OUTREACH TIME: COLOMBIA!!!

Friends, Family, Loved ones, Greatest Supporters:

I would like to start with: THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR PRAYERS AND SUPPORT!!

So the time has come for me to begin the outreach phase of this journey in YWAM.  Up until this point I have learned so much about how to be in a place of true need.  Before leaving I had my ideas of how this time would go and as it always does it never goes that way, but I have to say my time here in Costa Rica has been an amazing time with Jesus.

First I have learned the power of prayer and moving out of the way and second have learned that just as much as I need Him, HE needs me….something that has revolutionized my life and that continues to help shape my everyday. 

So as I sit one day from outreach I write to you asking for your PRAYERS!! They have been a primary part of my time here and I have felt every one.  I could not be here without any of you.

Here are the details of my outreach first we will be going to the north of Costa Rica for 10 days to distribute bibles door to door, AMEN.  Then upon my return we will head with 15 other students from YWAM San Jose to Cartagena, Colombia to do a multitude of different ministries and this is the part I have been waiting for.  We will work in a barrio, orphanage and doing construction projects through out Cartagena.  I am so excited and know that God has a great plan for us there and is going to show up.  So I am asking for your support, what ever you can give but more importantly I am again asking for your PRAYERS!! They are the support I truly need.

1)    Outreach: $2,000- this money includes airfare, living expense and room and board expenses.

2)    Sofie: $500- on of my classmates who is a young Costa Rican student that is in my DTS needs support she is very close to the amount that she needs…….BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY PLEASE PRAY FOR HER. She is an amazing young woman.

These funds will get me through until June where I will be returning for about a month to give updates and hug everyone of you!  I know, believe and stand in the promise that God is faithful. So please give if you can BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY PLEASE PRAY for me.

I look forward to sending you all updates, as we get closer to head out on our outreach.  And if you ever just want to check in on my and what is going on please check out my blog at sirinestingen.blogspot.com

I pray this finds you well,

Much love in Christ,

Siri Joy Nestingen

ISAIAH 61 MINISTRIES

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Costa Rica to Infinity & Beyond!

Please make checks payable to:

Isaiah 61 Ministries, 5012 66^th Avenue North, Brooklyn Center, MN 55429

I need............

About three weeks ago we did a week long exercise that was called plumb-line, the way that it was explained to me is it a term used by contractors to explain how one would align the foundation of the house.
And essential a line for us to positions one's life too, thus a part of my learning here includes this week that allows me to align evaluate what area in my life are not aligned in my relationship with Christ........................so here i am completely ready to be open and let the truth come out.......i was ready to apologize for my pride, how i had used my mouth(an constant place for repentance lol)...ect... we had been given a day to pray and to really listen to what we felt the Lord was saying.....so here i am ready with my list and feeling good......in class i am thinking 'here i am 30 years into this game of life and i kind of finally have some things figured out, i am not going to get completely side swiped on this one, no way. I have done this too many time before to not have something figured out.'   (not prideful at all, but no worries i was ready to repent of that) :)

This is one of those moments where i completely believe Jesus is chilling at the right hand of God having himself a good old laugh!!!! 

So as we are sitting in class praying, the facilitator comes behind me and I am thinking 'nope she won't have to say anything to me and if she does i already know what she has got for me..... Jesus already told me!"
As she begins to pray i feel this tinge, this moment of reaction when your body automatically prepares for impact......and it hits, she say "Siri, He needs you to need HIM!" I gasped, 'what, what, I need him' i thought and then came the flood of realizations that-no i didn't need Him, need Him..........I could talk about Him, I could listen to Him, I would and could learn from Him, I could pray to Him, I would let Him heal me and I would talk to Him, i could wrestle with Him and I could leave Him behind if he didn't fit my plans................... but had I ever truly allowed my self to just Need HIM! Never before had i thought that HE needed me to need him, to want him.........not because the day was bad or i could see Him moving or I need Him to move something, but just to need Him, for no reason, just becasue.  I thought once i get to this place or that He is just going to let me go and wait for me to come back when i needed Him, not when He needed me..............

It says in webster dictionary that the word need is defined as: require (something) because it is essential. And i sat in that moment tears streaming down my face feeling this reality that unless I was in a bad situation or it was a convince for me I had never said..........I need you, I just need you........I have never allowed Him to be a required because it's essential to me, essential to get up out of bed, to walk to the bathroom, to talk to the person in front of me that is standing at the bank..........
For years i have heard it, i have been around people who understand it and i for sure, have wrestled with it, but never has it penetrated the depth of my being that way it did in that moment.


As i wiped the tears from my face, I cried out 'Jesus I need you, I need you right now' and this image flooded my mind..........there i am my nose touching his, my hands wrapped in his as i clinch them near my cheeks and i am softly whispering.......i need you, i sooo need you.


That image continues to bring Joy to my heart and peace to my mind.............and i truly have to say has allowed me to see my relationship with Him in a way that has started a REVOLUTION deep down inside!!! (don't worry this one will be on YOUTUBE)LOL!! kidding


So I say all this my amazing friend and family that most of the time WE need Him but more importantly HE needs us!!!! He needs us to be what he has created...... strong, loving, amazing creations that realize that needing Him is just as important as loving Him!!!


I love u all so much and pray this rocks you like it rocked me!!!
Just so you know I can feel your prayers, hugs and love all the way down here!!! thank you!!!


SiRi

how close?

Last week this woman named Donna Partow stopped by to teach two classes and in those two classes i got my behind rocked by Jesus, through her.......she is an international christian author, teacher and motivational speaker...check her out when you get the chance http://www.donnapartow.com.

But one statement she said dug deep, she said: 'The most dangerous place for a christian to be is this close

oh soooo close!

to the will of God' and it hit me like a ton of bricks!!!! This has been my favorite place to be for the past 10 years; close enough to hear Him, close enough to run back when things get bad or i need some healing, close enough that when things don't go the way i want i can find a soft place to cry and close enough that i can jump in and out but really........ not close enough to stay, stay in His will.  And then it made me thing about surrendering and how i have continuously surrendered when i could see the outcome or the amount i would need to pay for the thing that God was asking from me.........  And in that moment it became clear, i had thought myself out of the will of God numerous time, too many times to count.  I had tried and failed many times to out think God, i have tried to get Him to move this way and that with arguments and well thought out plans so that in the end i would not have to move.......... this whole time He has just stood there........ consistent in His will for my life. He has stood and cried, stood and yearned, stood and prayed that i would take one step closer to His protection, to His forgiveness, to His will, to His desires for my life.  And until Donna said it, this concept had never penetrated my being like it did in that moment..........a concept that shook my very foundation.......i have the choice everyday to walk into and out of His will for my life but until i decide to walk in and sit down, decide to walk in and rest, until i walk in and let Him do all the thinking........i will continually be ooohhhh sooo close to the desires of my heart, i will be oooohhhh sooo close to the best future for me, i will continually be ooooohhhh soooo close to His life for me if only i could just get out of the way.........so my friends i can not say that i have been totally reformed, but i can say that my footsteps on the journey before me have come into quite a bit more focus!! And with that focus i am eagerly trying every day  to choose to walk in and sit with the One who has my life gently tucked next to His heart. He hasn't failed me yet!!! :) 

I pray this speaks to u as well!!

PLEASE PRAY WITH MY GROUP AS WE FIGURE OUT DETAIL OF OUR OUTREACH!

 Soon I will be sending out info on where we will be going on outreach!! 

Much love in Christ,

siri

Remember

First and most importantly today is my BROTHER'S 28th Birthday!! love you dude! Wish I could send you some SUN!!

• I am coming to the end of my first three weeks here is this beautiful country! I have to admit that writing about my experiences is hard for me, and as many of you know I love to talk but this is not like a really long conversation that allows me some instant feedback and head-nods and I only say this to touch on the theme of this blog..........

Remember Stretching is a must!!  So here I go----S-t-r--e--t---c----h---i-n--g 

• Let me begin with the fact that I packed for tropical and got sweatshirt weather (which I understand that that is not a legit complaint with all my friends and family currently living in frozen tundras!) But again were talking Costa Rica and one thinks heat, but still beautiful and so goes the.....Stretching.......
• Our school is very small there are only 4 DTS (discipleship training students) and 5 EARS students which can make for quite small quarters leaving many to have to encounter the wrath of what happens when I eat way to many eggs or beans........again Stretching...also does not leave a lot of alone time during the day so for the first time today in three weeks people got to see the side of Siri that has had way to much people time, (not the one that smile) but again....... Stretching......no vehicle, time, room of my own, and not completely understanding why I am here, I am here, I am growing, seeing, learning and loving this time to see the Lord face to face.

I have to say that in all my previous stretching experience i have not lived them with so much peace and joy....I live with a peace that truly does surpass all understanding and in the midst of that peace I have been able to see the Lord not only in those around me but in the very earth He created, with His peace I can hold on to His HOPE and TRUTH!! 

• Truth that though i may not have what i listed above, or truly know why I am here, HE knows and HE knows the plans he has for me and I AM SOO EXCITED to see what they are......BUT before we can get there I have to keep practicing this -take one day at a time- again back to the........ Stretching.....part.

So beyond all those experiences here are some logistics:
 the first week we had orientation, week two biblical stewardship, which if you need any bible verse on WHY WE NEED TO take care of this earth- let me know I got a few :) And this week we are learning bout how to hear the voice of God!! Next week we will be going to a warmer base here in Costa Rica to learn more about God.....
I live with a bunch of goats, which are not the smartest animals!! (sorry they just aren't) one pregnant horse, cats, dogs, a billy goat named Gandalf, chickens, a compost toilet (which I have yet to use but will one day soon) a family of 7 kids, two parents, 2 staff and 9 students..and as i write this ONE VERY LARGE Taranchula all on 5 acres in the mountains of Costa Rica......not bad.


It has been quite an experience already and I expect nothing less and SO I must remember the even though it is stretching I am not breaking but growing!


Please Pray for us as we listen on where we are to go on our outreach which begins in APRIL: Israel, Pakistan and Kenya are our options right now. I will keep you all updated as time goes on and more is revealed.


So before this gets to long, I just want to leave by saying THANK YOU!From the bottom of my heart THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS< YOUR LOVE < AND YOUR SUPPORT!! and I MISS YOU SO MUCH!!! even the snow!! well maybe just a little!


Much love,
siri

And It HAS BEGUN!!!!

I am only thirty minutes shy of boarding the plane and all I can think about is how sore my behind will be tomorrow when I land in Costa Rica! But what also invades my mind is the love of those who helped bring me to this place not only physically, but mentally and spiritually.  I am struck that even though I am boarding the plane alone, for one of the first times in my life I do not feel alone.  I feel 360 degrees of love. I know that as I begin this journey it will not come without it bumps, battles, scrapes and bruises but more importantly for me it comes with a soft place to land regardless of the outcome.  So as I prepare my mind and heart for this next stage of spiritual growing and maturing I am grateful, for my community.  A community that loves me so much they let me go!!
And I pray that I will be able to love as hard, as furious as those who have loved me bring me to this place in my life. Thank you friends, thank you family for allowing me to be me, thank you for listening to me and for hearing me!
I love you!!
Now enough for all the sappy stuff! I am excited to see how my limbs will be shaken and how the Lord shows up......I will update as much as possible so keep checking back! Ready or Not HERE I COME!!!