Hello Everyone!

As most of you know, I've recently started my second year on Encounter Revival Ministries. We are just finishing up week 1 of training camp for the new year and it's going well so far. 

This past week we've already started learning 6 songs, a few of which I've been wanting to learn ever since first hearing about the team. We will continue learning songs for the remainder of the 5 weeks of training camp as well as continuing throughout the entire year. 

Classes are already well under way as well. We've started making our way through K.P. Yohannan's "The Road to Reality" with worksheets for every chapter to make sure we are reading with comprehension. One quote that Yohannan made from another author is: "If self is on the throne, the Christ is on the cross. If Christ is on the throne, then self is on the cross." K.P. then goes on to say "Accepting death to my ego is the only way to manifest the life of Christ. Putting my 'self' to death is the only way to exchange my life for His." 

Along with classes leading us through "The Road to Reality" we also have classes covering the topic of Life Management. Ardy Parlin (the founder and director of the ministry) defines life management as this: "Personal development and control that leads to productivity and effectiveness." So, our life management class covers many different aspects of life, all of which are extremely helpful for young adults to hear and learn. 

All year long the importance of time management will be stressed as well. Ardy's definition of this topic is: "The discipline to carefully plan and invest each moment for productivity, accomplishment, and effectiveness." This topic is one that all of the team members and myself (along with everybody else in the world) are always practicing, whether we realize it or not. How we choose to spend our time is what makes up our lives, and every choice takes up time. 

We've also begun classes introducing us to our kids and teens ministries as well as our drama ministry. I will get more into that when our training in those areas is more in depth. Speech class is beginning this next week! Those of you who know me well know that this class is in no way a strong point of mine. But this year is all about getting out of my comfort zone, so here goes! 

For those of you who aren't familiar with the team's schedule, here's a rough sketch of a day here at our home base during training camp.

7:00 - out of bed, clean dorm

8:15 - breakfast

8:45-9:45 - personal quiet time 

9:45-12:00 - classes

12:00 - lunch

12:45-3:45 - rehearsal

3:45-4:30 - children/teen ministries

4:30-5:30 - free time/study time

5:30 - supper

7:00 - "The Road to Reality" class

8:30-10:00 - fellowship/study time

10:00 - either dorm devotions or team prayer 

11:00 - lights out

Now, obviously this schedule is rough and every day is not exactly the same; but this does give you an idea of what a normal day looks like for us. 

Now, as we prepare for another full week ahead, I would appreciate it if you would keep us in your prayers in the following ways:

#1- Focus. It's extremely easy to get into a routine when you're living day-to-day by a schedule. Please pray that we would stay enthusiastic and alert in classes and rehearsal so we can best learn as we prepare for being on the road. It's also extremely easy to get distracted whether it's by people or situations. It's so, so easy to let your mind wander while sitting in class or going over the same part in rehearsal. Please pray that our minds and hearts would be focused on why we are here: to serve and learn more about God. 

#2 - Finances. This is the hardest time of the year for the ministry financially. Getting a group of 20+ people onto the road is not cheap, so please be in prayer as each of us works to raise our finances for the year. If you don't know, each team member will raise around a total of $5,400 by the end of the year. Our training camp fee of $850, book fee of $150, monthly fee of $200, and missions trip fee of around $2,000.

Thank you all for your prayers and thank you for those of you that have supported me. I wouldn't be here without you. I hope this helped to give you a brief glimpse of our lives during training camp!

In Christ,
Anna