Hey everyone! Can you believe it is already December! Feels like November just slipped away so quickly. I think last we left off we were 3 weeks away from the half marathon, so I will pick up the journey from there!
On November 21st, we ran our half marathon in Kansas City, The Gobbler Grind! And we finished!!! I am so proud of our team! It was a fun trip... the road trip, hanging with some awesome people, and running the race! As many of you know, I was dealing with some injuries during the race. I was in some pain during the run, but was able to push through it and finish strong! This is such an accomplishment for the IBEX team- we set our goal high, and reached it! We are all now mostly recovered from the race. A fun fact for you: the last song I listened to during the 13.1 mile race was Counting on God- I had it on repeat for the last 2 miles... the line "Just enough strength to get throught the day" kept me going to the very end!
We had a week off for Thanksgiving break, and I got to stay with my family! It was nice to get to catch up with them and be home for a bit. During break, I, with the help of my mom and one of my brothers, was able to make 23 pies for selling! Thank you to everyone who contributed to my little fundraiser for Thailand! This leads me to my next announcement...
Pies for Thai's and Kyrgz!
I am excited to announce that my little pie-baking scheme is now an official IBEX fundraiser! We will be selling the pies on Wednesday nights during our Wednesday night family dinners! Come to Lifegate between 5:30-6:30 for a $3 meal, and you can also order a take and bake pie for $15! Order on a Wednesday, and pick your frozen pie up the following week! All of our proceeds will go towards our global journeys to Thailand and Kyrgyzstan. So by buying a pie, you get a delicious treat and you get to help us raise $75,000 for our two month trips! :)
What else to share... so much has happened over the last month. We have some new classes this cycle. We are learning from Jacey, our IBEX director Jaison Samuel's sister. She is teaching us on our identity in Christ. I have only had one class with her, and already have been impacted and learned alot! We also are learning about change, and how that applies to leadership, from Pastor Tim. Guess what... I don't like really big change all that much because it means I don't really have control, and I get anxious about what is to come in the future, but I am learning how to handle change, and also how to lead others into change- getting people from here to there! Our Thursday class may be my favorite... we get to learn about Theology from Pastor Eric. I absolutely love it already, and had many questions for Pastor Eric after class! I can't wait to learn more... I find theology very intriguing! We also started our TESOL program... we are learning how to teach English as a second language through an online class. So far it is interesting, and should be pretty intense.
Besides the normal flow of things (Sunday service, small groups and church cleaning, Converge, Wednesday night dinners and Uprising, classes, worship and prayer times, etc.- see the "IBEX Schedule" tab on my blog!), I think I covered most of the new updates and stuff. I really am going to try to get this updated more than once a month! Bear with me!
Thanks again for all your support and encouragement! I appreciate all of you for taking part in this journey with me!
Prayer requests
~ $75,000 funds for our 2 month global journeys to Thailand and Kyrgyzstan
~ Personal finances for living (e.g: gas money)
~ Complete healing for injuries
~ Team health (entering into stressful holiday times, and winter... pray against all sicknesses!)
~ The intensity of our schedule is picking up, so pray for rest, and for good stewardship of time!
~ More than anything, we want to follow the lead of the Spirit; pray that God would continue revealing himself to us, and that we would be quick to hear His voice and follow!
~Rebekah
