Most RECENT! how can i pray for YOU?>

Hello family and friends!

PRAISE THE LORD! We have finished our week of rest and relaxation that was miraculously provided for by an anonymus donor, the entire sum of $2,300.00 for the sole purpose of getting to rest and REALLY take a break from the work we have been doing here. Which was SO needed. Oh MAN, there have been SO many CRAZY things that have taken place over the course of the last 2 and a half months. Sicknesses, hospital stays and visits for multiple people, threats on churchgoers by upset ex-pastors, physical threats and just straight up gossip (which is by the way a HUGE stronghold and struggle in this nation, even within the believers, so pray for that to be BROKEN!), more sicknesses, remember getting kicked out of the house? There was something it seemed almost everyday, these things didn't always include or threaten us directly, but the ministry we are working alongside was the one being directly effected, but it was because the LORD is doing POWERFUL things in and through the town and villages that we have been able to preach and share in.
The church that we spent much of our time in was left almost barren by a split that took place just after we arrived and started ministry (the pastor left the church JUST after the dedication of the new building), and since we had continued ministry within that place the church has had about 80 members attending despite efforts of the old pastor trying to keep them away, 80 members is more than most all the other churches. And of course it's not about numbers, but it is about God doing a POWERFUL work in that place, and we are SO grateful to Him for giving us a living picture of His work and His power and the fruit that He has shown and continues to and we PRAY that those people continue to walk in the FULLNESS of God's GRACE and LOVE and right into deeper walks and understandings of who God is and just how INCREDIBLE He is! Just before we left the ministry to move on to our R&R the original church and another church nearby came together and it has been since then that the congregation has grown, and it has been a blessing to have worked with the new pastor and to see the fold of God increase! PRAISE the LORD!

So now we are here in Neyveli, working with "No Time Pastor" who is truly like a dad to us. He is a little ADHD sometimes, hence the name "No time Pastor" he is ALWAYS on the move doing something and getting something, but his wife, Esther-Mary, and himself, Pastor Rajkumar, who says he is not a Pastor but a "Paster" because "God brings the people to him and he pastes people to God", have HUGE hearts and they love the LORD with ALL of them! We have already learned 2 Tamil songs, which we got sing in front of a Pastor's conference today before we broke up into Pastors and Pastor's wives/the women when all 8 of us got to share and have a RADICAL time just encouraging and being encouraged and sharing what God had placed on our hearts. Who are we to get to share with them, nothing but children of the MOST HIGH GOD for whom He opens unshutable doors.
Last night we celebrated Jenaye's 22nd birthday and we have 2 more birthdays in the next week or so, and we get to go to our friends' wedding on the 9th of November, and we have about a month AT LEAST here in Neyveli, we will have to rearrange some of our plans a little if we don't get the majority of our finances in because the place after this, Bejipur is a costly journey i hear, so pray that God would provide for the remainder of our funds to come in, ROUGHLY around $6,000.00.

Thank you SO much for your love and your prayers. We cannot explain to you what they mean and how they impact our lives here.
PLEASE continue to PRAY!
- Unity of love within the team...first intimacy with God, then each other and then India!
-Communication, which ALWAYS seems a challenge
-Continual provision for the remainder of the finances we need as a team (roughly $6,000.00, give or take!)
-Deep LASTING seeds and foundations to be laid in JESUS' NAME to those, and the POWER of the Holy Spirit to fall and to magnify the LORD in ALL we do and say.... to HIM be the GLORY!
-However else the LORD leads.

I pray that each one of you, of us, myself included, walks in the FULLNESS of God's love and heart for us, with us, and those around us. To press on toward the prize of the upward calling that is Christ Jesus! That when we are weary we ONLY press into Jesus that much more to know that we don't wrestle with flesh and blood but against powers and principalities not of this world, and that God wants our HEARTS more than ANYTHING, they are the MOST PRECIOUS thing to Him that we could EVER give. So don't hold back ANYTHING from the LORD, for He holds nothing back from us. These things i am learning!
Stotrum,
Liz

His Love Revealed in the Power of Jesus' Name!

Hey all.....I just wanted to write and share a little more personal of what the LORD is doing... So you can read or not read, but pray that the LORD would bless you and speak to you through what He is doing in me and through me.

The LORD showed me some time before I left that not only was He sending me to India, but that in doing so He was fulfilling a promise that He had given me 5 1/2 years ago that I was clueless to until now. That is how long I've wanted to come to this land, and the past two years that I have gone on outreaches (2007 and 2008) the decision I have been faced with both times is India or Morocco. And the LORD opened my heart and dug and planted stuff in there in Morocco and forever that place will have a SPECIAL place in my heart. Now it the LORD is showing me how this time, in this season He desires to use the nation of India to radically transform not only this nation, but also how intimately He desires to transform my life, and my heart with Him.

Oh MAN! Things i LOVE about India... a list:

*the chaos of the cars, cows, and pedestrians on the streets that has order only natives understand.

*the tree on the walk from the internet to the house that SMELLS because the Hindus offer sacrifices of dead chickens and eggs and hair and tie them to the tree to their gods (this one saddens my heart too)

*the food! Chippatis, curry, rice, potatoes, eggs and toast EVERY morning for breakfast

*the open and loving and BEAUTIFUL hearts of the Indian people*Bishop and the boys he is discipling. (Barnabas, Boaz, Eliyas, and Sam) but I dare not say LOVE to them or any Indian in regards to a member of the opposite sex because they will think I want to marry them. Love is a VERY strong word, so better to say that I like them.

*that people of all ages, men, women, and children come desperately for someone to pray for them to touch their lives, and EVERY NIGHT Jesus shows them that He is that Someone.

..... more to come, this doesn't do India justice.....

The POWER that is in the name of Jesus has been put on display to me in ways that I NEVER have seen. My heart is OVERWHELMED. For instance, last night we went for our second night of ministry at this village, so that means... House visits, which are AMAZING! We drew names for the team member we would go with and the translator who we would go with also. Jackie picked my name and Barnabas' (the one with the beard on the right in the picture). I had a woman from our outreach night that I wanted to see SO BAD! Her name is Amudha (you say it fast, Amooda). We had gone back and forth the night before last about each other being beautiful. They are SO cute and they ALL LOVE white skin, the whiter the better, so I'm pretty well off. Well, we visited one home while waiting for her to return home, and then went to her place. It turns out that without my understanding she is the SAME woman for whom I prayed for twice after the outreach that God would heal her leg. There was this INTENSE knot like problem in it that I felt with my own hand the second time I prayed for her as I laid hands on her pain. She had visited many doctors and spend MUCH to try to find an answer to her pain. Nothing worked. BUT, through Barnabas translating she told me that I was the same person who had prayed for her and that......

SHE IS HEALED!

WHAT! The connection was made and I was BLOWN away that Jesus is SO specific to connect us together as the woman I prayed for and the one who I HAD TO SEE that night. I felt her leg, the same leg that just the night before had been all messed up and in a deep rooted knot, and it was gone. It was smooth!!!!!!!! And Jackie asked her if she knew Who healed her, and she told Barnabas in Tamul, "Yesu". She is already a follower of Jesus, and we encouraged her to come to chruch tomorrow where we will be, so that she can speak and be a testimony not only in her village of the power and love of Jesus, but also to fellow believers. It brought to life the story we shared and acted out at an outreach last week of the woman with the issue of blood, who REACHED out DESPERATELY for Jesus, touched the hem of His garment and was healed, after searching many other means of healing and restoration, it was only found in Yesu, and the same goes for this woman. The LORD's heart in my melted as I got to look her in the eyes and share that she is JUST LIKE that woman. The rest of the night she took us through the street of her village showing us which houses to stop at, and at each one she sat with us, and held my hand.

The LORD's grace and compassion TRANSFORMS hearts and lives and SHAPES our eternity. And all you ahve to do is be willing to reach out and touch the hem of Jesus' garment, even if that looks like praying for a woman to be healed, or asked for healing yourself. How do you need to be transformed today? and are you willing to reach out to Jesus, because He WILL heal you, from the inside out. He LOVES YOU! and He LOVES the people of India. LORD willing and trusting Him I will get to see my sister Amudha tomorrow morning, and see her wearing the smile that warms the very heart of Jesus. Please pray for her and her family for boldness to share and an authority that ONLY COMES FROM JESUS. We (Mike and I at different times) also prayed for her mom and the LORD healed her as well. There are many stories, this one is especially close to my heart, and Jesus has quieted me with His love for me to speak to me through this in a way only He can comprehend fully, and to touch this woman who I am confident will never be the same.

Would you PLEASE continue to be in prayer for us! and would you PLEASE send me how I can be in prayer for you as I am here for that is the thing God has given me to offer to you! I would truly be honored.

The team is loving ministry and each other, we are learning how to communicate as 8 different people, personalities and backgrounds, and the unity of the LORD is BEAUTIFUL that enables the impossible to be made possible by His Spirit.

We are surely (an Indian english word that they use ALL the time) in GREAT need of finances right now. Right now we aren't able to purchase the tickets we need for further travel to Kerala (for our week of rest and reflection) which need to be purchased ideally within the week, though when we buy them depends on where we are at financially in a week, and for our stay beyond that. PLEASE bring that to the LORD for us and if He puts it on your heart to give know that you can send it to...4052 Alto Street Oceanside, CA, 92056
Thank you SO much for your love and support, I cannot WAIT to see you all face to face and hear of the LORD's work in YOUR life throughout these months ahead, so PLEASE start telling me NOW! I couldn't be here without you, WE couldn't be here without you! : )

I love you, appreciate you, and miss you!

In Jesus, Liz
(P.S. The guys in the picture are from left to right after Danile are Boaz, Sam, and Barnabas. Of whom Boaz and Barnabas will be with us as part of our team from this point on participating in daily worship and devotions through the book of Matthew and they will be the ones who are with us on EVERY leg of the trip, until we leave in December. They are really awesome men of God, servants and fun! And in the picture of the women, Amudha is the third one in, with the orange saree across her shoulder. She SHINES for Jesus! And her mom is the last woman on the right!)

Glory to God in the Highest!

am ASTOUNDED by the LORD's LOVE and GRACE here in India!

We have been here for a little less than a month, and it seems like so much time has gone by.
Our first "official" day of ministry was last Wednesday, (trust me though, there has been PLENTY of ministry going down around the house until now).
So, in order to paint a picture of "ministry life" here is what our time looks like....

We have ministry 5 days a week, Tuesday through Saturday, that takes place in villages that have been chosen by the pastors here that we are working with, Bishop and Raja, and Raja goes with us everywhere village we go. We go to the same village 2 or 3 days a week. The first day we go we do an outreach to draw attention and a crowd. So we have a sound system, speakers and mics and Raja will explain what we are going to do, then we play a few songs, share a testimony from a team member of how God changed their life, another song, or dance, or something creative, then someone preaches, then we also pray for anyone and everyone who wants prayer. The second and third day we (the team of 8 and 4 translators) spilt up into 4 groups and go house to house to share and spend time one on one with the families who we spoke and shared with the night before. We go for 2 hours and can spend as much time or as little as the LORD leads at each house, and we can share however the LORD leads, with the help of our native translators who by the way are VERY good at being sensitive to what and how the families/friends will receive what we share. So, if it's not something we should say.... they tell us, "You can't say that." But they explain why of course. Each person that goes out with us is SUCH a blessing!
The LORD has shown us FAMILIES come to know and accept Him as their Savior and the pastors we go out with provide the follow up they will need in order to grow in their lives with Jesus. I have seen a woman who couldn't leave her 30 feet of property with whom Daniel and I prayed that Jesus would heal her to walk freely with Him, physically and spiritually, and HE DID! NO MORE PAIN!!!!

It has been a CRAZY time. Everyday I look out the window of the van as we drive to villages to do ministry, or just walk down the street and I am AMAZED that the LORD has brought me, brought all of us TOGETHER to this place. I am in awe of His goodness.

Thank you for your prayers, and PLEASE continue to take us to the LORD, oh how we need it!
Would you PLEASE take us to the LORD in these ways and however else He speaks to you....

Unity of love with the LORD, the team, our friends here who we work with (who are natives) and the Indians we get to see the LORD work in.
Thankful hearts
Finances!--- We need to buy tickets for our Rest time trip this coming week, and we are still in need of funds for that time and also for the remainder of the trip. We trust that THIS is the season the LORD has brought us to, so we are waiting in antcipation to see the LORD's hand move. He owns the cattle on 1,000 hills!

Love you all and thank you ALL!
In His name because He is worthy,

Liz

Photos!

1. SHOPPING for HOURS for material for Indian gear the DAY we arrived and were supposed to stay up until 4:30pm here... we didn't get to sleep until 12:30am after 48 hours of straight traveling.

2. Girls displaying Indian prayer as Mallory shines in the background, before an engagement ceremony we got to go to! One of our friends is getting married!!!! Eliyas and Sudha!

3. Me and Jenaye sideways.. sorry.... in Sarees!!!!! hahahahaha.

(Jackie says Saree is what you wear, not what you are.)

4. Indian street!

An Update sent out about 10 days ago.... next one coming out shortly...

Well hello there!!!!

Where to start... First, thank you. Thank you for your prayers, for your responses for all your love. We could not be here without the body of Christ waging war and sending love to us. You encourage me in ways that i can't describe, but that speak SO MUCH to my heart and know that you are all SO appreciated.

A BRIEF overview:
I have now been in India since the 9th. Bishop and met us at the airport, and boy oh boy was his a sweet face to see. I had only met him once, but instantly i recognized him, and he me. We came in 2 groups so we have all been together now since the 10th. We stayed in Chennai, a bigger city about 3 hours outside of Thiruvannamalai (the city that is now our home). We bought fabrics to get our Indian clothes made, Sarees and Punjamees (i don't know how to spell that last one), spent much time sleeping and attempting to adjust to the 12 1/2 hour time change. We got to celebrate the first of 6 birthdays on the 12th.... Daniel's 24th as we traveled to Thiruvannamalai. The word for this outreach so far, is INTENSE. We have been here for about a week and the LORD has shifted what we thought would take place to things we NEVER expected to take place. For instance...Starting on Thursday, the day after we got home, one of our team members got super sick... fever, chills, her body tensing up out of control, numbness all over her body, she couldn't walk. It started small, and progressed to all that quickly, so the team prayed for her, but it was clear that we needed to take her to the hospital, so 4 of us were driven to the hospital by 2 of our friends here. We were nervous to see how the LORD would work out this situation. It was more intense than anything i've experienced. We got to the hospital, and things simmered down a bit, we came home for the night, she just felt tired and sore, but the fever had gone down with some meds and we just thought she needed rest....Well, Friday, the fever was back and with avengence. We then decided that we needed to take her to a more established hospital, the drive was 2 hours, but it felt like forever. I don't think i've EVER seen someone in so much pain, and knowing i couldn't physically do anything to help, but to PRAY!We were in the hospital for 2 nights, 3 days... tired, emotionally WORKED, and my heart still hurting seeing someone i love in SO much pain. Every movement was intensified and every noise was SO loud. As i sat there, just watching and praying, the LORD was showing me Jesus. How much pain He CHOSE to endure, was much more than what Jenaye was feeling, and i couldn't even fathom more pain.Through it all, Jenaye is good. Recovered. It was hard to be away from the rest of the team for what seemed like SO long. But i KNOW and TRUST and BELIEVE that what the LORD has been doing and allowing has been bringing us to the end of ourselves that we might be broken vessels to diffuse His fragrance to the people of India and to each other.We are slowly getting to start moving in "ministry", but we are all certain that THIS last 5 days of trails and seeming craziness has been just the ministry that God has wanted us to experience to prepare us for the next 4 months. He has been working DEEPLY in each one of us, and i am excited to continue moving in the LORD's will and direction and guiding of this team! Each person is mighty for the LORD and He desires to refine us and shape us more into His image, just as He desires for each one of you. We had orientation yesterday and Bishop (our beloved contact here) said, "The more we want to reach out the more we must be willing to let the LORD reach in and change us."That's my encouragement to you, be willing to let the LORD reach in as FAR as He can, so you may know Him more.I LOVE YOU ALL! Thank you SO much!Thank you for your prayers and your love.

PLEASE keep us in your prayers continually....Unity, love, finances... endurance, grace, and peace.

To you also!
Because He is worthy,

Liz

Here are some pics.....

All the 2009 S.E.N.D. Team Members ......... Ian and Jackie meeting for the 1st time...5 more months to go!

Kimmy and I before we set out for the wild....... Me and the Mommy!


Team South India in Sequioia on Wilderness!

LORD willing, i'm going to Soutern India.

and this is officially the first of many postings.
mainly for the purpose of keeping people updated on what's going on in my life since most of it is lived overseas and getting to share what God shares with me with you.
it's crazy that that's even true. i NEVER thought that this would be the way my life went, but now i can't imagine it ANY other way.
Jesus is SO good.

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do His commandments; His praise endures forever."
Psalm 111:10