January News

Hello all! It’s the last day in January, so I figured I had better send out the monthly update. Perhaps I’ll be quicker in February…

Well, this month I attended an International Church Planters Conference in Orlando with Arjuna. It was an awesome time to think and pray through this next year of my life, and God worked mightily in it to confirm in me that working with Vision Nationals is where I’m supposed to be. Talking with Arjuna gave me a new excitement and direction for this year that I’d like to share with you.

First, the conference in Florida opened doors for me to connect with lots of people who are interested in Vision Nationals. It gave me a picture of what it will look like to promote the ministry and connect and partner with others who are passionate about church planting. I was also invited to attend another pastor’s conference in April in Orlando which I will attend by myself, as Arjuna will be in India. Also, one of the men at this past conference is scheduled to speak at the April conference and he offered me a formal platform to share the ministry for a few minutes before he speaks! I trust that as I attend these conferences more and more doors will be opened for me to share the ministry in places Arjuna would not be able to.

This brings up the need for VN to have current promotional materials. Both in hard copies and on a new website. That means that this next month I will be writing like a mad woman to update the existing materials and create new ones that will help up communicate our vision with people. Thank goodness I have a design team helping with the layout and creation of the visual side!

Lastly, there were a few people interested in going to India from this last conference, and I will act as a state-side contact for them to help with the organization of those trips as well as take a trip myself at the end of the summer this year. As you can see, things are progressing quickly and I have no doubt that as I continue attending conferences and visiting churches the opportunites will only grow to spread the vision. Also, if you or someone you know would be interested in hearing about Vision Nationals send me an email at lauren.a.hunter@gmail.com. I’d love to see if I can visit you!

As you think of me, please pray that God will bring along the right contacts through these travels, and also that I would be able to lighten Arjuna’s load through the work I do.

So that’s about it for January! Things are up and running and there is plenty to be done. Praise Jesus!

New Years in Paris

I know it’s pretty pathetic to write about New Years on the 22nd of Jan, but I’m gonna do it anyway…

Well, nine of us were sitting in the shoe-box appartment that 5 of us were staying in. My Uncle Eric was in charge of the menu and so we were spreading pate on fresh bagettes, slirping down raw oysters, peeling whole jumbo shrimp, relishing the fresh mini quiches we had picked up on Rue Cler. It was a pretty phenominal spread. Not to mention my uncle’s friend, Ken the Google Man, was in charge of beverages…so the champagne was excellent.

We were actually a mellow bunch considering the fact there were only a few hours left of 2007. But then, four twelve-hour days of walking the streets and taking in the sites were behind us. So we just shared prank stories…Like, my Aunt Trisha knows a man who claims to have turned an olympic sized pool into a vat of Jello. We were discussing the probability of the story actually being truth, when Ken the Google Man says “hold on”. Thirty seconds of silence, and then “He would have needed _____ thousands of packets of Jello to do that.” (I forget the number exactly, but it was astronomical). So we unanimously declared it to be a false story and thus ended the probability debate.

Before we knew it, 11:30 pm was upon us and we realized we would have to walk fast to make it to the Eiffel Tower before midnight. My Aunt Trish, Uncle Scott, Sam, Jack and I decided to take the Metro to save time. Little did we know the whole of Paris was thinking the same thing. So we walked to the Metro only to find that the station was so jam packed with inebriated Parisians that we couldn’t get within 50 ft. of the train. Deep Breath, we’ll have to walk.

So up and out of the Metro we go and fall in line with the throngs headed toward the Tower. We were about 4 blocks away (we could just see the tip of the Tower) when we realized we’d need to run to make it in time. So away we went, adrenaline overruling exhaustion, and just as we rounded the corner to take in the full view the Tower exploded in lights! Still running we started shouting Bon Annee! Bon Annee! at the top of our lungs! Oh such bliss. I imagined I was wearing one of those jackets like Napolean, forgetting for the moment that I am a girl and would never had had a man’s jacket. But oh well, I felt like a Revolutionary! A new day! A new year! And all the adventures to be had!

Cancelled Flights and Lost Baggage

So, everyone has their horror story from flying…and mine happened this trip. I am now finally home after two extra days in Germany after United cancelled my flight home and couldn’t get me on another one for a few days. Then my bag was lost…though they did eventually find it and deliver it to my house. I’m really glad cause it was the bag with all my chocolate in it. Whew! God is good.

The Famous German Christmas Mouse

My Aunt Dorothee, who grew up in Germany, once told me a story her parents used to read every year at Christmas time…A story about a naughty Christmas Mouse who would sneak Christmas cookies when Mom wasn’t looking! Well, true confession…I am that mouse! Two years ago my sister and I were traveling through Germany in early December and we stopped to stay with my aunt’s family for a week in Kehl. The grand tour of the house included a fine tour of the basement where the wine cellar is located as well as…yes…the cookie load!

Helga, my aunt’s mother, spends roughly a million hours baking the most beautiful Christmas cookies you’ve ever beheld…not to mention the loveliest you’ve ever tasted. There are home-made-strawberry-jam-filled shortbread cookies lightly powdered with sugar, moon-shaped almond meal cookies that fall apart the moment they touch your tongue, simple butter cookies whose flavor matures with each passing day…Oh! What joy!

So you see, it was quite impossible (once we noted the where the mother-load was stashed) to stay clear of the cellar for too long. However, my seasoned grandparents-in-laws are not dumb…the stairs that lead to the basement are creaky and the door is squeaky. But when German Hildebrotle (the cookies) are the prize, these dangers must be risked. Unfortunately for us little mices, my grandmother-in-law neatly stacks all the cookies in rows, layering one row on top of another. So to steal a cookie inconspicuouly is well…quite impossible.

And so it was that after 10 years of relative peace (for my aunt Doro left the house 10 years ago) the Christmas Mouse returned…and with only three more days before I am again in that cozy little house in Kehl…I feel the Christmas Mouse in me beginning to stir…

Back from Ridgway

I can’t exactly say how I was expecting people to react when I told them I was going into full-time ministry. There were lots of questions and lots of good advice. It was interesting for me to tell the same stories over and over, and answer the same questions over and over. I thought it might get boring, but It wasn’t. It was hard at times, but not boring. I was certainly tired when I got back to Seattle. Then I laugh to think that all I did the whole week at home was talk to people! And that tired me out! It was a good intro to life as a Vision Nationals representative. People, people, and more people. Good thing I like people!

Home again, Home again

What a trip! It’s one thing to travel somewhere, visit friends, and see God’s work in other places, but it’s another thing to travel somewhere and see a great work you are now intimately part of. Reading through the book of John while in India I came across Jesus saying “I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” (Jn 4:38) He was speaking to me, and the reality of it hit home as I walked around a beautiful campus with great buildings to house hundreds of bible students and children. I thought about it as I talked with the professors in the college and met one professor’s new little baby girl. How much has already been accomplished by the grace of God and the hard work of others! This ministry was in the works before I was born, and yet God has seen fit to lead me to be part of it. I am humbled to think on it.

And humility is good. I’ve been asking God to teach me humility, and him giving me a better understanding of my youth and inexperience sure helps. Not that God can not use young, inexperience people. He can and does. But he does it through His power and I must always remember that whatever is accomplished through me is by His grace and power, for I have nothing to qualify me for the job ahead.

I read a few biographies of missionaries to India while I was there as well. Amy Carmichael and Ida Scudder to be exact. I am now in the middle of a biography of Bakht Singh, the greatest evangelist in India. Through all three biographies there were two constants that gripped my attention: All three of them were faithful and disciplined in prayer and scripture reading, and saw God work many miracles. All three of them were humble, self-less servants who never liked to be praised for “their” accomplishments for they had a true and deep belief that everything “they” accomplished had been through the grace and power of God. This too is humbling. As I look at my life I don’t see that kind of faithful, disciplined prayer and bible reading as a constant in my life. And I am proud. I like to have people believe that I have accomplished many great things. I like to believe that myself.

These things make me realize that I am not fit for missionary service. In fact, I’m a bit afraid to write this for fear that those who read it will think “Wow, she is so humble for thinking all these things.” But I am not humble, and I need you to ask God, on my behalf, to continually empty me of my pride. Please ask Him to do it as gently as possible. It’s never fun, but it is very necessary.

Navandi :)

I don’t think Jerome will ever forget this Telugu word: Smile! Navandi! It’s like pulling teeth to get an Indian adult to show their teeth for a picture! They can be cracking up embarrassed about getting their picture taken one second and then they totally loose expression the moment the shutter clicks. Dead pan. Jerome is getting really good catching them mid-laugh so he can get decent headshots.

Well, the pastor’s conference ended yesterday and the pastors are now on their way back home. It was a great conference with Hal Haller and Robert Beckman, both A29 guys with lots of church planting experience, answering lots of questions about church planting. Pretty much every question made me glad I wasn’t the one expected to answer. But it was really fun for me to be able to listen to their wisdom and talk to Hal’s wife alot about being in full-time ministry. Very encouraging.

Vizag at long last.

This morning is the second morning we have been in Vizag. Yesterday we spent the whole day on campus catching up with people. It’s so fun to be back in the same place, seeing the same people, and knowing that you will be working alongside them soon. I remember quite a few of the children’s names, and it was super fun to see their eyes get huge when I called them by name. There is one little boy, Prasad, who I absolutely adore and would bring home with me in a second if I could. He remembered me and came up to me with a huge shy smile, grabbed my hand, and wouldn’t let go until I had to go inside. As I was leaving, he looked up at me and said something in Telugu. I asked one of the older girls what he said…”Why didn’t you come back last year? I was waiting for you.” I told him it I lived a very very long way away. But, oh, I wish I could keep him forever!

Catching up with everyone was super awesome, but even so I think the highlight of yesterday for me was the fact that Raji, Arjuna’s wife, now treats me like a daughter. She gives me chores and lets me help out. Such a change from previous trips where I had to fight for the right to clear my dinner plate. She still chides me in Telugu when she thinks I’m helping too much, but she does it with a smile on her face and I always pretend that I understood her perfectly and tell her in Telugu to sit down and relax.

And lastly, I can’t fail to write a tribute to the Indian shower! I have so much fun with my bucket of lukewarm water and the little cup to pour it with. You can make as big a mess as you want, throw water all over the room and yourself. It’s like being a kid again. You guys should all try showering with buckets today. It’s great!

Well, breakfast is ready…a bit of spicy chutney to eat with the crepe-like dosa. I gotta go…

Still in Transit…

Whew! Day three of traveling and we have not yet reached Vizag. Complication after complication has landed us in a Bombay hotel room awaiting our flight in the morning. We were able to spend yesterday lugging our carry-on baggage around Taipei. During lunch, Jerome introduced me to the delicacies of Chinese cow-stomach soup. However, I prefer Mexican cow-stomach soup: my grandmother’s menudo. Jerome’s friend, PJ, our tour guide for the day, kindly let me taste her lunch…pig’s ears, thinly sliced long-ways and marinated in sesame oil, ginger, and teriaki…or something. It was crunchy, and considering I wasn’t going to offend anyone by doing so, I spit it into my napkin. I think I would get thin in Taiwan.

Well, we’re awaiting someone to fix our internet service in the hotel room…It seems nothing can be easy and sure these days. Lesson #1: God teaching me dependence on Him. And it’s working. Quite the fight to relax in Him and not go crazy using all my mental energy to work out a solution…to no avail. It’s strange to me that things can go so wrong when I’ve tried so hard to make it all go smoothly. And God says…”Welcome to full-time ministry in India, daughter. I thought you’d enjoy the challenge.” And He chuckles a bit to see me working so hard to rest in Him. He enjoys transformation…and I get the sense this is but the beginning of some major transformation that is to come in me. Lord, make me more like you.

Well, more to come when we reach Vizag. Continue your prayers, it feels like we’re in special need of it this trip

India in November and then…

Change has been a constant in my life since I left the comfort of my tiny home town at age 17. Change is once again showing up as the opportunity to begin working full-time for Vision Nationals. As exciting as it is, as much as it is the answer to a prayer I have prayed for many years now, this change is still daunting. Many questions such as: Where will I live? What exactly will my responsibilities include? How does living off support work? will undoubtedly be answered with time…but how much time? I don’t know. Thankfully God is another constant in my life, and He does know. I shall rest in Him.So I head off to India on Wednesday night with my photographer friend. Provided our visas arrive before we leave for the aiport! (Help us, Jesus!) Gathering information and writing the content for the new Vision Nationals web site will be my responsibility while in India this time. As well, some massive prayer is in order as I continue to seek out my Master’s will for my life and faithfully follow His leading.