I am so sorry!

Hey everyone,

I wanted to write all of you to tell you that I apologize for not updating my blog more. We have had such a hard time setting up internet. I promise to update everyone as soon as I can get a better connection. I can't wait to share my photos with you, and tell you more about how God is blessing our time here in South Africa!!

Thank you so much!

Lots of love

Amanda

Beam Africa

“Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress”
James 1:27, NLT

The is my favorite picture of the day! Most of the kids at Beam just want you to play with them a love them. These kids are teaching me so much about Joy! Please keep us in your prayers as we try to love everyone at Beam the way Jesus loves all of us everyday!

A couple days back our team spent our first day with Erika and the kids at Beam Africa. Erika welcomed the team with a big smile and hugs for all of us. She is a wonderful woman! I desire a heart as gentle and caring as the one God has given her. We arrived before the children got off school to discuss with Erika, the detail of our year with Beam. All nine of us had smiles on our faces when we talked about getting college students involved with the ministry! Her vision for the year is simple but big. I love that God gives us the freedom to dream big with him, it most certainly affects the way we live. I was exciting to hear Erika’s heart in having us here to serve with her. Our time with Erika came with some hard news as well.

Over the past two years Beam Africa has shared a piece of land in a township called Nellmapius with a small church in the community. When I visited in the summer of 2007 (winter of 2007 in South Africa) the church was meeting in a small tent on the land they shared with Beam. Where the tent once was now stands two small buildings. Over the last year the church has expanded and grown in number. After expanding, the church felt it was best to split from Beam and occupy the land only as the church. This was really bad news for Beam. This decision left them with one fifth of the land they once had available to them. It is difficult to see why this church made the decision they did, considering that it is putting these children last. It breaks my heart to see this taken away from these kids as well. The good news is that it is not final, there is still a chance that the church could change their mind. Please be praying for Beam Africa and the children there. We are waiting patiently to see how the Lord will provide the space to care for these kids well.

It is a blessing to share in this with all of you. Thank you for your love and support.

Amanda

I'm in South Africa and I am safe!

So I am in South Africa and safe. I apologize for not posting something sooner, but I have had little Internet access. I am currently writing this from an cozy Internet cafe!

We have been in South Africa for 5 days, but to be honest it feels a lot longer. I think it has something to do with adjusting poorly to the time difference. A 16 hour flight kind of messes with you. Not a ton of exciting things have happened so far, we are just settling into our new home. All five girls are living in a house together, and the boys are still looking for housing. We have spent a lot of time learning how we will work as a team, and that's important. Its been great getting to know everyone, and although I love spending time with the 8 other people here with me, I am stoked to get to know students on campus and the families at Beam.

Everything is going great so far. I am so excited to be here, and I can not wait to share about the students we invest in and the kids at Beam! Tomorrow is our first day at Beam, and Saturday we are meeting with student leaders on campus to organize some events for first years students to get connected. I am so excited to meet the students and learn more about their lives. I plan on updating my blog soon after. I look forward to sharing me experiences with you very soon.

Please let me know how I can be praying for all of you. Talking to Lord about you and for you helps me feel more connected to home! Also, please feel free to email me any questions about my time here. If you are curious about something and don't feel like I am sharing enough about it, please email me and I would love to be more specific. I want to share my time in South Africa with you the best I can. Thanks again for your love and care! I am thinking of and praying for all of you.

All my thanks,

Amanda

Here are some ways you can be praying for our team:

1) The boys are still looking for housing, it has been a struggle to find a house close to where the girls are living. We are asking God to provide a place for the boys that is close to us for safety reasons, as well as for our unity as a team.

2) Our first day with Beam is tomorrow, and we are stoked to serve the families and the kiddos. Our hearts are to serve and love everyone at Beam with all that the Lord has given us. Please pray for us as we prepare to go and for our time with the kids.

3) Saturday will be our first time with the college students. We want to love them well and develop relationships with them. Can you please pray that we would meet some first year students who we can connect with over the year? This time is crucial for connections with students who we can invest in over the year. I can not wait to see what the Lord has planned.

Thank you!

Reality sets in...

So I'm getting on a plane to South Africa. The day is finally here! I can't believe that it has come so quickly. The last year has gone by so fast. I am overwhelmed by all of the emotions I am feeling right now, so much so, that I am finding it extremely difficult to communicate where I am with the Lord at this moment. My first response to all of this emotion is to avoid communicating in general. That desire aside, I know it is best for me to attempt to be as open and vulnerable as possible. So here goes….

 

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks, especially the past week. I've spent my time at Denver Christmas Conference working with the creative team to serve and love 1300 students from colleges in our Great Plains Region. It has been great fun jumping right into Crusade staff. I am blessed to serve a God who enables each of us to serve in so many capacities. The creative team helped me to serve students on an artistic level.  We  used our creativity to put together countless videos, pantomimes, skits, dances, and interviews, all to serve and love these students well. It is such a blessing to serve these students and watch the Lord work in their hearts. I have the best job in the world. We are here to serve students and love them well! This conference was the perfect way to do just that. 

 

After working with other Crusade Staff members, I realize it is amazing to have co-workers who love the Lord with all of their hearts and want to glorify him with everything he has given them! The conference was a great way to start my time on Crusade Staff. Linked below is the website for the Christmas Conference. There are some promotion videos and information on the conference if you are interested in knowing more about it.

http://godcc.com/media.php

 

I spent a lot of my time with the creative team, but also had the chance to spend time with the South Africa team. It has been nice to spend time with them, but to be honest it has been extremely overwhelming. A year ago I couldn't be more convinced that South Africa is where God wanted me. This week I have struggled to be so confident. I want to be as real as possible with all of you through my year, and sometimes that means I let go of the ideal stuff. I know that Jesus wants me in South Africa, my head is sure of it. My heart is stuck here for now. I am so sad to leave the parts of my life in Denver that mean so much to me. I am going to this nation Christ has enabled me to care for so deeply, but I am leaving this life that he has built in Denver. It is hard to leave the people who God has used to teach me, love me,and redeem dark areas of my life. There is “a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and time to dance” Ecclesiastes 3:4. 

My last week in the states has been filled with so many emotions and it has left me confused. I thought to myself, if this is what Christ wants for me, why is it so hard to go. In the midst of so many questions I remembered a conversation I had with my best friend. We were talking about the sacrifice Christ made to be with us, and how he knew when he made the decision that it wouldn’t be easy to go through it. During this conversation, Arielle kept saying “God never told us it would be easy”. I started to think about why it was hard to leave. I started with leaving my family, my best friends, my church and the community at DCC… As the list went on I began to realize that all of these things I am devastated to leave are pure representations of Christ in my life. I started to understand that it is a great blessing to experience sadness in leaving these people. So many people don’t have relationships, communities, churches, and family to shed tears over. My selfishness kept me from thanking God for his decision to send me. I realize now that I am beyond blessed to experience this immense sadness in leaving, because all of you are a gift from God. I am not ashamed to cry for a gift as amazing and incredible as you! 

I guess what I am trying to say is I am so incredibly sad to leave Denver, but am so thankful that the Lord has given me so much to miss about my life here. Today I am sad to leave, but I know that God's plan is what is best for me. I am so excited to see what I learn in the process.

I can't end this incredibly long post without first saying what I am most excited for, and that is to watch the Lord work in students and families lives, just as I have watched him work in all of yours. I can't wait to cry just as much next year when I have to leave all of the amazing people he will put in my life in South Africa. Thank you so much for sending me, and being a part of what Christ is doing.

 

 Lots of love! 

Arias

 

An short update!

Hey Everyone!

 

I wanted to put together a small list of things our team needs prayer for, and also for me personally. Thank you so much for supporting myself and the South Africa team in prayer. It helps more than we could ever hope!

 

• We are currently staffing a student conference in Downtown Denver, and with only 5 days left it can feel like a lot to work the conference and brief for our trip next week. Can you please pray for our connection as a team. Help us to connect with the Lord, with one another, and with the students who we will be serving during the conference.
• We need prayer for last min details such as bank accounts, housing for the boys, details in serving with Beam Africa, and so on.
• We need prayer as a team that Jesus would be our first priority during this busy time. All of this doesn’t matter if we are not connected to him, so please pray that we are close to him and that he is our center.
• We can continue pray for the families at Beam Africa, and the Students as they return to campus after their Christmas break. Please pray for our connections with them, and our hearts in serving them the way Christ desires us to.
• Personally, I need prayer for peace about going. I am emotionally attached to my life here in Denver, and to the people God has blessed me with. It is difficult to say goodbye for the year, but I know that South Africa is where the Lord wants me. I am excited to go, but sad to leave.

 

Thank you for praying for our team. If you get a chance please send me how I can be praying for all of you. I have 19 hours on a plane next week, and a year to send some love up to the Big guy for all of you. Please let me know how I can be talking to the Lord for you and everyone in your lives.

 

Thank you again, and I am looking forward to sharing in all of this with all of you!

 

Love,

 

Arias