Tuesday, January 23, 2007

On The Road Again....

So we begin, Winter Tour 2007. Where DO we begin…Maybe I’ll back track a bit. We just finished up partnership drive, a great time of year for everyone at the ministry. Our team had a good growing experience through the partnership drive. Calling people you have never met or talked with to ask for a partnership (i.e. continued support) is a difficult task. We learned that we need to step outside of boundaries, get out there and just do it! I particularly enjoyed the experience, it really stretched me, and gave me a chance to talk and connect with some really neat people. We wrapped that up on Thursday…Friday, we had a prep day for tour. We took care of last minute things that needed attention and cleaned up the ministry (the norm before heading away for a while).

Saturday Morning (01.20.2007)…4:15 am, my alarm goes off [insert groan here]…paralyzed by my impulse to stay in bed because it is way to early to be moving, I struggle to shut my alarm off…4:17am, my alarm goes off again [insert longer groan here]…I grasp for air as I jolt with the pounding of my incessant alarm, shutting it off again…4:18, once again…I begin to remember I set my alarm to snooze about 30 times so I would wake up…why……

I left my hosts about 4:45 to make a quick stop at Super America before I pick up the troops…MUST HAVE CAFFEINE!!!! After quickly picking up the girls we make our way to the ministry, quickly pack the luggage and pull out around 6:15…[still thinking too early]…after 2 hours to Carver, MN, everyone wakes up as we stop for breakfast at the funny farm (My Parents). We have a wonderful breakfast, and the question comes up to snowmobile…Can we please? The snow is so nice and its beautiful out and…ok, well take the sled out for a bit…everyone got their chance to ride and we gave Carolyn a nice white-wash (since in the states, she had been curious about what it was…)

After Many hours in the van, we make our way to Farmersburg, Iowa, which is where we are residing until Friday Morning (01.26.2007). We have met a lot of neat people so far and are truly blessed by the churches here, especially Pastor Bruce Hanson. He is doing so much for us. We have played two public schools so far here and they have both been exhilarating!!! We are having a blast and everyone is really excited for all that is to come...

Until next time…this is Adam (take me to your leader) Falkenstein…signing out...._____

yeah, winter tour!

Winter Tour has been off to a great start, thanks to the amazing people here in Iowa! That's right, we've spent the last few days going to some places near Farmersburg (for those who know where that is) and we have been so blessed by the people here. Talk about hospitality! Thanks, Pastor Bruce and all those who are here taking such good care of us.

On a more personal note, I'm excited to see what the Lord has in store for me and my team this tour. I have definitely had my personal triumphs and defeats, but more than anything I am ever dependent on my ever present Jesus. Taiwan began a process in me that I am excited to see the Lord continue. One of the biggest lessons I started to learn (and I emphasize started to learn) was about letting the Lord be my everything. Overseas, in particular, holds a challenge in that I can't just jump on the cell phone or into my car to go see or talk to anyone I want. I have my team, which is a blessing, but what happens when they aren't able to meet my needs? I have always believed that the Lord is enough, but never in my life has that been so challenged as it has been since my start with CTI. The Lord is the only one who can love me the way I need to be loved ALL the time, and I desire for the Lord to be my everything. So, as this tour progresses, I look forward to the many challenges ahead in this area and others, though of course I won't be excited about the trials at the time, I know I will be thankful for them later.

So, that's it for now. I hope this finds all of you well. Keep checking back for more updates from all of us more regularly, as we have access (which in some places I'm sure might be a challenge, but we'll do our best!).

Blessings,
Tiffany

Thursday, January 18, 2007

And we're off again....

Hi there families, friends, supporters, and others interested in how CTI 14:22 is going!

We are doing well. As Tiffany mentioned in her post, we are just finishing off our 3 week stint of Partnership Drive. On alternating nights, we and team 21 hit the phones between 6 and 11pm (to catch people in all 4 time zones). We had over 1200 numbers (I think!) to ring and had a goal to raise $20,000 for CTI. We have our last shift tonight and have just a few more numbers left. People have been giving very generously and so far we have received around $16,000.....some of that in real money, most of it in pledges. And quite a number of people have said they want to give, but are praying about how much, so we're expecting more to come in the next few weeks as people decide and send in donations.

Praise the Lord! He is providing. We're expecting to have a large amount of Summer team members this year - hopefully 6-8 teams (60-90 people), so every bit counts! Thank you so much to those who have supported CTI this Partnership Drive and also in the past. As a current full-timer, I can see it making a difference.

And let's not forget the prayer support, which is just as important! Bright and early (actually, it will still be dark at 6am....) on Saturday morning, we leave for our Winter Tour. It will be a whopping 10 weeks of driving, playing concerts, connecting with people, and sharing Christ's love. I'm sure you can imagine all the things we'll need prayer for!

*safe travel
*healthy bodies and adequate sleep
*servant hearts towards those we minister to out on the road and also towards each other
*team unity as we continue to bond as team mates and family
*enthusiasm/strength/encouragement/refreshing for the times when we're drained and need to refocus on what God has called us to

Thanks and God bless. I hope we will be more diligent to keep in touch with you all via this blogsite this tour, so keep checking back each week!
Carolyn

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

life in Willmar

We have been back in Willmar, as Josiah wrote before, for a week now and we're having a great time. Partnership drive is here and we're having a blast connecting with lots of our supporters, and we're getting some rehearsal time in and getting reaquainted for the new year. I must say, I did enjoying seeing people back home and getting a chance to actually sleep, but it is also good to be back with my CTI family, to be back in the swing of things here and getting geared up for winter tour. I'm excited for all the Lord has in store for the next step of our journey.

So, not too much new here for now just wanted to touch base. I hope you have all recovered from the New Year celebrations, it was more than a week ago afterall... ;-) More to come soon!

Blessings,
Tiffany

Sunday, January 07, 2007

Willmar Once Again

Back in Minnesota again. Just got back from Urban 06. Urbana is a HUGE missions confrence with a bunch of speakers and different ministries represented at hundreds of boths in a huge confrence center. There were about 22,000 people who attended! David Lanning(CTI president), Melody and Beth(recruiting department), Jimmy (CTI Alumni), Ruthie(from the other fulltime team), and Carolyn and I went to represent CTI. We had a both set up and recruited people for at least 6 hours straight every day! It was crazy! There were so many people there. We also had an audition room set up. The first day I recruited all day, which was hard cuz I am so not used to talking that much. But it was quite enjoyable getting to chat with so many different people. The next two days I switched off half way through the day in the audition room, and the last day I spent the whole day in there. That day Carolyn and I auditioned 49 People! And David Lanning auditioned another 16! All the days combined we auditioned I think 120 people. (my number may be slightly off) We also got 400 some short applications from people interested in our ministry! So praise the Lord! We are hoping to send out 6 to 8 summer teams this year. please pray that we would be able to utilize the opporitunity we have here, and that the right people would join us.



This is me and Luke(CTI Alumni) talking to someone at the recruiting booth


This is one of the sessions in the Edward Jones Dome. I think Rick Warren was speaking this night