Trip update!!

Hey, so I just want to thank everyone who's taken the time to follow me on my trip through my blog! Here's just a quick update. Firstly, the above picture is a picture of our team (starting from top left) Josiah, Tiffany, Amanda, Cody, Erika, Beatrice (me), Megan, Andrea, and Naomi! I'm so blessed to have such an amazing, God-centred, community of unique people to have as a team! I am so grateful for each one of them!

We're heading off to Cameroon on May 9th with stops in Brussels, Belgium and Zurich, Switzerland! So far we've created big sunday school style picture books of Bible stories that can be used in the Oku culture to promote reading and the Bible to children, and we are in the process of highly interactive Bible studies specific to Oku culture to promote studying and reading the Bible in unity within the Oku groups since their New Testament has now been translated!! So exciting!

oh p.s. I'm not sure if I mentioned this, but you will be able to somewhat follow me on my trip through video! We're not sure about all the details yet but I'll let you know when I do! Also, pray for our videographer named Michael!

Prayer requests:
- preparation
- finances
- our focus - God's glory
- spiritual transformation
- host families
- spiritual warfare
- literacy & Scripture use in the Oku
- health
- group dynamics
- culture shock
- CABTAL (Cameroon Association for Bible Translation and Literacy)

My Strength, My Motivation, My God.

I've been reading Phillipians lately, and I have decided to focus on chapter 4 for today's blog. I noticed that this chapter is one of encouragement, and it is really helpful since it's crunch time, exams are coming up, and I am just simply exhausted and unmotivated. Paul begins in verse 1 by saying, "stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved." This part of the passage reassures me that 1. I need to stand firm in my faith, and 2. I can only get the strength I need to pull through, through God. Verse 5-6 goes on to say, "The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." This is such a refreshing thought. To know that God desires to know the wants of my heart, and that he is here, even when I do not depend on Him when I'm anxious. I have a God who can handle anything, and if my faith and strength is in Him, what is going to stop me from getting through obstacles and troubles? Paul goes on to confirm this in verse 13: "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." And once again in verse 19, Paul further confirms the Lord's Sovereignty: "And my God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus." Despite my anxious thoughts and doubts about getting through obstacles, I am reaffirmed through this passage that God will be my strength, my motivation, and will supply exactly what I need, for His glory. Goodnight!

(All verses are taken from the ESV Bible)

"In as much as you have done it unto the least of these - you have done it unto me." - Jesus

Depraved-heart murder, also known as depraved-indifference murder, is an American legal term for an action that demonstrates a "callous disregard for human life" and results in death.

Pain to Beauty

This morning, Japan was hit with the largest earthquake they've ever had in history. The earthquake was 8.9 on the Richter scale, and cause a Tsunami, 7 metres high. I guess it's hard to imagine in Canada an earthquake, or how powerful they can be. The impact was so colossal, that a Tsunami hit Haiti this morning as well. I feel so terrible. I can't imagine what it would be like to go through something like that. I'm praying that they'll get as much help as they can today, but even with the most efficient help, it doesn't take away from the emotional, physical, and spiritual disaster that people must be experiencing there. I have Christian brothers and sisters who are dieing and suffering right now, and I get to sit in my comfy apartment, on my comfy couch, in a comfy, heated room. I could be one of those people in Japan right now. I don't know if I'm making any sense, but I am just overwhelmed with grief for these people. Please pray for Japan.

All of this pain can be turned around to God's glory, and I've been looking at a couple of God's promises through Scripture today. I pray that through this disaster, many will turn to God for their comfort, and that God's kingdom will grow because of this disaster. These verses give me some peace about this whole situation & I hope that they may be able to give some people in Japan a little bit of peace over the next few days, months, and years that they'll be recovering through. God can turn this pain to beauty.

Jeremiah 29:11
"For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope."

Psalm 34:18 
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted
   and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Joy to the World!!

So our team was pretty PUMPED when we heard that we will no longer be split up into two groups anymore, but we will all be going to the Oku people group TOGETHER!!! (:(:(: When I found out that we were initially going to be split up, I had a lot of uneasiness at first about the idea, but I left it in God's hands and tada! I just thought I would let you guys know a little bit about the Oku group we will be working with :)

Oku Language Group
Population: Estimated 67,000-80,000
Religion: 94% claimed Christian (6% evangelical), and 6% Ethnic Religions
Villages occupied: Over 33
Income: Agriculture
Agriculture: -corn, Irish potatoes, beans, plantains, and cash crops like coffee and cola nuts
                  -animals like pigs, goats, and fowl

Fun Facts:
- Oku alphavet was developed in 1987
- communities are already responding well to literacy initiatives
- there are two men translating the Bible into Oku, Christopher Fornkwa and Mbuh Samuel
-  it is expected that by 2009, four hundred and fifty children will be registered for literacy certificate examination

13 Hostages Return

This past Wednesday, 13 Cameroonian hostages were released. These 13 men were all government officials by unidentified armed men. These men are believed to be the Bakassi (how the news spells it) Freedom Fighters. The Bakassi Freedom Fighters are a military group that is still fighting over the section of land where the Bakassi tribe lives. Why? This land had belonged to Nigeria, the country that rests south of Cameroon, but they ceded it (gave it over) to Cameroon in 2006. The news says that areas around Bakassi Peninsula (around where we will be, I believe, remain prone to piracy and attacks.

Please pray for the citizens in this area of Cameroon, as there is military heat around them. Pray for protection for these people, and for our team not to fear these military groups when we are in Cameroon.

To view this article, please visit: http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20110217/API/1102171136

Conformity - Is Nature Irreversible?

In Acts 10-11, Peter is faced with a great challenge. The Holy Spirit tells him to go to some gentiles, who were considered unclean, and to be their guests. He has a choice to stick to his cultural norms, but he goes in obedience and faith. Peter sees that when these people who were once considered “unclean” were saved, they were blessed with the same gifts as he was upon receiving the Holy Spirit. He realizes that these men are not unclean by God's standards, and he takes a stop of faith in reporting this to the church, whom also considered these men to be unclean. Despite his church's criticism, he boldly gave God the glory and proclaimed what God had shown him.

Peter is so confident in God's work through his life, that he almost does not even care about everyone else's criticism. In Psychology, we studied conformity, and how easy it is to change our opinion on something we know is right, simply because everyone else has a different opinion. It's in our nature... it's built into us so much that we don't even notice our conformity... it's pretty much automatic. When it comes to our Christianity, it's so hard to go against the grain and hold a different view in our church or families, let alone be a Christian in our society. Peter's obedience, faith and passion for God made it automatic for him to give God the glory instead of conforming. If we are constantly devoting our life to God, we can turn around our nature of conformity, and put our faith in God's leading, instead of the crowd's.

Syncretism - Too Great of a Challenge?

When sharing the Gospel in other cultures, there are many obstacles that one must be aware of ahead of time. One major issue today in sharing the Gospel in other cultures is syncretism, which is the merging of two opposing beliefs or values into one religion. For example, a Hindu man might accept Jesus Christ as one of his “gods,” but that opposes the Christian principle that Jesus Christ is the one true God. How do we get around syncretism? One way we can avoid syncretism is to constantly back up our sharing of the Gospel with scriptural evidence and truth. If we speak in truth, it will become apparent that there is no other way but through God. For example, in this case with the Hindu man, we could use Isaiah 43:10b – ...Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me. If this Hindu man is going to believe in Jesus/God, he has no choice but to accept that there are no other gods. John 14:6 could also be used that says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” There are many other ways that Christianity is syncretized into other cultures, but by using God's word as our sword, syncretism can be fought and prevented.

Markers of a Witness of Christ Cont'd (Again)

3. Willingness to GO

In Acts, if you were going to be a witness of Christ, you were going to go where He sent you. This was not an easy task in any way, and I'm sure many of them were reluctant and scared at first, just like we are when God asks us to do something outside of our comfort zone. In the Bible, Paul had not always been a Christian. As a matter of fact, he persecuted Christians; he breathed murderous threats against the disciples(9:1). After he became a Christian, how hard do you think it would have been to work with these very same disciples, and preach to the same people he crucified?! ...and we think that it's scary talking to our friends. People were scared of him - people tried to kill him. However, as shown in Acts 28:28-31, the last verses of the book, Paul was sent,(9:30; 13:51-52), and boldly, without hindrance, preached the kingdom of God and taught about Christ.
All of the apostles in Acts were sent, and they were willing to GO. If they had not been willing, many of the early churches would not have been established, and the kingdom of God would not have been built up without their obedience. Am I willing to go, even to the people that scare me the most, even to the people that I have nothing in common with, even the people that are considered evil, gross, and downcasts of our society?

Markers of a Witness of Christ Cont'd

2. BOLDNESS

So, I Wikipedia'd(?) "boldness" and a very true and powerful description came up.

Wiki:
A BOLD person may be willing to risk shame or rejection in social situations, and willing to bend rules of etiquette or politeness. 

The apostles in Acts WERE willing to risk shame and rejection in social situations, to the point where it seemed as though they did not even consider it a risk - their passion about the message of Jesus Christ overcame any fears of shame and rejection, and they pursued even in the face of jail, punishment, and death.

Let's take a look at Stephen - In Acts 7:54, the people were "furious and gnashed their teeth at him." I don't know about you, but if someone were to "gnash their teeth" at me... I would be pretty scared, and would probably stop what I was doing so that I didn't make them more angry. However, this was not the case for Stephen. In verse 55, "full of the Holy Spirit, [he] looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God." After seeing this, he immediately proclaims in BOLDNESS to the people what he saw, and they "dragged him out of the city and began to stone him" (Acts 7:58).Would I be willing to painfully die for the cause of Christ?

Peter and John, IMMEDIATELY after being released from jail for proclaiming the good news about Christ, went to th body of Christ and prayed, not for the opposition to back down, not for God to "save them" from their enemy, but that the Lord would "consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great BOLDNESS." Do I try to mold my prayer life to save me from opposition, or do I pray to be kept from embarassment, or do I pray to be BOLD for Christ?


Now boldness can be expressed in many different ways. Boldness does not have to be expressed in front of hundreds of people - it could be expressed through arguing for creationism in science class, not conforming to others, even when it's "normal",it could be teaching Sunday School to 3-year-olds with enthusiasm, it could be putting aside fear in any way for the purpose of giving God glory. Either way, a witness of Christ is BOLD - willing to be rejected or embarassed, willing to bend the rules of politeness, willing to be politically incorrect, willing to be BOLD. Is that me?

Markers of a Witness of Christ

Goodmorning friends! (:
So I've been reading through Acts this past week & I've noticed some markers of an evangelical/witness of Christ. (: Sometimes we don't stop to think about what a Christian witness looked like in the Bible, but I've found it very helpful for application to my own life.

1. The Holy Spirit
"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:8

In this verse it is evident that those who will be Jesus' witnesses will be His witnesses in result of the Holy Spirit coming on them. If the Holy Spirit were not to be in people who are witnesses of Christ, then they would be speaking only from human wisdom - not God's wisdom. "For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength." 1 Corinthians 1:25 Do I wait to be lead by the Holy Spirit, or do I depend on my human "wisdom" to figure out how to reach people?

But how do you tell if the Holy Spirit is with someone?

"[Barnabas] was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord." Acts 12:24

Barnabas worked diligently for the Lord and His kingdom. This passage says he was "full of the Holy Spirit" - if the Holy Spirit had not had a hand in Barnabas' work, these people who were brought to the Lord  would not have been, because the Holy Spirit would not have been working in their hearts. Am I saying that someone who does not lead people to Christ does not have the Holy Spirit in them? No. However, if someone is using their spiritual gifts, like Barnabas did, it is evident that the Holy Spirit is in them. Think about it. The Holy Spirit is the One who manifests spiritual gifts, and if someone is evidently using spiritual gifts to further God's kingdom in any type of ministry inside or outside of the Church, do they not have the Spirit in them?

CABTAL Day of Prayer

On March 27th, CABTAL (Cameroon Association for Bible Translation and Literacy), who we will be working with, will be having a day of prayer in Douala, Bamenda and Yaounde. Field projects are also planning on having one in their community as well. I ask you to be join with CABTAL in their prayers for the word of God to spread and have a lasting impact on the people of Cameroon. (:

Colossians 3

Today I'm looking at Colossians 3 to get some insight into groups, teams, how they function, and how this will be able to apply to the Global Adventures team. (:

First of all, this passage has a lot to say about how a group functions. We have died to ourselves, and are made alive through Christ, therefore we must display His holiness when dealing with eachother, especially in group settings. Verse 13 says that we are to bear with eachother and forgive eachother for the things we have against them. I know that as for myself, when I have a hard time with someone, or they rub me the wrong way, the last thing I'll do is confront them about it. Sometimes it's hard to forgive, especially when the person has not apologized, but how will they know to apologize if I don't confront them? Hm... something to think about for myself I guess. Verse 14 says that if we put on love we will be binded together in PERFECT unity. When a group is functioning together, if they are truly showing eachorther the love of Christ, the Scripture says that we will be binded together in perfect unity... wow. God really paints us a beautiful picture of teamwork & how it is intended to be.

We learn some basic elements of teamwork through this passage. Verse 12 talks about teams being clothed in humility, compassion, kindness, gentleness, and patience. Team players are also to have peace ruling in their hearts since, as members of the body, they have been called to peace (v.15).

We learn through Colossians 3 that units/groups/teams are to warn and criticize eachother in wisdom (v.16). Christ shows us through these verses how to be successful in team settings, and shows how he originally intended teams to be used for His glory.

Through everything I have studied, a significant challenge for me is to learn how to confront people in order to better relationships and forgive much quicker and easier. A significant challenge for my team would be to learn to warn and criticize eachother in wisdom in order to build eachother up, since a lot of the time, being shallow and friendly is more common, but doesn't build up anyone.

Hi! (:
This is my first blog post, as you might have noticed. I'm really excited to start this blog and see where it goes. Okay, so to start off with, my name is Beatrice, but people call me Bea. (: I'm currently attending Heritage Bible College and taking the One Year Global Adventures program. :) Which is why I'm writing this blog in the first place. This is my homework assignment so that I can incorporate the community into my journey this year to Cameroon, Africa! :) I'm super pumped for it & God has really been preparing my heart for this trip and teaching me about Him this year & I can't wait to see what He has in store for the rest of the year :)

Thankyou to everyone who has been praying for me, I appreciate the time that everyone has invested in making this year happen for me :)

This semester I'm most excited to actually go to Cameroon, and above all, to see the amazing things that God is going to do through us. :) I know that he is going to be the most important factor this semester, and I trust that He is going to teach us so much & I'm super excited!

However, I'm nervous about the work load. The work at Heritage is ridiculous, and last semester I was known for staying in my room and never coming out. This was really hard for me because I'm a very social person, but the schoolwork took over all my time & I was oftentimes very depressed and lonely. I'm striving to not let that happen again, but it kills me to not get work done too. We'll see what happens, I know God has a plan & I'll put up with the work if it means obeying Him.

That leads me to what i learned on my Christmas break. I had an amazing, relaxing, fun time back at home & I realized the joy that I had been missing all semester. I seriously considered not coming back to school. However, God taught me the classic "trusting in Him," throughout the Christmas break. To begin with, I was approached with the opportunity to accompany three of my friends who were singing at a brethren Christmas service, by playing guitar. I'm a beginner in guitar, and I'm not very confident in my guitar skills, not that I have much at all :P I decided that I would get over my stage fright and unconfidence, and just do it for fun. The day of the Christmas service I was on facebook, and I read a girl, Andrea, on my Global Adventure team's status & it said, "He who does not have Christmas in his heart, will not find it under a tree." I really thought about what that meant in terms of Christ being the celebration of Christmas, and that the realization of that is where we find true joy in our holiday, and so on... Later on that night I was sitting in the service with my friends, almost ready to go up, and all of a sudden I felt this intense pressure to say something about what I had been thinking of & our song, "How Many Kings," fit the theme perfectly. However, I was in a brethren church, and I was scared that even if no one said anything, that someone might be offended if I were to speak before we did our song. However, when we went up, my friend forgot her lyrics & I had the perfect opportunity to share what had been on my heart. I realize, that I would have never done that, but somehow I know that it was God who gave me the courage. I know now that I was probably making a bigger deal than it was, and I have no idea if anyone was offended or not, but, as far as I know, I was the first woman, and probably teenager, to ever do that at that church & someone from the church even came up to me afterwards to encourage me on what I had said. Once again, God taught me to trust Him, and He'll take care of the rest, and through going back to the basics of the Gospel, I really experienced the true joy of Christmas.

How many kings, stepped down from their thrones?
How many lords have abandoned their homes?
How many greats have become the least for me?
How many Gods have poured out their hearts
To romance a world that has torn all apart?
How many fathers gave up their sons for me?