Outreach

Colorful drives in the country, apple orchards, pumpkin patches, fall festivals, hot cocoa and hot apple cider, Pumpkin Spice Lattes, leaves on the ground…here in the Midwest, these are the things that remind us of Fall. The world around us changes as we prepare for a new season.

“What happened to ALL my pans?” I still remember my mom’s flabbergasted question to my family after returning from an early January trip.

After days of travel and training, we were finally settled into our camp nestled on the mountain at an old ski resort. It was a challenging afternoon of being pushed out of my comfort zone as I tried to make friends with teenagers that spoke an entirely different language than me; so, you could say I was feeling a little weary. It was my first time in the mountains, and I needed a quick escape to refresh, so I planted myself right on the edge, and slipped in some ear buds. Tired and feeling a little testy, I found myself saying “God, if you’re so real – then show me!” Now, bear in mind, I was 15 years old and on my first mission trip – so I was not yet familiar with the command in Scripture that says, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test” (Matt 4:7). But at that time I was listening to “Mighty to Save” by Hillsong, and it had just hit the climax saying, “Shine your light and let the whole world see” when right then, the sunshine burst through the clouds between two perfectly positioned peaks, and a powerful fog rose up from the valley between. At that moment I knew God was real, very real – and He wasn’t joking around when He brought me to the Czech Republic that summer, and as he sent me the following 12 years.

As a young girl growing up with an alcoholic father, I often wished that I had siblings to share the ups and downs of my childhood journey. Although I never had a brother or sister to share these difficulties, I learned that even though I felt alone, I always had my Heavenly Father beside me to face each day.

Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. 1 John 3:18 (NIV)

Can you believe that it’s been 40 years since Friendship Church was officially registered in the State of Minnesota? What amazes me more is the amount of ministry that God had done through our church. Over these 40 years, we have seen thousands of lives changed and mine is one of them.

When I was growing up in south Minneapolis, my family knew everyone living on our block and many near our home. During the summers, we kids played outside all day long and into the night. One of our favorite games was kick the can. As families, we would have picnics with others living on our block. Someone would make homemade ice cream and all the neighbors would come and share the ice cream.