Just wanted to let you guys know that I will be heading to JAPAN on march 18th, for a minimum of 2 years to work and minister at a church.
I'll be an english teacher/missionary at Shukugawa Bible Church in Nishinomiya. I'll be doing about 24 hrs/wk of english classes and then just being involved in the church on sundays and whatever else.
Japan has been on my heart for years. I spent a semester there during college in 2004... and since then God has really put a passion in my heart for that country and I totally see it as a forgotten mission field.
I've tried a couple of times in the last 4 or 5 years to get over there for long term, but God had not allowed those doors to open. So with this... I'm really excited!
I'm a bit nervous about stuff though too. Leaving a country and culture that is completely familiar and not knowing anyone at the place I'm going to. I've never taught english before at all, and so i'm a little nervous about how that's gonna go. And transitions are notoriously a very tough thing for me.
With that though...I am definitely excited for sure! Japan is all I've been talking about for years and I've been ready to get back out on the mission field for quite a while now. So bring it on. :)
I'm going to use this blog page again for sending updates and posting pictures and all that for my time in japan, so keep an eye out.
Thank you for all of your prayers and encouragement yo! They are greatly needed and appreciated.
It has been a LOOOOONG time in the making, too long really...
but I am pleased to announce that I have finally finished my photo book about my time on The World Race!
I started working on this book soon after I got back from the race around thanksgiving 2007...but had majorly lacked the motivation to work on it. I had prayed here and there for motivation to get it done, but nothing really came.
I asked God for motivation again this past christmas time. When I got back to portland, God had TOTALLY answered those prayers as I had this great unexpected motivation to get it done. Just about any free time I had I was working on it to some degree.
The book is called: AROUND THE WORLD IN 322 DAYS.
It's 134 pages of photos with captions. I've also included quite a few journal excerpts from the year to give it all a more personal, in depth feel.
I heard that another team was going to be in Puerto Barrios/Livingston, Guatemala...and jumped at the opportunity to have some more racers go and find Justine.
sure enough my friends...World Racers have found her again......
and this time....I have tears of joy!!!!!!!!!!
here is a blog explaining the newest search for Justine, posted by Andrea Wendel:
Today was an adventure of finding Justine.
Justine was found, originally, by Ryan Stewart, a January 2007 World Racer.
He has several blogs about teams who have found Justine since then.
Today, was our turn.
Today, God continued to carry out His persistent love for His Daughter.
Here she is:
Justine is a beautiful woman who has lost her left foot to a snake
bite and very bad infection over the last 3 years. Ryan found her on
the beach and struck up a conversation with her two years ago... got
her a Bible... visited with her... loved on her... and has continued to
advocate for her ever since.
Today, we followed the "goose-chase" directions to the town of
Livingston (about a half hour boat ride from Puerto Barrios) to her
house. {But first, we actually passed by Livingston earlier in the day
(on our River Tour), and caught a glimpse of a woman on the pier in the
distance that looked extremely similar to the description we got of
Justine and got real excited. (to be continued...)}
So,
later on, after our River Tour, we got dropped off in Livingston to
attempt our mission. We started by knowing that we needed to turn left
before the big hill. Then we were to find Pastor Marcos at the Nazarene
Church. We were walking rather blindly, when a new friend, Oscar, came
alongside the gaggle of gringos and asked us what we were looking for.
He decided to be our guide. How convenient.
About 15 minutes down the road, he pointed us down a dirt path
that ended up at Pastor Marcos' church. He was there. He invited us
around back to meet his family, and when we introduced ourselves as
friends of Ryan who were looking for Justine, they laughed and giggled
and carried on for a bit. We asked if Pastor Marcos would take us to
her, and he agreed.
So, we started out on the 45 minute trek across town to where she
lives in a cinder block shack. We got to the front door, that was
actually just a mattress, and peeked inside. Guess who it was? Yep,
that's right. It was the woman we had spotted on the pier about 6 hours
earlier.
We went inside, greeted her, and told her who we were and why we
were there. She beamed. She started talking a million words a minute in
her broken English, telling us how she had been, how she has been
caring for her leg, and how she prays to God every day. She giggled and
smiled the whole time. We prayed over her, loved on her, and reminded
her that God loved her so much that He has sent three groups of World
Racers to her over the years to tell her that. She received it all.
We took pictures with her, said our goodbyes, and made our way out
of the house. As we were standing outside waving, she began to sing to
us. It was precious! She belted it and was just rejoicing! She said
over and over what a great day it was.
And it was. God is so good. So detailed. He cares so deeply for
the One. He sends us after the One. It was a beautiful day of being a
part of what God started in her life years ago with a World Race team
who walked in obedience and love.
Here we are walking in victory and excitement back to the boat at
the end of the day. The Justine story will be continued... when the
next World Race team comes through Guatemala.
I cannot fully express in words how incredible this new news of Justine is!
seeing that picture of her SMILING and in a new BLUE dress....it brings me an immense joy that I have not experienced in quite a long time. :)
I've been literally praying for Justine, not everyday, but nearly every single day since I met her that one day on the beach back in february of 2007. I've been asking God to reveal himself to her like never before and to take her out of the life that she had been living: which included being a beggar and possibly drugs. and several times while praying for her I had this vision of her in a BLUE DRESS :) walking around, smiling :) and I saw her being some kind of inspirational spiritual speaker or something.
so to see her smiling and to hear about her demeanor and her singing and joyful...:) i've never had a prayer answered like this before.
gahhh...it's incredible!!!
here's the past two pictures of her to jog your memory
I'm not sure what will result from this...if anything...but I'm going to take a stretching leap of faith...and put it out there anyway:
World
Race is going to start hosting an annual worship event somewhere in the
world for all World Race squads and alumni. This year, it's
in Romania, September 22-26. ...so it's three days of teaching, worship, prayer, and talking about God's move in the nations.
I met a girl, Dre, at camp in Minnesota last summer that I have stayed in contact with quite a bit since. She just left yesterday for The World Race. I've been having a lot of phone conversations with her over the past year talking about the Race and praying, encouraging and calming her for her trip. Over the course of being involved with her Race experience and preparation it has in turn triggered memories and excitement in my own heart. Jimmy McCarty (who was my discipleship partner during the Race) works with The World Race in georgia now and has been subtly trying to see if i can go, and even said he would cover all the costs on the ground while i'm there if i was able to get myself there.
Dre has encouraged me to really try to go to this thing in Romania to reconnect with everything WR and with people and get back in touch with everything about the Race that radically changed my life forever.
I would absolutely love to be able to go...and get refreshed by the holy spirit. But I'm just not able to afford the plane ticket. It'll only be by the provision of God that I'm able to go.
So hence...posting this blog. Please pray about this if you'd be so kind...cuz maybe God will use you to provide this.
I am in the middle of the full-swing summer life here at Washington Family Ranch. I'm doing the video scrapbook production: filming and editing. A VERY TIME CONSUMING and busy job...to say the least. The first week I was putting in almost 15 hour days, 6 days a week. I've since been able to make things run a little more efficiently, but it's still a lot of work. And I just realized and remembered yesterday (during a conversation) that back in the spring in one of our small group meetings, we shared the things that bring us alive and the things the drain us. I put that 'spending a lot of time on the computer' is something that really drains me. It just dawned on me that ...wuddya know, i'm spending a ton of time on the computer this summer doing all this editing stuff...no wonder i feel really drained and spent.
I've also become very interested in a fellow female intern out here and being challenged like you wouldn't believe with...being patient and trusting of God with all of that while being in a place and time where pursuing that relationship is not really an option. It has seriously been rocking me to my core. All in all...I'm being FORCED to do this relationship on God's terms. Which, I've learned is not what I am used to...so it's been quite a stretch for me.
Those two things (especially the latter) have translated into me being stretched and challenged like crazy this year! Like...to the point of being WAAAY beyond what I thought may have been in store for me this year.
The challenges and stretching that is taking place in me has also sucked a lot of the joy outta me lately too. Which I hate. But I will say, there are a good handfull of people here that are walking along side me and praying for me and supporting me in tremendous ways through all of this.
I mentioned in my last post (back in february) about my applying with Young Life International. Today I received an email from them that included this statement:
"At this point we do not feel like we have the right fit for you in YL
International."
...........................it kinda leaves me speechless to be honest with you. The word 'dumbfounded' keeps circling in my mind. I keep thinking......"really!?...............seriously???.......what the heck man?!?!.............i mean....is there something I'm missing here??"
This is the SECOND time that I have been denied for a pretty big thing concerning going to Japan for something. The first was in 2005 when I was denied for the JET program. (teaching english for a year or more). I can't help but think am I somehow not good enough?? I mean, are they looking for an absolutely 'perfect person' or something? I mean, not to be conceited or anything...but I've been pretty confident and sure that I am called to Japan...and I am way familiar with Young Life....seemed like a perfect fit to me.
And I know this isn't the 'end all' by any means or anything...but I'm just very surprised and yes...dumbfounded. I guess though...for God to close such a HUGE door it must mean He's got something even HUGER in store? right?.... is that reasonable logic?
So there's my update.
crazyness.........
oh...and, i'm the second round of this big photo contest put on by AIM.
a panoramic view of the camp property, Washington Family Ranch, that I'm working at for a year
Hey everybody...
my apologies that it has been so long since some of you have heard from me...but nonetheless, here's an update on what's goin on with me since...shoot, I guess it's been quite a while. :)
I am currently living at a camp in north/central Oregon that is owned and ran by Young Life. (a christian ministry organization that reaches out to teenagers worldwide)
Washington Family Ranch...in Oregon
I'm participating in a 1-year internship program out here. My role/job...I work maintenance 3/3.5 days a week, guest services (running some of the rides like the climbing walls, skate park, giant swing, etc) half a day or so a week, and housekeeping 1 day a week. The 4 focus points or whatever for the program are Christ, discipleship, community and service. Their goal is for it to be a year of challenge and growth with the lord and that you will gain a better idea of what your calling is in life.
At first...well, maybe even through the first 2 months of being out here, I was kind of hardened to the goal/vision of this internship. They were saying that it may be the most challenging year of your life and all this, and I couldn't help but say to myself, 'yeah right! this isn't gonna be anything like the challenges on the race!' I was basically, yet unintentionally, doubting God and what He most definitely would and will do in me this year. And there was a lot of times in the first few months of discontentment again, really missing the race and being out in the nations and on 'the front lines' so to speak. I felt like I was kind of backtracking in a sense.
I still miss the race....that is for dang sure! I miss the lifestyle...the simplicity...the community...the cultures and people...the risk...the challenges...and being out on, what I first think of as, the front lines of ministry. I doubt there's been 1 day since I returned on November 19, 2007 that I haven't thought about something from the race and missed it.
You could say I had my world race experience up on a pedestal, I guess. And my gosh, it totally was the adventure of a lifetime...literally, but I was at the point of putting too much stock in it. Having the mindset of 'that-was-as-good-as-life-is-ever-gonna-get.' Which, on one hand, (being almost 27 years into my life and not being able to see into the future) it's hard for me to fathom God topping that experience. But on the other hand, you can't limit God!He could very well blow the year I had on the world race outta the freakin water! I hope he does.
So yeah...I was questioning the point (as I tend to do) of me being out here in Oregon.
But I'm good now. I still can't say I know why exactly God brought me out here, but I'm cool with it now. He led me and brought me out here...He's in control...He's got my best in mind. "I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you, but to give you hope and a good future." (Jer 29:11) Enough said right there.
I will say I'm not really liking the maintenance stuff right now (or the housekeeping either), but I think a lot of it is due to the fact that it's winter and cold. But I'm going to be shooting and making the video scrapbooks all summer long, which I will love! So that will be great. And I'm living with and working with great people! My fellow interns (there's 13 of us) are great, and I'm enjoying getting to know them all, as well as some of the property staff that live here. I'm meeting regularly with, and getting discipled from two different men here. One of those relationships has been especially good.
me at our costume dinner thing back in October
This entire property here, (64,000 acres) used to be a cult called the Rajneesh back in the early 80's. They had a few thousand people living out here. These A-frames are where a bunch of the people lived. Young Life acquired the property in 1998 I think it was and turned it into the outreach camp that it is now. Thousands of kids and adults have heard the gospel and given their lives to Christ because of this camp. It's a cool history about this place, and how God can turn something that was so evil and messed up, and now use it for so much good.
some more of the abandoned A-frames
So...I'll be out here until the end of September '09. I'm sure a lot, if not all of you know that I feel I am called to Japan to do ministry for a long time. I am happy to say that I am taking the first big step towards making that happen!
I think I may have mentioned in a previous post, that I met with the YL director of Asia when I drove through San Francisco this past September. We've chatted a couple times since then and I'm in contact with another guy now also. As of a couple weeks ago I officially started the application for Young Life International!
It's taking me a while to get through the thing because it is a long application filled with a lot of essay type questions. But it is starting to happen my friends!
By the sounds of it right now though, (and assuming I get accepted and all that) I will actually start out in Singapore for 2 years or so. Turns out that YL doesn't have a whole lot of staff in Japan, and Clif's (the director of Asia who I met with in SF) main concern or whatever, is making sure I get the necessary training I need before I go do full-time ministry with YL in Japan. They have a guy in Singapore that he thinks would be a great fit for me to spend a couple years with and get trained. They're kind of using their ministry there as a training ground/send-off base.
So that's what is going on with that. I had some early reservations about Singapore, but now I seriously am excited and at peace about this route. I would love to have some prayers from you guys about all of that...just that God would open the door if this is the right avenue to take.
The only other thing that I could use some more prayer and support on is...my support raising for this internship that I am doing right now. I need to raise $4,200 for the entire year, and I still need $1945. If that doesn't end up coming in, it'll be taken out of my paychecks. (which sucks) If you feel led to help me out with this, give me an email at: ryanstewartphoto@hotmail.com
And, I hope I've said this before, but if not, if you need or want prayer for something in particular, please feel free to shoot me an email about that as well...I'm all ears.
I'll try not to let another 5 months or whatever, go by before I write again.
ciao!
these two pictures are on the property that I live on
I received an email from Tara Stephenson (the leader of team J.O.Y.) about their day of looking for Justine. And instead of paraphrasing it all and certainly botching key details, I'm just going to copy & paste most of her email to me about it:
Hey there,
So ya totally found her. We documented the whole day and took
some video. I can't tell you how amazing it was to go on this journey
not knowing what God was going to do. So expect a blog soon too.
The day goes like this:
So we start off to Livingston. All we know is what you told me
sooooooooo turn left before the big hill and walk down that road to a
naz[arene] church. We went and grabbed a bite to eat before and ran into a
German named Birdie. So then we went back
down the hill, prayed for God's guidance and went.
As we were walking down the road, Maithili [part of team J.O.Y.] asked if we could stop
and pray for a woman on the side of the road. As we were praying,
people were starting to gather. One guy was the woman's grandson who
happened to be a leader in the community. He knew everyone. WE asked
him if he knew of this naz church. Of course he did. He led us down
the street to that little rocky path that goes down a hill and there it
was. The CHRUCH. We were so excited. I saw a man come out "Are you
Pastor Marcos" and when he said yes, I about flipped.
I knew if we could find him the puzzle would come together.
So Birdie------ we had ran into him again before we had prayed for
that lady. We were asking him about Justine and pastor Marcos. he
knew nothing of them but as I started to explain Justine, it clicked.
He started to describe a lady that begs on the street every morning. I
really thought that it was possibly her, but by that time it was the
afternoon.
So back to Marcos. We met his whole fam and mentioned your name.
The older boy got so excited. He ran and got this orange piece of
paper with your whole team drawn out. Pretty cool to see it knowing
you guys were there. So we set off to find Justine which they
pronounced Christine. So here we were walking back down the street
with three Guatemalans and the team. We walked back up the hill and who
did we run into again, yep, Birdie. I had the pastor and Birdie
compare notes and the girl Birdie was talking about was Justine.
Yesss!!! So excited at this point. I knew we were going to find her.
So Birdie hit the road with us. Birdie was definitely needing Jesus,
so Zach was able to minster to him on the way.
We got to Justines house on the ocean and she looked rough. Just
like your picture. She was on a mattress and her foot was wrapped. We
told her that God sent us. We told her that you were the one who
wanted us to find her. She was confused at first but then it all
clicked. Her English was broken but we were still able to ask her
questions. We asked if we could pray over her. We asked God for
healing, for a peace and guidance. a lot!! Before we had started to
pray, I could hear Birdie and Zach talking outside about her. Birdie
was mentioning her drug addictions and how much money she does make in
the streets. It made me pretty sad to sit there and see this broken
child that just desperately needs Jesus and is stuck in this
addiction. Prayer was our only weapon for the battle going on within
her. More needs to come.
She didn't have any food for that night, so we went to a local
hole and got some beans bread and water for her. We told her it was
from the Lord too. We walked back and said goodbye to Birdie and then
to Pastor Marcos. We got his contact info to for future WR's!
Ryan, I have no doubt that God lead us to her. I also know that
he is still doing a work in her there. I want to thank you for putting
that request out there. I learned so much about the Lord that day. He
showed himself to be quite alive. He also showed me that He cares
sooooo much for His lost sheep, like Justine. Only he can give her
wings to fly. I believe one day he will. I think there is still work
to be done. I hope that your faith is not lost but restored for her.
Know that the pastor was with us and hopefully will visit her in the
streets. She knows where to go for help to be healed, to be freed. It
is coming.
Thank you again. I am right in the beginning [of the WR] and see how
much I have to learn. But the cool thing is understanding how big God
is. He took your team and led you to Justine and a year and half later
took our small team of 5 and led us to her as well. ok God what are
you doing? Here we go!! Can't wait to see God's faithfulness come
alive through stories like this one. Be encouraged today. Would love
to hear back.
Your hermana in Christo,
Tara
So yeah....that's that. I think the thing that i am most grateful for (after the fact that she is still indeed alive! holy crap!) is that pastor Marcos was with them to go see her again. I'm not sure at all if he and pastor Salvador have continued to keep up with her since we left, like I thought they promised, but maybe this time they will.
I'm gonna keep praying...hopefully it's not another year and a half until i hear something or visit her again myself. so yeah......
JUSTINE, who i met in guatemala a year and a half ago, ...(SEE http://ryanstewart.theworldrace.org/?filename=justine )
HAS BEEN FOUND!!!!
i heard through stephanie fisk (the july '08 squad leader and who was on my jan '07 trip) that one of her teams was headed to puerto barrios for the month. she put me in contact with that specific team's leader, tara. we emailed a bit and i asked them if they were at all able, to find her and see how she is.and i hadn't heard anything for like at least a month. and just now i was going through all the world race pictures from august for the 'top photos' blogs i'm doin every month for AIM...and i saw this picture! and i'm like holy crap!
so uh...i don't know anything else at this point...i'm gonna find out though for sure and update you guys. but i am....happy that she is alive....but pretty saddened at the same time that she looks pretty much the very same as when i left her a year and a half ago and it looks like in the same 'house'...and more of her foot is gone (which i'm not sure is good or not) ...and i was hoping and praying (SOOOO MUCH...even now) and envisioning that she would be doing really well and that someone would've totally taken her under their wing or something.
WOW...........i'm not sure i should be happy or what.. it's kinda bittersweet at the moment.
A lot of people have asked me about and/or expressed interest in me putting together a photo book from my time on The World Race. Just to give you all an progress report on that little project...I'm workin on it, however slowly it may be taking.
And so...I thought I'd wet your palate a tad by giving you a sneak peek of what the back and front covers will probably look something like.
And I thought I'd give you a little update on me as well, while I'm at it.
I finished up that camp internship in minnesota about 10 days ago. That also kicked off my almost month and a half road trip out to oregon for the 1-year internship I'll be doing at another YL camp. (it starts october 1) So far, I've spent time with friends in minneapolis, des moines, kansas city and now boulder, colorado. From here I'm going to go to colorado springs and visit a bunch of my fellow world racers. From there, I'm gonna head to arizona by way of some national parks in utah I think. Then san diego and up the pacific coast highway to oregon.
If you're roughly somewhere along that route and I don't know it and you'd like to get together...LET ME KNOW!
The summer in Minnesota went pretty well. It was nice to be back in community again and the YL camp atmosphere. I'm pretty sure that God took me up there to just pour into some people...three especially. As I may or may not have expressed during my time on the race, discipleship is my 'ministry forte' or gifting or whatever you wanna call it. I didn't really get to do much of that on the race, so it was pretty cool to have that opportunity this summer. And one of those three people has fully applied for the Race and is pretty gung-ho about it.
And i tell ya, the opportunities to share about the Race keep coming up...which i love as well!
I guess one of the themes in my life at the moment is a bit of a struggle i'm having: sighhhhh........i feel kinda weird opening up about this sometimes, but its a huge thing with me right now...and the more prayer i can get for it, the better. I have been looking forward to finding and being united with my bride...since like the latter parts of high school man! just to be able to share life with someone on every level!!! GAAHH!! :) but anyway, i feel like i need to stop stressing about it (and i thought i was doing that, er not doing it...but my brother brought to my attention yesterday, that I really am pretty overcome with it all still) and just let God do what he's gonna do! and like i know he knows me and what's best for me, better than i do...but it's just one of those things that like...as of right now, I would be rather angry at God if me being married is not in His plan for my life. SIGHHH...so yeah, that's my thing right now.
and i read one of rusty jackson's (rustyjackson.theworldrace.org) blogs a few hours ago and it really spoke to me. he was talking about INdependence versus dependence (dependence on God). And for some reason, i have never thought about the word 'independence' as simply the opposite of 'dependence'. I WANT to be fully dependant upon Christ. I want to fully trust in HIS plan. and i WANT to be able to fully relinquish to Him my desires to get married. but right now i'm just too overcome with 'my desires' with this one. ........i am just failing at this right now.
So,
later on, after our River Tour, we got dropped off in Livingston to
attempt our mission. We started by knowing that we needed to turn left
before the big hill. Then we were to find Pastor Marcos at the Nazarene
Church. We were walking rather blindly, when a new friend, Oscar, came
alongside the gaggle of gringos and asked us what we were looking for.
He decided to be our guide. How convenient.
