Bringing You Up to Speed...

Hello and Merry Christmas!

Here's an update on what's been happening in my life these past few weeks...

The wedding of Amy-Joy and Andy Scalas, December 9, 2010.

Amy-Joy is a close friend of mine from DTS.

I had the honor of being a bridesmaid!

The wedding was BEAUTIFUL. Amy-Joy (as you can see) looked absolutely radiant. It was so special for me to be a part of their wedding.

In Class...

In class last week, we had project presentations. In the very beginning of the school, we were split up into pairs and given a world religion to research. Myrriah and I were paired together and assigned Islam as our religion to present. We have been working on this project the entire lecture phase.

What is unique about this assignment is that we actually had to find a person (or people) to interview who are followers of that religion. The point is to get an "insider's" point of view to really understand the culture and religion. Depending on the people we interview, we then narrow down our project to present a specific "people-group" and develop a creative evangelism strategy to reach that people-group. Our presentations were to be 2 hours long and include interactive activities, visuals, etc.

So Myrriah and I interviewed 3 Muslim women for our project over the course of the lecture phase (the past 10 weeks). After gathering all our material, we decided to present on the people group "Muslim Women in Australia". The project went so well- we both really enjoyed learning, then teaching about the culture, religion, and ways to build relationships with Muslims. I found that God really developed a heart and passion in me to reach Muslims in Australia and around the world!

Dressing up the guys in hijabs (headscarves) as part of our presentation. They really did enjoy this! :)

Evangelism Stories...

Update on Genjiro

If you remember reading about my encounter with Genjiro from a few posts back (If you don't, it's worth scrolling down the page to read!), I wanted to let you know what ended up happening with him.

I got the opportunity to meet with him a third time. During the week, I was working on getting a Bible for him in Japanese. I saw a Japanese Bible on the Koorong (an Australian Christian Bible store) website, but it was $34.00, a little too expensive for me to buy (I was still raising outreach fees at this point). I prayed about it, and it was still such a strong burden on my heart to get this Bible for him. So I went to Koorong on Saturday morning, having plans to meet with him that afternoon (I figured God would pay me back somehow). I got to the store, and an employee led me over to the foreign language Bibles. Therein was a Japanese New Testament (not on the website) for only $11.00! It is small and travel-sized, perfect for Genjiro who is backpacking around Australia. I knew in my heart it was God's will for him to have this Bible, that God would reveal himself to him through it and change Genjiro's life forever. I was so excited to give it to him!

I went with a friend to meet with Genjiro that afternoon. He was INCREDIBLY touched to receive this gift- I told him it was a Christmas present :) He looked at the pages in adoration, excited to see it was in his own language. He was most touched by the fact that I cared about him enough to go out of my way to bless him. I had written a personal message to him in the front of the Bible, making it even more special for him. He told me he would read and study. I truly believe he will recognize Jesus as the way, the truth, and the life as he reads about His incredible love displayed on the cross. Please pray with me for Genjiro as he starts his journey to know God!

Divine Appointments

Last Monday, I had a random, but really cool encounter with a woman. I was walking back from Coles (a grocery store) when I saw a group of homeless, Aboriginal people sitting in a park along the way. I was listening to my ipod but felt compelled to try and initiate conversation. So I intentionally walked in the middle of where they were sitting, took out an earphone and said "Hello!" with a big smile on my face. A man who was sitting said hello back and asked if I was ready for Christmas. Delighted that he engaged me in conversation, we began talking.

I noticed there were two women sitting across from him, listening to music (they both had an earphone in their ear, sharing music). One of the women looked up at me and asked what I was listening to. We listened to each other's music and started making small talk. I sat down next to her in the grass, just listening to her, loving on her. She looked at me intently and asked, "Are you a Christian?" I said, "Yes! I am. How did you know?" She said she could tell by my voice, that there was something different about me. THEN, she told me that she just got saved yesterday at church! That she has been going to church these past few weeks and has felt God calling her back, away from the mess she has found herself in.

She asked me to please encourage her. I got to pray over her and God gave me word after word of encouragement and affirmation. It was amazing. She also asked me if I would write in her new Bible that she received from the church, so I got to write an encouraging message for her. We both marveled at the way God is sending people to encourage her in her faith (she told me that I was not the first random encounter that she had that day!).

What an amazing, amazing encounter! From just one decision to take out an earphone and say hello, a divine appointment took place. I love the way God works!

5 days until outreach...

Can you believe it?? I leave for Mexico City on Tuesday, December 28th. We have a lovely, 12 hour lay-over in Dubai, then fly to LA, then to Mexico City. Please pray for smooth, safe travels. We are all incredibly excited!

In the meantime...

Christmastime is here! The stockings are hung all around the base, decorations and lights have been setup for a few weeks now, and everyone is excited for an all-day Christmas celebration. We have a nice breakfast on Christmas morning, then do a base-wide "white-elephant" gift exchange. We all have our own stockings that have been getting filled up this week by fellow YWAMers. There will also be buses taking us to the beach (It's going to be around 98 degrees on Christmas day!). It sounds like a fun day planned.

I have certainly been missing my family this week, but God has been comforting me and giving me deeper understanding of the reason we celebrate Christmas. I've been seeking His face and experiencing His loving presence as He embraces me into His family. He is so good to me. He cares about every detail, every emotion, and takes care of me. What an amazing Father we have!

Merry Christmas!

Wishing all of you a wonderful Christmas holiday. Lots of blessings to all of you!

Love,

Stephanie

Faithfulness

Let me fill you in on what's happening with fundraising...

Fundraising Update

Our finances were due last week, but we were given some extra time for those who were still raising funds. As a school, we did 3 fundraisers: a breakfast, a car wash, and sold sunscreen door-to-door. We raised about $2,200.00 overall to be distributed among those in our class who were still in need. We worked hard, and it was well worth the effort in the end! Praise God!

Cooking for the Breakfast: Moira and Justin

SOE Car Wash

Back home, my sister-in-law, Melissa did a "cookie sale" for me at work. She is an AMAZING baker and really went all out, making all different kinds of cookies for donation. It was a huge success, raising $250!

This is a photo of the cookies that she made. Don't these look incredible?? YUM!

Aside from this, I prayed A LOT, on my own and consistently with my school and as a base. We had countless prayer times for release of finances here on base. God gave me strategies during one specific prayer time when He dropped the idea of doing a Christmas ornament sale at church. My Mom put this into action for me, and it has raised over $1,000.00! I also heard that people are initiating their own fundraisers for me: a craft sale at church, and the OCC Night at Dickens to have some of the proceeds of the tickets go towards the ministry. I can't describe the overwhelming feeling of love and support I feel from people at home who want to partner with me. It's an incredible thing to see God at work. I have come to love the process because it's not just one quick fix to raise the money, it's everyone working together as the Body of Christ.

All together, I raised $2,500.00 through fundraising efforts. My parents sold my Toyota Highlander to Carmax over the weekend and I was able to cover the remaining $2,000.00 with the money from my car. ALL glory to God for His amazing provision! I am so thankful.

So, with all this said... I AM GOING TO MEXICO!!! We leave in just 10 days.

MORE amazing news: Everyone on my school was miraculously provided for in various ways. Justin and Bree were still raising lecture fees, and were told about a week ago that someone covered everything, both lecture and outreach. How amazing is that??

We have two teams, a Perth outreach team, and a Mexico outreach team. Staying in Perth are Stephen, Bree, Justin, with outreach leaders Danny and Amy; Going to Mexico are Nathan, James, Myrriah, Ryan, Moira, and myself, with outreach leader Eric. We will be in Mexico for 6 weeks, then meet up with the Perth team and finish our outreach in Perth.

This next week is outreach preparation, then we celebrate Christmas, then leave on Tuesday, December 28th for Mexico. Please be praying as we prepare to leave! We are all very excited.

Bless you and THANK YOU for all your prayers. Merry Christmas!

Stephanie

Compelled by Love

"Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?"

Romans 2:4 (NLT)

These past few weeks in lectures have been amazing. Within our topic of Cross-Cultural Evangelism (by speaker Ross Tooley), and my own personal times with God, I've gotten such deep revelation of God's love for us.

Here are the main lecture points of the week:

• God loves us into repentance.
• Jesus overwhelmed people with the love and character of God, which then led to repentance. There is a sequence! Examples: John 4 (The Woman at the Well), Luke 19 (Zaccheaus), John 5 (The Pool at Bethesda), John 8 (The Woman Caught in Adultery).
• Jesus shows love and kindness before he introduces repentance.
• Our role in evangelism is to present a true picture of God that people cannot help but fall in love with.
• When you witness, believe that a loving God is already working on them.
• God is already at work, just be diligent in what God gives you. Not your responsibility to lead them to Christ when they are not ready! (Could be an act of kindness, a listening ear, a cup of coffee, etc.)
• LISTEN and LOVE. Lovingly replace the lies the person is believing with the truth. The truth will set them free!
• You can't lead people to Christ if they don't trust you. People trust love. Be genuine in loving the person with no selfish agenda. It is the revealing of God's love that makes a lasting impact.

Jesus is the exact representation of God's character- a God who overwhelms us with His love. People are resistant to God because they have believed in a false representation of God's character, unfortunately many times presented by the church. To see God's character perfectly revealed, we must look to Jesus, the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15). The character of God is no mystery- He has fully revealed himself in every way through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Our speaker, Ross Tooley (who is one of the original YWAMers and has been with YWAM for 45 years!) took us through all the major religions this week: Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Taoism, and Hinduism. Having knowledge of these religions and belief systems makes it possible to effectively share the gospel using their own concepts/principles that they can relate to. However, we learned that the most important cross-cultural tool is love. Jesus shows us that LOVE is the power to reach hearts beyond theology and doctrine. Sharing God's love with people is the key to bringing them to the Father.

God's word to me this week is to overwhelm people with the love and goodness of God. I've been asking God to increase my capacity to love. When people experience the love of God, they can begin to accept truth because they have experienced something real and personal to them. God's love is astounding. I will never stop growing in my understanding of His love.

Jesus' whole life of ministry was a compulsion of love. I long to live my life this way.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

Some stories from Evangelism:

My Encounter with Emie

On Tuesday, I was walking alongside a park on the way to my dorm and I see this young man in an electric wheelchair just parked in the grass. The Holy Spirit moved me to go and talk to him, so I did, just struck up conversation. I ended up sitting in the grass next to him for about 45 minutes, talking about all kinds of things. He has a condition called Cerebral Palsy where he suffers from loss of muscle control, cannot use his hands, and has difficulty using speech. His name is Emie. He is very intelligent and friendly, you just have to be patient as he speaks.

I came to find that he is a motivational speaker for people with disabilities and has all sorts of passions and dreams! It was the perfect platform to affirm with him the value and purpose of each and every individual. We talked about God, and I shared about how He created us with unique purpose and has a plan for each of our lives- that we are created for a reason. I got to speak so much truth and value over his life- it was amazing!

Then, I invited him over to the base for lunch. I got to serve and feed him, practically showing God's love and value for him. We continued to talk about God, and knowing I'm a Christian, he started asking questions about Jesus. I got to share the gospel with him and shared my testimony. He asked me more and more questions- I got to share so much with him.

After almost an hour, I walked with him back to the road and asked if I could pray for him. He gladly accepted, and it was so powerful. God's power moved through me in prayer as I spoke God's love, value, and blessing over his life- that nothing is impossible for those who are in Christ; that he may know God and experience God's grace and power to accomplish His will and purpose for his life. He was so completely touched by our time together; he just kept thanking me over and over. As thankful as he was, I felt that I was the one who was blessed this afternoon. I left feeling so inspired by his life- a true overcomer.

What a divine appointment! Amazing what will happen as we listen and obey the leading of the Holy Spirit.

A New Friend, Genjiro

James and I led evangelism on Thursday afternoon, leading a group of 100 people from the base. I gave a short devotion before we left about keeping love as our highest motivation, higher above any message we may give.

During evangelism, I met a young man from Japan, Genjiro. There was a strong language barrier, but God told me, "just love him." I kept asking him questions (half words, half sign language... it was quite comical) and got to know some things about him. I found out he is Buddhist, but was incredibly open to hear about Jesus. I told him I would try and get a Bible to him in his language, which he was very excited about. We made plans to meet on Saturday.

Well, Saturday came, and I was unfortunately unable to find a Bible for him on base ( We had Korean and Chinese, but no Japanese Bibles). So on Saturday morning, I got a little creative. He had given me an e-mail address, so I e-mailed him a Japanese gospel tract that I found online and sent it to him. Then, I spent about an hour creating an illustrated gospel booklet using simple English and pictures with the art supplies I have. It's kind of funny that I did that (I am not an artist by any means), but I feel I was being led by God to do this.

I brought an orange and a bar of chocolate for him along with my booklet. He was so overwhelmed with gratitude, smiling ear to ear, bowing and thanking me. It was evident that the act of taking the time to create the gospel book spoke more to him than anything else. We went through it, picture by picture, and he let me know that he has a Japanese/English dictionary to translate the words.

Then I prayed for him. The Holy Spirit was strong; I could feel God ministering to his heart, revealing himself. After the prayer, he told me, "I could not understand all the words you were saying, but I could feel God inside of me" as he put his hand over his heart. Praise God!! He supernaturally touched Genjiro's heart. We made plans to meet again next week, this time (hopefully) with a Japanese Bible.

Everything In Between...

Aside from lectures and evangelism, I am doing very well. I am really connecting with a classmate of mine, Moira. We've been spending a lot of time together and I'm really growing in my friendship with her.

A highlight of my week last week was getting a Birthday package from Anne, Carrie, and Katy! I cried when I opened it (I'm a softie). In it was all kinds of essentials- a Camelback water bottle, a couple tops, a purse, music, toiletries, birthday cards... I was incredibly blessed by them. I love you girls so much!

On Wednesday of this week, I preached the gospel to my class (as an assignment we have to do). We are told to be creative with it- it can be to any location and audience. I decided to make mine a Mexico City open air. I setup a space outside with a mexican blanket, sombrero, and a big sign that said "Bienvenido a Mexico" and ushered my class out of the classroom and preached the gospel to them. It was good practice for the real thing in just 3 weeks from now!!

Friday, I led intercession for our class (we take turns in leading this each week). We prayed over each other in groups, getting our hearts clean before God and encouraging one another in areas of weakness. This time in prayer led to a 2 hour time in worship, seeking the face of God. It was incredible.

Thanks for Reading!

Sending lots of love to you, wherever you are in the world :) Please do not hesitate to e-mail, send a message on facebook, or let me know a time when I can Skype call you. If you get a chance, could you please read the post below? I am in need of prayer in regards to finances.

Love and Blessings,

Stephanie

Partnership and Prayer Request

Hello Everyone!

So here is the finance update: I have 4 more days to raise $3,000.00. God has done miracles for me in the past, and I know this situation will be no different. However, I am in great need of your prayers during this time. Please pray for financial release to bring God's Kingdom to Mexico City and Australia.

Below is my partnership request:

I am currently doing a School of Evangelism (SOE) in Perth, Australia with Youth With A Mission (YWAM). I began in October and am in the eighth week of my school.

The SOE has been amazing thus far. We have covered lecture topics such as Evangelism, Cross Cultural Communication, Spiritual Warfare, Holy Spirit, and Apologetics and go out into the community to evangelize three times a week, influencing the city of Perth for Christ. We have seen amazing fruit from these outings as we trust God and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. I am growing in my relationship with God as I learn more about his character and his incredible love for all people.

The outreach phase of my school to Mexico City is just about three weeks away. We leave on December 29^th and return on February 14^th. YWAM Perth has been sending multi-disciplined teams into Mexico City to partner with the local church in reaching their city over the past 9 months. We have seen unprecedented citywide unity and evangelism resulting in over 7,500 salvations and many miracles of healing and deliverance.

My team will work in a region of the city to serve and come alongside churches and existing ministries, as well as equip, mobilize and release local believers in evangelism. We will do this through running evangelism seminars and taking people out onto the streets for ministry.

After leaving Mexico City, my team will return to Perth where we will again partner with local churches through evangelism seminars and impact their region of the city. Our desire and intention is to be a blessing and catalyst for transformation both in and outside the church.

I would like to provide opportunity for you to "go" through me by investing prayerfully and financially in this trip. This 11-week outreach requires a cost of $4,500. God has been providing, but I still have a need of $3,000 by December 10, 2010. My commitment to you is to serve the Lord diligently with all my heart, while keeping you informed of how your gift is building God's Kingdom in Mexico and Australia.

If you feel to contribute (no amount is too small!), here is how:

1. First and foremost we need prayer and covering during our time away. Please keep me and my team in your prayers.

2. Make out a check out to OCC (tax-deductible) and mail to:

Orlando Community Church

1067 Rainer Drive, Suite 1003

Altamonte Springs, FL 32714

Write “Stephanie-YWAM” on the memo line.

3. Youth With A Mission Perth's website:

www.ywamperth.org.au and go to credit card payments. Please ensure you send an email with my name, the amount you send, and what it is for "SOE outreach fees”.

Thank you so much for prayerfully considering partnering with me on this outreach!

Blessings,

Stephanie Ungaro