Costa Rica Team

We will be working along with the Christian Surfers Costa Rica organization. Our mission will be to reach surfers with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, connect them to local churches so that they can then go back into their communities and beyond to reach other surfers. Also, we will be working with local after school programs and do some beach cleanup with local kids. So basically, our mission will be to spread the Costa Rican motto “Pura Vida”, which means Pure Life. Living purely and positively and making the best of every moment. Please consider supporting our team through prayer as we are prepare for this incredible opportunity! We will be in Costa Rica from July 25th-August 14th.



*Team Leaders: Marcella Melloni and Megan Furze Team Members: Danielle Caito, Melissa Melloni, and Elaina Unpingco

Germany

Let me introduce myself. My name is Megan Fitzgerald, and I am senior at Simpson University. I am majoring in General Ministries with a minor in Bible and Theology. General Ministries is a program for students who have a passion for ministry, but are not sure where God is calling them. My major requires an internship, and this summer I will be fulfilling this requirement in Germany!

From May 23rd to July 24th I, with two Simpson students (Jenni Lawler and Travis Gonzales), will be working with Youth for Christ to minister to the youth of Germany. Youth for Christ (YFC) is a non-profit organization in which they work to provide teens with the opportunity to make informed decisions to become a follower of Christ. We will be teaming up with another team from South Africa to be apart of YFC’s vision.

What many people don’t realize is that Germany is a spiritually dry nation, and they are not open to Christ as one would hope. Not only is Germany a spiritually dry nation, but also they are experiencing a rapid growth of Muslim conversions. Our ministry will consist of assisting with the South African team and sharing our testimonies with the youth. One of our goals is to help influence teens to become Christian leaders in the country.

We are ecstatic about the opportunity God has provided us! However, we cannot do this without your help and support. We need to raise about $7000 in the next two weeks in order to make this trip possible. That $7000 includes our airfare and our living expenses for while we are in Germany. If you can support us please make your donation through: https://app.etapestry.com/fundraiser/SimpsonU/Germany2010/ . We understand that during this time, finances are tight, and if you are unable to support, we still need lots of prayer. Here are some things that you can pray for:

• That we are able to raise our money in time (we need everything pledged by May 15).
• That as a team, we are able to continue to build our relationships with each other as well as with the South African team.
• That we adjust to culture shock, as we will be living with the South African team and be in Germany at the same time.
• For the people we will be ministering to. That they will be responsive to what we have to say.
• Protection and safety

If you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail me at megan.fitzgerald@simpsonu.edu and I would love to answer them!

Blessings,

Megan Fitzgerald and the Germany Team

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!

The Barbers

We are the Barber’s. We are expecting our first baby, and feel that God is calling our family to do missions through YWAM. We will be leaving in September to do a discipleship training school in Lakeside, Montana. The school is three months of training and two months putting our training into practice in another country. We are not sure what God is calling us to after this but we are stepping out in faith and obedience. All we know is that we love our God and want to serve him and his people however he asks us to. Saying this can be a little scary, because it means that we are open to anything, but we really are. We have a world full of lost, thirsty, and hurting people. Robert and I feel so blessed that God has called us to live a life of service. We are just stepping out and letting God lead. For more information on what a DTS is you can visit: www.ywammontana.org or www.ywam.org. We will be keeping everyone updated through our blog, so check it out! Keep us in your prayers.
We need support of all types! We need people to come behind us and support us with encouragement and prayer. We also need financial support. We need to raise close to $13000 to go on this trip. This includes the school fees which cover room/board and traveling fees, and also our personal needs like gas money, diapers, and shampoo! We will need a nanny while we are doing the three month discipleship training part of our DTS. The nanny wouldn’t be required to go overseas with us, but would need to raise support of $675. We want people to seek God and ask him how he would have them support us. We can answer questions and connect with people in person and through our contact info as follows. We also want to encourage people to follow the blog we are building.

Email: jennifervbarber@yahoo.com or robertsbarber@yahoo.com

Blog: www.thebarbers3.blogspot.com

Phone: (559) 760-5160

Address: 1167 Bond St.

Redding, CA 96002

Sarah Schepens - Jordan

Sarah Schepens will be serving in Jordan May 2010-2011

Sarah will be joining a team of International workers, working mainly through a community center that offers English classes, a coffee shop, and a women's health clinic. Through these services Sarah will be building relationships with the women in the city.

Email: skapesny82@hotmail.com
Blog: http://www.strongatthebrokenplaces.blogspot.com
Birthday 9/24

Sarah will be in Redding, CA from now until the middle of May.
May 23-28 orientation in Ensenada, Mexico
End of May/beg of June leave for Jordan

Financial Needs:
I need $4000 of one-time financial gifts
I need $1150/monthly support

If you are interested in financial Supporting Sarah, please email her

The Lains - Mongolia

Thank you all for coming to hear from the Lains today! If you would like to join the Lain's support team please contact them!

Larry and Krista Lain
CAMA Services International
PO Box 945
Darhan, Mongolia
Uul Aimag 45000
New Address to come as they move to west Mongolia in June

larry.krista@gmail.com

www.thelains.blogspot.com
www.camamongolia.com

Experience:
Military:  USAF
         Larry, Water Specialist 1996-2002
         Krista, Engineer Assistant 1997-2002
         Assignments to Japan, Korea, Saudi
         Alaska, Wyoming
Simpson Grads...Larry: BA, CM Leadership '05, Krista: BA, Psych. '04, National Univ. MA, Counseling Psych. '05
The Stirring, Outreach, 2003-2005
PointMan Veteran's Ministries (Homeless and low-income Vets)  2003-2005
Baton Rouge Ministry Center, Community Development/Relief Workers after Hurricane Katrina 2005-2007
Short term Trips: Mexico 2001, Indonesia 2005
2008- Present: CAMA Community Development Workers in Mongolia

Birthdays:
Larry 2-8-78
Krista 3-24-79
Averiana 12-29-00
Eli 3-22-04

Anniversaries:
Wedding 9-18-99
Eli's Gotcha Day
(Adoption) 6-30-07

The Lains visit the Stirring

This Sunday March 14th the Lains will be with us at all 3 gatherings. Come and hear about their ministry with CAMA in Mongolia.

At 12pm we will have a time of sharing, questions and prayer for the Lains at Downtown Eatery. There will be a $5 lunch available. Come have some good lunch and hear from our missionaries!

The Stirring Missions Support and Care Meeting March 9th

Do you want to find out more about the needs of our missionaries? Do you want to find out more about who are missionaries are? Do you have ideas about how we can better serve our missionaries? Do you feel called to be a missionary?

If you answer yes to any of these questions, then please join us:

The Stirring Missions Support and Care Meeting
Tuesday March 9th 7PM @Simpson University Coffee Shop!

Thank yous

We did and we love all the goodies!!! It was like a big party...we received it the day before Christmas...just in time with Grandma's gifts too. Thanks to great timing, we actually had some special gifts to put under the tree :) Thank you so much! We ate up most the goodies and we look forward to using the itunes cards as soon as we can get itunes uploaded...will have to take a trip to better internet source soon. I (Krista) almost used up all the candles already due to lots of stress-relieving baths (best part about being back in the apt :). We are so thankful!
- The Lains

Good news! My package arrived today! I can't believe it took two months! When it arrived it looked like it had been rifled through. I don't think anything was missing, but it was obvious that it had been resealed.

Anyway, thanks so much! It is was such a nice blessing! Especially the candles!! Oh my word I was so excited about so many wonderful smelling candles! :)

- Leah

Just wanted you to know that we received our Christmas package full of goodness on Thursday! Thank you so much and thanks to the Stirring!

- The Wills

How will you be involved??

NOVEMBER 11th @7pm Simpson Univeristy YAKS

Come talk to us! Come Pray with us! How will YOU be involved in the Stirring Mission!!!

Car Accident

Please pray for Larry and the kids. They got into a car accident today with our new Russian Van. From what I hear from the kids, a taxi ran a red light and T-boned Larry, which then turned the van on it's side while Averi and Eli were in the backseat. Eli is fine, Averi has a big knot on her head, and Larry says he is okay but his back is sore. Right now, Larry is at the police station sorting things out. (I haven't seen him yet). The van will be impounded for an uncertain amount of time, which may make transportation difficult back and forth to the ger we just moved into last night. (Praise the Lord for a good move! We set up the ger on Saturday and moved in on Sunday. We had a good first night (and today the sleeping bags we ordered came in so tonight should be toasty warm with a fire and cozy blankets :) Thank you so much for your prayers! We love you all!
Love Krista

A&M

At the end of August we had a visit from A&M! We had a wonderful time of encouraging and praying with them.

Please continue to pray for the many people who have been displaced during a time of flooding in their area.

One at a time

THURSDAY, AUGUST 13, 2009

I've always told people I want to change the world. I guess I never understood what that exactly meant when I said it. Sure I've had dreams, aspirations, goals, but I never would call myself a visionary. When I say I want to change the world, I mean it, but I'm still trying to figure out what that looks like. Jesus changed his world and he wasn't even in it that long. Jesus caused waves in his world. I want my life to cause waves, to cause a reaction, to stir people to question the life they currently lead.
But is that what I mean when I say I want to change to the world? Perhaps. But sometimes my blood boils and stirs and I wish that I could snap my fingers and change things just like that. Change things because they're not supposed to be that way...they just aren't!

When a nanny calls in sick to work today saying she can't come in. The woman answering the phone feels in her gut that something wasn't right and goes over to the house to find this woman lying in a pool of blood beaten almost to death by her husband.

When a woman gets up every morning and willingly walks to work...a bar down the street where she tries to make enough money to feed her kids by selling herself.

When an eight year old child is forced by her mother to sell flowers on the street to make enough money for her family knowing full well that in a couple of years her "cuteness" will run out and she'll be selling other things by then.

When the woman with a well established food stand at the corner, hardened to life by her husband cheating and leaving her, cries as she talks about her daughter, not knowing what will become of both of them when her house sells.

I wonder at the choices these women have made, but what if they didn't know there were other choices to choose from? I wonder at the life that was given to them, at the life they have carved out for themselves or that others have carved for them. God can redeem, heal, and restore anything, I believe that to the core of being because it's what he did for me. It's what he continues to do for me. I can't hear these stories and NOT believe that the Lord couldn't do the same for them.

I don't know if I'll change the world...if the Lord chooses to use me in such a crazy way...I'd be honored. Perhaps I've done things, impacted people, that will in time do just that. But I'm content right now with it being one. To see the Lord bring love, a chance for education, renewed hope, and provision to ONE eight year old or ONE twenty five year old woman.

One at a time...it's how the waves start.

-Sarah Schepens

Thank you for your prayers

Thanks for praying!!! Our flight went well and we made it to UB on Sunday evening and the Fields arrived on Tuesday night! We are all staying together in UB (the capital city) until our Field Forum beginning on Saturday. Thank you for your prayers for Larry and Jeremy as they meet with Leadership about next steps to help with the flood efforts. Most likely they will be spending a lot of time in the capital this month. Thank you!!!

Powered by the love of our Magnificent Obsession!!!
Larry and Krista Lain

Sarah is going back to Thailand

So it's official. I bought my plane ticket to Thailand last week. An amazing ticket landed in my lap that was half the price of anything else I was looking at. The ticket was such an answer to prayer, so thank you to all who were praying.

Here are the details so far of my trip:

I will be leaving August 3rd flying from Sacramento, CA to Bangkok. I arrive in Chiang Mai on August 5th and will be there until August 22nd.

Once there, I will be spending time with old friends, visiting past places of ministry, and am currently setting up interviews and appointments with various organizations working with women. I am so excited to be in Thailand again! In many ways this is a mini vision trip and I cannot wait to see what the Lord does during this time

I've been so encouraged by all the positive responses I've received since sending my last email out. Thank you to you all who have been praying for clarity and wisdom as I pursue this endeavor. So many of you have asked how you can help financially and prayerfully so here's how:

I will need $1500 for this trip. The majority of this amount is my plane ticket. Once I'm there I have very few expenses. I have a couple of domestic flights within Thailand that are also included in this amount.

If you want to give towards my vision trip please make your checks payable to my church:
The Stirring and write 507-007 in the memo portion.
In order to deposit your check and make it tax-deductible please do not write my name anywhere on the check.
Send to:
The Stirring
1348 Market St #201
Redding, CA 96001

Things to pray for:

Please pray for continued wisdom and clarity as I follow the Lord's leading.
Pray for the Lord's guidance as I set up appointments and contacts with people and organizations.
Pray against fear, doubt, anxiety, and anything else the enemy will use to deter me from going forward.
The Lord is continually shaping this trip. Pray I will be open to the things He shows me before, during and after.

Prayer support is so very important and I cannot do this without you! I would love to have a specific team of prayer warriors with me while I'm over in Thailand. If you feel called to come alongside me in prayer during this time, please let me know.

Thank you again for all your prayers and encouragement. Your support is very much appreciated!

In His Hands,

Sarah Schepens

p.s. For more updated information on my life and this trip please check out my blog at http://strongatthebrokenplaces.blogspot.com/