And then...

So,

I thought that it would be appropriate for me to start by appologizing for taking so long to update this...because it has been a while.

Been around and done a lot since the last time I've updated this.
I was in Nuremburg for a week and that was a blast! We stood on the streets with signs that read "Free Hugs!" and "Gratis Umarmung!" [which is the German translation]. I've been asked if it was akward, and I guess that all I can say is that it was probably more akward for the people trying to pass by us without making eye-contact! That was fun. We got to talk to a lot of people about a lot of different things. I even got to pray with an American soldier who is going to Iraq on January 20 [keep "Mario" in your prayers].

We got back and this week we had an amazing speaker named Dan Bouman. He walked into class, and started talking about his books and he said "And this one is called 'Imprisoned in Iran'...because I was...in prison in...Iran!" It was so funny.
Dan spent 9 weeks in an Iranian prison for being a missionary. The government had actually been watching him, and when he applied for a visa they gave it to him so that they could arrest him on the way out of the country; and they did. Look up his book!

Chad team: we are doing well in our preparations for departure on the 16th of January. We will be doing some work in Germany for about 2 weeks before our plane leaves. We had a meeting a few days ago, and Ate [her name is Beate which is pronounced "Bee-atta"] pulls out a card and says "this is for the Chad team". Turns out, 2 of our fellow DTS students had put some of their money together and gave us E110! The next day, we were given E2,000! Wow! When stuff like that happens, I just want to explode!
Here is our picture:

[Top Left: Phillip, Laura, Miriam, Yours Truly, Elizabeth, Johanna, and Alex. Bottom Left: Paige, Carolin, and Beate.]
Laura, who is from Latvia, will not be going with us as she has switched outreaches to go to Afghanistan. Please keep her in your prayers; her dad died this week unexpectedly. She amazed me: we were all in class and the we started hearing someone crying "Oh God no. Please!" over and over. About 3 minutes later we were told about what happened and we all prayed for her. About 15 minutes later, Laura came down to the lecture hall and said, "I want to worship God right now, can you please put together a worship team?" Less than a minute later, she was standing up with her hands held high, proudly worshiping the God who gives and takes away. Wow! That blew my mind.
Phillip, the man on the far left, is from Kenya, and he did his DTS in YWAM Arusha! That's where I lived when I was in Tanzania! I told him about what has changed since he's been there, he was amazed. I guess that it truly is a small world after all.

I went to the cemetary for the first time recently, and an interesting thought came to mind. I was talking to God and I realized that when we lose loved ones it really sucks, but just think about how He feels. There are all of these dead people hanging around that God really loved hanging out with. I'll bet you that God can't wait until He comes back either!

By the way, thank you for your prayers! My friend who went in to get tested got the results back, and he is HIV negative! Praise God!

I love you all! Hang tight until I get back.

Ty: Thanx for the encouraging email, it was just what I needed.

Micaiah: Hang in there trooper. Keep at it. Don't live life day to day; but rather: live life decision to decision; it'll make it easier.

I love you all! I miss you!
Thank you for your support. I owe you all lots of hugs when I get back, and don't worry, you'll get them.


God Bless!
~JUSTIN~