BracePlaceCreations - Shalisha's Blog

Summer Updays

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 19:21:28 -0800

To all my dear ones!
It is just over a month since I have returned from Norway to my beloved home in the mountains. Of late I have been babysitting two boys from church, working with the Ransomed (youth group at Davidson Baptist) and volunteering at Camp Nathanael. In my free time I have been working hard on getting things prepared for my freshman year at the University of Kentucky.
This is the main stream of my life and what is taking most of my time and energy. Through these summer events God is still working. I am fulfilling His plan for my life. It is so different from what I have come to know at my DTS. Through my return God has taught that He wishes me to know how to minister in different cultures, different lifestyles, different places. I will be stepping into a situation to which I have never been. Interesting, No?

Snow Caving and an Easter Break

Sat, 09 Jul 2011 16:03:05 -0800

First night we slept in a tent . To make is cozy we dug a small way for us to stand.

Building the snow cave! This about took a full day.

FInished product. What Art Work!

Here are some memories of this spring. Enjoy. This is the place where God changed my life.

Beginning of Easter break. Train ride from Bodø to Sandes. This equals like a day and half train ride.

Sandes.

The Last Big Adventure in Norway

Fri, 13 May 2011 19:55:53 -0800

How tragic that this shall be one of my last updates of my time in Europe. Oh, the
sadness over whelms me! Actually, I am enjoying these last weeks at Nordtun
tremendously! Spring is here and that means warm sunny days-not typical in the
north or Norway-the trees blooming, and little white and yellow flowers
everywhere. Really I think that spring the most amazing time of the year!!

Spring came just in time of Nordtun's last out door trip. This time the theme
was island hopping. We backpacked to four islands and climbed amazing mountains
that over looked an endless stretch of Norwegian Sea and islands. As some of
you may have noticed on my facebook status the sun now never completely sets.
So that means more energy!! It is amazing how the weather can affect your body.
This is true. Last night I stayed up until one and decided, Okay, it is really
late I need to go to bed. This with so much energy that is took me almost an
hour to go to bed after I was there. Ah, God is so creative!

Back on topic. The last day of the ten day hiking trip was my favorite...this
day I also was very much sun burned. Oh, so sad no more Greenlandic tan ;)

.... We, the students, split up into groups on the island of Traena. One group went to the old folk’s home, one went on a prayer walk and my group went to the local grade school. My group took on the challenge of having a P.E. class with ten year olds while we were waiting for the class to finish their studies. We went to the Kindergarten recess time. These kids were so CUTE!!! I instantlymade friends with a boy from Sri Lanka. I read some Norwegian books to him. :) I don’t think he could tell the difference.

Switching over to P.E. Class, we played Capture the flag and a host of other team
building games. After the games were over, Brian-from Canada- gave and analogy
of how this applies to our lives with God. The rest of the day we were on Traena
we had a barbecue with the youth as well as playing MORE GAMES!! WHOOO! ---
There were a couple girls that I stuck close to for that day. One in particular
was named Sarah. She took me home to see her pets and walked with me around the
island. At the end of the day I walked her home. She was sad that we were only
staying for one day and wished for me to come back next year. I am so touched
by these children that are longing to be loved. I gave her multiple hugs and
thanked her for an amazing day. I pray that God will keep this day in her heart
and that this will give Him the opportunity to work in her heart.

So, almost two weeks hiking/ministry was pretty much amazing! Good
combination, I think. Only you might want to just hang around with kids after
not taking a shower for a couple days. They are more understanding I think.
:)

Catching up to today, which is Friday 13th, everyone is preparing for a weekend
overnight for the youth in this area called DIVE. The theme is Rock Solid
Foundations. We had one of these in the fall with around forty kids. This time
we have around...five. Yup, five. But that is okay since we will be able to
pour more into these five kids than if there were forty. My jobs for this
weekend is cleaning toilets and presenting a devotion on Sunday morning. The
devotion focuses on having your foundation on Christ and how to deal with the
rest of the world. I am having fun putting it together. I think that I will
throw in Rebel by Lecrea. Good message by the way if you have never listened.
All in all we here at the base is praying that God will be glorified by this
weekend.

The last two weeks of the DTS will be teaching. Teaching focused on
how to live after aDTS and a debrief time to process everything that we have
learned. This is pretty cool->the teacher of the last week will be the
head of YWAM Norway! I know his name but I am not exactly sure how to spell
it norsk-ish.

Well that is pretty much all the big things that are going on in the remainder
of my DTS. I will be flying into MI on the 30th of May and Lord willing I will
be landing in Grand Rapids at 5:3o in the afternoon. So that is something to be
praying for-which I know you will. Please also be praying for the kids that we
met on the island of Traena (especially Sarah) and the students coming to the
DIVE weekend. Thank you for all the prayers. I know that you won't stop praying
for me even after I am back safe in the states; so for that I am extremely
thankful. :)

Looking forward to seeing all of your beautiful faces once more! Live for Jesus
with all your heart because it is the most amazing thing
EVER! Phil. 1.20

Shalisha Brace

Just Keep Her in Your Prayers

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 07:55:47 -0800

It's Youth With A Mission and High Adventure. I am glad Shalisha is back in Norway. She called Monday. We talked for a good 45 minutes. She wanted to get on skype that night, but Nate and I were up on the mountain clearing some trails. Wish I would have cut that short and been back in time to talk to her.

She said this week they were going on another adventure. This time it was snow caving. Don't know exactly what that is, but sometimes mom's get going with too many crazy thoughts. II Corinthians 10:5 "Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself againsdt the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ."

The safest place for our children to be is in God's will.

Update...Remembering Greenland Adventures

Sat, 02 Apr 2011 17:00:55 -0800

WELL, I am back in the swing of the things. Back to the normal at Nordtun. YUP YUP. Here is a long awaited update of the last week in beloved Greenland.

We left Iluisaat and stayed the weekend in Aasiaat. On Monday we flew out to Qeqertarsuaq...in other words this place is called Disko Island. :)   The name is pretty
awesome and so was our experience. The team said it was the best of all weeks experienced during this outreach. Truly it was.

The first week the team and I reached out in the form of street evangelism. Erik, Team leader, contacted some evangelical nuns in Germany who had translated encouragements, prayers, and Bible verses into Greenlandic.  This was such a blessing seeing that Greenlandic is NOT on Google translator! LAME.

We handed these out to many people, some receiving with gladness. Others probably threw them away the next time they came near a trash can, BUT, as long as they
started thinking about our heavenly Father, the time and paper was well spent.

The next week was the most intense week ever! I absolutely loved it! The few Christians
that were there wanted to have a meeting with the community. So, to some team member’s fear we committed to this project. We decided to have meetings for six days in a row. Each night we would have worship, a devotion, and prayer. We made posters and hung them up around the town. I think there were about 5000-7000 people living there.

When walking around and seeing Gods amazing creation we would invite people we met on the street to come at 7:00. The Meetings were amazing! The attendance ranged from
20 to 30 people. All of these stuffed in a small town hall, where we were sleeping.

The first evening was focused on the Gospel! Else, from Finland, and I gave a clear
presentation of the Gospel message. Oh the wonder of our Savior that He would
let me do this to the far-reaches of the Earth! The rest of the week different
team members spoke. The themes were two nights of "being a disciple",
a prayer meeting, Tiaze, (Taize is a french monestary. It is with really pretty singing ,
bible reading, praying and quiet time. In the end we partake in communion. This
type of meeting style is from that monestery so that is why it is called taize. I
have some of the music on my MP3. Very pretty.) and a wonderful community dinner.

During these two weeks I saw God working in our team’s lives and the lives of the
Greenlandic people. The encouragement we left with them was the hope of them to
get together by themselves as the Church of Christ. This was the great passion our
team had as we were leaving.

To finish this week our helicopter canceled and we had to suffer and stay in a hotel.
Each of us had our own room and bathroom and shower! Let me tell you not being
able to sleep on the floor in Aasiaat was such a disappointment. ;) This night, I am sure, God was giving us a gift. Oh, it was WONDERFUL!

Our trip home was delightful too. We stopped in Copenhagen at a hostel enjoying the warm weather and then jumped to Norway. All in all a smooth quick trip back!

Thank you for all the prayers as I was on this mission trip. Don’t worry, I have many
more stories, and I am sure will be sharing them the rest of my life.

SO this week at Nordtun we have teaching about Spiritual warfare. Very Enlightening I must say. This week is challenging and making me think about things that have never come to mind before. WOO! KNOWLEGDE!

This weekend the base will be heading out to our mini-outreaches that we
started last semester. Compared to main outreach this will be cake. yum! To remind all those who have forgotten this amazing place, two other students and I took a drive south from here to a town called Nesna. This semester we have a schedule all worked out. This prepared before we even set foot on Nesna soil. It is wonderful to have a schedule! WOoo! I will give a update on how the week went when I get back.

The week after that is an outdoor adventure week! This time the theme is SNOW CAVING! This includes building a snow cave! SKIING! and trying to keep warm for a couple nights. Brrr. I am sure parents will appreciate prayers of safety for this week.

Guess WHAT! Only two more months until I see most of you guys again! WAAAA!
Crazy right? I know! If you want to see me at the airport you can talk to mom and
dad about the time and give me an amazing welcome home song or dance or
something. Hehehe. I want to thank all those who sent me packages and
encouragements over the beginning of this year. I shared some of the candy with
my fellow students, who as you could probably guess, were extremely
thankful. THANKS!

I can’t wait to see everyone! Until then, I am still keeping busy learning and
working in the name of the Jesus Christ my Savior.

Deuteronomy 31.6 "Be Strong and of good courage. Do not be fear nor be afraid of them for the Lord, your God, He is the one who goes with you. He will never leave you, nor forsake you. " <-- WOOO!
-Shalisha

Back in Norway. Yeah!

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 19:34:10 -0800

Hey Everyone! I am back in Norway! Though there is still snow, there is such a difference in weather.

We are the only team that is white, white, white! (because the other groups chose warm climates for their major outreach). I was laughing so hard when I came in and gave everyone hugs. There was a grand reunion for the Greenland team since we were the last to arrive! HEHE

Today at the airport we had PIzza Hut! Yum yum yum! Then we stopped in Bodo and ate Kababs or how ever you spell it, so you can imagine I am very full and need to brush my teeth sooooo bad!

There are so many things to share. :)

Give me a chance to get it all together.

Love, love
Shalisha

Praying

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 20:05:40 -0800

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Praying

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 20:05:40 -0800

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Praying

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 20:05:36 -0800

We haven't heard much of Shalisha lately. We do know she is in places that are not as technologically advanced. Some places are pretty primitive. We look forward to her telling of these adventures.

She will be heading back to Norway the end of next week so we need to be praying for traveling mercies. There are airplane flights, possible trains and fast boats to arrive back at the base.

Thank you for praying with us.

We are realizing the importance and power of prayer. Our children, old or young, need prayed for. What about the kids in our community? We know there are families that do not attend church...that have drugs and abuse in their homes and may not even get much to eat. These kids need our prayer....like our own children are prayed over.

?????

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 12:49:01 -0800

Pray for Shalisha. She said she would not be on facebook for awhile. I'll be glad when she is back in Norway the end of March where she has internet access. Pray for those missionaries you know, too, who don't have opportunities to communicate easily with their loves ones.

Shalisha is in Greenland somewhere doing just what she has been taught to do with a group of 9 or so.