oh man that was nuts...but ill spare you the details

hey guys-
i wanted to let you know how our village experience went...it was crazy...we ate the head and back of a lamb...including the ears and brain and stomach and something else with tubes in it...it was a sweet experience. we traveled to the village with a local friend to visit his family who moved to kstan about 50 years ago. his father is the oldest in their village and he is a shepherd...freakin sweet to watch him in action with the sheep...did i mention the "m" and i got to herd the sheep with him on horseback!! heck yeah! in the rain no less...i felt like a cowboy for real. we put together a basketball goal from the walmart in greenville, texas and it now serves to bring joy to a small village on the other side of the planet...pretty sweet if you think about it! our team is holding up well, but i would be lying if i didnt say that i miss you all...the train ride there ended up only being 6 hours, but the ride home was much longer and more taxing! kazaks dont have time for privacy...they will sit right up in your lap if you arent firm...we now have about 5 days to chill with the bros that we taught the past two weeks! we are worn out, but excited. please keep us in your prs. father isnt done with us. i was convicted as i sat on the train and at home today, after reading this quote...i hope it might do the same for you as we all approach father...

"if we have never had the experience of taking our commonplace religious shoes off our commonplace religious feet, and getting rid of all undue familiarity with which we approach Father, it is questionable whether we have ever stood in His presence. the people who are flippant and familiar are those who have never yet been introduced to jc." -oswald chambers

-his

jon david

two crazy things happened today

hey guys-
oh my gosh...what a weird day...i just got home from two crazy events. 1. joe (my crazy team member) and i, braved what is called the "banya"...essentially this is when you get naked with a bunch of old kazak dudes and beat each other in the back with some twigs...it's basically a sauna on steroids...you could only sit in the room for 2 minutes before everything on your body started tingling and stinging! oh my gosh i wish i could describe this heat adequately!!! it was like fire...seriously...everyone stared at us at first and then we were accepted into the family of old kazak naked dudes!...another strange part of this experience was that a lady in her 50's showed us what to do...she gave us our soap and towels and opened our lockers for us...keep in mind we are wearin' nothin but a smile...semi-awkward. hilarious though. the other event took place on our way home from the banya...a lady was laying on the curb with her head busted open and everyone was just staring at her! so we called the m and he came and we washed her up and the ambulance came 30 minutes later...the healthcare here is socialized, but not the best...actually its terrible...we still dont know what happened to this lady...either someone hit her with a car and left her there or someone beat her up...which is what i assume! it made me so mad when i saw her face! i trust that father will heal her. early tomorrow morning we will leave for a village. we will take a ten hour train ride northwest. we are bringing with us a basketball goal and a frisbee! i think our main objective is to love on some village children for about 5 days and hopefully show them our father! today we finished up our english camp by celebrating with a cookout...it was sweet. we ate burgers and hot dogs and played baseball...the weather here has been really nice the past few days, much like home except with huge brown mosquitoes that have no mercy. this will be the last post for several days...i hope i can update you on what happens these next five days. please pr for our impact on these new people we will meet! the language barrier will increase dramatically these next few days, since people in the villages know very little english. i miss you guys and hope that your doing great!

love never fails...1cor13.8...

jon david

sweet saturday...

hey yall-
sorry about my posts being so scatter brained...i havent had much time to post in private...most of the time there is quite a bit distraction...i wanted to thank you for your prs and thoughts...i want to let you all know that our english camp has one week left and we look forward to getting to chill with our new friends most of the day! today we went to a local man made beach and ate some shashlik and chilled...father has blessed us so much and we have had a sweet time seeing his work here...

jody-you know that cottonwood tree that used to be in the dudes backyard across the street...and member how it dropped all its cotton in the spring?...well its like that except times 50, ooo...i mean there is cotton everywhere...it is getting a lot better, but the first week you could hardly walk down the street without breathing it in...you would have been so mad!...

please lift up a few guys...ruslan, zhangir, rajuan, and sergay...these are some friends that need our father!!! thanks so much...

i gotta go, but i will post some more later on!

mom whats the deal with blinn/dts stuff?

much love

jon david

details from the week...

hey friends and fam-
wanted to check in let you know how everything is going...in short its going great...

in length...there are several themes running throughout our time so far: chess, cottonwood trees, the usual crazy asian driving, shashlik(awesome shish kebabs), english lessons, and sports, and heat! we had a couple of really nice days (wed-thurs), but the heat returned today! tomorrow we get to go to the beach with a few of our students and eat and chill! it should be sweet! except for the fact that the last beach we went to was more a like a really hot parking lot with lots of sharp rocks and some sand...i digress...

father has blessed us so much...several of our new friends have gotten the chance to hear about Him and i got the chance to play and share some songs about him! heck yeah! we trust his moving and working! thanks for your encouragement and i should be able to keep you informed more often because we just got email in our apartment! all these guys want to use this computer so i have to get off now but just know that you all are in my thoughts and i thank father for your support!!

nonnie- thanks so much for your "thoughts"...i really enjoyed playing speed scrabble with you a few weeks ago and if you wouldnt mind keeping your granddaughter out of too much trouble that would be much appreciated! i hope that i can visit with you about this place when i return!

jrod-bro...press on...study hard...give me money when you get out of school...yes...no...think about it?

kelly-you are so sweet!!

d.o.-i will prolly live with you in dallas yes?

mikey-if i dont like dallas i can live with you in cali? yes?

jody-i love you bro and i will call you asap!

wow...

this brings me back to last summer when it was so difficult to put into words what has happened and the things we have experienced...i will try my best, but most things/experiences i unknowingly compare with last summer so bear with me...

by now we are well into our first week of english club/sports camp with about 18 kazak dudes...they are a lot of fun, but teaching is difficult. we have five groups that are taught by the other five bros with me, while i am a floater. i basically just help explain things that may be confusing and check on each group progressively throughout the day. we teach from 10-1 and then go to lunch with the guys and then we teach the guys a different sport from 2-4pm. this proves a challenge as well. for example, today we taught american football...most of the guys have an idea of what football is like, because they have seen rugby on tv, so without hesitation they pass the ball several times each down...frustrating at first and then it just became hilarious because there was no stopping it. after camp we usually go home and clean up and are usually invited out on the town with some of the guys that we teach. this means that we leave the house at 9 and get to bed about 1230 or 1...kind of tiring when you are in a building without air conditioning all day and then play sports in the heat of the day...nonetheless we are having a great time and the ground is more fertile than i expected. many of the bros are very interested in us and we are beginning to find out which ones may be being drawn by father. a sweet thing to see...

us six live in an apartment in a city about of about 600000. it takes about 20 minutes to get anywhere and this place is very wealthy, although you wouldnt guess that at first glance. there is a big gap btw the classes here...you are either really rich or really poor. we are all getting along great and it has been a joy to live with these guys and watch their passion...i miss you all and like last summer it has been difficult to keep my heart here, but i know father has work here to be done. this place is very expensive, unlike china. we pay about 4 dollars for a taxi and the m's pay $900/month for a house without air conditioning! so, we have to cook many meals...shopping for food is hilarious, and i have a great time not being able to speak russian or kazak, but can communicate with a smile and a wave and maybe a comment like "i like you bro and thats ok if you cant talk to me" followed by a point to the potatoes i want...kinda like that...anyway, i am now a firm believer that you learn more about english by teaching english than you do by learning english...

i hope i can continue to keep in touch with you guys, but i will insert that the internet connections here are shaky at best...as we speak it smells of burnt fuses... or something...

so i should end this quick...i miss you and love you all...thank you for your prs and love and please continue to lift us up...a good pr would be that each team member finds specific guys to connect with so that we can share about our father!!!! we are trying to get email back at our apartment, but we arent sure yet if it will work. thanks for your posts they are reviving...

much love-

jon david

d.o.-youre crazy as a cat...and i didnt think about it being so hard to be without my traveling companion...

it is hard to not have you guys here...im tired of explaining my phrases and games...either way it has been sweet to pass them on...

mom and dad and jody...i love you!

safe and sound

hey guys-
not much time, but wanted to let you all know we are safe and sound with all the luggage and all the crew...hopefully will have time to tell you more later...thanks for the prs...

jon david

some late night/early morning thoughts...

well, its 315 in the morning the day before bcamp(why is it that the super chill "meditation" or "thought" always comes, with much more effect, really early or really late?)... and i have decided it best to let you guys begin pring for some specific things while we prepare to leave...
-that we would be servants in every sense of the word (jh 3.30)
-that we would be bold with tr*th!
-that we would let father move when we aren't wanting to(willing spirts)
-i just hope to be a team that is selfless and humble...a dangerous pr, but a needed one...
-that bcamp would be a time to prepare in sp*r*t***ly for the journey and the task.

thank you so much for thinking of us and im excited about this opportunity. ive hear a ton of talk of giving, and pring, and fixing s*nfulness, but not much talk of thankfulness...im not too good at that necessary aspect of c living so can we talk about that more? i am richly blessed and if i talked about it more and became more thankful maybe i wouldn't complain so much...i suppose the "becoming" would preceed the "talking" but nonetheless...it is a task that requires help or deprivation to complete im assuming...

thanks for your thoughts--

jon david