ME NEITHER!

See told you they call Panera the wrong thing! And here's the proof!


Urbana, day 2. I don't even want to write this post knowing how poorly I will be able to convey even the slightest insight we heard today compared to how powerful the speakers were when they spoke. No, seriously, when I think back over our day, I just want to close my computer, but it was so powerful I can't.

First off, we are so lucky to be in the hotel we are in. Seriously, it's the best option!

Ok, so we went to two seminars today, 2pm and 4pm. The first one I want you to guess what the topic was, here are your clues:

1. 85% male population listening to this seminar
2. 90% asian population (which is alot even at Urbana)
3. Jokes were make about isomers and crystallization of impurities found in compounds

Guesses? Anyone?

The title was, "Reaching the scientific world with the gospel." All in attendance were undergraduate science students, post grad science students, or scientists who work in a lab. Wow, it was an amazing study on science, creation and athiesm. We were encouraged to read many of the books by Dawkins, Hitchens and other atheist writers in a group of others and share what we think. Many in the room already had, and found it very helpful to see what athiests believe, as well as to find the most common mistakes and misrepresentations that are said about Christian beliefs. Many are surprisingly basic.

But my favortie part was at the end when those in attendance were welcomed to stand up and share some of the experiences they have had, positive or negative, with sharing thier faith in the lab. I intend this in only the kindest way, I mean, nerdiness is loveable, right? But, some of the cutest nerds from all scientific fields stood up, pushed their glasses further up their noses, and shared their love of God and how it has played out. "As a paleontologist, some of my partners and I were on a dig for dinosaur bones and were telling me how Paul's letters were..." haha, that is a direct quote, but lacking without his awesome voice.

So, after this seminar, we casually strolled down the lane to get to the next seminar we chose. It was called "Follow Me To Freedom," and there were two speakers, John M. Perkins and Shane Claiborne. Maybe those names mean nothing to you, they didn't to me either, at the time. We waltzed into the conference room to this...







No room in the inn. No room for our butts. So we plopped down on the floor, as more and more people crammed in to hear these two guys.







John is an 80 year old black man from the south who has been beaten and brutalized by the hatred of racism. On Switchfoot's latest CD, a song is titled, The Sound (John M. Perkins Blues) about him. He was asked to serve in a role created by Obama, but refused becuase he didn't want to chose a political party, knowing that both sides are limiting and both represent wants of a fallen world, while only Jesus can fill our needs. He said he has great hope in our generation to be done with racism and seeing race first, and that he plans on living the last few years of his life serving God radically.

Shane is long dreadlocked hippie, has a southern accent and has served around the world, including with Mother Teresa. He is a founding partner of something called The Simple Way which is lived out locally, as days are spent feeding the hungry, doing collaborative arts with children, running a community store, hanging out with neighbors and reclaiming trash strewn lots by planting gardens. He does alot of work to expose the fundamental structures that create poverty and imagine alternatives to them. He writes and speaks about peacemaking, social justice and Jesus. Some of his books are Becoming an Answer to our Prayers, Jesus for President and The Irresistible Revolution.


"We need to be a people, not concerned with going 'up there,' but with bringing heaven down to earth." -Shane. And he lives it everyday, denying possessions and choosing to live among the poor.


He also said that each night when Mother Teresa would go pray with him and her other helpers, they would all remove their shoes. He noticed that her feet were grossly deformed. One of the sisters told him that they recieve the exact amount of shoe donations they need each year, and she never wanted to have a pair of shoes nicer than someone elses, so she would feel through to find the worst one, and wear them year after year, decade after decade.  This made her feet to be very deformed.


"What if we all chose to put other's needs above our own like that? I don't believe that God didn't create enough resources to take care of everyone, but I do know that we need to change thinking and acting and idea of possessions.    We live in a time of rich Christians and 24,000 people a day dying of poverty." -Shane


ok, so the title of this post was me neither. Best line of the night;


A man approached Mother Teresa and said, "WOW! I am so impressed by what you do, and the lives you change! It's so amazing, I couldn't do it for a million dollars!"


"Me neither!" she replied. "I would never do it for a million dollars, only because and for the surpassing love of Jesus Christ do I do this."


sassy and to the point, love it.

Hello from St. Louis!

Brrrrr...... It is freeeeeeeeeeezing here! But, even though there is snow on the ground, it doesn't seem as cold as New York was last year. Thats good.

So, we have one full day of Urbana under our belts. Inspirational, uplifting, yes and yes, but there are a couple other things I want to touch on first.

1. This conference of 17,000 people, mostly college students, is full of asians! I mean, shocking amounts of asians! Apparently there are large asian Christian groups and clubs at all the various colleges. Tonight we sat at dinner with a delightful and shy asian college student who goes to Harvard ( a lot of asians are here from Harvard, seriously taking about YouTube kitten videos, seriously) who is majoring in statistics and who ate his entire meal in about 220 seconds...no joke. We were just taking our first bite when he said his goodbyes, and Pete came and sat down, making us feel better about "being too old to be here." He came to Urbana in 1996, and now runs a program called....called....oh dang, I can't remember, but his shirt said "2 Billion, unacceptable" about the 2 billion people on this earth who have never held a bible, have never met a Christian and who don't know Jesus. He was so kind, and asked us a million questions about us before he mentioned that he ran this "little group." Jeez, people here are so other's minded, weird :)

2. So, in review, #1. many asains, and now for #2 let me tell you that this poor city is BLOATED with people, seriously, I think they're a little overwhelmed. I mean, 17,000 people in a small area of a few blocks is insane. There was a line out the door at "Hardy's" (which normal people call carl's junior), and even more people at "St. Louis Bread Co." (which normal people call Panera). But what I love is that we see people going over and above to show kindness, and be friendly to the hotel staff and people who work in this city. We've gotten into it to, trying to remember people's names, and telling them when they doa good job, etc. One hotel worker told an Urbana staff that when everyone came, she felt like it was the first time people "saw" her while working in the hotel business.

But, even though that's good and all, we have learned ALOT of patience waiting in many LONG lines for pretty much anything around here (usually behind a group of asians, haha, ok, maybe just half the time). Luckily, no one's getting all huffy, cause everyone knows your a christian, so you have to put a smile on and work on your patience. No name calling or line jumping, even if you want to. That's what we did tonight while we waited in line for AN HOUR for dinner with all the other 17,000 people. (Urbana provides free dinner to us all, which we thought was awesome, then unawesome half hour into the line, then awesome again after another half hour when we were eating)

3. Asians, waiting, and my last random thing I have to tell you about Urbana is that apparently people found out we were coming, so wanted to drive their big "REPENT OR PERISH" bus down here from Washington, and pass out flyers to, well, repent or perish. We all believe it is most loving to smile, but ignore them. They are trained to engage in long debates, so we just walk on. Others pass out flyers for strange cults, called things like 12 TRIBES "where we share all our possesions, just like the bible wants, etc" but don't provide a bible verse to back up their claim. Well, the 12 tribes would do well in preschool where sharing is BIG!

4. We can see the arch from our hotel window.



YEEEESSSSS we went to amazing seminars, and met life changing people, heard startling facts and statistics ALL that I want to shout from the roof tops, but I'll save it for another day.


We're having a GREAT time though, and wish that everyone we knew was here

Ok, maybe one stat:
Today, 480 Christians were martyred. All while we sat back, drank our coffees and thought about maybe signing up to be greeters or which movie to see. 480 people risking everything to tell others about Jesus, while we sit worried what others might think.

Los Cuties

Check out this sweet video of Los Angelitos orphanage that Andrew went to yesterday to bring donations. You might fall in love!

Crazy Love

I am reading the book Crazy Love in a bible study right now, which inspires and challenges us each night in an intense way. (We all go home each night ready to change the world ;) So, this story particularly caught my eye--because it's a miracle. WOW! I just LOOOOOOVE IT!


This is taken from the Hollis' Blog

"Most of you know by now, our family decided three years ago to forgo giving presents to one another during the holidays. Instead, we reach out and raise money for orphan ministries.

We just finished going through the book, "Crazy Love" by Frances Chan with our kids and decided this year, we wanted to be CRAZY for Jesus! He is so crazy about us, we wanted to share His love with everyone throughout the year, but especially during November and December.

Lydia (They're 11 year old daughter) took "CRAZY" to a whole new level, however, when she approached me (while her dad was on a mission trip in Africa) and asked if she raised $20,000.00 before Thanksgiving, could we adopt a little orphan girl, Darya, who has Down Syndrome in Eastern Europe. (A friend of ours adopted a little boy from the same orphanage and reported that Darya gets no attention at all....no one speaks to her or holds her.)

THAT WAS 8 DAYS AGO! Being a sensible 41 year old, I told Lydia she would never be able to raise $20,000.00 in 8 days.....she is only eleven. She didn't hear me. Instead, she asked again, "But if I do raise the money, will you adopt her?" I responded yes, if she raised that much money in 8 days, we would know God is in it and would travel to adopt Darya!

Tonight, I would like to report that Miss Lydia has raised $26,550.00 and the donations are still coming in. It just so happens, we have good friends who have been planning to adopt a little one with Down Syndrome through Reece's Rainbow, but lack of funds has delayed them. Not anymore, everything above $20,000.00 goes to them.

So, friends, you have been a part of a double Thanksgiving Miracle. Not only will Darya have a home ....but through your gifts, another little angel will be given hope for a family tomorrow too! God is so great, isn't He?

Lydia will be on the local Fox Morning Show tomorrow at 6:45am. I will try my very best to post it to the blog, because I know so many want to see it."

"Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say REJOICE!" Phil. 4:4



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Hug your kids tight because they are not sitting in an orphanage where no one hugs or loves them. God had other plans for little Darya, and had a family in mind for her, all it took was a brave 11 year old who had the courage to listen to God and not be discouraged by "impossibilities," but to live out the same crazy love God has for us.

The additional money is going to another family who is adopting another baby from eastern Europe, but who hadn't been able to make the funds necessary. Two babies coming home!

We need your help

Hello to all of my tens of readers out there in the blog world! Tis I, Amy, from "Abundant Life" blog(hahahaha). Andrew and I are gearing up for Christmas by not decorating, or buying a tree, or having a Christmas party, but just feeling the holiday spirit, that counts, right? Well, we're enjoying it. :) This Christmas we are headed out to Phoenix, woot woot, to spend time with the Brockhaus fam, especially our FAVORITE nice, Miss Charlee, and our nephew(just a guess) chillin in the womb.

This year, we welcomed a little cutie named Milagros into our lives that I blogged about here.
Since then, we have received two letters and two drawings from her in Peru telling us about what she's doing, and thanking us for being her sponsor and telling us that she loves us is always "remembering us in her prayers." She is so cute. I almost feel bad, because we have her funding set up through direct deposit, which automatically pays for her once a month though our account, so we never actually do anything for her, but she is ever grateful. It feels good to get thanks for not really doing anything :)

A couple months ago, Compassion asked us if we would be willing to pray for two little girls who need sponsors. We said yes and signed up and got packs for two little girls in Rwanda. I took a picture of one girl to my 11th grade bible study to pray for her, we did and she got a sponsor that SAME NIGHT! That little girl's life will be changed forever because someone was willing to to love her. She will be told very soon that she has her own sponsor. It must be an exciting day in the life of a child when they hear that someone in America loves you enough to pay for you to get food, go to school and learn about the bible. Um, best day ever? I think so! Many poor children are at risk to believe the lie that they are worthless when in fact they are precious in the eyes of God and worth so much.

So now we have Iragena, who also lives in Rwanda that we are praying for. So I know this isn't the beast picture of her, but just know she is super cute with her fancy white dress and green sandals, standing in a little chalk circle for her picture to be taken.



She has 5 kids in her family, her father is sometimes employed as a farmer, she is in Kindergarten, she loves to jump rope, and she would love you forever if you chose her to sponsor. If you can't sponsor her, will you please pray for her? Pray for her for anything really, she lives in Rwanda for crying out loud, that's rough.

If you never meet her in person, you will meet her in heaven one day and we can all chat then!

Thanks for taking the time in reading this, and for praying for her. If you are reading my blog, I pretty much love you right now!

Love,
Amy

Some things I miss about Fiji

Teaching everyday by a lake, surrounded by trees and green to these cute kids who really started to learn what we were teaching.

Fiji. Well, I miss Fiji. Look at this place. gorgeous.


Living waking to sleeping with 25 friends.