Hello All!! Lessons learned... We learned something oh so valuable that may be obvious to many ;) When God gives you a word...sometimes it is just for a season. Also, when we live this life of faith and that life leads us to "color outside the lines" at times, it is also important to color inside the lines at times. God does occasionally guide and lead in ways that do not seem logical to our finite minds, but He often leads in ways that are logical. Discerning exactly what He is doing is where seeking wisdom is very key :) We have been praying for direction and moving forward knowing that it is easier to guide a moving ship than one that has the anchor down. We have been trying to step out in faith and go in a direction that is in keeping with the vision God has given us for Cambodia and human trafficking...knowing that God can redirect at any time. Well, He has. So what's up?? Through prayer and council, we have decided to stay in the Alexandria area for a minimum of two years. Jake will be getting more hours at his job, and we are working to get our debts paid off. Another big change is that I (Rachael) will be homeschooling our oldest daughter, Alyssa, for 8th grade. Our other three girls will still be attending public school. It is a big change, but one Jake and I are pretty excited about. If you would pray for Alyssa, she is okay with the decision and understands, but she is not excited about missing her friends. So prayer for peace for her and wisdom for us as parents would be appreciated. What about the trip Cambodia in August and Cosmetology school?? The Cambodia trip is not a go for us at this time. It's just not the right time. It is also not the right time to move to the cities because of our current goals and the decision to homeschool. The joy(?) of being transparent :) This has been a very humbling time for us...hence the delay in posting on our website :) It is difficult when your family decisions are posted online and then they change a lot. We don't like appearing "flaky". Sometimes life is tough to figure out, but it keeps us pressing in to God and more fully dependent on Him...so THAT is good :) We want to follow God wherever, whenever, and however He leads. What it looks like may change, and our perception of His leading will at times need His redirection. "He sees the master plan And He holds our future in His hands So don't live as those who have no hope All our hope is found in Him We see the present clearly But He sees the first and the last And like a tapestry He's weaving you and me to someday be just like Him" (Babbie Mason) So what was the plan with Mexico anyway? And Cambodia? I'd would like to take a moment to clear up a couple of misconceptions that some people have had (probably due to my wording on the blog!). Several people have thought we felt called to Mexico specifically-which we did, but as a step on our journey. The door was definitely open to staying but we really had no idea what God had in store. The actual word we heard from God was to sell our things and move to Mexico. We also felt God impressing on our hearts that we would be in full-time missions. When I blogged, I lumped those two together. We didn't know if Mexico was was our life-long destination, but we did know it was the next step we were to take. We may even end up going back for more training in the future. In hearing about Cambodia, some thought we meant we were going there immediately. That was definitely not the case. There really isn't any doubt in our minds that we will be in Cambodia and work in the fight against human trafficking. However, we know that we need a LOT of training and more focus as in "exactly what we will be doing there" before we actually go there as a family. As for the timing-we really don't know. It could be years. We believe God is developing in us a heart for the issue of human trafficking and has given us this vision of Cambodia specifically as a filter as we make decisions. It is keeping us focused about where we put our time and money. We are working hard not to accumulate "stuff" and are being very intentional about the way we live life and the training we pursue. In summary... We are focusing on paying off debt and zeroing quite a bit more on our family and building that foundation. We are in the Dave Ramsey "Financial Peace University" course right now (LOVE IT), and we both have been doing quite a bit of studying. I have been learning so much about being a better manager of our home and our time as a family. Jake has been learning a lot about the value of that father-daughter relationship. He's been working hard at being intentional in his parenting and the way he shows love to our family. (I love this man!!) We recently came up with a family purpose statement through which major (and minor) decisions will be filtered. Jake and I are really excited to be more intentional about living our lives.Thanks so very much for taking the time to read this long post. It means so much that people care about our family. We are immensely blessed with amazing and supportive friends and family. Words can't even begin to express our gratitude. Thank you. Love,The Christensen Family 4 Comments Update on the Cambodia trip 04/18/2011
Hello! People have been asking how things are coming along for our trip to Cambodia in August. I just thought I'd post a quick update. Deadlines are fast approaching, but as of yet we have not received any financial support. So! We are praying and waiting...our two most popular positions :) Please pray and ask the Lord if He would have you support us financially. We deeply appreciate all of you who are praying for us and our journey! Please don't stop! We are very excited to see what God is going to do with our future. I, personally, am such a visual person; and I strongly feel that seeing firsthand what takes place there is so necessary for our calling. Jake feels this way too. Reality is always different than what we imagine. This trip will put us in touch with people and ministries that will enable us to get a feel for the culture, the people, and the need. We desire to be ruined for normal. We don't want to be able to talk about trafficking and then a moment later, talk about our favorite movie. We want to be wrecked for the ordinary. Feel free to e-mail us with any questions! Blessings, The Christensens Cambodia 2011!!! 03/01/2011
Jake and I have applied to go with Steps of Justice to Cambodia!!!! We have also confirmed that we can stay a couple of extra days with a family that has been living there for 14+ years. Jake is excited; I am nervous. The dates are August 9th-22nd. Just as a refresher...Cambodia is the place God has placed on our hearts to go and settle to do ministry. This trip would be kind of a scouting trip without the girls. Steps of Justice does not do typical outreach trips. They are a combination of justice awareness, education on justice issues (both locally and internationally), and lots of opportunities to work with those who are the victims of injustice. Some of the things that we will be doing on our outreach are the following: - hanging out at the Happy Tree orphanage that brings in children with HIV/AIDS - spending time in the slums with the poor putting on children’s programs, running clinics on sanitation and hand washing and doing hair washing for the kids in the villages - Hearing from organizations on the ground like IJM and World Vision. - We will also be having meals at restaurants that are geared to employ former street children and victims of human trafficking in order to help them restore their lives - We will be doing our shopping at places where all the material and goods are made by former sex slaves and trafficked victims. All the proceeded from our purchases go back into the programs that restore these individuals lives. We also get to spend some time with Hagar International! Here is a little blurb from their website about what they do: "Hagar is an international Christian organization committed to the recovery, empowerment and reintegration of women and children in Afghanistan, Cambodia and Vietnam. At Hagar, social programs meet social business. This approach, including recovery shelters, education, vocational training, and employment, has enabled hundreds of women and children to reintegrate into community again." Logistics: Dates- August 9-19, on the ground with Steps of Justice - August 19-21, time with Dave and Lisa Everitt Location- Phnom Penh, Cambodia We believe that if God wants us on this trip...the funds will come in :) I will put them on the support page as well, but I am laying them out in more detail here. The numbers given include Jake and me. Please pray about supporting us financially. · Applications fees: $150 · Trip fee: $1,500 (**cost includes all ground fees, entry and exit tax, food, transportation, translator, city tour and housing) · Flights: $3,000 Grand Total: $4,650 All donations for this trip are tax deductible. The flight application fees are due as soon as possible, and the trip fees are due by July 8th. Please pray for us!!! We will keep you all posted as we know more details. Love, The Christensens Yeah! We have some new direction! 01/31/2011
Hello! It is with a lot of excitement, and feelings of "finally!" that I update this blog :) It has been quite the season of waiting and wondering. This is not to say that things could not again change...all I can say is His ways are higher than our own. Quick family summary: God provided a cute little place in town for us to rent in Alexandria, and we moved in a couple of weeks ago! We are renting here until June. Jake is still traveling for Aagard and it is going really well! The kids are enjoying school and loving living in town. My schedule was full with worship leading until Christmas, and I have since been getting ready for our move. I am now working on getting us all settled in :) Possible Opportunity: Our heart and vision is still for Cambodia and the trafficked victims there. We are praying about going on a ten day trip to Phnom Penh (the capital of Cambodia) in August. We would be traveling with a ministry called "Steps of Justice" which is a ministry of YWAM. We are also hoping to stay a couple of extra days with a missionary couple that has been living there for the past sixteen plus years. We would be making this trip without our girls-kind of as a scouting trip. Current and Future Training: Jake recently completed a course on "Early Church Leadership" through our church. We are both doing a 12 week course on Acts in February with our missions pastor and his wife. God has been stirring in my own heart the need for a trade. Something I can actually DO with/for the rescued victims of trafficking when that time of ministry comes. Jake and I have been very convicted that we are not to just go and bring them things and talk. In talking with someone somewhat recently, I brought up cosmetology and how that was always something I wanted to do-just kind of laughing it off. I got suddenly really choked up and my thoughts took off like wildfire. THIS is a trade! THIS is something I can do anywhere, and let's face it-everyone needs a haircut! What a beautiful way to open doors to build relationships in different communities! Also, it is something I could teach women to do so that they have a trade with which to earn a living. I shared my vision with Jake and he was on board right away. I have since applied for a cosmetology school in the Blaine/Fridley area. So our plan is this. We will be here until June, and then we are moving to Blaine. I will begin school in the fall when the kids do. Jake is able to continue on at Aagard-and it is even more convenient since he frequently travels out of state! We still eventually want to do the School of Ministry Development (i.e. "School of Evangelism")...this is just a little detour for now. Actually, it isn't a detour. It is all part of our path. We believe that God is going to accomplish our missions training through a variety of ways. I personally get a little exhausted with the unknown of that route, but at the same time it is exciting and adventurous. Please check out our "support" page for specific prayer/financial needs. Just an added note about financial support. We realize that we are not your "typical" missionary family. Especially regarding our training. We still have debt and our route of training is not typical. It is also not tax deductible often times which makes it difficult for some to support us. We seriously aren't about asking for a free ride to accomplish our hopes and dreams. We cannot do this without your prayers. We also cannot do it without financial support. Please pray about this and ask God if He is leading you to support us financially. If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to send us an email. That is what has been going on with us :) Take care and God bless!!! PLEASE send us your feedback and prayer requests!! We would love to hear from you. God is about relationship. We want to be about that too. ~The Christensens faithjourney.6@gmail.com ...it's been too long 11/15/2010
Hello!!!! We ARE still alive :) The reason we haven't updated is that there is not a lot going on besides normal stuff, but I suppose I could post that too huh?! Jake: He is still traveling for Aagard. His travel jobs have been a bit more scarce which makes the financial side of things a bit interesting, but God has been SO very faithful. I am LOVING having him home so much! We had Alyssa a year and a half after we were married so we never had a very long beginning stage without kids. His jobs were always very demanding as well. So this time is exactly what God ordered. Refreshing. Relaxing. Rejuvenating. We praise His name! Jake is participating in a college course through our church. It is a study on the early church and missions. It has been very deep, intense, and great! He is loving it. The girls: They are all in school and doing really well. Grace and Sierra took a bit to adjust, but they are doing VERY well. Bekkah LOVES school and has some very good girlfriends that are Christians in her class. Alyssa adapted to middle school amazingly! She is a bold little fireball and we are so proud of her. We love her faith. She has great friends, one of whom just accepted Christ! Rachael (me): I am now off of anti-depressants, getting lots of time with Jake, and loving life in general :) I am definitely back into leading worship. I am loving it and God is moving. I am learning, growing, and loving the body of Christ. God has really been deepening a burden in my heart for our home church body in the area of worship, and He is showing me continuously to listen, obey, and leave the rest up to Him. Missions: We are doing missions at home until May. The girls in their schools, Jake on the road, and me in the various circles that I find myself. We are all trying to be very intentional about being a light wherever we are. Our plan is still to attend the "School of Evangelism" at a YWAM base in Rockford, MN come June, 2011. We are wondering if God has something else up His sleeve and are waiting and watching and listening. There is a possible trip to Cambodia for Jake and I in the near future. There is a team going out with a group called "Steps of Justice" (a side-ministry of YWAM). We will keep you posted on the details as we know them. Current Transition and Needs: We are actually really needing a place to live right now. Jake and I have been overwhelmed with how richly blessed we are with both of our families. Both sides...words just cannot express, I am getting choked up as I type. Our siblings and their loved ones, our parents; they all are so amazing and supportive. Every last one of them is following Christ and pursuing Him with their lives. They are all supporting us and rejoicing with us as we do the same. Jake's parents (Mike and Rosi) have graciously welcomed us and made a home for us since February, 2010. The "plan" was originally for one month, which changed to 4 months, which then changed to indefinitely, but for "sure" June of 2011. We thought maybe we found a place, but didn't have a peace about it. Mike and Rosi were wondering why we felt the need to "rush". Rush? Ha! Not many people have parents like these. God has obviously been pouring out grace on both of our families-praise His name!!!!! They have a daughter and son-in-law coming back from the mission field for a break in February. It would be beautiful if we had a place by December 1st so we could give them some time just the two of them for awhile and time for Rosi to get everything ready for them to come. We do not have steady income. It varies a LOT. We know that God knows this and will provide according to what He is planning to provide for us. Our desire is to be able to live in Alexandria. Alyssa is in youth group, I am involved heavily in music...etc. Bekkah, Grace, and Sierra attend Garfield Elementary and Alyssa goes to Discovery Middle School. We currently drive them to meet their ride to their schools. So PLEASE join us in prayer for a place to live. We also are in need of a place to store our full size school bus and a 8x17 enclosed trailer. Summary of needs/prayer requests:
Thank you all for your prayers! I promise to improve on the frequency of updates and I just reminded Jake to get some pictures posted :) Love, The Christensens Wow! It's been awhile! Well, not much new on our end-which is kind of nice :) Jake is working for Aagard, traveling about 50% of the time and home the rest. Our bus project is coming along and we took it camping for a night for Alyssa's b-day. It was a lot of fun, and we LOVE it. Jake is doing a spectacular job...not that we expected anything else :) Our church youth group got together and helped sand it for painting-big blessing!! Alyssa and Bekkah finally completed the 2009-2010 school year!!! They worked hard and we are done!! Gracie and I are still working, but she passed a 1st grade assessment very well and is really picking up reading and math. She's awesome :) Alyssa is enrolled in Discovery Middle School and the rest are enrolled in Garfield Elementary. We cannot believe all four girls will be in school!!!!! And Alyssa will be in junior high!! Where does the time go?!?!? Funny (or not so much?) God story. When we had planned to go to Rockford for school...we knew the girls would have to go to school since I could not attend school and homeschool at the same time. I was really wrestling with Alyssa attending 7th grade in a public school. We prayed and I had this feeling I'd have to let her go, but Rockford Elementary looked pretty cool. Alyssa, again experienced God speaking to her and came to us. She told us that she felt God wanted her to go to school to be a testimony and a light. THEN...God turned things upside down and informed us we were staying here this year. So I began to assume we were to homeschool. Alyssa really did not want to attend Discovery and I have been dead against it since...forever. Then we realized that when God spoke to us, He did not give us the name of the school...just that she should attend public school. Ugh. Jake felt we needed to strongly consider public school for all of them and that I needed to just have some time with me and God and refreshment before we move on to the next leg of this journey. How could THAT be God?? Shouldn't every God ordained decision involve trial, hardship, and sacrifice? Lol. I am learning the character of God more and more. He works in a variety of ways. He is our CREATOR...He is CREATIVE. And oh how in love with Him I am!!! We are still praying for a home to house-sit in the Alexandria area. We REALLY want to be in town so that I can be more heavily involved in music ministry and so we all can be more involved in the community this next school year. Please pray for us! That is probably are biggest prayer request right now. This next season is a time of keeping our eyes and ears open to God and what He has in store for us. I (Rachael), am looking forward to doing an at home piano course, taking guitar lessons, getting involved with music ministries and women. God recently used a worship conference to completely set me free and I want to get involved with loving on people every chance I get. I have started teaching my girls some on worship and the original hebrew words for praise. It has been so great. God is opening my eyes about how to teach them to put on the mind of Christ and how to use what they love for ministry. Example: Bekkah loves to draw. She now started a folder titled "ministry" for her drawings. She is going to keep her eyes open and pray about who to bless with a picture. I love this!!! Anyway, I could write a book on what I am learning and this blog is not just about me!!! Lol. Jake is busy keeping his eyes open for ministry opportunities while he travels. He loves the mindset that God is developing in him. This whole God thing is about relationship with Him and with others-is it not?!?! We are so excited for what God has in store and are looking for every opportunity to love people here in the meantime. That is our update for now! I am working on Jake to write a bit himself :) He is crazy busy though with work and the bus project and this is the way I can come alongside of him. So for now, you all will have to put up with my detailed rambling :) Jake IS going to take over the picture aspect of this site. He is gifted in that and as you can tell from the lack of updated pics...I am not-lol. God bless you all!! We would LOVE to hear from you and what God is doing in YOUR lives!!!! We are all on a journey of faith and we love to hear of how God is working!! Love, Okay, so everything has kind of turned a bit upside down again. We were told yesterday by someone that we should expect this. Missions is like this-especially lifelong missions. God steers us in a direction and then we all of the sudden see the "real" plan. Jake has been feeling a little unsettled about leaving for school in June. We have been talking, praying, and seeking counsel. Last week, as we talked, we just felt that the SOE is in our future...but not yet. In talking with some others, we felt it was confirmed that we should wait. So, we are planning on attending the SOE in June of 2011 instead of this year, and we are taking this next year "off". What does this look like? Well, we don't know a whole lot (the story of our lives), but the bus is almost ready to camp in, so it looks like we will be doing quite a bit of camping this summer! Jake will be getting more hours at his job, but they are somewhat flexible. In between camping trips, we will be staying at Jake's parents or mine. This fall and winter...that is where we are a little more clueless. We are praying for a home for us to house sit. Jake's parents have opened their home to us and it is going really well, we are just ready to spread out a little bit if possible. We are planning on Bekkah, Grace, and Sierra going to Garfield Elementary, but are still praying about where Alyssa will go. She will be in 7th grade-so it is either Discovery Middle School or home school. Thank you so much for all of your prayers. We covet them. Please be sure to check out the other pages. We have changed and added several things. Bless you, The Christensens We've Been Accepted!! 05/11/2010
Hello All! We have been accepted for the YWAM SOE beginning June 27th, 2010!! Jake is busily getting the bus ready to be licensed as an RV, and I am homeschooling the girls and continuing to scale down. I have found that even if you have just bare necessities, when you times that by six...it still amounts to quite a bit of stuff!!! Please pray against burnout for us. All this change is not easy. The girls are slowly but surely getting caught up with school. We should be done by the end of June-yay! It has been going VERY well living with Jake's parents, and they did some remodeling and we have a bedroom again!!! We would covet your prayers for our upcoming school. We have a short time ro raise a lot of money, but we are confident of God's provision. Also, our housing situation will be a bit different. All six of us will be in one room :) It is a large room with a queen bed and two sets of bunk beds. We have a large bathroom across the hall (that will be just for our family). The base is on 240 acres, so there won't be any problem parking the bus there. There is also a swimming pool and tennis courts on the property!! Our lecture phase will go until until mid-September, and then we have outreach until just before Thanksgiving. For this school, there are options for outreach. It looks like there will be opportunity for Jake and I to work with a group called "Not for Sale" based in Minneapolis! (The Not For Sale Campaign equips and mobilizes Smart Activists to deploy innovative solutions to re-abolish slavery in their own backyards and across the globe.) This is really exciting to us. We are anxious to become more informed about how we can help victims of human trafficking. You can check out their website at: http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/ Being our outreach will most likely be nearby, we are hoping/planning to enroll the girls in public school there in Rockford. We then would like to stay on at the base as staff until the end of the girl's school year. So please be in prayer for that also. The only one that was dead against going to a new public school was Alyssa. I have also been apprehensive about a new school and middle school...etc. She spent some time in prayer and felt God telling her that public school is where she is to go this year so she can reach out to the kids there. We are continuing to pray, but think this is the route we will take. We are in need of a nanny for the months of July and August. There is young lady that is currently praying about it and really wants to do it-so please join us in prayer for this as well!! Wow, it's been awhile since our last update! Any questions or comments, please post them here or email us! Thanks :) YWAM MN???? 03/26/2010
Hello all! Wow, I cannot believe a month has gone by-time flies! We are still in MN. This time of adjustment has gone well overall. The girls have done REALLY well, Jake is doing fine, but it has been pretty difficult for me. This life is exciting, but also contains many challenges. I am so thankful for a faithful God. We could never do this without Him. It is official! We are applying for the School of Evangelism in Rockford, MN. This was a huge surprise and blessing to us! We were looking to stay on track with social injustices (prostitution, trafficking...) and we felt God leading us to this base. We have a huge peace about it which is so wonderful! Nothing really felt right until we came across this base. The director and his wife have 2 daughters the same ages as Alyssa and Rebekkah, and there are two other families with children the same ages as Grace and Sierra! God is so good. Two-thirds of the staff are around our age and many our married. There is plenty of room to park our bus (which we may be using to live in while there!). The base is located on 240 acres-plenty of room to roam. We are also only 2 hours from Jake's parents and 40 minutes from mine! We have a church to call home down there and are SO excited!!! As always, plans can be turned upside down by God at a moments notice, but we feel fairly confident of this one :) We signed the papers for our house-finalizing the process of deeding it back to the bank. God has a plan there...our prayer is that it be purchased by someone who desires to use it for church staff retreats! With my in-laws right next door, caretakers would be readily available! Aside from that, there is not a whole lot of other news. The girls have quite a bit of school left; we will probably be working through June on that. Jake is busy working at Aagard (where he worked previously) part-time AND converting our bus into an RV!! We are all pretty excited about that! We know that God wants us to be mobile and he gave us a bus-so we are having some fun with it :) Take care and God bless! My project for next week is to update pictures!!!! In MN!! 02/27/2010
Hello All!! We arrived safely in MN Wednesday evening-driving the big yellow school bus :) We must say, it looks HUGE in Jake's parent's driveway!! We had a GREAT evening with Jake's mom, dad, sister, brother-in-law, and nephews! Mike and Rosi (Jake's parents) had everything all set up for us to have a comfortable, cozy, and spoiled time here :) What a blessing! I'm sure we will be talking with many of you personally, but here is what is "next". We are here in MN for the next month and most likely a few more. While here, Jake has some in home job opportunities that he will be working on for some income. We are going to be spending a lot of time in prayer over these next months and would appreciate you joining us in that. We are looking at attending a secondary school next. We are actually looking at doing the "School of Evangelism" together and putting the "School of Worship" on hold for awhile. We are in the process of researching locations. All YWAM bases are run differently. Not all of them are set up for families, they don't all run the same secondary schools, and the schools start at different times depending on what base you choose. However, our plan right now is to stay with YWAM. We have really grown to appreciate the heart and the vision that they have. The heart that God has given us is for trafficked women and children. Worship is the key to unlocking the doors for ministry in many areas. Jake desires to start a business that will provide jobs for people in other countries. We are waiting on God to see how He plans on putting this all together. We are following Him step by step (at times wishing we could see the next couple steps before we step off the last one!). This is vague, I know, but that is because everything is a bit vague for us right now. We obeyed God and did DTS, we are now waiting on Him for confirmation of our next step. Please pray for wisdom, guidance, discernement, and confirmation. Please also check out our "Support" page as some details have changed. Thank you and bless you!!! Be sure to email US with prayer for equests! We want to pray for you as well! |
