Visa Update

This past week we received a letter in the mail from the US Department of Homeland Security.  The letter informed us that our application for an extension to our current visa is being processed.  There were no dates given or estimated times for processing, so now all we do is wait!  We have heard that it can take quite a while to hear back, and we think it took about 6 weeks to hear back when we applied for the extension in 2009.  Right now our passports are stamped until January 18, 2012, but since our visas are part of a current review we can stay in the country until we hear back about the extension.  For this reason, as well as the stressful nature of our previous dealings with immigration, we decided that we won't be traveling back to Canada for Christmas as we had initially planned last summer.  It will be difficult to be away from family over the holidays, but right now we cannot risk leaving the country, as we will likely be denied re-entry.  If our application is rejected we will likely only have about 3 days to leave the country.  However, we are praying and believing for an answer in the affirmative.

In the meantime, it's business as usual here!  Ryan finished his last teaching for this quarter and now is buried in a mountain of grading!  Actually, he's keeping up just fine, but I am happy to have him around more soon as the campus takes a three week long Christmas break.  We are also eager to figure out how the next quarter will look.  Right now he is unsure if he will be working with Mobile Word, teaching in the other SBS class, or even doing some teaching with the April 2012 SBS school that we recently heard will be held in Honolulu rather than Kona.  There are many possibilities, but first we need to know we can stay in the country!  We are so thankful for God's provision and the history of His faithfulness that has been so evident in our life over the past 2 and a half years.  We trust Him with this visa extension as well as how the next few months will turn out.  Thank you so much for your prayers.

We'll keep you posted!

Fall Update

A Prayer Request

We received some unwanted news last week in regards to our Visa.  I wanted to outline it here in hopes you would be praying with us for this situation that greatly affects our ministry here with Kona UofN.

As Canadian citizens, we are unable to procure a visa before entering the U.S, and must apply upon entry.  The first time we crossed the border with our immigration letter from the UofN, immigration officials informed us that since the letter said we planned to stay for 2 years they had no choice but to treat us as "intended immigrants."  We don't qualify for a business visa since we are only volunteers here, and we can't get a Religious Workers visa until we have been "associated with" the Ministry for two years.  They allowed us to enter, but stamped our passports as valid for the standard 6 month visitor's visa waiver.

When we crossed the border again this past summer, immigration officials seemed even more hesitant to let us in.  They strongly urged us to make this our last visit and again stamped our passports only until January 18th.  This is a problem since our commitment to YWAM extends until June 2013.

Ryan met with YWAM's lawyer who handles their immigration "stuff" this week and she did not seem to have a lot of good news for us.  We had wanted to apply for an "extension" to our current visa waiver that would allow us to stay until June 2012, when Molly is finished school.  (At that point we had planned to return to Canada for the summer months so Ryan could possibly work to replenish our funds. We would then return for the September 2012 school which goes until June 2013.)  Here is what we found out:
-the likelihood of getting that extension was less than we had thought.
-the Ywam lawyer is somewhat hesitant to apply now for that extension, and encouraged us to wait until December to apply, citing that it often takes them a few months to process the application and that would give us a few extra months after January to stay while we wait for an answer.
-If we do wait until December, and it takes a few months: if our request was denied we would have 3 days to leave the country.

Another long term staff told us we may qualify for the Religious Workers' Visa on a technicality since we initially came to SBS in April of 2009...and when we went back to Canada we were pretty certain we would be returning as staff.  One could make the case that we returned to Canada to make preparations for our long term commitment and raise funds, thus we were still "associated with" YWAM.

The YWAM lawyer said unequivocally "no" to that possibility.  She is unwilling to explore that option.

We are not pleased with the uncertainty of waiting until December to apply.  If we cannot get an extension to our visa and have to return to Canada in 2012, we would prefer to make that transition in January for the sake of our kids - mostly Molly and her school.

This is a frustrating and unsettling situation for us, but we fully believe that if God has appointed this path in our lives, He will open the necessary doors.  Our desire is to fulfill our two year commitment here in the SBS ministry.  We also would love to see Molly finish out the school year in her Kindergarten class.  It is the BEST place for her this year and I would be disappointed if she had to change schools mid-year.  God knows all these details.  We appreciate those of you who would commit to praying over this area of our ministry as we wait to see the outcome.

Thank You!

Wilderness Wanderings

It is not uncommon that you will find the SBS class decked out in costumes and re-enacting a narrative from the Old Testament. One of my favourites is the Wilderness Wanderings from the book of Numbers. Traditionally the school retreats to the northern rainforest area of the Big Island for a weekend of re-enacting these scriptures, but since our class is so small we condensed it down to an afternoon on campus. Our kids loved dressing up and playing along...and the food was delicious once we reached The Promised Land!

Dressed up to play the part of Israelites

Moses and Aaron instructing the people

Moses and Aaron confer

Marching out into the wilderness

Following the Fiery Cloud

The Lord sends Manna

Gathering Manna from the ground

The People complain and demand the spoils of Egypt:)

Moses is aggravated with the People

Moses asks the Lord, "What did I do to deserve this?"

Off to explore Canaan

Water from the rock!!

A feast in the Promised Land!

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A feast of roast chicken, naan bread, honey butter, corn on the cob and other fresh vegetables, grapes and nuts.

Changed

I thought it would be encouraging to those who have been supporting us in our ministry to read about some of the fruit God has produced here in our classroom. As per usual we have a wide variety of students in the class, different cultures, different professions, and different motivations. I want to give you a snapshot of the students so that you can know how God is working in their lives through the school, how they plan to use what they are studying in the future and how their studies have changed them or impacted them in a way they did not expect. In order to do that I am going to post a brief testimony from each student. I hope that these postings serve to encourage each of you and inspire an increased hunger for God and his Word.

The Following is from Hae Joo, he is a husband and father of two. English is his second language. Between his family and the time consuming effort doing his homework in his second language Hae Joo told me he is fortuneate to get 5-6 hours of sleep a night. I pray he gets the rest he needs after he completes his studies.

(I have added some notes below to help clarify what Hae Joo has written)

Hi. Ryan.

I hope that my little efforts could help to you.

I wish I would make a good testimony, but as you know my English expression abilities, so forgive me to give you only simple answers.

* Where are you from?
=> I am from South Korea. I have lived at Younin city, which is located near Seoul.

* Why did you come to the SBS?
=> I am a pastor, so I could learn about Theology, Christian history, Counseling, etc. And also I learned the Bible, but so much time I learned "about the Bible." I really want to learn and meditatie "the Bible itself". I want to concentrate the author's intention of each book so that I figure out the text itself. If I could make it, I can preach and teach powefully, and I can help my congregation to live in the truth of God, because I believe that the Bible itself has a marvelous power.

* What is your favorite part of the SBS?
=> My favorite part is "the Horizental". Because when I am doing the horizental, I can try to focus the author's purpose and see the big picture of each book.

(The Horizontal Chart is created by the students, they create one for each book and it's purpose is to reveal the structure of the book - similar to a table of contents)

* What is your least favorite part of the SBS?
=> My least favorite part is "the Vertical Chart". It is simply because I am not good at English. I need much more time to do the chart than my classmates, even two or three times. So I don't like the chart. But if I can do the chart in Korean, "the Vertical Chart" can be one of my favorite part of the SBS. ^^

(The Vertical Chart is created by the students also. Each vertical chart is a section from the Horizontal Chart. Once the students have created these they proceed with filling them in with text from the Bible. This is a very long process as they analyze each book paragraph by paragraph, word by word.)

* What do you plan to do after the school/how will the school be beneficial to you in your future?
=> I will go back my church in Korea. I believe that this SBS school really helpful to my ministry. Someday if I can have more time to study SBS, I will chose to SBS again.

Ryan.

It's my best^^

See you. Blessing.

Finding the Groove

We are nearing the end of May and the students are settling into the weekly routine of the SBS. We started the month in I Corinthians then moved forward to II Corinthians, Philippians, Mark and Romans. Next week we will study Luke and Galatians as we start the month of June. As we finish up May it is very encouraging to see that the students have gotten a good grasp of the method of study and for the most part are putting in the effort to finish as much work as possible for each book. Each Friday night we meet as a class so the students can hand in their work and we can spend some time in worship and sharing testimonies from the week. It really is a time of celebration for the students too as they have a break for a day or two. Hearing what the students have learned as they dig into each book is awesome. It makes me miss being a student myself and having all of my time set aside to study God's Word. Their testimonies also give all of us on staff a great deal of satisfaction and joy as they reap the rewards of their studying. So as the students find their groove we are working as a staff to keep them motivated and moving forward towards completing the task God has called them to.

*Ryan

{Check out our updated "How To Pray" page for prayer requests and praise items}

A Day Off!

Today, we made sure the students had an official day off from all their hard work!  We loaded up a few cars and school vans and drove 30 minutes north of town to the beach.  It was great to hang out with everyone as I(KaraLyn) don't see as much of the students on a daily basis as Ryan does, but it was also good to see them relaxing and perhaps thinking of something other than all their homework!!

Two weeks ago we had a special speaker named Mark Smith teaching on Acts.  He is a historian, professor and Vice President of a Bible College in Idaho who is well versed in early church history and archeology.  Ryan always enjoys his teaching and is very interested in some of the digs he is supervising in the Holy Land.  Mark's teaching on the book of Acts definitely broadens one's understanding of the early church.  He also taught on both the Old and New Testament Canons.

This past week we finished Ephesians and Philemon.  The students seem to be getting into more of a groove, however many of them still seem overwhelmed at the amount of work.  Ryan is learning how to encourage and motivate them, and I am doing my best to help Ryan help them!  It's fun to see him in this role, and difficult to see him frustrated over some students' lack of motivation.  A huge praise item is that all our students have all their funds in for the first quarter!  We hope some will look ahead to start fundraising for second quarter early, but we know they are focused on homework with little time to coordinate other big things like fundraising just yet!

On my part, I have become involved with a campus preschool program for 2-3 year olds.  I am putting in a lot of hours teaching, organizing, preparing materials and writing curriculum for this.  Henry is attending this three days a week, and on the days I am the teacher the girls come too. It has been a good way for me to get involved on campus!

I hope to update this blog a little more regularly and Ryan has said he wants to contribute too...I will encourage him to that end.  These days he is busy preparing his lecture on Philippians, so thanks for praying for him in that regard.

Again, thank you for your prayers and support!

And They're Off!

Our students are beginning their second official week today with the book of Acts.  Last week we saw some of them quite discouraged over the amount of work and intensity of the method...but by Friday they seemed to be more positive about it all and felt blessed by all they had discovered in the book of Titus.  The speaker this coming week is Mark Smith, a historian who has so far given a great lecture on the New and Old Testament Canons.

Ryan is now busy marking Titus homework, studying in Acts, and preparing his teaching on the book of Philippians.  I have agreed to help coordinate and design curriculum for an age 2-3 year old playgroup for Staff kids.  Henry will attend this and I will also do some teaching in it.  So it begins!

check out our updated "How to Pray" page!