It's always kind of fun to sit with a good cup of tea (or coffee) in December and think about the year and what is the plan for the next year. I know last year I didn't know if I would ever get back to the States.

Below is my Christmas pondering. Thanks for taking the time to read it:

Frauke

Merry Christmas to you!

I hope you have an incredible Christmas and a wonderful year 2010!

This week I took some time to remember all the things God has done this year... You were part of this! Have a look:

January: Still in Berlin, waiting for the green card! This month was busy preparing for the European Leadership Forum that was being held at YWAM Berlin.

February: I got news that my green card HAD to move and had to move FAST. But I also had to help with the European Leadership Forum. So for the last 2 weeks of February I got everything to do with the green card done and got the official word that I was allowed to return to the States 1 week before I was flying out of Berlin.

March: I am back in the States and am getting used to the new YWAM building that I am supposed to manage. Many, many meetings to get the community resource center part even more up and running.

April: The Pier (the community resource center) is different from anything else I have ever done. it's hard to realise that many people don't want our help or just want free hand outs. But even though it's not going to be easy, it's time to thank our volunteers that have faithfully led and worked the grocery assistance ministry and the clothes donations. We have a big thank you dinner with more than 20 of our volunteers showing up!

May: Summer is starting soon. The non-Pier part of YWAM Las Vegas is getting ready for a major Mission Adventures summer with hundreds of students coming to learn about God and missions during the summer. Very exciting!

June: To get better equipped about working in the community resource center (which works a bit more like a church and less like a missions organizations) I asked if I could volunteer in my church. I scored and was able to meet regularly with a youth pastor from my church who very patiently answered many of my questions and helped me come up with some basic structures, including information about how to recognise child abuse and the likes... My least favorite, but most needed topic.

July: With the ministry of the Pier finally getting busier, it's time to start on some structure. Keys for volunteers, name tags, room usage plans and the likes all have to be created from scratch while the building is full of High School students during the Mission Adventures summer.

August: 3 weeks of Fun in the Summer; a program for kids from the neighborhood. One the first day we were able to tell 7 kids about God... on the last more than 30 had heard the good news.

September: The STARS youth leadership development program has started to meet in our building and I love hanging out with the students. The new season for junior High at church is starting and I am very happy to co-lead a small group of 8th grade girls again.

October: This year I got to help out with the Go Conference again and flew out to Colorado to help more than 200 YWAMers get excited about world mission again. In the process I got very excited too... like every year!

November: Our official grand opening is happening and more than 150 people come out to help us celebrate. It's a good time with the neighbors! :)

December: Looking forward to new beginning in 2010. I really want to see the youth programs grow with the help of college student interns. That means cold calling colleges nation wide, making new relationships in the city and meeting some principals and teachers in schools in our neighborhood.


Check this out to read about hopes, dreams and necessities for 2010

Disneyland with friends

I got to go to Disneyland in December...

And apart from seeing Mickey, Goofy, Donald and the others, I also saw a couple friends that were in England when I staffed the DTS there... SOOOOO fun to see them again and to catch up! We never even made it out of the hotel room, but just stayed there, hung out and talked! Good times!

Thank you Nicole and Sharla!!! And yes, we are posing like good little Mousketeers!

The next day my friends and me went to Disney, got completely rained out, but had so much fun!!!

What I was up to last night with about 50 Junior High Students....

You might know that I am part of the Junior High Ministry at my church here in Vegas. But it's time you knew a couple more details about what that really means and how much fun it can be!

Apparently many people would rather poke themselves in the eye, than be involved with Junior High Kids. A fact I never quite understand... But then again, I kind of feel very similar when you'd ask me to babysit someone under the age of 12... (I've been told I have an unnatural fear of diapers... not true! it's completely natural!!!)

Back to last night: What you need to know is that I am part of a mega church and thus the Junior High Ministry might be slightly larger than your usual youth group. On the weekends we offer 3 services geared completely for Junior High. They have their own worship band (with JH kids in the band), their own speakers (so glad that they are often hardly more than 10 years older than the kids and we have our own games.... (yeah, that's right... There's games, why else do you think I'd be there... LOL)

And then during the week we meet in house for small groups. I'm a small group leader at the 8th grade house and we have I think 6 groups in one house and if every single kid shows up on a Wednesday I think the house might have up to 80 kids present! Scary!

So we usually hang out in the big group, eat, laugh, talk, do a game or two and then we split up into our individual groups. I co lead a group of about 10+ girls together with one of the best leaders ever! And, not to be bias or something, but we also have some of the best girls ever...

A couple of weeks ago the pastor had found out that there were kids of homeless families in one of the Junior High Schools in the valley... A school where some of our kids go to as well. And so he and the school counselor person came up with this plan: The counselor would find families in need and the Junior High Ministry would adopt those families (without ever knowing their names) and buy Christmas presents for them with their own money.

We encouraged the kids to EARN at least $10 for this and many of them gave above and beyond. As a house we raised around $700 and last night we all met at a walmart (50+ JH kids!!!) and went shopping for 3 different families.

Wishlists in hand my group of 8 girls had to buy presents for the Mum of the family and it was so much fun picking out things that this Mum really needed. A bed spreads, a couple scented candles, a sweater etc...

We had $110 to spend and wanted to splurge a little on the bedspread... buy one that's nice and feels soft and all. But with tax we were going to be over. As we were discussing this in the aisle one of the girls very quietly slipped 5 bucks into my hand and just smiled!

So the good thing is we were able to buy everything that we wanted to buy... And then in the end it turned out that one of the items was actually much cheaper and we didn't even need the extra $5. It was one of those really cool examples of being obedient to God and then God totally giving back to you. (I gave the money back to her!)

So these kids learned generousity is fun. Giving is fun and buying for others and doing it together is fun! Nobody knew how much each person had given and nobody ever cared to find out.

And in the process we might have disturbed a couple of walmart shoppers in a positive way... Who doesn't want to come across 10 girls and one shopping cart (that could be used as a weapon) and lots of laughing, some screaming and some definite yelling when the desired item was found!

Good times, good times. On Saturday, while I will be having fun at Disneyland, many of the JH kids from my house will wrap all presents and then some time later they will be delivered to the families!

All day yesterday I was excited and yet dreaded the logistical nightmare of having a bunch of JH kids at walmart! But it was so so good!

Thanks God!

A pretty dumb idea

So I have a tradition... I'm not huge on traditions, coz they sometimes really put you in a box and don't let you come out. But this one is working for me.

A few years ago I decided that after thanksgiving I wanted to do a physical challenge. So I decided to go on a hike at Red Rocks. The first year I climbed

Turtle Head Peak. It's 2 and a half miles up a mountain and 2 and a half miles down. Not a huge deal, but big enough for me!

I did it and it was ok. I'm not one to enjoy the nature and all and so once I got up there I spent about 10 minutes up there before I decided I wanted to get back to civilization and went back down.

The year after I did Turtle Head Peak AGAIN. It was starting to actually get boring! LOL. Just kidding! Not that boring! The bad part that year was, that on the way back down I almost got lost, slid down a mountain and died.

Last year I was in Berlin with no Black Friday, so no hiking required!

But this year was a new year! But not Turtle Head Peak again... I mean, I just didn't want to get lost AGAIN! (a valid fear I thought)

So what hike should I do? There's a hike called Ice Box Canyon, but Thanksgiving snuck up on me and I didn't do my homework. So once Black Friday came around I was still undecided what to do!

First though I had to drop someone off at the airport at 5am. So whilst driving to the airport we saw all those people lined up for shopping, so I decided to check out some shops, since I was up early anyway.

But that meant my annual Black Friday Hike got pushed back to about lunch time... (had to get a nap in there)

On the way there I decided to do the scenic drive loop. It's just the road that goes around Red Rocks. It's THIRTEEN miles long tho! But I thought I could do it!

So I park my car and start walking... Pretty soon after (about 5 minutes into my grand idea) I am already questioning myself! I mean, what a dumb idea! I don't like hiking, nor nature, nor walking for no reason whatsoever.

I took a picture at around mile 3. I look excited, but I really wasn't! :)

Then I found an apparent short cut. So I cut off 2 miles. More walking! By this time I realised I need to get some decent shoes! And socks!

I found another 'short cut'... That added about half a mile to the trip! Don't even ask!

By this time I was freezing! And complaining to myself! What a dumb idea!

At mile eleven, the last stop before the loop ends, I walked up to a car and asked if they would give me a ride back to the end of the loop. I mean, I was freezing (yeah, forgot to pack a long sleeve short) and it was starting to get dark! You think I only had 2 miles left, but oh no... I had still 4 miles left, coz it's another 2 miles to get back to my car!!!

So the guys gave me a ride for the last two miles. So nice! And the car was so warm! And then I walked the last two miles! One of them in complete darkness!

I was so tired and hurting all over the place! There was no way that I was EVER gonna do this again.

Now, 3 days later, I think I might continue with this tradition. I might even try that darn 13 mile (actual 15 mile) loop again! Just next time I will start earlier, take more water and a long sleeve shirt and then maybe I will actually do the 15 miles.

This time around I did 12! Not bad for the first time tho!

The 4th missions movement

In October I got to go to the Go Conference in Estes Park, Colorado. During the conference God really started something that I would like to tell you about.

The Go Conference is all about going and fulfilling the Great Commission. I have been helping out with the conference for a couple years now and love the vision and drive behind it.

This year God did something special... He started something that felt so real and there was a lot of hope in the room. I have never seen something like that before and that's why I think it

's noteworthy and that's why I have asked Matt if I could use his testimony! It explains what happened so much better than what I could tell you. It's long, but sooooo worth it! So please take the time to read through his story!

Testimony by Matt Woods

I am somewhat hesitant writing this and telling you about what I am about to tell you. I am hesitant partly because what I am about to tell you is so fresh, having happened in the last 24 hours, and partly because part me of thinks it is too good to be true. However, with this hesitation I am met with great faith, because I do not believe that this message could be kept in, or that this movement that I am going to tell you about could be stopped. The reason I believe this is because I am confident that this movement has not been started by the zeal of men, but by the zeal of God who I know can accomplish all things, especially this task (Isaiah 37:32).

As you most of you know God has really been moving in my life the past few months, and really rearranging everything. This journey has led me to Discipleship Training School (DTS) out in Denver, Colorado, where I am continuing to seek my calling from God on my life. I have been in the DTS for 4 weeks now, and every week God has been moving and doing great and amazing things, however it was this past week that I believe will be pivotal in not only my own life, but for history.

This past week my DTS took part in what is known as the Go! Conference in Youth With A Mission (YWAM). The Go! Conference is designed to do pretty much what it sounds like, to get people to go and serve. This year there were around 200 or so YWAMers present at the conference, and when you have that many people earnestly seeking and following Jesus Christ, something amazing is bound to happen, and it did!

On Thursday night one of the most anointed men that I have ever heard speak, taught at our last major session of the conference. His message was not unexpected. Everyone knew he was going to issue the call to go, but I do not think we realized how powerful that call would be. Fred challenged us, asking, pleading, that we would be the generation that rises and seeks God so hard that we would fulfill the Great Commission by making sure every unreached people group would receive the life giving gospel of Jesus Christ, which is not all that new. Until he told us that he believes that we can do it, and hopes that we will.

He then went on and told us about places of strategic missions in the world, and showed us key spots where missionaries need to be, in order to prevent a major set back of the spreading of the gospel for centuries. The 6 locations were the eastern cities of China and their leaders, Northern India and the Himalayas, Central Asia, Iran, the entire continent of Europe, and a line that goes across Africa known as the Sahel belt, and this belt is important because it divides the Northern Muslim countries of Africa from the Christian southern countries of Africa, and the line is slowly being pushed south by Muslim missionaries. He then went on an explained the strategic significance of each of those areas, and then issued a call to go and win the world for Jesus.

After this dynamic presentation Ian, a good friend of mine, and I went back to our room, and knew that God was calling us to pray because He had something big in store for us. Part of the reason we thought this was because we were on historic ground. You see there have been 3 major missionary movements in the history of the church. The first was the 1st centuries church rapid expansion into through Christ's disciples. The second came through Count Zizendorf and the Moravians, and the thrid was the student volunteer movement which received a major push in Estes Park, Colorado at the YMCA, the very place where our conference was being held. Ian and I walk back to the room and knew that we had to pray. So, we invited the guys of our DTS to a night prayer to seek out the Lord and to respond to this calling on behalf of our generation. And we begin to pray as a body of guys that God would show us what He had planned and what He desired for the conference.

That is exactly what God did! 20 minutes into our prayer God speaks to a couple of us, and clearly tells us that he wants to start the 4th major missionary movement, and that he wanted to start that movement at that conference, with us. Now we realized that we were emotional and excited from the amazing challenge that Fred had issued us, so we continued to pray, but soon we found our self praying door by door for every person in our dorm building. Then we were led outside and went and prayed building by building asking God to come and set the stage for a radical mission movement to be begin, and to spread from the YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park. As we are praying for all of this we are completely baffled by what is going on, and we knew that we had to get leadership, but by this time it was 1:30 in the morning and we were almost positive that all of them would be asleep. But we went anyway to their rooms hoping God would lead us to a leader so they could confirm or calm us down. So, we ending go to the building where all of the leadership are sleeping and to make a long story short God leads us without any knowledge of where his room is, to Fred Markert's room. We share with him our story and what we think God is doing, and then he prayed for us, and said I believe in your generation and I have hope that it starts with you. After that Fred writes his email on a random piece of a paper so we could email him to get the resources of his presentation that he gave that night. In order that we could go out and spread that as well to mobilize a force of people to spread God's gospel to the ends of the earth.

We then go back to the room wondering still if this is really happening, and we pray that if this is really what God is trying to do to put the entire leadership on board with this idea of a great mission movement with out us even talking to them. When we get back to the room we begin to pray that God would give each of us direction and to strategically place us in his mission field based on what Fred had shared with us. As we are doing that I open up the paper Fred had given me, and it was a welcome letter from the conference staff, and on that paper were a set of prayer points. The fourth point down said that the staff believed that this conference was going to launch the fourth major mission movement into the world. And we realized that God had been working this plan out even before He had told us, and that this was not just us, but that the zeal of the Lord was ready to take back His earth.

We woke up Friday and went and shared are story with a staff member named Amos, and he told us we had to share this story with the rest of the conference. And that is exactly what we did, and God showed up and responded in such an amazing way. It started by Ian and I sharing the testimony from Thursday night. After that all of the guys who prayed that night together were called to come forward 11 in total. God then spoke to Brian Hoganm, a missionary from Mongolia and current church planting coach, and said to him, I used 11 guys once. I gave them the Great Comission, and here are 11 guys who am I giving it to again and who are going to lead the way to help fulfill it. We then received word that our intercession for Juarez, Mexico was working, and that God had placed his hand over the city, so that no murders would occur in a city where it averages 7 a day. On Thursday, there were none, and we asked God for a week, and we believe he will do more than that. Then the entire conference was called up front and laid on hands on the 11 and annoinuted us to go and become this movement. Then God used us and the staff to annoint the rest of the conference to the same. God went from moblizing 11 to almost 200 people in 12 hours, and with that growth rate just imagine what he can do. Once we had prayed for one another we began to network to see this mission come true, and for those of us who felt called to Africa we started a team of around 20 committed people who are going to go and strengthen and push back the Sahel Belt for Christ. Then the coolest thing is God started to heal his people through the prayers of one another, so that He could send out an army that was whole and lacking in nothing. And it is continuing to grow and more teams are being formed even as we speak. October 30, 2009 is going to be a special day in history when God mobilized a few to share a message that mobilized millions for His kingdom.

I am writing to you this story because I want to extend the invitation to you. Throughout the Bible God commanded his people to go more than 8,000 times, and he is waiting for his people to stop waiting for a greenlight because he already gave them 8,000 greenlights and He just wants us to go and wait for a red one. So, I am inviting you come with me. Come on this journey let us strategically fight for God's kingdom here on earth. Billions of people are dying and they have never heard of the name of Jesus, and that is the greatest injustice that we can change. So, if you have tasted of the goodness and sweetness of Christ would you come, would you share that message with me wherever God calls you.

I and all of those who already accepted the calling of seeing our generation fulfill the Great Commission need help spreading this message. You can help this movement grow in so many ways. You could pray that this does not die down, but that it keeps it zeal and vibrance and becomes everything I just told you it can be. You could also open up your churches, schools, or any place where we can come and share this message of God's strategic mission in the world. You could support someone who has received the call and going. We cannot do this on our own. Must of us who accepted the calling our poor kids who need support and guidance and need to be sent. So, would you send us? Finally you can come with us, and literally change and claim the world for Christ.

God has started the next major mission movement in church history. The only question that is left, is, will you stand up and be part of it?


Matt

P.S. - we are hoping to produce a video testimony of the evening with Ian and I to post on youtube, so that others can hear our story and receive the call and invitation that Christ has given us, so that can join with us and realize this is the movement that God has been stirring in all of our hearts. Let us not shrink back in a time such as this. We are hoping to do that in the next few weeks, and will send out emails when it is done!

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I hope you took the time to read all the way down here, because it surely is an amazing story! if you have any questions, please email me! :)

frauke

Making a Difference in Las Vegas... and beyond

What's been happening with me...

Go Conference

If I could just put into words what happened at the Go Conference in Colorado this past month! It was amazing!

Above is a testimony of one of the students who explains what happens so much better! It's long, but please take the time to read the full version

The conference is all about going into all the world and fulfilling the great commandment.

The speakers this year were amazing and always challenged us to want more from God and challenged us anew to take on the task of fulfilling the Great Commission. They also made it very clear that there are costs involved—many of them having gone through personal tragedies.

My job during the conference was to organize the different workshops during the week and it was such an honor to be able to hang out with the workshop leaders and hear where their hearts are. I’ve included some of their website on the side, coz I think it’s so worth checking out!

While at the conference I definitely felt a renewed passion for the lost of the world and am praying about going on some short term outreaches next year to Europe and possibly the middle east.

The Pier

The community resource center part of YWAM Las Vegas is really starting to take off. Our grocery assistance is booked out 4-5 weeks in advance for appointments and we are in need for more volunteers, so we can expand the ministry.

We are also moving forward with the Pier as Open Mic Nights are going to start in December, After school homework help is scheduled to start in January along with job readiness classes again.

I just had a meeting yesterday with one of our partner ministries and we will be working together to get proficiency and GED testing up and running at the Pier!

We were also talking about taking some of their youth (mainly African American) on a short term Mission Adventures trip to Berlin!!! Wouldn’t that be great?

On November 14 we had our official grand opening with over 150 people from our neighborhood and

around showing up to celebrate with us. There was a DJ, different performances, various community

resource information stands and of course BOUNCY CASTLES! It was a great success!

It’s so amazing to be part of what God’s doing.

Next year I hope to have more time to devote to youth work, as there is a huge

need in our area and the rest of the Las Vegas valley. I am very blessed to be able to co-lead a Junior High Small Group at my church. It’s been

great to see the girls ask questions like ‘how can I get closer to God’ or ‘where do I start reading the Bible.’ I love being a part of that!

In our neighborhood we have a huge high school drop out rate and especially the African American teens have trouble staying in school. So I really want to start working with youth from around the Pier.

Help!

I would like to ask you to be a part of what God has called me for this next year!

I need to raise $250 more a month in order to stay and work with YWAM Las Vegas. So I am praying that you and 9 other people would commit to giving $25 a month towards my ministry.

If you have any questions about this, please don’t hesitate to contact me!

Thanks for being part of my life!

Frauke

Trip into town

I was driving down the road towards town. After only one day up on the mountain I felt the need to see some other people again.

I had a whole shopping list of things to get from the supermarket for some other people.

The morning had been great so far. Being on the mountain with a bunch of people who were deeply in love with and committed to Jesus was a huge blessing. We prayed a lot and just spent so much time talking to Jesus and asking him questions.

I came up to the crossroads near the supermarket... There was only one in town. I noticed the fast food restaurant right next to it...

The music changed to a fast paced song I really liked, so I turned it up a bit more.

That one second of not paying attention to the road did it... I took the turn, but the supermarket, that had just been there a second ago, had disappeared. Gone! One second it was there, and the next it was gone.

I drove around circles for the next few minutes, but to no avail. I could not find the supermarket for the life of me! Supermarkets don't just disappear, do they?

What happened? It didn't make sense. I drove slowly back to the main road. Still, I couldn't see the supermarket anywhere. Where was it?

I finally turned to the man in my passenger seat. He was trying to find the next good song on my ipod. He seemed totally into it, but I knew that he knew that I was lost. It had happened before.

He stopped playing around with the ipod and turned to me: 'Do you want to talk about this?' he asked.

I frowned. Here we go again, I thought. It was my fault! I do know better than that. Why could I never remember?

I sighed. 'Sorry. I just didn't think... Again.'

He smiled and said ' Oh, no worries. I totally enjoyed the drive and listening to your music was great. I just wish you would talk to me more. I want to hang out with you, hear your opinion on this music, have a discussion on dress codes or funny accents. So what do you think?'

'Me too. Thanks Jesus! Sorry I don't include you at times. Oh, and would you please help me find the supermarket?'

'Make a left here!'

I was born ready

It was just one of those days and I was sitting in the half dark room. It was pretty much time to go, but in all honesty I could not be bothered.

I had long lost all enthusiasm to go and encounter those people. There was a day not long ago when I sat there and realized that there's nothing in common between me and those people. Nothing! So that little fact quenched all excitement in me to actually get up and get going.

There were questions in me about the validity of their concerns and their ambitions. I didn't know and couldn't figure out when or even if they were lying to me. The whole situation was complicated...

Only he knew.

I heard the door go and realized he had come in.

'You know, you will have to go eventually.'

'I know... Just a couple more minutes.'

We sat in silence. I loved those moments. Knowing that he was there, knowing that, even though he knew everything about me, he still liked me and liked being around me.

He put his hand on my shoulder and I started crying. Crying about my own lack of enthusiasm, about those people and where they were at and crying, because there was still so much hurt and nobody around me understood me. Or that's how it felt

But having him there helped me to calm down, take some time and breathe. Like right now... When I just wasn't quite ready to face the world.

He was going to be there for me, so it was safe to get up and go. I looked up and saw him smile at me! Sometimes those moments were all that got me through the day these days. I suppose that's a good thing.

'Ready?', he asked.

I grinned back! 'Jesus! I was born ready... You know that!'

He laughed, gave me a nuggie and we finally got going.

Or we could just do it...

When you find an email in your inbox that basically asks you, begs you, pleads with you to please clean up after yourself at work, you could

• a) write an email back, accusing everyone BUT yourself of dirtying everything and blaming it on other people (although the said email specified places that the other people don't have access to...)
• b) tell the staff that is just checking out facebook to go and do their work duty, coz it's probably their area that's dirty, not yours... Although, come to think of it, you might not have done your work duty in ages either....
• or c) you could just go and clean up... Even though it might not all be your dirt, dishes or cups... But in general you do recognise that discussing the dirt will actually not clean it up! Talking about who made it dirty unfortunately is not the way to a cleaner self...

Bummer we all seldomly choose c...

This is a work of fiction. Names, character, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or a used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead is entirely coincidental.

'MaD' in Las Vegas (Makin' a Difference...)

Summer in Vegas…
This summer Mission Adventures trained over 150 young people in inner city mission. We saw about 30 people come to Christ and many of the young people really had a life changing experience.

Fun in the Summer
In August we partnered with the school district and gave out free lunches to kids from the neighborhood. Of course that wasn’t all: With the help of STARS and other volunteers we ran a kids program including education, crafts, dancing and of course we had a water day!

Most of the 20+ kids each day were between the age of 4 and 10 and lived in our neighborhood. Getting to know these kids was a huge blessing and I would like to pass that on…

So let me introduce you to Jamarian and Draezhon.

These 2 little boys were a blast.

Jamarian is very mellow and over the 3 weeks he never had a bad day. He is a very happy child… Unfortunately he didn’t like underwear and his jeans were slightly bigger than they needed to be. So for a few days the most used phrase during the afternoon was ‘Mari, pull up your pants!!’... Until we were able to give him a belt and some Incredible Hulk undies! :)

Draezhon is his brother and is not as mellow, but as much fun. One day Draezhon had a really bad day and was spending half his time in time out.
During one of those times I walked over to him and let him know that we really liked having him around and we were sad that he was in time out so much that day.
After that conversation his attitude for the rest of the week completely changed. He was still a kid with attitude, but he knew he was loved and accepted when he walked through the door.

At the end of the 3 weeks STARS put on an amazing showcase for all kids and all the parents/guardians came to watch the kids dance and to admire the artwork! It was a great night and such a great finish to 3 weeks of hard work!

STARS
STARS is a youth development movement. I met these guys about 3 months ago and they happened to be looking for a place to meet at, as they were busting at the seams at their old place.
We were able to partner with them and now they meet 3 times a week at the Pier helping young people to excel in whatever gifts they have. That includes writing, speaking, dancing and much more.

I am very excited about the possibility of STARS and the Pier hosting Open Mic nights for the community!!! This would include showcasing local talent, encouraging young people to host the night and inviting people from all different churches to participate and volunteer!

Some discouragement:
These past couple months have been very encouraging in many ways ministry wise. On the other side of things I have had my laptop’s hard drive crash… My laptop has difficulties turning on now and really, seeing it’s 4 years old I fear I might need a new one soon.
I also would still like to actually have my own car again, instead of borrowing someone else’s…

Financial stress has been huge as my cost of living has gone up a bit since returning and my support has dropped a little due to the bad economy.

Would you please pray with me for these specific things:

• my own car to come through ASAP (waiting on a duplicate title)
• more people to give towards my ministry on a monthly basis. (I need another 10 people to give $25 each month)
• $400 to go to the Go!Conference (Missions Conference) that I help staff in October.
• A new laptop in the near future...

Thank you so much for being part of this team! I really appreciate it and love that you're on the team with me!

It's really been an exciting time this summer with many people finding Christ, being able to serve around 200 families each month with our grocery assistance partner, feeding more than 90 meals to the kids in August, getting some new and key volunteers to help out in the building and start a job readiness program.

Now we are talking about starting After School Homework Help, Open Mics and would love to look back into ESL classes. Please pray that The Pier (our community resource center) really would be a tool of God to start transforming this neighborhood (one of the poorest and most crime ridden in Las Vegas)

Exciting stuff ahead!

Frauke

If you would like to support this ministry check out http://helpfrauke.blogspot.com/

Last night I was explaining to a friend of mine the complexity of my life. We had been talking about being honest with people. I told her that people sometimes tell me that they really appreciate my honesty and me being upfront with people.

The sad thing in my head is, that I'm thinking 'crap, I thought my filter was on... I thought I wasn't being all honest and upfront'.

So there's a huge difference in perception. I'm thinking I'm all holding back and not really telling it as it is AT ALL. And they are getting that heck, she's upfront and honest with me...

So the real scary thought is..... What would happen if I wouldn't even try to hold back my opinion...........................

Yeah, scary alright!

Online church

I just wrote this reply to a blog about online church being compared to fast food (http://blog.ourchurch.com/2009/07/09/online-church-spiritual-fast-food/) and thought I might post my thoughts on online church here.

I generally agree with his comparison to fast food.... Let me know what you think!

I really like online church, as last year I had to spend a year in Europe (sounds like punishment, doesn't it) and I had a hard time finding a church that I connected with. My church then started online church and I really had a great time staying in touch with my own church back home. So online church is a great alternative. It also provides some fun little things that real church doesn't...

• Globalisation: you are chatting live with a bunch of people about God from all different continents...
• Questions: The last few years have proven that people are far more open to ask hard questions when the speaker is not live in front of them! Some of us are more bold when it's online and will ask questions of others and/or the speaker that we would not ask in person (it's the age old mask thing) I would probably not make this comment if it weren't for being online!
• Dress Code: I LOVED being at church in my PJ's, slurping a coffee and dancing through the house to the worship being played! I would never do that at my church and honestly, people thank me for that! :)

Online church is fantastic, but we need real people in our life! We need real friends who see us, who can speak into our life and that will point out to us that we should not apply to America's got talent!
But every now and then, just like fast food, online church is so fun and fantastic!

I strongly suggest to someone who ONLY does online church, to try and get a group of friends together that are committed Christians that would do life with them. Not everything has to happen inside a church building....

Of course there need to be some sort of a boundary. Like accountability to someone other than yourself!