Taking a break and spending time with God

Hello everybody!

I hope you are all doing fantastic! Things here are great. We have just finished our first term of SBS, and are on our week long break that has been very refreshing so far. I was able to get out camping for a night, which was brutally hot and I ended up sleeping outside on a picnic table, but gave me a chance to spend some time at the beach with some friends and we had an amazing time. The rest of the break so far has just been relaxing, spending time with my classmates and enjoying each other's company and fellowship, and really trying to spend some time connecting with God.

I've really found it difficult connecting with God on a deep level since I've been here and my prayer and worship and study times have been a little dry. I've struggled with making my studies into a homework assignment and just trying to get through books, which is difficult because we are so crazy busy and always moving, and have really been trying to hear God through His word. It's great to get the head knowledge of the bible, but the real reason I'm doing this is so that God can continue to make me into the man He created me to be. So I've really been trying to seek God and really see how I can connect with Him more deeply and personally and to really be seeking Him through my work. So far the time I've been spending with Him has been great. I've been reading Can you hear me? by Brad Jersak, which is a great book on hearing God that I started reading a while ago, but never finished, and have just been spending time each day praying and worshipping Him. It's been great kinda saying alright God, I want to hear you like I used to so lets get back to the basics, which is also kinda humbling for me too since I used to hear God pretty well and may have taken that for granted.

Other than that, I'm just really reflecting on first term and really focusing on getting reenergized for our second term, which I've heard is the toughest term of SBS. First term was an amazing time and even though my studies did seem a little dry and trivial at time, I did feel God speaking to me and changing me and doing work in me, and I can't wait to see what else He has in store. I have been able to make some great connections with people here, despite being so busy, and have really been forging great friendships with people and have been able to enjoy living my life here, even if it is crazy sometimes and I struggle with the language.

Something that has been really tough for me is that my best friend that I've made here, Breno, who I've spent a lot of time in prayer with and talking with has decided to leave SBS. He was having trouble focusing on the work a little, and although we both believe that God brought him here for a reason, through prayer and discussion with friends and family, he really feels like his time here has passed and that he is supposed to move on from SBS. This has been really tough for me, because as I learned at the end of DTS, one of the hard prices you pay with being in YWAM and missions is that you make these great friendships and then are split up from the people you just became so close with. So it's been hard seeing my friend go through a difficult decision and letting go of him and encouraging him in moving on, but I know that this is all part of God's plan for him and I really feel like we became close friends for a reason and that God will use that friendship for His glory.

So please be praying for me that God will be speaking to me and guiding me and that through this break our relationship will be refreshed and renewed and that He will fill me up and give me the energy and focus to have an amazing second term. Please also be praying for Breno as he seeks God's vision for what's next and follows Him where He leads, that God will be opening doors for him and will be speaking to him and really just filling him with His love and joy during this time of transition.

Please also be praying that God will continue to provide for me, and maybe even pray about if God wants you to help support me as well. I actually just found out how to add a donate button to my blog, which is kinda exciting for me because it gives people a quick, easy and secure way to donate money to me using a credit card or paypal instead of the only way to support me being to send a cheque or cash to my parents. So if you want to make a donation to help support me, even if it's only a dollar or two, every little bit helps and is greatly appreciated, just click the donate button on the right side of my blog. Like I've said before, unfortunately tax receipts aren't available right now because I'm only a student with YWAM, but hopefully in the future I should be able to start providing people with receipts because I'm starting to think more and more that God is leading me to start staffing DTSs and to help disciple people into following Him and experiencing the joy and love that He gives.

Another thing that is kinda exciting is that they've recently added the ability for people to subscribe to receive blog updates through email, so for those of you who would like to receive my updates, but don't have a gmail account that allows them to just click follow, you can just enter your email address where it says follow by email.

I hope you all are having an amazing summer, and although I miss home an it's really hot here and we don't get to use A/C during the day, I still know 100% that this is where I'm supposed to be and am so excited to see what God is going to do through my time here.

God bless you all. Love ya.

Prayer Requests:

• That God will continue to give me His vision for my future
• That God will be speaking to me through my work
• That God will help me with my time management and that I will be diligent with the time I have
• That this break will revitalize and refresh me and my classmates and our relationship with God
• That 2nd term will be a blessing even though it looks like it will be very busy
• That God will send people to support me (especially regularly) as I follow His call
• That God will be speaking to and guiding Breno as he continues to follow Him

Almost through first term

First off, I have to apologize that it's taken me so long to post again. I know that I said I'd be posting every week on my last post, and although things are busy it's something that I intend to do. I know it's important that I keep you guys up to date on how I'm doing so you don't forget about me, but also because I need you guys keeping me in your prayers cause I need them to help me through the tough times that arise during SBS.

Things have been a lot better these last few weeks. Romans was definitely a difficult week for me, and God's really been teaching me lately to be focusing on one thing at a time, and also about expectations and performance issues that have been causing me to have difficult times in my charting and have contributed to me feeling overwhelmed at points by the enormous amount of work that we still have to do in SBS, which makes it difficult to get work done. I got some amazing encouragement from my checker after he had gone through my Romans and my 1 Corinthians, which were the books that I was really feeling like I was struggling in, and he let me know that I actually did a great job on the books and really spoke truth into me and encouraged me and let me know that I gotta make sure that I don't have unrealistic expectations of myself. He really helped me realize just how much pressure I put on myself and how I seemed to think that I had to have huge epic interpretations for every observation instead of just asking God to speak to me through the text and to write it down.

Through that talk and studying 2 Corinthians, which has a lot about weakness, God did a lot of work in my heart and helped me realize that in SBS and throughout the future, the only thing that matters is that I am following His call and being faithful with what He tells me to do. He's really been teaching me that if I am going to make it in the life of being a missionary that I have to completely forget about what the world thinks is successful and thinks that I should do in order for me to be "successful", and just look to Him and realize that being obedient is what it means to be successful in my life. Especially with looking at the future and thinking about support and everything, I was starting to think more about what the world was thinking of my role in ministry and it was starting to affect my work here as well. So God's really been speaking into this area and helping me to realize that I don't have to have some epic crazy ministry in order to be successful or for people to support me, but all I have to do is follow Him and share with people what He's doing in and through me and why I'm doing what I'm doing, and I will be successful.

Another thing that God's been speaking to me about is doing my part while trusting Him to provide. When I started on this journey of following God wherever He led me, I really felt that He was telling me not to really ask anybody for money, and that He was just going to provide for me, which was awesome, because I'm more of a giver and I hate asking for things. But now that I'm almost a year into things and am definitely in this for the long haul, and plan on living my life following Him, I feel like He's telling me to start doing my part to seek out support now. Something that God's really taught me over the last year is that in following Him, you sometimes have to step out of your comfort zone, whether it be preaching the gospel or asking for support or calling out someone on something they're doing or not doing or whatever. God's really shown me that I need to show my dedication by swallowing my pride, stepping out in faith and asking for help.

The reality of my situation is that I basically have two supporters, one being my parents and the other being our next door neighbour who I almost feel bad taking money from because she is a widow and doesn't work or anything, but she still wants to support me, and that's it. This definitely isn't enough for me to live on long term. I've gotten by well so far because when I left for DTS I got an amazing amount of support from friends and family, I've received some support from some people during the time I've been gone, and I've basically sold all my possessions and got a great tax return back this year because of my old job. These sources of money have now gotten low and I basically should have enough for my next term of SBS, but definitely don't have enough to support myself past there.

I know that some people may be thinking that because I'm doing school and not out in the jungles preaching the gospel, that I'm not really a missionary yet so I should be paying for my schooling myself, and I don't blame them because from an external point of view that makes sense, especially since I had a good job before I left. I know that I could have waited to go to DTS and worked another year and saved up heaps of money and probably been fine for money for the entire DTS and SBS, which was actually what I originally planned to do, but the problem with that plan was that it was man's plan and not God's plan. God told me to go right away and to put my faith in Him and trust that He would provide for me, not only for DTS, but for my entire life. So I did the only thing that I could do and I followed Him and trusted Him, and now I'm living in Taiwan, which is actually a surprisingly unreached area and actually is a very spiritually dark place, and am spending my time studying the bible because God told me to so that He could equip me for what He has for me next, which I don't even know what it is yet. I know that in the world's eyes, I may not be doing things "the right way" or how some people think I should and that I should have a long term plan and should know exactly what I'm going to be doing, but God didn't tell me to wait and do it that way, He told me to go and trust Him. All that I know is that I'm doing what God wants me to do and am trusting Him to lead me to what He has for me, to make me into the man that He wants me to be so that I can do that, and that He will provide for me whatever I need.

So what I'm getting at here is I am asking you all to spend some time praying for me and asking God about partnering with me and supporting me in following God's call. It doesn't even have to be much, it can be a one time gift or a regular gift, whatever you can give will be appreciated; even $10/month would help and make a difference for me. I don't want anybody to give out of obligation, I'm not writing this to guilt anyone into giving, I only want you to give if it is something that you want to do and feel like God wants you to do.

Unfortunately, because I'm not a full-time staff member with YWAM, there is no way that I can get anybody tax receipts, but hopefully that will be an option in the future. Right now, basically the best way to support me is to send a cheque or money to my parents so they can put it into my bank account. Their address is

Jack and Alice Stelpstra
48 Tweed Cres
London, Ontario, Canada
N5X1Z4

I also definitely need you all to be supporting me with prayer. Like I said earlier, Taiwan is a very dark spiritual place where Christianity is not followed much, so I need as much prayer support as I can get. Specifically if you could be praying for me that I won't get overwhelmed with the workload that we're going to have second term, which is considered the hardest term since we're starting the Old Testament and the books are much longer than the New Testament. Also please be praying that God will be speaking to me and giving me more of a vision for my future, and that He will also be filling me up and giving me peace when I'm missing my family and friends back home. This adventure has been amazing so far and I wouldn't change my decision to leave for the world, but it can sometimes be very difficult living far away from your loved ones in a place where you can't even really speak the language. Please also be praying that God will be helping me with my time management so that I have enough time to get my work done and still have time to work out and to spend time in prayer and to even have some chances to relax other than just one day a week on my Sabbath.

Sorry that this was another long message. I will definitely be updating my blog in the next week or so because I have my week off between terms, so I will have some time to relax and be refreshed and let you guys know how it's going. Hope you all are doing great.

God Bless!!


Prayer Points

• That I won't get overwhelmed with the workload in 2nd term
• That God will be giving me more of a vision for my future
• That God will be giving me peace and filling me with His love in times when I miss my family
• That God will help me improve my time management
• That God will continue to teach me to be alright with not being perfect and have realistic expectations for myself