after travel information

Hello all! I am now finished with the BLS (Basic Leadership School) and we graduated from the Mt of Olives on September 20. It was an amazing time to explore around Jerusalem and other parts of Israel and actually see some of the sites that are so prominent in the Bible. Below is a picture of the team that I travelled through China, India, Oman, UAE, Yemen and Israel with:


I am not travelling through Jordan and visiting some of my old stomping grounds when I was here last time with the snowboarding school. It is pretty crazy, I was wandering through the downtown shopping area and I saw a shopkeeper that I visited a couple of times. I walked up to him and before I could even introduce myself, he had remembered my name. Wow! I am here for another 5 days and then I travel to Switzerland to visit my old school leaders Reto and Judy and their little baby Nicholas. They are starting up a base there and I have a chance to stop in and say hello. Then to Flims, Switzerland to visit some SFC friends and then to Redding, California. Many many of my friends are going to the school of supernatural ministry there and I also hope to get prayed for healing for my diabetes. I fully believe it can happen as God regularly heals people through the ministry that is going on there. Please pray for me in this. I know that God is good no matter what happens. I am really hoping for a deliverance from this disease that I have had for the last 23 years.

That's pretty much my schedule for the next month. I will be arriving home in Calgary on Oct 24 (just in time for my sister having her first baby!) I am going to be Uncle Jesse just like in the TV show, and I am going to be just as cool as him as well! :) Please pray for a safe and healthy delivery.

Thanks so much for your prayers and support, as I have said before they really help me. It is so much easier to be away from home and loved ones when I know that I have so much love and support back at home. I have been so blessed by God answering many of your prayers, the journey has been so much easier than my own effort or abilities could have made it. I was reminded in a dream last night that I couldn't have done this without the prayer support of you all. Thanks again!

Many blessings until me meet again (hopefully very soon after I get back for many of you)
Jesse

We are in Yemen

You may be wondering how I am doing. What else can I say but it’s going well. HE is really protecting us and providing for us. A praise item… We went out on this trip with a $3700 US shortfall but believing that HE had called us to these places. Through our whole time so far we have never been short of food, we have always had good places to sleep (sometimes even hotels, as in China) and we have always been able to get where we needed to go. We are now at a $700 US deficit for the team and have no doubts that we are going to make it to the end of this trip without any difficulties. Praise HIS name and thanks be to HIM.

Our time in Oman was a greatly needed time of rest after a hard schedule in India. We had an amazing time in India but we all suffered from sickness at one point or another (some of us through the whole time there). We were able to meet with many of the ex-pat community in Oman and we had a wonderful time. It was hard at times but we were staying with an amazing family that really took care of us and showed us around to some amazing places. I even got to go sailing and sea kayaking! I had no idea that Oman was such a wonderful place to visit and explore, I would really recommend it to anyone interested in traveling in this area.

We are now in Yemen and teaching English at the Swedish centre. It is another great time because we get to really experience the local culture by meeting with Yemini’s in small groups to practice English speaking skills. Yemen is quite a poor country financially but the people here are very welcoming and wonderful. It is also filled with some amazing sites. We visited a tree that is around 1400 yrs old and we stayed one night in the oldest continually inhabited city in the world (the old city part of Sana’a). It is really amazing how the farmers here manage to grow crops on the side of very steep mountains. Thankfully Yemen is much cooler than Muscat during this time of year so we are finding that to be a welcome relief.

Please pray for continued health and physical protection for all of us. As well as strength and drive to finish this trip with the same energy that we started. As for myself I would appreciate prayers concerning my emotional state, I am having struggles accepting where HE has placed me in life right now and what the future may hold. A bit of a desert time. I need to really truly trust that HE has the best for me and I very rarely understand. Sometimes I can be like such a little kid, thinking that I know best. Trust and obey…

Very brief update

China was great! Hot and humid and the traffic was crazy...

Not as crazy as India though apparently. On our ride from Delhi to Jaipur we were rubbed out against the curb by a large semi-truck. Nobody was hurt but we were all shaken up a bunch. The Lord was protecting us though because if it had happened at a split second different time, the car could have been rolled over or the front end could have been crushed very badly.

So now we are in India. It's great here and we are in monsoon season thankfully. In a way... the weather is cooler (it's only about 29-32 C at night) but the mosquitoes are crazy bad! I sure hope our malaria tablets work well. We have gotten to ride elephants already which is crazy cool. Much of what we are doing here involves encouraging and strengthening the local brothers and sisters. We are also working with a puppet-making group of people (they are very poor), I will have more details on that later.

Our trip is going well, God has provided and guided us every step along the way and we are so thankful to Him for that! The team is great and we are trusting in Him every next step along the way. We are still short on finances (right now we think we wil run out of money at the start of Yemen) but there is still lots of time and opportunity for us to do things or for the Lord to provide. Unfortunately my modelling contract in China fell through (for serious, myself and another team member were asked to model for a mobile phone advertisement, they were looking for Western people, good looking Western people that is, it fell through because we didn't have any business clothes with us and they couldn't get together any at the last moment, we were leaving the next day, it would have been a nice $150 dent in the budget that's for sure, maybe here in India??)

Thanks for your support and I am apologizing in advance for my lack of contact. It is very tough to find time and Internet availability and I am blessed with so many friends that I want to keep in contact with. I guess this will have to do for now.

Thankfully yours
Jesse

Finances

Just to let you know that we are fasting as a school to seek God's direction about the rest of the finances that we owe. Right now we have a need of approximately $22,000 CDN God has already brought in some money to provide for my own needs. I look forward to sharing with you very soon how God brings in the rest. We owe this amount in 4 days. Thank you for your support and prayers during this time! It is awesome to know that you care and are helping with our work.

Trip upcoming

We are about to leave on our trip to help others around the world in less than a month (please excuse the vagueness of the language, I am preparing for when we are in countries that I am not allowed to use specific words such as pr*yer or mi**ion or Y*AM, etc). We are starting to get all our plans in place and are very excited about what we have set up right now. Please email me if you want more specifics as to what our plans are or how you could help support us in pra*er.

Also, in order to be able to lead this trip, I am in need of $1500 CDN to pay for the ticket and food and accommodation. I also have need to cover some of my expenses that remain back at home. I have been in prayer about this and I believe I am doing God's will in going on this. Please prayerfully consider this as well and if you would like to support me financially then contact me and we can work out details. I am in need of the money before Jun 18. Which doesn't leave a lot of time but I have seen God provide much more in much less time.

I have been praying if there is anything else that I can do to raise funds. I have tried selling my car but that didn't work out. The timing of this trip did not allow me to sell my house and use some of the extra funds. I do believe that I can sell my speakers though. This is going to be very tough while I am here but I am throwing out the option. If anybody is interested in a set of beautiful surround sound tower speakers, about 5 feet tall, please let me know. I paid almost $5000 for them and the receiver and I am willing to sell them for $3000 (including the receiver). I bought them about 3 yrs ago and they have not been used that much at all. They are Nuance brand. I really don't want to do this but I also believe so strongly that I am doing what God wants, that I am willing to part with anything that might be holding me back. Again, if you are interested, please contact me via email and we can work out details.

Thanks again for your support. It is very tough for me at times here being lonely and so busy. But God is good all the time and He has been so faithful in giving me what I need when I need it.