Obsessed with Jesus

Ever since I first found out I was going to Haiti, I have heard the same things over and over again. "Aren't you scared?" "That's so dangerous" or something along those lines inferring that I should reconsider.

But ever since I found out I was going I have had a sincere sense of peace about it. Who am I to say that where God is calling me is too dangerous? His children live there everyday. Who am I to question whether He will take care of me and use me for His glory? He promises to be with me wherever I go.

In the fall I was reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan and I was hit by what he said. "People who are obsessed with Jesus aren't consumed with their personal safety and comfort above all else. Obsessed people care more about God's kingdom coming to this earth than their own lives being shielded from pain or distress."

Just a thought for your own life. How obsessed are you? Are you willing to endure hardship, trial, or possibly even death for your King?

♥ Ash

Read more...

And the adventure begins...

So the day has finally come! Tomorrow I will get up bright and early and head to Pearson Airport. My first flight will leave at noon with a layover in Charlotte, NC before reaching Fort Lauderdale, FL at approx. 6pm. I would really appreciate prayer during my flight because it's my first time flying and just prayer that the transfer would go smoothly and I would meet up safely with the rest of the team in Florida.

We will be staying in Florida until Saturday doing some final preparations and getting to know each other before flying to Haiti. In Haiti, we will be sharing the Gospel with many children. Unfortunately our previous plan to share in the schools has changed as the children have exams during the two weeks we are there. However, we now have the opportunity to share in orphanages and do 5 day clubs. Please pray for this change and the children that we will meet.

I am sorry that I don't have much more to share right now. We really do need your prayers though.

Please pray for:

-our team (Jerry, Brenda, Chioma and myself)

-the national CEF staff in Haiti

-the children that we will meet

-favour as we enter the orphanages and any other places we might teach

-safety as we travel

-the approx. $200 I have left to raise

I'm not sure how much internet access I'll have if any at all. If I can update you I will... but otherwise I'll be sure to post some of my pictures and journal entries as soon as I get back. :)

Thank you all for your prayers and support!

♥ Ash

Read more...

How it happened....

Over the past couple of years, God has provided me with many new and stretching experiences in ministry and life. Last summer I had the opportunity to intern in the urban ministry of CEFOntario, developing the ministry and experiencing leadership in ministry in a new way. I returned to Heritage in the fall for my 3rd year of my degree and had the opportunity to be the Resident Assistance (RA) of 10 girls, which has been a great blessing.

During this time, I began to feel God calling me to consider overseas ministry. I had never before felt called to do anything ministry wise overseas, whether it was short-term or long-term and so I spent a lot of time praying and seeking wisdom from mentors in my life. As time progressed I felt a deep peace that this was where God was potentially leading me and in light of this, I changed my program at Heritage slightly, adding another major in intercultural studies, and began to pray for God to open doors for direction. As the months past, more and more doors seemed to be shutting and I felt that God was just opening me up to the possibility of going in the future and that for the present I was going to be staying in Ontario and working this summer. About a week after I had come to this conclusion, I followed up with a contact that I had been put in touch with by a mentor and found out that in my surrendering of it over to God, He had been working in a way I never thought.

In June, I will be travelling with a team of four people from CEF Canada to Haiti. As you probably are aware, Haiti is a country that has been devastated over the past year. While the rebuilding process has begun, there is still little hope for people who have yet to begin that process. Roman Catholicism is widely practiced throughout the country, but voodoo is also wide spread and there are many who do not know the hope that comes from knowing Jesus Christ.

I will be flying from Toronto to Fort Lauderdale, FL on June 1st and then 3 days laster flying on to Haiti. We will spend just over two weeks there sharing the gospel with children through a school ministry in the morning and 5-day clubs in the afternoon. The schools have been very open in Haiti to the CEF ministry and we will have the opportunity to teach Bible lessons to many children. In the afternoon, the children will be out of school and that's when we will be holding 5 day clubs in the neighbourhoods. Though I have experienced a lot of CEF ministry before, the context and culture are quite different in Haiti and it is sure to be stretching in many ways, but also exciting as God has been opening the doors for many ministry opportunities in the country.

Please pray for me and the team as well as the children from this still hurting and struggling country.

♥ Ash

Read more...

To Haiti in June!

Just a quick update to let you know that I will be travelling to Haiti for two weeks in June with CEF Canada. There we will be teaching clubs in the schools and also a 5 day club in the afternoon. Haiti is still a very broken country with many hurting kids.

Will you commit to praying for me and the team and the kids that we will present the gospel to this summer?

♥ Ash

Read more...

Lots of changes...

God has been presenting lots of new opportunities and challenges in front of me lately. Hopefully I'll be able to update you all very soon on what's happening :)

Read more...

Serving an AMAZING God!

For the past two summers, God has called me to work as an intern with CEFOntario. Some days it hasn't been easy to want to follow that call. With school loans and other expenses, money is tight and raising $8000 in support is no easy task. Last year God provided way beyond anything I ever could imagine.

This year was even harder to follow God to the mission field with no government grant to help with that support. But I knew I has to trust God to provide, even when most days it looked like there were going to be a lot of financial struggles ahead this fall when I got back to school. Money was always a worry in the back of my mind.

During Camp Good News, I finally gave up that worry and control I wanted over my finances to God. I knew there was nothing I could do to change it, so there was no need to worry beforehand.

So today when I went to church I wasn't expecting anything. I knew there were a couple smaller donations coming in soon, but nothing major. So when a lady I barely know came up to me and asked me about my support, I wasn't expecting more than $100. Yet, when I opened the envelope I had to look twice when I read the amount. But I read it right the first time! $2000! I was moved to the point of tears.

God definitely provides when we least expect it.

♥ Ash

Read more...

Let The Summer Begin!

My sincerest apologies to all my loyal blog followers...

As you can tell, internet availability over the past couple of weeks has been very limited. This was because of Summer Training Institute, the 2 week training period for over 40 young people who will serve as summer missionaries this year all over the province of Ontario.

Summer Training this year was a battle with the weather. Our first week was extremely cold and even wearing two sweaters the one day I still felt cold. The next week brought a lot of heat and humidity! But the summer missionaries pushed through it all without complaint, studying their lessons and memorizing the many skits that are a part of this year’s 5 day club.

A first at Summer Training Institute this year was bringing the inner-city LiT girls to come and check out what training and summer ministry is all about. Some of them had already expressed an interest in coming out with CEF for the summer sometime soon, so we figured that more exposure to it could really make that dream a reality for them. The girls were overwhelmed at first by the amount of studying and work that the summer missionaries do, but by the end of the day all of them expressed an interest in coming themselves one day. Two of the girls will be old enough next year, so please pray for them as they are really interested in becoming summer missionaries next summer and are already planning on applying.

Thanks to everyone who prayed for our staff and students during Summer Training Institute. Despite our summer director being very ill and unable to do much at camp this year, things went very smoothly and we all appreciate your prayers and support so much.

Now the teams are out in the field!! So here I am back in the city of Toronto once again... and busier than ever! Currently I am supervising 3 teams of youth (7 summer missionaries in total) and we have been working at Calvary Church, as well as in Thorncliffe Park. Our youth are in charge of the Bible teaching in the morning at the church and then the entire program minus the games in the afternoon at Thorncliffe. The team includes my brother Joshua and his partner Ian, another guys team with Alex, Daniel & Sam, and a girls team made up of Stephanie and Andrea. Next week we will add one more guys team into the mix as well.

Thorncliffe Park is one of the largest Muslim communities in North America with about 95% of the population being Muslim. The school we teach at is the largest elementary school in North America with over 2000 students. So obviously there are MANY kids in the area!

Our first day at Thorncliffe hit a bit of a bump when we realized that the wrong date was on the flyers and only 3 kids stayed for the entire club. We already were aware from the experience there last year that many parents would pull their kids out during the Bible teaching portion of the program, but with the lack of kids it seemed to be a discouragement to the team. They held it together though, even when it seemed like they were only teaching the 15 youth volunteering from Georgia. Day 2 was much better once the club was promoted more in the community and well over 25 kids attended. Today, which was the third day of club, brought closer to 40 children to the club. Word of mouth is the way that the club grows each day so we are expecting closer to 80 kids by the end of the week.

Please pray for unity between our CEF team and our volunteers as they work with the kids this week, especially at the Thorncliffe location. Also pray for strength for the teams because they are still very tired from the heat and humidity as well as the stress of the first week in the field.

Hopefully it won’t be too long until the next update!

♥ Ash

Read more...