The Faithfulness of the Lord

This morning my outreach team met at 10:30 to go over finances as this was the final day to turn everything in. I still needed about 1400 euros (about $2000), plus the rest of the team added together needed about 3500 euros total ($4900).
We started to pray at 10:50.
By 11:15 we had everything we needed!!
God is so incredible.

Thirteen of us are headed to Tanzania December 28th!

Some Prayer Points:
1) That we would find a place to stay for the first 10 days. The rest of the time, we will be staying at a YWAM base at Mt. Kilimanjaro, but the first 10 days are still up in the air.
2) That my team might encounter God like never before.
3) Culture shock. Definitely pray for adaptability, open minds, and the joy of the Lord.
4) That God would work through us to heal the sick.
5) Wisdom. That we might know how to handle even the most difficult of situations. (especially the leaders)

This is half of my team worshiping in the streets of Amsterdam. One of my favorite evangelism times ever.

We made so many people smile that day.

Your unfailing love, O Lord, is as vast as the heavens; your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds.

Psalm 36:5

I would encourage you to ask God what it really means for his faithfulness to reach beyond the clouds or what it really looks like for his love to be as vast as the heavens. They aren't just pretty words in a book. It's LIVING TRUTH.

Blessings.

A Piece of My Heart

I can't tell you all that I've learned in this past week about the Father Heart of God, because it's far too expansive. However, I can show you glimpses of my journal, glimpses of my heart, so that you may see how God has been working in me this past week.

Prayer 10/6
Father, I want to want you. I want to want you more. I want to long to be in your presence. I want to see your face; I want to hear your voice. Father, I want to know your heart. I want to understand your love for me. I want to feel it. I want to know I'm beloved. I don't understand now, but I want to.
God, you showed Moses your glory. Show me. I want to see you, too.
God, show me your beauty. Reveal to me the wonders of your creation.

O God, you are my God,  I earnestly search for you
my soul thirsts for you
my whole body longs for you

Amen.

Poem written in class today, 10/7
I want to love you more,
more than the things of this world,
But every time I try,
I never seem to be satisfied
My world's been shattered
and what you say is
I was there with you then
I saw you then
I cried with you then
I carried you then
Beloved, come home
I fall to my knees
and think what have I done?
and all you do is hold my head high
and say, "I love you, beloved one."
One by one you replace the pieces of my shattered heart
each time saying, "I make all things new.
I give you a healed, new start."

"If it is true that you look favorably on me, let me know your ways so I may understand you more fully and continue to enjoy your favor. "  Exodus 33:13

"But satisfy the hunger of your treasured ones... Because I am righteous, I will see you. When I awake, I will see you face to face and be satisfied." Psalm 17:14b-15

"O Lord, open his eyes so that he may see!" 2 Kings 6:17

I have been craving more and more God since I've been here. And I know He satisfies "more than the richest feasts." Psalm 63:5

Blessings.

Dance With Me O Lover Of My Soul

 "I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep the Father's love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God."

Ephesians 3:16-19

May we all fall more madly in love with our Father today.

This is my team! Representing Cameroon, the Netherlands, the States, China, Korea, Canada, Belgium, and Germany. I have been so blessed.

We went on a boat tour last week through the canals of the city! It was so cool.

The girls went on a coffee date to Samaritan's Inn. YWAM owns the whole building and there is a Christian cafe on the ground floor.

Vivian (Hong Kong), me, and Sarah (Canada)

This is Samaritan's Inn. The Dutch reads "God is calling you."

Lydia (South Korea), Alena (US), and Hannah (Holland)

One of the coolest things about being here is the cultural experience. I've learned so many words in multiple different languages! One night we just sat down and compared different Bibles. Above is Chinese, Macedonian (from our friend, Igor, in the Intercessory Missionary Internship) , German, and English. It's so beautiful to bring the languages together for our Father.

I can't even explain how thankful I am to be here. I can't thank those who have supported me enough. Truly. 

Blessings.

First Days in Amsterdam

Well, I certainly love it here. I've already met some of the coolest people ever. There are only 10 students on my team, but we represent six different nations! It is so awesome. We represent Germany, Canada, the States, the Netherlands, Hong Kong China, and Korea. Despite the cultural differences, we have all been having an incredible time together.
This is mostly an orientation week, but we will be hitting the streets with the Gospel already on Thursday.
I'm incredibly excited for what God has prepared for us in the coming weeks. It has been clear by our testimonies of how we all ended up here in Amsterdam that God ordained our team. He went before us and our instant bonds of friendships were a testimony to that.

Here are some pictures of the city that I've taken while out exploring with the others!

This is the canal right outside my home. I live and go to class in the building known as De Poort. (The Gateway) We are in the very middle of the city.

Bikes are everywhere. You will get run over. It's a fact of life.

There are so many canals! Like every other street.

Yes. It is incredibly beautiful here.

The busiest square in Amsterdam. Times Square is nothing compared to Amsterdam.

Keep praying that I will continue to adjust. (I miss my American junk food. seriously. They don't have any here and it is really depressing.) And pray that our team will continue to grow closer together.

Blessings,

Paige

2 Days until Amsterdam: Financial Update #4

For the first three months I am in Amsterdam, I will be participating in the "lecture phase" of my Discipleship Training School (DTS).  This is really a time of intense prayer, worship, and personal intimacy with the Lord. I wanted to share with you some of the topics that will be discussed in our lectures each week so that you may have an idea of what exactly I'll be learning about.

Topics include:

Fatherheart of God 

Hearing Gods voice 

The Holy Spirit 

Spiritual warfare/strongholds 

Passion for Jesus/ Discipleship 

True identity in Christ 

Prayer/Intercession 

Relationships

Destiny and calling 

Prophetic power evangelism 

Endtimes & Israël 

Biblical worldview 

Gods heart for the nations

I would encourage you to really pray that the Lord speaks to me during this time and that I would have the heart to listen.

Other Prayer Requests:

1) That I don't forget anything really important... like a passport! :)

2) That the rest of my support comes in.

3) That my stress level would come back down and that I would really find rest in God this week.

4) Continued peace for my parents and family

Financial Update

1. I have my plane ticket there and back paid for!! which was not the case a few days ago. So praise the Lord for his goodness and abundant faithfulness.

2. The first three months in Amsterdam, the lecture phase, is just a couple hundred dollars away from being fully supported. I need that ASAP. 

3. The second three months, the outreach phase, is still in need of support. I need to have $1500 by November 11 and a total of approximately $3500 by December 2.   

Please consider helping to support if you haven't already.

If you would like to help support my trip, here is the information you will need:

make checks payable to: Covenant Church (they are tax-deductible)

Mail To:

Paige Kelsey

311 Plateau Dr.

Lafayette, IN 47909

or checks can be taken directly to Covenant, just make sure to verify what the check is supposed to be for.

If you have any other questions for me, feel free to email me at pkelsey@purdue.edu.

ALSO. If anyone has any hair flowers for me to take, drop them off at the front desk at Covenant between now and Friday afternoon. Or you can contact me personally and we can arrange a way for me to get them from you.

Blessings,

Paige

Misconceptions: The Life of a Missionary

Before I left for Berlin six months ago, a family member boldly asked me, "You're going to Berlin on a missions trip? What do they need in Berlin?"

At the time, I remember being so flustered I didn't even have a good response. I just kind of fumbled about something, maybe the Gospel, maybe Jesus. Who knows? It was basically less than stellar. (Of course, as usual, the perfect response came to me a couple of hours later.)

But I knew I had no place to judge, for I once had similar thoughts. I once equated the word missionary with jungles and tribes, poverty and unmet needs, unknown languages and small huts, yucky bugs and river baths, gross food and middle-of-nowhere people groups.

This had caused me to make up my mind early on in my life that I would never serve as a missionary, because that certainly did not sound appealing to me in the least. 

My family member had the same misconception as I once had, missionaries were to minister to the poor, helping those "less fortunate", taking Bibles to those who hadn't yet heard the Good News.

But who is less fortunate than those who believe they have everything, but instead have nothing? 

As the Lord is known to do, he started to change my heart towards life as a missionary. Through a series of events within the past year, God started to break my heart for the peoples of the world. I remember times of just falling to my knees in prayer, unable to stand, crying and weeping for the injustices and pains across the world.

Western Europe is my mission field. It may not be the plains of Africa or the jungles of South America, but it is a place of significant loss, brokenness, and hardness of heart. May God use my life to bring the light of Jesus to the darkness of Amsterdam.

May your ways be known throughout the earth

Your saving power among people everywhere

May the nations praise you, O God

Yes may all  the nations praise you

Le the whole world sing for Joy

Psalm 67:2-4

Week 2: Jehovah-Jireh

Earlier this week, I was struggling for words of encouragement to share with a dear family close to me. Little did I know, that the words the Lord would give me to encourage them were intended to strengthen and encourage my heart as well. What exactly did the Lord say to me? One name. Jehovah-Jireh.

Jehovah-Jireh is Hebrew for "The Lord who Provides." The literal translation reads "The Lord who sees" or "The Lord who will see to it." Abraham granted the Lord this name in Genesis 22 when He provided a ram in the place of sacrificing his only son.

I wish I could share my excitement with you right now! This is what we have in our incredible, provisional God : a Lord who will see to it that our every need is met and One who knows our every need because He sees.

Being surrounded in a community of believers, one of the most common frustrations and ideas wrestled with in life is trusting the Lord to provide. But this is so important! The Lord promises over and over again, through his words and his actions, that He is sovereign, He will take care of us, He will never leave or forsake us, and that he LOVES us more than we could ever fathom!

Jehovah-Jireh: The Lord who provides. He sees me and He knows my need. Praise Him.


"And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus."
- Philippians 4:19

Week 1: Faith like Rahab

I found myself many times this week striving to hit a goal. If I could just send out this many letters, contact this many people, receive this much money, etc. then surely I will get all of my support in on time.

But it doesn't work that way.

"The earth is the Lords and everything in it,
 The world and all its people belong to him." Psalm 24:1

I cannot attain any goal or raise any amount of money without the power of the Lord. He must go before me to prepare hearts and only by His hand will I ever make it to Amsterdam.

May I have faith like Rahab this week, who put her faith in the mighty power of the God of the Israelites instead of putting her faith in the power of men.