Wow.

So a month has gone by fast. Really fast. At least it has for me. We'll be flying out of Guam at 4 am on Sunday. We have a 12 hour layover in Seoul, then on the plane again headed for Auckland. One week of debrief time back at Oak Ridge, then DTS graduation on the 27th. You can come if you want ;).

The last weeks have fallen into some resemblance of a routine.... at least sort of. Hopefully you've found our video journals on youtube... if not you can search "Guam Outreach" and you will find them. They can give you a good outline of the things we've done.

We have two more sessions with focus groups this week, wednesday and thursday. It will be a busy week wrapping things up. Then on Saturday night we're having a huge bash, to which we have been inviting... everyone. Kids from schools, youth groups, churches, random people at the beach... it will be a good time. There will be food. Local food. Red rice, pancit, ribs.... yeah it's gonna be awesome.

This last week a few of us got sick from some bacteria in the water... we went swimming at a waterfall. 70 foot waterfall. It was pretty cool. I didn't get sick. Chad got real sick... bad enough we took him to the emergency room. It was kind of scary, but he's fine now. Rebekah, Mary, Courtney, and Derek got sick on different levels. I think a couple of them still feel a little down but everything is on the upswing.

I read The Shack yesterday. Yep, the whole thing. Good book. I can see why it caused some "controversy." Because of modern day pharisees. Who don't get metaphor. That's what I have to say about that.

As of right now my plane ticket home is scheduled on the 31st of March. But... and some of you know this and some of you don't.... I might be staying in New Zealand. I think I mentioned in previous posts about the church in Tauranga whose youth group we spent some time with. They are looking for a worship/youth leader, and they're very interested in me filling that void in their church. My plan right now (God willing... :)) is to head down there immediately after graduation. I've only met the youth group and 3 of the youth leaders, so I'd like to meet the rest of the staff and spend a little time with the church before any final decisions are made. I think they feel the same. Trust me, it's a difficult thing to consider. I miss my family, my friends, and the northwest a lot. But this could be a really good opportunity for me to develop some of the things that DTS has opened up in me, as well as meet a very pressing need for these people. It's a little scary, and a little risky. But one thing I've learned is that God can be a little scary and risky too. The position is as a member of the church staff... with a place to live, a car to use, and paycheck. However I would not be playing the role of "worship pastor" or "youth pastor" or "pastor" at all. They are looking for someone on the younger end of the scale because they want the vibrancy and energy that would bring to their sunday morning worship as well as to their youth group. I definitely bring vibrancy and energy, especially to worship. It feels like a good fit.

I know this probably stresses some of you out. Please don't make the mistake of thinking that I take this lightly. I'm honored to even be considered as a possibility by the church leadership. There are a number of things that excite me, and a few things that make me think twice. Tauranga is a beautiful city... about the size of Bend. It's right on the east coast, south of Auckland, and seems to have a vibrant arts and outdoors "scene." And you know me.

If I stay, hopefully I'll be able to make it home for a visit before too long. God has proven himself to me as provider over the last few months, through people who love me. You, my family (biological & spiritual) have made it possible for me to be here... Thank you. Frankly, I'm confident that he will continue to provide. So with his blessing, I hope to see you all soon, whether for a short or a long time.

I hope you're doing well... I'm sorry that I haven't kept in touch well. I'm hoping to have some more time to catch back up with everyone next week.

Hey everyone! Just thought it might be a good time to give you a bit of an update on what we've been up to. If you look in my last couple of posts you'll find links to photo albums and a video. Check them out, if you haven't already.

We've been really busy. Saturday nights there's a youth service that's open and advertised at several churches, and they asked us to run the whole service the last two saturdays. Pretty fun. We've been doing a bit of that.... helping with and participating in church services. Last sunday we helped at a korean church.

We're getting the ball rolling on a anti-alcohol abuse program for kids here. The goal is to create something that's specifically targeted at Guam and other pacific islanders, rather than just using something that's come from the mainland and a culture that is somewhat of a mystery. It's a several month project... our role will primarily be gathering data, by running focus groups of teenagers and finding out what they're hearing about alcohol and what their view of it is. We have a meeting with some important lady in about half an hour.

Went to Inarajan pools yesterday, and met a 14 year old kiwi and did backflips with him for a while. That was fun.

Sometimes people.... the people I live with... can be frustrating. It's not easy to spend almost 24/7 around most people. I'm sure I'm frustrating too. But it's going fine.

Went to the skate park the other night. That was fun too.

K gotta go. Hope you're all doing good!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mb0WJrJlO7A

Update time!!

So we've been in Guam for about a week and a half. Getting a better feel for what will be happening. We've gotten connected with several churches here who all want us involved with their youth groups. Also, through Zion church, we'll be working on a teenage anti-alcohol-abuse campaign, which is super exciting. Zion also sponsors Oasis, an addiction recovery program for women. The people at Zion are awesome... they've opened up a ton of resources for us. We've spent the last few days at Zion church working on websites and whatnot. I'm a bit frustrated with the fact that so far we've spent a lot of our outreach sitting in a church office... but hopefully it's all just steps towards getting out there a bit more. The alcohol program is really exciting to me because we have an open door to go into schools to do focus groups and whatnot. Very cool.

Tonight I'll be going to youth group at First Church of God with a few others... just to go and participate.

Tomorrow we're running the whole Saturday night youth program that meets at Zion... it will be youth from about 7 different churches.

I might be leading worship at First Church of God on Sunday morning... the communication with them hasn't been very clear...

So that's where we're at right now!

Here's a link to some photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=80111&l=2b4dc&id=589982541

Hey!

So we've made it Guam! It's awesome here so far. Let me give you a little run down:

Be praying for us. We're really trying to seek direction on what we should be doing while we're here. I've mentioned that the YWAM base here just started operating last spring, but I didn't really realize how much of a struggle they are in. There's no electricity in our building because they can't afford it. There's no internet on the base... which in this day and age is almost a necessity if you're going to be in touch with possible students and staff. The staff on base are only eating two meals a day, and they are working full time jobs to keep the place alive. The property is owned by a local church, and I don't know what rent is like, but somehow it seems like everyone is working their butts off to barely survive. So that's a big prayer point.

Also on the financial front... I sent an email out a few days ago and mentioned that all of my financial needs have been met. Which is true... my debt to YWAM is paid off. However... something happened in the accounting realm and as a team we have come up $3000 american dollars short. We have some fundraising plans, and we are confident that God will provide what we need, but I want you to know that if you want to give, it is needed. We are keeping a very tight budget right now. I only have limited email access about once a week now, But if you want to give, you can send it to my parents or Garrett Rupp, they know how to get it directly to me. You can also email me at chargrove217@yahoo.com to find out how, or find me on paypal at the same email address.

Anyways, hope everyone is doing good. I'm doing great.

Happy New Year!

Hey-oh.

So we're leaving for outreach tomorrow... flight's at 12:15pm our time. We have an hour layover in Seoul then to Guam. All my stuff is packed up, ready to rock 'n roll. Everybody here is a little freaked out at how fast the last three months have gone by.. . even heard a few comments about being nervous. Honestly I'm just stoked... ready to get outa here and hit the pavement.

After 3 months out here we all are really starting to look like bona fide YWAMers. If you don't know what that means you'll figure it out someday. If you do.... well.... you know what I'm talking about. Maybe it's not even something physical but something more to do with demeanor. It's cool.

I don't really know what the interweb access situation will be like in Guam. From what I here the base there is barely surviving so internet may not be on base. We'll see though.

I can't freaking wait.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=64445&l=b602a&id=589982541

Here's a link to my facebook photo album. I just uploaded a bunch of photos. Merry Christmas and enjoy!