A FALL UPDATE

Dear Friends,

I'm sorry I do not post as often as I should. There is so much to tell you. Let's begin with the Costa Rica trip.

The Team, McGinnis Family, Pastor & Elizabeth (thier sons) and Federico, our bus driver

A few months ago the Lord provided for me to go on a mission trip to Costa Rica. It was all very sudden and for me, almost totally unplanned. The Lord opened all the doors and before I knew it, I was on a plane with 10 other wonderful people from my church. When we landed in Costa Rica we were greeted by two very excited gringos, the missionary, Jon, and his son JD. Almost immediately, before the bus could even pull out of the airport, Jon offered us food and a Costa Rican juice. It was then, I knew we would be well cared for and when I decided that I would love the next few days we would spend with the McGinnis Family.
Our objective for the week was to paint the inside of a church and remodel a kitchen/home. The church was attached to the home and was on the side of a very steep hill. The home and church were very small but the Pastor and his wife Elizabeth welcomed us with such love that it felt large (large, was the size of their hearts). We had come to help with the children's ministry and to do some handiwork but we were far more blessed by them. By the end of the week, the church and the outdoor kitchen had been painted and the indoor kitchen/home had mostly been remodeled. Through our physical goals, God taught me many things. Though I did not do a lot of the physical labor, He used that to build lasting relationships. Joni (the Jon's beautiful wife), taught me so much about life on the mission field and what it looks like for a family. She took me under her wing and showed me what it was like for them in Costa Rica, the difficulties and the joys. Joni ministered to my heart more than I can say. Then, Elizabeth taught me how to communicate without words (or speaking the same language). She taught me how to make empanadas, she spoke in Spanish and I responded in English. Neither of us knowing exactly what the other said but the hand motions gave it a way.  Also, from our group leader I learned a lot, both about being a leader and about the fruit of the Spirit, which was our bible study for the week.

I feel blessed and overwhelmed by love and lessons from Costa Rica. I am very thankful to have been given the opportunity of serving in Costa Rica. Thank you for letting me go and praying for me.

Now, on to more current excitments! The youth group I am serving is growing spiritually  and we have several solid students who are bold for Christ! In addition, recently we have had several students turn their lives over to the Lord both for the first time and as a rededication. I believe the number is around 30. WOW! THANK YOU JESUS! One student in particular I have bonded with and she has a desire to please the Lord in every area of her life. I'm so happy for her and glad she is a part of my life.

My family is doing great, just a few weeks ago my sister and I went chasing the sunrise at too early to be up in the morning, AM. Despite that and the super cold wind, it was BEAUTIFUL!  Not to mention on our dive back down the mountain we saw a BLACK BEAR! I can now check that off my bucket list. A few weeks before that we celebrated Mom's birthday and the 25th anniversary of a friend's ministry; it was a great time. More recently, we hosted a bonfire for my parents' Sunday school class. We had a HUGE turn out, that was such a blessing to host.

Lastly, the Lord hears the unspoken cries of our hearts and answers them; mine has been one of loneliness. He has brought several ladies into my life. One who has become more of a mentor and the others as friends to do life with.  In addition, He has changed my hard heart as only He can do and continues to teaches me daily what it means to be a daughter of the King. Some of my favorite verses have become Colossians 1:21-23a &Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation - if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope that is held out for you in the gospel.


Praises:

The Lord has instructed me to grow where I am planted by pouring into girls around me. So I am praising Him for His guidance!

Students who are turning thier life over to the Lord!
Women who pour into this young soul
Books! (Lately, I've taken to reading, this can become dangerous, as many book lovers may know ;)

God's Word, and how it is &profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in rightousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.& (1 Timothy 3:16-17)

The list of praises could go on and on but I will end with this: I praise God for the greatness of knowing His Son and for hope of glory

Prayers:

For girls to disciple and for Him to show me what that looks like

For the fight against sin, as believers this is a daily battle but days it seems harder than others

Continue to keep the Student Ministry Pastors in your prayers. The Lord has answered so many already but the battle for these students continues

Thank you for taking the time to read this and for all your prayers.

Your friend,
Bekah Turbeville :)

A Summer Update

Summer is quickly coming to a close, before we know it August will be here and the students will be back in school.

What the Lord is teaching me:
Thankfullness is the number one lesson God is teaching me. I have so much to thank Him for. Even now as I write this my silly dad is singing about the house while he and mom get ready for a night out with thier friends (thus I am thankful for his silly singing, for my relationship with my parents, friends they enjoy). As simple as this may sound I am learning to be greatful in the small things. For this natually born pessimist this lesson can be difficult yet very enjoyable too. Life has become filled with lots of little blessings and beautiful gifts as "I realize it is not God who is in my debt but I who am in His great debt, then doesn't all become a gift? For He might not have" (a quote from the book 1000 Gifts).

Now for all the fun stuff (pictures/videos):

Summer Camp was a blast, espeically watching our students grow in their relationship with the Lord.

 JJ Weeks did a wondful job of leading us in worship

water day!!!!

high school girls!

High school girls dominated rec

Middle school boys attacking each other with water to the face

High school boys working as a team to complete a challenge

Sleepy students after a full week of camp

Please click this link to watch a commerical we made for Messy Night, aka the biggest food fight ever!!!!!

Praises:
VBS this past week was a HIT! We had lots of little ones come to know Christ as their Lord.
God has provided for my mission trip
That the Lord will continue the work He started in the hearts of our students at camp

Prayer Request:
For the team of us who will be going to Costa Rica starting July 31-Aug 9 (more details to come).
Pray for our Student Ministry Pastors as they try to rebuild and create a thriving ministry.
That I will grow in thankfullness, humility, and patience as I wait on the Lord to direct my steps (so maybe direction/guidance too).

February / March Update

First, let me start by apologizing for not posting sooner, (I am learning how to manage time in the adult world... and am not exactly the best).

So, the other week someone asked how I like adulthood? Wittily, I replied "I don't." Friend, allow me to be very honest; this is one of the hardest transitions I have ever made. It is far from easy but I look to the Cross for comfort, assurance, guidance and truth like I have never before. As Rend Collective says in their song My Lighthouse "You are the peace in my trouble seas." Oh how I need the Lord. Paul once said "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners--of whom I am the worst." But I give him quite the competition for that spot. It is hard to learn how much we sin and how we cannot sufficiently save ourselves, but we need to know how small we are because, if we are BIG then God will be small in our eyes. But if He is BIG then we will be small. Personally, I'm very thankful for this lesson because it means that God is in His proper position, on His throne, and by His grace I worship before Him.

Here are a few pictures of what has been happening in the ministry:

Senior Ski Retreat was amazing

Then we had the honor of hosting the Student Life Conference with Rush of Fools as worship leaders.

8 of our student surrendered their lives to the Lord! Praise HIM!

Next was Leadership Training, to which we had a wonderful turn out.

I cannot wait to see what the future holds with these sweet people

Lastly, we have several more events coming up in the next few weeks such as, Paintball, Leadership Appreciation Dinner, an All night'er, and Camp; just to list a few. This means my schedule will pick up and I do not believe things will slow down until July or September but I like the fast pace, most of the time.  :)

Prayer request:
Please pray for Godly friends, especially women who can pour into me.
Please join me in asking the Lord for a roommate and an affordable appartment.
Lastly, please pray for the students, pray that the Lord will get a hold of their lives and use them in powerful ways in their communities.

Thank you for your love and support. The Lord has truly blessed me by our prayers.

If you want to hear God laugh tell Him your plans

I am about to tell you a story of what happens when you tell God your plans, as long as you surrender your life to Him, He will do as He well pleases no matter what you say :)

When I was about 15 or 16 years old the Lord tugged hard on my heart to go into ministry, He did not tell me which one but allowed me to decide. I chose youth ministry because I wasn't really sure I would liked all the others.  The next decision was where to go for a youth ministry education. CIU (Columbia International University) seemed to fit what I was looking for, a small college with a great program that taught the Bible. After a semester or two at CIU I told God "I really don't want to work in the church." Then, months later I informed Him that I was not interested in going back home to work and the last thing I would ever do was move back in with my parents. I also told Him that as much as I loved my home church back in Charlotte, I would never work there because I wanted to lead mission trips, take students backpacking in Colorado, and change the world.

Well, after graduation, working at camp for a summer and going to OLD School the next semester, I am back home. Upon arriving at home my plans were to look for a job where my sister lives, move in with her and start volunteering in some kind of youth ministry while I applied to work as a missionary. My first Sunday back I was planning on visiting a local church (not my home church) because it came highly recommend. However, my car went to the shop that weekend, meaning I would be going with my parents to my home church. Within the first 40 minutes of being there, it was announced that my old youth pastor and his family would be returning to work on staff. Oh how my heart jumped with excitement!

I had been applying to jobs near my sister and even had an interview. A few days after the interview my old youth pastor, Dean, called and asked if I would be interested in working with him as an administrative assistant. All of those things I had told God slipped into the furthest parts of my mind and joyfully I told him "yes." I was not expecting to hear back from the company where I had previously interviewed but sure enough, within a few days they offered me the job. For the next 24 hours, my friends and I prayed for guidance and our prayers were answered. God gave me a peace about declining their offer and waiting to see what would happen with this new possibility. Before I knew what was happening I was having an interview at my home church and within a week or so I was officially offered the job.

Now, I will be changing the world by changing lives in a youth ministry program that I am very excited to be a part of. I started a few day ago and can already tell it is going to be challenging but am loving it! Everything I told the Lord I would not do I am now doing and am very grateful for all the blessing He has put in my life.

Lessons from OLD School

1. God has a mind of His own. What I mean by this is that when I applied to OLD School I did it because I wanted the experience and to gain many outdoor skills that would look good on a resume. However, God had something totally different in mind. (Read below for His reasons)

2. Because I entered OLDS for selfish reasons, I was distant and wanted very little to do with those around me. When we reached the part of the semester where people either run to God or run from Him, all of us students ran to Him. Suddenly I found myself surround by brothers and sisters who wanted to walk with me through this journey. Had I been open from the start I would have seen that they were there all along.

3. Another thing God taught me was that He already knows how much of a sinner I am and does not need to be constantly reminded. This was perhaps my favorite lesson because I was able to finally sit back and allow God's love to pour over me. I realized that He knows I am a sinner in need of His help, that is why He sent Jesus. The only response I had to this overwhelming realization was one of awe and silence.

4. Lastly, I learned that God speaks through His creation. It took some time for me to finally hear God but once I started it seemed as though He was everywhere. Whether watching the sunrise while sitting on top of a mountain far above the clouds, listening to the waves crash on the shore as I fell asleep, or hearing laughter over the crackling fire it seems God is always using creation to draw us to Him. Even now thinking about it I feel myself being drawn to Him.

Just a few more of my favorite pictures:

Out of the Woods

Hey Friends!

What a semester it has been! (and that is an under statement). This semester I have been mostly living in the back country with 9 other students and 2 proctors. We formed a very unlikely and united family. Over the period of about 13 weeks the 12 of us did so much together and spent almost every minute with each other.
Let's take a look at what we did this semester.

Our first section was Backpacking:

Just girls :)

All of the students

Fish Hatchery, our final destination

Whitewater training and guiding:

Learning how to guide the river

We had a lot of fun...

...even though the temperature dropped into the low 40s at one point

Rock climbing:

Table Rock, NC

That was the day that we climbed to the top of a MOUNTAIN!!!

I still can't believe we did it! It was so amazing and beautiful!

Caving:

Cora walked into a rock that was at head level, oops

Night Climbing!!!!

Wilderness First Responder:

Fake injuries can be fun unless...

... in a litter. It was all for education and because I was the smallest person in the class

Sea Kayaking (one of my favorite sections):

We saw all kinds of animals; dolphins, sea turtles, raccoons, fish, sharks and more

The tide was interrupting our dinner plans

A beautiful sunrise on our last morning

 

 

Honduras:

We went on a mission trip to Emmanuel Orphanage in Honduras and our main job was to spend time loving on the kids. Some of the ways we did this was by playing with the kids (often soccer), tag, "throw me in the air until your arms fall off", talking with the older ones, playing paint ball, using a zip-line, and our Snowbird team built a three man swing for them.

The three man being tested for the first time

The first Hondurans on the swing

Paintball with the older girls :)

Sisters

We had such a wonderful time in Honduras and through out the whole semester. I hope you enjoyed the picture blog. Next and hopefully very soon I will post about my experience at OLD School and the things I learned through out the semester.

Happy New Year! :)