christ to them
- That God takes our fears and expectations of the outreaches to come and turns them into a sense of peace through which He can teach us how to trust Him better
- That through all the commotion and busy work, I, and the other students, stay dependent and focused upon God
- That I am not anxious or stressed about my support raising and I continue to trust God that this is where He wants me and that He will continue to supply me for all my needs
- That God continues to break me and mold me into the man He created me to be
With Love and Blessings in Christ Jesus,
Stephen Reynolds
