First Two Weeks Update

Hello Everyone!!

 

It has only been two weeks since school has started but so much has gone on that it feels like a month already. It has been amazing to see what God is doing already. He is bringing many students our way. He is also preparing returning students from last year as they step into leadership roles. So much happens in these first couple of weeks I wanted to send an e-mail out, I could not wait until October's newsletter.

 

Tuesday August 21st: We held a "Welcome Back!" luau for returning students at Josh & Jennifer's. It was a time to reconnect as well as pray for the upcoming freshman and school year. We had 10 students. The girl I was blessed to disciple last year is on fire for the Lord and stepping up leadership wise.

 

Friday the 31st Mike led a night hike up Hogsback here in town. We were expecting 10 students, however 30 showed up! We were excited because 30 chose to come night hike instead of getting sucked into the party scene. They hiked from 8 pm-midnight.

 

Sunday Sept. 2nd the Lord opened up a door for us to host a BBQ on campus at the quad between all the freshman dorms. They have not allowed a Christian group to do this before, we've been told. Close to 300 students came out for that. Many connections were made.

 

We had our first ever Fall retreat this past weekend. 16 students came, 8 of which are Japanesse exchange students. We spoke about what the Bible says love is and how that is different than what the world says or even religion. We also had the opportunity to present a Gospel message to all who came. Jennifer purchased Japaneese/English Bibles last year and the students were able to use them throughout the weekend. 3 of them asked to keep them and take them home saying they were interested in learning more. We pray for these students hearts to be receptive to HIM!  It was also so amazing to see all the students connect, love on each other and genuinely enjoy being together. Our goal is to love on students no matter where they are in life and share God's love and truth when opportunities come.

 

It has been such a great start to the school year!

 

Prayer Requests:

 

1. That God's spirit would be moving in the hearts of the Japanese students we have met as well as other students from America. Please lift up students "R", "I", "K" who have showed interest in the Bible and Jesus. As well as "A" & "E".

 

2. For our support to continue to come in. We are at 23% of what we need overall, we are at 50% of what we need to live in Durango as a couple. We so badly want to be up on campus full time! If you know of anyone that we could talk to, please pass on our information.

 

3. That we would figure out how to balance everything in life. Support raising, marriage, the ministry, family & friends we have in town, the every day chores around the home

 

Thank you for partnering with us! We could not do this without you all!! God is answering your prayer!

 

I have attached a short video Josh Story (our co-worker and director put together from the retreat this past weekend).

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gO2UgwXryNI&feature=youtu.be

Be Blessed,

 

Mike & Rachel Wall

Late August/Early September Update

Hello team!  We hope everyone had a great summer!  Ours has sure been amazing.  We can’t believe it’s already over.  It’s certainly been a whirlwind for us.  We started out the summer in Colorado Springs speaking at churches and meeting with possible supporters.  We returned to Durango to continue the support raising process meeting with churches in the area and others interested in hearing what we were doing.  Before we knew it, it was time to head back to Colorado Springs.

After our short detour to Crested Butte where we went camping for our early one-year anniversary, we were off to the Springs for more support appointments.

The following week, we had a discipleship conference in Denver to attend.  Though we definitely had mind-overload during the week as they squeezed a month’s worth of training into four days, we came away with a lot of new tools and great information.  It was pretty awesome.  It’s always encouraging to see how God is multiplying believers across our nation and all over the world.

Next, we were on to Kansas City where we hadn’t actually been able to set up any appointments before we left.  It was truly one of those “have to totally trust God” situations.  He was really going to have to open doors for us appointment wise...and oh yeah, our housing situation was a big question mark as well.  But God came through huge!  God brought amazing friends into our paths that opened their doors to us.  It was amazing to see God provide.  That provision even included getting to see someone tasered by the police.  Long story short, we were staying next to a drug house.  Never a dull moment as a missionary.  I really wish I had the time to tell you all the amazing things He did while we were in KC.  It was amazing to see Him open doors for us with appointments and housing arrangements.  We serve an awesome God!

It’s funny, when we first started with the ministry, I truly looked at support raising as a curse that came with the job.  I was not excited to do it at all.  Talking to people about money freaked me out...and still does...but I now see what a huge blessing it can be as well.  We have been blessed beyond belief by the people God has brought us.  We have been able to reconnect with old friends and meet new friends as well.  Everyone has been so amazing, so encouraging.  What a blessing!

Prayer Requests:

• For the students this fall, that we could meet them as early as possible and get them into the ministry before they get sucked into to the party scene.
• Pray that God would soften their hearts for the Gospel and that the Holy Spirit would convict.
• That we would put on the full armor of God each day so that we are able to stand against the enemy.
• For open hearts for many to join us prayerfully and financially to bring the Gospel to Fort Lewis.
• That God would continue growing us closer to Him and help us not neglect our first ministry; our marriage.

Thank you for joining with us to reach Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO! -Cheers and God Bless, Mike & Rachel

Just a Quick Update from the Road

Just wanted a give a very quick update.  Our time on the Front Range have been great and blessed.  Support raising is going well.  It was just a reminder that we have great friends and family!  The discipleship conference we went to was also amazing.  It gave us a lot of great tools and ideas to use.

Later today or tomorrow, we will be heading on to the Kansas City area to continue our support raising efforts.  Please pray that God would open doors for us to meet with individuals and churches.  Also pray that we have safe travels.  Thank you so much!

Cheers and God Bless,
Mike and Rachel

p.s.  We also wanted to put out a reminder if anyone was wondering the different options for giving, check out this link with all the options listed.  http://thewallscall.blogspot.com/p/other-giving-options.html

The Wall's Updated July 2012 Ministry Update

Hello team!  We hope your summer is going well! We can hardly believe it has already been two months since we started support raising. For the remainder of the summer we will be speaking around the Durango area as well as traveling back to the Front Range and on to Missouri to meet with potential financial ministry partners. Mike will also be raft guiding to pull in some extra income. Our goal is to be on campus full time this fall! Be praying that all the funding comes in quickly so that we can join the already growing ministry.  

God continues to grow our faith as He provides in ways only He can. Before we were officially raising support a family friend of ours said, “Hey, I want to support you.” I asked, “Would you like to hear the presentation?” which was answered with a kind “No, I trust you guys.” Every time we start feeling down, God raises up one of His people to walk alongside and encourage us through financial giving or reassuring words. He is paving the way ahead of us, every church we step into we are surrounded by loving people who do not know us but want to join in the ministry! We often times sell God short. We have been encouraged by those who have so little yet give  sacrificially. We are excited by all the hearts God is calling to join us in this ministry. 

We rest assured in  Philippians 4:19 “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” He has been and will continue to provide for us according to what He knows we need. We have lacked nothing!

This has been a fruitful and busy summer traveling around support raising but we have made time to quiet ourselves before the Lord, keep in touch with students, as well as enjoy God’s beautiful Creation together.

Prayer Requests:

• For the students this summer, that God would protect them spiritually and physically as well as grow them.
• That we would put on the full armor of God each day so that we are able to stand against the enemies schemes.
• For open hearts for many to join us prayerfully and financially to bring the gospel to Fort Lewis.
• That God would continue growing us closer to Him and help us not neglect our first ministry; our marriage.

Thank you for joining with us to reach Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO! -Cheers and God Bless, Mike & Rachel

Oops...

In the words of Texas Gov. Rick Perry, "Oops..."

So it turns out, Rachel and I made a big oops.  Well, it was mostly my big oops since I was the one who wrote it.  Turns out that I put the wrong email in our contact info of some of the "brief overview of the ministry" sheets that we have been handing out.  If some of you have been trying to reach us and the email bounced back to you, now we know why.  Sorry about that.

So just to clear that up, our email is actually mikerachelwall@gmail.com

That should definitely work now.  If you have been trying to reach us by email, please resend it to the new email address.  Sorry for the mixup.

C4C Prayer Peaks Day 2012

We had a great time at the Prayer Peaks Day event this past Saturday that Rachel and I put on locally for Climbing for Christ.  Typically with PPD, climbers climb a local mountain and pray over the area they live in.  It started out with climbing fourteeners, peaks above 14,000 in elevation, but has since transitioned into much more.  Now, people climb whatever is nearby.  Some still climb fourteeners, others climb mountains overlooking their town.  I've even heard of folks in Florida climbing the stairwells of the tallest building in their city to pray over it.

This year in Durango, we had to be a bit flexible.  Going in, we didn't know if we would have to move the hike of Hogsback Mountain due to fires in the area.  The day after announcing the hike, a fire erupted a mile or so from the mountain we were going to hike.  That left the hike in limbo.  By the time of the hike, they had that fire mostly under control.  There were still fires a bit to the west, though, which is where winds were forecast to come out of.

The morning of the hike, we arrived at the trailhead to fairly good conditions.  There was only a hint of smoke in the air.  We began our hike of Hogsback only to have to stop due to some feet that had been blistered on a hike earlier in the week.  We decided that the blisters would only get worse and cause more pain with the steeps that lay before us.  With that and the possibility of heavy smoke forecasted to head our way along with some high heat, we decided that a hike just outside of town would have to be put on hold for a different day.  

Instead, we headed up to the campus chapel of Fort Lewis College which is on a mesa top overlooking the town of Durango.  The FLC Chapel is right on the edge of the mesa and had a nice shaded area with benches so that we could worship and pray without overheating.  Arriving there, we could see the smoke plume heading toward town.  The smoke smell was getting stronger.  It was a good reminder to pray for rain and for the firefighters out fighting all the fires outside of town.  After praying for a multitude of prayer requests and needs, we were able to worship overlooking the town.  It was a pretty amazing time.

We finished up the event with a visit to Dairy Queen to cool off from the rising temperatures.  This is becoming tradition, I think, for Prayer Peaks Day in Durango.  It's just too hot this time of year not to eat ice cream as much as possible.  What a great way to finish up an event!

Looking back on the day, it was truly a blessing to be able to pray and worship over a town that has so much need.  Though the Prayer Peaks Day is only one day out of the year, the prayers over the town will continue.  The worship will continue as well because our God meets the needs of those who pray and call out to Him and that is worth praising and celebrating.

Monthly Prayer Update from Rachel

Dear friends and family,

How are you?  Hope everyone is staying safe during this hot and dry summer.

Mike and I just wanted to give a brief update of what's going on.  We returned May 3^rd from our ministry partner training in Phoenix encouraged and excited! The Lord is really growing our faith as he continues to answer his promise of providing where he leads. He is reminding us daily that it is HE who provides. After Phoenix, we headed to the Front Range to present at some churches and meet with individuals interested in partnering with us.  We were blessed by the amazing people we met with.  It was a very fruitful trip.

The rest of the summer, we will be in Durango and traveling back to the Front Range and to Missouri to meet with potential financial ministry partners. Mike will also be raft guiding to pull in some extra income. Our goal is to be on campus this fall! Be praying that all the funding comes in so that we can.

Prayer Requests:

• For the students this summer, that God would protect them from the enemy's scheme to pull them away from Him.
• For open hearts of those we share and present this opportunity with, to join in on God’s work to reach the campus of Fort Lewis with the good news.
• That God would continue growing our marriage and help us not neglect each other as we delve into full time ministry.
• For rain over all of Colorado.  It is so dry here and fires have been breaking out all over the place.  Pray for the safety of the firefighters, our students, our family and our friends who live near the many fires.

Thank you for joining with us to reach Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO!