Weeks 26 and 27!

 Sorry it's been awhile since I last posted. The last two weeks have just flown by and have been pretty busy. So just a quick update. 
Our daily Bible reading is finally in the New Testament which I am happy to be back in this and out of the OT. 

My mom made me a cross-stitch book mark that I asked her for. My dad has the same cross but with a different verse (or no words, I can't remember). But I asked my mom to put in my favorite and most inspiring quote from one of our teachings this year. It's from a sermon by Paris Reidhead called "10 Shekels and a Shirt" and if you like listening to audio sermons, it's a fantastic sermon to listen to and it's free on youtube.

During one of our small group times, we made food art and this was my wonderful creation. It's an underwater peeps monster attacking poor iced animal crackers that are in their little submarine/air bubble things...It also ate some jelly bean fish.

So week 26 wasn't much...oh, did I mention I turned 21 on Friday? April 10th was my 21st birthday and it was a fantastic day! I am so blessed to be surrounded by so many people who care about me. 
So I started the day with skyping my parents and brothers. It was good to see them and talk with them for a few minutes. It was a chilly morning that turned into a mini snow flurry! It didn't last long but it was magical while it lasted! I loved it! God knows the details of our hearts! :)
(The pic is of me and Emily)
My host mom is the bomb and bought me a birthday cake to take to school. So we had a mid morning snack of cake. It was fantastic. And my carpool ladies bought me a minion birthday balloon and some flowers that are still alive and I love them. 
Then that night, Chelsea came over and we got all dolled up (I also took a birthday nap because I was worn out and would not have stayed conscious past ten pm.) She did our hour and make up and then we went out to Applebees with nearly the entire class. We had so much fun just hanging out in conversation and I got a virgin strawberry daiquiri which was yummy :)
Went home and drank some sparking grape juice and we were out by 1 a.m. Haha! 
It was really a great day. I very much enjoyed my day! 

Week 27 wasn't much. Nothing out of the ordinary. Emma and I led worship on Tuesday. We just did some worship songs and had a time of prayer over our prayer sticks that we did the last time we led worship. 
On Thursday, Carsten and I led group fitness. We drew extra lines around the parking lot lines and we all played line tag for 20 minutes! It was a lot of fun! And everyone seemed to really enjoy it. 

On Friday we had a Friday fun day. We drove out to Stillwater, MN and had a fun time splitting off and roaming the cute town. I roamed with Ashleigh, Chelsea and Hannah. We walked around an antique store and I bought a couple fun finds. We got coffee and ice cream and then sat by the river and stuck our feet in. We had good conversations and just soaked in some sun before it was time to leave. Lots of fun. Can't wait to go back!

Other than that, it was a normal week :) 

Week 25!

This week was amazing! Our classes were on Evangelism and Missions. Wow! I mean, I knew these two things were important. But to have it laid out so plainly yet so inspiring.

Wednesday we had no internships again so me and two others went and watched American Sniper in the theater. Such a great film. I sobbed at the end. Those types of movies always remind me of how blessed I am that my dad was never sent to war. He came close to it. He went through all the training for Desert Storm and when they were supposed to leave, they were told they didn't have to go. I am also reminded of the loss I have seen over the years. I went to school with a family whose Father/Husband was killed. It was a very sad day, one where I ran straight to my dad and hugged him tight, thankful that I could still do that. (Also thankful that he worked at my school so he was there for me to hug).
Our military men and women sacrifice so much and it's so easy to forget that.

I have to share some of the videos we watched over the week. Some are serious. Some are funny. I encourage you to watch each one.

~Please Don't Send me to Africa~

Hilarious video, only a couple minutes long.

The Supremacy of Christ by John Piper. WOW can I just say WOW? This is such a moving message I urge you all to watch this. Soak in the words of this message. Let it sink deep down.

This was another great Piper video. Much shorter than the one above but equally as powerful. "Don't Waste Your Life"

Hope you all had an amazing Easter celebrating our Risen Lord! 

Week 24!

Sorry this is late! The last couple weeks have been super busy!
So this may be a short update on week 24! Wow, sorry, that just hit me. It's already been 24 weeks.. (well, 26 weeks now since this is late. crazy!!!)

Monday and Tuesday Kairos students had the chance to teach for 20 minutes of characteristics of a leader. I taught on Discipline. I used alot of it on Saturday and got a lot of work done that needed to be done. Live what you teach :)
This week we did not have internships at our churches due to spring break. So it was nice to have a Wednesday off. I caught up with family and friends and skyped/called them. It was great!

On Friday, we did Jesus with Skin on. My group went to the Perkins across the street. John treated us girls to pie as we worked on drawing/writing encouraging notes to random people. We made notes for some of the staff and the people who were sitting at the restaurant. Left one at a bus stop and some barri

stas.
On Friday we also had a charades night! A lady from our church hosts an intern charade party every year. It was a lot of fun! We all won gift cards! I got a Caribou gift card and that made me very happy! I have yet to use it! Saving it for a day  I really need a latte :)

On Saturday, I went and hung out with some friends. We made biscuits and gravy for dinner and watched the movie....my mind blanked. I don't remember what we watched. It was intense thriller and it was awesome. I loved the movie. It was great to watch a clean thriller.
So yeah, that was week 24. Told you it would be a short update!




Oh and Friday was a sad day. We said goodbye to one of our classmates. For various reasons she is leaving the Kairos program. We sent her off with love!

Savannah is the girl in the front/middle with cream colored shirt.

Week 23!

I am in the center right under Dora with the yellow shirt. And apparently it is a tradition for Kairos classes after the scavenger hunt to take a picture with Dora. haha

 Our first full week back was great! At the beginning of the week we learned about our strengths. We took the strength finders test (If you have ever taken it and know your strengths, please share! I'd love to know more about you in that way!) Strength finders fascinated me! It was so cool to see how my class' strengths play out in our day to day lives. And it was cool to be able to put to words what I've only ever just noticed.

So if you were wondering, these were my top 5 strengths in order :
1. Responsibility
2. Discipline
3. Achiever
4. Restorative
5. Intellect ion

The first four strengths are Executing strengths and the last one is a Strategic strength. And now I don't remember what exactly that means. haha
But it was super cool to learn more and say for sure that yes, these are my top strengths and I see them in my everyday life.


The rest of the week we learned more on Leadership and our very own Tom Ives, director of Royal Servants came and spoke. It was amazing to hear his story of how he was practically thrust into leadership and how God used him.
Wednesday we had internships which was so fun to get back to! I felt like for the first time, I connected really well with my small groups that I am apart of. Which is 7th grade girls and 11th grade girls.

On Monday alot of us went and got our free cones from Dairy Queen. Yum!
Thursday was our cat Okin's birthday! He turned 1! He is such a fun little guy! Helps me not miss my kitties too much.
Saturday we went roller skating through my church that I intern at. It was alot of fun, painful but fun. Great memories!
On Friday our class went to the Mall of America and had a scavenger hunt...we had to find our staff! We had one hour and were split up into teams. We were allowed to use twitter to check for updates on our staffs location. Out of 7 staff, my team only found 2! Another team found 4! Some of hte staff were not found by anyone! haha! It was a great time, alot of running around. One of our staff changed so drastically that he walked right through one of the teams, literally could have touched them. Being the funny guy that he is, he snapped a picture of one of our guys walking past him, arms length away. And no one noticed!
I even saw one of our lady staff. I stared at her for 10 seconds and went "Nah, it's not her." I also walked right past her later on! And when I saw her at the end and realized it really was her, oh man! haha

But it was so fun. And wow, it was my first trip to MOA and it's crazy huge!!!! I mean it has to be to have a small amusement park inside....

So yeah! It was a pretty great week!
Also, thanks to a gift card, I had a nice treat! A large iced white mocha with cinnamon dulce drink from Starbucks. So refreshing!
The weather has gotten slightly more chilly but still beautiful!

Monday is my teaching so I have a busy weekend ahead to prepare for that and get a bunch of other work and projects done.

Prayers are greatly appreciated for some unspoken requests. Thanks!!

Week 22!

 Hey everyone! It's been so long since I last updated you all! Well, I have so much to catch you up on so bear with me. Also, I don't expect to go in order as I blog.
But just a general update, on 2/4 we flew out to Honduras. We actually flew into San Pedro Sula, it's like the most dangerous city...everywhere. Ya know, no biggy! ;)
We drove for 4-6 hours (in van for 4 but with stops it was about 6). It was a long day. We arrived in Yamaranguila at Mercy International's base, "The Farm". It was a beautiful place. Honduras was amazing. The weather was beyond fantastic. The people were beautiful and sweet. Don't get me started on the kids, not to mention the babies!
I had the time of my life! It was full of ministry and memories. I can't wait to blog about it!
After Honduras I had two weeks off for our "spring break". It was a great break which I will blog about as well but in short, I got to spend it with my family in the north. I stayed with my grandparents mostly. It was so great to see them and all of my other family. So be on the look out for pictures and stories from break and Honduras! I promise they will come!

I arrived back in Minnesota on Monday night. Wednesday morning Kairos drove down to Bricelyn, MN for an overnight stay at a camp. It was just a re orientation to just spend some fun time together as a class. We had an overview of what the second semester will be like and what we have to look forward to! Many leadership opportunities ahead! Because that is what this semester focuses on, LEADERSHIP. Which will be interesting and new for me. But I'm excited for what's in store!

Friday was our first day of class. Erika taught us on leadership and the qualities and characteristics of a leader and the importance of integrity in a leader.
We also were handed our books for the semester and given instructions on an upcoming class. Except for these classes, we the students are teaching! We all got to choose our characteristic of a leader that we will teach for 15 to 20 minutes on. I chose Self Discipline/Control. I'm pretty excited about creating a lesson. I've already found some funny videos and pictures that I can't wait to share! Haha! So hopefully I'll be able to do a blog post about my teaching! That way you are included!
Getting back into the routine of Bible reading and fitness. Over Honduras and Break these slacked alot. Well, I missed a few days in Honduras of Bible reading due to busy days of ministry. But everyday we had some sort of fitness (mostly just our ministry can be counted. You'd understand if you saw how those kids played with us or how loooong those hikes were...haha).
And over break, well, it was a vacation. Fitness wasn't on my to-do list ;) But it feels so good to get back into the swing of things! Especially now that the weather is soo nice out! I can start taking walks and reading my Bible on the porch! Yay for Spring!

Well, that was it for this week! It was a short one but a great one.

If you all could pray for my family, I've received some hard news from several members of my family (extended) that was unexpected and hard to process. They (we) need a lot of prayer. Most of that side of the family is unsaved and two of the families are going through some just very difficult things right now. And these, on top of several other things, can be so distracting to me. It's hard to focus on where I am when these things are going on. So prayers for me are appreciated as well!
Also, a door seems to have been opened for me this fall after Kairos ends. I need lots of prayer about this. I'm patiently waiting and praying about this possible next step. I just want to know if this is what I am supposed to do.
If so, I can't wait to tell you all about it! haha but for now, I welcome your prayers!

Thank you all so much! Your support means so much to me!

Love, Beka!!!

Weeks 15 and 16 and Intro to Honduras!

Hey everyone! I apologize for the delay! It's been a busy couple weeks! We wrapped up Speaking Blitz with a two day trip up north for debriefing. It was a great time spent with my team in the frigid north! Actually, it wasn't that cold out! I had the chance to walk on a frozen lake and ride a four wheeler (never rode one before) on the lake as well! My first experience on a frozen lake! And I watched as a few of our team got to ice fish! No one caught anything though. I also collected firewood for a fire we weren't able to have on the lake. Oh well.. Still fun!

This last week we prepped for Honduras. We worked on testimonies and teachings and created a VBS to do with kids. I helped create and teach the small skit on Zacchaeus. We had a lot of fun. I also made the props for the skit (beards, leaves and money). Hopefully someone at some point during the trip will record out skit. I hope so because it's hilarious...And a lot of fun. I'm excited to perform it for the little kids.

This last week has also been about getting our hearts ready for our trip. We have spent a lot of time in prayer nad worship and encouraging one another. We listened to an amazing audio sermon called 'Ten Shekels and a Shirt' by Paris Reidhard. It was amazing and I encourage you to listen. I mean, it was PHENOMENAL!

Well, as for Honduras. We leave bright and early in the morning! Most of us will be spending the night at the Reign Ministries office. We leave there at 3am and our flight to ATL leaves at 5:30. We will be in Honduras around lunch time.
Please keep my team in your prayers!
Specifically for these things:
-health (It's a dangerous thing, even bring a small cold to the remote villages of Honduras.) And also to just not get anything there or any injuries.
-Individual humility creates corporate unity. That is what we want as a team.
-travel days are long and hard, especially when they start as early as ours will.
-to be flexible and open to what God would have us do.

Thank you all so much for helping me get to where I am! I cannot wait to update you all about Honduras.
Well, so long for now! I'll be back in the states Friday, February 20th.

Oh, and I am down to only needing $329 for Kairos! Woohoo!
Though I may have a couple unexpected costs arise as the summer approcahes, such as visa fees. I will keep you updated!  But anything raised beyond the last $329 will go towards visa fees, spending money and anything else I may need.
If you would like to donate online, here is a link!



https://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2/?giftid=3C14F4E1-28B3-4FC4-8A37-F3611508F638

Week 14!

This past week was our first week of Speaking Blitz! It was an incredible week. Definitely had it's ups and downs. We started on Sunday and traveled through Friday. Today (Sat.) was our first day off. Some days are longer than others. We have traveled to schools for chapel services and we have spoken at youth groups on Wednesday night or Sunday school. It's been so cool to go through this time with my team. We have done a lot of traveling. I hope to, by the end, have a map of all the places we have visited.
I've had some great conversations with some genuinely interested girls. I'm excited to catch up with them and see where they are at. We have been so busy though I haven't had time to connect.
Today was great to sleep in and get lots done. Super productive day.
This last week wasn't all just travel and speaking. We had some fun times as well.

We visited Como Zoo. I haven't been to a zoo in years. It was so fun but it was a little sad too. The animals looked really depressed. Not all, but most. Still neat to see the different animals.

We also, during a spur of the moment drive by, we had the opportunity to visit a nearby Cambodian Buddhist Temple. So neat and I felt transported back in time to Nepal. I only got two pictures. Not sure why so few. But the Guardian lion I photographed was the same kind of guardian lion I saw in Nepal.






The picture on the left is from the Cambodian Temple in MN. The one on the right is from Nepal. So similar! Kind of.





This week we also talked more about our fast approaching trip to Honduras! Got some more information and realized there are a few more things I will need to have with me, especially depending on what team I am put on. We will be splitting up into two teams for one week (the middle chunk of the trip). One team will be staying at The Farm. The Farm is a place in the middle of beautiful country. It's a missions base. They are always taking in teams and housing them. They have bunk beds and such. I believe we will be working with Mercy International?
The second team will be heading up into the mountains. It's a steep 3-4 hour hike. They will primarily be focusing on construction, a vbs and small groups. This will be the more physically challenging. Maybe.
I should find out at the end of this next week which of the two teams I will be on. The two will come  back together and head out to the coast of Honduras and spend several days there for debriefing. (and we will have 4-5 days at the beginning together). I'm getting really excited for Honduras! And the weather may be a whole lot nicer than I firs thought! Then again, I've only ever traveled down south during the summer, never this early in the year :)

Thank you so much for your prayers!

For a few days I had an impromptu roommate. Chelsea, one of the girls in my small group, was banished from her house until the Flu subsided from several members of her host family. We were more than happy to let her stay with us! We had a ton of fun! We made several videos which I will post to the bottom. We just were silly and enjoyed each other's company. We went shopping and got ice cream, even in the freezing temperatures!