Our 5th Arts and Crafts Camp Video                                                                                                   

This year we had 46 girls from 7 different children homes along with 54 volunteers/staff participate in our fifth annual arts and crafts camp.  The camp was for three days and each morning we had all the volunteers line up in front of the entrance to welcome the kids.  They entered one-by-one to all the volunteers cheering and clapping on either side as their volunteer partner (the volunteer paired with them throughout the camp) would come to escort them to their seat.  Most of the girls were super shy as they entered, but it was clear they were being blessed by the positive attention.  Our volunteers gave their best efforts to love the kids, and each of the girls opened up in different ways.  Some of them responded right away while others out of their own insecurities took some time before opening up.  God was clearly working in each of them because at the end of the camp even the toughest girls were telling us that they definitely wanted to come back to the camp again. 

I hope you are blessed by the video!  Thank you to our friend Jensen who put it together for us!

Arts & Crafts from Jensen on Vimeo.

God bless!

So It Begins…                                                                                                                 

Yesterday my wife Sky preached at our church and shared her powerful testimony with them, the first time she has ever shared about her life so openly in front of people before.  Her message was powerful, and I know this is the first of many times that she is going to preach and share her testimony and set many people free!  I want to encourage you to listen to it… http://newphiladelphiachurch.com/home/index.php?option=com_newsfeeds&view=newsfeed&id=1&Itemid=105 (Sky Becker – True Healing and Deliverance). 

She spoke everything so well.  I would summarize it here, but I have nothing that needs to be added and the message is much better listened to than read. 

I know in time my wife is going to be blogging and preaching just as much as me.  So it begins…

Why Journal?                                                                                                             

When I first arrived in Korea I started a daily journal on my computer.  At least once a week for my quiet time I would type up journal entries for each day of the past week.  My Journal 2006 document is 249 pages of single spaced 12 point font journal entries.  Seems excessive, right?  Perhaps, but recently I was led to read through it all again bit by bit.  As I read I was blessed by so many sweet stories of interacting with the kids and it also made me remember where I’ve come from as an inexperienced, English-speaking American to now a missionary of seven years in Korea.  And what stood out to me the most were the spiritual lessons I had to learn that year.  Some of those spiritual lessons I had actually forgotten over the years and had to relearn.  If I had just reflected and read through my journal, I wouldn’t have had to go through those things again.  Last, something else that blessed me from rereading the journal were the prophetic words, dreams, and stirrings that I had written about that year.  Reading them again refreshed my heart and strengthened my faith to keep going.  

Journaling is indeed Biblical.  God commanded different prophets to write down the words He gave to them and they also wrote down their dreams as well.  A lot of the Bible is actually journal entries from Moses and other scribes, priests, and kings.  So often throughout Scripture God commands us to not forget what He has done in our lives.  I don’t think people need to be as excessive as I was in 2006 in their journaling.  But I strongly believe people need to periodically take time to reflect, at least once a month, in what God has been doing in their lives.  

At the beginning of 2013 I was a bit discouraged as I reflected on 2012.  I felt like I hadn’t accomplished much and that there hadn’t been much fruit.  But then I felt prompted to go through my 2012 journal and to highlight things God had done throughout the year.  And I was overwhelmed by all He had done!  My attitude then shifted from discouraged to blessed and excited for the new year.  I’m so thankful I had journaled!

I want to encourage you to take up journaling.  Aim for once a week, or at least once a month.  Write about what God has done and what you are thankful for.  Write about what God has been stirring in your heart and teaching you.  Write down any dreams, visions, or prophetic words you may have received.  You won’t regret doing this!

Habakkuk 2:2 – And the Lord answered me, “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets…”

God bless!

Great Books to Read…                                                                                                           

The following are books that I highly recommend.  If you haven’t ready any of these, do your best to get them and read them sometime this year.  I also put some North Korea books at the bottom…

Only Love Can Make a Miracle – Mahesh Chavda

The Heavenly Man – Paul Hattaway

The Vision (Final Quest/The Call) – Rick Joyner

The Torch and the Sword – Rick Joyner

God’s Smuggler – John and Elizabeth Sherrill

The Hiding Place – John and Elizabeth Sherrill

Visions Beyond the Veil – R.A. Baker

In God’s Underground – Richard Wurmbrand

The Harbinger – Jonathan Cahn

North Korea Titles

Nothing to Envy – Barbara Demick

Aquariums of Pyongyang – Kang Chol-Hwan

Escaping North Korea – Mike Kim

Escape From Camp 14 – Blaine Harden

Eyes of the Tailless Animals – Soon Ok Lee (by far the toughest to read because of its graphic description of the prison camps)