On life and missions

Honesty moment: sometimes I forget that "normal life" and "ministry" are the same thing.  Sometimes I forget that in the same way that God has called me to be a missionary, God has called me to buy groceries and have coffee dates with friends.  

I find myself constantly needing to be reminded of the fact that they are one and the same.  It isn't "normal life" and "ministry", but rather the fact that normal life is ministry.

As I write these blogs, I've tried to balance between posting about our personal life and our missionary life.  The more and more that I learn what it means to be a Christian, the more and more I learn about what it means to live as a missionary.  As God works on my heart, the lines in my head become more and more blurry between normal life and ministry.  

My prayer is that one day, there will be no lines at all.  I want to live in such a way that getting groceries feels just as much like ministry as talking to students about missions.  I want to see things in such a way that vacuuming the floor and debriefing a mission team fall into the same category in my head.  

I went through the most recent pictures on my phone and Facebook and I saw "normal life" photos interspersed with "ministry" photos and I couldn't help but smile.  God is changing my heart to recognize the thread that binds everything together - the goodness of our God.  In ALL things, he is good.

So, here's a glimpse into the last few weeks of our normal, ministry life:

My wonderful husband graduated from college earlier this month :)

 A prayer calendar we put together for each team while they are on the field.  It helps supporters know how to pray.

The Ghana team spent time before their trip at their "launch" where they did some team building exercises and final trip preparations.

Ghana was our first international YMI Team of 2014.

Baby Burres is becoming more and more noticeable each day!  This picture was taken at the end of the day, so my baby bump was a little bit bigger than it is without food in it.

 This is the look of first-time home buyers right after signing papers on our home.  We should get keys today!

Thanks for joining with us as we do life and ministry together.

5 Fun Facts About YMI

1. We pre-trip every location we send to.  What does that mean?  It means that before any team or intern goes out on their mission trip through YMI, we take the time to personally invest in their trip by sending a staff member ahead of them.  This person will spend at least 48 hours with the missionary the team or intern will be received by.  We believe that this time is more valuable than any phone call, email thread or Skype and it makes us confident that our participants will be doing Gospel-centered work abroad.

L to R: John + Brian (2 YMI Staff) and Keith (1 awesome volunteer) are currently traveling through Asia pre-tripping sites in the Philippines, Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea.

2. We have 2 main offices - One that is YMI's Headquarters in Tacoma, Washington and one that is BASE Sports Ministy's Headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  In the last year, YMI added a specific division dedicated to growing sports ministry as a way to reach out to local churches and equip them to reach out to their communities.  Nathan is the Washington State Athletic Director for BASE.  Nathan is able to work remotely, since his main office is in Colorado Springs, but his ministry area is Washington.  

Last year, much discussion surrounded coming up with the BASE logo.  We're pretty pleased with how it turned out!

3. The median age of our YMI staff is 23 years old.  You know how we're YOUTH Missions International?  Yeah, well, we take that seriously.

L to R: Garrett (Bay Area Mission Mobilizer), Lis (Southern California Mission Mobilizer), Emily (YMI College Specialist & newest staff member) and Taylor (Executive Assistant)

4. Staff meetings currently involve three states & we have staff members in a total of 5 states.  The main office in Washington, Drew and Tim (BASE) in Colorado and me in Oregon.  The non-Washington people video chat in through Google Hangout and staff meeting proceeds as usual.  It's pretty incredible to study God's word together, pray with and for each other, and hear what God is doing not only around the world, but in our own country.  

These are all the areas where we currently have staff living and working.

5. The YMI office in Tacoma is located on UW Tacoma's campus.  We share a building entrance with their library and we get to have the beautiful view of their campus out our windows.  It's fun to be able to take lunch break outside on the HUGE steps or take a 15 minute break to stroll down to the waterfront.  We are blessed to work where we do.

The view out one of our many office windows.  Wow.

A spring update on our {growing} family

S - Sending.  So much of our ministry season is spent training, after all, that's really what we're about - training youth to share their faith.  We are now entering into a season of sending.  1 month from today, our first mission team of the season will head out to Ghana to serve alongside a missionary there.  They are in the final stages of preparation - receiving their Visas, finishing raising financial and prayer support and turning in paperwork.  This is just the beginning of many, many youth proclaiming the Gospel in many, many nations so that others may come to know Christ.  We are so excited to see God work in this way!

P - People. The last 8 months have flown by.  Moving to Salem has been a great adventure in our first year of marriage.  As we consider the time we have left, we are realizing how hard it is going to be to leave.  Salem has become our home, not because of the building that we reside in but because of the people we do life with here.  We have spent many hours fellowshipping with our small group and church body here.  We have hosted game nights with college friends from Corban, we have opened up our home to our Sunday school class, we have filled our home with the praises and prayers of new friends.  These people have become those near and dear to our hearts.  They have cheered us on through our adjustment to married life, living away from family and finding a home church.  New seasons call for new challenges.  Leaving our friends here in Salem will certainly be one of them.

R - Resting...NOT. There is a time for rest and a time for action.  This is the period of action in ministry.  I am calling, emailing, Facebooking, and texting participants on a daily basis.  I spend much of my time keeping tabs on where individuals are at with funding, paperwork, and life in general.  I have the joy of seeing first-hand how God works in their lives to bring their mission trip to fruition.  It's a pretty cool thing!  Nathan is busy as well!  This is the time when churches are signing contracts, working out details and making deposits.  It's also the time when he is finalizing summer staff, communicating with them and making sure that they are ready for training in a little over a month.  There will be a time for rest, but that time is not now and not anytime soon!  We are grateful for the strength and stamina from God to head into this season healthy, rested and eager to see God work.

I - In between.  In so many ways, we find ourselves in the "in between".  We are in between renting and owning a home.  The buying process is long and tedious, but we are trusting God to see us through.  We are in between being settled and packing.  I have begun to get this home ready to load into a trailer.  We are in between being a family of 2 and a family of 3.  This little one has many more months to go before we will hold him/her, but Baby Burres's presence is becoming more and more noticeable with each passing day.  Living in the "in between" calls for lots of prayers, reliance on God's sovereignty and faith that things will work out.  It's a good exercise of trust in our good, good God.

N - New life.  YES!  We are expecting Baby Burres in late October of 2014!  I am just over 12 weeks along and so ecstatic to be carrying this precious life.  Nathan and I find ourselves giddy with excitement and nervous for what is ahead.  Our comfort is in knowing that God has given us everything we need to parent well and that he has ordained this child to call us mommy and daddy since before the creation of the world.  We are thankful for 6 more months to prepare our home and our hearts to meet this little baby and we look forward to raising our child in a ministry-focused family.

G - Graduating. Nathan is just 2.5 weeks away from graduating from Corban University with his degree in Student and Family Ministries.  Today he is working on completing 2 of the 6 papers he has due next Wednesday.  I cannot wait to see him cross the stage as a sign of all the hard work he has put in over these last few years.  He'll be done with school for now, but who knows what the future may bring!

FREE mission trip? WHAAAAAT?

We find ourselves at the end of another busy week and we are so excited that we get to vacation with our families this weekend!  We will take pictures and post them sometime in the future  :)

Today, we want to share with you an exciting announcement that YMI just made!

If you or anyone you know is interested in winning a FREE mission trip with YMI, click HERE.  

If you are interested in where we are sending teams next year, click HERE.

We are so thankful that God is working in this world. He's not done yet.  Maybe YOU are a part of His plan for the Gospel to be known in every tribe, tongue and nation in 2015.  

To God be the glory for the GREAT things he has done.

Praises and Prayers

Praises:

1. We think we have found a place to live when we get back!  This is exciting news and we are eager to get it all finalized sometime between now and May.  Please keep praying that this works out and that we will be able to have a smooth transition back to WA.

2. Work is going well - we are really looking forward to summer ministry season starting with mission teams and sports camps! It's just around the corner!

3. We get to go on a short weekend vacation with our families in a couple weeks.  Our parents decided to rent a beach house for all of us to stay in - my immediate family, his immediate family and us!  We couldn't be more blessed to have families that love each other and desire to VACATION together!  Wow!  God is so good.  We will be hanging out in Lincoln City, Oregon in a couple weeks.  

Prayers:

1. The YMI Fundraising Banquet is tomorrow evening.  Please pray that God lays it on the hearts of people to give and give generously.  This event plays a huge role in the amount of ministry that we are able to do in the coming year.  We know that God always provides, so we are asking that this is one of those ways.

2. Pray that a) our summer mission teams fill up (we still have spots open) and b) sports camps fill up.  We are finding that, for whatever reason, filling ministry opportunities is difficult this year.  We are also hearing the same reports from organizations like us.  Pray that God will allow our ministry opportunities to fill up so that our missionaries have teams to receive and so that communities are connected to local churches.

3. Pray for Nathan as he finishes up school.  He has a TON to do in the way of assignments over the next couple months.  Pray specifically as he prepares to give a sermon in chapel at school.  He has decided to teach on marriage and we both recognize that teaching is a high calling.  Pray for wisdom and discernment as he figures out what God would have him communicate to these students.

4. Finally, pray for us in our last 2 months in Salem.  We have grown to love it here.  Our friends are here, we love our church here and we like our first home together.  We know that God is going to supply all of our needs when we move back - relationships and fellowship included.  But it's still hard to think about leaving!  Thankfully, Salem is just a (relatively) short drive from Tacoma.  We'll be making visits, for sure!

And, to end this post, here are some pictures from the snow storm a few weeks back!

I convinced him to go for a walk.

Someone's car was COVERED in snow up on the road.

February Newsletter

Worship Songs on My Heart

For whatever reason, these two songs have been on "repeat" in my heart and my head this week.  I pray that you are encouraged as you listen and praise God.

"Do It Lord" by Tommy Walker

"When I Don't Know What To Do" by Tommy Walker

Praises and Prayers

Sometimes life gets so busy that the only thing that make sense to post about ministry is praises and prayers.  So that's just what I'm going to do.  

Will you join us in praising God for:

1. The many ways that he has shown up this week.  Though more sign ups, through encouragement, through church visits, through sports ministry.  God has shown up.

2. The college students who just got back from spending a month doing an English/Bible camp in Florida for a TON of kids.  The Gospel was preached and lives were changed.

3. The Team Leader Training coming up next weekend.  We are so thankful for these people who have decided to serve God by leading a team of young people overseas to share the Gospel.

4. The opportunity for me to spend a week up in Washington (next week) to connect with the main office staff and plan for summer ministry.

5. Nathan and I bought a car this week because the Lord has provided the funds.  We are so thankful that in His perfect timing, we are able to make this purchase.  We will be getting the car next week.  This car will allow Nathan to be traveling all over the state of Washington to help oversee sports camps.

Will you join us in praying for:

1. More sign ups for YMI Teams, churches and sports camps.  We have seen God answering this prayer, and we know that He will continue to do so.

2. The missionaries we work with overseas.  Pray that they will be strengthened in their faith and eager to receive teams from YMI this summer.

3. The trainings we have coming up in February - Leader Training in Seattle, Leader training in Charlotte, NC, YMI Team Training in Charlotte, NC and YMI Team Training in Orlando, FL.  It's a busy month around here!

4. Continue to pray that Nathan and I will be able to raise the final bit of our monthly support.  As always, God provides.  As we move back to Washington in a few months, we have seen that the cost of living will be higher and we will need to have our full 100% in place prior to that.  

5. Pray for our leadership at YMI - our board and executive team.  They are the people who lead us in ministry, make decisions, counsel us and encourage us.  Pray that the Lord will encourage their spirits and that they will continue to lead well. 

Jesus > Football

Yesterday was a day of great celebration in our home.

We spent the morning at church and as soon as church ended, we headed home to wait.  To wait for the kick-off that would immediately heighten BOTH of our anxiety.

You see, I married a die-hard Seattle sports fanatic.  My husband loves the Mariners and the Seahawks.  There's just no getting around it.  So naturally, I have begun to adopt his love for his teams.  This week, I sewed him a Seahawks banner that is proudly displayed in our family room for everyone to see.  I planned a dinner that stays warm for a long time so that he could grab food when it was convenient depending on how the game was going.  I cuddled up on the couch next to my husband and did my best to help him breathe.  I love the game because I love my husband.

The Seahawks won.  The game was over.  And then the real battled started: Facebook.  Twitter.  Ugh.

I was so incredibly saddened by what I saw.  I still am.  I saw racial slurs being thrown left and right (Happy MLKJ Day, right?).  I saw cyber-punches being taken.  I saw people being reduced to "just" an electronic profile with every word said.  I felt sick.

Folks, I'm not perfect.  Don't claim to be.  Don't intend to be.  I fail every. single. day.  And there's grace abundant.  But let's not let grace be a license to sin.

I am appalled because for these 12 hours since the game, there has been no distinction between Christians and non-Christians on Facebook.  We all blend in; we look the same.  We look like Football is the end-all be-all.  We look like ref's calls matter more than people.  We look like OUR team is worth dying for.  We look like the legacies of Kaepernick and Wilson are more important that the reality of the God we say we worship.

Can I tell you something?  Jesus died for sinners and saints.  He died for Colin Kaepernick and Russell Wilson.  He died for Richard Sherman.  He died for the San Francisco 49ers and the Seahawks - equally.  He died for you and me.

And we, by the grace given to us, should be avenues for mercy and grace and humility to be shown to humanity.  We are the ones who are going to show the world that Jesus WINS.  He REIGNS.  He sits on his throne above and over all.  He came to redeem.  He came to seek and save the lost.  He came for them.  He came for the people who are unloved and unlovable.

Let's consider what we are teaching our children, our friends and our enemies based on our latest social media interactions.  What will people conclude by looking at our profiles?  This person loved their team or This person loved Jesus?

Maybe they can conclude both.  But the both is what's missing so many times.

Praises and Prayers

Right now is such an interesting season in ministry - it's one of great anticipation.  Right now, we find ourselves visiting churches, making phone calls, sending emails, watching numbers, depositing checks and encouraging participants.

Summer is just around the corner.  Summer is filled with the type of stuff everyone envisions when they think of ministry - kids sharing their faith, mission trips, foreign missionaries, sports camps, local outreach and the list goes on.  All of that is wonderful and exciting and fun.

But the truth is that it's not any more important than the paperwork, the mundane, the answering emails.  It's just different tasks for different seasons that the Lord has called us to.  And we rejoice in BOTH.

Join me as we pray for:
1. More sign ups from participants, YMI team leaders and churches.
2. A cook for the Seattle YMI Team Training, March 13-17.
3. YMI Team Training in Sacramento that starts TODAY.
4. Health for our staff - we have been passing sickness from person to person.
5. Attention to detail as we prepare in the coming months for summer ministry.

Join me as we praise God for:
1. Our personal health - Morgann was really sick a couple weeks ago. Nathan didn't catch it and Morgann is now feeling 100% better.
2. We are 92% supported!!  Praise God!  We still have that last 7% to go, but we know that God will provide.  If you are interested in supporting us, please let me know (Facebook, morgann@ymimissions.org, phone)
3. BASE Sports has been getting more churches signed up for camps (Nathan's job) and more people have committed to being coaches this summer!
4. The only volunteer position left to fill before summer is a cook in March!  Wow!  God is good!
5. Our home church here in Salem is wonderful.  We are feeling very connected, plugged in and a part of what God is doing there.

Thank you for your support of us in prayer, in ministry, in life.  We are blessed to have many people who love us, care for us and are eager to see what God is doing at Youth Missions International.

The law of the LORD is perfect, refreshing the soul.

The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple.

The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart.

The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes.

The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever.

The decrees of the LORD are firm, and all of them are righteous.

They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold;

they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb.

By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward.

But who can discern their own errors?  Forgive my hidden faults.

Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me.

Then I will be blameless, innocent of great transgression.

May the words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart 

be pleasing in your sight, LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Psalm 19:7-14

Sunday School

 I have mentioned before that we teach the middle school class at church on Sundays.  When we started going to our church in August, one of the first orders of business was to get involved by serving in some capacity.  After meeting with our pastor about some of the needs in the church, we followed God's leading and decided to start a new Sunday School class for some of the older kids in the church.  It has proved to be one of the greatest blessings and challenges all in one.

We have enjoyed seeing these kids grow in their knowledge of who Jesus is and we have witnessed the growth in their relationships with Christ.  We love it when they bring back their Bible reading logs completed and their Bible memory work memorized.  Though sometimes these occurrences seem rare, it makes them so much sweeter when they do happen.  We are encouraged to have such wonderful support from our church leadership, the parents and the students as well.  The younger kids peek their heads into our classroom and tell us how much they can't wait to be old enough to be in the big kids' class!  How fun!

One of the challenges of teaching this class has been curriculum development.  We were handed a blank slate and we ran with it.  We started off the class teaching basic Christian doctrine and theology.  We covered a ton of stuff: sin, man, the Trinity, the Church, and the list goes on.  The next series we did was called "You ask, we answer."  The kids wrote down any and all questions they wanted to discuss in class and we picked one each week and covered it from a Biblical perspective.  These questions ranged from, "What do I do when I feel negative emotions?" to "What does it mean to be born again?"  We enjoyed getting to talk about things that were of personal interest to our class.  Currently, we are in the middle of a series on the Fruit of the Spirit!

Before we began this series, we spent one class period playing "Jeopardy Review" of all the topics we had covered to date.  The kids loved it and it was so cool to see how much they had learned.

When you have a room full of middle school girls and one boy, you're bound to have some of this going on.  We try to keep it at a minimum.

One of the girls "buzzing in" to answer the question.

Topics included: "Who is God?", "Jesus Christ/Holy Spirit", "All About the Bible", "What do I do with negative emotions?" and "The REAL Christmas Story". 

One of our goals with our class was to build real relationships with them that went beyond our hour and a half on Sunday mornings.  A while back, we decided that a good way to do that would be to invite them into our home for games and pizza.  Last Friday night, we did just that!  We were surprised when we had ALL girls and half of them were brought as visitors!  Praise God!

These kids can EAT!

There was lots of shrieking and high-pitched noises coming from this group all evening.  I forgot how high middle school girl voices are :)

After dinner, we gathered around our coffee table to play a class favorite: Apples to Apples.

Middle school humor: "Friendly" - mice, road kill, angry hornets and barfing. 

Guess which one won?

At some point, someone stole my camera and I found lots of these kids of pictures later.  

My sweet husband did a fantastic job keeping up with all the girls in our home.  

I am so thankful for him.

This particular round was funny because me and one of the girls put down "sunrise" and "sunset".  We couldn't remember which card was whose!  But, since it was a middle schooler choosing, clearly "Spam" won.

Stage 1: "Come on girls, let's get one nice picture."

Stage 2: "Ok.  You can be silly now."

Stage 3: "Pleeeeeease don't get hurt before your parents come!"

Christmas Catch Up

One of my goals for the new year is to post more consistently on my blog.  I'm not one of those people who likes my/our life aired all over Facebook or Twitter, and I figure that only people who know our family well will be checking the blog for updates.  My plan is to post more pictures (you're welcome to BOTH of our moms) and to post more often.  We'll see how that goes!

Recently, Nathan finished up his intramural volleyball season at Corban and I snapped a few pictures at his last game.  He is a STUD on the court!  I wish I could have been out there with him :)

In early December, we got our first snowfall.  It was really fun because one of my friends/co-workers had come down to visit for the weekend, so she was here with us to enjoy the magic!  It was snowing when we woke up and continued to snow until we went to bed.  It took another 4 days for it to get above freezing, so the snow just stuck around and wreaked havoc on Oregon drivers!

This was our first Christmas as a married couple, so I took great joy in decorating our apartment for Christmas.  Last January, my mom encouraged me to go out and buy Christmas decorations once they had gone on sale.  At the time, it seemed so silly, but I am SO thankful that she did!  It was such a blessing to have decorations already bought (at 75%-90% off!!) and ready to be put up!

We got this frame for our wedding and I have been wanting to find a use for it!  I printed off a free "printable" online and turned it into the perfect decoration for Christmas - an amazing reminder that Christ came for us.

This white board hangs in our kitchen and has a Bible verse on it to remind us of the Truth.  I found this fun idea on Pinterest!

This year, we spent Christmas Eve with the Green family and Christmas Day with the Burres family.  I totally spaced on taking pictures on Christmas Eve.  These were our Christmas pajamas from Mom and Dad  :)  Christmas pajamas may be one tradition that we adopt for our family someday!

It was so fun to see how another family does Christmas morning.  My family is very methodical in our approach to opening gifts.  We open gifts one at a time, one person at a time, taking turns opening gifts as we go.  Nathan's family appoints the little girls to hand out gifts to everyone at the beginning.  Once everyone has their pile, we all open at once!  It was different, but really sweet to enjoy Burres Family traditions.

We are so blessed to have families that love us and share us really well!  Most importantly, we are thankful for the reminder that Christmas brings of the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

{Christmas Vacation}

Our prayer is that this post finds you satisfied with the fullness from the holidays, tired from time well-spent with family and friends and eager to see what will happen in the coming year!  We certainly find ourselves nestled in the middle of all of those emotions.

The last couple weeks, we have been in Washington spending time with family and friends.  It was a bit crazy as we bounced back and forth between the Burres Parent's home and the Green Parent's home.  We tried our best to share our time and be sure to split the big days (Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Day) between families.  It was tiring at times, but well, well worth it. 

Here are some highlights from our time home: 

-We got to meet the newest additions to the Burres family!  Mistletoe (lovingly referred to as 'Missy'), is Nathan's youngest sister's puppy.  She is a Mini Australian Shepherd and she is the cutest.  She may just turn me into an all-out dog lover...  "Frost" is Nathan's middle sister's kitten.  He is adorable and has more personality than any cat I have ever seen!  He is adventurous and has some attitude.  We loved hanging out with these animals and their owners!

-Christmas Eve church service with M's family.  It's tradition that we spend Christmas Eve afternoon with some good friends, the St. Johns.  We exchange gifts, eat good food and then head to church together.

-Christmas morning with N's family.  It is so fun to see how different families celebrate the same holiday!  M's family always opened gifts very methodically - one at a time, rotating people each time.  N's family distributes gifts to everyone up front and then everyone opens gifts at one time!  We loved doing that this year!

-Mr. Green took all the men in the family (M's brothers, Nathan and Grandpa) out to Daniel's Broiler for a good steak dinner.  They LOVED it.  I, Morgann, have never seen Nathan so content after a meal!

-Being at our home church, Christ's Church.  We loved reconnecting with people that we haven't seen in a long time and we are looking forward to attending each week once we move to WA.

-Time with the Patterson family.  Jeff and Ruth did our premarital counseling and we hadn't really seen them since the wedding.  We got to hang out at their home for a few hours.  Their kids are a joy and their parents are so wise.  We hope that we can see Jeff next time!!

-Getting to visit with a couple people who have decided to partner with us financially in ministry!

-Our Best Man, Scott, got married on December 27.  Nathan was in the wedding along with a handful of our groomsmen!  It was such a blessing to see two people commit their lives to serve the Lord together.

Our trip home ended a little early, as Morgann got really sick last Sunday.  Vacations are great, but there really is no place like home!  We drove home on Wednesday and have been finding a routine again since then.  

One of my goals for this year is to blog on our ministry blog every other week.  I am finding that every week is unrealistic, being that ministry fluctuates so much week-to-week.  Some weeks it is easy to find time to put together a blog and some weeks it seems nearly impossible.  Averaging every other week should be doable  :)

May the Lord bless you and keep you this year.  We are so thankful for your support of the ministry God has given us through Youth Missions International.