Christmas in a Foreign Land

What does Christmas look like in an eastern, non christian land? VERY different. Just TRY to imagine: no presents, no Santa, no decorations, no parties; just some church Christmas programs & believers coming together to celebrate the birth of Christ. This year we had a very new experience of Christmas in one of the most non Christian places in the world in northern India. 99% of the millions of residents in this state have never heard of Jesus or rejected the Good News. We were blessed to go to a small, remote village for church on Christmas morning. We traveled through beautiful, tropical farm land down a long dirt road to a village of straw huts with no vehicles, electricity, running water, heat, or toilets. It was a picture of the humble beginning of Jesus life, born in a cave on a cold night, with no bed. The believers warmly welcomed us with a parade of dancing, music, and flowers; and Evan was able to preach. These people have a hard life, carrying water from the pump, women & children working in the fields with their bare hands. 2 men have started this church/school/hostel recently. These pastors & their family are supported for just $40 per month! The buildings they are working on made of straw and mud are incredibly cheap to build, yet they lack the finances. A roof can be put on the building for less than $300. There are 16 of the village congregations that our host's organization oversees, The Good News Center. If you are interested in partnering with them, please contact me.

Then we traveled to another town, and back to the village we stayed in for a couple of days. Also a village of straw huts and no modern day conveniences as mentioned. New experience. We stayed with our host's family. His family threw a big party on Christmas and invited the Hindu village to come over for dinner and the Word was preached. Christmas really is a great opportunity to share our faith in India!!! We stayed with a Hindu family and they happily and warmly received us. Yes we greatly missed our family this Christmas, along with all of its pleasures and traditions, but the Lord greatly blessed us in a new way.

Aside from that we are still doing well and enjoying our time in India. Please continue to pray for our health, especially Evan's digestive system, and energy. God bless you in the New Year!! Merry Christmas from India!

The welcome procession

The village church

Joy in New Delhi!

We have been in New Delhi, India since Saturday! Thank you so much for all your words of encouragement and prayers during this time!!! We reached here good but exhausted after traveling 24 hours. It has been great so far, an overwhelming and amazing experience! It is far from any culture or city I have ever seen! The culture is so complex and interesting. You must see it to understand, no matter how much you study it in the books. The poverty is like nothing I could have imagined. The mass of people (17 million) and traffic with no organization is crazy. We are staying in a nice place with a missionary family here. They are living in a middle class neighborhood, yet the conditions from the outside is the poorest I have ever seen. We have driven around what seems like a large part of the city, but I know there is so much more, and I have not seen any nice or clean place. The dust is constant.

In the past 2 days we had the opportunity to visit 2 new churches in totally unreached areas and visit and speak in 3 home cell groups. Each is located in a different slum or poor area that is totally unreached. The meet in family homes about 8x8 ft. We visited one of the worst slums in India twice where a small group of women are meeting. I can't begin to describe the conditions here, ask me if you're curious. Before our friend went in to share the Gospel no Christians had gone there before. These groups are gathering together everyday for fellowship, prayer, worship, and study. A light in the darkness. They were so happy we were there and very hospitable. We have been so full of joy and gratitude to meet with our brothers and sisters here, give and receive love, see a glimpse of their lives, and hopefully bring encouragement.

We are seeing the huge needs here and trying hard to understand their spiritual needs and how we can show them the love of Christ. It is a process to understand. But we are thankful for the unique ministry our friend has going here that is in line with our vision and what we have been learning about. Many small home churches built on relationships and discipleship. And wow what an immense need for workers here, the opportunity is great. You are surrounded everywhere by people who have never heard about Jesus.

It is amazing to be here as we have seen God's faithfulness in bringing us here and fulfilling the desire in my heart to come. We are praying it will work for us to take a train later this week to Ranchi where we will join Hoola For Happiness. They are already there and we were excited to see them at a kids Christmas program this weekend. I'm confident we will have a wonderful time together there, but for now we are happy to fulfill God's purposes for us here now. Please continue to pray for our protection, for the hearts of the people we are meeting, and that God would use us to bring His Word and love to them. :) :) God bless you!

With girls in the slum who gifted me bracelets & earrings.

New teen group in another slum learning to read, write, and live for Christ.

With the teen group.

Countdown to India!

Hey friends! Hopefully you have received our newsletter and know by now that we are heading to India in less than 2 weeks! (If you don't get our newsletter click on the Connect page above to sing up) God gave me a desire to go to India 4 years ago and I can't believe its really happening! I was actually trying to go to India when I met Evan (he said he would never go there), thankfully it didn't work out. But God is saying now is the time, and we have some great opportunities! He has given us a unique vision for creative ministry including hula hoops, music, and yo-yos to start with! These can all be used to spread joy & the love of Christ that many people have never experienced. In a way that only the Lord could arrange we connected with Carissa from Hoola 4 Happiness & a woman who happened to have a ton of yo yos waiting to be used for ministry! We are excited to put this into action as we partner with Hoola For Happiness and the Good News Center. We also have opportunity to travel with the founder of Khusi Hona, supporting orphanages, and to visit some friends :) We hope to stop in Charleston for a couple of weeks in Feb. before we head to Kona to staff a DTS there. Please join us in prayer for this step of faith. They will be extremely important for us during this time. Please pray that God would prepare us with His heart and dreams for this nation. Also for guidance with every step and protection spiritually & physically (especially Evan's health). We have a large financial need to cover the costs of travel. God loves India and He is calling us now to glorify Him there. If you are interested in giving toward this mission check out the Partner page above. Otherwise things in Armenia are wrapping up nicely. Thanksgiving was spent with American friends here, complete with turkey, pumpkin pie, and stuffing shipped from the States, and even a Trader Joe's pumpkin bread! It was really nice, but we definitely missed being with family. We are in our final week of class now and it is great to be done with so much work. This has been a blessed time of preparation and we are looking forward to what's next in our journey! Thank you so much for your prayers, encouragement, and love! www.hoolaforhappiness.org www.gncranchi.com www.khusihona.org

With friends at Indian Cultural Night in Yerevan.

Hoola For Happiness!!

I'm so happy to be a Hoola For Happiness Joy Spreader! This is an amazing ministry with a huge vision to reach the nations through hula hoops! God is so fun and creative :) I love it. From the time I started hoop dancing I wondered how I could use it to bring glory to God. I had some ideas but never had a picture of what it would be in reality. This ministry is doing it! The founder, Carissa Caricato, loves Jesus, loves to love others, and has given her life to this mission. I am excited and honored to be a part of it! I haven't had too much direct involvement yet, but I'm excited to see how we are able to partner together in the future. Our paths crossed in a divine way and I know He has a purpose for it! We hope to meet up with Hoola For Happiness in India soon! Check out the website www.hoolaforhappiness.org

www.hoolaforlife.org Here with your purchase of a hula hoop (great gifts)one gets sent around the world to spread joy :) Travel Gospel hoops are also available for mission trips!

The Faith Adventure continues

Here we are! This is our School of Frontier Missions class taken the 1st week. We have students from Armenia, Belarus, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and USA! Quite diverse as you can see :) Sorry it has been a while since our last update but we have been good and busy with school! The first month flew by already. It was packed full of great teaching, growth, and a lot of research and reading for school projects. Our first 2 weeks we were blessed with pioneers who have been with YWAM for over 40 years and have even worked alongside Brother Andrew! The first week was about Pioneering new works in new places. Second week was leadership. Third week we learned about building and following Vision. Last week we were blessed with the teaching "How not to burn out in ministry." A really great message and much needed in this area of the world; stress management, rest & Sabbath, depression, etc. And this week we have a YWAM team from the States teaching us about Bible study and then Church planting. In addition to classes Evan is leading worship at school and church and we are beginning to host worship nights at our apartment.

We have some EXCITING news! Thank you for those who have joined us in prayer discerning our next steps from here. Through many crazy contacts and open doors we are moving ahead with going to INDIA in December! We are working on visa and trip details now. We plan to go until the end of February. We will travel to several different cities connecting with different ministries. One we are very excited about is joining up with Hoola For Happiness and using hula hoops to spread the love and joy of Christ! We believe God will teach us a lot through this trip and enable us to build relationships for future work. He will move and open our eyes to His vision for the nation. In West Bengal state of India alone there are over 600 people groups, hundreds of languages, many millions of people almost completely unreached with the Gospel. It is insane. We are so excited to see more of God's part for us in His great plan!

We are VERY excited to share that in March we will go to Kona, Hawaii to the main YWAM University of the Nations to staff the Awaken DTS that begins in April! Check it out www.awakendts.com We will be honored with the opportunity to lead an outreach team wherever in the world God leads. There are amazing people there and amazing things happening! We know God has BIG things in store for us in the next season.

Its all very exciting but it doesn't happen easily. We cannot do this without your support! We NEED your prayers. Please pray for us for the finances needed to get to India and our time there and then to get to Kona. Another request would be for the planning process, for favor and open doors with the visa and all the details. We have a busy schedule with school going on and with the administration aspect of our work it can become stressful. Pray for God's grace that we can manage our time well and keep priorities straight. We can't wait to share with you how God provides for this journey! He is so faithful. If you feel led to support us please contact us or give through our paypal link on the right.Truly we are so blessed with your friendships and encouragement. Partnering with us is a picture of the body of Christ fulfilling the Great Commission in Matthew 28. Thank you so much for being a part of this mission. 

By the way, if you would like to be on our newsletter email list go here to sing up! http://eepurl.com/qdZnb 

Much love and blessings. We look forward to hearing from you. Enjoy fall and pumpkin lattes!! :)
Alicia & Evan

Independance in Armenia

We have been back in Armenia for a month now! Our last post was after we finished the 2 week DNA conference. If you didn't get to watch that video, please check it out there is a great story!! After that we began looking for our own apartment. We were praying that it would be somewhere near to the school, have a washing machine, oven, good bathroom at least. Our friends and a broker helped us look at 4 apartments. (Here you have to pay a broker even to find an apartment, thankfully we got a little discount.) The place we chose is great! It has the biggest kitchen we have ever had! It is in the downstairs part of a house, not a big old Soviet apartment building! We have our own entrance and our landlord is super friendly. She speaks a tiny bit of English and almost daily asks us up to eat fruit and drink coffee. We have shade here and the owner has a nice garden where flowers and grapes are growing. It has been really hot here, 90-100 without AC anywhere except some stores; but the night drastically cools down. It is such relief.

We have had a lot of time to get all settled in, enjoy our own space again, read, and spend a lot of time with Jesus. He is really speaking to us and stirring passion and desire in our hearts. It has been really good. We just got internet 2 days ago. I (Alicia) am adjusting and learning what it is like to prepare 3 meals a day from scratch with a limited selection of products compared to America. The women here must spend the whole day in the kitchen! But talk about eating on a budge, I am always amazed for how much produce I get for so little. There is no "organic" or "genetically modified" here. Its all organic and they almost give it away! Watermelon <$1, 2 lbs of peaches- 50 cents, 3 red peppers- 25 cents, 2 lbs cherry heirloom tomatoes- 50 cents, etc. Love it. I'm adjusting to that, but striving to honor the Lord and serve my husband well in it. I'm really being challenged to be creative and prepare healthy meals for us and begin a healthier lifestyle. It is so important for us to take care of the bodies God has given us, where He dwells! This week my devotional is on healthy eating. I'm working through "Becoming the Woman God Wants Me to Be, a 90 Day guide to living the Proverbs 31 Life" by Donna Partow. It started off slow, but its getting better. "When you sit to dine with a ruler, note well what is before you, and put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony. Do not crave his delicacies, for that food is deceptive." Prov. 23:1-3 In our world we are surrounded by deceptive delicacies! God wants us to use self control for our own good. Twelve teaspoons of sugar will decrease your immune function by 60%. The average American adults consumes 32 teaspoons a day. We are leaving our bodies defenseless and open to sickness. Really challenging stuff to pray about and practice self control in. Pray for me as I walk this journey to a healthier lifestyle.

Sunday we went to the international church, which is a short walk from our place. The pastor is American and there are people from all over, but mostly consisting of Indian students. We are excited to see how we can get involved there and Evan will be leading worship. The weekend before we had a great visit to Vanhazor up north. I found the beautiful part of Armenia! Wonderful tree covered mountains and scenery. We visited some YWAM friends there and had a great time. We got to visit an ancient monastery from like the 11th century! Older than Americans can imagine! Beautiful place. We have also been spending time with friends here and yesterday I visited the Sisters of Charity orphanage for disabled children. The sisters were so friendly and the children seem well taken care of, but it is so sad. I spent time with the babies up to 6 years old. Many of the children have spinabifida. I don't know much about it but the kids develop mentally and physically normally, but they won't be able to walk. Because of this families just leave the baby at the hospital. These sweet ones, God's creations, just want to be loved!

So thank you for all your prayers. We are excited to start classes Monday morning! We would love for you to join us in prayer about our ministries while we are here; that we would fulfill His purposes for us here, for passion and vision from classes, and our future plans as we seek confirmation for a couple of exciting opportunities! And let us know what is going on with you and how we can pray. Much love. Definitely missing Charleston!

Blessings, Alicia & Evan

 Our kitchen/dining room

 At Haghpat Monastery

 Near Vanhadzor, Armenia

Our bathroom

God is so so so Good!

We are back in Yerevan after 2 weeks in the mountain town of Tsakhkadzor. We really enjoyed the cool mountain air as well as the rich teaching of the conference. We are so blessed at this point to be involved in what is going on in Eastern Europe and are looking forward to doing some local outreach here in Yerevan. Speaking of Yerevan, it is really hot! We are used to heat, but not with no AC! Yesterday we joined a Switzerland counseling school outreach team and went to a small church outside of Yerevan. It was a really nice time. This week we will begin looking for an apartment in Yerevan. Join us in prayer that we would be at exactly the location to fulfill God's purposes, preferably close to the school and with a washing machine and all things working!

Check out our video this video that we just made about an exciting thing that happened at the conference. Sorry it is so long, but just watch, its really cool!

Here are the links that I was talking about in the video. I hope you enjoy!

-Evan and Alicia

 For innovations at YWAM Kona campus:  http://vimeo.com/album/1502955/video/31749761

For Sourceview Bible website:  http://sourceviewbible.com/sv/

Oh forgot to mention in the video. During the offering almost $3000 was given to cover the extra costs of the conference and to go to the Iranian earthquake victims. That doesn't include the much more that was given between participants and material things such as clothing and jewelry. And the week before that a little over $1000 was given to an outreach team of teenagers from Kazakstan who came to Armenia with only enough for a one way ticket. Pretty amazing what God can provide through a bunch of poor missionaries when we ask Him what to give! :)
Also Evan had a really bad toothache during the first week that was causing a lot of pain. We believed that God would bring healing and just kept praying. Praise God now its fully better!