Month: June 2013

A Lovely Start.

On By jenniferstoltzfusLeave a comment

I find it delightfully sweet when Yahweh takes my meager expectation and lavishes glory wildly upon it. That is the best way my jet-lagged mind can wrap around what I am currently experiencing.

We arrived in Fiji at 5am on Monday morning, and made it to the training center around 7:30am after customs, baggage, etc. For the sake of teaching our bodies to adjust, they (our leadership) encouraged us to stay awake and push through the exhaustion (by filling our day with activities).

When we first arrived at the training center, several of us noticed an adorable cottage just a few yards away from the main building. We commented on how cute it was as we followed the group up the main steps. It was here that they were sorting luggage and giving room assignments. All the other names were called and I was left standing with Sabrina, Olivia, and Charlene (a new friend from North Carolina). Langdon (intern leader) says that the four of us will be living in the cottage out front.

Umm. What? All summer? No way…

Yes way. And it’s every bit as adorable on the inside as we thought it might be from the outside.

The intern team is amazing. We have ten countries represented among us – USA, Australia, Romania, China, India, Mexico, Fiji, Vanuatu, Kazakhstan, and England. Conversation often becomes giggling about the differences between the English pronunciation of various words in England, Australia, and home. We’ve all acknowledged that we wish we had someone else’s accent and that our own is just boring.

We spent some time playing volleyball at the beach on our first day, and so the staff built us a court in our backyard. The food is delicious, the conversations are rich, and we feel God’s presence in everything. I have never in my entire life seen a more beautiful sunset than in this place. There’s a cool breeze in the morning and at night. We take morning and afternoon breaks from the schedule to have coffee, tea, and cookies. They have adopted dogs that live around the training center and one of them just had puppies. You see what I mean? Everything is simply lovely.

This week will be full of training: personality, giftedness, evangelism, and more. We’re learning from incredibly gifted people who are exceptionally passionate about seeing Yahweh become famous all over the earth. We leave for Vanuatu on Saturday and will be teaching and training church pastors and working with a team of high school students from Australia.

This is, hands down, one of the most humbling communities I have ever been a part of. I’m so grateful for your prayers and look forward to sharing more. Now while you greet Tuesday, I will bid it farewell. I hope it’s as sweet for you as it was for us.

Goodnight.

xoxo

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More Faithful than the Morning

On By jenniferstoltzfus2 Comments

Exactly six months ago, I sat wide-eyed at my computer as I read about Evangelism Explosion and the internships that they offer abroad for young adults pursuing full time ministry. I grew hopeful as my heart did the thing it does when peace is brought to my entire being. Something in me knew this was it, yet I was tentative to really believe so “just in case”. I prayed over my restlessness and deep desires and submitted the primary application. In a way that only Jesus could orchestrate, I progressed through the application process and was offered a spot on the team of interns.

Ah, yes. God is faithful.

Mind you, this time six months ago was right smack in the most challenging season of my life. I won’t hesitate to say I questioned where I was, what I was doing, and why I was doing it. I spent countless hours begging Jesus for answers and insight. I petitioned that He would somehow make beautiful what I felt had come to dust. Like a broken record, I was reminded:

God is faithful.

The internship that I’m participating in is a beautiful combination of training, evangelism, and pursuing the heart of Christ. The goal of the internship is that while we minister to the people around us, we would also come to understand a little bit more about what Yahweh is calling us to in a big picture way. Through evangelism, training church leaders, and being poured into – we will have ample time to learn, grow, and discover what comes next.

I’m clinging to the promise: God is faithful.

On adventures like the one before me now, I find it exponentially more important to remember this truth. He will finish what He promised. He will go before me. He will not leave me empty. He will be faithful.

It’s a truth I must remind myself of regularly, for I ashamedly trust more in the sunrise than in His word. How ironic that in counting on the sunrise, one of the most majestic of His creations, I forget to count on Him- the Creator.

There’s something easy and comforting about something you can see and feel. For every day that I have had breath on this earth, the sun as come up in the east and tucked away in the west. Not merely “like clockwork” – it is the very thing that gives us clockwork. It allocates hours for our work and ensures that it will not be hidden for long. I can see it come up in the morning as I watch the sky fill with colors like an artist meticulously fills a canvas with paint. I can feel the warmth it gives as it turns my skin golden brown… or cherry red. I can shelter myself under an enormous oak tree, and find rest in the gentle breeze that surrounds me. I can watch it set behind the Gulf of Mexico as the sky again lights up with glory.

And just like the sunrise, I see His faithfulness echo softly, yet triumphantly, in my life. I’m coming to sense His Spirit as He begins to stir like the gentle breeze that keeps me company under the oak tree. I crave it more than I crave ice cream and a hot cup of coffee. Oh, that I would crave it more and more.

And oh that we would rest in His faithfulness, counting on it more than the morning.

I treasure your prayers and look forward to sharing with you all that Jesus does in and through my team! Thank you for believing in me and in the mission that Yahweh has set before me.

xoxo