Pages

February 17, 2009

Art Show 41 DAYS LEFT,... testing, testing, one. two.

Im pretty sure of the dates, though its not yet confirmed.
Yes, my first independent Art Show!! I’ve been in a lotta shows before and contests… This is the first one on my own. So far I have been excited and anticipating being uncomfortable, but having fun. Uncomfortable because I’ve never had this much individual attention for just my art before,.. And more than people just showing up, and even liking them - Matt and I are hoping that some pieces sell. For an artist its a simple confirmation that people ‘get the point’, and enjoy how its portrayed, so much so that they want to take a piece home.
The Art: I’ve been praying over and painting this series since last summer. Without getting too far into the details- I wanted to share the social issues of the Indian Ocean area, and break down basic apathy without the shock factor of statistics or heart breaking images of faces ‘in need’.So please. Come. Check it out.

THE BUZZThe buzz beneath almost every one of our conversations at church for the past few months. “Are you guys still going to YWAM?”, “When are you leaving?”, “How long will you be gone?”… “What are you guys doing again?” “How can we pray for you?”
March 31st. We take off in a plane in Pittsburgh and many lay-overs later end up in Perth, Australia. We will be training there for almost 3 months then sent out into the Indian Ocean area. This is it, this is our first step,… after years of prayer and saving money for our travel fees… we are finally on our way.
WE HAVE BEEN ACCEPTED!
Long awaited. NOW-The ball is rolling. Oh- you thought it was easy - just a couple passports, some plane tickets and we’d be off. No-no-no. Now that we have our “acceptance of place forms” we have to sign them and send them back to Perth. So that they can send us each ‘Over Seas Health Insurance’ forms required by the Australian embassy. OSH Insurance comes in handy when extra immunization shots are needed before outreach. Forms we need -also by the way- to legally apply for our visa’s. You know 'visa's' those fun little stamps that you get in your passport when you go too far from home, for too long- not those little pieces of plastic that can drive you into debt. :)
This is like a full time job. haha. This was my day yesterday working on the art show yer, filling out the application for mission support- for our church, writing an article for the church newsletter, and sorting out e-mails between YWAM, US, and The mission Board at our church -- haha but I still had time to take my grandmother to her doctors appointment and refill her monthly supply of yogurt- its all that woman seems to eat.... Meanwhile Matt spent time in Oil City,..working out songs with his new vocalist. Let me just take this moment to brag on him. His music is good-- and we are crossing our fingers that he can have more than 3 songs recorded for his Demo. Just like art-- we want people to enjoy it buy it, it may come off egotistic sounding but its worth the risk.. Passionately pouring out ones heart and anxiously hoping others value the content as well.
"Search me, Oh God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts." Ps 139:23




OK here are the pictures I promised.

Franklin, Winter 2009










The X-mas card I got from the Perth Base. That is everyone currently working directly in YWAM Perth at the time the picture was taken.. Cool huh?






I tryed to flip this picture but photobucket was putt'n up a fight. Its the inside of the Harbor Perk Cafe'.










February 5, 2009

Encouragement, Plane tickets, Prayer

Wow its been awhile since last we (I) posted!

BIG NEWS ya missed:

*PHONE CALL FROM PERTH
*PLANE TICKETS BOUGHT
*COMPUTER FIXED
*WORK FOR STEPH IN OHIO
*PRAYER
*Other junk
__________________________________________

*PHONE CALL FROM PERTH
A week or so ago, late in the afternoon my cell rang and read "(no number)" and I hesitated, as usual, to answer it."Hi this is Jess from YWAM Perth." "Yay!" I thought. She is the leader of the Media DTS and just called to informally meet and talk with us about any thoughts, questions, or concerns we had... We spoke for about 15 minutes, she offered advice and prayer about the simplest things. She came off very authentic and transparent, qualities one always enjoys in a stranger.
It was just so very encouraging to hear from someone we've never met face to face; excited to meet us and happy we applied.
Her background from http://www.ywamperth.org.au/mediareach/?staff

After finishing a degree in Media Studies, Jess did her DTS here in Perth in 2002 and joined staff in 2003. She's been a part of staffing DTSes and pioneering our youth cafe, Kaio (check it out under "ministries").

She is passionate about missions, discipleship, reaching people in creative ways and seeing people know who they are in God. Jess loves all kinds of creativity, from photography to film to sewing. She has a weakness for Scandinavian design, "vocab words" and cafes with character. She loves the challenge of starting something new cause it's a reminder of the need for radical obedience to God rather than self-sufficiency.




*PLANE TICKETS
We got online (yes those finicky library computers) and priced plane tickets, trying to wisely watch prices- and almost doubled over with joy at the prices we saw. We were able to almost get two plane tickets for the price of one round-trip! Saved us almost 1,500 dollars (US). Taxes included -for all you nay-sayers!
Thank you Wendy for letting us use you computer to order them!

*COMPUTER FIXED
This, my dear friends, has been a thorn in my side since we realized it was broken. I never thought of how dependent we have become on the laptop,.. communicating with YWAM, updating e-mails with supporters, and bloggn' of course.
Long story short- a friend offered to fix it for us and refused to allow us to pay him. What wouldda cost us 120(US) ended up being free!!

*FIX N' A HOUSE IN OHIO
"If I write this on a resume for a skill, it would say light construction right?" This was something I said to my mom this past weekend.
I'm helping her finish work on a house before she gets into the foster program. She and I pulled cabinets out of the kitchen, patched and sanded holes in the wall, and removing doorknobs to prep for painting. Its a big house, alotta work and we have a deadline in a few weeks... I might be home now but I missed Matt alot.


Coffeeshop SIDE NOTE
This is a cool-looking coffee shop I want to try out next time I go back. We pass it almost everyday on our way to Home Depot; which I learned is cheaper than Lowes by the way.
HarborPerk.com


PRAYER
We are doing good currently Financially, Emo, Spiritually,.. etc. But are still looking for more long term supporters, Prayer and Financial. Things are looking great as we get moving forward but we need the security in knowing that 2 or so months from now are gonna be ok too.

"OTHER" NEWS
*Pack n' up our apartment. Its almost done and only the essentials are left out at this point.
*Planning to move out at the end of February
*Friends of mine, Hannah and Nathan, that are currently at YWAM Perth, just an idea of what we will be doing there.
"Currently at Create I am working on a series of drawings that will be used for discipleship in West Bengal, India for new believers. I'm trying to make some illustrations that will contextualize the life of Jesus to people coming from a Hindu background. Aside from this project, I'm not too sure what lays ahead in this year. As a ministry we don't have a clear sense of what the next big project will be. We haven't received any concrete partnerships yet, so we've been spending our lunch breaks together to focus on prayer for partners and new opportunities to come. The way we do any video projects is through project partners who provide connections for actors, shot locations, translators, finances etc. So please pray with us as we try to lock in our next partnership for 2009. Its not so much that we just need something exciting to do but there are so many people groups that still have little to no knowledge of the message of Christ and we want to do all that we can to make it known to as many people groups as we can." -Nathan
Create; a Sub-ministry of YWAM Perth focuses on educating people, churches, about the people groups in need of the gospel in word and deed. There web address: http://www.ywamperth.org.au/create/

PICTURES COMING IN NEXT POST!!