Connecting with our city through Night of Missions

This October, we will be starting a monthly gathering for the youth groups of our city.  We are calling it the "Night of Missions" and it will be held the first Thursday of every month.  The are a few purposes for the Night of Missions.  First, to inspire and challenge the youth of our city through the testimonies and stories from missionaries around the globe.  Second, to keep missions in front of the youth of our city.  Third, to offer another venue to our local churches and build relationships with them.  I am real excited for this, and will be the MC of the event each month. Should be a lot of fun.  Our first speak is one of staff here Stephen Wani from Sudan.  So excited to see how God will use his amazing testimony to inspire and challenge the youth of our city! Please pray for the Night of Missions!

Back from Vacation

We just returned from a great two week family vacation. After a very busy summer of Mission Adventures teams, we were truly excited for some vacation time....especially before baby # 6 arrives!  The first part of our trip was with Grandpa and Grandma Beckstrom in Glacier National Park.  We had a wonderful time there, and as you see in the picture, we even saw a Grizzly bear in the wild!  Kids had a great time with grandpa and grandma, and I think thoroughly tired them out.We then spent two nights at the YWAM base in Montana, followed by a few nights at the camp YWAM Idaho has in the beautiful mountains of Idaho.  As you can see from the picture, the camp was miraculously preserved from a huge forest fire a few years ago.  The fire burnt everything around the camp, but never touched the camp itself!  We then spent one night in the city of Baker City, OR, and walked through the Oregon Trail interpretive center, which was amazing. One of the pictures below is actually of still existing wagon ruts from the trail!  All in all, we had a blessed vacation, and it is back to work Monday!

Above picture of the kids in a beautiful valley where the Blackfeet Indians used to camp.

Above picture of the Grizzly Bear we saw in the wild! Picture was from about 150 yards away.

Above picture taken from the top of a mountain Anders and I hiked up of the YWAM camp in Idaho.  Notice all the destroyed forest around it from the fire....the prayers of many were answered as God literally saved the camp!

Above picture taken of existing wagon ruts from the Oregon Trail.  Simply amazing and inspiring.

Above picture of kids having some fun in a covered wagon.

Above picture of Annie explains how I think both Sarah and I felt the entire trip!

A Name on the Streets of Salem

This is our second week doing "The Gospel Guy', and it is going fantastic.   I cannot explain in a short update how many amazing opportunities we have had to plant seeds and share the Gospel.  One highlight of this past week was one of the city police officers downtown came up to me and said he was a Christian, and every time he walks by us he prays for our ministry.  He said that because of his work, he cannot share the Gospel at all, and he challenged us to take every opportunity we can to do so.  Another man, named Isaac said that he has seen us every day he has gone to work.  He asked for prayer for a troubled marriage he is in.  I am so excited to see "The Gospel Guy" becoming a familiar face downtown in our city.  Please continue to pray for this ministry.

Coffee Hour and Conversation

This past Wednesday we hosted our Youth Pastors Coffee hour.  We had a great time.  It is amazing to see the diversity this meeting brings.  our youngest youth pastor present was 22....all the way up to one guy in his late 40's. I love this once a month meeting.  We question we discussed was "what is the most challenging thing in youth ministry?"  It is always so cool to see youth pastors and their different perspectives and answers.  We also spoke about our Youth Pastor Olympics coming up in September.  This is something I am really looking forward to.