Intros and Recaps

Hello to all,

Once again there is reason to blog. Starting January 19th, 2011, there will be a group of roughly 50 students from the APU community setting out on a journey to South Africa. Four months, fifty students, three cities, one purpose. To learn, grow, serve and be used by God in a place far from home.

This blog will be a way of sharing some of the experiences and lessons God holds in store. As this is the first of several blogs to come, perhaps a brief update on the happenings between the year of Kaleo 6 and now is a good idea.

The summer after our 8 months on the island, was spent working around the yard doing odd jobs, as employment anywhere else was not to be found. That following September saw a move to sunny southern California for a year of school in the Christian Ministry major program here at Azusa Pacific University. It was a year of stretching, challenge, and growth. It was a year that saw many new relationships form as well as old relationships transform. Attending school with my younger brother, Justin, and being near several cousins has been a true blessing. Seeing my brother grow in a relationship with his girlfriend who then became his fiance is something that brings a great amount of joy. Seeing one of my cousins go through a similar growth in relationship has also been an incredible honour.

The summer after that first year at APU was another time of incredible growth. Working away from home along side a good friend, and sister in Christ, provided great memories, meaningful insights, life lessons and a time to reflect on where God has been faithful leading up to this point. Now, as this semester draws to a close, as change continues to happen so evidently, and as God continues His life changing work through the Spirit He left with us, it is becoming increasingly easy to get caught up in what is just around the corner.

This is the most brief and detail-free version of the continuing story of life. In the future, blogs will not be so dry. In closing, prayer for the group who will be leaving together would be greatly appreciated. Prayer for a sense of unity when we come together, for safety in travels, for growth, and for openness and vulnerability in relating to each other. Prayer for those who will not be going, for the relationships which could be stretched by the miles, for family and friends to have peace and joy at the prospect of all that God has in store. Pray for those already in South Africa, for the hearts of all who will be touched by the coming semester, for those we meet along the way, for conversations had in airports, on planes, busses, while walking on the streets. Please, no matter what you pray for specifically, please pray.

To those who remain at home and at APU, I will miss you!

To those who are preparing to go, I can not wait to get to know you.

Thank you for reading. Truly God is gracious, may that Grace be shown evidently in your lives. Truly God gives peace and rest, may you be still in the knowledge of His love for you. Truly God has called you, may you find it in His strength to follow, to act, to serve.

In Him,

Miranda Tiede

P.S. Heck yeah Africa!!