May Update

On the doorway in a university classroom: Relgion=Venom
the bottom is a cross with a null sign

At a Real Madrid Game- so amazing!

Brook, Parker, and me- 3 Trailblazers

Three Trailblazers

So I have some exciting news to share with you all! We have a new team member who was a Journeyman in Peru and Haiti. Parker has now been added to our team and will be located in Paris to do research there. In addition to France, he’ll be doing the research trips with Brook and me to Italy and Germany.

Parker was here this last week doing some training with us, and it was cool for our team to share with him what our job looks like. One thing on our trip to Valencia that Brook and I saw as a challenge was us not being able to approach men to do interviews. With Parker with us we are able to get the broader perspective of the people we meet and talk with. We already saw the benefit of having a guy with us when we were doing interviews here in Madrid. He is also excellent as Spanish. Puts me to shame a little bit, but definitely challenges me to work harder at language.

It’s exciting to see these things finally come together and it looks like from here on out my term is going to fly by. The schedule is for us to go to Italy June 26-July 8. We will be researching the immigrant situation in Milan and Rome. Then we are hoping to be in Germany August 8-20 doing the same thing.

I would ask that you fervently be praying for these trips. Pray for me, Brook, and Parker to get along with one another in love and respect. Traveling and being together all the time can be challenging, but I think we’ll make a great team. Also please be praying for my legs. They are improving like always, but I still have my worries or doubts. Pray that the Lord sustains me daily through these trips. That when my legs get tired, they will be rejuvenated. When I rest at night, my legs will feel brand new in the morning. Most importantly that these legs will carry me to the places where I can share Christ’s love.

Pain's Ticket

Pain. It is one of the most frustrating things to face. It is one of those things you wish you could just snap your fingers and get rid of. But it remains at my side. Taunting me most days. Bringing me to tears at other times. Challenging me in my walk. And making me question how seriously I take myself when I say I’ll follow Him no matter what.

I continue to follow Him despite these events that continue to affect me. It has been hard. It hasn’t been without some really big tantrums, but I’m still here, still saying that my God is amazing and that He is faithful and loving.

The other day I was really frustrated that nothing is seemingly helping with this injured hamstring/tendon. It pops during the night and I wake up to sharp pain. It’s just very uncomfortable. I was doing my exercises at therapy and I realized something. Without my pain, I lose access to the girls at my therapy. Without my pain, I no longer need my therapist. And I no longer get to share 3 solid hours of time with her each week.

My pain is my ticket to pray for my friends there, and it is my ticket to talk with them and love them with the love of Christ. If I’m not there, who is intentionally talking with them? If I’m not there who is intentionally praying for them? I say this with a heaviness in my heart, but may my pain remain, so that until I leave in October I can continue to be there. And I can continue to pray for the Truth I know to be revealed to my friends.

You're Not Americans!

Brook and I have our local hangout. We are regulars there and there’s something that feels right when you walk in and can greet everyone in the restaurant like you are old friends. Hey, sometimes we even get a free coffee or Nutella crepe!

This restaurant has an interesting dynamic. There’s a Peruvian, Argentine, Bulgarians, and a Moroccan that work there. As time has gone by we have been able to share bits and pieces of our lives with them, and we have been able to inquire about their lives.

About two weeks ago, Brook and I were there for an evening coffee when the Peruvian man started asking me some questions. Do you go out? You don’t like to party, do you? Do you drink? What do you like to do?

I answered his questions and share with him how partying isn’t what satisfies me or fills me up. That’s why I don’t need those things. Only God fills up our hearts and lives.

He then told me that he and the Moroccan man had been talking about how strange Brook and I are. He said, “You’re not Americans! Americans come here to drink and party. You’re not Americans!”

I laughed because unfortunately this is true, but I found it entertaining that they couldn’t quite figure us out. Praise the Father that they do see a difference in us. I pray that we are acting as salt and light making them thirsty to know our God, the one that intimately loves them.

Let's Talk About Love

So you all have heard about our friend who sometimes stays the night with us. These are amazing times where we continue to share God’s love with her. We continue to show her why we believe what we believe, then let her read it in the Bible.

Well she came over the other night. She stayed in the entrance and we told her to come on in. She then called for us to come to the door. When we got there, to our BIG surprise, there was her boyfriend. The man who is older than her father and who controls her each and every step. Brook and I about fell over, but quickly recovered with our Southern hospitality. We invited him in to sit, asked him if he wanted water.

And put on our best smiles. He said he didn’t want to stay, and thank you. He also kept saying “felicidades” which means congratulations. We just smiled and finally he left.

Then the entire truth came out within minutes of him leaving. She had lied to him telling him it was Brook’s birthday, and that was why she wanted to come and hang out with us.

We laughed. We were in shock. But she said after he had met us, she was certain he wouldn’t be worried about her. She said that once he saw we were family-like people he wouldn’t be worried about her staying with us sometimes.

We have recently discovered that there are prostitutes in the area, so she explained that after he had seen we are just young girls who aren’t about partying it would be fine.

So after our shock, we were able to chit chat for awhile. And like always, we can’t have her with us without talking to her about God. We read some Bible passages about love. Our friend even took the liberty of reading it aloud to us. As I watched her face, I could see she was really trying to process what the scripture was saying.

This is what we do, and this all we can do. We offer her our home of peace and while she’s here, we fill her up with the word of God. She may be our lying friend, but we strongly believe that with prayer, the Spirit will change her and show her how badly she needs the blood of Christ. Please continue to pray for her and for opportunities to share the Word with her.

PRAYER REQUESTS
For the Trailblazer team– preparation for the trips/ Parker’s getting used to France
My legs-swelling to be minimal/ for my tendon to not be painful
For our friend who sometimes stays the night with us
For my friends who help me at therapy

PRAISES
My parents are visiting now and we’ll do some vacation time in Barcelona!

One of my friends I have mentioned before that left her home country has been connected with a believer in the new country where she lives. She has attended a Bible study in her mother tongue there. Pray for her to know Truth!

Let me know how to pray for you! Thanks for lifting these things up!

Taryn

A Call to Courageous Love

Osama Bin Laden. Dead. Being outside of the U.S. and hearing news like this gives you a different, yet strange perspective. It's hard to explain, but you lack the refuge of the understanding of fellow Americans. It's like you don't belong where you are, but I know I don't belong in the States right now either. In between a little bit. I woke up to the news this morning shocked. I have many mixed thoughts and emotions. But one thought seems to consistently come to the front of my mind. Bin Laden's eternity has been determined and this reality brings tears to my eyes when I think about another lost soul won over by our ultimate enemy, Satan.

Did this man hear about the wonderous love of my Christ? Did anyone tell him that the Creator of the world deeply loves him and desires to know him intimately? Did anyone tell him that he can never earn his salvation, and because of this Jesus died for him? Did anyone ever show him this courageous, unconditional love?

His life seemed fairly defined by hate. Hate against many types of people. Hate against different religions. His hate was what fueled the horrific things he did. But what of love? What of the cleansing power of the love I know? Did he even have the chance to really know what that means?

From facebook statuses, tweets, and the news there are strong reactions all around. Applauding of our government for what happened. Joy at the death of man who has been labeled a monster. And a concern of the eternal significance this has. God has granted this victory over this enemy. Do not be confused by that. The Lord has allowed for the U.S. to be used in this victory, but only God is in control of victory over evil. Let us not give praise first to President Obama or to our military. The praise is His alone. The one true God, not whatever god you want to pray to.

Let us also remember that God does not desire that any perish. And Christ came and died for those that hated him. He showed us what it truly meant to have love for our enemies. God raises up leaders and brings them down, but He desires for man to be reconciled to Himself. His word clearly says that He desires for the wicked to turn back to him! Not to perish separated from him. (Ezekiel 18:23)

In this world Osama is dead. But he is facing an eternity right now. Many of you may say, "He deserves what he gets!" I would agree and say, yes, he deserves hell. But I also deserve hell as do you. Have we forgotten that? Eternal damnation and separation from God is all any of us deserves. Oh but the love that HE has! The love that went beyond ourselves to reach out to us.

We are the carriers of this beautiful message. May we share it boldly because there are more and will be more Osama Bin Laden's in this world. Those who we consider our enemies. Those who carry so much hate. But who knows? What if the redeeming love of Christ had been shared with this man? How then would he have used his power and influence for the Gospel? Hate is an easy reaction to these things and an easy choice. Love, however, demands courage and will cost us everything. The power of this love is worth everything we have.

Walk in courageous love,
Taryn