AP: Pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I finally decided to pull out the pictures! I just wanted to show you some things that we've gotten to do over the summer since being back here at KC. Well as you can see my dad has built us a shed here in our back yard! We are so excited to finally have a place to store our yard tools! I dug around in the garage to find the missing springs I needed to be able to put up the trampoline and placed it to the right of the shed. Mallory and I decided we would sometime in the future build a really nice pool to the right of the trampoline so that we could jump off the shed onto the trampoline and cannonball into the pool. Needless to say our parents didn't think to highly of that idea.

About 1 month ago my team for Audra Hartke went to the Cheesecake Factory down at the Plaza in downtown KC to celebrate our last set together. Then about two weeks later, my friend Chastity G. took me to the Plaza for some girl time. We ate pizza at the California Pizza Kitchen and then hung out and talked. I had an amazing time. Well, for Mallory's birthday, which was in June, I wanted to take her somewhere special. I put it off because we were going home for three weeks, then we moved, then we did ATC, then we started school and time really just got away from me. But Sunday I took her to the Plaza for her birthday. We had an awesome time taking pictures, talking, goofing off, and just being sisters. We got even got to go to a really nice Starbucks at the Plaza. We went to several stores and held up shirts and sunglasses and took pictures. It was so much fun. We ended the night at the Cheesecake Factory with a garlic bread appetizer and a Chocolate Rasberry Truffle cheesecake for dessert. It was really yummy!

This is Tamice's team. We got to perform in a park for a community event. It was a powerful time of worship and ministering to the Lord. It was a lot of fun!

This is Queen Mother. She prayed for her neighborhood for several years and has seen breakthrough in this area of town. She is in her 70s and still praying for her family. She paid for all the food and for the entire event. God has blessed her so much to be able to pour into this communtiy! (ps. she is hilarious!)

Moma also had her birthday in August. We had a really nice day spending time with her and enjoying the day.

Well, that's all I have right now. I'll see if I can download some of the pictures from Mallory and my adventure to the Plaza so you can see them. Have a blessed day!

MP: Life

MP writes:

Hey,

So here is a little update on my life:

While I was at Awakening Teen Camp I met a girl named Polly and then later I found out that she danced. Also I came to realize that she danced at a dance studio that Ashton and I have been looking at. It is called Dramatic Truth Dance Studio. On Tues. I went with my mom and sister to register for a few dance classes. Right now I am being responsible for paying for my dance classes. So I am having to majorly trust that the Lord will provide a way for me to keep dancing. One way I know that He is going to do that because He has already given me a babysitting job once every other Sat.

I am full swing back into school now and I have all of my new school books:) For history I am getting to read great books that I really enjoy. I am trying to get my school done early every day. The days that I do get off early are really nice:) Other than that school is going great.

God is really teaching me on how to trust in Him and how much faith is in a mustard seed. Do any of y'all know the song It Is a Big Big House well I heard it on the radio the other day and started to do the motions:) those of you who had anything to with the Garden when we had the "cottages"(trailers) know what I am talking about. Well that is how big my daddy(spiritually talking) is. And my Father's house is HUGE!!!!!! Here are a few verses that go with that topic.

Matthew 7:11 ¹¹If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

Philippians 4:19 ¹⁹And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

I love y'all so much!!!!!!

Love always, Mallory

MP: Hey Y'all

mp writes:

Hey,

I am so sorry that I have not blogged in a while. I am doing great and I miss y'all so much!

So because it was summer the youth leadership team decided to do something every Fri. and Sat. night after the evening service called late night. At late night they have volleyball, dodge ball,basketball, and spoons,and while all this is going on they have speakers that pipe the prayer room outside so that we can still hear it while we are doing whatever we are doing. I am trying to learn how to play volleyball and am teaching myself and quite frankly I am doing better than I ever thought I could do.

So Ashton and I have been staying there till 1:30ish (am) on those nights and I have been asking God to send me a friend that lives here because my friends were in San Fransisco, California, for a mission trip. That very night I met a girl named Jeana. She is very nice and now she is one of my best friends. One of my other best friends, Jesse, lives right down the street from me and she has seven siblings. My other best friend that I have also been hanging with at the late night activities is Caitlin. She was the very first person that talked to me on my first day to the new youth group.

Mary is another one of my good friends here. Tomorrow night at late night she is going to cut my hair I am so happy because I need a hair cut badly :D

I started this year's school year on Monday. So far it has been great and I am going to get to read a ton of good books this year. I am also going though Dave Ramsey again to learn more about financing and budgeting my money properly. It is fun because I like to budget money and it gets you thinking how much you spend.

Love y'all,
Mallory

AP: Have you ever heard this voice?

Okay, so I was reading in the Psalms one night when I was doing screens for Audra. (screens for those of you who don't know is where I put the words of what the singers are singing on the black tv's in the prayer room). I was flipping through my favorite psalms when I thought about something Audra had said in briefing before our set. She had mentioned something about the voice of the Lord because we were doing Psalm 42 and in verse 7 it talks about hearing the voice of the Lord through the Holy Spirit, the one who searches the deep things of God. (1 Cor. 2:10) She has this awesome chorus:

I can hear the voice of the Lord
It's like the roar of the waters
And it comes, crashing over me

You should hear her sing it. It gives you chills because of the power and truth behind it. Anyway I turned to Revelation 1:15 where it says that the voice of the Lord is like the sound of rushing waters. Now when I picture rushing waters I don't picture a little creek flowing in the woods somewhere. I picture a huge white-water river/Niagara Falls type thing. The loud, booming, make your bones rattle type sound. The scripture says that the voice of the Lord is like that.....loud, booming, make your bones rattle, powerful sound. It also says in the scriptures that
His voice is like a faint whisper. I like the way Job put it when he said, "How faint the whisper we hear of Him! Who then can understand the thunder of His power?" Isn't it incredible how it can sound like a whisper and also like rushing water?

Then I was turning back to Psalm 42 and went too far to Psalm 29. In the first two verses I found the words to a song Justin Rizzo and Jill Marsh sing. I was so excited so I began to read and then found this........more descriptions on the voice of the Lord! I was so excited. It said in verse 3 that the voice of the Lord is over the waters. I thought "What does that mean?" Over the waters? And then I remembered the rushing water thing. The voice of the Lord is over that.......louder than that! The next thing it says is that the God of glory thunders. His voice thunders......the bone rattling thing. It says that the Lord thunders over the mighty waters. So His voice bone-shaking rattles over the sound of white-water/Niagara Falls sound. Then it says that the voice of the Lord is powerful. His words are powerful and cut to the heart. Then it says that the voice of the Lord is majestic. We find awe and wonder in His voice. The next one really blew my mind. Okay, so you know those huge Red Wood trees in California that are hundreds of feet tall and have huge trunks? They are some of the biggest, strongest trees in the world. Cedar trees are just like that but even bigger and stronger. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon. His voice splinters the trees like they are little twigs........His voice!!! Amazing huh? All He has to do is say one word and these huge trees crumple into millions of tiny splinters! Then it says that the voice of the Lord strikes with flashes of lightning. There is so much power and authority in His voice that literal lightning actually comes from His voice. This thought and trying to picture this image makes my mind hurt! The next verse says His voice shakes the deserts. Which means that the dust storms and sand storms result from His voice, or they could. His voice shakes the deserts.......the entire desert! Have you ever thought about how big one desert is? It shakes the whole thing! By now my brain is really hurting and I'm kinda just sitting there in shock. The next verse blows me away. It says that the voice of the Lord twists the oaks and strips the forests bare. His voice makes huge trees twist and the whole forest is bare.....nothing left.....just from His voice! In Psalm 18:13 it says that the voice of the Lord resounded and thundered from heaven. It was a firm, definite, clear sound. In Isaiah 30:31 it says that the voice of the Lord will shatter Assyria. His voice has so much power it can shatter a nation! And Revelation 1:10 it says that His voice sounds like a trumpet. Ezekiel 1 is a really cool description of the same thing John saw in Revelation 4 but through Ezekiel's eyes. I would highly encourage you to read it. It is very mind provoking.

Anyway just thought I'd let you know what I had found. Isn't this voice amazing? I would encourage you to check out Psalm 29 for yourself! It will make you think! The voice of the Lord is incredible..........have you ever heard this voice?

AP: What would that look like?

Hi everyone! I am so sorry that I have not blogged but my schedule has been super busy. Mallory and I did ATC (Awakening Teen Camp) for two weeks and we were supposed to be unplugged from the world, ie no computers, so I wasn't allowed to blog. And then we started school back again and I really haven't had much time. But some awesome things happened at ATC and I thought I would share just one little part this time and maybe more would come later.

Okay, so I was sitting in the FSM building during one of the worship times at ATC looking around at the people worshiping. I began to think about the flesh and how it so often gets in the way of everything we do. For instance, if the Holy Spirit moves it has to come out through our FLESH. So there is always flesh in everything we see and do. That is comforting so that we don't have to keep thinking, "Well is that flesh or is that Holy Spirit?" It will always have a little flesh because we are flesh. Yes, we want to try and keep the flesh as little as possible and die to it daily, but some will still be there. As I was sitting there contemplating this reality I began to think of the worship that is constantly going on around the throne room like it describes in Revelation 4. I began to think of the pure and undefiled worship of creatures who are gazing at the glorious King. And of all the elders and kings around the throne. I thought of their response as they gaze on true beauty casting down their crowns crying out, "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." What an incredible response! I began then to pray for myself and for others that this would be the response that comes from our hearts as we look upon the glorious man, Jesus.

What do you think pure and undefiled worship looks like? Can you even picture that image? We will get to see and partake in this type of worship for the rest of our lives. Thousands, millions, billions of us all worshiping the one who deserves all glory, honor, and praise. Pure, unfleshly worship........what does it look like?

JP: Funny How God Works

It's funny how God works, isn't it. I was sitting in the prayer room this morning at 6:00 (gotta make the doughnuts!), when Misty Edwards began to sing "I was made for loving you." All of the sudden, a dream that I had the night before came to mind and God started pulling random things together - trains, Misty, tornados, end times. I told you, pretty random, huh?

Anyway, my dream was like an old black and white movie and I was at a train station. The platform was packed. Everyone was waiting for this express train to arrive at the station, however, no time had been given for its arrival. On the overhead speakers I could here Misty singing "People get ready..." As I wandered around I discovered that some had been waiting on it for years. I noticed that everyone's belongings were thrown into huge piles all over the platform. There were very few that had gone through, who were going through, or who were helping others go through the piles to prepare for the train's arrival. The vast majority were sleeping, mingling, or buying from the merchants on the platform away from the tracks. They were totally oblivious to the tracks. Very few were actually looking down the tracks in anticipation of the train's arrival at the station. Most of the people figured that there would be plenty of time to prepare or that it really wasn't coming at all.

Yesterday, we had tornadic conditions in KC. The tornado sirens sounded and everyone did what we all do when we hear them. We came out of the building to look! But basically, most ignored them. A few tuned into the weather channel to see if they needed to take cover.

So, this morning God brought it all together. We need to get ready. He's coming, soon. I know, people have been saying that for 2000 years now. But guess what? We're 2000 years closer than John was. It could be 5, 10, 20, or 100 more years. But, if you wait on that train to arrive at the station or to see that tornado before you take cover, it's pretty much too late. If you listen, you will hear warning signals announcing the train and tornado's approach. Why not listen to the warning signals God's giving. Are you gazing down the tracks? "People get ready, Jesus is coming!"

KP: Hummingbird or Dove

KP Writes:

Good Morning! Blessings from a very hot KC. I guess we are having a Midwest heat wave, but I feel more like I am having a midlife heat stroke!! The last couple of days have registered in the upper 90's only cooling down to the low 80's at night with a pretty constant sultry breeze. (Wow, I sound like I need a job on the weather channel.) Anyway, we expect much needed rain tomorrow which will hopefully cool it down some.

I often wake up early and sit out on our covered patio in the morning. I really enjoy listening to the birds chirp, watching the hawks soar overhead, and starting the day thanking the Lord for His beautiful creation and His provision in my life. On three sides of our patio is a flower garden planted by the previous owners that is very nice. Among the many flowers are hollyhocks, which are tall spindly plants with large brightly colored flowers at their tops. (I would include a picture but I have not yet found the box with the cord to download pictures from my camera to the computer! I have to remember, first things first!!)

Anyway, we also have this hummingbird that comes regularly and feeds from each of the hollyhock blossoms. He is absolutely amazing to watch. He always follows the same flight pattern zooming in from the north side of the house/patio around the 'front' to the south, feeding from each of the open blossoms and then takes off around the southern end of the house. Within a minute or so, the bird will repeat his flight pattern, feed, and leave. He does this 3-5 times before he is gone for the morning. As crazy as it sounds, I really enjoy watching this amazing creature and actually look for him in the mornings.

This morning I got my coffee, sat down and waited, and watched, and waited. No hummingbird. I really wanted to see him, even if just for a moment. As small as he is, he is so beautiful. His activity is so intriguing and amazing. As silly as it sounds, it is a highlight of my morning when he shows up. It brings me joy to watch something so seemingly insignificant doing the things he was created by God to do. Then the Lord spoke so clearly to my heart.

I felt strongly that it was not only a word of affection for me but for the church in America. Tenderly He said, 'My child, today you have had a glimpse into My heart. I am here, day after day, expectantly waiting, anticipating the moment I catch a glimpse of you. You are my beloved, and I long to have you show up, even for just a moment in time. You bring me great joy. You are beautiful and amazing to me. But you are so busy. You are so distracted with other lovers. This world has stolen you away. You are mine. Make time for me. Come and be with me, even for just a moment, even during the regular and necessary routine of everyday life. I am so disappointed when you do not pass by. I love being with you.'

About that time I remembered the pair of doves that are also a part of our back yard sanctuary. Glancing up to the power line, yes, there they were, just sitting, very still. You know doves choose one mate, for life. No others. Their eyes have no peripheral vision. They can look at only on thing at a time. No distractions pulling their gaze off their focus.

Are you more like a dove or a hummingbird? Even as a beautiful hummingbird, our Heavenly Father just wants us to come around the corner because He takes great pleasure in watching us. He loves us and thinks we are absolutely beautiful. He is waiting daily for us to just make a pass by His waiting gaze. We bring Him great joy!

I love you guys!
Kristian