Graduation!

When I landed in Colorado in the spring of 2012, I anticipated staying for a few months and returning to the mission field. As you will see from my newsletters, that was not God's plan for me. I felt called to strengthen my discipline of commitment (or lack thereof), so I jumped into life in Colorado Springs. I joined the family of Alethia church, worked at Flying Horse Country Club, and completed my Associate's Degree at Pikes Peak Community College.

Much of the peace of mind I had in the education world is thanks to the grounding foundation I developed while attending the School of Biblical Foundations and Missions (SBFM) with Youth With A Mission. The experience was exceptionally valuable: weekly assignments were given to strengthen skills in communication and teaching and develop perspective and critical thinking from a Biblical Christian worldview. The coursework was challenging and time consuming, but over the last few years as I sat through my lectures in college, I was encouraged that I knew why I believe what I believe, and I had a confidence to share my beliefs inside and outside the classroom.

Reading through my old newsletters, I found this, and I praise God for the tools he gave me before asking me to stay put for a while:

The first six weeks have focused on topics like Bible Overview, State of the World, Basic Christian Doctrine, and Apologetics. With each day, I feel more prepared to logically defend my faith in Jesus Christ ...More importantly, it has given me a longing for discipline and correction; my soul and mind are being transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Thank you to everyone who has walked so graciously through my life with me. Your prayers and edification has attributed to a walking miracle, and I am indebted to your love.

Love,
Kelsey Maxine

Updates

Hello loved ones!
With work and school, I have not been maintaining my blog- but if you ever want to pick my brain about three sisters farming techniques I learned in Native American History or how to find joy in Biology class (developing the perfect combination of carbon and nitrogen materials for exceptional compost) :) then let's get together over a cup of java sometime.

I still send out newsletters, but if you are not on my mailing list you can click on the tab above and stay in the loop!


Thanks always for your love and prayers!
Kelsey Maxine

A Midnight Devotional

As I was falling sleep, I started to think about how my Minsi Lake bedroom had three windows facing east and northeast. I rose with the sun; energetic as a bird.

I lived a portion of my childhood in each of the three upstairs bedrooms in that Minsi Lake house. Come to think of it, before I developed the trend of relocating, I recall that I was constantly rearranging my room. One time I even used Daddy's cubed paper to mark my square footage and measure my furniture so everything would fit just right... 

 I suppose I would have eventually  lived in both the barn and the tree house for a while, had we never moved away.


You have taken account of my wanderings; 
Put my tears in Your bottle. 
Are  they  not in Your book? 
(Psalm 56:8 NASB)

6th Grade Skype Surprise!

After a semester of building relationships with Mrs. Wingert's 6th Grade class at Denver Christian, I was finally able to pop into the classroom and share, in person, what exactly I have been doing with Youth With A Mission. It was such a joy to tell my little brothers and sisters in Christ all the ways that they helped make the past mission trip not only a possible opportunity, but an amazing success!

Praise Jesus! I love these kids :)



Until the nets are full,
Kelsey Maxine Tungseth

February 15, 2012 – 11am – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

DEAR DiARY,
we flew in last night from Yangon, Myanmar. We’re staying downtown at this Rainforest Guesthouse and it’s pretty cool. Kind of rustic, and a spacious public area on each floor, so it makes up for the rooms having less than one foot between the foot of our bed and the wall. Hahaha.

Where do I start when I begin to process the past two weeks in Myanmar?

Yangon was a great place to finish up our overseas ministry. China was wearing on me- it was cold and all our friends had left Guangzhou. I got sick in the last week and felt useless to the team. Malaysia was a good transition place, and I had really great quiet times. Then I kind of fell apart in Myanmar. We flew in on Tuesday, 31 Jan; were picked up at the airport by Veronica and Christine and ate at a nice Burmese style restaurant.
On Wednesday we had orientation with the staff of Every Nations Church Yangon (ENCY). The pastors go by the names Teacher John, Teacher Kap, and Teacher Mang. These men of faith walk in great humility and love to learn, even though they are each gifted instructors. We got to know one another over plates of sticky rice, and I mean every kind of sticky rice you could imagine: banana sticky rice, prawn sticky rice, coconut sticky rice; sticky rice with peanuts… it was delicious.

As we transitioned into logistics, our new friends continued to open their lives to us, thanking God that two teams had become one; working together for the Kingdom of Heaven. Each of us from YWAM Maui received a welcome brochure and a calendar of events, introducing us to Myanmar; informing us of the practices, goals, and ministries of their church; and phonetically listing numerous helpful phrases such as the cheerful Mingle-aba: Hello!

For the next two weeks we were catapulted into a community of believers who take seriously the Word of God and His desire to see people and nations transformed by the renewing of our minds. We saw them live to disciple new believers in the faith, constantly lowering themselves to be servants of one another, and remaining teachable at all times.

The ministries we were invited to be a part of were excellent and clearly designed by the Lord. I met with one young woman who described their church’s family tree in such a way that emphasized their roles are to walk and model leadership, while remaining anchored to Christ and their own mentor in the Church. That might sound really confusing, but their family is healthy, organized, and diligent. They have a growing desire to reach out to the community and do so by teaching English lessons once a week; centered around God and a lesson from the Bible.

When I arrived in Myanmar, I was exhausted, I did not know how I was going to serve the church. Their generous blessings and Spirit-filled encouragement is what got me through the journey. Our schedule was overwhelmingly full, so much so we took a picture of the calendar at the end of the trip, yet I have never been more refreshed than I was after our last prayer meeting and debrief time. Not by my might, nor by my own power, but by the Spirit of the Living God who continues to “give us today our daily… rice.”

Please continue to pray for Myanmar and Every Nations Church, Yangon!