Christian Challenge Girls Retreat Oct. 2012!

Hey, sorry we have been away from here for awhile.  Things have been crazy with our move and Rachel being sick over the last week.  We have a few updates for you all.

Here is a video of the Christian Challege Girls Retreat back in October Rachel helped lead up at Vallecito about 40 minutes from Durango.  The girls all had a great time!

October 2012 Update!

Hello team!  We hope everyone is doing awesome!  We have had an amazing first month.  I’ll try and hit on some of the highlights we haven’t mentioned in past updates so far.

FCA has been going well.  We have a strong core of  students that have been helping us plan it.  We have moved it from Thursday nights to Monday nights at the suggestion of some of the athletes and coaches.  This seemed to work better schedule wise for our athletes.  With the change, we had the biggest night of the semester.

Our Dinner and Discussion’s have been going great as well.  We have definitely grown greatly since last year.  One of the topics we discussed this past month was “What do we do when terrible things happen?” and what does the Bible say about it?  We had students write moments they have had with that in their life, things they still struggle with on a notecard without their name.  It was heartbreaking... rape, molestation, relationship unfaithfulness, waking up drunk and naked in the middle of the street lost, pulling a good friend out of a car wreck only to find him decapitated.  Those things are a lot to carry.  We don’t always have all the answers but I’m thankful that Rachel and I can be there for these students.

On a lighter note, we had a pretty awesome Silver Mountain Camp and Climb.  We hiked, camped, and hiked some more.  We even had a church service where the topic was “The great things you can do when Christ is your guide.”

You can find a full report on our website but I thought I’d leave you with the kind words of one of our students who commented without our asking on our Silver trip report.

“I was a student who went on this adventure and it was one of the best experiences I have had in Durango so far. Many of us pushed ourselves to a new limit that we have never experienced before. There were so many times during the hike when I thought ‘I am not sure that I can keep going without stopping’ but being surrounded in God's beautiful creation gave me the breath and the strength to keep going. At one point I got tears in my eyes because so many times this world puts limitations on us that weigh us down...but on this trip it was almost as if God gave me the wings to fly. Having these outdoor adventures really touch my heart because I tend to feel God's presence most in natural environments. I can't thank Mike and Rachel enough for all they have done in my life, let alone for leading these amazing adventure trips. So thank you to all of the supporters for making this possible and please know how much they change lives and bring students closer to God. It really is beautiful.”  -Kim Heald

Prayer Requests:

--For the students Rachel and I are meeting with one-on-one, that they would desire to know God more.
--Pray that God would soften students’ hearts for the Gospel and that the Holy Spirit would convict.
--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 with the Gospel! -Cheers and God Bless, Mike & Rachel

"I'm a Christian...Judge me." Project

So not too long ago, we decided to do a project on campus. We sent our students out on campus equipped with a camcorder to ask people what they think of Christians. The video is a compilation of what they came back with. (Warning: Some of the language used may be offensive to some.)

We then showed the video at our Dinner and Discussion. We talked about the video for awhile bringing up points that were mentioned and then looked at what the Bible says about how a Christian should carry themselves by looking at the fruits of the Spirit. Needless to say, how Christians are viewed and perceived doesn't always line up with how the Bible calls us to live.  As Christians, we are Christ's ambassadors to this world.  Most of the time, people's views of Christ come from how they see Christians live.  How are we representing Christ to those around us?

Challenge Silver Mountain Camp and Climb Sept. 2012

Just wanted to give a quick or possibly and more likely long update on our camp and climb we did with the students not too long ago up Silver Mountain.  I'll actually include some pictures with this one as well...since our past posts have been lacking a bit in the picture department.

Anyway, the trip was pretty amazing.  We had a great group of American and international students.  It was a little stressful in the planning stages of things but in the end, it all worked out.

We started out the trip pre-planning.  We had a ton of people signed up and not nearly enough transportation for everyone.  Throughout the pre-planning period, we had people add and subtract multiple times.  It makes it very difficult when trying to plan for transportation and food.  I think we learned some good lessons for future trips though.  As time got closer for the trip, we had to be extremely flexible and change some of our plans.  Thankfully, our students were very flexible to accommodate the changes we needed to make.

We picked the students up at 3 p.m. Saturday from the bus stop on campus.  We loaded up the cars and headed west into the high country.  Within thirty minutes, we were on the dirt roads of La Plata Canyon.  It was a beauty many of the students had never seen.  Tall mountains all around, driving through amazing fall foliage, bright yellows, reds, and greens in every direction.  I've seen it many times and am always taken back by it.

After a lot of picture taking, we were soon at our parking spot.  This is where our hikers got out and got ready for a long 3.1 mile hike to base camp.  That doesn't seem too long until you realize that they would be gaining about 3,000 feet in elevation as well.

The plan was for Rachel to lead the students in the hike to base camp while Josh Story and I drove SUVs loaded with gear, food and water up to our camping spot on the side of the mountain.  Since we didn't have enough vehicles to drive everyone up to base camp, I decided to use the vehicles that we did have to transport everything up, set up tents and such, basically getting base camp set up before everyone else arrived by hiking.  I figured hiking tents, sleeping bags/pads, and all of our food up would have just been too much on the hikers.  Josh was going to take Vernon, one of our students, up with him to help us out set things up.  The other students would show up after hiking for two or three hours, and we'd have dinner waiting for them with camp already set up.

Josh, Vernon and I set off as the hikers followed behind.  We first crossed a river and then began our steep ascent...or at least should have began our steep ascent.  Moments into the journey, I looked in my rearview mirror to find Josh nowhere to be found.  I stopped, hopped out of my Xterra and ran back down the trail to find Josh with part of his luggage rack ripped off.  He had loaded full water jugs onto the top of his rack and their weight was too much for the rack to bare as he crossed the river.  I came back to find Josh and Vernon trying to fix his rack while the students all took pictures.

Within ten minutes, the problem was taken care of and we were on our way again.  The road was narrow and steep, riddled with extremely tight switchbacks and deep ruts.  My vehicle handled them fine until we came up to the biggest rut on the trail.  It was about two feet deep and a foot and a half wide.  The rut stretched across our path on a very steep switchback.  I decided to go right and cross the rut higher up.  It was a sound idea in theory.  It would assure me a safer way so that I wouldn't flip my Xterra.  The left side looked like a side that had a higher probability of flipping.

Well, in the end, my side wasn't any safer.  As I crossed the rut, it turned out to be a little too deep.  My vehicle was literally on two wheels.  My SUV was balancing on my driver's side front wheel and passenger's side back wheel.  Unfortunately, the tires I could get power from were off the ground.  As my Xterra teetered, I hopped out to try and get a better view to make a game plan with.  I was going to have to back it up a bit, fix my angle, and try not to flip it in the process.  Thankfully, I had Josh and Vernon scouting for me...and thankfully, on my second try, I made it safely.

Now, it was Josh's turn.  He decided to go left not wanting to negotiate the rut.  As he started up it, his Pathfinder stalled.  The trail was too steep, the air too thin.  His vehicle lacked the power to make it up the hill.  He backed it up three or four times trying to get enough momentum to make the steep hill.  Finally, Vernon and I jumped in to help push it up the last bit of the hill.  Thankfully, that would be the last major problem we would have with the trail.

Meanwhile, our hikers pushed upward...and upward.  It was certainly not an easy hike.  Unfortunately, they found no downhills on their ascent to base camp.

Soon, the vehicles arrived at base camp, between 11,000-11,500 feet on the literal side of a mountain.  We were probably an hour or so in front of the hikers.  We used the time to get base camp set up.  After we set up five or six tents, Vernon graciously volunteered to find firewood.  He quickly gathered a huge pile for us.  By the time the hikers made their way into base camp, tents were up, a fire was going, and hot dogs were ready to be roasted over the campfire.  The students were ecstatic to be in camp.  After a lot of picture taking of the coming sunset and amazing views, students sat down for hot dogs, brats, baked beans and hot chocolate.

It was shaping up to be a great night.  After dinner, we roasted marshmallows, had s'mores, and worshiped around the campfire.  I played my guitar while Ryan, one of our students, played his djimbe.  We played until my fingers became numb in the cold air and I couldn't hold my guitar pick anymore.

Soon after, people started making their way towards their tent for sleep.  Still, we had about five students who had a plan to make it to midnight.  As it turned out, it was one of our international student's birthday when midnight hit.  They all wanted to sing happy birthday to Rino when the clock struck 12 a.m.  Until then, they would kill time singing karaoke and Christmas carols around the campfire.  I know, Christmas carols in September are a bit early but I guess they're big in Japan all times of the year.

One of the coolest moments of the night was as there was a break in the kareoke, I was able to get into a deep spiritual conversation with Vernon where I got to share my testimony and share a lot about how God was working in my life.  It was awesome!  All that time, one of our international students, Tomoki, was sitting right next to me staring into the fire seemingly listening in.  Before we knew it, midnight was upon us.  We sang happy birthday to Rino and everyone quickly headed the way of bed.

The next morning, I awoke to the smell of campfire.  Rachel and some other students had already woken up and got the fire going.  We actually had two students, Kimberly and Alyssa get up early for the sunrise and then both fell back asleep as the sat in our camping chairs.  Rachel had a good laugh when she woke up to both of them sleeping in their sleeping bags sitting up in our camping chairs.  Soon, the rest of the group started getting up and we started getting breakfast going.

During breakfast, we held a short church service.  For many of our students, it was their first church service ever.  I spoke on the verses of Jesus and Peter walking on water and the great things you can do when Christ is your guide.  I related it to a television show about adventure racing.  One of the teams in the race had a team member who was and is still blind.  Without his guide, he couldn't do a whole lot in the race.  With his guide though, he was able to do some pretty amazing things from mountain climbing to kayaking to jumping off of 30-40 foot cliffs into the water below.  He put full trust in his guide and his guide pretty much never left his side.  Sure, there were times where the blind guy stumbled just as Peter did walking on water, but his guide was always there to catch him and pick him back up.  It was a cool modern day parable about our relationship with Christ.

After the church service, we packed up camp and loaded up my vehicle.  (At that point, we only had one vehicle as Josh had to head back down to lower elevations with his heart condition the night before.  It was not that he had any complications.  He just can't be at high elevations for long durations.  We had planned that he would come up and help set up, then head down with Bob, one of our other volunteer leaders, who had to dog sit at the last minute.)  As I looked to the sky, I noticed cumulus clouds starting to form.  I then gathered everyone together and prayed for safety and good weather.  Rain and snow was in the forecast which was not something we wanted to see until we were down safely.

With that, I had Rachel start leading the group up the mountain.  I had a few more things to take care of at base camp but wanted to get the group moving as we were already running a bit late.  I had planned to quickly catch up with the group.  I sent Rachel with a walkietalkie so that if she had any problems or emergencies, she could relay them to me.  I could also give updates as to where I was in the process of catching up with them.

After taking care of some final things at camp, I was ready to go...at least I was ready until I realized my camera was missing.  I had left it with my backpack but my backpack had been moved and it was no longer with my backpack.  My biggest fear was that it had been packed away deep under everything in my Xterra.  So much for taking pictures of students as we went.  As I did a last check around camp for it, I found it on the ground.  I was relieved.  That relief was short-lived as I soon realized that in the process of moving my vehicle getting it ready to head down after the hike, I had run my camera over.  This was a direct hit.  My heart sank.  Thankfully, I bought the camera because it had been touted as an almost indestructible camera.  Well, it lived up to its billing.  It somehow still worked.  Sure, there were some dents and it may not be waterproof anymore but it at least could still take pictures.

After finding the camera, I began my ascent to rejoin the group.  It wasn't long before I had caught back up.  The group was spread out.  Rachel was near the front so I decided to hang out with the pack in back and encourage them.  Our first mountain to climb on the ridge was Deadwood.  We grabbed pictures and a rest and then continued on.  We had a taller mountain in our sites.  Our next long rest and stop would be the top of Silver Mountain, 12,338 feet in elevation, where we would have a late lunch.  We just had a long ridge and a steep final climb to go on our ascent.

Before we knew it, we were on the summit.  The views were incredible.  We could see Shiprock to the south all the way up to Engineer Mountain to the north.  We could also see the campus of Fort Lewis to our east.  Fall colors were below us in all directions at lower elevations.  The picture taking seemed to never cease even as we pulled out food for lunch.  The students all had big smiles on their faces as they enjoyed God's beautiful creation.

Towards the end of our time on the summit, Rachel had planned a surprise for our birthday girl.  She had baked a delicious birthday dessert for Rino.  We even tried to light some candles for her to blow out but unfortunately, the gusty wind took care of that for her.  We all gathered around and sang happy birthday to her and then distributed the tasty treat.  It was a great time and I think it meant a lot to our birthday girl.  What better place to celebrate your birthday then the top of a mountain?

Soon, it was time to get going again.  We broke into two groups.  We had some of our faster moving students who wanted to try and make it back for an evening church service.  We had our second group take it a bit slower.  In hanging out with our second group, it was awesome to watch the guys help the girls on the steeper parts, being right next to them giving them a hand whenever they needed it.  It made me think back to the sermon earlier in the morning.  It was nice seeing that chivalry is not dead with our students.

In no time it seemed, we had crossed the ridge and were already back on top of Deadwood Mountain with Silver in our rearview.  It was all downhill from there.  It wasn't long before we were back at base camp.  At that point, my hiking for the day was done but Rachel and the students still had 3.1 miles to go.

After making sure everyone had refilled on water, I prayed for a safe journey down and set out before our group with my Xterra literally packed to the roof with gear.  I just hoped that it wouldn't shift on top of me during the steep, bumpy descent.  Navigating the tricky trail down, some good worship music on the iPod kept my nerves at peace until I was at the valley bottom.

God, as always, came through big time.  Sure, there were some sketchy moments slipping and sliding coming down...especially at the big rut where I was in a full-on continuous slide throughout the whole section.  I just prayed the whole time that God would keep me out of the rut which would have flipped me.

In the end, I arrived safely down on the valley floor to Josh and my mother waiting for us.  The first group had passed through twenty minutes earlier.  I had lined it up for my mom to show up just in case we had any car problems.  There's no cell reception at the bottom of the valley so we had to line it up the day before.  Josh had the same idea in mind and decided to show up as well to our surprise.  Rachel and the rest of the students showed up about an hour later exhausted but stoked over the great adventure everyone had.

And truly, it was an amazing trip.  God answered our prayers granting us safety and great weather.  Though we could see rain and snow all around us, it held off on us until later that night when we were all safely home.  It was a testament to the power of God and prayer.  The trip was a great time of fellowship and relationship building.  Friendships were forged and deepened.  Creation was enjoyed.  God was glorified and the Gospel was shared.  According to our students, it was a trip they will never forget.

Thank you so much for all of you who pray for us, for our students, and for the adventures we take our students on!

Fall Retreat Video!

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