Church in Denver

Sunday we went to Church in Denver. Fred spoke about the state of the world today and what the church needs to do to get our country back on track.

We had a booth set up in the foyer with a bunch of books - biographies of famous M-workers such as Amy Carmichael and Hudson Taylor. We also had fliers and such with more info about what we do, for those interested in joining missions.

This was my first networking/recruiting event since joining NSI in Jan. I enjoyed meeting people and sharing with them more about what we do. I also loved visiting their church, and participating in anointed worship, and of course hearing Fred speak is always a little mind-blowing.

Live on the Radio

The day began the usual way, with me asking, "hey Matt, what are we doing today?"

The disadvantage of jumping into the Mobile Tour 1/2 way through, is I have no idea what's going on, but the advantage is the guys did all the prep work, so I'm not complaining, and also trying to keep my questions to a minimum.

Today Matt's response was unique, "we going to meet with Russ and be on the radio, talking to the Father for Salt Lake City."

I knew this mobile tour would be challenging, and that's good, but this was one challenge I'd rather avoid. I get nervous talking to the Father out loud, and public speaking is stretching too, so this was a little over the top...like super nerve-wracking. I know people think that we M-workers do this crazy stuff all the time and it's no big deal, but that's so not true for me.

We arrived at the "Blue House" and sat down with Russ. He was doing a fundraiser for the radio station which broadcasts to 80% of Utah.

We went live on the air and Russ introduced us. Then Matt and Sam talked to the Father for Salt Lake City and for the Radio station, or something like that. I wasn't really listening. I was busy thinking about what I was going to say.
Then Russ took over and switched it back to music. I was relieved, but surprisingly disappointed. When you get this nervous it's rather anti-climatic, and I really shouldn't run from the challenge.

Then Russ took a phone call and talked to the guy live, and then brought me into their conversation and it was my turn to talk to the Father.Then there were some technical difficulties with the music, so I "got" to stay on the air talking to Russ, and he asked me to share how I met the Father and ended up working with Y-organization. Then Matt and Sam got back on and shared their stories and talked more about Y-organization in Idaho.

It was pretty sweet...so glad I did it, even more glad that it's over.

Salt Lake

This morning over breakfast, Jamie (our host) and I were talking this area. Mormonism is based on good works, so there's this feeling of Spiritual pride and judgmentalism, therefore I tend to feel insecure and feel not good enough. I think most people probably feel one way or the other, even in the followers of the Father.

I had expected to find this at youth group too, but not so. Tuesday we had arrived in SLC and went straight to Sr High Youth Group.
"you 3 represent the 30% of people who have never even heard of the Father..."
After we had a great time talking to the teens. One girl in particiluar really wants to do m-work, so it was cool to add some fuel to that fire.
Wednesday night we worked with the Jr Hi group. Even though I've been volunteering at Cascade's youth group for a year now, I'm still intimidated by Jr Highers. During the Songs, I was amazed by the kids' passion and how uninhibited they were - raising their hands, kneeling down, genuinely in seeking the Father. I could sense His presence in a way I had not expected to experience at a Jr High Youth Group, and they were mostly new followers of the Father. One relatively new girl brought her friend, who meet the Father that evening...

Washington

Thursday we got up early so we could make it from Twin Falls, Idaho to Longview, Washington in time for our evening meeting.
A friend set up the event for us as a "anyone interested in m-work should come" type deal. So we had a bunch of high schoolers/young adults. The program was all ours, so Sam did his power point, I got to ask the questions and give out prizes, and Dave did statistics of m-work today and took pictures of Matt speaking,and of our small group discussion time.A bunch of people had been over-seas so after the meeting we had a great time chillin, eating doughnuts and sharing stores of crazy over-seas experiences...

Twin Falls, Idaho

In Twin Falls, we stayed with Tracy and her family. She was a student on the D-school last fall. Tuesday morning, we shared at the School Tracy had attended. It was neat to see Tracy's teachers and how impressed they were by what she's done with her life since completing High School.

In the afternoon, Tracy showed us Shoshone falls...
Tuesday night we shared with the college group, and were invited to share with the Youth Group the following night, so we stayed in Twin Falls an extra day.

We also all have colds, so we drank some "airborn" to boost our immune systems :)

Mobile Tour

Upon returning to Idaho, I spent a couple days unpacking, settling in, catching up on what's going on, and helping out in the office. The guys had also just gotten back from part 1 of the mobile tour, and I overheard Joe discussing getting together with them to catch up on what was going on and plan out the next couple weeks. Carrie offered to make cinnamon buns, so I jokingly invited myself to join their meeting. I wasn't really going to go, because I was afraid they would try to convince me to join the mobile tour. 

Matt and Sam shared about the mobile tour. I thought they were just going places recruiting for our D-school, but really they are sharing the Father's heart for the lost and challenging people to get involved in m-work any way they felt led. They have a great slide show with facts, statistics and verses about m-work, and share with youth groups, young adult groups and Christian schools.

It sounded amazing, and I totally wanted to join. Instead of saying anything rash, I skipped out of the rest of the meeting to go to the church for "Soup and the Word" for the High Schooler's lunch break. I got to surprise them, because no one knew I was back...that was fun :)

Matt and Sam had said the mobile tour was great with 3 people, and Dave have been traveling with them. Then I found out Dave wasn't going on Part 2 of the mobile tour, so I asked to join. Thinking I would road trip with the all staff to Washington for Tommy + Lacey's wedding, and then go with the guys to Salt Lake the following week.

So on Monday, after the staff meeting Joe said, "you should go with the mobile tour to Twin Falls." Originally I was thinking that was not possible because we had a big mailing I committed to helping with, but we had finished it early. I was also focused on preparing my time of sharing about Children At Risk at the staff meeting, which had just ended.

So with no go reason not to go, I threw some clothes in a bag and hit the road Monday afternoon...