Merry Christmas from Thailand!

Merry Christmas to all of our wonderful friends and family!


We hope your holidays are blessed with joy and God's peace, and that you enjoy precious times with your families.  We miss you all and love you very much!  It is strange to have a hot, humid Christmas that feels like summer in Houston.  We celebrated Christmas with our team last night.  There aren't really any American restaurants around here, so we cooked a revised version of pesto pasta with chicken and garlic bread.  It was funny to see some of the ways we had to be flexible with that.....like, we could only find peanuts rather than pine nuts or anything else, and one girl smashed them with a rock, as we didn't have a food processor.  :)  The evening was wonderful, with a few surprises for the students.  It made us all just a little homesick, though.


I'm sorry we haven't updated sooner!  We have had pretty full weeks of ministry.  We have two amazing Thai women to work with as contact here, Jaime and Yui.  They are so vibrant and committed to seeing Thai people come to know Jesus.  They are youth ministers at a small church that we are working with here.  Their church has a wonderful ministry going here, and we feel really privileged to be a part of it.  Our team has performed at many Christmas parties and schools so far.  We have a variety of songs, dances, and dramas that we do, as well as sharing personal testimonies.  These schools are are filled primarily with Buddhists and a few Muslims.  It is such great timing to be here at Christmas, because everyone wants us to come to their gathering and teach them about this American holiday.  Then, we get to share the gospel and the true meaning of Christmas with them over and over!  Our team has shared the gospel with about 500 or more people by now through our various Christmas performances and messages!  It seems that Thai people take quite awhile to choose Christianity and leave Buddhism behind, but we are so thankful to plant so many seeds.  We have been able to pray for many and we know that the Holy Spirit is opening the hearts of people to receive this message.  Please pray that people would not forget what they've heard, but that they would be very curious and seek to know more about Jesus.


One of the most exciting things that happened was when a young English teacher came to a Christmas party for high schoolers that we helped host.  She listened intently to everything we shared, particularly the personal testimonies of a few of our students.  She told us afterward that she had never heard these things about Jesus before and that she wanted to know more!  We invited her to attend the church and we are praying that she comes.  It would be amazing for her to know him and impact many Thai students with God's love!


We are so thankful for all of you and your love for us, especially at Christmas.  Thanks for praying for us while we are here.  Please continue to pray for our team and particularly for hearts to be open to God's love and truth.


Bless you all!  
Erika and Jason

We made it!!

Hello from Thailand!

We have safely arrived and have enjoyed our first day here in Bangkok.  We spent the day doing cultural orientation and enjoying our first tastes of delicious Thai food!  Additionally, our students headed out for a scavenger hunt while Jason and I and the Thai staff here had a leaders' meeting to go over outreach details.  Today, we will be doing a prayer walk around Bangkok and touring a Buddhist temple.  Our tour will help us to understand Thai religion and worldview, so that we can better understand how to share God's love and minister here.  We will be taking an overnight bus ride tonight to our first ministry location with Phang Nga Church, about a 15 hour trip.  Please pray for safe travels on our journey there!  

We begin outreach to younger children and high school students on Monday.  We are so excited to jump in to all that God has for us here!  Thanks for your prayers and encouragement!

Love, Jason and Erika

Heading out..

Hi everyone! 

Our last couple weeks have been filled with things, things, and more things. It seems to be the nature of DTS, especially toward the end of lecture phase. A couple of "things" I am describing are plenty of great lectures, preparing the last details and dramas, dances, and testimonies to go on outreach, thanksgiving, and having Jason's dad here for a week of teaching. That week turned out to be a powerful week for a lot of students and staff members. God ministered to people in such a unique way, bringing healing and encouragement. He also taught a lot about how to be an evangelist through the adventures that John had in the past. It was an incredible time, to say the least. 

Now that lecture phase is over, the moment we have all been waiting for has come: outreach to Thailand!  Each and every one of the team members is excited about heading off to Phang Nga in the south, as well as Phuket, and then for the last couple weeks in Chiang Rai up north. Some of the ministry we will be doing there together is prison ministry and working with prostitutes in the bars of Phuket, showing them God's love.  We will also be doing kids ministries, street evangelism, working in a smoothie shop trying to get to know local college students and tell them about Jesus :), as well as many other ministry opportunities. All this to say, we all feel very privileged to partner with God in serving the people of the world. Thank you ahead of time for your prayers and thoughts about us. We appreciate you guys. 

This is our team that we'll be with for two months! We'll be updating about our adventures on this blog; so look for news about what God is doing in Thailand here!  Please keep us and these lovely people in your prayers.  We love you all and will miss you!  Have a wonderful, blessed Christmas!

Love,  Jason and Erika

DTS lecture phase is coming to a close!!

   The past couple of weeks have breezed by so quickly!  We had a fabulous week of teaching about prayer/hearing God's voice, followed by a week of teaching about the Holy Spirit/spiritual gifts.  It was so exciting to watch the students stepping out more in their giftings and praying for and encouraging one another.  We have seen so much growth in them, particularly as they gain a deeper understanding of how much God loves them, and how their true identity is who God says they are.  This is such a simple thing, but so important for all of us.  We get so many mixed messages about who we really are, every day.  It is so easy to define ourselves by what we do, what our hobbies/talents are, or simply what people say about us.  It is vital to understand that we are the beloved children of God, and to measure any other messages about our identity by that standard.  This is the heart of what we will be discussing in DTS this week, and we are really looking forward to seeing how God impacts all of our lives deeply with this truth.  I highly recommend this video by Henri Nouwen if you are looking for some excellent teaching about your identity as a beloved son or daughter of God.


   Thank you for your prayers and encouragement.  The thoughtful notes we get from some of you mean so much to us; thanks for taking the time to bless us.  Though we are really far away, it makes us feel closer to know that we are not alone in what we are doing here and that you all are praying for us.


   It's hard to believe, but we leave for outreach in Thailand in a little over 3 weeks!  Our team is bonding together more and more and growing very excited about the opportunity to minister there.  We have had a lot of team meetings where we've learned about Thai culture and religion/worldview, some language basics, as well as learning how to share the gospel and preparing dramas for outreach.  We've even gone over some practical team building stuff, like learning our Myers-Briggs personality types, and how we need to relate to each other in love.  : )  For Jason and me personally.....as we prepare for a two-month outreach to Thailand, we are still in need of partners who feel called to help support our missions work monthly.  If any of you feel led to participate in what we are doing as a member of our financial support team, please contact us.


Thank you for your love and support!  We love hearing from you!

New photos

Today, I thought it would be nice to post a few pictures that cover our last few months.....enjoy!  Some of them are a little old....I somehow missed posting a lot of our SBS photos.  If you want to keep current with photos, check out facebook!  We have many more pictures there.  :)

Here is our SBS class photo!

Here we are with our SBS graduation certificates!  We did it!!

This was at our fancy SBS graduation dinner.  

We went to South Carolina/Virginia this August for Jason's brother Sanders' wedding.
This is the whole family!  We had such a lovely time.

Here are Jason's aunts, cousin, and mom at Sanders and Jessica's wedding.  

Last week in Salem, Oregon, our outreach teams did a ropes course together for team building.  Jason and I jumped together off a 75 foot platform swing.....it was crazy!  A free fall, and then swinging in the forest.  

We made it!

Mini-outreach for the DTS

The Fall DTS just returned from a wonderful week of community outreach and worship/prayer in Salem, Oregon!  We joined with the DTS class in Salem for a week of seeking direction from God, and then going out to tell others about his love.  Our mornings had a similar format to class in Montana: worship, then prayer/intercession, with a speaker giving a message/challenge afterwards.  The students (and us) the hit the streets in downtown Salem, giving out hot chocolate, talking to people, and posting prayers for the city on the bulletin boards of various coffee shops and restaurants around town.  In addition, we took turns walking around downtown silently carrying a wooden cross.  This was so that we could see what it means to take a stand for Christ in a peaceful manner, and to identify with his sacrifice in a small way.  Finally, we drove to nearby Portland one night and worked with a homeless ministry there.  This involved serving a hot meal, giving away clothes, cleaning the area, and even haircuts and foot washing for the homeless guests there.   Most of these experiences were very new for the students, and a great way for them to begin to get out of their comfort zones and share their faith before we go on our two-month overseas outreaches.  The students are being so filled with God's love and being healed from past burdens, and are really starting to believe that God can use even them to reach a hurting and dying world.

As part of the week, many of the students chose to go "unplugged," meaning that they left their laptops, phones, and ipods at home for the week.  Many of them were really impacted by this and felt that they had a special time of hearing from God without all of the distractions in the way.  It is so exciting for us to see them having such huge breakthroughs in their lives!!  This is what we've been praying for months now.  Many of the students are truly starting to find purpose and direction for their lives, which is something that most came here feeling that they were lacking.

This week, we are focusing on relationships: family, friends, romantic, work, church, and other human relationships.  This will be such a key week of healing and freedom for many, I think.  Please be praying with us that hearts are open to receive what God wants to do this week!  Thanks for your love and support for us!!

Fall DTS!

So we are a few weeks into the Fall DTS already!  It has been a busy and wonderful time already.  The weekly topics so far have been the Father Heart of God, the Foundations of Christianity and the Bible, as well as various other topics like prayer, worship, and dealing with pride.  We have such a fantastic group of students!  They are so eager for change in their lives and hungry to know God in a deeper way.  Many of them have past emotional and spiritual wounds, and we are excited to see God moving in their hearts already.  We know he is big enough for all the problems we face, and that he wants to see this precious group of people find freedom and healing.  This will enable them to live effectively for him!

Our typical week is beginning each morning with a student-led devotion, worship, and prayer/intercession.  We then have class every morning with a lecture about the topic of the week.  In the afternoons, time is spent in small group and one-on-one mentorship meetings, outreach team meetings, and tracks.  Tracks consist of different options: Dance, Outdoor Adventures, Music, Art/Communication, and Community Development.  The idea behind these is for the students to learn how to use their gifts and interests in missions and for them to grasp the way that God can work through each of these areas in everyday life.  I am helping with the Dance track, and I am really enjoying dancing again and getting to know the lovely ladies in that class better.

Jason and I are also very busy planning for outreach!  We get to lead an outreach team to southern Thailand and we are so excited about it!  We will be leading a group of 14 students for two months and working with various ministries in Thailand.  Some of them are: building relationships with university students, working at an orphanage, ministering in prisons and schools, and reaching out to the men and women affected by the widespread sex trade in Thailand.  We can't wait to share God's love with those who are hurting and in need of the hope that Jesus brings.  Thanks for being a part of our lives as we journey where God takes us.

This is a small group of girls in whom I get to invest this school, minus one....we meet twice a week and I meet
with each of them one on one every week.  We took everyone in the DTS to Glacier National Park and had a blast!

As summer comes to a close....

Well, the Fall quarter and the beginning of DTS is upon us!  Before I get going on that, though, I think I need to give a little more of a personal catch-up on my summer.  I posted photos and wrote about all the wonderful visits with family and friends, but I wanted to share about my time doing DTS Equip this summer.  It was a leadership training course that is aimed at those who want to staff and lead Discipleship Training Schools, but it was also very helpful for the development of general leadership skills.

One of my favorite weeks during this 6-week program was when we had a professional counselor come and talk to us about discipling people from difficult backgrounds.  He talked about many addictions and family difficulties that people have and how that can so negatively impact huge areas in their lives.  He gave us so many practical tools, as far as how to ask good questions, etc. that will be really helpful when I am dealing with students who have had troubled pasts. His teaching wasn't to make us professional counselors, but to simply help us to help others find more healing and freedom in their lives.  I am so excited to put these skills into practice this fall!  This teaching really piqued my interest in possibly getting my Masters in counseling one day.  I feel like this course really helped me better discover my giftings and leadership style, and I think that counseling would fit really well into that.

Another week that was a highlight was one where we spent the entire week doing community outreach.  It was humbling and eye-opening to spend the week having conversations with people in the area, most of whom were homeless.  We spent time in parks praying and looking for opportunities to have conversations with people, as well as doing things like free car washes and art in the parks.  One older lady came to know Jesus through this week, which is so exciting!!  We ended the week by hosting a barbecue at a park for all the people we met during the week.  After sharing dinner with all our new friends, a couple of people in our class got up and shared their stories/testimonies.  It was incredibly powerful, as many had gone through similar hard things.  The best thing about that night was to watch the way that after those personal stories were shared, everyone began to open up so much.  At the beginning of the night, our guests seemed to feel a bit awkward and out of place, but it was so amazing to watch the way that hearing about the power of God caused everyone to break off into twos and they then shared their stories with us.  God touched a lot of hearts that night.

I am so thankful that I was given the opportunity to learn these things and to share God's love with others.  Now, I have a whole new season beginning where I can put all those lessons into practice on a daily basis!  Thanks for your prayers, and for continuing to be involved in my life.

Love,  Erika

Summer Pictures!

Jason and Erika in Glacier National Park

Erika and her mom at Flathead Lake

Avalanche Lake at Glacier National Park

In Bigfork, a cute town across the lake

This is the spot where we got engaged about 2 years ago!  (it overlooks
the gorgeous Flathead Lake and an incredible view and sunset.  :)

Just thought you all might enjoy some pictures from my parents' visit.  Now we just need to find some pictures of Danny as well!  We had a fabulous time together and enjoyed some beautiful local scenery.  

Busy Summer!!!

Wow....it has been far too long since I last blogged!  I guess that just shows that a lot has been going on.  Life has been such a whirlwind, I don't know where to start.  

SBS finished with a bang!  We finished with the book of Matthew to tie it all together, which was wonderful.  Our final paper really helped us to synthesize all that we learned, and realize that we actually do have a much better grasp of the "big picture" of the Bible and God's plan for humanity after doing this course.  We had a lovely few days of celebrating with our classmates, and enjoyed a great graduation and fancy dinner.  Our class performed "Be Thou My Vision" as a choir, and I had a small solo.  

After only one weekend of rest, Jason started working on the campus, both in the facilities department, and in the kitchen.  When we are not directly staffing a Discipleship Training School, we serve in various logistical capacities here.  While Jason did this, I was in a six-week DTS leadership development/ staff training course.  Jason already completed this course (DTS Equip) a few summers ago.  It has been very busy, too, but so good for me!  I learned so much about my leadership giftings and how to put them into practice.  I want to go more into detail on this....so you will have to check back for the next entry!!  :)

In the middle of all this, we have had some amazing visits from family.  First, my parents came for a week in early July.  We had a fabulous time together - such great relationship-building moments while enjoying the beautiful Montana summer!  It was wonderful for my mom and Danny to get a closer look at what we do here and why we are so passionate about this ministry.  We miss them already.  :(   We had a lovely surprise visit from John, Jennie, and Cameron Karle.  They are cousins from my mom's side of the family and were taking a vacation around Wyoming and Montana.  We so enjoyed connecting with them for a day and gearing more about what they are doing.  To top it off, Jason's cousin Jordan and his wife Karla were visiting from England, and we got to spend the weekend with them in the middle of their stay in America with family.   We are so blessed to have such loving and gracious family, and more blessed that they would actually journey all the way up here in the boonies to see us!

I want to go more in depth about what we are personally learning....but I'm afraid this is too long already.  As I said, you will have to check back for the next entry!  Photos will be coming soon as well.  Much love to all of you, and know that you also are welcome to come visit at any time!

Almost Done!!!

Hello everyone!

This will be a short post, but I just wanted to express my excitement that we are so close to being finished with SBS!  We finished the Old Testament on Tuesday, which felt like such an accomplishment after covering so much text in 5 months!  We are now studying Matthew, the final book of the school.  It has been helpful so far to see the way saving this book for last helps tie in God's plan for all of history, and the way that Jesus is the fulfillment of his hope for restoration.

We are in the process of writing a final paper that summarizes just that: God's plan for humanity.  It has seemed overwhelming at times, for it covers all we have learned from Genesis to Revelation and is supposed to synthesize all that information into a big picture story.  However, we are both really enjoying it, as it is helping us to focus on the highlights of what we have studied this year.  It is amazing to see that we really have learned sooo much!  I am so much more aware of who God is and what that means for people.

We will turn in our paper this weekend, turn in our paper/assignment over the book of Matthew on Tuesday, take a final exam Wednesday morning, and then be done!!!!  We will celebrate with a lovely graduation dinner that they host for us at the Hilton in town, and then have graduation next Thursday, June 23.  Thanks so much for your prayers, love, and support over these past nine months.  We are very thankful for all of you, and we look forward to sharing what God has taught us with you all.

Love,  Erika

We're getting close!

Good morning friends and family! 


These past couple months have been amazing.  We have been working through both small and large books, starting from Kings and Chronicles and moving into the prophets, going through them chapter by chapter. It is such an amazing thing to study the Bible like this, and a real privilege for us.  Our lives have been changed this year by what we have been studying.  Erika has learned a more in depth view of who God is and how big he truly is.  This realization has really inspired her to want to speak that truth into other people's lives, and put it into practice by using the gifts that God has given her; I am much the same. 


So, with that in mind, we have made a commitment for two years to be on staff for a school here that is one of YWAM's big areas of influence called DTS (Discipleship Training School).  The quick version of what it is, is a 3 month lecture phase filled with speakers that come who are either pastors, or have been long-time YWAM missionaries from around the world.  They come and minister to the hearts of the students in the school, and give them a foundation for taking this truth into the world.  The other half of the DTS is a 2 month outreach that we will be leading, to help the students see how to apply what they have learned, and to continue to solidify God's call of reaching out to the people of the world with his love.  Whether they decide to go into missions or go home, this school is an awesome equipping tool for making God known wherever they go. We are really excited to be a part of this. 


Along with this, we do have a need that I would like to begin to make known, and that is monthly support.  As of right now, we have enough money to finish out this quarter in the Biblical Studies school.  We intentionally worked last summer to pay for it, but starting this summer, we're going to be full-time staff members sowing into the DTS.  Since YWAM is a not-for-profit missions organization, they ask their staff to raise their own salaries, which means that the donations of others are not spent on overhead and administrative costs.  As of right now, we are praying and asking for monthly donations to help us cover our basic living expenses, and to continue to do what we feel like God has asked us to do.  If you're interested in how to help invest in missions through us, you can visit the support portion of our blog, on the tabs, and it will give you more information about this and how to contact us. 


Anyway, that's what is new in our lives. We look forward to this summer and enjoying what Montana has to offer and to serving here, as many people are coming this summer for building projects and for sending out high-school aged mission teams all over the world. We miss you all, and we're grateful for you. 


Love you guys, 


Jason and Erika 

Our Room.

Hey, I think we meant to post our room pics after Christmas, but never did, so here it is, for those who haven't seen it. (All credit goes to Erika. I the brawn.)  Thank you very much for helping us furnish our home. The wedding gifts have been put to good use. Enjoy :)

Winter Quarter

What a quarter it has been!
I appologize for not updating for a while, for all those watchers and readers out there. (Thanks by the way :)


We have been working our way through the Old Testament. The following is a brief account of that "work through."


It has been life giving, harsh, meaningful, and packed with lots of questions of who this God is that we serve, that can only be answered by maybe the vision of the entire bible, and God's intentions for mankind in history and well, just talking to him about what he meant when he did this, or said this. Erika and I both have had some pretty impacting times of study, and that is largely due to the intense hours, and time that we get to spend with God during those intense hours. To be quite honest, there have been a little more down than up times, and we have struggled through it, and ended up with a better understanding of the faithfulness of God during those struggling times. The struggle is attributed to the way that the Bible is able to tear down walls, and demand change because of who God is, the holy one, the just one, the gracious and loving one. Those are just some of the characteristics that we have been noticing, and have become more and more of a reality as we dive into who he is, and what he wants to do with people, and us.


This next quarter is going to be Kings-Matthew(exclude Psalms and Proverbs). And then we graduate!


On a more personal note: Our marriage is going great, really! We have been able to work through communicating better, and learning how to love each other even when life is quite busy. It seems God has had a large involvement in the way that this has played out, and all the prayers that people have poured out on us for our lives. Thank you.


With love always,
Jason and Erika.

What we've been up to lately!

On the San Antonio Riverwalk

Hey friends! 


Its been a little while since we have updated, but as you all know, we are studying like mad people, and enjoying just about all of it. Since our last post, we have moved into the Old Testament, and we are into the book of Deuteronomy, in the Pentateuch. So far is has been a trip. I have never really read much of the Old Testament too much, but Erika has, so for us on both levels,  it has been a pretty exciting time to go deeper into reading and re-reading what God was doing thousands of years ago, and knowing his intentions. 


Our marriage has had a monument just a week ago now, it was our one year anniversary. We enjoyed it a little early over the Christmas break by heading off for a night in a beautiful bed and breakfast and saw the Alamo, but last weekend we went out to a local Italian place and had a nice time. 


On The Side Events
We are house sitting for a couple, and they live up the mountain a little bit, and have a big beautiful house overlooking the lake and mountains. So we were heading out for our anniversary dinner, heading down their driveway in their car(our little camry doesn't make it up and down very well) and all the sudden, the car goes into an ice slide straight into a tree!! So we had an exciting start to our night :) Everything is worked out, insurance is kicking in, and things are good. 


So there, that wraps it up for this update my friends! Till next time! 


Jason and Erika Goodfellow 

At our class Christmas party

Alamo

Exodus retreat :) 

Anniversary dinner

Our incredible view housesitting!
Can't believe we live in such a beautiful place.

A little visitor....right outside our window!

I dream of a world.

I am dreaming of a world. A world where darkness doesn't exist. A world where pain and suffering are no more. A world of new beginnings, and happiness. A life eternal, full of enjoyment of God, and one another, where the days go on forever, and the sun never goes down. Where anger, guilt, greed, divorce, adultery, aren't even in people's vocabulary. Where the beauty of the sea, and the colors of the nations are alive. Can you picture it? Sometimes, I can. 

This week we have been studying Revelation, and I got a glimpse of what God has been trying to tell the world since the very first time that he spoke to Abraham. Today, as I was trying to make sense of my role as a Christian i was just struck by the absolute truth that God is ruler, and that we are to worship him for who he is, and what he has dreamed for us. A dream that we could never dream without him. In the mean time, our goal should be brokenness over the people of the earth that don't know the truth about who God is. Our lives, as best we can(which isn't even close to perfect) would be to live as if we believe our God is coming back, and he loves the world so much. What that looks like, only each person's true talents, and mind's can reflect the reflection of what God had in mind of putting you on the planet. So i dare each one of us, including myself- do we look into his face, see his love, shrug off the ambitions of self, and be captured forever? 

These few months of SBS has showed me really how much I took my life for granted. I have learned about God his amazing love, and patience that he allowed his creation to spit in his face, literally(Matthew 26:67), that in itself has blown me away. The patience of God is incredible. Father, forgive them for they know not what they do brings a whole new meaning. God has begun to bring me to a place where I can no longer see why I should have my way.  That he came for us, the biggest losers(in the truest sense of the word) lived out life, as a winner, a winner over selfish desires, and was a pure, and living example of what a life for God could look like, if we will only say, Father, have your will. 

I pray that everyone who reads this questions their intentions in life, and questions who they are living for. Themselves, or God. Whether you be a believer, or not in Jesus. 

Jason

The Gospel of John

I thought it would be nice this week for me to post a small taste of the work that we are doing.  We studied the Gospel of John last week and it really impacted both of us strongly, particularly with who Jesus really is and how much he loves everyone.  The writing below is a theme summary of the book.  For each book we study, we pick one prominent theme from the book and trace it throughout the book.  We write this summary after we have studied and written about more of the details of the text of the whole book.  This theme summary is part of our final application.   

        The theme that appeared to be most prominent in this book was Christology, or the personhood and character of Christ.  This book is packed with descriptions of who Jesus was and the function that he has in the world.  The book starts right away with who Christ is and basically covers all the aspects and themes about him that will be expounded upon in the book. (Chapter 1)  He is described as the Word, or embodiment of all wisdom, that he has been from the beginning, with God, and he is God.  He is described as life and the light of men.  He became a man and is the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.  Jesus is the only true God, and he reveals God. (Chapter 1:1-18)  Some of the most significant statements about Jesus are the ways he described himself.  He describes himself as living water (v 4:13-14) and also as the bread of life (v 6:35).  He refers to himself as God, I am. (v 8:58)  Jesus also calls himself the good shepherd (v 10:11, 14).  He refers to himself as the resurrection and the life (v 11:25)  Jesus calls himself the way, the truth, and the life (v 14:6), as well as the true vine. (v 15:1)  All these illustrations pointed to aspects of his character and the way he acted toward his people.  

        To the original readers of John, these ideas would have been a lot to take in.  Certain things would have spoken different things to different people, for the readership of this book was likely quite varied.  Regardless of their background, these descriptions of Jesus would have showed a few main points: that he loved them, and they must believe in him in order to have eternal life.  They would have seen him as the one they were looking and waiting for, whether they were Jews waiting for a promised Messiah or Greeks seeking ultimate knowledge.  Jesus is portrayed as the eternal hope and rest for all, who brings life and healing to a world that is broken and desperately wicked.  They would have seen in him a God who can identify with their sorrows and troubles and who is not afraid to be personally involved in their lives.  To the Greeks particularly, this would have been quite revolutionary, for their understanding of God was that they would never attain him, but had to strive through many levels of spirituality and knowledge throughout their lifetime.  The Jewish readers would have particularly identified with all the analogies Jesus gave about himself.  They would have seen him as both their spiritual and physical provider.  They would have realized that only in him could they find true life and be near to God.  

       The things that Jesus meant to the original readers are very similar to the meaning he has to today's readers.  A much more diverse audience has access to this book today, but these words about Jesus are timeless and relevant to all people.  All are looking for life, wisdom, and sustenance, whether they realize it or not.  Jesus is portrayed in this book as the answer to all man's problems.  He is the only one who can truly unite people and bring peace to the earth.  Most of all, he is the only one who has answers to the questions of the soul.  Not only does he bring more abundant life on earth, but he also brings eternal life, the true hope of glory for weary souls.  Jesus said, "I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly" in John 10:10.  This is ultimately what he means to us all.  

Hope you enjoyed this and that it gave you a small picture of what we are learning.  Know that Jesus loves you deeply and he gave everything so that you could have life, to the fullest.      Erika

Happy New Year!

We pray that 2011 is a wonderful year for all of you, filled with blessings and surprises.  We so enjoyed visiting with some of you in Houston this Christmas.  I just wish we had more time, but I guess it always feels like that when you live far away.

Sorry we didn't write in December- it was a bit of a crazy month!  We had quite a bit of work to do, both school and otherwise, to prepare for Christmas break.  The last week of classes was full of projects, presentations by us, an exam, and of course, snow.  It went really well, and God helped us finish it all in time.  We both did a student teaching presentation on the book of 2 Timothy during the last week of classes.  To be honest, I wasn't expecting to enjoy it as much as I did.  It was about a 25 min. presentation that gave an overview of the book, as well as zeroing in on a specific part of the text.  Neither Jason nor I had ever taught part of the Bible like that, but we ended up really enjoying it and seeing new things in the text that we hadn't seen before.  2 Tim. was the last letter that Paul wrote before he died, as far as we know.  It was great to see the spiritual legacy that Paul was, in effect, leaving to Timothy, especially after studying all of Paul's books back to back and understanding his heart for the gospel.  Getting a glimpse of Paul's life really challenged me.  He was willing to share Christ's love with people no matter what it cost him.  He had such a passion for people to come into God's kingdom and experience true hope in their lives.   Paul went to Rome to share the gospel with them, knowing that it would cost him his life.  I know I don't yet have the kind of love and dedication that Paul did, but I pray that God gives me this passion for people more and more.

Christmas break was much needed and a refreshing time with my family.  I really missed them, and both Jason and I treasured the wonderful time we had with them.  They took great care of us and treated us to delightful meals, ice skating, and movies.  We enjoyed sweet times with my grandparents and good friends, also.  Jason and I enjoyed a late Christmas celebration with Danny's family as well.  He really enjoyed getting to know them a little better, as he had only met them at our wedding.  Then, I surprised Jason with a one-night getaway in San Antonio.  He had never been there and we made it into an early one-year anniversary trip.  It poured rain, but we still enjoyed the Alamo, Riverwalk, and our charming B&B very much!

I can't express how grateful I am to have all of you as part of my life.  Though we are really far away now, I will never forget your love and support.  Jason and I both were reflecting a lot this Christmas on how good God has been to us, and how he takes such great care of us.  Your love and prayers and care for us are such a big part of that.  Thank you for blessing us and taking an interest in our lives.  We love you all and are so thankful for you!