(I think this next letter went to Steve and his family, and the money enclosed was for them.)

            God has a very special way of working in our lives. This ministry found myself and my husband living our lives the way we wanted them to go, only to find worry, pride, and hurt. My husband and I were young when we married, with a child on the way. God was not a priority and we found very hard times. Two years ago I found a great job. As time went by I was not happy so I quit last year once again, looking for something more. Because our finances were so tight and I was the boss, my husband and I fought, putting more fear into our kids. We went homeless three times, making our kids feel less secure. While staying at the mission here, my husband found God and was baptized, and yet he did not really know God.

            The night before the revival, we went to dinner and tried to figure out how we could change our lives for the better. We agreed we needed God in our lives but we did not understand the Word of God. So we prayed about giving our church new life. God does answer prayers. That morning, Life Action was here. It took many sacrifices. As I listen to my three-year-old tell me the Ten Commandments, I know it was well worth it. To know God has made Himself at home in our hearts is a miracle. Throughout our marriage, we have let the state pay our way for food. God wants us to trust Him. If we use this crutch, He can not do big things for us, so we let Him drive our lives. I've stopped looking for work: my young children are at home; I will raise them to be God's children. So as a sacrifice offering, it may not be much to some, but it is the money for our food for one week: $35 [enclosed was $35]. We have been so blessed by your family. We know God will provide. I know this because of Philippians 4:10-20.

3/9/04

It has actually been a whole month since I've significantly updated this page. I'll share with you some random facts about crusades since then.

-Last update, I shared with you a couple of written testimonies from the crusade in Redding, CA. The one after that was in Los Gatos, CA. Some good things happened there. One cool thing on the 3rd Sunday during testimony time was a lady sharing about her quiet time. During the crusade, our main revivalist challenges the people to spend one hour "with God" each morning for the following five mornings (basically a quiet time). This woman shared that she wasn't real keen on getting up early and that as she went to bed, she told her pet dog (who doesn't like to get up early either), jokingly of course, "Wake me up for my quiet time in the morning." Well, the next morning, her dog walked over to her bed (not sure at what time, but earlier than she was planning on getting up), and barked at her. So she got up. It was a funny testimony, but a good testimony to the fact that God wants us to enlist discplines that help make us like Jesus. There was also a really good "Dear Team" letter that I want to share with you:

Dear Team,

            Two weeks ago I was fighting revival. I didn't think that I wanted to make the time commitment or desire to embark on this journey. Truth be told, I was determined to not obey and attended only a week and a couple of days of the entire time. Until this morning where the realization of pride settled in. I looked for problems with the sermons and worship even when I was here. I tore apart and analyzed everything to a point where I logically convinced myself that I did not need to come.

            I thought to myself that the messages from the team were from another era and another region and not appropriate. Who were these pastors to talk of submission and sp@nkings!

           Today I realize I am broken. God has shown me my pride and my disobedience, not only to God but to my husband. I ask God for his forgiveness and I thank you for the two weeks. The messages I brushed aside are now all flooding back and I am ready for the changes God has in store for me. Thank you for your dedication to changing hearts and lives. You have changed mine.

-This crusade I spent a fair chunk of time working on a video. Our team recorded a CD last crusade, and it was communicated to me that some of my leadership would like to have a "Making of the CD" video to show at the Rebuilders Retreat in South Carolina this month. (The Rebuilders Retreat is a time that we use to encourage and thank those who financially support our ministry.) So Dave and I finished that video late on this past Sunday night (actually early Monday morning if you want to be technical about it...), and gave it to Steve (our main revivalist) on Monday morning (at a more reasonable time..like a little after 10:00 AM), because he left Monday morning for South Carolina. Glad to be done with that thing, although I'm also glad I got to work on it. The digital video camera my parents gave me for Christmas is really coming in handy!

-I'm planning on going to Dallas Baptist University in the fall. God could change that, but pretty sure that's where I'll be. Lately I've been working on scholarship things and application stuff for their Glowing Hearts Ministry.

-This crusade (in Carlsbad, CA) went really well. God did some great things in peoples' lives. The attendance was not very high in light of their Sunday morning attendance, but that doesn't really matter, because I think that very many of those who did come met God in a fresh way. A couple of testimonies I remember are a woman saying she was a gossip and has stopped being that way with people at her work. She also said she wore things to attract attention to herself, and she was getting rid of those. A man confessed immorality under the influence of alcohol (I mean, he wasn't under the influence when he confessed it.....you know what I mean), and that he had made "running" a god.

-My host family is good this crusade. Their names are Dick and Karol. Dick does stuff with household appliances (I don't know how else to describe his job) and Karol is a school teacher (for first graders, I think). She used to be an English teacher, so we've had some good talks about literature and school stuff. I've been staying at their house with Rick, Will, and Dave. Dave and I are in one room, Rick and Will are in another. I found the book, Wuthering Heights ("'Wuthering' being a significant provincial adjective, descriptive of the atmospheric tumult to which its station is exposed in stormy weather"...I love that line) in my room, and have been reading it a little. Probably won't finish it before we leave on Thursday, though, which is sad. I read it my senior year in high school and loved it.

-The weather here is gorgeous. I am at the church as I write this, and I am, I believe, 7 blocks from the beach. We have taken advantage of this (as our time would allow) through a round of golf (only some of the guys went...I played fairly poorly, but it was a beautiful day), and a team outing to the beach yesterday. We had a lunch-picnic, threw a frisbee, played some sand volleyball, and walked/ran along the beach. Some went out pretty deep into the water. Not I.

-Last night, Dave and I went to the apartment of a young married couple in the church, whose names are Jon and Heidi. Several of the team members have really gotten to enjoy them, along with another young couple whose names are Todd and Danielle. Jon has a mini recording studio set up in his apartment, and Josh (guy on my team) wanted to record some stuff he's been working on, so he did some piano and vocal stuff, Brad did guitar, and I did djembe. It was fun, but my djembe disturbed the people below us. By the time they let us know (by tapping on their ceiling), I was finished anyways, though.

-I am planning on going to the San Diego Zoo tomorrow. My host family has a couple of free passes, so Dave and I are going to go out there hopefully, and Jeremiah and Stephanie might come with us (there are also a couple of $5-off passes).

-Our next crusade will commence on Sunday, March 14 in Show Low, Arizona. That will be an 11-day crusade. Then we go to Friona, Texas for another 11-day crusade. Then I get to come home for a little over a week! Several other team members will be staying in San Antonio, and many will be flying home for this nice little "Spring Break" that God graciously provided. Then we go to San Angelo, Texas. Then to Seymour, Texas, and that will be our last crusade. So I have a good ways to go still, and that is great. God has been showing me that I need to become more involved in peoples' lives during the crusades, specifically the teens, so I look forward to being able to minister even more during the coming crusades.

Thank you for your prayers and support. Sorry this took so long to update, but I think I've summed up everything (or most things) in this posting. May you walk through the rest of your day encouraged and in love with our Saviour!

3/23/04

Well, here I am in Arizona: it's really not much like the Arizona you might picture in your head (deserts and Grand Canyons...). I mean, it is in other places, but not here in Show Low. The weather is very pleasant, and actually, about a week before we got here, they had around a foot of snow fall. We are mostly through with the crusade here. Two more nights (tonight and tomorrow night), then we leave Thursday morning, hoping to make it to Albuquerque, New Mexico on Thursday evening, and then on to Friona, Texas on Friday (which is the location of our next crusade).

This crusade has gone wonderfully. I live about 30 minutes away from the church, and am staying with Robby Ginn, our sound tech. My host parents' names are Randy and Connie Elder, and I've really enjoyed being with them. They both like to cook, so that's been very nice also. Dave, Brad, and I were in charge of speaking to the teens this crusade, as Jeremiah and Stephanie were sitting through the services in the sanctuary. So that was, while somewhat streathering (that's a word I made up, which means "slightly stressful"...it started as "streathered," which meant, of course, "slightly stressed"), very enjoyable, and I think God has really done some work in these teens and in this church. I really enjoyed being with the teens this crusade...I've gotten to know alot of them better than I normally would in a crusade. Testimonies are tonight and tomorrow night, so in that time we will get to hear in more detail what God has been doing in peoples' hearts. Trent met with the deacons this past Sunday, though, and supposedly that was a very good time of them sharing specifically what God had done in them.

Life appears to be slowing down for me just a bit, as I finally got my Christian Leadership Scholarship Application mailed to DBU not two hours ago. Reference forms are in the mail too...one of them is filled out and going to DBU, two others are going to people whom I would like to fill them out. So that's one thing to knock off the chart. I still have taxes, FAFSA, and some video stuff to work on, but I'm making progress.

For your viewing enjoyment, I am fixing to put some pictures online and then provide links to them on this site (you know where to go...), so they should be viewable if you are reading this. May God bless you today!

4/12/04

Hello all. I am home on Spring Break. It's good to be here. We leave for San Angelo on Friday, April 8. Have a great week!

Nathan

5/4/04

God has shown up at this church I think more than any church I've been to in the past two years. Sunday, April 25 ("salvation Sunday"), many people raised their hand, confessing their lost state, and some of them went to the prayer room and were hopefully converted. That was just the beginning of the Lord's work in saving souls, though. Throughout that week, God began to show more people where they really stood with Him: that they were spiritually , and graciously saved them. I don't know how many have been saved, and how many of those who have professed salvation have been truly converted: that's the Lord's job and only He knows. I do know, though, that God has been working mightily. Many who profess to have been saved during this crusade had actually thought they had been saved at an earlier time in their lives, but came to a realization that the gospel they had believed under was not the true gospel. The true gospel calls for a life change, not just a mental assent of Jesus' existence. The true gospel calls for discipleship, not just religious activity. Even the Children's Minister of this church and his wife came to the full understanding that they were lost. Praise the Lord, they were saved on "salvation Sunday," and I believe God used the testimonies that they shared during that week to convict others of their need to be genuinely saved.

In addition to God's work in imparting life to those who were spiritually , He has also been freeing people. Testimonies have been shared by people who were bitter, and were finally able to forgive. A staff member shared of his secret addiction to nicotene. Several men spoke of sin that had happened earlier in life that they were "going to the grave with." They didn't want to tell anyone of it, but God convicted them, and I believe each one confessed it to his wife. Now they have a greater level of freedom. Staff members spoke of pride in the ministry they were involved in, and that God had broken them of that. A man in the Marines shared that he was one of "the few, the proud," and he had communicated that in the way he acted towards his children, trying never to show weakness. He felt like all he did was tell his daughter what she could do better, so he spoke to her from the stage, saying she was better than he, and that he wishes that he could have been, at 14 years old, where she is now (in the way she lives).

Because of the extraordinary movement of God here, we have extended the crusade past the scheduled dates. We had a service last night (Monday, May 3), and will be conducting a closing service tomorrow night (although I'm not sure exactly what that will entail). Lord willing, we will leave for Seymour, Texas on Friday, May 7, and arrive that same day.

Thank you for your prayers. I hope you are encouraged by the faithfulness of God to purify His children, and to adopt more children into His family! I am! May He bless you, and prove to you His own faithfulness this week. May you "know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe!" (Eph. 1:18b-19a, NASB)

Rejoicing....

NathaN

5/18/04

Seymour. Just a good ole west-Texas town. About 45 minutes from Wichita Falls, and 2 1/2 hours from Dallas. A tornado came through this town back in March (I'm wondering if it was in the same storm that gave us tons of rain in Friona, Texas) and damaged three things. The local Sonic (don't worry, it was fixed before we got here, so we've been able to eat there!), a Firestone building (I remember seeing it on the day we got in town, not knowing there had been a tornado, and noticing the damage), and the church. The only thing that was really damaged was the church gym. Kinda sad, because gyms are nice, but not so sad, because one of the basketball hoops is intact, so we've made some use of that.

I have a teenage host brother this crusade, which is exciting, because I think it's only the second crusade that I remember where that's been the case for me (the other one was in Frankfort, IL, and I was only with that family for about a week). The team members I'm staying with are Josh, Brad, and Dave. Very fun. My host dad is the town dentist. He actually offered to do some dental work on Josh for free, and to clean any of our teeth (free) that needed it. So that was a blessing!

Please pray for me as I have lots of things to get done before one-nighters begin! I will probably only have two more updates after this one: one to tell some things God did here (we start to see and hear about it more during the second week), and then the final one to let you know about one-nighters. Actually, I may do one more after that...yeah, I probably will. Anyways, enough for now, I need to go eat lunch.

"So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you are also being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit."

-Ephesians 2:19-22

WE HOUSE THE LIVING GOD! Let our lives corporately express His Spirit indwelling us, and may they also individually reflect His brightness! The Lord bless you with Himself today!

NathaN