all bright and beautiful

for iceland:

remember, our message is not about ourselves;

we're proclaiming Jesus Christ, the Master.

all we are is messengers, errand runners from Jesus for you.

it started when God said, "light up the darkness!"

and our lives filled up with light as we saw and understood

God in the face of Christ, all bright and beautiful.

gal. 4.5-6


oh, that iceland would know the Light that fills our hearts.

"the gospel will persuade no one unless it has so convicted us that we are transformed by it."

-brennan manning

Gleðileg Jól

merry christmas from iceland.

thank you, god, for jesus. immanuel, god with us. the savior.

the greatest gift in history.

may you all be continually amazed by the sacrifice and love of jesus.

may you realize the great gift we have through jesus - the salvation of our souls.

the world needs to know our reason for celebrating.

blessings.

rae

Reykjavik

Hello from Whoville!

You think I'm kidding, but you wouldn't believe how Whoville-like Reykjavik is during Christmastime. 

This will be my first Christmas away from home, but if I had to spend it anywhere other than Texas, Reykjavik would be that place. I'm in luck.

Iceland is wonderful. We have been here just over a week, though it feels like longer. Out of 17 people, all but 4 of us got a stomach bug within the first 3 days. It was crazy, but thankfully we have recovered.

Ministry has been wonderful, most of the time we just go out and talk to people, make friends, pray for people on the streets, etc. Last Saturday night we were out until 3am handing out free hot chocolate and coffee to people who were out partying. I've never seen anything like it. People were coming up for prayer, to read verses from the Bible, just to talk... Icelanders are very open to anything spiritual, so the door for sharing the Gospel is WIDE open. 

At one point in the night, a young man came up to the table to get a drink. It's pretty rare that my heart completely breaks for a particular person, but my heart broke when I saw this guy. Oliver was his name and he looked very young. I could tell he had been drinking and maybe done some drugs. But other than his slurred speech, he seemed pretty normal; just your average european hipster. For some reason I was so burdened for Oliver. As I watched him, he reached for a drink and said, "I just got out of rehab yesterday.... and tonight... I fell." He asked if we could pray for him, so we did. The whole time he just kept yelling, "God, give me strength! God, give me the strength!" We eventually got him a ride home and later found out that Oliver is only 16 years old. He is one in thousands of young people in Reykjavik that are addicted to some sort of substance. This night got me dreaming about half-way houses and what it would look like if the young people of Iceland were captivated by Jesus, if they caught a glimpse of the love of God - the inheritance of His children. It would turn this whole city upside down.

Needless to say, God loves Iceland.
I love Iceland.
You should come here, because you would love Iceland.

I hope you all have a wonderful, merry Christmas. 

May you remember and celebrate the greatest gift we have in Jesus, the redeemer of our souls. 

xo

our team of 18 leaves on Monday morning for the wonderful, cold, dark, beautiful country of Iceland.

can't wait to see what God's up to.
may we be used to make his name known among the people,
may we be willing to give whatever it takes to see the truth get to those who don't know it.

pray for us?
much love.

rae

we leave for iceland in 14 days.

unreal.
absolutely unreal.

now for an update, a real one:

// my iceland team is made up of two leaders, a family of four, a cook, dancers, musicians, a videographer, artists, and lord of the rings nerds; 18 people in all. we are going to have an amazing time and more importantly, we are going to tell people about jesus and see how we can love them. i've been on a few different outreaches, but i can honestly say i have never been this excited to go. this outreach planning has been so stress-free and everything has been falling into place since day one. we've been told we can do whatever we feel like god wants us to do each day, so we have an amazing opportunity before us. please pray for understanding as people hear the truth, relationships to be built with icelanders, team unity, joy/positive attitudes (as there will only be 4 hours of sunlight a day), wisdom, and that we will walk in obedience regardless of if we "see fruit" or not.

// this DTS has been such a learning experience so far. it's been wonderful. we have some of the most wonderful people as students in this school, they are insane! we have seen many people come to lord through these students already and we aren't even on outreach yet. it's been really great to see them learning and growing and to be a part of it. i have personally learned many valuable lessons throughout the last few months as well. i've been learning to value someone's discipleship over my comfort, to speak truth even when it's uncomfortable, and to ask hard questions.... basically, god has taught me a lot about discipleship in general. it's not easy, but it's what we are called to, and it's extremely rewarding. and humbling. and challenging. all at the same time. i'm so grateful.

// thanksgiving is already over, and i can't believe it. my family came up here all the way from texas! they were here for the whole week and since it was their first time to see montana, showing them around was so much fun. it was one of the best thanksgivings i've ever had, even if it was away from home. god is good to me, having them here was such a gift.

// my roommate and i have been going craft-crazy. we are like two old ladies. all we do is crochet, sew, knit, and decorate our room. and we love it!


that's my life right now.
i hope all of you are doing wonderful this cold, wintery christmas season. i'm missing you and can't wait for the next time i see your happy faces. thanks for your prayer and support.

xo

fall.

this is the kind of stuff i get to experience in Montana:

seasons do my heart good.