Website Change

Just so you all know, I am closing this blog and I have started a new website. I recently got back from pre-field orientation at the New Tribes Headquarters, and while there I switched over to their system for my email and website. Here is the new info:

www.ntm.org/laura_aijian

laura_aijian@ntm.org

I hope you enjoyed getting the updates on this blog, however, I will be able to communicate more effectively through my website with New Tribes. Check out the different sections on the new site, it's kind of fun =)

Garage Sale!

Scott and Rachel offered to host a garage sale at their house and donate the proceeds to me for my plane ticket. I was so blown away by the results. God totally blessed it. Tons if people came by to drop stuff off before, and then we sold almost all of it! We had a lot of fun and I was amazing at how many dedicated garage-salers came. Some came so early that they needed flashlights to look at stuff.

Special thank you to my family, Nicole, and Courtney for helping out. You guys were great.

Here are some pictures of the day:

Here are two pictures I found of the campus that I will be living at. Enjoy!

October!

Well everyone, its official. I got accepted as an Associate Member of New Tribes Missions!! Praise the Lord. You should check out their site. My info should be on there as well.

I bought my plane ticket for training that I am going to in Florida in November for a week. This has been quite the whirlwind process. It has been really good though. God is constantly expanding my faith and giving me a peace that I didn’t know was possible. The doors just continue to be opening, and I am very excited to see where the Lord takes me with all of this. If you are interested in what I will be doing specifically here it is:

I will be providing food service for Interface students, staff, and conference attendees throughout the year. The purpose of Interface is to assist the ministry of the local church in mobilizing people for the task of tribal church planting among the world’s unreached people groups. Interface is a college level missions course held in Papua New Guinea that educates students by exposing them directly to what is involved in church planting among tribal people. The campus is also used to host short-term mission trips, field conferences, and other events.

I would definitely appreciate your prayers as I continue in this process. Please pray for:
Guidance and energy as I meet paperwork deadlines while balancing full time work
Wisdom on figuring out the apartment situation that I am leaving
The Lord’s peace as I face the thought of leaving my loved-ones
Continual assurance from the Holy Spirit as I move forward in this process

I will try and post some pictures soon that show my family’s trip to PNG in 2000 to give you a better idea of where I will be going. I would love to hear from you all to be able to pray for you as well.

- Laura

September

This month has been really busy but a lot of fun as well. I am working for a non-medical home companionship agency since august and it has been really rewarding. I needed a job to get through the next few months, and it is definitely keeping me from boredom. In my not-so-spare time I hang out with family and friends and spent time with the high school students at Calvary Chapel SB. Here are the highlights of these last couple months.

PNG Situation

So here is where I am at. I am not 100% sure that I am going, and I would appreciate your prayers. I am in the process of applying as an Associate Missionary through New Tribes Missions. The plan is to go over to PNG for a year. So in the next three months I need to:
Get my visas
~ raise support
~ figure out what I need to bring
~ find a roommate for Nicole =)
~ and figure out how to leave life in Santa Barbara...

My Life

I thought that it would be good to let you all in on what God has placed upon my heart. In the past year God has begun a work in me that He started when I was young. In fact, the name of the blog comes from my grandparent's experience on the field. Through that heritage and many others I have developed a passion for seeing the Kingdom of God grow all over the world. For the last 8 years I have felt the Spirit’s leading in missions, but for the first 5 of them it was in a more short-term missions role. I have had the opportunity to see missionaries on the field in multiple countries and my passion for seeing God glorified in this work has grown immensely. Currently, I have felt the Spirit leading me away from where I have been, and leading me into where he wants me overseas. I have been searching out the Lord’s guidance and step by step He has opened a door in Papua New Guinea!