Month two of Bible School!

Hey everyone, thanks for keeping up with me on my journey through the Bible, my updates are probably going to be about once a month or so because there is so much that I’m having to focus on with our assignments, but I want to give you an overall idea of what I’ve been learning.  So far we have studied Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel (1 and 2), and now we are finishing up Kings (1 and 2).  What has struck me most since starting the school is the beauty of the story’s continuity, because the Bible is indeed a story.  It’s a story of God’s love and creative design and purpose for the world, contrasted by humans continually choosing to do things their way instead of trusting in God’s way, summing up the essence of sin.  However, as much as it is tempting to stop the story there, it doesn’t end yet.  Throughout the mess and chaos that humans create as a result of their rebellion and continual determination to use their freedom of choice to do things their own way, God reveals the majesty of His sovereignty as He slowly unveils the plan He had from the very beginning to right all the wrongs and bring redemption to the very ones who rejected Him.  It is easy to allow frustration and hopelessness to fester as I read through Exodus and Numbers and marvel at the Israelites rebel against God and refuse to trust Him for both their small needs and their big ones (These were the people who, only a year or so before, witnessed God do unthinkably impossible things on their behalf to deliver them from one of the richest, strongest, most educated nations of the world at the time).  It’s tempting to get angry at the Israelites in Judges who, despite the beautiful, practical and completely culturally relevant law God gave through Moses, did “what was right in their own eyes” as the book continually tells us, and horror, destruction, and moral degradation are the result.  Samuel is a bright light when David comes on the scene, but it’s followed by Kings which falls right back into the cycle of rebellion, chaos, rebellion, destruction, etc.  The question I’m faced with is how is there any hope when people act like this?  God knows everything people do, and yet He never rejects them or disowns them, but instead says that people are made in His image, destined to be like Him (Genesis), supposed to be holy as He is holy (Leviticus), and throughout Numbers and Deuteronomy calls Israel His “people.”  How can He do this?  He says that people are made in His image, yet they act in ways completely opposed to His character. 

Leviticus showed me something that I wasn’t expecting as I realized that the point of the law was to show people who God is, and thus who they were meant to be (ie this is what God looks like, so this is what you are meant to look like).  What the point was ­not was that this is a bunch of stuff that people have to do so that people can be holy and people need to figure out how they can follow all these rules: the revelation? It’s not about people!  The whole thing, from Genesis to Revelation, is about God, from creation to the law to God’s redemption it’s never stopped being about Him.  When we get into trouble is when we start to get focused on ourselves and think that we need to have the answers to life and we need to take care of ourselves and we have to have everything just the way we want it otherwise the world will fall apart.  This was Adam and Eve’s issue, the people of Noah’s time’s problem, the Israelites’ problem in the wilderness and in the early years in Canaan, and it definitely was the problem for the kings of Israel and Judah who continually did what they thought was right based on their perception, not God’s. 

So, what does God do with this?  He’s not in the least surprised or shocked at our selfishness, but He does know how to deal with it.  The thing that I loved most in reading Joshua was to see Israel (who has had such a hard time obeying God in the past) fully yielding themselves to Him and taking the land they were instructed to take even though they were hopelessly outnumbered and disadvantaged in a human sense.  Most had never seen war, they didn’t have sophisticated weapons and they were on the offensive in a land they didn’t know and that was completely different from anything they had ever known, and yet God gives it freely into their hands and they have almost no opposition.  What brought about this trust and obedience?  These Israelites were the ones who did not grow up in Egypt where there was bountiful sources of food and security in living circumstances and a mindset of slavery where they depended on their masters, but they grew up in the wilderness where there was no one and nothing to depend on but God.  They saw death, suffering, hunger and pain, but in the midst of that they saw God bring life, healing, love and provision for all their needs.  This was enough to show them that depending on their own strength and understanding was not enough to get them through, but instead they needed to rely on God and His strength.  This is what God does continually throughout His dealings with Israel when He allows pain and suffering to come as a result of their rejection of Him in order to show them the hopelessness of relying on themselves, versus the life and hope that comes from relying on Him.  This is something I am taking to heart this week as I seek to ask God to show me the areas in my heart where I’ve been self-focused and relied on what I can see and understand instead of trusting in His wisdom and, what a concept, asking Him what He thinks before jumping to conclusions myself (something that is surprisingly hard in life).  I hope these musing minister to you as they have to me, and I hope they find you well! Please pray for my health (I’m fighting off the remnants of a cold) and my emotions as God takes me deeper in this process of surrendering my will to Him.  Blessings!

Love, Aubrey

PS I also want to let you know what my financial situation is like.  I have been able to fund my first two quarters (Yay Jesus!) but I still have one more quarter that God needs to provide for.  The total that I need is around $2700 and it will be due sometime in the early/mid spring.  If God asks you to contribute financially to my school then you can donate online at http://ywamla.org/donatepay-2/ and write Aubrey Simons for the name and CSBS for the school.  If you would rather send a check then you can mail it to 13621 Wheeler Pl. Tustin, CA 92780 and make it out to me (that way I can pay directly from my account).  Thank you so much for your prayers and support, I’m so thankful for all of you and look forward to sharing more about this journey as it goes onJ

Back in YWAM!

Hello everyone!  I have been in Youth With a Mission LA for 3 weeks now doing a nine month Chronological School of Biblical Studies (CSBS) and so far have successfully completed both Genesis and Exodus (homework and all).  First I’ll explain a little about how the study process works.  The first step is to read the designated book non-stop (except for two short breaks) out loud (usually with a group).  We have several days of teaching, but the majority of our time is spent completing the homework assignment for the book.  Without going into too much detail, the first part of the assignment is to do extensive research on the author, intended reader, characters in the book, and cultural/historical background of each. 

We then complete charts for (nearly) every chapter in the book for which we make at least ten observations using a provided list of observation labels, and from those observations make at least two interpretations about what the passage meant to the original reader, characters, or God’s redemptive plan.  From those interpretations we form “Timeless Truths” which can be applied in any situation for any person at any time.  The idea is Observe, Interpret, and Apply to our lives. 

This method is great because it forces me to look at the Bible first through the eyes of the people who were intended to read it, and then I can better gauge what the intended message is for me in my culture and apply it practically to my life. 

There are many things I could talk about as God is revealing Himself in so many ways, but I want to focus on some themes I have come upon strongly in Genesis and Exodus.  The first one is identity.  I was surprised at how many times God repeated throughout Genesis that He made people in His “Own image” and “likeness.”  When He created Adam and Eve, He stated their purpose right off:

 “27 So God created man in his own image,

in the image of God he created him;

 male and female he created them.

28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

Gen 1:27-29 ESV

There are three things God says He created people for: To reflect His likeness, to have authority over the earth, and to have relationship.  This relational aspect has three parts as well; humans were created to have relationship with nature, God, and other humans.  However, Genesis makes it very clear that the source of all this purpose is God Himself, and trying to find purpose in anything else results in destruction of relationship and peace.  The area that God focused on with me was acceptance, which is why reading that I am made in His image with His likeness was so meaningful to me.  I have striven for human approval and acceptance for so much of my life and God has shown me that acceptance only comes from Him, but it’s really hard to take a concept and make it a belief sometimes.  Every time I read the words “created in His image,” I could hear God speaking acceptance over me, saying “You’re ok, when I made you I said you were ‘good,’ that means that you are whole and perfect in my sight, and I made you just like me.”  I was impacted by this, meditating on this truth and remembering that my purpose comes from God, nothing else.  I have copied my application that I wrote for my homework below which gives a little more insight into this:

Application based on Genesis 20:2

Timeless Truth:

Building faith is a process; it takes failure and struggle, but God is right there the whole time.

Understanding the necessity of obedience has been something God has told me of in the past, and I get it for the most part.  God gave us a will so that we could choose Him, so inevitably He wants us to choose Him.  However, the perfectionistic voices in my head warp obedience from being all about God to being all about me; I obey because I need to do it right, not because of who God is.  In getting to know Abraham, I was awed by how many times he messed up, I mean really messed up.  One time lying about your wife being your sister and, essentially, prostituting her so that you could be safe is bad enough, but he does it twice, without a second thought!  God tells him multiple times not to be afraid, and is constantly reminding him of the great promises that He gave and that He would fulfill, yet Abraham is constantly trying to do things his own way and repeatedly acts out of fear.  And yet, despite all of these things that Abraham did clearly counter to what God was telling him, God calls him righteous.  Why?  Because, “He believed God.”  Was he believing that God would take care of him in Egypt when he lied the first time about his wife, or in Gerar when he lied the second time?  No, but he believed God.  Was he acting out of faith when he impregnated Hagar, going along with the cultural answer for barrenness instead of God’s answer?  No, but he believed God. 

Here’s the thing that I struggle with: It’s ok to make mistakes.  But aren’t we supposed to obey God?  Yes, and the way we get to obedience is often through failing and falling on our faces every day.  For me, I want to open my heart up to God to show me all pride in my heart that says that I must get it perfect every time (which, by the way, makes it all about me) and start focusing more on God’s real plan for my life, and that is to be in perfect, complete, restful, beautiful relationship with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, like He lays out in Genesis.  Whenever I feel the shame and fear try to come in about how I didn’t get something right, I want to start turning my eyes off of myself and look at God, because He’s the most encouraging person I know.

Aubrey Simons

This is one thing God has been laying strongly on my heart, especially as we are plunging into Leviticus which reveals God’s holiness: I am created to be like God, and nothing I do or say will change that.

I am so thankful for you, all my wonderful friends and family, and I would ask that you would pray when God lays it on your heart for my mind and emotions to be open to whatever God has for me, and that my heart would be soft towards Him.  It can be tempting to get stressed or caught up in the work because there is so much of it, but God is teaching me to focus on Him for every chart and not think about how much time I have left or when I can get everything done, but it definitely takes fighting for that peace.  Also I would love prayer for my fellow students as we all go on this journey together, for one of them English is her second language and, although she’s doing beautifully, it is a challenge to finish things on time because she doesn’t always understand it right away.  Please pray protection over our whole school that nothing would get in the way of us capturing God’s heart during this time.

Love to you all!

Aubrey

There and Back Again...

     Hi everyone, thank you to all who have supported me financially and prayed for me on this trip, I'm so thankful for all that the Lord has done through it!  I came back home last Saturday and went straight into school this week, including a new job, so things have been less than ideal for sitting down and writing a blog post; I apologize for the lateness of it.
      Ecuador held many new and beautiful things for me, and God showed me many things during my time there.  First I'll just summarize what I did:  The first week consisted mostly of preparing for vbs and meeting many new people, getting to know Juan Diego and Jose (Nube's nephews), playing with the Vogans' kids Timmy, Debbie, Mateo and Sammy,  and overall settling in.  The second week had much more activity as our team from the church was doing two different vbs's in separate villages during the afternoons, and in the evenings I conducted English classes for all who wanted to come.  The final week (up until Wednesday, as I left on Thursday) I was teaching English classes and we were organizing all the stuff from vbs to be used for next time.
     That being said, God showed me so much through my opportunity to live with the Vogans and share ministry with them, but I want to focus on a couple of things.  First of all it was amazing to witness how God is working in different churches all over the world.  I was able to attend many meetings with the small church that meets in the Vogans' house, including Sunday morning, youth group, Bible study, and worship discipleship.  My spanish improved while I was there and though I didn't catch everything, I probably understood on average about 70% of what was being said, and I was blessed by God's presence there.  Nube led a devotional one night about what it means to be "blessed" as that is what the Bible calls us, and so often we think purely on a physical level when we say that we are blessed, as though blessing is something only to be seen, touched, felt, etc.  But, the word of God is clear that our lives will not always (if ever) look like we plan them to, so blessing is more than a state of possession, it is a state of being.  We ARE blessed, no matter what our circumstances look like, and God has been speaking to me about this over the past few weeks.  No matter what I do, no matter what I see and regardless of what I or anyone else thinks, I am accepted in the beloved of God and totally, completely blessed by Him.  I was encouraged by spending my time with the Vogans and their church family, God is doing beautiful things there and I'm glad I got to be a part of them.
       Another major thing God was showing me more about is His desire for oneness in His body, regardless of differences in opinion or practice.  South America is predominantly traditional Roman Catholic, although there are a lot of different types of churches present.  I found through talking to people in the city about why I was there, the first question they ask when I say that I'm with a church is "Are you Catholic or Evangelical?"  Honestly the differentiation took me back a bit at first because I'm not used to making such a distinction, but I began to realize that there was a wall being put up that God never intended to be there.  My response to that question when I was talking with a lady on the bus was, "I probably lean more towards Evangelical, but I don't see there being much of a difference because we serve the same God, we both love Jesus" and she laughed saying how true that was.  We proceeded to have a very deep conversation about God and how seeking after material things was so empty and worrying over our lives brings nothing but pain and burdens, and how we need to live our lives trusting God every step of the way.  Did she have a full awareness of God's heart for her and the truth in the Bible? Probably not; I don't know anyone who would raise their hand to say they did, I certainly wouldn't.  She was Catholic but she loved Jesus and had an awareness that her relationship with Him should affect the way she lived her life.  This is what God has been showing me personally: instead of judging because someone serves God differently or has a different opinion about something, it doesn't mean that I can put up a wall and place them in another category, or try to get them to fit into my category.  The Holy Spirit is the one who changes us from glory to glory, so if there is healing that needs to come or truth that needs to be administered I can trust Him to take care of that in His time and I can pray and listen for His guidance, otherwise I just need to love because that's what Jesus did.

Thank you again for all your prayers and support,  I feel that God is going to take me back to South America sometime soon so I'll keep you updated when that happens!

Love, Aubrey

Loja, Ecuador!

So the adventure continues as I follow God into Ecuador, la paiz que tiene mi corazon:) I arrived in Guayaquil monday at around one and was picked up by Mark and Nube Vogan.  What I didn't realize is that it is about a nine hour drive from the airport to Loja, the city they live in, so we ended up getting back at around eleven that night.  We haven't had internet until yesterday so i had to wait until now to update.  The Vogans have two kids Timmy (11) and Debbie (9), and they have two little boys that they're looking after, Sammy (3, his mother abandoned him so they've had him since he was a baby) and Mateo (6, his moms in jail).  I have my own room in their house and am helping prepare for the vbs next week. the people here are really nice and I'm getting an ear to hear the Spanish, I've been doing a lot of listening and speaking, it's surprising how much you can communicate even if your grammar isn't perfect haha.
      On Wednesday night I went with Nube to her friends house to drop off some recycling and we ended up praying for a young woman who lives at the house (she works as a maid for the Vogans).  The situation is complicated but there are several family groups living in the house and she works a lot and has two kids.  She is having trouble with her kids not getting fed by the other family members while she is away, and other things like not finding work and her husband treating her unkindly.  Please pray for Monica, I have a heart for her and we will see her every day next week because she comes to the house and I know that God wants to minister love to her (she was abandoned as a child and has self worth issues).  Yesterday we walked in pairs around the village where we will be doing the vbs and invited families to sign up, passing out flyers.  We got about thirty kids signed up and many flyers passed around so hopefully we'll have a lot, I'm excited to see what God is going to do!  
       I will also be teaching English classes next week so pray that God gives me ideas because I haven't done a series of advanced and beginner classes before.

Thank you all for your prayers, more updates to come!

Love,

Aubrey

Home Again

Thank you everyone who has supported me on this trip, your prayers and support have blessed me so much; it's hard to express just how much.  I have been home now for about a month, it's amazing how time seems to escape us!  After spending three weeks in China we traveled yet again to Hong Kong (26 hours on a train plus about another five counting a small train ride and bus rides etc.) where we spent five days for debrief week.  So much happened during the time we were in China that it would be hard to describe all of it in so small a space.  I've copied what I wrote for the YWAM blog and pasted it here to give you a brief synopsis:

Stepping into China felt surreal for me.  It was as if I was entering into a place that I was familiar with, but didn't know at all.  Going into Cambodia and Thailand was different because I had never experienced their cultures before, but I thought I knew about Chinese people and their culture fairly well before I experienced them.  Both proved to be far more wonderful than I expected.  Over the course of the three weeks we were there, we attended university groups where students came to practice english, helped out in a kindergarten, ministered to leper villages, and became involved with the local Christian community.  The courage and strength these people showed inspired all of us on the team; they had experienced the love of God and knew that nothing in the world was worth giving that up, not even physical safety.  God showed me so much in China about Himself through the people we engaged with.  I was struggling with a few things going into China, one of which was trusting God.  I knew He wanted to show me His faithfulness, but I couldn't seem to get past certain things that, to me, looked like failures on His part.  One sunday a few of us were invited to speak at a home church full of mostly new Christians, and I felt that God wanted me to speak to them on having childlike trust.  Still feeling raw emotionally, I went with my teammates and we spent time with these young believers.  As we sang songs in worship together, I felt the love of the Father fill the room; and as I looked upon the faces of the Chinese as they sang to God in their own language I felt a rush of His love for me.  As I spoke, it was from my heart and I knew that God had revealed Himself to me in that room full of people hungry for truth.  As much as we were there to be a blessing to the Chinese people, they blessed us with their unashamed love for God and desire for His kingdom.  God is doing amazing things in China, and I'm so glad I was priviledged to be a part of them. 
Experiencing China was like stepping into a living paradox.  Going in there you would think there would be strong spiritual oppression and the people would want to get out because of the lack of freedom.  On the contrary, the atmosphere felt so free and open it was almost like walking through open doors when you expect them to be locked.  The christians there don't talk about wanting to be free from the persecution, they only talk about how they want more of God.  I was so blessed by this experience and the people we met there, it really was life-changing for me.

Our final week of DTS was spent in Hong Kong at the base there.  We didn't do any official "ministry", although we blessed each other throughout the week with prayer and encouragement as we prepared to go back home and exit the dts environment.  We visited the local shopping places, saw some of Hong Kong's delights, visited a water park, and spent as much quality time with each other as we could.  We focused on going back over all that the Lord had taught us throughout the dts and letting it "sink in" so to speak.  During this week the Lord really gave me grace to take all He had given me in dts, but also to move onto the new things He has for me.  I looked at all of the amazing people who went through the experience with me and I was so thankful for those relationships He provided.  One of the highlights of debrief week (apart from all the fun hanging out stuff we did) was the creative expression activity where we described our dts experience using any creative outlet we wanted.  It was wonderful to see my teammates express what God had done for them, and to look at my own experience and praise God for His work.  I wrote a poem which I felt described one of the main things God helped me to do during dts, and that was to lift all of my struggles and burdens to Him and let His wings carry me:

To the one who is striving, to the burdened of heart

To the one whose peace is being torn apart

To the feelings of failure, shame and defeat

To the standards that seem impossible to meet

No pain is hidden, my sorrows are known
Despite what I think I'm never alone
He made my spirit, body and soul.

He went to the cross, His blood made me whole

He's the giver of life, and Provider of peace

I will give Him my burdens in this great release

God is sooooooo good, and I'm so glad He takes all the yucky stuff away and gives us hope and joy and peace when we ask Him.  Blessings to all of you, thank you for sharing this experience with me!!

Love, Aubrey

Last Post Before the Big C!

This is the last update for three weeks because tomorrow we leave for the big C where we will have no communication with the outside world.  This week has gone fairly well in Chiang Mai, the Lord has answered prayer by bringing us students to attend our game night, student friends to hang out with, and more energy and excitement.  We had some really powerful prayer walks and fun times hanging out with the students and getting to know them. 

       The heat got worse this week because it hasn't rained too much, which has made it harder to sleep at night and to walk around during the day.  It's rained here much more than in Cambodia, which has helped keep the heat down, but some days there weren't any clouds in the sky and the heat was very draining. 

      It seems strange that there is only 1 month left of d t s, then I'm coming home!  I'm really grateful for all that the Lord has done in me, and for the dreams and desires He has given me for the future.  So much has changed, and yet it feels so natural to ease into the new things He's bringing to me:)  I will post again when we get into Hong Kong, please pray for our safety and unity as a group; we're going into unfriendly territory and God wants to do amazing things but we really need prayer coverage.  Thank you so much for your support, it means so much to our team!

Blessings from the Orient,

Aubrey

Week 5 in Asia!

We arrived in Thailand on Monday, though we've only been here in Chiang Mai since Wednesday.  We took the bus from Siem Reap in Cambodia to Bangkok, Thailand, and stayed the night at the YWAM base there.  Then we flew from Bangkok to Chiang Mai and found our residence at Wongen (stands for One Generation) cafe.  The cafe is a YWAM based ministry that reaches out to the students at the university right across the street by inviting them to the cafe, making friends with them, and just investing in their lives to show that they are worth investing in.  We have been going out and looking for the main hangout places at the university and engaging with the students there.  We had a game night last night which proved to be successful with about six or seven students showing up.  We played group games for a while and then split off into smaller groups to play card games etc. 

     We really want to get on board with what God is doing here, and He is showing us His heart for this place.  He really loves these people, and it's been a blessing to us just being here and serving where we can.      

   It has been interesting seeing the differences between Thailand and Cambodia.  Apart from the slight drop in temperature and the change of driving direction (they drive on the left side of the road, as opposed to Cambodians who drive on the right), the spiritual atmosphere is different as well.  There has been a lot of apathy and heaviness going around the team, different from what we were fighting in Cambodia.  People are also not feeling well, so we're really contending for health and protection for our team right now.  We have two other events planned for this week: girl's night on Wednesday and movie night on Friday.  We are praying that people come and we'll be able to invest in them even though we're only here for a short time.  

          Sunday was our day off and Emmie (the coordinator of the ministry) has connections with the local tour guide agency so she was able to get us an incredible deal on a day around Thailand for us:)  We rode elephants through the jungle, visited a mountain village where we had lunch, saw a beautiful waterfall, and went bamboo rafting down a river.  It was so much fun!  

       God is doing lots of work here, different work from other places, and we are so happy to join in with what He's doing.  I'll update again before we leave for the big C, I love and miss you all, be blessed! 

Love Aubrey