picture is from joshuaproject.net

Who: The Kunbi

How many: 15,810,000

Where: Karnataka, India right inside the 10/40 window

Language: The most common language is Gujarati.

Religion: Hindu

Evangelical: less than 2% but the actual number is unknown

Bible: They have had the complete Bible at least since 2005

What else: They submit to a caste system and they are primarily landholders. Smoking cheroot is common and so throat and mouth cancer are also common.

Pray: that the Lord would raise up leaders to take more Bibles to these people and actually put it in their hands and that they would hear the word of God, turn from their idolatry, and enter into a saving faith of the one true God.

(All this information is from joshuaproject.net)

Over Christmas break, I visited some friends in Minneapolis, MN. I had the opportunity to visit with my friend Katie and we spent much of the time that we had together sharing prayer requests and praying for each other. Some of the prayer requests that I shared with her included my desire to have a friend who would keep me accountable and who would also desire accountability. Well Katie, the prayers that you have been praying have been answered with yes! This prayer was just answered this evening in the communal bathroom in my dorm. I spoke with a girl who has been my friend through this whole year and she expressed a very similar desire. She told me that she wants so much to open up her life to people so that her sin might be revealed and so that God can prove the greatness of His grace in her life over and abundantly by changing her. I was so happy to hear this because it seemed as though God had been working on these desires in both of our hearts for quite some time and it was not until just this evening that she and I agreed to become accountability partners. Another prayer request that I had was that I would start to feel more at home at my church here in California (Placerita Baptist) through serving and the Lord has answered that prayer with a yes also. I sang on the worship team this morning and there was another woman singing with me who took me out for coffee after we finished singing for the first service. This was such a blessing because I had the opportunity to get to know someone outside of The Master’s College and it only makes me feel more at home when I am at church. (I would encourage all of you who read this to do similar acts. It was just as simple as coffee and it made a huge difference. There may be someone at your own church is praying the same prayers that I prayed. Be blessed and be a blessing)

This semester is going to be difficult to say the least, but the Lord has already proved to be faithful to provide me with people who will keep me accountable and strengthen me through it all. I am so thankful for you Katie and for the blessings that have come from your faithful prayers.

Before spending years of fruitful labor on the mission field of India, William Carey kept busy with evangelism ministries right near his home in England. He was a shoemaker by trade, but he spent most of his time evangelizing. In the town of Moulton, pastors would even talk of the fruit that they saw come from Carey’s diligent work, but some were not so happy about how he chose to spend his time. A friend scolded William for neglecting his shoe-making business, but Carey’s response to him was, “Neglecting my business! My business, sir, is to extend the kingdom of Christ. I only make and mend shoes to help pay for expenses” (William Carey 49). If only my response and all Christians responses would be as Carey’s. We are not here for our occupations, but for the extension of Christ’s kingdom. Just something to think about.

I recently read Rethinking Retirement by John Piper and highly recommend it. It is a very short read, but it packs a big punch. In today’s day and age, retirement is the end goal for most Americans. We strive for comfort, security, and a fun time before we leave this earth. So many people end up wasting the last 20 years of their lives on retirement while there are others who do more in the last 20 years of their life than in the other 60 years of their life combined. As believers, we are not called to retirement as the world sees it, but we are called to spend our lives completely for the work of the Lord and for the benefit of His Kingdom. John Piper does well to address this common topic of interest and I hope that all of you will take out a couple of hours to read what he has to say.

representative photo of the Acheron people from joshuaproject.net

There are 9,800 Acheron people living in the south east part of central Sudan and they are my focus for the rest of the month of January. 0.00% are reached and they do not even have 1 verse of the Bible written in the Acheron language. There is not anymore information available to be known about this people group, but they need the gospel.

May the Lord reach these people through the use of His children and may He spread His word in their midst so that they might become additions to the Kingdom and also spread the gospel throughout all of Sudan, Africa, and the world.

visit http://www.joshuaproject.net/peopctry.php?rog3=SU&rop3=114498 to get links to a prayer website that has also focused on these people and join me for the rest of January in prayer.

We have been given the gospel. It is a blessed gift, not to be horded or buried so as not to lose it, for that in itself does not reveal the message of the gospel. The Bible says that the gospel will be fulfilled and it will be spread. Matthew 24:14a says, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations…” (ESV). The Lord has promised to carry out His will and He has commanded us to participate (Matt 28:19). This does not depend on whether men join in or not. At the same time, we are necessary. We are the salt of the earth (Matt 5:13) and it will be great to take part in God’s work on earth.

In the second half of Matthew 24:14, the Lord gives man another promise saying that after the gospel is proclaimed to every nation, “…then the end will come.” No one knows the exact time of the end of time, but we do know that it will not be until God has gathered people from every tribe, tongue, and nation (Rev 5:9, 7:9-10).

The Joshua Project is an initiative that focuses on reaching all peoples (visit http://www.joshuaproject.net/). This project seeks to account for all the people groups around the world with a status of unreached in regards to Christianity. Most of these groups do not have a Bible in there midst let alone a reproducing church and we must go!

Lord willing, I will pick a people group to highlight on my blog each month with the earnest desire that all those who read my blog will 1) pray that the gospel with reach them, 2) support and send the gospel to them, or 3) go to them with the gospel. We all must take part in global missions because there is still work to be done for the Kingdom of God. Join me along with all the others who have joined the Joshua Project in reaching the unreached.

1. School is going really well. I received an A on my last Greek test and I have a test coming up this next Thursday. It never really ends, but I am enjoying every moment here. My classes are difficult, but I am learning so much, being stretched so much, and I am getting better at being thankful to God for all things, even the thorns!

2. I have a friend here at the Master’s who is a model and this past week, I volunteered at her runway show. It was my job to help the models get dressed from outfit to outfit (a very different experience for me) and it was chaotic! I have never been so aware of my shortness!

3. I tried out for the worship team at my church here and made it which is exciting. My first Sunday is November 29th.

4. I have had 5 bloody noses in the past week! I think I was made for more humid climates : )

5. A couple weeks ago, I met with my advisor and it turned out that all of my freshman courses were not counting as anything. I made an appeal to the registrar and received credit for 6 major courses, which means that I will graduate on time!

6. I am still wearing flip-flops, which is not that strange for me, but it is weird that everyone else is still wearing sandals.

7. Looking forward to T-day!!

Recently, a couple of my friends have mentioned to me that they love certain people in their lives. I asked them then if they would be willing to die for those people and they said no. I thought to myself for a few moments and proceeded to ask: “Is that even possible?” They were sure that it was, but I think that the Bible is very clear about this.

Sometimes when I hear a good song on the radio or on my computer, I exclaim that I “love” it. However, I usually end up taking it back vocally as I test my love by asking myself if I would die for whatever song I just heard. The answer is always no. Would I die for one of my favorite songs “Twist and Shout” by The Beatles? No, of course not. This may sound like a ridiculous comparison to a love for God or for people, but I think that it is valid point to consider as the word is constantly being overused to communicate that we enjoy something like a song. The use of “love” in this way is to downplay the actual meaning of love, which leads to a misunderstanding of what love really entails and I think that it helps to explain why my friends think that they can love someone or something without having the willingness to lay down their lives for them.

The greatest command given to believers is love God and the second greatest command is love people (Matthew 22:36-39).  Now, what does this really mean, to love God and love people? Does it simply mean that we offer to pay for a friend’s drink at a coffee shop, or that we talk to a person when no one else does? These actions could possibly be signs of love, but I do not think that they are enough to demonstrate the love that is clearly defined by Christ in the cross. The apostle John writes to the Church across Asia Minor in 1 John. He clearly presents in this short book right Christian living and how his readers are to love their brothers and sisters in Christ. He writes, “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth” (1 John 2:16-18, ESV). These verses reveal that it is not enough to love in word, but that we must love in our actions of laying down our lives for our brothers and sisters. It is not enough to just say that we love someone. It is a lie if we are not willing to unselfishly give up our lives, our own desires, or even our lifelong dreams for the sake of another’s well-being, whether that means supplying him with worldly needs or ultimately dying for him so that he might live in our place. “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).

This must be taken one step further. It is good to recognize the full weight of love. It is also good to understand that we may not truly love the people that we are consistent in saying that we do. However, this does not mean that we just need to stop proclaiming our love when we do not truly mean it. It means that we must fulfill that love as we have been commanded to as children of God who have been saved because of love. In other words, it is not an end in itself to just understand what love means. The understanding of love must lead and will lead if it is a real comprehension into acts of love demonstrated by Christ.

It is my hope and prayer that the Church (not only the direct recipients of John’s letter, but even the Church today) might learn to love with a dying love and give God all the glory since it is by Him that we love at all (1 John 4:19).

Elliot and Carla

we are not very good doctors i guess

a few of the girls

late night trip to Leo Carillo