July...hot summer nights!

July began with us celebrating our 10th wedding anniversery in Florida. We were excited to be able to use airline milage points & hotel bonus points to travel to FL very inexpensively! We had the opportunity to stay at a beautiful hotel on the ocean & traveled into the Teen Missions Boot Camp daily, although sleeping in air conditioning was wonderful! Abby wasn't too sure what she thought about the humidity. She had a frown on her face most of the time & would rarely smile at people unless she was inside in the airconditioning.

From Summer '09

Abby puts her toes in the Atlantic for the first time

From Summer '09

Abby & Daddy in the pool at our hotel

Kids @ Teen Missions

From Summer '09

From Summer '09

From Summer '09

From Summer '09

From Summer '09

the view from our hotel

From Summer '09

one of the few photos of Abby smiling while she was outside at TMI

We concluded our time in Florida by celebrating our anniversary at a very nice resturant near Disney World. We enjoyed the "royal treatment" by having personalized "Happy Anniversary" menues, special aknowldegement from the wait staff & a special dessert celebrating the occation. It was amazing!

From Summer '09

10 years later :-)

From Summer '09

Our yummy dessert!

After Florida we returned to CA to have Ryan's niece & a German exchange student come visit us for a week. We took them to San Francisco & Yosemite. It was fun to show them around our little neck of the woods.

Finally at the end of the month the kids & I traveled up to Washington to attend Family camp at Lake Retreat with my family. It was very relaxing to sit by the lake & watch the kids play. Micah LOVES camp & was exausted at the end of every day!

From Summer '09

From Summer '09

What are we doing any ways?

Recently I was asked by my Pastor what exactly does TMI do? Of course he understood Teen Mission’s basic North American program that involves getting teenagers onto the mission field and using that experience to deepen both their understanding and relationship with the every-loving God of the universe. My Pastor was familiar with this aspect of Teen Missions if nothing else because his own daughter had recently gone on a TMI trip! The reality is that what he was really asking was much deeper. What he really wanted to know was: 1) Why are we, the Fast Family, involved with Teen Missions (TMI) and 2) Why should I support your involvement?

It might seem kind of backwards but with your permission I’d like to answer the 2nd question in this blog and save the other one for my next entry. So then:

Why should anyone support the Fast Family as we endeavor to become missionaries with TMI?

The last 10-years have been some of the most exciting and fun-filled years of our lives! From getting married to having kids, from traveling all over the globe to enjoying family bar-b-que’s on the back porch we have treasured each and every moment and experience that the Lord has allowed us to share together. But throughout our marriage we have constantly had a since of urgency and anticipation that there was something more for us. We’ve almost been haunted by a sense that there is more to be experienced than simply what we were experiencing in the here and now. It was like we were destined for something bigger constantly casting around for the vision that God had for our lives.

I’d love to say that we had some big revelation where God appeared to us in a vision, or some hand appeared out of the sky writing our destiny on the wall. But that’s just not how it has happened. Rather over the course of the last ten years the Lord has carefully shaped and molded our hearts and minds around the vision He has for us. Through the careful prodding of the Holy Spirit we have followed the path that He has laid out for us, carefully assess the skills, talents, passions, and abilities that He has given us and it has led us to join staff with Teen Missions.

EVERYTHING MAKES SINCE. As far back as I can remember I’ve tended to approach life with the acknowledgment that I really don’t have any control over anything, and to assume such would in fact reflect a fairly low view of God on my part. This has often led me into adventures and happenings that most people would tend to shy away from, in short if it didn’t look just a little bit on the crazy side I probably wouldn’t do it! While I still approach life very much from this standpoint it is kind of weird to find myself walking into a stage in life where it seems like all the ducks are lining up in a row and it all just appears to be making since. While there are still some hurdles to be overcome to say that God is paving the way for us into ministry with TMI is probably one of the most authentic statements of belief I have experienced in my life to date.

So then why should you support us? Let me be the first to say that you shouldn’t… at least you shouldn’t if you haven’t first prayed about it and asked the Lord for direction. I believe that God has placed us in a unique place where we are not to be dependant upon man but upon God himself! If we, the Fast Family, were to look to man for our support instead of to God we have our focus off of the prize and will get sucked into the pursuits and longings of this world. Rather we as a family are focused on God, and if you share with us in this pursuit, then please support us in ministry. If you trust us to be about the Lord’s business day in and day out then please support us. If you believe that raising up the next generation of missionaries is something we must be about today, then please support us. If you believe that the youth of America are in desperate need of a Savior, then please join with us as we seek to provide a means of them seeing Christ. If you believe that the body of Christ as a whole should constantly be looking outside itself to bringing new people in a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ then please join us as we pursue this goal.

The list goes on and on but I’m sure you get the picture and this is why I believe people should get involved in our ministry. It’s not simply because God tells the body of Christ as a whole to have a “missional mindset” but rather that we, the Fast Family, are in fact doing it! We are becoming missionaries and would like you to support us in this pursuit.

June.....in the Fast house

June was a busy month for us (although what month is not busy?!).

Micah celebrated his 4th birthday in Superhero style! We invited Cooper, Ella, Uncle Jon & Aunt Christina to join us at Oak's Park Amusement Park. Micah had a blast riding all the rides & didn't even care that the other kids were not quite as enthusiastic as he was :-)

From Summer '09

From Summer '09

From Summer '09

From Summer 2009

We did promotions at two homeschooling conferences, one in Oregon & one in Washington. I was blessed to have Ryan join me for the one in Oregon & it was great to connect with people from our home state! We even ran into people we knew from college! The conference in Washinton was my first time doing a conference by myself with Abby & it went great. She was a great draw to the booth & smiled at almost anyone who would give her attention :-)

Micah had the chance to participate in his first VBS through my parent's church in Portland. The theme was "Paul in Chains" & Micah was disappointed when we went to church the sunday after that that he could not find Paul. He had a great time!

Finally, my youngest brother Isaiah traveled down to California to spend a week with us. This was the first time in 6 yrs that Isaiah had traveled down to see us & we had a blast. We spent time exploring some of the "Gold Country" attratctions in the area. Isaiah enjoyed the new "creatures" he could find in the area.

From Summer '09

From Summer '09

Markoff Diggins Hydrolic Mining area

What does Christ mean when he says…Go?

In the closing moments of the book of Matthew we see Jesus acknowledging the doubting hearts of his disciples and giving them this now famous command, “Go into all the world and make disciples…” To often I find myself guilty of taking advantage of the familiar passages in scripture and not looking deeper, allowing it to penetrate me like that doubled-edged sword that it is intended to be, and never really getting past the surface observations and typical applications to my life. Don’t get me wrong, scripture is infallible and unchanging, but in my humanity I am just as often blind as I am numb to the capacity of the Holy Spirit to take the familiar scripture and apply it to areas in my life that truly need it. But here I am again staring at the familiar and I find myself wrestling with the implications and potential application of it to my life.

Go…the word implies movement, it has a since of both anticipation and urgency associated with it, and it does not leave room for the status quo or stagnation. Simply put it demands an action! Does this manifest itself in different ways for different people? Absolutely! In fact my experience with seeing the fulfillment of the great commission has led me to believe that the very act of fulfilling it is as unique as the individuals to which it was given. Was it given merely to eleven men who happen to be standing on a mountain top in the middle east one sunny day about 2000 years ago? No! It was given to every living breathing person who is attempting to align their nature with the very nature of God through a personal relationship with His Son Jesus Christ! In short its fulfillment takes on the uniqueness found in each one of God’s children.

So then the question becomes who am I and how can God use a wretched sinner such as myself to fulfill this great commission? The reality is I love the mission field, I love to worship God, I love to disciple, and I love the uniqueness of the potential found in youth! Putting these things together in my own life has lead me into worship ministry, it has led me to disciple people both one on one and in small group settings, it has led me to initiate conversations with strangers, it has challenged me to preach His Word, it has allowed me to present the gospel at various youth groups, and ultimately it has led me to commit my life to full time Christian service.

So then who is Erin and how has God used her over the years to fulfill the great commission? Erin loves to travel and she loves God and carries a child-like faith with her wherever she goes. Erin loves to serve people and has a good eye for picking those who have the greatest need right out of the crowd that they are trying to use to mask their true identity. Erin needs security and a place to call home, but loves to venture into the unknown as long as she doesn’t have to go it alone. She is devoted to her family, holds an especially close relationship with her grandma, and has a deep need to be affirmed and built up by the men in her life for whom she has given her deepest respect. Where has this led her? Well, both professionally and on a volunteer basis she has worked with the elderly and disabled helping meet their most basic needs, she has literally helped organize and feed hundreds if not thousands of people over the years, she has traveled with and without me all over the world doing various outreaches with Teen Missions, and everyone who knows her knows that when it comes to either family or church she’s a get-er-done type person if she hasn’t already done it!

Where has this led us, besides straight into the arms of Christ, well straight into full time ministry! I suppose it comes as no shock to many of you but the step out of dependency upon the secular work environment and into full-time faith based ministry still catches me a little off guard. While we are still working in the secular field we can see the light at the end of the tunnel and we know that season in life is drawing to a close. God is going to take the passions, the deepest desires of our hearts, that He has given to us and use them more fully for His kingdom, more dynamically to accomplish His will. Please join us on our knees during this time in our lives will you? Take a moment to simply ask God on our behalf to continue to provide for us on all realms, physically, emotionally, spiritually, and monetarily (to just list a few) as we endeavor to devote all of our time and energy into simple fulfilling that command He gave us from a mountain top so many years ago…Go!

So what are you doing?! Go!

-Ryan

too busy to blog....

So back in July Ryan sent me some posts that he wanted me to add to this blog...and I've been bad! It has not been a top priority & that's my fault. It wasn't until a few weeks ago when two people (thanks mom & Becky!) began to bug me about not posting on here that I felt convicted about not writing....so here you go, thoughts & pictures from our life!

CHEA Conference

From Spring '09

Last weekend we had the opportunity to represent TMI at the CHEA Homeschooling conference in the Bay Area. It was exciting to meet new parents & young people who are intersted in missions. One of the most encouraging things about this conference was meeting parents who's children went on teams last year & head their praise reports about how the summer was for thier kids & how it changed their lives! We continue to pray that the Lord will bring the right people to our booth so we can share with them about TMI's ministry. We brought both of the kids with us this weekend. Micah did great at the booth & many people were impressed with how patient he was (I think it's because he's been doing this type of thing for most of his life). Abby was quite the attention getter! It's amazing to see how many moms she attracts to our booth by just being cute :-)

From Spring '09

After the weekend we decided to take the long way home! We drove north on HWY 101 across the Golden Gate Bridge & then followed HWY 1 north along the coastline to Point Rayes National Seahore. It was absolutly beautiful & amazing that such an area is within 30 min from San Francisco & felt like you were away from it all! I really hope we have another opportunity to explore this area more!

From Spring '09

From Spring '09

Where is the spring going?

From Spring '09

Can you believe that it's almost May & I have thought about sitting down and writing a bit most of the past month...but I seem to keep getting distracted by the kids (which is a good distraction!).

But we have been pretty busy for the past month. Ryan & I had the opportunity to travel up to Redmond, WA for the NW Ministry Conference. This was an AWESOME time to meet with youth pators, parents & youth themselves to share with them about the opportunities through Teen Missions. Ryan was even given the opportunity to share at two different times about the bennifits of short term missions. He really enjoyed this opportunity. We anticipate that he will probably do more presenting at other upcoming conferences. We were also excited to bring Abby with us to this conference. It was her first conference where she stayed with me through the whole conference & I think she did really well. It wasn't until the last 3 hrs that she told us she was DONE!!

From Spring '09

This is us, with Abby, at the NW Ministry Conference.


On the family life side of things, Ryan is driving to Nevada City, CA today to look for a location for his office. We are probably going to be transfered down there (about 4 1/2 hrs away) in the middle of May. Because of the Stimulus Package there are more Federal construction jobs (actually more jobs than they have empolyees to manage them) so we will be heading out again to a new location. We are actually very excited about this transfer for many reasons. Including, we will be closer to our Church family in Mariposa (only 4 hrs away), much closer to "the big city" of Sacramento (about an hour away) and I will have more opportunities to get involved in activities with Micah (i.e. Swimming, play grounds & preschool). Please pray for us as we head down there as a family on Thursday to look for a residence.

In the relm of future promotions activities our whole family is headed to the Bay Area for the California Christian Home Educators' conference. This is my 3rd year in attendance & we often have a great turnout from families interested in getting involved in short term missions.


here's some family memories from the last month:

Abby is getting closer & closer to rolling over every day. She already has two teeth, but is not too interested in eating solids :-)

From Spring '09

We had our family's (the Johnson's) Annual Motorcycle trip in Stonyford, CA. Micah had a blast hanging out with his cousins & uncles. It was hard to get him off the bikes!! This is him & his cousin Ella:

From Spring '09