It's Chico time!

It's crazy to think we have only been here for 3 weeks now... In some ways the time has flown, but so much has happened, and this place is already feeling like home.

The last couple of weeks of school have been mostly orientation and hearing the values, customs and expectations of the school.  We have had the privilege of hearing Bill and Kris a few times, and even Mrs Johnson (legend). It has actually been pretty mind blowing, and hard not to be more than a little in awe of these total giants! 

For our church services, we have been allocated the Twin View location, so we aren't ever at Bethel for that ( so you won't see us on tv!) but they video link in to the main speaker in the mornings and the evenings have been a 3-4 hours worship session! The worship here is so heavy!  I think we sang only one whole song in the last meeting we went to that lasted almost 4 hours! We really have been led into new realms of worsihp by the worship teams here.

One thing which is really cool about this place is they are really clear about who they are and what they stand for. They release people to be all of who they are, yet clearly communicate the culture that they have chosen to cultivate here. It is so intentional, and protective of their church and city, but ultimately totally freeing. Love it.

We have alreayd been challenged by loads! One thing is by their spirit of generosity - the way of breaking a poverty spirit. That you should give out of a place of honour and thankfullness, not just someone else's need or your own excess... I guess it is easy to think that we will be generous when we have enough cash to splash, but live fairly tight-fisted in the mean time! So we are learning to live in the balance of that.

They also have a very strong culture of honour, and they ask all guys to open doors for the ladies, to give up their seat if they need to etc! It means Josh now opens the door for me, which I actually quite like (except that he has to wait for all the ladies to go through, so I am always losing him in a crowd!)

We are going on retreat tomorrow to a YWAM base in Chico, which should be a really great opportunity to get to know a few peeps a bit better! Our Revival Group has about 60 people in it, so still don't know everyone yet! I am pretty shocking with names and faces so I'm so glad we have to wear name badges!  In our first RG meeting, the first 'getting to know you' game was putting all the name badges in together, everyone picking out one, and then asking God to tell us whose badge we had! No pressure...! Crazily enough, I actually got mine right! Oh yeah.

We got prophesied over at school today, which was really cool. They were bang on for both of us and reall exciting!

Gonna go now - it is so hot here, I am melting in front of the screen! 39 degrees c yesterday!

Have loved seeing the pics of the Jesus Culture tours. Banning said there is a new breed of revivalist coming out of the UK at the mo! C'mon!

Big love,

Josh and Em xx

Monday 13th September 2010 - Post #1

 So, the Californian adventure has begun!  We have been in Redding  just under a week now, and are loving every minute!

We are staying with Adam, Josh’s brother and some friends of ours from Cheddar, and we have a beautiful little pad in downtown Redding. Looking forward to getting stuck into the community here…

We have spent most of this week traveling, settling in, bit of admin, with a fair bit of sunbathing thrown in! This place is stunning and it’s so easy to connect with God here.

So, school starts tomorrow and we register today. We haven’t been to the church yet, as there has been a conference this weekend, and so they asked students to stay away as there wasn’t enough space for us! Good problem to have!

What has been amazing for us this week, is that because everyone here is so much more friendly than us Brits, and because we have an accent, everyone wants to talk to us! And in almost every supermarket, clothes shop, Starbucks, restaurant, bank we have been in, someone has connections with Bethel!

Last night we went out for a meal as a house before school starts, and the waiter was a guy who volunteers as a mentor for Bethel. Halfway through the meal, he came over and gave prophesies to us as a group and then to Josh and me individually. At the end of the meal, Josh asked if he would pray for us, and he said that we would have to do it outside, as his boss had banned praying at work! He then prayed over each of us, with some pretty spot on words. He got a good tip!

Today we were in a fast food place queuing for lunch, when the guy in front got chatting to us, cos he was from Bethel, and he paid for our bill, and then ate his lunch with us. All good. Turns out he manages Jesus Culture and it was a real privilege to be able to spend a little bit of time with him and hear some of his stories.  

It’s just amazing being somewhere, where there is such a buzz about what God is doing in this city.

We are so excited to see what God has planned for us this year and just want to throw ourselves into every opportunity we get. Yesterday, we went for a swim in a lake in the mountains, and we were both struck by how honoured we are to be able to be here, to have this opportunity to just soak in God this year, learn from some of the Greats, and be given opportunities beyond anything we’ve experienced before. We fully grasp how lucky we are (for all you jealous ones!)
 
Just want to say a massive thank you to all of you for supporting us, praying for us, loving us. Please keep in touch, cos we want to hear your stories too!
 
Another day…

Josh and Em