Category: Updates

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Announcing…

It has been very exciting for us the past few days.
We launched our Titus Project Europe Website! Complete with online application forms and reference forms we are set up and ready to go for our very first Titus Project in Europe! Please check it out: http://Europe.TitusProject.com
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Simple.

This year at our church we are focusing on simple. Keeping Christmas meaningful, worshipful. Check out the video and website www.adventconspiracy.com
 
But how this works out practically is the challenge. I think it is a matter of perspective. We are still doing gifts with our families, but we are keeping it simple. Stockings, one gift each couple, etc… And I’ve decided to enjoy Christmas shopping, so I try to leave the house with a good attitude and say this is going to be a fun day with Cassie at the mall.  
 
Or take the busyness of going from family thing to family thing, church thing to church thing, work thing to work thing (I know a girl who has 6 Christmas parties at work!) I’ve decided to keep the perspective that I am blessed to be at home this Christmas, with people that I love to be with.  I have people that love me and want to spend time with me…
 
So does my entire lifestyle need to change in order to keep Christmas simple, meaningful, worshipful? I don’t think so. But as I strive to keep a good, joyful, peaceful attitude I am able to experience the Christmas season in a way that is:
Simple….. Meaningful….Worshipful……
 
Merry Christmas everyone! ENJOY DECEMBER!!!
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Rest

This is one of the areas I feel I have to constantly work on and strive for. Strive for rest… oxymoron? But it is true I do have to make a concerted effort not to overwork myself. I suppose I come by it naturally, my mom and dad have always been hard workers. Hard work is a good thing, but longevity and health come from rest in conjunction with work. I am teaching a workshop tomorrow on time management and I will be ending with the topic of rest. Here is what I wrote in my teaching notes:
 

In the Old Testament God gave the Sabbath as a gift to men. In Hebrews we also see that it was a signpost to point people to enter the true rest of Jesus. A rest that consisted not of working for salvation but instead resting in the work of Jesus Christ at the cross. Therefore, now a true sabbath, a true rest, will only come as one realizes that one doesn’t need to work for God’s approval. It is really only once a person fully comes to that revelation that they will find peace and rest for their souls. It is also only then that they will really be able to take a break from their work and truly rest, because there will be no guilt in rest, no propelling force driving them to ‘just do more.’ God has placed rest in all of creation for us to see. If you are a surfer you know that waves come in sets, a bunch of large waves and then there is a break. The heart pumps, pauses, pumps, pauses. The body needs to sleep every night. Trees goes dormant over winter. Bears hibernate. Geese take turns being in the lead as they migrate. God has put evidence all around us that rest is just as important as activity. In fact, in music the beauty of melodies is accentuated by rests of silence between notes.

 

Now the challenge is to live my own teaching, always the biggest challenge for me. I want to teach with integrity. I don’t think this means perfection, but a true desire to live what I preach- to walk the talk:) We’ll post some pictures in the next few days of our training session tomorrow! Enjoy the new video from Titus Project South Africa who just sent a team to Rwanda this past summer.

 

 

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A Satisfying Weekend

Global Impact
my def: Making a positive difference to people that live in cultures and countries other than my own.
 
One very cool thing about making a global impact is that often the impact reverberates right back into your own life. As you learn about others and help them, they often help you just as much. It’s community, a global community.  
 
This weekend was Global Impact Weekend at our church. We had a youth event friday night where we did a live Skype call with a great friend of ours who is a missionary in Taiwan. Mike did a great job and shared with the youth that he wouldn’t trade his life as a missionary for anything.
Saturday we held a huge fall supper to raise funds for a short term missions trip to Turkey and K*stan next year. 139 people came and over $3000 was raised! Wow! It is amazing how generous people can be! Sunday Ben and I had the chance to share with our church about our plans for 2010 and also the message for the morning. Ben preached and did a great job- have 20 minutes to listen? Check it out here, you’ll see the link on the left side of the page: www.kilcona.org
 
By monday morning Ben and I crashed and had a nice day to relax and do some work around the house (Thanks dad for helping with the soffits). Now we are onto preparing for: Ephesians (we teach every sunday), a workshop for Camp Arnes staff, a teaching trip with Titus Project to Armenia and Titus Project in Sweden! We may be home, but we are definitely not lacking things to do. One main focus we have for being at home is connecting with people, so please contact us if you would like to get together. We are leaving for Taiwan December 28th.

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My husband became a man….

This past weekend Ben went on a men’s retreat (see photos). On the way there he killed a bear by hitting it with his truck. While he was there a bunch of guys went target shooting so of course Ben joined in the fun. It was the first time he shot a real gun. So between killing a bear and shooting a gun we joke that he became a real ‘man,’ the funny thing is that he didn’t do them in the right order :)
 
By the way, the video playing to the right is joshua Wallker’s video. He was one of our students in Titus Project Montana last month. We sent the team out to Ukraine and this is a video that they shot after teaching a course called Bible Overview in a Bible School there. check out his amazing website at:  http://joshuajordanwalker.com/site 
  
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Liberty

Just doing a little reading and I came across this quote:
 
"For example, America was founded on the idea of liberty, but we have taken that to the extreme. Originally, the word meant ‘the right to do what is right.’ But this postmodern society has changed its meaning so that, for many people today, liberty is defined as ‘the right to do whatever I want to do.’ However, true liberty will not cost others their liberty."
 
This is really interesting … both from the perspective that America’s founders possibly held to that definition and that it has changed SO much. What do you think is the better definition? How should a society define liberty? We’d love to hear your thoughts!
 
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Titus Project South Africa

Many of you know that our first plan was to go and pioneer Titus Project in South Africa! The great news is that our wonderful friends Marysol and Dewet pioneered it before we could get there and they have done a tremendous job! They have an amazing website www.blomerus.org so feel free to check it out! Anyways, they made this great video after the last Titus Project outreach in Capetown, in one of the very same areas that Cherie Campbell wants to work in the future (for those who know her). Watch the video and let your heart be stirred for the need for teaching and training all over the world, from Asia, to Africa, to Europe!
 
On a different note, some of you may know that there was a forest fire on the mountain very near the YWAM base where Ben is right now. Thankfully it is all under control, I posted a few pictures so you could see how close it was.
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Teaching in Montana

Where to begin?
 
I think the first place to start is to thank Jesus! On Thursday, Angela’s mom had a successful surgery, removing hopefully all the dead cancer cells from her body. What a huge blessing. Thank you to those that prayed for her, we truly believe she is doing so well because of your prayers!
 
On another note, Ben has successfully completed his first week of staff for the Teacher Training Time in Montana. It also has been quite successful. The students just completed their first practice teachings this afternoon and are headed into their first weekend for a nice break. The theme for this session, Jesus is the center and is pointing us, telling us to go and make disciples.
 
What a privilege it is to serve Jesus. He has totally changed our lives and we just want others to know the same love and freedom that we know in Jesus.
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On the Road Again

On the road, once again. Ben will be heading to Montana to staff the training time there. He leaves on Sep 16 and returns just in time for his cousin Brent’s wedding on Oct 9. Actually, this will be their first time working with Titus Project at a base other than in Taiwan. We have 21 students, 17 of which will be heading to foreign countries to teach the Bible for 2 months. WOW!
 
Please pray today that the staff will lead well, that the student teachers will be mature and serve God faithfully with the gifts given to them. Also, please pray specifically for the leader, Kerry, who carries all the weight of responsibility!
 
Have a great day!
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Complaining

"Remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; but now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at." (Numbers 11:6)
 
As I read through Numbers 10 and 11 today I could relate with the people of Israel back then. It has been hard to be in a weird place of transition here in Canada. We’re home for a little longer than planned and feeling a little bit out of place. It is very easy to slip into a mindset of ‘remember in Taiwan…’ Just today I was thinking about the great yummy slushy drinks we could get for only $1 just down the road from our apartment.
 
But God knows where we are and where he wants us. And if I’ve learned anything from the book of Numbers, it is that God is just like a parent: complaining is not pleasing to him. When Cassie whines because she isn’t getting what she wants it is a little bit annoying, I admit it. But how often am I just like her? It was a good reminder to me to be thankful and appreciate right where I am and all the great things that I have here for this time!  
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Picking a Name

How about Bono. Bono? Yeah, Bono… maybe he’ll be a big star!

Yeah, we always have to name the little one in womb. The last one was ‘Beaner’ and this one is ‘Bono’ :)

It is very exciting to have a little sibling on the way for Cassie! We are due on April 17th, so obviously we are not very far along. Please pray for safety and health for Bono. Of course everyone wants to know, so what are your plans? Where will this one be born?

Right now our plans are:
September-December: Winnipeg
January: Taiwan to staff Titus Project
Feb-March: Lead an outreach team
March-May: Home in Winnipeg to have the baby
June: In Europe running Titus Project (Location yet to be announced)

Obviously all of this is held tentatively based on what happens with my mom, but these are the plans so far. For a quick update on my mom, she is doing well, chemo has been hard but not unbearable. She goes for surgery at the end of September. Please pray that when they operate they find that the cancer has shrunk to nothing :)

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Food Poisoning

Ugly words…food poisoning.
 
I was tempted to describe each and every moment of my ordeal but I figure that most of you have gone through it yourself. And besides, though texture and color are important attributes, we usually only like to see them in beautiful things like art.
 
But it hurts like crazy! Aaannndd, I missed out on the party… hate that! But sometimes this stuff happens. So I took the opportunity to remind myself of the good things in my life. I thanked God for a beautiful and wonderful wife, the opportunity to do what I really enjoy, the care and love from so many friends and family and many other things. And in just a couple of days I’m back to normal. Of course, its not always easy to keep a positive and hope-filled attitude but it sure does help make life more enjoyable. And I don’t think I could have done it my own. I’ve learned from others and been strengthened by them as well as by God.
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Confessions…

Yesterday was a frustrating day all around. Expectations not being met are one of the biggest causes for anger and disappointment.
 
On saturday night we found we had been exposed to chicken pox.  Expectation #1: This friday we were going to go on a road trip with my parents to visit my brother and his wife in Calgary. Because of the Chicken Pox it looks like that probably won’t be happening. Expectation not met.
Expectation #2: Get to the walk in clinic early so that I get in fast, find out if I am immune to the pox. Hopefully I will get the results quickly. After driving to 2 walk-in clinics that were both closed, I finally ended up at one that was open, took 3 hours to get in, drove downtown to give blood, and I won’t get results for at least 5 days. Expectation not met.
Expectation #3 Take Cassie for pox vaccine so the symptoms will be not as bad if she does get it. Unfortunately we don’t have a pediatrition so we had to take her to a walk in clinic with a pediatrition at Higgins and Main, waited for over an hour, and finally got her vaccine. Expectation met, but very slow.
 
So all that complaining to confess that yesterday I had an awful attitude, I was tired of waiting. I was inside comparing the great medical system of Taiwan with here. I knew I had a bad attitude and I couldn’t shake it off.
 
Today I’m still disappointed about not going on the road trip, and also sad about probably not being able to see my mom for awhile until all the chicken pox virus is gone. BUT thankfully with a new day comes a better perspective. I also heard a story this morning about a man who was bumped off of a plane because it was over booked. After complaining and grumbling he was eventually put on the next flight. Wasn’t he surprised when the plane he was supposed to be on crashed!
 
Expectations not met can be frustrating and bring out the worst in us, but there is grace.  I’m thankful for grace.  Grace and Perspective.
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Something I’ve Learned This Week

The men’s group at our church meets every Wednesday evening. We chat for a bit, get up to date on each others’ lives and spend the last hour reading from a consecutive passage in the Bible and talking about it. We just recently started Exodus and some of the guys have never read it before, which usually makes for some interesting discussion. But discussion without change of thought or lifestyle isn’t worth much. So here is something that I have learned and also am trying to put into practice.
 
Learn
Moses was afraid to obey God. He didn’t want to go back to Egypt. He didn’t want to lead the Israelites to freedom. He didn’t believe in himself. He made excuses (some valid, some not). But eventually he did obey. The first time, it didn’t go too well. But he persevered through some difficult situations. And in the end, Moses succeeds – in a big way.
Pharaoh is quite the opposite. Of course, he didn’t want to obey God either. But unlike Moses, he disregarded God completely and suffered much. In fact, he became so adamant against God that he even ignored the pleadings of his officials, who had eventually changed their views. And in his selfishness and stubbornness, he brought catastrophe on his own people.
 
  • Obedience, though difficult and unpleasant, often brings long term success. Disobedience, though great in the short term, often brings terrible consequences.
Change
So now I’ve learnt something that I need to put into practice. That is, as I make choices throughout the day, I begin to do what I know is right (obedience) because I know it is for my good. So when Cassie is being cranky, I take her for a walk to give Mom a break. When the driver on the highway doesn’t want to let me in, I don’t freak out at him, I take a deep breath. When the room is a mess, I don’t wait for someone else to clean it up, instead I initiate tidying.
 
Well, it could sound like I never make bad decisions or disobey on purpose. I still do. But being reminded regularly makes me more aware of my choices during the day. God doesn’t beat me over the head about my mistakes but instead he forgives me and reminds me that I will have another opportunity to make the right choice. And that, brings a smile to both of us.
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Missionaries-In-Residence

"So…um… what are you guys going to be actually doing while you are home?"
It’s a common question and a good one! What exactly will we be doing?
 
Because officially we are missionaries that are sent out by Kilcona, and because we really have a heart for this, we will be investing time into raising the awareness of world missions and issues in our church.  We are still brainstorming what that will look like, but for now it includes: working with the Global Impact Team, visiting different life groups and sharing about our work and the needs around the world, teaching Adult Sunday school classes, and of course praying with Pastor Bruce and others.
 
Ben will be going to Montana for three weeks to work with Titus Project there. It will be a great opportunity to see Titus Project run in a different location to get a good idea of what other things we can think of incorporating in Europe.
 
Of course we will also focus on spending time with my mom, the rest of our family, and our friends. So our weekly schedule will look like this:
Monday: Prayer together (Ben and Ang), Dinner with Angela’s parents
Tuesday: Ben at Kilcona office 9-5, Dinner with Ben’s parents
Wednesday: Angela at Kilcona office 9-5, Dinner (open for with anyone)
Thursday: Date day for Ben and Angela while Cassie gets to hang out with her Auntie Lisa and Cousins, Dinner (open for with anyone)
Friday: Titus Project Focus Day (Prayer, planning, Communicating etc.), Dinner (open for with anyone)
Saturday: Day off
Sunday: Church (teaching), Lunch with friends, Dinner (open for anyone)
 
Of course this schedule is somewhat flexible, especially when fall starts and life groups start filling in the evenings. BUT for now our wed-fridays are open to get together with people in the evenings. Give us a call: 334-8784
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It is good to be home.

We sure do miss Taiwan and all of our friends, but it is good to be home. Ben and I really haven’t seen many people yet because we have been spending most of our time with my parents. I’ve been to my mom’s chemotherapy with her. We’ve gone to a support group and met some great women. Of course we’ve also gone shopping for Cassie. This is why I came home, and I am so glad I did. Love you so much Mom, we’ll keep journeying together.
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Home in Canada

We made it safe and sound back home to Winnipeg, Canada! Smile It was wonderful to be picked up at the airport by our family!
 
This week we will be resting and spending time with our immediate family. We are really excited to get to church this sunday and then we will start spending time with our friends. We’d love to connect with you so feel free to give us a call or send us an email. You can email us at badoerksen@hotmail.com and we’ve also got a landline at Angela’s parents house, (204) 334-8784. We hope to borrow an answering machine soon, but if we’re not home, feel free to leave a voicemail at (204) 977-2950.
 
Thanks everyone again for your friendship and prayers! We feel SO blessed by everyone!
 
With love,
Ben & Ang
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The value of investing in others

The difference between addition and multiplication.
 
Ben and I love to teach the bible. BUT we are only two people. That is why we love Titus Project. Because then we get to train more people to do what we do and it makes more of a difference. Today we sent out 4 people to go teach all over Taiwan and 5 people to go to the big country just North of us. Sometimes we forget how important it is for us to work with Titus, because we don’t always see the long term results. But let me contrast two different scenarios.
 
1) A few years ago Ben and I went and taught in the Philippines. We taught for a week in a bible college. We still keep in touch with the pastor but we have never been able to go back.
 
2) Around the same time as the Philippines we went to Indonesia with a Titus team. We were able to work with a few churches. The next year we took another Titus team back there and because of the relationships we built the last time we were able to run a short bible school with pastors and leaders. Now two of the members who were on that Titus team are thinking about taking another team back there next year to keep working with the same people!!
 
Moral of the story: working in teams and multiplying yourself is much more effective then just doing it on your own!  
 
We are leaving in three days to come home to Winnipeg Canada! Looking forward to seeing many of you soon!
 
 
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Over Half Way

Our time has been full with giving our cousins a taste of missions, teaching and mentoring 10 new teachers, planning a teaching schedule for them in Taiwan, and packing up our apartment! Whew! I’m tired just reading that last sentence.
 
To be honest this past month has been really tiring, I’ll even use the word ‘busy’ to describe what I have felt (sorry that is an inside joke for our faithful blog readers). 
As a reminder, we train people to teach the bible. We give them 3 weeks of classroom training and then take them out to teach for two months. For this particular Titus Project Ben and I will only be participating in the 3 weeks of classroom training. We are already finished week two! We helped set up the schedule for the two months of teaching here in Taiwan but our friends Rachel and Reyna will be leading the team while Ben and I head home to Winnipeg. We have our flights booked for the end of July and are so excited to be with friends and family again in the not so distant future!  
 
Our students are really great, there are 10 of them and they are working so hard to prepare themselves for being bible teachers. I’ve been so encouraged getting to know them. One of our students Rebecca just got back from leading a DTS team in Afghanistan and Pakistan, she’s amazing! Two of our other students are going to be living in Taiwan long term so this is a deeper investment for them than simply 3 months. I could write about all of our students because each of them have a story and an exciting future!
 
Even just writing this, I am again refreshed thinking about the impact we have the opportunity to make. Thank you to all who make this possible for us!
 
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Carter Chavez Reporting

Well I’ll start off by saying Hi, my name is Carter Chavez and I am Ben’s cousin. God has allowed me the amazing opportunity to come over to Taiwan and serve with Ben and Ang. It’s been really cool to come over here and see how God is using them to further his Kingdom. They wanted me to talk about some of the things that I have enjoyed about being here. So here they are with #1 being my favorite.

#5 SBS class- I had a chance to sit in on an SBS class (the class where you study the whole bible inductively for a year). We were studying 1 John and it was really fun to study a lot of the historical background about the book and look at why John wrote the book.

#4 The food- I love food and the food over here is amazing!!! It’s been so fun to try all of these new foods and getting to experience Taiwanese culture!

#3 Prayer- It’s been so cool all the time we pray out here. Every time we get together or do anything we are always just praying constantly. It’s been a great reminder how how important prayer is in our daily lives.

#2 Cassie- It’s been such blast getting to hang out with her. She is such a cute little character who is so fun to be around and to play with. I love every minute of being with her and it gives me such joy to be around her!

#1 The Rock- The Rock is a cafe ministry where locals will come to work on their English. We will give them drinks and just hang out and talk with them in English. For me this has been the hardest thing, yet the most rewarding. It takes a lot of energy for me to keep a conversation going and to share the gospel as well. It is great though to die to myself and rely on God for strength and for him to use me in the way he wants.