Save the Day Stories

OK, so I just can't contain some of these stories. One of the most amazing stories was about a girl named Alyssa. Her sisters and mom saw the ad for our event on facebook. Her sisters knew that Alyssa would REALLY enjoy this event. Alyssa had gone through some of the issues that To Write Love on Her Arms is addressing and one of her biggest wishes was to intern with this organization. Monday the 17th was to be Alyssa's "golden" birthday so her mom and sisters decided to surprise her with a day at Save the Day. She did not know what the event was about until she arrived at our park. She was amazed and ecstatic all day. But, that's not all...in the middle of all the things going on this 16 year old girl lets us know she is willing to share her story with the people there. And WOW, did she have a great story! She was articulate and made a huge impact! A girl that didn't even know she was going to be there! A girl willing to get up in front of a group of total strangers unprepared and share from her heart and make a difference in her generation. Huge!!

Unique Ministry Opportunity

Hello All!

I wanted to let you know of a ministry that I have been part of for several years that is ready right now to move into many expanded opportunities. I am really excited about the possibilities that are coming with this organization!

There are several people I know that have been called to unique and creative missions around the world and I am excited about the vision of Lift Off to assist these ministries. In fact their very mission is to launch creative mission and training opportunities that build and advance the Kingdom of God.

Because Lift-Off is a 100% pass through organization, meaning we do not take any percentage of monies raised for operating cost, we seek to raise funds to support the infrastructure to support these people and teams. Your participation in this ministry will allow them to mobilize people for life changing ministry around the world and here at home!

The ministry has a goal right now of raising $40,000 by May 4th, 2009. In order to do this they are holding a golf tournament where they are asking us to seek out sponsors for the golfers.

I am asking those of you who know me and have known the types of ministries that we have been led to support consider getting behind this new Lift Off.

The people and ministries we support and work with, including Mark Haugen, whom Travis went to Czech Republic with and our friends in Oaxaca, Mexico will benefit greatly from the support and encouragement of this ministry.

Our family will be getting behind this opportunity and we figure if all the people I know on Facebook, MySpace and through email would be willing to contribute whatever they feel led to give, knowing what they are giving is going toward a ministry I can personally report is making a huge impact for God, we could easily raise that money and more and really encourage a lot of people called to work in God's kingdom.

You can sponsor this event with a secure on-line gift by clicking on the appropriate link below.

This is very important to me and to Lift Off Mission and I appreciate your willingness to stand with me in my passionate support for something that I believe in.

Please respond by clicking on the YES link below.  Your gift is tax deductible.  You will receive a receipt for that purpose as well as a "Thank-You" note and report from me on how the event is going.

Thank you so very much!!

Rick

Yes, I want to support you in your efforts to raise funds for Lift Off Mission: http://www.aboundfundraising.com/events/accept.psp?id=40117

An amazing time in Kenya!

I wanted to thank all of you who prayed so much for us on our most recent trip to Kenya. Tyler and I had an amazing time on this journey! I always say it is one of the most difficult things to do but the most rewarding!

We had awesome grace on this trip and many blessings. The flights all came together just fine and we made it to Nairobi without a hitch. With a few hours of sleep on the plane (actually missed the Sahara desert this time) it was a joy to see our friends waiting for us at the airport. We took off into the streets of Nairobi and were made aware very quickly we are not in the West anymore! Besides driving on the "wrong" side of the road, we aren't even really sure where the road is! People scurrying all over, including right in front of the van, and lots of sounds, smells and sights to take in all at once. We stayed in a very nice "Kenyan" hotel the first night, which actually had a hot shower and breakfast for us! A very nice way to transition! The next day we took off across the Rift Valley toward our destination in Western Kenya with the Gussi people.

The drive in the valley (desert) is really rough and takes its toll on us road weary folks! Think of the worst road here in the US and take it further than that...and for many many miles...then you get the idea. We arrived in Kisii just fine later int he afternoon and made a few stops. And then headed out to the village of Sengera where the host family of Kennedy Mangara lives and where we will stay for the next week. It is fun to be greeted by everyone waiting for us there and all the children!!!

The next days are filled with a trip back into Kisii and then to Tabaka where they make the soapstone carvings. We have a church service most evenings at the compound where we are staying. Sunday is when all the churches connected to this network of churches come to the compound for a combined service. It is awesome to see the various choirs perform their worship dances and songs! Neil Thielke from our group speaks at each service.

We also start in on the big job of interviewing the 81 orphans and their caregivers for the ROCK project (Reach Out to Children of Kenya). We had an excellent team this year that kicked right in! Thank you Phil, Marci and Laura! We were able to have three interview stations most times going so we accomplished a big task in good time!

On Monday we began visiting the churches themselves and leading services each day. The only hitch I can even think of was one day of getting stuck in the mud and we all had to get out and help push! (Did I mention that the roads in the highlands of Kisiiland are even worse than the Rift Valley? Especially after the deluge of rain everyday!)

We saw God do some amazing things through prayer! No matter what your theological persuasion is it was amazing to see God dealing with such deep issues! We saw God healing and deliviering people from all sorts of issues! The commrodory on the team was incredible as we saught God for each need and He led us to pray for just the thing He had for them! By the end of the week the Spirit of freedom was incredible! To see people released from their pain, fears and strongholds and worshiping God freely was worth the entire trip! We truly have an awesome God!

I know I can go on and on about the things we did and saw on this trip but I will leave this to our times together and maybe future posts as the impact settles into my mind.

Thank you again for all your support and please remember to pray for the people of Kenya and Kisii!

Rick and Tyler are off to Kenya!

Yeah! After 3 years, a back surgery and other obligations we are returning to Kenya this year!

I am extremely excited to return and see our friends and Christian family in Kisii, Kenya. This year Tyler will be accompanying me on the trip as Torrey is busy with a heavy PSEO school load. We will be leaving on March 10th and return on the 20th , a bit shorter this year. Just as a reminder, this region is where the AIDS orphans live that we support through the Outfitters ministry we are connected to. Supporters give an amount each month so that Kenyan church members can keep the kids rather than sending them to orphanages. There are about 7 different churches in Kisii that participate in this outreach. We will be visiting each church and getting to share with them in many ways.
This year I will be spearheading the interviews of each and every one of the orphans we support (which now numbers 81). This includes 20 refugee kids who the churches have taken in due to the political unrest last year. We will be ensuring that all the kid’s needs are being addressed. We will be looking for physical well being, Spiritual growth and other signs that they are being well taken care of. This can be a very confusing thing to accomplish as things as simple as making sure we have the “right” child is made more difficult by the entirely different way they use personal names in Kenya. Please pray we can accomplish this without too much stress on the leaders or families.
We really do look forward to seeing the kids again and spending time with the churches there. As with other trips like this I have taken, I am sure we will be blessed way beyond what we will be able to give them, but maybe in some small way we can bring something that will minister to them as well.
We would appreciate your prayers and thoughts as we prepare for this awesome trip. We are actually way ahead of where we were the last time we took this trip as we have our shots, passports and are gathering all the other items we need. I have learned that I don’t need quite as much as I brought last time!
If God does lead you to participate with us we really do ask for your prayers first and foremost. I have told many of you before that when I have taken trips like this a person can really tell that others are praying for them. If you feel you would like to participate financially I would ask you to consider helping the Worldwide Hope Fund, which is investing in this ministry and other similar outreaches to the needy and also difficult to reach young people. Checks can be sent to Worldwide Hope Fund, c/o Outfitters for Adventure, 511 E 4th Street, Morris, MN 56267.

We pray God will bless you as you remember us!

Rick and Tyler

Weekend with Mattie in Minnesota

Wow, what can we say about the awesome time we were able to share with Mattie from ForToday! We had an incredible time Friday with Pastor Russ and then a local youth pastor and youth leader. That night we had a great time hanging with a bunch of kids from Cokato where Mattie was able to speak with some of them at length. One guy took some incredible Spiritual steps and even wanted to be baptized THAT night! Saturday we went to Willmar where Mattie was asked to speak to a really good size crowd at the Warehouse Youth outreach operated by Youth for Christ. Many kids knew Mattie and he had a great ministry in their lives! Sunday morning was an incredible time for our church to hear what was on Mattie's heart. He spoke right to the need of our people and led in an awesome Spiritual move of God. Sunday night was capped off with a visit to the DC United youth gathering at the Dassel Cokato High School where Mattie was able to share his testimony and speak incredibly into the lives of kids called into leadership. He was directly led to speak words from God to 2 kids who were in a band (which he did not know previously) and the sister of 2 of the band members (which he didn't know). (He had also met and spoke to another band member on Friday night, which he didn't know was related to these kids when he felt called to speak to them Sunday!) God is good! We will be praying for Mattie and Candice as they prepare for their wedding real soon! I would encourage us all to continue to keep these guys in your prayers!

Mattie Sharing in Oaxaca

I wanted to add this post of the lead singer of "For Today", Mattie Montgomery sharing with the church in Oaxaca. It was awesome to see his heart for those people and the encouragement he gave them to carry on a vision for Christ. He also fully recognized, and appreciated the ministry they had in his own life when we all went down there thinking we were some how going to minister to them. It often happens that we receive much more of a blessing than anything we can offer these people.

Again, these guys may not "look" like your average church people but I assure you they are being used by God in a mighty way. Thank your for your continued prayers as we desire to see God reach the unreached segments of culture all over the world.

The "Thread Goes On!"

In our ministry we have been learning a lot about the "thread of relationships" and how God will keep bringing us to people with whom we are to be in relationship with to accomplish His purposes. We were able to spend a terrific evening with our friends from For Today last night in Buffalo, MN. They are still on tour and are in MN right now. It was SO good to see them. We shared such an awesome thing in Oaxaca with them that we will always remember. Well I was thinking how we were even able to come to that moment last night. And I was thinking how it goes again back to when Kris Hanson and I were working together at a group home company together and we got to chat a lot about vision for ministry. He had gotten to know Neil T. in Morris when attending school there and we were able to meet Neil because of the support we wanted to give to Kris. Well, through the years we became more involved with Neil and his ministry called Outfitters. Two years ago we felt the call to take our boys on a Mission Trip to see how other kids are living and see how God works in other countries. We found out about Casa Hogar through the relationship (thread) that Neil has with a man named Bernie Wing at Grace Life Church in Marshall, MN. (He is connected to the True Bridge churches where Neil is also connected). Bernie's church supports Casa. So we were able to visit this awesome place with our family, which was a life changing experience in itself! Well, while there we met Sarah Olla who was there as a missionary from Wisconsin working with the youth in the church connected to the orphanage. We were able to correspond and find out this awesome heart and vision they have for reaching lost kids. Well, as you know that led to us wanting to support this outreach they just held in October where For Today was a part. And through all that we come around and get to spend an evening again last night with these awesome guys and even connect with a neighbor who we have been estranged from for some various reasons. It was a huge "God Night!" Kids were saved, Kids were released from issues and prayed for. Please keep praying for these awesome young guys who are spreading God's passion all over this country.