happy happy december!

Yes...I'm still alive...life is just crazy as always!

The weekend of November 14th was Parent's weekend! My mom and dad came down from Sabetha, KS on Friday evening and stayed until Sunday afternoon. They met lots of my friends and classmates and were able to tour the Island. We had a great time shopping, eating out, visiting my favorite Branson hot spots, and enjoying the absolutely gorgeous weather.

The following week was leadership week at KI, we heard from Hollis Jones, CEO of Entrusted Leadership. Thoughts from Wednesday's class:

The Platform of Leadership

Romans 13:1: Every Christ follower has a “Platform” entrusted to them by God.

“Platform of leadership”: the position a leader stands upon whereby others publicly recognize a leader’s authority to lead. God will give you multiple platforms throughout your life, where you have authority. The question is, what are you going to do with it? You will have

-high points (promotion, family life great, emotions in check, etc)

-low points (get fired, removed from platform, non-responsive followers, etc) – produces anxiety, stress, etc.

We cannot let the emotions of our platforms of leadership dictate our emotions

Your identity in life is tied to Jesus Christ, it is not tied to whatever platform you are currently on. If you are removed from that, your self worth and value and identity should stay the same because you are not tied to that.

-Galatians 2:20 → A Christian's identity rests in Christ, not his or her platform of leadership

Every position of leadership provides a platform for a leader to engage in the mission of multiplying disciples of Jesus Christ.

Monday evening, my friend Caroline and I had the privilege of meeting Leesa Marie's grandparents, who were visiting Branson with friends...AKA the entire tour bus! We had dinner at the Grand Country Buffet, chatted with all our new friends, then proceeded to see The Twelve Irish Tenors. Unbelievable. In so many ways! We had such a great time, being the youngest ones there by at least 3 decades. When our bus arrived, one of the Tenors, Jay, came onto our bus and introduced himself, then proceeded to lead us to our seats in the auditorium. He was born in Galway, Ireland, then moved to London when he was a boy. You could definitely pick out the Irish/English accent he had. The show was so crazy...a bit cheesy because it is Branson, but the guys on stage were just out of control. Jay was such a trip, he was always winking or shaking a little something extra. We had a blast, laughed a lot. I knew some of the words to the Irish songs they sang...the night really made me miss the country of Ireland, as well as my friends there. A lot. Hopefully I will get to go back sometime soon. Or maybe I will move there, who knows :)

Our study of Abraham's life in Precepts is pretty amazing. A theme that keeps reoccurring is trust...we are in Genesis 20, discussing the faith of Abraham, how he was so solid in his faith even though he could not see. The study referenced Romans 4:13, “For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations"—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, "So shall your offspring be." He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was "counted to him as righteousness." But the words "it was counted to him" were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.”

Pretty awesome.This really hits home for me. I want my life to be modeled after Abraham. As it says in the passage, in hope he believed against hope...he did not weaken in faith, no distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. Do we really believe that nothing is too difficult for God? When it comes down to it, in our real life situations and circumstances...do we really believe this? I have been challenged the past few weeks by this question.

I finally finished my Bible Overview project and taught my portion (Creation) to the panel. I was pretty nervous but it went really well. The rest of that week we had lecture over the Kings and Chronicles of the Northern and Southern Kingdom of Israel and Judea. I know, I know...it sounds boring but it was actually really interesting. November 15-19 was also homecoming week at KI! We had spirit/dress up days and a powder puff football tournament (our team name was "Whiteous Sistas") on Friday night. It was pretty intense, yet super fun...especially with a hoe-down to wrap up the night!

Our Institute class helped celebrate the marriage ceremony of Ben Seiler and Jenny Christian on November 20. Congratulations to you both!

Thanksgiving break came and went, and now we have about 1 week left until Christmas break. I literally cannot believe how fast time is flying. This past week we learned about the prophets from Chuck Silva. I feel like this is an area many people/churches tend to skip over, but it was interesting to learn the symbolism behind the prophesies and to read about God's promises. It was some deep stuff!

Happy December to you all, better get on that shopping...23 days til Christmas!

november...already?!

I seriously cannot believe it is November already....where did October (my favorite month) go?!

Life has been buzzing 24/7 here at the Kanakuk Institute. Last week was evangelism week, we were challenged to really be intentional in genuinely caring about people we meet out in public, as well as our loved ones around us. It is so easy to stay in our comfortable bubble, but Christ calls us to go and love others and spread the gospel to those who do not know him. To put this into practice, we went out into the community on Thursday. I was able to visit a local retirement home, where I visited with 3 different women. It was very interesting to hear their stories...one in particular sticks out, because she grew up in Bern, Kansas and her father owned the sale barn, which is just up the road from where my parents live. She was familiar with some of the Bern/Sabetha last names I name-dropped...small world!! Another lady I talked to was a woman who was 92... she was pretty depressed with health concerns, and recent losses of family members. I was able to encourage her from Romans 5 and pray with her. She was much more pleasant towards the end of the conversation and she even smiled as she thanked me for talking with her. I hope to return soon to visit my new friends. :)

Class bonfire/cookout/testimony night!

Class work, my internship, and my small group Bible study have also been keeping me busy these last few weeks. I have been working on my Precepts Bible study on the life of Abraham, my Bible Overview project, and my student speech that I presented this past Tuesday. It was geared toward 5^th - 6^th grade girls and was titled, “Stayed Plugged into God: Illuminate the Son!”. I talked about being a light for Jesus, and built my talk around Matthew 5:13-16 → “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” I created handouts that served as Bible bookmarks which emphasized how we are to GO and make disciples, BE the salt and the light of the earth, and DO all things that are good, true, and right. The speech went pretty well, and was actually fun to deliver. It will also come in handy as material for my small group or Awana group.

Tim came into town this past weekend and we went to an October birthday celebration/costume party Friday night...we dressed up as Jim and Pam from The Office. There were many interesting costumes and characters at the party...it was great! :)

Jim and Pam. So great :)

Awesome costumes!

One of my favorites...rock, paper, scissors!

On Sunday, October 31, we celebrated the end of our current Western theme at church. The kids had the privilege of meeting Cowboy Travis and Texas Jack...a 2,000 pound Texas longhorn steer that has been tamed by Cowboy Travis. Travis shared the message of salvation as well as the story of Texas Jack. All the kids (and adults!) absolutely loved it.

Cowboy Travis and Texas Jack.

FBC Branson Children's Ministry Interns (me, Ben, Denise) with our Director, Teresa.

Every other Wednesday, we meet at the KI chapel to worship and listen to a speaker...it is so encouraging every week. This time, Bruce Morgan spoke on truth and knowledge and how all of it is useless unless applied. It definitely hit home for many of us. James 1:22-25 says, “ Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.” This is an instruction from God to go and do, even when we think we know better ...Bruce had a great message, but one idea really stuck with me, “If my relationship with Him is out of love, I will obey. If I hesitate or refuse, I must love something more than Him”. Bruce challenged us to quit making it harder than it is, just Go and Do, Trust and Obey. We need to wake up every morning and remind ourselves of who we are and what a great God we serve!

Wednesday night, all of us went out to an open field close to KI and listened to “Under the Stars” with Joe White . He wowed us with facts about the universe and how awesome our Creator is. Truly incredible and unforgettable.

This past week, Chad Hampsch has been lecturing on Church History. It may sound boring, but it has been SO interesting to see how the church first developed and has changed throughout the centuries. I do love history, so I was very intrigued with the material this week.

I am so blessed and thankful I have the opportunity to be here at the Institute. God is teaching me so much!

Stay tuned next week for an overview on the upcoming weekend festivities... :)

happy happy autumn days...

I just want to start off by saying that this fall in the Ozarks has been simply incredible. Granted, I have never lived in this part of the country during fall...but I cannot image a better season. Currently, it is 72 degrees, sunny with a slight breeze. Amazing. God's creation blows me away.

After our Bible Overview test last week, we began our Apologetics class by watching "The Truth Project" video series. We made it through about 6 lessons last week, and they will show the rest of the series at a later date. The videos were challenging and interesting and dug down to the core of many controversial topics and why we, as Christians, believe what we believe.

On Friday, I went home for the first time since moving to Branson. Tim and I were able to spend some time together Friday evening...we made hummus and spinach/feta/pear salad and had a little picnic :) I stayed with my dear friends, Candace and Michael Glass that night and then headed to my parents' house Saturday with Tim. After some good family bonding, it was time for the 4th annual Sabethapalooza! It was quite a success and SO WONDERFUL to see all my friends from college (love you all!), along with some new faces (you're great too!). A variety of activities kept everyone busy throughout the evening, including "bull" riding, man/woman-powered tractor pull, "scary" hay rack ride, an appearance by 2 hillbillies, and cannot forget the rat hunt...which was not very successful yet again (the rats must have taken a vacation). Oh well, there is always next year!

Everyone on the trailer, ready for the ride!

Jon Vogel, ready to ride the bull!
My brother, Broc, showing us all how it's done...and putting everyone else to shame!


On Sunday, I was fortunate enough to be able to attend Lauren's baptism at Fellowship Bible Church. Lauren has pretty much been my little sister for the past 6 years... I have watched her grow and change into an incredible woman of God, so I was excited to be present on Sunday. What an amazing day! Lunch with close friends made the day even better, and I headed back to Branson later that afternoon.

Reunited around the bonfire!

Sweet friends

This week is marriage/relationship week here at KI. We having been learning from the best of the best: Bob Paul, Gary Smalley, Greg Smalley, Gary Oliver, and Dick Mohline. Topics have included: marriage, conflict, anger, emotions, and relationships. We have been assigned to write a paper analyzing 4 marriage in the Bible and how we would fix them. Should be interesting! We have also been working on our Bible Overview project which will be due in November. We are making an outline of the entire Bible in a 12 week teaching format. More than just an assignment, this project will be very useful for teaching the Bible to people in the future.

Tonight we are all going to Bull Creek for a cookout and bonding time. It will be good to relax before people start their weekend activities. Tomorrow, I'm going to watch some of my small group girls play volleyball and soccer, then teaching Sunday School on Sunday. I'm hoping to get some more work done on my Bible Overview project and Precepts Bible Study (the life of Abraham).

Is it really almost the end of October?! Insane. I want to end by sharing the link to this song, it's my current favorite. Translation: current favorite means that I will listen to it on repeat pretty much 24/7 for the next 7-10 days, then a new song will become my "current favorite".

Happy weekend, everyone!

Copy and paste the link...enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=au3EGgISYMc&ob=av2e

what a wonderful week!

First off, I thought I would share our official class photo, which was taken last week. It turned out great! You can click on all the photos to enlarge them.



So I realize it has been awhile since I have posted anything, it's been a whirlwind of a week! I have been trying to spend a good amount of time outside...it is definitely fall here in the Ozarks. The weather has been changing but still staying in the upper 60s to mid-80s, we have had many of what I like to call "perfect autumn days". I'm so blessed to live in such a beautiful place to enjoy God's creation.

This past week in class, Keith spoke to us about developing our vision statement. Basically, a vision statement is taking a step back to evaluate your life and figure out what you want to accomplish, how you expect to fulfill what God has called you to do, and why you are bringing these dreams to reality. I have always had sort of a mental vision statement, but it was good to be able to work through some of that on paper. Your calling does not necessarily have to be your occupation, yet oftentimes these overlap, which is great because everything is about discipleship...God calls us to make disciples of all nations. I feel like at this point, some of us still do not know what exactly we want to do when we "grow up", but our calling as Christians is to be all there and to be the best, wherever God takes us. Pretty exciting, if you ask me :)

The rest of the week was spent listening to Mitch Maher walk through the Bible. At this point, we have read "30 days to understanding the Bible" by Max Anders, heard a week of teaching from Karen Chancey, and a week from Mitch Maher. I think it's been very helpful to hear the same material taught in 3 different ways. On Friday, we began our Precepts discussion groups. We are doing our inductive study on the life of Abraham, which is really interesting so far! I'm excited to dig deeper in understanding of the Scriptures that I have always just merely read over.

Friday was a monumental day....I turned 25 :) I woke up that morning and my roommates, Sarah, Courtney, and Addie had decorated my room with posters and balloons and baked me a cake! They made me a "healthy cake"...it was only Sprite and cake mix...yum.


A few of us girls went to lunch at one of my favorite places here in Branson...it's a Mediterranean Deli called Vaskens!

On top of all the love I got from my incredible KI family, I received many phone calls, texts messages, and cards from my family and friends. Thanks everyone :)

And to make things even better....Tim came to visit for the weekend. :) He arrived Friday night and we went to dinner at the Candlestick Inn, a delightful little restaurant with a fantastic view of Lake Taneycomo. The specialty that night was kangaroo...and though it was tempting (ha!), I opted for the vegetable wellington and Tim ordered chicken cordon bleu. After our dinner, we headed to the Landing. I really didn't know what was going on but knowing Tim, I knew it was something special! :) After we parked at the Landing, he pulled out a cooler from the back...he had brought gelato (he knows how much I love gelato) packed in ice all the way from Kansas City! Since it was such a beautiful night, we took our gelato (lemon, chocolate, and strawberry with fruit toppings) and ate it on the landing in front of the water and fire show. It was wonderful.



Saturday we went to get coffee at my favorite little coffee shop, Vintage Paris. I studied a bit, as I had our Bible Overview test on Monday...then we went to lunch at Vaskens. Did I mention I love that place?! That afternoon, we went to see some of my small group girls play volleyball at the RecPlex, then hit up the Tanger Outlets for some shopping.

Later that evening, we met up with a bunch of Institute people at a favorite BBQ dive, Danna's, then onto another Institute fave for dessert...Andy's frozen custard. Delicious.


On Sunday, we went my church (FBC Branson) then met up with more KI friends for lunch. Studying filled most of the afternoon followed by another visit to the Landing. It's great to be able to enjoy this awesome weather. Monday was the big test, which turned out to be quite alright! We also began our Apologetics class with lesson one of "The Truth Project", which is what we will be watching and discussing all this week. We had lunch with my dear friend Sam at Sugarleaf, and browsed around the Kris Kringle Christmas Shops (Branson loves Christmas!) Later that afternoon, we were able to take a drive through the Ozarks to a fun lookout point, visit a fish hatchery, and have dinner at the Bleu Olive...another Mediterranean delight. It was a perfect ending to a wonderful weekend. :)

Until next time...

playing a little catch up from the past 3 weeks...

Welcome to my blog :) I have decided to keep this blog, documenting what I'm doing and learning over the next several months. I am doing this so that my friends and family will be able to keep up with all the happenings in my life, and to answer the seemingly ever-present question of..."Ok, so WHERE is Asha and WHAT exactly is she doing?!”

Our team for flag football, soccer, and ultimate!

Where I am now:

To start, I want to explain where I am, what I am doing, and the reasoning behind it all. Number one, no... I'm not going to seminary and no...I'm not going to become a minister. :) As many of you know, I moved to Branson, Missouri on September 11 to attend the Kanakuk Institute. (www.kanakukinstitute.com). Basically, it is a 7 month program consisting of graduate level courses designed to equip men and women with Biblical skills for a lifetime of ministry. This year will be all about the study of God’s Word, the teaching of the Word, and the application of the Word. Before the end of the year we will walk from Genesis to Revelation and I will have put together my own belief statement of what I believe about all the major topics of the Bible. At the same time I will be involved with an internship at First Baptist Church Branson, in the Children's Ministry department. There will be plenty of interesting challenges in the coming months, but I have already experienced so much growth and I'm excited to see what the Lord will do in the future!
I worked at K-Kauai with Callae last summer.

The background story:

I felt called to attend the Kanakuk Institute after hearing about it while working at K-Kauai family kamp last summer. (http://www.kanakukfamilykamp.org/). K-Kauai is the home of family kamp during the summer, and the Kanakuk Institute during the fall and spring. I knew this program would be an amazing opportunity to dive into the Word and learn all I can to prepare me for whatever God has in store for my future...right now I plan on going back to working as a PTA after graduation in April, but...you just never know. What I do know is that I will not regret taking this “time-out” period in my life in order to grow more in my relationship with Jesus.
A few of the girls climbing around the waterfall.

Since I've been here:

It has been 3 weeks since I moved to Branson, but it feels like I have been here for much longer. We have about 60 people in our class and they have become such incredible brothers and sisters to me already. Just hearing their testimonies and learning more about their hearts each and everyday has been amazing. These are some legit people. :) I have a roommate, Sarah (graduated from Texas Christian University), and 2 suite mates, Courtney (graduated from Baylor) and Addie (graduated from the University of Georgia). There are a number of southern people here, from Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama, Texas...so lots of southern accents and flavors hoppin' around this place! I love it though, we have had such a blast so far. I absolutely love everyone in my class, they are so much fun! A few nights ago, a group of us went to get some sushi on the strip...can't remember the last time I laughed that hard. Even though I have only known them for 3 weeks, it feels like much longer. I'm looking forward to the upcoming year :) Oh, side note...there are TONS of awesome-looking restaurants here that I cannot wait to try! The foodie in me is going to be in heaven these next several months!

Our entire class at the beginning of the hike in Arkansas!

Swing dancing under a full moon!

Getting started:

The first week was orientation week. We went hiking in Arkansas, had themed parties, a Branson scavenger hunt, played lots of sports, went roller skating, etc. It was a great way to get to know each other...and make lots of memories! The second week marked the beginning of classes, and David Lawson started us off by teaching about Precepts, which is a way of studying the Bible inductively by marking words with symbols and colors. It may sound a bit juvenile, but it is actually very helpful in gathering main ideas, repetition/importance of words, general concepts, and people.
Roommates! Sarah and I at Skate Jam.

The second speaker was Bob Cornuke (widely known as a real life Indiana Jones), who searches for evidence of biblical events and artifacts. He joined us at the end of the week and talked about his adventures in the Middle East - his quest to find Mt. Sinai, the Ark of the Covenant, and Noah's Ark. His stories and video footage were mesmerizing.

This week was the second full week of classes. Karen Chancey spent all week teaching us Bible Overview, which was SO AWESOME. We are going through each book of the Bible, but staying on the “highway” and just getting the big picture of significant people, places, dates, and events of each book. It sounds simple enough, but let me just tell you that it was pretty much like trying to take a drink from a fire hose on full blast. I have realized that I have never really studied an overview of the Bible, it has always a chapter/part of a chapter, and sermons in churches are always on a section or verse of the Bible. So it is extremely helpful and interesting to see how everything fits together and how the decisions of one person affected many others on down the line. I even have a color-coded time line of important people, events, dates, and when each book of the Bible was written. It was AMAZING to see how everything fits together. We are going to do our own Bible Overview project and will teach a segment of it to the class in November. This will be good for each of us to dive into the Bible first hand and produce an overview in our own words. I can't believe I have never realized how exciting the Bible really is. Thursday afternoon, we had a “Stewardship” class, more of a Q&A on budgeting and good use of money. Always good information, especially for all of us mid-twenty-something-year-olds. :)

Yesterday (Friday), I had my first small group at FBC. Another leader and I will be doing Bible study with 5th/6th grade girls every Friday until April...I'm so excited. The girls are really great and I look forward to getting to know them even better over the next several months!

This weekend is the Branson High School homecoming, so lots of festivities. Go Pirates!

At the BHS Homecoming Pep Rally on the Landing.