Walking by Faith

"With your blood you purchased men for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation."
Revelations 5:9



"To sit and worship with americans singing english and brazilians singing in portuguese is a small glimpse of heaven"


All of the students attending this cross cultural project to Brazil for the summer are from South Alabama! They will be spending their summer in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. They are leaving in 2 weeks!!!!!!! Pray for favor with them as they meet Brazilians and seek to share the love of Jesus!

Facts about Brazil:
~South America's leading economic power and a regional leader.
~However highly unequal income distribution and crime remain pressing problems.
~Belo Horizonte in the country's third largest metropolitain area
~The Majority of all Brazilians would call themselves Catholic.


My last roommate Amanda went on this trip 2 years ago with Campus Outreach. I told her that I was updating you guys and asked for her thoughts on the culture and beliefs in Brazil from her experience. These are some of the things she said.

"A lot of them are initially offended by the idea of God and Jesus because the church there is rather corrupt"

"building relationships is very key for the missionaries there and the student teams"

"showing love and not just speaking it is so important in communicating the gospel"

"a lot of them kind of take different stuff from different religions and believe and there is a lot of Brazilians who follow spiritism"

"they are a group centered culture vs. a self centered culture of america so biblical community is very attractive to them"

"community is highly important to them and when they see how a community of believers interacts it's just that much more attractive"

"i think for the american students...experiencing a culture like brazil is such a great growing experience especially in learning to value others and serve them."

"One of the main things I walked away with was learning to see the needs of others and just seeing how big God really is."



"To sit and worship with americans singing english and brazilians singing in portuguese is a small glimpse of heaven"

Campus Outreach Gulf Coast is sending students to Khon Kaen, Thailand for 2 months this summer to partner with Thai missionaries there! They will be spending time with Thai students, building relationships, and sharing the TRUTH!


This is the team! Students are from Troy University, Louisianna Layfayette, and Southeastern Louisianna Universities! They are excited to go! I'm specifically super excited about the 3 girls from Troy that are going; Amber, Lesley, and Amanda! I had the opportunity to disciple these girls my last year in Troy and it is exciting to see them still serving the Lord.

Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Luke 16:15

My friends Lacey and Jason have spent the last 4 months in Puerto Rico with the discover missionary program. Part of their experience involved a short term mission trip to Thailand with Mission to the World. They were able to minister in the slums and areas with high prostitution. A link to their blog is on the right if you want to read more. It's called "Following His Steps"

Here are some of their pics and facts about Thai culture!


96% of the people are Buddhist. Their main thought of religion is much like Hinduism in that you have to be good in this life. If you are you will be reincarnated into a higher status. The goal is to reach "enlightenment/nirvana." Buddha is considered one who reached this level and is recognized as a teacher. Spirit ism and animistic beliefs are mixed in with it as well. They do rituals in order to please the spirits and make offerings to idols as well. Most believe that "to be Thai is to be Buddhist." That means that to denounce your religion, you're denouncing your family and heritage.


These children's parents are raising them to be Buddhist and many have never heard the name of Jesus.

Prayer Request for the CCP (Cross Cultural Project to Thailand)
1. God would bless their fund raising to be at 100% by the time they leave in 2 weeks.
2. That God would grant them favor with the Thai people they meet. That they would desire to befriend the american students and even soften their hearts to the gospel throughout the summer.
3. That God would use this summer to transform the lives of students as well as those they minister to causing them to "count all things as loss compared to the surpassing joy of knowing God."

Everyone!

I recently reached 68% of the support goal....It is coming along! Of course I'm hoping to be finished by the start of our summer project on May 27th. I don't know if that's too optimistic and unrealistic but that's what I'm praying for and I know God's timing is the best!

This past week I have been in Birmingham for assessments which is a requirement for all potential campus outreach staff. Career and pshycological experts met with us to help us understand our vision, calling, personality mix, growth needs, etc. The goal is for personal growth as well as to help determine which campus team I might best fit with. It went well but now I'm back on the support trail. Talk to you soon!
~Holly

Here are some pics of a small group I am in at church....we are reading through a book called "In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day." It's about go figure...walking by faith! The people in the group were complete strangers 2 months ago but have been the biggest encouragement! The book is based off of Beneniah in the Bible who fought a lion in a pit on a snowy day and later became the captian of the king's army. It's about being willing to take risks to trust God and walk by faith and is filled with examples from scripture like noah with the ark, esther confronting the king, shadrack, meshack, and abednigo going into the furnace, peter who walked on water and many more. The author tries to relate these stories with our modern day daily and big decisions. The book and most of all the Christian fellowship has been so much of an encouragement to me as I try to do just that-to walk by faith!!! Sorry the pics didn't turn out well...it's with my cell phone.

I've been practicing the guitar for a few months well....kind of. Anways I just traded my guitar in for this smaller one that fits me a lot better...here is me playing with my sister!

When I think of updating you on support I've thought of those red termometers that people fill in to show how close they are getting to a fund raising goal....haha I don't have one of those but I'm at 52%! Over the half way mark and so much closer to the goal. I feel like I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! If you are reading this then please say a quick prayer for me and those that I meet with....that they would join the team! I'm hoping to be on campus sooner rather than later so I'm working hard! In a book I'm reading with a church group there was a quote that says..."work like it depends on you but pray knowing that it depends on God." Please join me in praying!! Thanks for partnering with me so far....I'll keep you updated!

Oh yeah! I should be finding out what campus I will be on within a few months! Campus Outreach is going through some organizational evaluations and planning and should be able to find the best fit for me soon and don't worry I will let you know!!
~Holly

Katie is in grad school at south and jenny plays softball there. these girls have the most BEAUTIFUL voices and they led our worship for the weekend!
This was before one of the talks as people were still coming in.

Some of the Jaguar girls hangin out at the Retreat!

This past weekend I went to a girls retreat we had at south alabama! Troy University will have theirs next week and also the men from troy and south alabama will be combining to have a "Burly Man Retreat" next weekend!

Our theme was "Treasuring Christ" We had some awesome speakers talk about Why we should treasure christ by presenting the gospel and talking about what Christ has done for us. The conference also focused on HOW we can treasure Christ by treasuring His people (other christians) and also by treasuring the Lost (loving them as Christ loved us and sharing our faith with them)

The speakers used examples in scripture specifically looking at the lives of Mary Magdeline who was devoted to Christ and also Simon Peter. We were all challenged as we read the scripture where Jesus asked Simon Peter, "Do you love me?" when Peter answered yes the Lord replied, "Then feed my sheep." He repeated this three times and personally was challenged that our love for the Lord should motivate us to action because he first loved us!

We had about 20 girls from south alabama come and not only did we learn so much and get refreshed in our walk with God but it was a lot of fun! We had a giant sleepover and dance party of course! It was great to hang out with just the women and we wish the guys the best on their Burly Man retreat next weekend!