Amsterdam

Hello everyone we are the Amsterdam Team! We are a team of six girls, Elisa McKeown, Chelsea Engstrom, Niki Helsel, Hannah Klose, Heather Smith, and Natalie Hoy and we will be traveling to the city of Amsterdam on Friday May 21st.

While in Amsterdam we will be staying and working with various YWAM (Youth With A Mission) ministries. We will be staying at the YWAM base in De Poort which is about a 20-minute walk from the Red Light District. Although we are not staying in the Red Light, we will be working there almost every day. We are partnering with two YWAM ministries located in the heart of the Red Light District: The Lighthouse and The Tabernacle of the Nations (www.ywamamsterdam.org ). The Lighthouse is a ministry that focuses on the issue of sex-trafficking and all the issues that go along with that. Their focus is on the prostitutes in the district as well as the brothel owners, buyers, and sellers. We will be helping this ministry with various service projects around their building as they are currently in the process of transition. We will also be able to host craft nights for women, lead devotions, and cook dinner for their bible study groups.

The other ministry, The Tabernacle, is a 24/7 prayer house that is located in an old church building within the Red Light. Their focus is on prayer, worship, and the arts. We will be taking 3-hour time slots throughout the week where we will be in prayer for the city and will worship and paint. Our heart is to intercede on the behalf of the city and to be constantly calling on the Lord for His presence to be made known in the heart of the darkest places in the city. We will also lead prayer walks around the city as well as evangelize through prayer and encounters with people on the streets.

We are really excited for this trip and we know that God has many plans in store for us! We all have hearts to see restoration and healing within the Kingdom of God and we believe that is exactly what God wants to do in Amsterdam, specifically with the Red Light District. We want to go to be able to share the light of Christ that we have with the people of Amsterdam and to partner with those that are already serving and encourage them in their long-term ministry. Our biggest heart is to see this city become a light to the other nations of Europe and to be a place of sending out missionaries to the world to bring transformation! We know that being a short-term team that we cannot accomplish much, but we are at least able to partner with the ones that are there long-term that can accomplish these goals and dreams for this city. We want to be able to lift them up and encourage them in their ministry so that they are able to keep pouring out to those within the Red Light District.

We cannot wait until the day we leave and we trust that God is going to continue to provide as we keep preparing to go! So far we have raised around $7000, however, we are still in need of $9000 in order to leave. We have already purchased our airfare but we still need to raise our living expenses and food for the month. If you would like to donate to our team you can do so through Simpson University at https://app.etapestry.com/fundraiser/SimpsonU/Amsterdam2010. We need to have all of our funds raised by May 15th.

If you would like to pray for us please pray for our financial needs. Here are some other prayer requests as well:

That our team would continued to be unified as we train for our trip and as we are there
That we would have favor as we coordinate with our ministries and missionary contacts
That God would continue to prepare us physically, spiritually, mentally, and emotionally for whatever we will encounter
For the city of Amsterdam and the ministries there
Protection and safety
Thank you for supporting us and walking with us through this amazing journey!! If you would like to stay updated with what we are doing throughout our trip you can follow our blog at: www.amsterdamteam2010.blogspot.com .

Tessa in Tanzania

Hello friends and family! Or as they say in Swahili, Jambo!

My name is Tessa Ratner, and I am a 21-year-old Simpson student majoring in Cross-Cultural Studies with an emphasis in Transformational Community Development. This is quite a mouthful, but basically it means that I hope to fulfill God’s call to become a holistic missionary. I am passionate about the kingdom of God and fulfilling my call to be a part of Missio Dei, or the mission of God. I feel very blessed to have found such an incredible church family at the Stirring, and I currently serve there in the toddler class room at the morning service, as well as being involved in the creative team, creating images and art for the many series we have. I have been receiving training here at Simpson to be sent out into the world and serve him. And right now I have some very exciting news!

On May 10^th I will be leaving on a jet plane: destination Kigoma, Tanzania. There I will be completing my internship requirement for the Cross-Cultural Studies major. I will be working with an incredible mission called Joy in the Harvest, www.joyintheharvest.com, learning from the missionaries, and the local people there. I have been so blessed to get to know Lowell and Claudia Wertz over the past few months, as we have been corresponding and they are excited for my arrival! I am so excited to join them in Kigoma and each day the excitement rises! While I am unsure of what I will be doing there, I know they have many different projects, ministries, and outreaches that I will be able to participate and be a part of.

Joy in the Harvest is a holistic ministry in Kigoma, Tanzania. Some of their current projects and ministries include:

Feeding the street people three times a week

Refugee camp outreaches, ministry and assistance

Construction of community center

Destitute camp for the handicapped

Job training and education

Trees for Tanzania

And many other services helping local churches and missionaries.

I will be there until the week of June 11^th! I am so very excited to have this opportunity to have such an adventure with God. Please partner with me by praying for me during my time there! Also, I am still raising funds to make this trip possible. I am about $400 away from being able to purchase airfare, which I need to pay for by Monday, and then I still need some more for the trip and hopefully a gift to the ministry I am going to serve in. That leaves me with $1100 more to raise total. If you would like more information on how to donate to my trip fund, please email me at tessa_renae@yahoo.com!

Blessings to you all!

-Tessa Ratner

Almost "home"

One of the girls that I mentor always says I'm obsessed with counting and numbers. I can remember being 9 or 10 and hearing my mom shouting across the house, "Leah? What's the church's phone number?"..."Leah? What's Grandma and Grandpa's number?" And I remembered them all. I had a memory bank of phone numbers.

I suppose it's true that I'm obsessed with numbers because I can tell you that it's 25 days till I am in California, 14 days till I move to Joburg, and 9 days till Piet comes to PE.

I've been thinking a lot lately how I'm so ready to settle somewhere. For almost the last two years, I've been moving around a lot and no where has really been "home". I haven't lived in my parent's house since I was 18. And although that will always be home, it's not really my home. I'm really looking forward to moving on to Joburg because I'll finally be settling down somewhere. It's coming at a good time.

For those of you who don't know, I am planning on getting married within the year. January 1 to be exact. I have no ring on my finger, but that should be coming soon! :) I've been cooking a lot more, partially out of boredom, and Piet says I've been doing a lot of good practicing at being a wife.

Our minds are funny things. I have been just fine being away from my family this whole year. But now that I know I'll be home soon, I've really starting missing home. I've been making a list of foods I'd like to eat (get ready Mom! (-: ), people I'd like to see, and I've even starting driving on the opposite side of the road! (Not on purpose, haha)

Welp, thanks for listening to the thoughts in my head.

Love is a gift, give it.
Be Blessed,

Leah

Shasta College: a campus transformed

Rachel Kuhn, ultimately, wants to see
Shasta College transformed by the
gospel. That’s why she has joined
InterVarsity as a campus missionary.

I believe Shasta College can become
a training ground for a new generation
of world changers. Through
InterVarsity, students discover a deeper
intimacy with Jesus, learn to study the
Bible inductively, pray passionately for
their campus and world, share Christ’s
love in fresh ways, and are
empowered to live out the dreams
God has given them to bring His
Kingdom to earth. Our students will
graduate from Shasta College, not just
with a AA or AS, but with an
experiential degree in mission.
I consider you a significant player in
God’s work in our city, aware of the
importance of reaching the Shasta
College campus with the gospel. I am
inviting you to come meet other
crucial people of influence in the
Redding community and imagine what
it would mean to transform
students’ lives at Shasta College.

I look forward to sharing my goals
and vision for reaching Shasta, and
introducing you to Shawn Young, a
national leader with InterVarsity
Christian Fellowship. My hope is that
together we can map out some
clear steps to make this vision
become a reality. I value your input
in this discussion!

We can do this…together!
April 17th at 6:30 p.m.
Trinity Alliance Church
20639 State Highway 299 E
You can RSVP for this event by email: rach.kuhn@gmail.com

-Rachel Kuhn

Stirring Missions Support and Care Team

Stirring Missions Support and Care Team meeting -

If you are interested in serving and caring for our missionaries, please join us
April 6th 7PM -Simpson University Coffee Shop

For more information please email Kari Beadner kbeadner@gmail.com

Long Term Sirring Missionaries

Larry, Krista, Averiana, and Eli Lain
The Baton Rough Ministry Center 2006-2008
CAMA Services - Mongolia 2008 to present
B-Days
Larry: February 8th
Krista: March 24th
Averiana: December 29, 2000
Eli: March 22, 2004

Anniversary: 9/18/99

Email: larry.krista@gmail.com
The Lain's Blog






Leah Rush
South Africa 9/08 to present

B-Day: July 7th
Email: leahv77@gmail.com
Leah's Blog








M&A
Serving in East Asia
For security of these workers, please send any email correspondence to kburrell@gmail.com and the message will get to them. Please do not use their names or location in comments if you know them. Feel free to correspond with them on facebook!