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Name: Nathan
Country: United States
State: Oklahoma
Metro: Oklahoma City
Birthday: 8/10/1985
Gender: Male
Interests: i can get into almost anything but my favourite things are football, hockey, baseball/softball, guitar, philosophy, religion, rock climbing, and anything that requires a little bit of guts and a lot of stupidity to accomplish
Occupation: Student
Message: message meEmail: email me
AIM:  cykodude1503
MSN: cykodude1503@hotmail.com
Member Since:
1/8/2005
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| i'm alive.... but xanga is dead.... farwell xanga.... | | |
| Philippines: Our team is having a wonderful time! We have had several wonderful and very funny memories made already. We are finally starting to get use to the heat; we still sweat every minute of every day, but we are getting use to it. We have been busy sharing God’s love through Jesus Film showings, puppet shows, visitation (follow up), preaching and songs. We are back in Cebu City at Visayan Nazarene Bible College after spending a week in the countryside town of Argao. During our stay in Argao, we worked with the District Superintendent with his Jesus Film ministry. We were able to show the film 4 different nights and attendance varied from about 45 to 75 people. Before each film showing we would spend a couple of hours inviting people and visiting in their homes. Then we would hang out at the location and bring our soccer balls, Frisbees, and football so we could engage in play with the children, who usually came first to the site. Our team would sing songs before the film started and then we would perform a puppet show. After that, a couple of us would share our testimonies (with the DS translating). We would then show the film and after it would end DS Ranado would preach for about 10 min. Many responded and came to know the Lord! *PRAISE THE LORD!* When people responded at the end, we would get their name so we could follow up with them the next morning. During follow up we would head back into the village and break into two groups (Pastor Jerry leading one and the children’s Pastor Beth leading the other group). We would visit with the different people who responded, encourage them with scripture and pray with them. The most difficult thing to witness for our team so far was the red light district here in Cebu called Kamagayan. This district is infamous in Cebu and has been around for over 50 years. Over 90% of the people who live there are prostitutes and drug addicts and it is also ranked 4th IN THE WORLD for illegal sex trafficking. Nazarene Christian Fellowship conducted a medical and dental mission in Kamagayan and invited our team to come with them. We went in the daytime and were deeply wounded by the poverty we encountered. Doctors gave checkups and wrote prescriptions and the patient would come to the pharmaceutical table where Nathan, Brandon and Heather. We would hand them their medicine while a native explained the dosage to them in Cebuano. More than 100 people came for help. The dentists pulled patients' teeth in the tent we had set up in the middle of Kamagayan, and Selena was able to hold a young woman’s head while the dentist was pulling out her tooth. It was all very overwhelming our first day in Cebu, but we were excited to jump right in and be used! This week we are helping in the classrooms and even get to teach in a few. Again at night we will have the opportunity to show the Jesus Film. God is doing amazing things here and it is so good to help in that ministry and work alongside the people here. The people still love and care for us even though our Cebuano skills are improving slowly. It is good to know that they are scared to speak English with us just as much as we are scared to speak Cebuano with them. On Saturday we will be heading to our next location in Leyte and we are not sure if we will have internet use there. We will be there for two weeks. It is so evident that God’s mighty hand is at work here in the Philippines and we feel entirely blessed to be able to experience His kingdom in the U.S. and also in this beautiful country! Prayer Requests: - Our team has not gotten sick yet and we praise God for that and pray that it continues!
- Safety as we continue to travel
- Pray that in our feelings of inadequacy God will use us! “His power is made perfect in weakness”!!!
- We still are unsure of what the future holds for us in the coming weeks after we leave VNBC and we have no expectations except to be used by God. All we know at this point is that we are leaving for Leyte.
link of the day- this is the website about the area that we visited for the medical and dental mission. | | |
| so if you ever really pay attention to this you will notice that i have missed the past two weekly updates.... i wish i could blame this on something else but it just comes down to im lazy and forget to do it. you might also notice the lack of one for this post as well and i DO have a good excuse this time. im no longer going to east timor for 8 weeks. instead i will be spending those 8 weeks at an undecided location that will probably end up being the Philippines. im only slightly disappointed but its still going to be an amazing summer and i cant wait. I still need lots of prayer and finacial support so heres the link once again. and for the fun link of the day heres a site that im sure will be addictive to some people. thats it from me. | | |
| this website contributed to the lack of homework done this weekend.... so im going to share it with everyone. its probably the best link i've ever had on here. i just got back jonesboro and i have to say it feels like i dont really have a home anymore. i mean i can go to jonesboro and its kinda home but its still weird when i get there, and its really weird being back at snu. plus the thought of not coming back to snu next semester (ok the hope that i dont have to) and that i'll be in a different country for 8 weeks this summer make me realize that while i have several places i can call home, none of them actually are. speaking of east timor heres the newsletter. hope yall have an excellent week. Dear Family & Friends,
Monday and Tuesday was our Bible Quiz with five teams competing. The
Lospalos youth had three teams and they took the 1st and 2nd place
trophies!! I was very proud of them. They have been working hard and
their hard work stood them well. I am amazed at how easily they can
memorize, sometimes very long answers. Of course, it all took place in
Indonesian. Acy said that maybe next time we will try to get the
materials translated into Tetum. Anything we do with materials that come
out of KC we have to translate and reprint before we can use them. Just
part of new work, in a new language.
Wednesday, I started the process of getting my long term visa renewed.
It is always a long, sometimes stressful, journey. At least this time I
am pretty sure of myself with Tetum and familiar with the places to go
for each step. I had to go to the hospital first to get blood work and a
chest x-ray. They want to know if you have HIV/AIDS or TB before they
let you get a new visa. Turns out I am healthy and could continue to the
next step. The hospital part took two days!
Then, it was Thursday, and everything was closed from noon on. Friday,
also, no government offices were functioning and I couldn't go to the
bank. So I will have to wait until sometime next week. Monday is the
presidential election and I am not sure if anything will be open.
Friday morning, we had a worship service to reflect on the death of
Jesus as the sacrifice for our sins. Pastor Wira and the worship team
did a great job. It was good to just relax in the afternoon and take
some time off.
Today, the Sunday School teachers are taking the children to the beach.
We are not going to be involved in that- there are only so many things
the "old ones" can keep up with. :)
Thanks to all of you who have sent Easter blessings. By the way we don't
have a telephone line in our home and have to go out to an Internet
cafe. It costs us $2 for 15 minutes. It is broad band and we can down
load and up load fast, but we don't take the time to open on-line
greeting cards. Thanks anyway!
There have been reports of some violence related to the political
process. They even had a televised debate between the 8 candidates. One
problem was that two of the candidates refused to participate. Things
are looking more and more like there will be more violence regardless of
who wins the election. Pastor Acy had an interesting experience
yesterday. She was teasing two of the guys in our youth group about the
candidate that they are going to vote for and they became very angry!!
Just imagine how people who have no relationship with Christ will react
when their party and candidate losses the election. Don't forget to pray
for our team and the people of East Timor during this time.
Have a great Lord's Day tomorrow.
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| ok so im a little late again.... but here's your link, it sings what you type.... yay Dear Family & Friends,
We have had a few event filled days. When so many things happen I find
it hard to know where to start my weekly letter to you all. So maybe I
will start at the end and maybe leave out the rest! Ha!
Earlier this week I worked on the plumbing some more. I have decided
that when we retire, and that is not too many years from now, I will be
well qualified to do electrical work, plumbing and maybe even some
cement work. I just hope it is not necessary. Maybe someone will take
pity on us and provide a good house for us to live in that doesn't need
any repairs :).
On Thursday I drove to Lospalos with Wira and Deborah and Felice and
some of our Timorese youth. We stayed all night at the Youth Center with
the young people there and then on Friday afternoon we drove three hours
further to a village called Iliomar. Most of the young men who live at
the Youth Center in Lospalos are from Iliomar.
Our leader at the Lospalos Youth Center, Merlando, became a Christian
after he started coming to our Youth Center in Dili. He went back to his
village to visit from time to time, and later two of his cousins also
became Christians and wanted to be baptized. These three young men have
had a great influence on their extended family and now we have several
others who are interested in following Jesus.
When we got to Iliomar on Friday there was a political campaign going on
and, we were told that we could not show the film, "The Passion", as we
had planned. Later, after some negotiation with other leaders, we were
given permission. About 200 people came to watch the film. Many were
touched by what they saw. We showed the film out under a moon lit sky!
Once during the showing the generator died and I 'worked' on it a bit
then asked Wira to pray for the generator. We started the film again and
the generator ran for two hours straight without even a hiccup! Praise
the Lord.
After the film we had a good time of fellowship and eating with the
boys' families and for the first time I felt that our efforts at
building relationships were paying off. We have been invited to come
back anytime we want. In the past, the parents have expressed concern
about the fact that their sons are "following a new religion", but this
time I could sense that they are proud of them.
Their houses have dirt floors. There is no plumbing but there is
electricity at night. We had to go to the creek to take a bath and there
were no toilets! The pigs and cows live very close, if not in the same
house as the people, and dogs enjoy complete freedom of movement! I
enjoyed good East Timorese coffee and "bread fruit" fried in home
processed coconut oil. While I was in the village with them I began to
think about the mysterious ways in which God works sometimes. How is it
that these boys from so far away and living in such different
circumstances from me, could find their way to the Church of the
Nazarene in Dili and find new spiritual life, and then return to tell
others about their experience? How is it that I would have the privilege
to have some small part in all of this?
On the way back to Dili we found ourselves on the highway in between two
opposing political parties. [Now I don't mean opposing in the Western
sense. I mean one group was blocking the road so the other group could
not get to Lospalos city to campaign.] Fortunately, they were far enough
apart that we were able to find another road and, with the help of the
police, go around it all and make our way home. I haven't heard what
happened after we left. We brought seven young people from Lospalos with
us to be a part of a Bible quiz competition on Monday and Tuesday. One
of the boys had never been to Dili before.
We had a wonderful service this Sunday AM with over 100 people present.
We are looking forward to a great week in the Lord and hope that you are
too.
While I was in the village I broke another tooth! I guess I will have to
go to Bali again for more "repairs". Sure would be nice if my dentist
lived down the street!
and as always heres the link if you feel like supporting me in going there..... or if you just want to make me happy and on a personal note.... i have come to the realization that i will no longer be able to really choose my friends after this year. part of being in the ministry is you lose your freedom of who you get to hang out with. Theres always going to be those people who arent your favorite that will cling to you like crazy and you can never get away from them, and then sometimes the ones you like the most are the ones you hardley get to spend time with because they are so busy with everything else. maybe thats why i'm so picky with who i want my wife to be, its the one choice i get to make of who i spend the rest of my life with and i get to choose her to be my best friend..... blast now i want a girlfriend again.... i hate you xanga for making me think that out loud | | |
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