WOW- have the last few weeks been crazy! We now have 43 students filling up the dorm that we are living in! We have been going like crazy trying to get to know all of them, make them feel welcome, not to mention that we are teaching them how to study the Bible. This first month of teaching is known as "the seminar". It's a time where we have class 5 days a week and most nights as well so there is a lot of learning, listening and discussion going on. We have an awesome group of students and an exciting year ahead. About 1/3 of our students are from foreign countries, and many of them have a passion to share God's word in the world.

It's really exciting for me to think of the many plans God has for them going out from this year with a strong Biblical foundation. In these first two weeks of class we have studied the books of Philemon, Titus and Ephesians. And it's just the beginning!

Here's a shot of Ruth taking some time off for tea with friends Debbie, Joanne and Yvette.

I also had my first opportunity to teach this week. It went really well. I was teaching a summary of the Inductive Bible Study method...wrapping up the previous week and showing the value of our study method and how to utilize a computer to do it. I had some good feedback from students that said that they ACTUALLY learned something! For me the most exciting and interesting part of my teaching was when my computer died the instant I started teaching! Ouch! It's been having more and more power problems and all of the sudden I moved the mouse and it was off. Thankfully it turned back on after a few minutes.

I know that some of you are praying for our housing situation and we appreciate it. The people currently in our house are moving out today! Then we have two weeks while the facilities team (and us) fix things up. So we will be moving into our house in two weeks. We are so excited about this one that we can't adequately express it. Having our own space and quiet (and bathroom) will be awesome. One interesting side note on the house is that we bought a remnant of carpet for the living room and in moving it I tweaked my back quite bad. It's really been hurting for the last week, so please pray for healing.

I have to throw in a picture of our dog Franky. Get ready to laugh. He is a wiener dog (miniature dachshund). Well, it just so happens that every year in our hometown of Lakeside there is a benefit for Shriner's hospital. The two focal points of this fund raiser are 1) a chili cook off and 2) a wiener dog race. yes, you read that right. Our dog was in a wiener dog race. We were pretty excited about it because he is really fast. We had lots of friends there to cheer him on. Well, it turns out that it takes more than speed to actually win a wiener dog race. Franky got scared and didn't even run, he turned around and started licking up some chili! We'll get 'em next year. In our eyes he's still a wiener...

So that is our life in a nutshell.

Prayers

1-my back

2-stamina during this learning phase with students

3-moving...more stamina

4-that our computer keeps tickin

5-finances...We are inching up on making our budget, but not there yet

below is a new feature that this blog is allowing...video...just a sample of the day at the races

What hit me this week.
In studying Ephesians I was struck by the many times Paul emphasizes the "richness" and "inheritance" that we have in Christ. I never noticed it before. 6 or 7 times in the first few chapters the idea of the "riches of grace" or the "guarantee of inheritance" are spoken of.

My immediate thought is to think of myself, but I was reminded to think of the people that were originally reading this letter. They lived in the city of Ephesus that was economically and religiously centered around the worship of their patron goddess Artemis. If you read in Acts 19 you see how seriously they took this goddess in this city. They rioted and nearly killed Paul and his friends because they realized that their wealth was dwindling away the more people started following Christ and turning away from the goddess worship. They made money selling idols of Artemis.

Imagine now a new Christian in this Ephesian environment. They were likely blacklisted from everyday commerce. Perhaps their businesses were shutdown. Economically they were suffering massive hardship because they were rejecting their culture and following the True God. Perhaps they were wondering "Is it worth it?" or maybe thinking "what if I can't afford to feed my family?...is God worth it?" Then they hear this letter from Paul assuring them of the riches that Christ has given them. Maybe they are temporarily uncomfortable or distraught, but their eternal inheritance is secure in the grace that is given only through Christ. Things might get tough, but it's worth it when you consider eternity...

Here is a shot of the kids on their first day of school this week! The whole family was excited for this day. Jonny is now in first grade, so he is very happy to be eating lunch at school and staying the whole day. Jess is in 3rd and her teacher likes horses so they hit it off right away. Ruth and I love our kids a bunch, but it sure is nice to have them in school again!



Two weeks ago I had the privilege of golfing in the YWAM scramble. It was an awesome fund raising event that raised thousands of dollars for the campus that we live on. I didn't golf too well (which wasn't a surprise!) but I did win a gas BBQ. I couldn't believe it. It turns out that I had the longest putt on hole #14 which was a total of 3 feet! The beauty of it is that I really needed a barbecue!

The week after that was staff retreat week. We had an awesome time with other people on staff playing games and getting to know each other. Ron and Judy Smith taught us a little bit about "The value of the story". Just the idea that people love to hear someones story. That if you are in conversation or teaching it's invaluable to share your story and experience. We then shared with each of the staff a bit of our own story. Then we had a weekend retreat with the whole base and just had fun and played horseshoes and had a big bouncy slide for the kids. It was a great time to connect with the people we are working with.
Then a friend of ours on staff (Steve Johnson) took us for a little hike up in our local mountains. We took the whole family and the dog about 7 miles up to the top of Mount Aeneas. It was awesome! We had views in every direction! The kids absolutely loved it and so did we, so we are hoping to start doing a little more hiking as a family. Below is a shot of us with the Flathead lake in the background.
And here is a picture of Ruth to give you a feel for how steep and majestic it is! (That's our friend Steve closer up and Ruth is way back there)

We also had a bit of a sad/happy time this last week. We had to say goodbye to our awesome Cambodian friend Radi. He was in my class last year and we have really grown to love him. He is planning to start the School of Biblical Studies in Cambodia! We are praying that God will keep us connected and maybe even bring our family to Cambodia to see him again.


Well, students start arriving here in the next week, so we are praying for safe travels and looking forward to meeting the 43 students that God is sending us to teach this year. Class actually starts on Sept 17. We are excited. Pray for wisdom as we teach and live together. More and more we are realizing what an awesome privilege it is to be doing this and also what a great responsibility we have as teachers and mentors.

Please email us with your prayer requests, or just to tell us about your lives. God bless you all.