Giving Thanks

Sometimes in the busyness of life we can forget that these good things that surround us, the things that make our heart beat fast with expectation, the things that make us smile... those things were planned for long ago.

There was a plan set in place long before you got here to make your heart joyful. The beauty of the sunrise that made you stop and stare, the laughter of your children, the phone call from a friend. These were personal kisses from heaven waiting for you, for the exact moment you would need them.

God is faithful and His goodness will endure forever. Even in our tough seasons where things look dark and anxiety ruins most days, God and His goodness is walking with us.

Today I just wanted to share our praises and join with you for somethings you are giving thanks for this Thanksgiving season!

We at YFC Campus Life Military, are thankful for:

* God's great provision through others that we are able to have 2 part-time paid staff as well as are in a position to take on a third in His perfect timing.

* For jobs that fill in the gap but allow flexible hours to be able to accomplish home life and YFC tasks to be attended to

* For a team that is coming together for the same mission and same goal: reaching every military teens with the love of Christ

* For place(s) for our next fundraiser and the details of such coming together

* For the future partners that God is preparing even now

* For the vision we have to cling to and for The God of that vision to trust with it

Our personal prayer requests are these below:

* For Rachel, new beginnings and fro family being together for Thanksgiving.

* For Jeni, the opportunity to help with the bills, for The Lord so perfectly scheduling each day that all things that need to get are, and for joy and peace in this season of financial hardship.

* For Vanessa, to be able to travel and visit friends in this season, and to be at the holidays and half way point of the deployment. Also for friends to do ministry with.

Each of us can agree that one of the most precious things we are thankful for is not a thing but a person.... YOU! We are thankful for your prayers that are making a difference and impacting our ministry here. We are thankful for your love and your support. We are thankful for your life! We are so thankful for YOU!

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Friends

Friends, each time I write this blog I think of YOU! The YOU that sits on the other side of the screen, the you who spends your time reading these word, praying the prayers and spending YOUR time in these moments with us!

The above verse was the verse of the a couple days ago and all I could think about was YOU! Our prayer team. YOU were who I prayed this verse over yesterday and again today. We are thankful for you and for your willingness to stand in the gap for us. We are delighted to know we are being prayed for and we can see the answers to those prayers already. 

Thank you so much for YOUR part on our team! You are loved, you are thought of and you are cherished! Even if we have never met we are in this together and your seeds being sown here have eternal results. We will celebrate together someday and one day in His presence we will remember these things that He was faithful to do through us, as a team!

Today I bring you some praises:

Vanessa: had a blessed trip to her Uncle's house in CA, CiCi seems to be mending from her ear infections and cold and that Vanessa has several fun things still left to do this Fall to help pass the time during this current deployment.

Rachel: her parents are finally all moved in and her life has some very exciting things to keep her smiling ear to ear. Her son is doing well in his senior year and is blowing us all away with his drive and dedication to finish strong. Her other kiddos are in beautiful stretching seasons as well, and Rachel in this season actually has the time to enjoy the people in her life.

Jeni (myself): God has allowed many wonderful meetings to happen, right on time and I am meeting so many possible volunteers that it makes my heart burst with excitement of what's to come. I also have been able to start with AmazonFlex that will hopefully be a blessing to my family while we await to come on as paid staff with YFC.

Prayer requests:

For Vanessa: for travel mercies and for restful and enjoyable time with friends. For organization and thinking space (can be hard with a busy 1 year old in arms) for peace and joy in this month as she pushes past the half way mark and leans into that final stretch of deployment

For Rachel: for her family as they continue to transition and for her time and schedule as it unfolds. For her relationships and her home. For her fundraise to be successful and for her heart to rest in joy and peace.

For Jeni: for being able to make time to do YFC things while taking on a side job with Amazon Flex. For our homes to be provided for. For a seller or renter of our house in GA or for a quick process with the bank to do what we need to, to be out from under it. Pray that I will hear God well and that I will be exactly where He wants me to be at the moments He wants me to be there. 

For our YFC mission here: for the harvest of teen hearts, that they will know and love the Lord. For businesses to partner with us in the future of YFC Military here. For the Chaplains we have begun speaking to and for open doors on both bases. For volunteers and leaders to come along side us and for our hearts to be ever ready with the gospel of peace for all who we encounter.

Thank you again friends. We could not do this without you!!! We pray for your lives as well. May each of you be healthy in body and strong in Spirit through Him who is able. 

Peace be with you.

"...But I say WAKE UP..."

"...But I say, wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe[e] for harvest. 36 The harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life. What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike! 37 You know the saying, ‘One plants and another harvests.’ And it’s true. 38 I sent you to harvest where you didn’t plant; others had already done the work, and now you will get to gather the harvest.” 
John 4:35b-38

Ever have one of those, "Wake up, and look around!" moments? It can be both exciting and humbling. We can feel inadequate and yet ready to go, all at the same time. We are in this moment here at Fort Carson and Peterson Air Force Base. We see the fields, they are ripe and ready. We see the harvest and we are excited to work with The Lord to gather it. What a crazy thought... That He would ask us to join HIM! What a JOY!

PRAISES!!!!

Praise God for those who have planted here, for the fields that are ready and for the hands that prepared our work before hand. Praise God for His faithfulness throughout our journey here and for His vision and clarity to our purpose. Praise God that He has called us and that He is building us up for the work at hand. Praise God for the workers to come and for the leaders in standby. Praise God for the HARVEST! And praise God for this season of Thanksgiving, may it be bountiful and joyful, refreshing our souls in His promises and faithfulness. 

This week please keep our team in your prayers personally:

For Vanessa as she travels to see family and friends throughout this month, as she gains a young roommate for the time being and as she continues to lead this team towards God's mission and will for this area. Pray for her strength and wisdom in her household duties while she, her daughter and her husband continue to push through deployment and army separation. Pray she is constantly covered in love, peace and joy in this season as tough and trying as it may be. 

For Rachel as she celebrates her birthday this week (Monday in fact) that this year of life will be such a blessing and one to remember for a lifetime. Pray for her family as they have many transitions and life seems to be joyfully unsure and beautifully full to the brim. Pray for her as she parents her children in God's love and stature in this time of transition and transformation and for her children's heart as they embrace this season of life with their mom, family, school and friends. Pray for clarity on some of the things she has been asking God for, that she may feel peace in the midst of waiting, and certainty in decisions regarding her work, family and future.

For myself (Jeni) as I start to fill my calendar with the workload of YFC and the transition therefore for our family from stay at home to work from home (mostly) mom. Pray for our home and family dynamics as Caleb helps to balance my work schedule with his and helps with the weight of family life while I get my bearings. Pray for our provisions as we are now in talks with our mortgage lenders for our house in GA to help relieve us from that debt that weighs heavy one us with no renters, no buyers and now storm damage. Pray for our oldest soon as he approaches his senior year of basketball and track season, that he will stay healthy and strong for both. Please pray for wisdom as we parent and as we teach, that God will be glorified through us. 

As a mission field team please pray for:

Provisions, clarity, joy, strength, favor and FUN! Ask God to open doors where we should go and close doors where we should wait or look else where. Pray for continued favor with chaplains, community resources and financial support. Ask God to help us be a blessing to all who cross our paths and that military teens, families and this community of Southern Colorado Springs will be impacted by The Christ in us. Lastly but so important... please pray for more workers, volunteers and leaders to come forward and to joyfully offer their support and time in this mission. 

Thank you for faithfully praying with us for God's mission field here. We cannot do it without HIS power going before us, with us and behind us and without others lifting us up as we plow the fields before us! 

Blessings Friends,
Jeni

Back To Work

Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me, "Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant."

Jeremiah 1:9-10

I get most excited about the build and planting part of the verse above. I have no doubt that is what we are here to do! Build these military teens, their families and their community up and at the same tim plant new seeds, water old ones and ready a harvest to God's perfect glory!

I am a bit of a big dreamer and I have had so many visions and my heart leaps when I think of the harvest to come. Military teens from all over Colorado Springs joined together to worship and to share in God's word, to take it to their peers with joy and expectation! How exciting it is to have this kind of hope going into such a hard fought place! First to find them, then to bring them in and then to introduce them to the One True God who LOVES them! AHHH! Can you believe this is our actual day in and day out JOB!?!

Team Praises 

*We had a wonderful trip to our Youth Worker's Camp and lots of amazing team building and rest for our souls. 

*God continues to provide our every need while we wait to be funded as fully paid staff.

*Our groups blended well for the first time and that was a huge blessing for us to see.

*New Teens are hearing about us and are wanting to be apart of what we have going on.

*New opportunities for new spaces and times are starting to emerge.

*New volunteers are starting to come forward and starting the process of the paperwork required.

Team Prayer Requests

*Please pray for the hearts of the teens we know and have in our small groups. Pray that their faith will deepen supernaturally through Christ. We are asking The Holy Spirit to move in them in ways only He can and to use us to guide, hear and walk with through this season with them.

*Pray for our small groups and for our wisdom as leaders of when to blend and when to add new options.

*For team members, leaders, volunteers and support partners. Pray for the Laborers that will join us!

Individual Requests

For Rachel: For her mom and dad which are in the process of moving and the life change to come within their home.

For Vanessa: For clarity, organization and work/life balance. 

For Jeni: For a miracle with their second house in GA, that it will sell or rent soon and that they will have provisions until it is. Also for their kids through this season that they will be understanding in this season and that all their needs will be met.

Thank you for being fellow laborers with us in lifting up our requests. It seems like such a small task and yet it is the very thing that releases God's power over all things we ask to do! This is first and foremost where our works starts in the throne room of God, asking HIM to help, to lead and to bless. Thanking HIM for all things given and taken. So thank you brothers and sisters for working along side us in this ministry here and within our own lives! May you be blessed.

Refresh The Soul

Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes! It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore.
Psalms 133:1‭-‬3 ESV

Today we pack for a FREE Youth Workers Retreat! We have been blessed with this time together as a team and look forward to the whispers of hope for our team here.

We have gained much administrative ground over the last couple weeks and as we get the emails sorted and tasked divvied up we are finding just how monumitous our plans are. We have great ideas and we are meeting some amazing kids. Doors seem to be opening here and there and life as a team has begun. What a praise it is to work with fun-loving, mission-focused people!

We have great needs, however, as we plan and begin to implement each plan and for that we bring our requests to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, as He is the only one able to accomplish any of these things through us.

-We ask for provisions. Monetary and donations. Our salaries and our mission determine on the giving of others. Just as we have been called to do this work, we believe others have been called to support it. Pray for partnerships to be formed and for donors to come forward with the same sense of action we have for doing the work here.

-We ask for unity. As our team continues to grow and build pray for our teamwork to be as such. Pray that our actions are Holy Spirit lead and that our fruit is that of eternity matters.

-We ask for volunteers and other leaders to step up and be made knows. For their quality to the mission to be beyond what we could ever ask and for their calling lead them to us and us to them. That we will be fragile with their hearts and work hard to develop them in ways that continues to make disciples long after we are gone. Pray for the names that have put in my heart, that when we are able to ask them, their heart will leap with confirmation of their duties!

-We ask for the hearts of these teens. That seeds will be planted even now and that each student we make contact with will know for certain they are loved and known by the creator Himself. Pray for our words to them be what The Lord wills for them and that every outreach, small group and sports event, that teens will know us by our love.

-Most importantly, we pray that in all things, word and deed we will bring glory to God with our lives inside and out of youth ministry. May this week's getaway bring joy and life to our souls and may the bonding that takes place in the next few days be the work of years together. May The Lord accomplish goodness in our souls that we come back with vision and passion, peace and joy. May God have His way in us!

"Now to HIM who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of HIS glory with great joy,  to The Only God, Our Savior, through Jesus Christ Our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time and now and forever, amen."
Jude 1:24-25

Blessings brothers and sisters, we are thankful for your love, support and prayers. We pray for you and yours as well. God is in this and what joy it will be to see His answers from heaven's eyes!

As The Lord Leads

A cord of three threads was prayed for and soon came to be.

Youth For Christ Campus Life Military here at Fort Carson and Peterson Air Force Base has been born and three of us have come together in leadership roles to share in the ministry calling to reach military teens in our community with grace giving, gospel centered love and relationships.

For our first Wide-Spread Prayer Requests will keep it short and sweet:

First for our team by name: Vanessa T, Rachel W and Jeni K

Pray that our bond as a team will continue to grow and that our hearts will be lead by the call of Christ here to military teens, their friends and their families, but also to one another as workers and friends!

Pray for our joy and strength as we reach out for funding partnerships and that The Lord will send provisions from near and far to help accomplish the mission we stand before. Pray for giving hearts and for those called to walk along side of us in this ministry in the way of provisions.

Pray for our small groups that have already started, one in the form of a small military home school teens core Bible study and one as an adventure/hiking group. Both groups have proven to build bonds and friendships that were not previously there before and give us so much joy at the glimpse of the future of these groups and more! These "kids" are amazing!!!

Pray for quality youth leaders and volunteers. Ask that God would send harvesters to work along side us and to join in the joy of sharing the Love of Christ. We need these relationships in order to impact our large area of outreach, to establish in-school clubs and to grow local area ministry opportunities.

Lastly, please pray for the teens and families we hope to be impacted by our ministry here. We are asking for God-sized outcomes and for eternity to be different because of our work here. May these teens and their families find Christ in us and in our work with them, may they feel loved and cared for and may their hearts be soft to God's call.

Thank you for your prayers and your concerns for our ministry. Please feel free to contact us with any questions you may have!