Reflections...

As I sit in the now lovely&CLEAN team room at the ministry (today was cleaning day!) and begin this blog to you all, many thoughts and emotions flood my mind. Spring Tour has finished....it was oh so bittersweet. You see, this was our last tour as a team. We've been touring together for 9 months and to suddenly have that part of your life over...it's hard, scary, exciting, sad. God has blessed our team so incredibly. Throughout these months together we have loved being together, loved playing together, and for some strange reason, have not gotten sick of each other! Sure there have been times of disagreements and times of upset and hurt, but nothing major to ruin the unity and joy of our team. So now as we have reached the end of touring together, the time has come to say goodbye and to move onto the next things God has for each of us. Now it's time for us to split up and take on different roles for this coming summer...some leading summer teams, some being cooks, some being trainers, and some just being there doing whatever needs doing. But for now, let me share with you some highlights from spring tour.

This tour was interesting in that it was only 3 weeks long and we went down to Florida and back in those 3 weeks. So there was LOTS of driving! It was a special tour though since we all knew it was our last, we cherished every minute of it. One of our favourite parts of this tour was in Hawthorne, Florida. For 3 days our team helped out at a school camp of 10&11yr olds at Luther Springs Retreat. We were each assigned to a team and helped out in whatever way was needed. We provided the music for the morning and evening sessions and then during the day helped run the activities for the kids. It was such a fun time even though it was such a tiring time! Julie and I were in separate cabins each with 10 lil girls. Talk about fun times eh?! They were lovely girls :) We found that this age group is so significant. Our whole team was very adored and looked up to....probably because we were that 18-24 age and also we were 'the band'. So for us to have a positive impact on these kids was oh so important! I loved just being able to be there for them, hug them when they needed a hug, play with them, tease them, counsel them, encourage them...it was a special time. Another highlight for our team was in Blairsville, Georgia. The youth group here was in the middle of a 30hr famine and so we played music for them that morning and worshipped with them for 2hours. The rest of the day we were able to help them car wash and then hang out and play volleyball, basketball...etc. Awesome people.

Our last stop before heading back to Willmar was at our team leader Paulie's church in Jacksonville, Illinois. During our 4 days there Paulie's niece was born...it was so exciting and such a blessing for him to be there at that time! Paul's family and church blessed us all immensely and it was a wonderful way to end tour.

Right now we are now heavy into partnership drive and then in a couple of weeks summer team members will begin arriving!! We are so looking forward to the summer and all it involves. Thank you all so much for your continued prayer.

Until later...
Ruthie :-)

Spring Tour

So, I'm not with the team, but I see they haven't posted on their blog since Winter tour. Well, rest assured... they did go out on the road for Spring tour. They will return to Willmar on Monday, and we'll ensure that they get an all-encompassing update out there for you all!

Rocky Mountain High...

The Rockies...the most beautiful drive ever, and the most annoying to do with a van and trailer. We traversed the entire state of Colorado yesterday and found ourselves in the wonderful town of Wellington, CO (hometown of Summer '06 team member, Carl Dernell). We have a show here tonight.

A big shout-out to the wonderful people of Grand Junction. We got see some amazing scenery as well as meeting some awesome people.

After driving through mountains for the last month and half it is nice to be back on flat ground. It's hard to believe that we only have a week of tour left. Thanks so much for all of your prayers and support for the last little bit! We appreciate them!

God Bless,
Paul

Home

This past week has been really amazing. Last week we were in Grass Valley at a camp. We were there for a couple of days and it was so much fun. We played one concert there and then were able to just hang out. Then last Friday I was at my home with my family for 4 days with the team. We arrived on Friday and just hung out with my family. And were able to just relax, which was nice. Saturday we played a youth concert at my church, that my entire family came to. Sunday morning we played an hour of worship for my church. It was so great being able to see people that I actually knew. :) Sunday afternoon we drove to Citrus Heights (about 45 minutes from my house) and played our second concert of the day. Monday was a day off and we spent it in lovely San Francisco. I'm sure you read a bit about our day off from Ruth's blog. It was a lot of fun to ride the ferry into the city and just walk around. And it was perfect weather.

Overall my time at home was really nice. I enjoyed seeing my family and a few friends. And it was fun showing my team around my area a bit. :) Well Tuesday morning we left for Bakersfield and stayed the night. Wednesday was another long driving day through the desert and after a long time in the van we arrived in Las Vegas, where we had an amazing youth concert. The youth group we played for were phenominal. They were so passionate about God and just showed it without shame. It was such a humbling concert. Thursday was a day off and we were able to sight see a bit in Las Vegas. We saw the water and lights show in front of the Bellagio, so that was cool. Today we drove a ways and arrived in Utah. So we will be staying the night here and then driving to Colorado tomorrow.

Winter tour has been difficult and yet so amazing. I have learned so much more about God and who I am in Him. I am just so thankful that God is so faithful and loving.

Well I hope everyone is doing well!!! Hi team 14:22!! Miss you guys! :)

God Bless!
Julie

The Joys of San Francisco

I have always had a disliking for seagulls and now I have a very good reason to be. Today was our first day off for a long while and so we spent it in lovely San Francisco. We took a 1/2 hour ferry ride and enjoyed having the refreshing sea breeze on our faces...until the wind blew my glasses off and they broke...:-/ Oh dear... After spending some time at Pier 39 we walked over and watched the sealions for a spell. And it was here that this infuriating disaster occured. I was leaning over the rail peacefully watching the sealions swim around and make their dreadful noise when suddenly I felt something wet and warm land on the top of my head. At first I thought it was a drop of water but then when I saw the stinky seagull above me, I realised it was something else. Luke and Julie lost it collapsing with laughter while I helplessly stood there with birdy stuff all in my hair. UNbelieveable. I then ranted for the next 20 minutes about the stupidness of seagulls and how much I disliked them etc etc. Ach, the joys of life!!

So apart from this terrible ordeal, we all had quite a lovely time in San Francisco. We went to Chinatown, had tapioca tea...fun times!

Tomorrow we will be going to Bakersfield and then Wednesday will be in Los Vegas. It's hard to believe that there is only 18 days left of this tour. I can't believe how fast these weeks have gone by. Soon we'll back back in Willmar for Spring Break and I'll be seeing my parents from Aussie land...hi mums and dad!

Thanks for your prayers dear friends.

-Ruthie :-)

It was a sad day...

Today was a sad day. We dropped Chris Reed, our manager, off at the airport. The van just feels empty now. Life seems meaningless. We can't go on. Just kidding!

It was really sad to see Chris go though. We had gotten used to the extra person in the van and watching him wipe out repeatedly on the skateboards was quite amusing. Chris joined us last Thursday night in Elk Grove, California. The following morning we played a chapel service at Elk Grove Lutheran HS and then that night we were back in Davis at Chinese Bible Church. From there we headed out to Gridley where we spent the weekend. Yesterday we were in Yuba City, California where we did two concerts: one in the morning at a school and one in the evening at a church.

Needless to say, we have been very busy! We have played so many concerts lately, it almost feels like we are overseas again.

We are heading off to Grass Valley this afternoon to spend some time with Christian Encounter Ministries.

A big shout-out to Gretchen, one of my teammates this past summer, who surprised us by showing up at Gridley.

Thanks for all of the prayers and support! Hi to team 14:22...hope things are good out east!

God Bless,
Paul

Decibles? Heck no. This amp is measured in PSI, my friend.

Oh, what a week! Where to begin but where we left off: Julie's Birthday at "Nast In The Box". After our jaunt to Ontario (the city, not the province) we headed up to Bakersfield to play for another school. I heard the girls had a good time there, but we guys were taken out to a wonderful restaurant and were treated like little kings by our hosts. On Thursday we played the chapel for the high school kids and got to crank it real loud. They were very kind to us. To me especially because my voice sounded like I'd put it through a cheese grater and they didn't jeer in the least. Thanks guys!

We left toot sweet for Escondido and played an acoustic chapel the next day for our fourth school of the week. Luke and I had a blast at our host home on Friday night. They put us in a "pool house" which was a miniature house in their back yard by their pool. We set up the recording equipment and got three more tracks done for the up-and-coming album. How exciting!

Saturday we found ourselves in Poway (northern San Diego) at Chinese Bible Church, doing a music workshop for their high school musicians. And who did we meet there but the easily flattered, oh so generous, black custom Fender Tele owner/borrower, CTI alum Jared Moody. Go figure. After an afternoon of boba eating/drinking/spitting and some amazing Pho (that's "ph" like "f" and "o" like "uh") thanks to Dave Yu, we parted ways for the next while.

CBC was a good time on Sunday morning and Ruth had a surprise visit from a friend's dad from Australia. I think that was the case anyway. Anyhow, we downed more boba (oh MN, how you lack such delicious things...) and enjoyed the service at Flood. If you don't know about Flood, it's the home church to Future of Forestry (formerly Something Like Silas) and my main church while I was living in San Diego. If you get a chance, check it out. Seriously.

Ooooh, and I almost forgot. Some of you may have seen those energy drinks in the gas stations. Goodness knows we see 'em every two hours on our trips across the States. Anyhow, some of them are nothing more than guarana-flavored soda with big bold letters on it. Some of them just taste bad and have a little more caffeine in them. One of them, Red Line, has a warning on it stating that you shouldn't consume it if you're under 18, have a history of heart problems, are pregnant, or one of a hundred other things. It promises the energy of a class of 2nd graders in six little ounces of thick liquid. Most of us would think to ourselves, "hmm..." and move on. No no no, one of our guys (who will remain nameless for shame's sake) paid the $4 for this little magic bottle and reaped the benefits...err...consequences. Apparently it actually DOES work. His heartrate BPM was around 1,000 during the church service and his nose itched for about eight hours. He got an hour and a half of sleep last night (blamed mostly on the earsplittingly loud snoring of yet another nameless band member) and was unsurprisingly surly this morning during the first two hours of our arduous eight hour drive from San Diego to Fresno. The moral of this story is: if you're unsure about the effects of a particular substance, make someone else try it first.

Have a good week everyone.

..nathan walker..

California!

Hi friends! Well today is our wonderful Julie's 19th birthday!! Happy birthday dear girl! It's been lovely celebrating with her today...first at lunch with Jack in the Box, then giving her a present of Doritos, Jeff Gordan trading cards, and a journal, then trying to light candles on her birthday cake with the wind blowing persistently, singing happy birthday with Paulie slipping and falling off the step, Willie saying 'happy birthday Julie' every minute...ya, it's fun times!!

So we are in California and it's so nice to be in some warm weather. Yeah, I know I love the snow and it was very exciting for me to be in some...BUT being in warmer weather reminds me of back home in Australia :) Right now we are in Ontario (I think!), just outside of LA. We've spent the last couple of days in San Diego and had a really awesome time playing in Nathan's old church and meeting some of his friends. You guys at Glory were amazing...thanks for being such a great crowd! Enjoy those cd's now!

This past week we also played at a detention centre in Eloy, Arizona. For some reason, playing in a prison is a very humbling experience for me. These are people who have probably reached the lowest point in their lives, but their love for God and the joy that they seem to have really encouraged and ministered to me! They loved our music and it was truly a joy to play for them and be a blessing to them.

Well dear friends, we are now into our 5th week of tour. Amazing...it's going so fast it seems! And next week our amazingly wonderful director Chris will be with us :) Yeah!! God has been faithful and I'm constantly amazed by his goodness to our team. Thank you all so much for your continued support and prayers! Bless you!

-Ruth (or you can call me Marie...seriously, the last 4 times I've introduced myself to people they've thought I said Marie coz of my accent...now, how 'Ruth' can sound like 'Marie' is something I don't think I'll ever be able to understand!)

Hello from Phoenix!

Hello from Phoenix!

We are finally free of the cold weather, and it feels great. As I write, we have all the doors and windows open and are wearing short-sleeves.

This last week has been pretty busy. Let's recap a bit...


Tuesday morning we played at Denver Lutheran HS for a very receptive crowd. It was lots of fun. Then we played on Wednesday night at Englewood Correctional Facility. This was one of our most humbling and exciting concerts yet. The prisoners were great and some of them even prayed for us after the concert!

Friday we drove through some pretty rough conditions to Albuquerque, New Mexico, but once we arrived it was worth it. We stepped out of the van to 60 degree weather. We spent the weekend with Fellowship CRC and Chelwood CRC. A big shout-out to the Ragsdale family (Jenna, STM '05 alum) for letting us hang out during the Super Bowl. It was a sad day to see the Bears lose, but it was a great time hanging out with the Ragsdales.

Now we are in Phoenix, where the weather is even nicer! Thanks for your prayers and support.

Specific prayer requests:

• Our upcoming opportunities to minister in prisons
• Continued team unity
• Strength for a busy week

God Bless and stay warm!

Paul

Snow, snow, snow...

Well everyone...our very own Ruthie got her wish and we have been dealing with lots and lots of snow since we started our Winter tour. We have spent most of the last week in the Denver area and have seen first-hand all of the winter weather that has been hitting this part of the country.

After leaving Lincoln, NE we made our way to Lakewood, CO. There we spent Wednesday and Thursday with the youth group at Bear Creek Church. The people there are awesome and we had so much fun playing for them.

Friday we led praise and worship at Denver Christian High School. We met some great people and had a great time praising the Lord.

Saturday we headed to Aurora, CO (also in the Denver area) and met up with the people at Open Heavens International Chapel. We spent Saturday night playing as part of a musical extravaganza, and then participated in the worship service on Sunday morning. After the worship service we packed our gear and quickly made our way to Evergreen, CO, which is nestled up in the Rocky Mountains. We played at the Lutheran Church of the Cross, and then headed off to our amazing host homes.

It's hard to believe that our first week of tour is already over! Thanks for all your prayers and support.

God Bless,
Paul

Colorado

Well we've been on tour now for a little more than a week. It has been awesome so far, and very interesting. Last Tuesday we drove from Lincoln, Nebraska to Denver, Colorado. Wednesday we played a youth concert for a really fun group of Senior Highers at the Bear Creek Presbyterian youth group. It was an extremely fun concert. Thursday night we played for the Junior Highers at the same church and that too was a lot of fun. The kids were very energetic and helped us to just have a great time. Friday morning we played at a High School, and this past weekend we played at Destiny International Church and it was quite the experience. That church loves to worship. They blessed us so much and I enjoyed getting to be a part of their church for two days. Last night we played at Lutheran Church of the Cross and again just had a really fun concert. But more than just the music this past week has been full of meeting some really awesome people. I have been blessed so much by some amazing host homes. I'd just like to say thank you to the people who have hosted us over the past week, we appreciate it so much.

Personally I feel like God is really moving in my life right now. He is teaching me so much about trusting Him in difficult situations. This past week has been amazing but also difficult at the same time but God has been so faithful to give me the strength I need for each day. I am so thankful that God doesn't give up on me during my many times of weakness. What an awesome God we have :)

I hope you all are doing amazing. God Bless!!!

~ Julie

Here we go....

...one more time (yeah, you know the rest!)

Well here we are in Lincoln, Nebraska, 3 days into our winter tour. I can't begin to tell you how wonderful it is to be back on the road again and travelling those many hours in good ol' Bessie :) Playing music, sharing testimonies and stories, doing dramas, staying with host families...this is what I love! It's been great being back with my wonderful team again-they are such a blessing. We love hanging out with each other and doing this ministry together!

Tomorrow we have a long drive to Denver, Colorado and than have a concert the next day. Please pray for safety on the roads and for Paulie as he drives! Thank you! You'll hear again from one of us soon... God bless!

-Ruth

Thinking of Bolivia...

I just finished reading some disturbing headlines from Bolivia. There are riots going on there and they are not looking good. Some people have already died and it doesn't look like the situation is getting much better. What's crazy for me is that I saw places in the pictures that I stood not more than a month ago. I can't believe that things have gotten so bad. Please pray for the YFC in Bolivia and also for the people of Bolivia.

In other news, we are leaving for Winter Tour in 2 days! Crazy huh?

We're Back!

Our time at home (or wherever we chose to spend our break) has come to a close and we are all reassembling in Willmar to kick off our new year together. We are excited about what God has in store for us this new year, and we are anxious to get back to the work that He has for us.

We have all been blessed with great friends and family, and as we say good-bye again, we know that the Lord will keep them in the palm of His Hand until we are reunited.

I would personally like to echo the sentiments of Pedro (National director of YFC Bolivia), by saying thank you to families and friends for letting your loved one go. We often underestimate the sacrifice made by those we love so that we can do the Lord's work, but you are all definitely our partners in the Gospel! So thanks for supporting us and letting us do the things that we know that the Lord has called us to!

God Bless and have a safe New Year!

Paul

I'm dreaming...

...of a white christmas...(where's the snow?!)

Hello everyone and happy new year! Well, here I am back in Willmar after a wonderful christmas break. Today the rest of the team members arrive and tomorrow will be spent at the ministry where we'll be doing partnership drive for the next 2 weeks. Christmas break was a great time of relaxation and catching up with friends here and back in Australia...not that I got to go home, but I was able to keep in touch with them more often (g'day friends)!!

This past week 7 of us from CTI (David, Melody, Beth, Carolyn, Josiah, and I) were at the Urbana conference which was held in St. Louis, Missouri. Oh, and of course there was Jimmy helping us out from Canada (eh?!)...and Eliot, Kim and heaps of other CTI alumni. They were such an awesome help and blessing to us! Thanks friends! We were at Urbana to recruit people for the coming summer/fulltime teams. I found this an amazing 5 days. 22,000 people attended Urbana and it was just awesome attending the sessions. The speakers were great and had challenging messages to share and the music...wow, very inspiring. Being able to worship with 22,000 other Christians was such an amazing experience for me. We welcomed in the new year singing and praising God together! It was a beautiful time!

Well, thank you all for your continued support and prayers. Without them we would not be half as effective in our ministry. What can I say except that God is good...His goodness and faithfulness and love is unchanging and steadfast, and for that I am thankful. We serve an amazing God! Friends, may you have a blessed 2007!

-Ruth

Bolivia in a nutshell...

As I sit here in my favorite chair in my parents’ living room, I am drawn to a slightly retrospective corner of my mind. I am starting to wonder if I have become a professional compartmentalizer (yes, I know I just made up a word), that is, I wonder if I have stored up too much experience in past year and a half without unpacking some of it. I am making an early resolution (New Year’s is only a week and a half away) to share more of my experiences with the people I love. And you are the people I love…so here goes.

Bolivia was/is one of the biggest growing experiences of my life. I did not realize it during the experience but God used the people there and the experiences we had to teach me so much. For example, one of my friends commented last night about the fact that I was not wearing a watch (a very atypical behavior for me). I said to him, “Yeah, I have come to realize that time is not nearly as important as the people that you spend it with.” That was definitely a lesson I learned in Bolivia. They take 2 hour lunch breaks so that they can spend that time with their friends and family! We enjoyed many a long lunch while we were in Bolivia.

I also learned that God is an astounding Creator. If you get the chance to see any of the pictures that any of the team members took, take note of the beauty surrounding that place. The mountains will take your breath away, literally (if you have never experienced life at two miles above sea level, you should really try it sometime).

I think for the first time in my life I caught a true glimpse of the enormity of the spiritual battle that goes on without our realization. There is a very real battle being fought around us each moment, but we can be confident because the Lord has claimed victory already.

I learned that there really are people out there who care about others more than themselves. And a bunch of them work for YFC Bolivia. People like Pedro, Andrea, Priscilla, Randy, Danny, Hannah, Omar, Henry, Sergio, David and so many others have touched my life in way that they may never truly understand until we see each other again someday. But I know that it was not just these people or that place that taught me all of the important lessons that I learned, but rather it was the Lord carefully crafting an experience to teach me everything He needed me to learn to prepare me for something He has planned for me. And THAT makes me feel warm and fuzzy. That kind of planning communicates a serious amount of care.

I would like to close with a word of thanks to all of our friends and family that support us through prayer and so much more. We could not do the work that the Lord would have us do, if you were not there supporting us each step of the way. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

May you be blessed by the Creator of the Universe, who came in the form of a baby to prove how much He cares.

Merriest of Christmases!

Paul

Phone call from Paul

I spoke with Paul this morning. The team is spending their last day in Cochabamba today and will head back to La Paz overnight tonight. Paul shared a few prayer requests and praises with me:

A piece of their sound gear that is supposed to regulate the power for the rest of the system has been damaged by an electrical surge. This means that the rest of their equipment will not be protected from such surges for the rest of the tour.

The girls have their voices back!! They had lost them for a bit, which was putting extra strain on Willie and Nathan.

Matteo Villareal, the 4-year old son of Bolivia YFC's national director Pedro, suffered a bit of an accident last night when his finger was slammed in a door. He actually lost the tip of his finger and is having surgery. Please pray for him, and for Pedro as Mrs. Villareal is out of the country right now.

Thanks for tuning in!

Brief note...

Hello all...

Just a quick note to let you all know that we are now in Cochabamba, in southern Bolivia. Our schedule has picked up substantially and we are doing 3 or 4 concerts a day, and sharing the Gospel with many. Please pray for our physical bodies as well as our spiritual lives as both are being stretched and grown!

God Bless

Bolivia

Well first off let me just say thank you to all of you who have been praying for our time here in Bolivia. WE appreciate your prayers so much. Well things have been going so well here. We arrived in La Paz two weeks ago and did some ministry there. We did a lot of concerts in churches and I enjoyed them so much. We then left for Oruro, a city smaller than La Paz but it is such a wonderful city. I personally loved our time there. We did a lot of outdoor concerts, which I have come to really enjoy. But we also did a concert in an old theatre which was used for church services. I think so far it is one of my favorite concerts. The people were so responsive to the message. After the concert I couldn´t stop smiling, I just had so much fun and I think the rest of the team did too. We stayed in Oruro for a bit and then traveled to Llallagua. It is a very small mining town. We did three concerts there. All of them were outside and two of them were in the main square. The concerts went great... people would just gather around and listen as we played for almost two hours. It was very cold both nights we played there, but the people stayed and listened. Afterwards I got the chance to talk with several young girls. A lot of them were from broken families and some had no family. I tried to encourage them as best as I could with the Spanish that I knew. I just pray that God continues to work in their lives. Yesterday morning we left LLallagua and traveled 8 hours in a bus to arrive here in Cochabamba. IT is much bigger here and very touristy. Today we actually have a day off to rest. Tomorrow we have 4 concerts and I am very excited.

Well other than that my Spanish is very much improving. I was definatley not fluent when I arrived here but I knew a bit. But now I understand mostly what people say and I am able to get around quite well. I love the language and the people here. Bolivia has a unique beauty that is hard to explain in words. It is simple and just so beautiful in its own way. I am falling more and more in love with the people here and I just pray that God continues to work here. Again thank you all for you prayers it means so much :)Well everyone stay well... I can´t wait to share more stories with you all when we get back to the states. Que Dios te Bendiga!! (may God bless you)

Checking in...

Hello to all!

Just wanted to write a quick note to let you all know that things are going well here in Bolivia. We have had a busy week. We left the capital city, La Paz, on Friday and headed to Oruro. We spent the weekend there and were very busy. We played in plazas, marketplaces, and churches. On Monday we headed up to one of the main mining towns in Bolivia. We will be leaving here on Wednesday for Cochabamba to spend over a week there doing a lot of concerts.

Expect much more detailed updates on the ministry we have been doing here once we return. Please continue to pray for us as we have a lot of work left to do here!

God Bless,
Paul