Final Update Monday, July 21

Hello All!
Well it looks like this is going to be our last update before we leave. Since we had such a long update yesterday, we thought we would post some pictures today! So enjoy!

This is Brandon and Bryce with some of the fun fruit drinks we have all enjoyed during our trip! Bryce is drinking Orange juice, although it tastes different, and I am drinking an Avocado drink, it is so tasty. I know it sounds gross, but it is awesome and sweet!! No, it does not go on Tacos or chips here on the other side of the world!!
Here is me at the Steamboat Restaurant. This was a fun meal where your food was cooked right in front of you in this steamboat!
Here is Brandon and I at an old Palace here.
This is a picture of the Seminary that Dr. Borger teaches at!

Here are Brandon and I on cloud 9...literally!! hahaha
These are some pictures of a beautiful mountain that Dr. Borger took us up in Salitiga.
Unfortunately when we got to the top we were in the middle of a huge cloud so we could not see the view of the valley but it was still gorgeous!
This picture was from about half way down the mountain.
This is Brandon at the Coffee Plantation in Salitiga. When cut slits in the trees white rubber comes oozing out!!
here are a couple women that Becca, Yta, and I got to talk with at one of the beaches.
here is the team and brandon and I at one of the beautiful beaches at the Indian Ocean!

This is Becca and I with our favorite translators! Yta is in the blue and she is the one who stayed with me in the hotel when I was sick, and Nana is in the maroon! We love you girls and will miss you so much!!
This is one of the youth boys that looks just like Blake! His manerisms and everything reminded us of you bud, so we thought we would take a pic to show you!!
These were a couple of the kindergarten girls at thwe VBS who kinds attached to me.
This is Brandon with their pastor's son in Cirebon. We all fell in love with him! (Please excuse his pants :))
These are some of the youth girls at the church in Cirebon.


Here is me and Brandon at the hospital. Don't I look pretty! lol

The day I got back from the hospital, feeling and looking better!!

Sorry we could not post more but here is just a brief look at some of the places we have been to.
Please keep us in prayer as we travel back to the states on Thursday.
We love you all and can not wait to see you!
Thank you for all your prayers and support along this journey!

In His Service,
Brandon and Andrea

How Beautiful are the Feet that Bring GOOD NEWS

What a week! We were given many opportunities this week to Bring the GOOD NEWS of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to many here on the other side of the world, and we are pumped!! But before I share about that, allow me to share a quick soap box story that we forgot to tell awhile back.

We were in a city that took 7 misearable yet joyful hours to get too where we were going to share Christ, and hang out with many students of many ages. One of the days we were there we were going to do a VBS for the second striaght day with 5 year olds up to 11 year olds. When we arrived this second day, on our way into the Church we walked past a man who looked a little troubled and had only shorts on. While the team past him I looked at him and we met with eye contact. But nothing happened as we got inside ogf the church. When we got inside, we began to gather the children, but one of our translators said that that man was crazy, literally. The very next second we heard a bang on the side of the Church. Low and behold he was beginning to throw rocks at the Church. All of the children got scared and were crying, it was a very strange incident and unusual one for them and for the community.

So the girls and a few natives got the kids upstairs, the man kicked in the door and he looked almost demon possesed, and the pastors wife and Anthony got the door closed again, Bryce grabbed pvc pipe to hit the man, I got the kids upstairs and came back down with my bazooka gun arms ready to do waht was needed (lol). But in the meantime what was happening, and what will always happen in this culture, is the neighborhood all began to gather around the man to keep him from doing any more damage. He had already broken a few window panes, and also knocked down a motor bike, and so they were fed up with this man and were going to teach him a lesson and the rest of the people that you just don't do this. So, they gathered around him and they were throwing rocks at him, and they hit him on the ground with their knees in his back, and they hit him with a 2 by 4 in the head until he was out cold. Then the police came and got him.

The way they think is this man could possibly do this again, or maybe he has done it before, and they don't want that, and they don't want any more of it so this keeps the crime rate down in the city as well as many other things. It is very interesting. So anyways, good things that followed though is that the community gathered around the church after that, also because of us funny looking white folk, but they heard us singing to Jesus, and sharing Bible stories of trusting in Jesus, so it was a very interesting thing that happened, and overall it turned into being a good thing for ther name of Jesus!!

Ok, so back to the meat of the email, no more milk!! So, we got to spend some time with a few more M's that we hadn't met before to go and meet people, get to know them, ask them many questions about them, and about their religion, and see where God allows the conversation to go. Well the best part is that I believe that 90% of our conversations went as far as sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a very kind and gentle way that does not demand a response or a decision to be made, but simply allows the Good News to be heard and planted into some very blinded and jaded eyes and hearts that have never heard of Jesus before. We were also able to give gifts, gifts= Gospels of Luke, and other little booklets that share the Gospel in true and effective ways.

This was amazing and such a blessing to be a part of and to see what God is doing. Another positive thing was how beautiful the beaches were that we got to talk with people on. We can all say now that we have been in the Indian Ocean! The scenery was absolutely amazing, and the people were really neat. The beaches we were on actually got hit by a pretty severe tsnuami 2 years ago, and we could still see some of the distruction caused.

The M's we were with said that they have seen many people come to know Jesus through this beach ministry and that God is doing great things in this very real, tangible, and friendship approach to sharing the Gospel. This was our best week of our trip, and it was the most ministry packed week as well. We only hope now that in the future we will be able to come back as a Church and make a strong covenant with our bro's and sis' here to annually come back and be a part of sharing the Gospel here as we were able to so that those here can hear and believe.

"For I am not ashamed of the Gospel for it is the power of God through the Gospel which saves live!!" Romans 1:16

We also have had very fruitful and edifying times with our bro's and sis' here over the past few days with just spending time with them, gaining much wisdom from them, and loving on one another! You guys would all love them as much as we do! And us guys were able to play a game of 3 on 3 Basketball with some bro's here and we had a blast and were able to lose some of the weight we have gained from eating fried everything, especially fried rice, for every meal! It was a blast!

Andrea and I have still no idea what we will do when we get home in many things, and at this point we especially don't know what kind of jobs we will have when we get back. Many doors have closed for jobs that we thought we might get, and we are simply not understanding. BUT, we trust in the Lord and know that He is good, and we are submitting to our prayers that His will be done and that He knows best! So, it has been hard, but we are standing on that rock, and we ask that you join us in prayer that He will reveal to us jobs and the will He has for our future life! We are also back to feeling very strong about going to Kentucky where I would finish getting my Masters in Theology and Bible, and where she would possibly get some Bible schooling as well, and possibly a Masters of Arts of some sort. Please pray for us in that as well.

But most importantly, please pray for the people here, first the natives that do not know Jesus. Many got to hear the Gospel, pray that God would grow that seed into belief for them! Pray for the M's and their strength in God to grow, their love for Jesus to grow and be seen, and for God to show them fruit of their labor that would encourage them to press on! Thank you guys all so much, we love and miss you, and we will be seeing you all very soon!!

We only have 4 more days here and they will be filled with teaching some English at a local school and helping with a kids camp that should be fun. We get into LAX late Thursday night, but we should be able to post again before that!

P.S. we are very sorry we have not been able to post pictures! We are going to try to do that on our next update!!

Update #4 Monday, July 14th

Hello Family and Friends,

Everything here is going really well! We are for the most part all feeling well and rested. I, Andrea, am feeling much better! Thank you everyone for your constant prayers. I would say I have been at a steady 90% for the past couple days, which has been really encouraging for me and the team. I probably won't be back to 100% until I get back into the states but that is okay cause I have been able to fulfill all our days activities without any trouble so that is what is important now! Everyone one else health wise is doing well also.

Tomorrow morning we head out to a few different cities for a "Tour of Duty" with another M here. We will be doing some street witnessing and we are all very excited for this new challange. From what we hear we will be talking with people on some beautiful beach cities in the counrty and we are very excited to get to see more parts of this country. Please be praying. Please be praying for boldness and discernment with our conversations as well as open hearts to those we will be speaking with. We will be doing this until Thursday, and then have some other activities for the weekend, so it might be a while until we can update again. But we are half way through our trip and can not believe how fast it has gone and how fast this next week will go.

During my time of sickness I read these verses that have really helped encourage me and lift my spirits during this struggle and Brandon and I wanted to share them with you.
Romans 5:3-5 says:

"More than that we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."

God has truly taught me, and Brandon and I so much during this time. It has been really encouraging to look back at it, now that I am fully conscious, lol, and see how God's hand has been in it all. We are truly in His hands and His word has been such a great comfort. Psalm 95 has also been a great reminder to me in our purpose here and what our motivations and where our spirits should be daily.

Just in case if any of you were wondering about our future in M's, Andrea and I are constantly praying for God's guideance in this because we both understand and see God's global passion for the Nations and our call as Christians to tell the World about His name. So, to calm you all, while we both love M's, we both at this point feel called to stay in America and teach and live and witness in California, and we both plan on doing short term trips with students, or friends, or family, and especially to visit and minister to and with our M friends like Ashley and jeff and Brendon and Staci!! Maybe some day God will call us to the ends of the Earth and we are open to that, but God places the desires and passions on our Hearts and at this point it is where we are. We both also hope and pray that many of you who have never gone will go one day very soon, and we both long to help you to see and understand M's better so that you understand our passions and God's passion better for His children! Love you all!!

We are all very excited for this week and the new activities we will get to participate in. Can't wait to update you and tell you how they are going!!

We are sorry for the awful heat! Wish we could say it is better here, but it's just not! :)
Love and miss you all!

In His Service,
Andrea and Brandon

Update #3 Thursday July 10th

Well we were fortunate to use the internet again today so we thought we would give a shout out to Paul and Deena Burns! Happy Late 25th Wedding Anniversary!! We love you both and miss you very much, but hope you are having fun in Jamacia!!!! Whoo hoo!!

Well I, Andrea and feeling better today, but please keep praying. I have much strength to gain back. The next 2 days we will be helping with a VBS for about 35 5-7 year olds. We are very excited, it should be fun, but there will be a language barrier so please keep that in prayer.

here are some fun words we have learned in Indonesian:
terimah kasih= thank you
kantout= fart :)
Pendeta= Pastor
Puji Tuhan= Praise the Lord
Mulia= Majesty
Bule= White person
Gila= Crazy (Gila bule= Anthony)

Thats all for now!
Aku Cinta Kamu (I love you!)

Update #2 Wednesday July9th

ANDREA’S VERSION:

Well hello!

I really do not even know how to begin this update except to say that our trip hit a bit of a bumpy road. But don’t worry, everything is ok now. :)

So, I’ll begin with some fun news. Sunday afternoon we went to a small English speaking church service where we got to meet up with some of the M’s in the city. Brandon, Bryce, and I got to share a personal testimony so that was really neat.

We then went for saytay for lunch which is one of my favorite meals here ad then we headed to the camp. This was a terrible 5 hour drive. The driving here is absolutely out of control. There are really no rules. Everyone simply uses horns, and there are motorcycle riders everywhere, and you all know how much I love those. Well I believe this was the start to my problems. J We stopped to eat dinner at a Pizza Hut and I could not even eat my stomach hurt so bad.

We finally arrived at a families home for the night. We went right to sleep we were all so exhausted. Though I did not seep very well. It was very uncomfortable and hot, and unfortunately I was up throwing up every couple hours. This was the worst feeling I have ever felt in my entire life. I’ll leave the fun details out until later J but basically my stomach had nothing in it so I was vomiting out all the water in me and my stomach would not let anything stay down including water. Everyone else woke up around6:30am. Brandon came to check on me, no one knew I had been up all night, and fro that moment he never left my side the rest of our eventful day. I threw up a couple more times and got steadily worse. My body got extremely weak, my skin began to tighten up, I was getting hot and cold flashes and was very dizzy.

During this time another team member came into country with an infection on his face that had worsened the same day, s our leaders were working very hard to get us both the best medical attention possible. Everyone was amazing. God was truly present, I knew I was in safe hands. This is really a novel of a story so I’ll skip many details. The decision was maid that our other team member had to go home, meaning back to the states and I was off to a local hospital t get an IV treatment, I was clearly dehydrated, and you can guess how trilled I was. Let’s be honest, I was terrified.

So we get to the hospital, we had one of our translators with us, who was an absolute angel, and they got to work. The doctors were amazing, so gentle and sensitive to my fears and Brandon was holding my hand and with me the whole time. I Could not have done this with out him. Well, I made it through!! We were there for almost 3 hours. After the first bag of water I already felt better, and I began to get hungry which was a great sign.

So we left the hospital with some antibiotics in hand and lf\left for the camp. I was still very weak and very exhausted. This day literally took everything out of me. Instead of going to the cap with the rest of the team, our leader put me and our angel translator up in a hotel. This enabled me to rest and gain my strength back up. We were there for 2 nights. We got to enjoy comfy beds, hot showers, and air conditioning. J We came back into the town “C” which is where I originally got sick today and I am much better. The rest was needed and more rest is still to be needed, but that is what is planned for the whole team the rest of tonight and tomorrow.

I am very sad I missed the camp but I heard it went well. I am looking forward to participating in the rest of out activities.

I am feeling so thankful today for many reasons obviously. God completely got me through probably one of the most terrifying times and one of my biggest fears in life. But through this, I was able 1, to draw closer to Him to rely and TRUST in His strength, and 2, Brandon and I were able to add another thing on our lists of things that we have gone through. We definitely drew closer together during this time. He completely put all his needs aside and concentrated on me the whole day. When everything was so unknown and when I was getting worse he simply held my hand and prayed and used this weak moment to Trust in the Lord and well and seek his strength. I love him and the Lord even more today. Brandon was my comforter, my coach, and my greatest support. My leaders were amazing for all the decisions that needed to be made, and I thank them for that, and I thank my team for being so understanding. Oh, and Brandon and I got a picture in the hospital for those of you who don’t believe us! LOL I’ll try to post that soon.

So, just know now that I am in good hands. I am doing better, but still needs LOTS of prayers, so does the team. I am still not exactly sure what caused the vomiting, but I surely don’t want it to happen again! I still have so many thoughts and feelings about this experience but I think this is all I can hash out for now.

I love you all and miss you dearly. I have confidence knowing that you are praying, and thank you for taking the time to read this incredibly long post.

Now, please take the time to read Brandon’s version:

Brandon’s Version- The real one

This is the Day hat the Lord has made, I will rejoice and Be Glad in it!!

Hi family and friends, We love and miss you, but God has been doing great, weird, and challenging things here in us and so we have been very busy at work!

I woke up on Mondy morning here in Cirebon to a brand new sound I have never heard in my life, and I hope to never hear it again, although I will probably unfortunately hear it again sometime, but I woke up to Andrea telling me that she had been up all night throwing up and was still feeling really bad. The rest of the day she was feeling horrible and weak and dehydrated, but God was good and saw the whole thing through, and in His sovereignty and good will this was what He planned and wanted. Andrea and i learned waht it was like to be in another country, which could happen, and have to depend on no one but God alone. I could do nothing for her accept stay right by her side and comfort her and encourage her with thoughts that God is very good and is in control, and all I could do was pray and pray and pray! God has continued to teach me this as we draw nearer to our wedding that she is always His and I must treat her in this way, loving, caring, and as His child! I fail at this at man times where I try and tell God what we are going to do, but He is faithful to humble me! Thank God!

At the same time our team mate Dane had to go home because of a horrib;e Staff infection he had that was getting worse by the minute. So with all the chaos we finally got Andrea to the hospital and Dane towards the Airport and Andrea needed fluids, therefore an IV, oh no not a needel, oh yes a needle. Don’t worry, I made sure that I was with her every step of the way. When we got there the poor thing, she was miserable scared and even asked me if she could die from this, I gently said no, and pressed us forth into the hospital. When she got the IV in she held my hand tight and didn’t say a word, and was strong in the Lord the whole time. She was constantly encouraging me by how strong she was, and she even gave me words of encouragement from time to time! It was a huge time of growth for us! I know missions are a hard thing, and sickness is in the mix when you go, but God is so good and His grace and His mercy must be told and shared everywhere and we are becoming a great team that could make it together on the field if God calls and grants us deep feelings for the people’s in another country! It was in these moments that I knew that she was the girl that I loved and wanted to marry without a shadow of a doubt because she was truly at her worst with vomit breath, pale face and skin, she was all sweaty, and was not even really wanting me to close, but i truly could not do anything other than be right by her side and do anything I could to help her!! I love her and I can’t wait to marry her!! God is so good to give me vomit breath for a wife!! LOL

So, she stayed back in a Hotel with a Sister here named Ita, while the rest of us went to a Camp with some Chrstian kids and their friends. There were 30 kids, and we had a great time. We were up in the beautiful mountains where it was nice and cool and there were beautiful mountains around us and tons of fields opf agriculture, and rice patties, and crops, and it was all terraced and absolutely gorgeous. There was a beautiful waterfall in a gourge with a rock face on one side and a beautiful tree with awesome roots going everywhere like you would see on Tarzan, so I climbed them and screamed and it was awesome. But the camp we talked with the kids, and played with them, and they heard God’s word, and we hiked in the mountains with them, and we did an activity where we walked the road to golgotha at night, and we went to different stations where we revisited moments of Christ’s death and pain in the smallest amounts. God is good and great and He did great things in the hearts of the students there, and in ours as we joined them in worshipping God on this side of the world!!!!

So far, so good, with a few really unfortunate bumps in the road, again which do not know why God planned it this way, but He is good always and He planned them this way for His glory and our joy!! And as I have said we have grown and learned a ton already from God and He has already done some great things in His children’s lives. I know for me as well that He has given me a zeal again for His glory to be known after 4 years of academic Bible, I needed another active trip of ministry and God’s word to continue to grow and live like a Christian. I can’t wait to see how the rest of the trip will go, and to see what God will do here in us, through us, and to the people here! This is just what we Christians do; we live lives that glorify His name through our words and our actions, wherever and whenever, so that God’s glory is seen and known and so that we have joy to the fullest in living obedient lives in Jesus Christ’s strength! Can’t wait to show you all pictures and video! We Love You!!

Please continue to pray for us, for Andrea’s health to get fully better, for the rest of the team’s health to stay up, for oppurtunities and for God to do mighty things!

Praise God for all He has done already, and for all the M’s here and everything they did on that rough day for our team, and for taking such good care of us!!

Update #1 Sat. July 5th

Hello!
This is Andrea here! Well we made it! After almost a full 48 hours of traveling we are here and really enjoying everything thus far. We are staying with an M family here. Their home is very comfortable. We know most of out trip will not be as luxurious as this so we are enjoying it as while we can! We will be here until Sunday afternoon (which is tomorrow for us) and then we head to the camp, which will be about a 4 hour drive, for 3 days. We will then stay in that city after the camp for a few extra days and work with a church there and then we will be back to this city and work with some local churches!

So, besides our taxi driver almost running over a motorcyclists on our way to the house last night, :) the reality that I was in this country hit me. I fell asleep at 8:30pm and did not wake up until 8am this morning which was wonderful, but I woke at 4:30am to The Call to Prayer from the mosque right behind the home we are staying in. I felt a mixed of emotions. I was first scared because it startled me, but then I got excited because I recognized what it was, and then I was saddened because I realized that, The Call to Prayer 5 times a day is a reality here and not just a made up exercise during ISP training weekend. We have heard it throughout the day and I expect to hear it again early this morning. It was just a huge culture shock for me; it is very loud and extremely recognizable. Please be praying for these people, that walls would be broken and that they may see the Truth.

Today has been a relaxing day where we have been able to rest and fellowship with one another. Brandon and I are feeling very blessed to be able to experience this with one another!
Hope to update again soon! Love you all!


Hello there Family and Friends!! We miss you (Brandon Here)
Well we arrived here just fine and dandy except for the fact that I couldn't keep my eyes open for anything, so when I got to the bedroom I literally laid down and was already sleeping when I hit the bed. But I am great now, and this morning spent some amazing time with the Lord in His word and in prayer, and I was fully awake and rested. But, what I realized this morning was that I had been so focused at home about getting married soon and working hard that I had partially forgotten about this trip, and I had lost a bit of my zealous relationship with my Father in Heaven. The plane ride over here was when I first began to realize this, and then again like i said this morning really brought my attention back to communion with the Lord. I feel like I am now ready to be here and to be apart of what God is doing here, and to be a huge help for the Church here as well as my team, and Andrea. Our goal as a team is to love on our family here, the Church, and to jump into the culture head on to try and do everything they would do in order that we might win some to Christ! In any case, Andrea and I have realized how blessed we are to be able to be on a trip like this togbether. We are learning how to encourage one another, build each other up, pray for one another, and work as a team, and we are learning to trust in God for our future as we are here and we don't quite know what we are exactly doing when we get back.

So, with all that in mind, thank you for partnering with us on this trip, and please pray for our team, our family here, the people here that God would grant them His grace and mercy, and pray for God to guide Andrea and I in our life!! Thank you and we miss you, but we also love being here and doing what were doing so we don't miss you too much! lol jk

In Christ, Love Brandon

Leavin, On a Jet Plane!!

Our first journey is going to be quite an exciting one! Wednesday evening we are leaving with 4 other faithful servants from our amazing church, First Baptist Norco, and seeking the wonders of South East Asia! Brandon and I have traveled the country on separate trips several times before through ISP, so we are very excited to finally join together and serve on the same team! Brandon and I see this as a start to not just a summer adventure but a start to a lifestyle that lies heavily on our hearts. We desire to share the love and grace of our Heavenly Father for those who have not heard.
Please PRAY for us while we are gone! We will return July 24th.
We should be able to post updates frequently, so be checking!
Here is a picture of our amazing team who we have the pleasure of serving alongside.