Hello Friends!
I'm excited to send an update again of how things are going on this adventure I call life! Thank you to all of you for your prayers this last month. As I reflect on November, I'm amazed at how God speaks, especially when we are in "foreign" places with only Him as our main contact. I finished up my time in Kansas City, packed everything I had for 2 months back into my vehicle and made my way to Pella for a day. With great joy, I'm so thankful to God for the amazing gift of being able to see 7 of the girls I have mentored since they were in 6th grade, and are now sophomores in college. They were home for Thanksgiving, and we found ourselves at a cabin, God graciously allowed us to use for a night, laughing, sharing and praying with each other. It probably isn't a surprise that I didn't get to bed till after 2am, but so worth it!
The following day (Thanksgiving) I found myself on a plane making my way to L.A., with a stop in Denver, where God gave me the best surprise, Madison (one of the girl's I'd mentored), was on my first flight to return to school! Of all the flights :). It was such a joy to catch up even more. As I arrived in L.A. I was excited to see a Pella native, Sarah Gaulke, who was letting me stay with her for a few days. God had a small change of plans, as a guy, Nathan that I had met at YWAM-Kona was arriving to the airport from Haiti to volunteer for the week and didn't have a ride or a place to stay the first night. Such a blessing Sarah was and is to help Nathan out too. We were able to be God's hands and feet for a tired traveler, so cool!
With the LA Congress I was in charge of about 100 volunteers from multiple nations. They came from the US, including a group from a DTS school in Kona, India, Paraguay, Korea, and more. I was helping to make sure they all knew where they were going for training, the day after Thanksgiving, setting up the 3 days of training, and making sure we had everyone where they were needed for the 6 days of the Congress. One of the greatest things God taught me in this week was how He's given me such a mix of skills in my life experiences to be able to take on this challenge! Everything from creating a "photo scavenger hunt" during the training to build relationships and help the volunteers get to know the area, to being able to shift the resources every half hour, as I'd get called that there were things like "a truck with 42 boxes that needed unloading asap". Our volunteers covered greeting, ushering, hospitality, security, photography, the World Vision booth, exhibits, registration, and more! I'm in awe of how God worked to put our team together for this week, and I'm so grateful for the new friendships and connections. Oh, and did I mention how God did some other amazing things! For example... during the scavenger hunt, 2 teams met young people they prayed with and shared the Gospel with, and one group even met a young woman, Jasmine, who came to volunteer with us during the week. So cool! I had the great honor to get to know the DTS school from Kona well, including a group of 12 that was leaving for the Philippines (areas where I had been just 2 months earlier) a week after the Congress! It's been great praying for them and sharing all God had done in our time there. So amazing how God continues to work in surprizing ways!
The congress was a success with better practice sharing, prayer, and commitments made for the Kingdom. Here are the actual commitment numbers that came from the event with brothers and sisters continuing to work to reach the unreached!
New Houses of Prayer 71,311
UUPGs (Unreached People Groups) 1,416
Oral Bible Teams 46,548
New Churches Planted 217,908
New Evangelism Exposures 584,681,363
New Online Missionaries 20,054
I was quite exhausted after those 2 weeks, but so thankful for the time and the reunion I had with some of my YWAM classmates! As I made my way home, I drove through Pella for a day where I was able to celebrate with the youth of Third Church where they had raised $36,000 for an orphanage in Uganda! I also spent some time with a wonderful family who has been hosting me. I’m so thankful for them, their care and great example of family. Before finally getting to my parents in Wisconsin, I stopped in Rockford, IL to see my sister. My mom came down too, and we were able to help her take off some wallpaper down in a bedroom and paint.
I’ve now been home for a week with my family. Some of you might be wondering how my mom’s surgery went!?! (thanks to all those praying) The truth is she cancelled the date right before the surgery. She had a bad cold, and the doctor said she couldn’t have the surgery with it, and she’s been working with physical therapy to see if she can hold off a bit. I’m thankful she is feeling somewhat better, but is now looking at having it possibly in May or June. Still praying God will heal her totally!
God allowing me to come home for this time, with the main focus being serving my parents and resting, has been wonderful. They’ve put me to work cooking meals each night (if you know me, you know I love that!), we’ve been playing cards, sharing stories, and doing projects around the house. As much as I’m different in many ways, it is such a joy to be back together as “family” and to be the kid again.
I want to share something with you that God showed me personally this week. I found myself, when I was alone, really struggling with some things and over analyzing my future so much that I became overwhelmed. I really didn’t want to go out and see people or do “things”; I just found being alone was good. I know that there are seasons where that can be fine, but it was not healthy for me, and I realized that the joy and peace I’d had when I first came back from Kona was not as bold. As I prayed and spent time with God on this, He showed me. The last two months I’ve allowed myself to become a cynic on the topic of “love” through the traveling around and being places only a short time, as well as some walls I put up with people. However, through this it seems the enemy has worked to get me to turn those walls into mirrors and I’ve really been internally focused. Basically the love God has shown me and the calling to share that love with others, was stopping before I was sharing it. And in that, I found myself miserable! How crazy that to have myself feel better I had to do the exact opposite, and stop focusing on myself and focus on loving others! God is so good. As soon as I saw the truth behind that lie and was able to take what God was teaching me daily, and to shine it out rather than keep it in, my joy and peace for today and the future is back! I share this hoping that any of you that might feel overwhelmed can go to God and learn from this situation, hopefully not the hard way I did. J
I’m excited to have my whole family together for Christmas, and to enjoy this precious time that I missed while away with YWAM. I don’t know yet where I’ll be or what I’ll be doing after January, and would really appreciate if you would join me in prayer!!! Would you pray that God would give me the next steps as I wait on Him. And I believe we all can hear from God, so if you hear anything as you pray (as silly as it might seem) email or call me! Thank you to those who willingly offered funds for my LA Congress trip. I still have about $500 dollars to cover if you are able to help with that, please email me at rayellem@gmail.com. And if there are things I can be keeping lifted in prayer for you, nothing is too small, please let me know! It is an honor to stand with you as brothers and sisters.
I pray God blesses your time with family this Christmas and that He shows you something new about His character. It is way greater than anything we can grasp, but it is filled with such LOVE that to know even a piece of it is worth everything.
Merry Christmas!
- Rayelle
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)
