http://thevias.myadventures.org Chris & Christina Via - Adventures In Missions - 1 John 4:10 en-us Fri, 29 Aug 2008 02:22:37 GMT 30 http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=leg-1-is-done http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=leg-1-is-done We completed our first major leg of our road trip last Saturday when we arrived in Los Angeles to stay with Christina's brother Brian for a week.  It's been a great week, and we've begun to learn a number of different ways that the Lord is moving right now in America that we could see ourselves jumping in with.  Along the 3,000+ miles we drove to get here, however, we saw God work in so many different ways, we wanted to share just a few with you:   Less than six hours into our trip on the first day, our Jetta was experiencing a little trouble.  However, we found a VW dealership less than two miles off of the highway.  Also, though initially telling us that they might be able to take us before the end of the day, one of the mechanics told us that he could look at our car immediately, was able to identify our problem right away, and then proceeded to tell us that the defective issue was actually on recall, meaning he was able to fix the problem at no cost to us Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=a-praise-report-before-we-hit-the-road http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=a-praise-report-before-we-hit-the-road Well, after multiple trips to the doctor, phone calls, and appointments, we finally got our South African visas!  We're now cleared to volunteer in South Africa until May of '09!  This is such a huge load of our minds, as visa issues almost caused us to leave the South Africa early this past year.  Being able to have this hurdle jumped is, as my soon-to-be sister-in-law would say, "ginormous."  We really thank God for His provision and His grace in getting this completed.   And it couldn't have come any later, as Christina and I leave today for the first leg of our cross-country road trip.  Today we'll be driving from Washington, DC, to Chicago, where we'll be able to see and stay with Tag and Holly.  Although the Cubbies won't be in town, Chi-town is jammed packed with great things to do over the Fourth.  We're really looking forward to seeing Tag and Holly in a different context and just enjoying some great fellowship with them, as well as Tue, 1 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=highlight-3-the-surrender-walk http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=highlight-3-the-surrender-walk It was early in the morning when we packed our water bottles, sandwiches and strapped on our Chacos to prepare for the mountain climb.  None of us knew where we were going except a few boys that had scouted the scene, all we knew was that we were going to climb a mountain.  It was an intentional climb called the Surrender Walk that Tag, Holly, and Heather had all done before at their leader training for AIM. We all walked pretty quietly from the van through the woods, over a barbed wire fence, under a few logs and into the brush anticipating the base of the mountain. We arrived at a clearing where Tag said a few inspirational words and gave some instructions for this Surrender Walk. We were supposed to climb this mountain alone, in silence, just ourselves and the Lord. Before we headed up we needed to find an object somewhere in the woods that represented a burden we had been carrying that we wanted to surrender. We had to carry that object all the way to the top of the m Thu, 19 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=highlight-2-the-township-tavern http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=highlight-2-the-township-tavern     We've written before about the epidemic of alcoholism that plagues the townships in Jeffreys Bay.  Obviously, each individual makes their own choices about it, but the plethora of taverns that litter the landscape in the townships doesn't help.  These places are open (and busy) until late every night, and are often a source of solid income to those that own them.  This year, three of our students, Cassie, Amber, and Sarah, had a burden on their hearts for a tavern that was on the way to one of the families they would regularly visit during the week.  Every week they would pass by the tavern, see the hopelessness through the doors, and they began to pray for the place to be closed down.      So serious were the prayers of these girls that when Amber went home for Christmas she began to raise money from people there to buy the tavern outright from the owner!  Not even knowing if she would sell, Amber trusted the Lord to an Tue, 10 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=back-in-the-us-of-a http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=back-in-the-us-of-a Seconds after we landed on US soil, after our long 24 hour trek, Chris and I began to sing the words to Lee Greenwood's song, "...and I proudly stand up next to you and defend her still today, cause there ain't no doubt I love this land, God Bless the USA". Out of embarrassment we both began to giggle and shhhh the other person to quiet down. We arrived several days ago and it's been full of action ever since. We've already been to one wedding, seen 2 twin babies, been through 3 thunderstorms, and driven 4 hours to Philly and back to pick up our car. For the most part we are getting settled in easily. Culture shock is sometimes harder coming back to your own country. Things seem overwhelming such as the grocery store that houses entire aisles of cereal or, believe it or not, water. Can you image a whole row in the store just for water! How many different types of water can there be? In Africa we get the choice of bran flakes or corn flakes for cereal and tap water or no water. Sun, 8 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=highlight-1-intyatyambo-care-center http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=highlight-1-intyatyambo-care-center A Story of Gods's Love One day Tag and Holly were led by a man named Marshall to a town called Humansdorp twenty minutes from Jeffery's Bay. Marshall introduced them to the most precious woman, Virginia. Virginia is a sixty year old woman who cares for about fifteen young children in a very small shack behind her very small home. Our team fell in love with Virginia and all her babies instantly. Her heart is for all children but especially the disabled. Because of the conditions of her crche (daycare) she is only able to care for about two disabled children. In December it rained so terribly that she had to move the children into her personal home because the crche was so badly damaged by the rain. God was really starting to work during this time. Chris and Christina Via's parents heard about the situation Virginia was in and began to spread the word. Tag and Holly also spread the word back at home and in no time at all together we raised over $1,500 for a Sun, 8 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=just-like-old-times http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=just-like-old-times One of the highlights of my week last year was on Wednesday nights when many of us from the team would go to the Sunflower for the weekly Bingo game. Jakkie called Bingo every Wednesday and he always brought his A-game. We'd always start off singing the Bingo song (you know, "There was a farmer had a dog..."), then Jakkie would lip-sync another song that was EXTREMELY entertaining, and then we'd get down to business. Obviously, with Jakkie being gone this year, Bingo fell by the wayside, because no one can call Bingo like Jakkie. But he's been visiting all this week, and so we all were able to crowd into the Sunflower one more time for "The Bingo to end all Bingos." It really felt like home again. Katie, our RA from last year, is visiting as well, so she of course joined us. Jakkie told us he'd been preparing for this night even before he knew he was coming back to JBay. There was more lip-syncing, lots of laughing, and, of course, the Bingo song. What was great, too, is that Thu, 29 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=direct-from-the-source http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=direct-from-the-source In my last post, I briefly mentioned all of the incredible things that we saw the Lord do in the lives of our team and in those who live in the community. We figured that instead of taking my word for it, it would be better for you to hear from the students themselves. The quotes below are excerpts from the year-end evaluations that our students filled out. In them the students answered questions dealing with everything from community life to life in the community to their own personal walks with the Lord. We hope you enjoy reading them as much as we did!Do you feel like you have been discipled? Why or why not?"Yes. I've had quite a few people to walk along side of me and push me towards Christ this year. I feel like I've been invested in and there is a lot of fruit from that.""I do feel like I have been discipled. I had someone that I trusted and someone that was a consistent truth speaker to me.""Yes, I feel like I have been discipled. I feel like I can look back on my walk with Sun, 18 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=whenever-one-thing-ends-another-begins http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=whenever-one-thing-ends-another-begins I forget where I heard this quote first, or who originally wrote this piece of wisdom down, but it's quite poignant in our lives right now. Our students all flew out on Thursday, after an incredible year of ministry and personal growth. We had times with each one of them before they left, formally asking how their experience was and what they learned, and it was such a great testimony of the Lord's goodness and faithfulness to hear their responses. God has changed these students' hearts, lives, minds, to point more toward Him and His glory, and it was so encouraging to us for them to speak those things out.But they're gone now, and another FYM program is over. And as those words of wisdom remind us, something else is beginning. For those of you who haven't heard, Christina and I will be leading the Awakening here in JBay in the fall. In a nutshell, the Awakening is a three-month training program for the 08-09 FYM program. All of the students who will be in our Africa sites begi Sat, 17 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=he-loves-you-because-he-loves-you-because-he-loves-you http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=he-loves-you-because-he-loves-you-because-he-loves-you We studied "Identity In Christ" this semester as a team. It was a powerful 2 weeks to learn about who God says that we are and the identity of the King that we serve. As a team we watched this short clip on YouTube. It is a message by Graham Cooke, an international speaker and writer. His words are profound and perhaps prophetic. You don't even need to look at the pictures, just listen to the words. When you have 10 minutes of down time, watch this clip. As you watch meditate on the fact that you are a son an daughter of the King. We hope it blesses you as much as it blessed us. Sat, 12 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=the-deliberation-room http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=the-deliberation-room Being a leader is hard. Perhaps one of the toughest parts about being a leader is making decisions. When you are a leader your decisions don't just impact yourself, but everyone you are leading. There is a lot of pressure to make the right decision and one that makes everyone happy, safe, healthy, and is beneficial. Sometimes as a leader you have to make a decision that you know is best but others cannot see that perspective. Other times you have no idea what is best, but you still have to make a choice and hope it works out for the good. And then of course there are times as leader that you make choices that are wrong and you have to humble yourself, admit to your failures and learn from your mistakes. It seems like this year has been marked by making tough decisions. They are the kind that you ache over and weep about. They are the kind that you enter into the deliberation room with your co-leaders and stay there for hours, perhaps missing meals. As a leader you stay up at night thin Wed, 9 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=the-wave-of-parents http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=the-wave-of-parents The turnaround between Carol and Sue heading off and my parents, Sharon and Bill, heading in was pretty quick - less than a week. It was agreed upon by all of us that taking advantage of the 2-for-1 that South African Airlines was running was more important that spacing out the visits, so Christina and I were looking forward to a concentration of guests, which was just fine with us. However, that meant that we barely had time to clean the sheets and go to the grocery stores before I headed off to Cape Town to meet my parents. Our schedule would look much like the one that Christina had - spending a few days in the Mother City before driving to JBay via Oudtshoorn for a stay at Buffelsdrift (If it ain't broke, don't fix it, I always say!). It was great to be with my parents as they were experiencing all of this for the first time. As with any mother, mine was not too sure about her only son being across the world and being safe, despite my reassurances. But as she witnessed the "f Thu, 27 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=angels-in-africa http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=angels-in-africa One of the joys of serving here in South Africa is having family that supports us and believes in what we do. This semester alone Chris and I are so blessed to have ALL of our families come visit us here in Jeffrey's Bay. In February we were so excited to have my mom, Carol, and her good friend Sue Belford come visit us. I'm sure that neither of them ever dreamed of visiting Africa in their lives but when the opportunity arrived they jumped. They arrived in Cape Town the day before Valentines and we spent 4 amazing days touring the beautiful city. A visit to the penguins, the Cape of Good Hope, the wine country and, of course, Table Mountain proved to my mom and Sue that South Africa is truly magnificent. The sunset over the Atlantic Ocean (the opposite side of what they're used to!) reminded us of God's beauty and grace. The height of Table Mountain reminded us of God's greatness and our finite lives. Truly every day we experienced got better and better. Tue, 18 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=surrounded-by-the-church http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=surrounded-by-the-church I think one of the toughest things about being here in South Africa has been the challenge of finding a good community.   I had a phenomenal group of guys in seminary, and we both had some strong friendships while we were in Philly.  Moreover, we both understand that we are, in fact, built for community ("we" being a very large, all-encompassing, "the two of us but also every person on the face of this earth" "we"), which makes the challenge that much tougher.  However, over the past week or so, the Lord has brought different people into our immediate lives that have been somewhat of a community for us, but more importantly, given us a deeper understanding of what the "Church" is.  Last week, Christina and I were looking to get some good, solid marriage advice. When we were in the States, we did pre-marital counseling, and then marriage counseling, and I came to be an even bigger believer in the importance of having a third party speak into your relationship. Sat, 9 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=gratitude http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=gratitude Recently I've been reading Stand Against the Wind by Erwin McManus. It is a brilliant book filled with a lot of one-liners that exude so much truth they almost punch you in the gut. One quote I came across that really impacted me was this about gratitude. "When we are grateful, we are most fully alive. Gratitude allows us to absorb every possible pleasure from a moment."It reminded me about how much joy I miss in each of life's moments because I am not thankful. Whether in a situation that is dirty, mundane, offensive or frustrating, I must choose to be thankful for that moment and choose to see God in it. If we can be continually thankful for even the small things that God gives us - life, sight, senses, relationships, shelter, community, and his many provisions- how much more pleasure will we receive in each of life's moments whether beautiful or complex. I thought this clip was a great example of absorbing every possible pleasure from a moment. Here are two ladies that we work Thu, 24 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=a-new-beginning http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=a-new-beginning Today was Day 1 of the Jeffreys Bay version of "Extreme Home Makeover." One of the creches (nurseries) that we've been working with since last October really caught the hearts of the girls that worked there. The woman who runs it is named Virginia and she takes care of over a dozen handicapped toddlers in a "structure" behind her house. I use that term really loosely. About a month ago, Virginia had to move the kids into her own house, as the flooding of the creche was making it unbearable for the kids. Some of our girls would go over there to help out a few times a week and fell in love with the kids and with Virginia.Fast forward to Christmastime, when my Dad was letting me know that his church back in Atlanta was needing some suggestions on "causes" for their support fund that they have during the holiday season. I asked the team and the resounding answer back was a cry to give Virginia a better place for her kids. Next thing I knew, friends from all parts of my parents' live Wed, 23 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=the-healing-waters-of-jeffreys-bay http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=the-healing-waters-of-jeffreys-bay One of our students, Raelynn Chambers, has been through quite a journey with the Lord lately. She has experienced more of Christ's love, peace and miracles in this past semester than in her whole life living as Christian. I have had the honor to walk with her through some of her past hurts only to see the freedom and redemption that Jesus has given her. The day before she left to go back home to the U.S. for Christmas, Raelynn experienced the depth of this freedom when she got baptized. She asked Chris and me to baptize her in the oceans of Jeffrey's Bay, which literally translates into "healing waters". We have seen God do so many healing miracles in this town, both physically and emotionally, but this one was uniquely powerful. Raelynn had a chance to share why she wanted to be baptized in the midst of our whole team. Several other teammates read passages of scripture that reflected Rae's journey until this point. We sang songs of worship, and prayed over Raelynn. It was a b Sat, 5 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=more-great-parts-of-this-country http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=more-great-parts-of-this-country For our vacation this Christmas, Christina and I went to Stellenbosch, the wine country here in South Africa. We had an incredible time. I must admit, I never cease to be amazed at how beautiful this country is. While a complete rundown here would take a while (both for me to write and you to read), I will lay out some highlights, so that the next time you're planning a trip to SA, you'll know exactly what to do:Best wine tasting experience - Nederburg: It's actually in Paarl, which is about 30 minutes from Stellenbosch, but this place was neat. They ask you to sit down at a really nicely decorated table, where they bring you all of your glasses and all of your bottles of wine. They'll give you the order in which they think the wines should be tasted and will give you some details about each wine. Awesome.Best cellar tour - Bergkelder: Translated it means "cellar in the mountain" and this was absolutely the coolest. Truthfully, we only did one cellar tour, so we don't h Sat, 5 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=in-the-past-month http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=in-the-past-month ...it's been pretty busy, as evidenced by our lack of posts since the beginning of November.  And since a full recap would be quite overwhelming to read, I'll just highlight some things:We had a great Thanksgiving this year, which included THREE turkeys and the entire team, as well as some friends that we've made, over at our house for an incredible dinner and time of fellowship.  All in all, we had 24 eating, laughing and praying together.  With the leftovers that we had Christina and I took some of the students out to do some food delivery to people in the townships.  It was really cool to be able to bless some families and individuals that the Lord laid on our hearts with their own "American" Thanksgiving dinner.  I've started discipling a guy here in town named Marko.  He's about a year away from being a full-fledged lawyer and already works in his father's firm, with the desire to take over the firm eventually.  What's great about him is that he' Tue, 4 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=returning-to-a-sense-of-normalcy http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=returning-to-a-sense-of-normalcy We had dinner at our house last night, just the two of us.  To most people, that's not such an important statement.  But, for us, it's a new thing.  Living with the team last year was incredible in so many ways, but not once were we able to eat a meal by ourselves in our place.  And I don't think that the impact of that reality hit us until last night.  For so many people, you come home after a day at work and you don't think twice about sitting down at the dinner table with your spouse and having a quiet meal (this is, obviously, before kids).  Indeed, for our first nine months of marriage, we didn't, either.  But after not being able to do it for more than a year, it became special again.  And it wasn't even really the meal, which consisted of grilled ham and cheese sandwiches and cut veggies with feta.  But it was being able to sit down with each other, breathe after a day of "work," and catch up with each other without having to think ab Tue, 6 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=one-of-those-tough-days http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=one-of-those-tough-days In high school I wanted to be a counselor. In college I knew I couldn't because I'd take my work home with me. Today I wanted to be a savior, but tonight I know I can't be because I took my work home with me and yet there is still so much work left to be done. Now I lay here broken, carrying so many burdens of those that are dying, having a hard time giving it all over to Jesus. Sometimes life as a missionary is peaceful. You feel close to God. You feel encouraged by your team and loved by those you visit. You even get to experience miracles at times. Sometimes being a missionary is just boring because all you do is the menial everyday tasks of washing clothes, cleaning toilets or carrying out endless garbage bags. Today being a missionary was hard. Hard on my spirit and hard on my emotional strength. Let me tell you a little bit about just one day of living as a missionary in South Africa. We went into the townships to do home visitations with Auntie Matilda. She is like the Mother Th Fri, 2 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=two-kinds-of-healing http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=two-kinds-of-healing Before you read this one, make sure you read the following post, "One of those tough days."I wrote that previous article several weeks ago after a hard day in ministry. My struggle that night was truly trusting Jesus to heal the wounds that I had seen that day. However, because Jesus is always faithful and shows up in glorious ways, and the very next day, I was able to witness many miracles. We went back to Annie's house, the women whom we took to the hospital for an x-ray, and we noticed immediately that she was doing better. She was sitting up in bed, smiling, and eating. We decided to start by cleaning her house so that she could have a sanitary kitchen and an inviting living room. Then we felt it it important to pray over Annie some more. As we were praying, different scriptures came to mind about trusting Jesus and following him. After praying for a while, we began to share the good news of Jesus to her. We talked about how much He loves her and wants to pursue her. We ex Fri, 2 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=the-blessing-of-new-leaders http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=the-blessing-of-new-leaders Wow, it's been a long time since we've posted anything on here. Apologies for that. I seem to remember it was this time last year that we hadn't put up anything in a while, so maybe this is just how the first month or so on the ground works - you know, getting settled, putting everything back together, renewing relationships. It's hard to believe that it's been a month since we've arrived, and we still find ourselves with not much time to write even now, as Christina and I are heading over to the team house (from our own apartment!!) and then going to Deo Doxa to watch the Springboks of South Africa take on the English national team in the Rugby World Cup final!!Honestly, though, even this last month would have been REALLY tough had we not had our three additional leaders with us. Tag, Holly, and Heather have been in JBay since the end of September and it's been such a great experience to work with them and see how the Lord has gifted each of us in different ways and molded us toge Sat, 20 Oct 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=a-massive-praise-report http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=a-massive-praise-report And now, a powerful update on our friend, Jakkie, from the Sunflower. I talked to him yesterday and he gave me some exciting news. A while ago he sent a hair sample to a doctor to see how the medicine (ARVs) that he's been on has been affecting his HIV. Jakkie said that best case scenario just with the ARVs would be that there would be a 50% return to a normal amount of white blood cells, which is the determining factor in the seriousness of the virus. Well, the word that Jakkie got back from his doctor was that his white blood cell count is actually more than 90% back to normal!!!!! Praise God!!!!! The doctor said that he had never seen anything like that and that he could only give credit to the Lord!! So cool!! God is so good! Thank you so much for your prayers for Jakkie in this time. I'll be traveling up to Pretoria in a few weeks to get the rest of the team, and should see him when I'm there. I can't wait to rejoice with him in person!         &nbsp Sun, 23 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=we-made-it1 http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=we-made-it1 Just a quick post to let you all know that we made it to Jeffreys Bay. We've already hit our favorite spots - The Sunflower, Mr. Price, and the Office 4 U. The Shell Festival is this weekend, which is a big time here in JBay, so I think we'll hit that tomorrow, in addition to doing some more cleaning and random errands.We did have to get new cell phones, which means we got new numbers. If you would like to call us, check out the "Contact Us" page, using the link to the left.Right now, however, we're going to sleep. Cuz even though our bodies are telling us it's around dinnertime, the clock in our room reads a couple minutes before midnight. Crazy time zones....Finally, for my mother, I wanted you to know that I was able to heed your advice for 31 years. But last night I, unfortunately, let the bed bugs bite. Don't worry, though. They're not as painful as I would have thought, judging from all my adolescent warnings. I have taken all the precautions to make sure that they don't come bac Fri, 21 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=our-last-one-from-the-states http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=our-last-one-from-the-states  Summer Newsletter 2007The Top 20 Highlights of Summer 200720    Showings of our DVD we made about South Africa19    Different Beds We Slept In18    Sudoku Puzzles We Finished17    pounds of give away clothes we are bringing back to South Africa16    Different Airplane Rides15    Trips to Starbucks 14    Favorite American foods we enjoyed13    minutes left on our cell phone plan before we leave12    Skype conversations with friends in South Africa    11    Movies to relax with 10    Times we got to wear our swimsuits9    Times we accidentally drove on the left side of the road 8    Different States We Visited7    Different Cars we drove 6    Amazing Photo Albums We made5    Different Churches We Spoke At 4    Suitca Wed, 19 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=the-birthday-boy http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=the-birthday-boy Tomorrow, September 9th, is my fantastic husband's Birthday. He'll be turning 31 tomorrow and he likes to rub in that I'm 2 months older. So, if you get a chance, please take the time to call, email, e-card, or whatever you can creatively think of to wish him a happy birthday. He really likes birthdays and he especially loves the attention on his birthday. I feel so blessed to have him in my life!                                                                                                                                      &nbsp Sat, 8 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=the-goings-on-in-lompoc http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=the-goings-on-in-lompoc My father-in-law Hank and I drove back from Lompoc this morning wondering what the next few days would hold.  We met his wife Maureen, Christina, and Brian and Taylor (my brother-in-law and his girlfriend) at church, where worshipping together was a welcome by-product of the morning's drama.  As we left church, though, Hank received word that the prison would be on lockdown until Tuesday, thereby cancelling the rest of the Kairos weekend.  Needless to say, we were all really disappointed.  I more than most, as there were guys that I began friendships with while I was "on the inside" that never had any closure whom I will probably never see again this side of heaven. One of my favorite guys that I met in the prison was a guy by the name of Terry.  He had gone through the weekend last year and was now on the "inside team," which was a group of Kairos alums who were now helping out with various logistical parts of the weekend.  He is supposed to be release Mon, 3 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=prayer-request-from-prison http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=prayer-request-from-prison Good morning from the west coast. Just an update and a prayer request for all you blog readers. Chris is volunteering as a clergy volunteer with my father this weekend at a Kairos retreat, a men's spiritual retreat for inmates at the Lompoc prison. Lompoc is about an hour north of Santa Barbara where I am now. They have been training for this weekend retreat for 4 months and ever since the beginning the enemy has been at work. Various setbacks and frustrations have come at them, but they have pressed on knowing that God will be victorious. The last 2 days of the retreat for Chris were hard. Feeling unsure of himself, trying to get to know other men on the volunteer team, a little hesitant on how to talk with the inmates and just being his first time at a Kairos event not really knowing the expectations. He and I were really praying for an awesome day today for him personally and for the inmates. The program for today has some really powerful elements that deal with forgiveness Sun, 2 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=a-little-taste-of-home http://thevias.myadventures.org/?filename=a-little-taste-of-home Christina and I have been in Dallas since Friday.  Between some good friends of hers that live down here and my seven years that I spent braving the crazy, sweltering summers (college and first job), our time in the States wouldn't have been complete without a visit to "Big D." My old church, Highland Park Presbyterian, also invited me to preach at two of the Sunday services yesterday.  One is called The Den, and is attended mostly by college students and young adults.  Since that was my main crowd when I worked here, I was really looking forward to the opportunity.  The other service, however, was the service that is attended by the Kenyan community here in Dallas (How the Kenyans found Dallas in the first place, much less HPPC, is an entirely different post altogether).  I must admit, I was a little nervous at this one.  Even I had preached a few times at Ithemba, which is the black township church in J-Bay that we had a really good relationship w Mon, 20 Aug 2007 00:00:00 GMT