Andra Ramstead
Hey, my name is Andra Ramstead. This is my first year teaching 5 day clubs and i am really excited to see what God will do this summer. Prayer requests: (1) That i will not allow discouragement to get me down. (2) That i will trust God, wherever he leads. (3) That i will be able to calm down, when my thoughts are all over the place and i start to freak out.
Wow!! Tomorrow is the first day of the LAST week of 5-day clubs. One week left! This has been the fastest, best summer of my entire life so far! I can honestly say that I have never felt the joy of the Lord like this before! But even though I feel God’s joy and strength, the devil still finds a way to creep on in. today i have to admit i have started to feel slightly jealous of everyone with a partner. i have done a lot of weeks without a partner, and now, thinking of the last week i admit i have been wishing for a partner to make the last week fun and exciting. But i realized that this is where God wants me, this is where he wants all of us.
i know that God is going to be working this week, just like he has during all of the other weeks.
our summer is almost over, but the battle will not be over until the lord returns for us. stay strong this week. the devil will try to sneak in and take away the joy of the lord. it may be by sparking jealousy in your hearts, or it may be by causing you to be sick, maybe you won’t see any decisions in your clubs this week. but i know that i always have to remember and pray, God’s will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
praying for you all this week!
Prayer Requests:
That I will stay focused on the Lord and His work, and not let my mind wonder to the things that seem to make life fun and exciting. If God wants me to be teaching on my own this week, then that is what I will do. But I know it won’t be easy this week.
Thank you so so much to everyone who has prayed for me throughout the summer! Knowing that people are praying for me helps me so much! God is using your prayers!
Welp, first off i have to thank everyone who has been praying for me this summer, and especially this week! This week has just been FLYING by!
So, I’ll start off with Thursday of last week, that morning i awoke throwing up and feeling awful, however i still decided to go teach my clubs with Sarah Vatamaniuk (hope i spelt that correctly) and they did not go well for me. i felt sick the entire time and it was… rough.
so now lets jump to Monday of this week,which was not a good start for me. i woke up feeling very sick and was throwing up and just feeling awful. i immediately posted to the Facebook page that all of us workers are apart of, and asked for prayer. i ended up calling Nekaelly and asking her to teach my first club, she said yes and was absolutely amazing! i was so thankful for the extra hour to sleep! Nekaelly if your reading his, i want you to know how much that meant to me!!!
anyways, my clubs for that day ended up going well, however two out of my four clubs had no kids š but hey, God’s will be done, even if it makes no sense to me.
so Tuesday went well and then came wednesday. another morning of feeling awful and throwing up, however God totally gave me the strength to teach my clubs with exuberance.
again last night i felt sick, so i immediately took some meds and hit the sack and i felt great this morning! Thank you Jesus
So, not only have i not been feeling the greatest this week, but my whole family has been out of town. so it was a tougher week for me because i was missing them, feeling sick, and i was just exhausted from taking care of everything around the house.
But we serve an INCREDIBLE God, because yes, i have had my moments this week where i am just exhausted and feel like giving up, but when i would turn to God he gave me strength. there is no way on earth i would have made it through this week without the prayers of all of you and the amazing God that I serve!
My clubs have been going really well š my third club was cancelled because no kids showed up, and i expected the same with my fourth club. but on wednesday, the last chance for kids to come to the club before i cancel it, one little girl showed up. she is so sweet and im so happy she is coming! wasps were everywhere during that club so we had fun practicing the memory verses while running away from wasps! (there may have been a tad bit of screaming involved)
thank you again so much for praying for me and the other workers this week, and this summer. I know that each and every one of us needs that prayer! So thank you a million times over!!!
Prayer Requests
~ That kids will understand what I am talking about. Because I know God can give these kids understanding and soften their hearts.
~ That God would speak through me. I don’t want these kids to just here some cool stories, I want kids to be in awe of the great and amazing, Jesus Christ.
Hey š (This is about July 27-31 week)
My clubs all went well but on Monday and Tuesday after and before club i was just not feeling it. i was exhausted, i just felt like complaining, and i wasn’t happy. i realized on Wednesday that i had not been spending time with God. yes, i was doing devotions every morning, but i learned that that is not the same as spending time with God.
so on Wednesday i decided to spend time with God. i started waking up 2 1/2 hours early for my clubs the rest of the week so that i could wake up, get all my stuff ready, and then have lots of time to spend with god. even if it was just sitting on my bed in the stillness of the morning after reading my devotions.it really helped me to focus on God.
from Wednesday and after, my week was FANTASTIC!!!! i had renewed energy and joy. i loved my clubs and had a blast doing them. i came home each day happy, and i know that that was only because i made sure to spend time with God each morning.
i titled this entry a fool walks away because no matter how many times i learn this lesson, i keep on having to learn it again. when i spend time with God i have joy and the lords energy, when i don’t i feel weak and unhappy. yet after a little while i start to think that i can do it in my own strength and then God reminds me, “haha no you cant!”
i am a fool a lot of the time, and I’m so happy that god reminds me of that so i can get back on track with him š
P.S my clubs all went amazing! God was along side me the whole time, helping me so much!! Again i had a HUGE club with 45 kids which is one of my biggest fears, but each time God takes away my fear and gives me peace. Thank the Lord!!
Prayer Requests
That I will continue to fight against the Devils temptations. Many days I start to forget how important teaching these clubs are and I start to let myself complain and get grumpy, but I need to decide each day who I will serve. I know that the Devil is trying to hinder me from telling all these people about Jesus Christ.
God is working. Whether you see it or not, He is at work.
God has continued to test me throughout the 5-day clubs already! I had been praying for a partner so that I would not have to venture out on my own, at least for the first week. So when I took a look at my itinerary I was so happy to be partnered with Nekaelly! I was so happy that I did not have to go out on my own! But God had other plans I guess. Nekaelly ended up not being able to teach until today (Wednesday) because she was on a quizzing trip. So the first day, (Monday) I was absolutely terrified! I felt sick to my stomach, and I almost cried. But God definitely taught me that i can do all things through him who gives me strength.
Normally, I don’t work with kids a lot. They drain me and that is not where I am talented at all. So when god called me to teach 5-day clubs I was kind of shocked. So I definitely learned that God does not always use us where we are strong. He likes to put us in places where we have to rely on him for strength. Just like he made Gideon’s army tiny so that all the glory would go to god, he does that to us.
Also, Gideon was a coward. God told him to go where he was most vulnerable, leading an army.
God definitely took me out of my comfort zone, first working with kids, second of all not having a partner. But now I feel so comfortable going to my clubs and I know that that is only because of God. He has continued to give me renewed strength! Itās crazy!
Thank you God!!
God answered my prayer by telling me to wait. I was going to have a partner, but first I had to rely on him to get me through the days until Nekaelly came.
Don’t be afraid or angry when god says wait, he is doing it for your good. Now I am so happy that god had me teach on my own first, so that I could see how much I needed him.
So many kids have asked Jesus into their hearts already!! I think there has been 11 kids so far!! I am so excited about what God is doing! Itās crazy! I honestly canāt get over how incredible God is!! There are so many days that I think “I totally just butchered that story and invitation” and then the kids still raise their hands wanting to ask Jesus into their hearts to forgive them and save them.
You don’t have to be a good story teller (not saying you shouldn’t give it your all) but God will work through you if you just say yes. Go where he leads you and he will work it all out for his will.
I am still afraid sometimes when I go to a club, but God continues to give me peace when I ask for it. It is so comforting to know that God, who made everything, is there with me.
I had this one little girl come to one of my clubs, where she accepted Jesus into her heart. I then asked her if she had a Bible at her house and she told me that she didn’t, so I gave her a Bible. She had the biggest smile on her face and she was so happy! Honestly I just want to thank God for working in all the kids hearts! I love to see the joy on their face when they ask Jesus to forgive them and ask Him into their hearts!
I am a soldier.
I was thinking last night as i swept the floor at the french press (my second job) about how I am fighting a war. This is a spiritual war. All unsaved people are going to Hell. It’s not a fun truth and I don’t necessarily like to say it out loud, but it is the truth. If we have not accepted Jesus’ free gift of salvation we are not able to go to heaven.
All the kids, teens, and adults that we are teaching in these 5-day clubs are going to Hell if they are not saved. Satan has these people in his grasp. My job as a soldier is to free them.
I thought of how soldiers on earth go to war and fight, they get tired, they get discouraged, just like we will this summer.
Every morning we need to make a choice. Who will we serve? If we are fighting for God, we haveĀ to give it our all. If that means waking up early and being super enthusiastic, then that is what we must do. we cant go half-ers.
Every morning I need to put on the full armor of God. He has given me this armor for a reason, and that’s because we need it.
I am a person who loves symbolism. For my birthday I received a cross necklace. Small, not super noticeable, except to me. I take it off every night before i go to sleep, and in the morning i make a choice. I pick up the necklace and put it on, and to me, this symbolizes me making a choice to serve God. To be part of his army and to fight with everything I have. It may seem silly to some people, but this is how I make sure I make the choice every morning before I begin my day.
One last thing. In war, soldiers get exhausted. They may feel as if they cant go on, and we may feel like this to this summer, but we have a huge advantage! And that is Jesus, he will renew our strength to do his will. And we never have to do it on our own, EVER!!
Alright, so I’m throwing it back to training week (since the blog wasn’t up and i couldn’t post but really wanted to)
Week one: day one
Well, I realized that God does not always do what we want. I mean, I knew that, but he reminded me of it, and also Satan is wanting to discourage us from spreading the good news.
One of my worst fears going into teaching 5 day clubs was that I would have a group with tons of kids and I wouldnāt know what to do! I figured however, that the first day of the first week would not be insanely busyā¦
ā¦ā¦..
As me, jenny, and crystal (My partners sent from above) set up our equipment I was relieved because there were no kids waiting for us when we arrived, as I was thinking this to myself, our hostess came and said they were just coming back from the parkā¦ a little worrisome, but I figured, 7 kids can play at a park and its fun, so maybe there are only 7ā¦. Well, a few minutes later I heard kids. Lots of them. I looked up and saw them running, and biking towards of, a crowd of them. I donāt remember what I thought in that moment, it was probably something like, āLord help me.ā We ended up having I think 17-20 kids in our club.
Not only did we have lotss of kids, but some of them did not speak English and quite a few of them were muslim. I was so happy that we had muslim kids at our club so that they could hear about jesuss, but it definetly made it a new challenge.
the clu8b went well and i think we had like 5 decisions that first day!
however, after that club i was discouraged. I didn’t know why.
we finished on time, everything went well, the kids listened fairly well, and we even had some decisions!! but i came home an was discouraged. and i realized that it was the devil trying to discourage me. i also realized that Satan is going to be doing what he can to stop us from telling these kids about Jesus.
i just want to encourage you, when you are feeling discouraged, scared, or tired, call out to God. he is bigger and stronger than Satan and will give you the strength to go on.
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