Our first two weeks in Thailand

Our first two weeks in Thailand have been great. We spent the first couple pf days in Bangkok in an orientation into Thai culture. We learned about Buddhism and also how to find food. We went on a temple tour to get an even better idea of the influence of Buddhism in Thailand. While on the bus on our way back to YWAM Bangkok, from the Temple tour, the bus was beeping. We did not think anything of it, then the bus stopped and the driver ran past us and out the door and down into the Jungle. We were really confused, and then about two minutes later he returned with bottles full of river water that he then dumped on the overheating engine of the bus. That was when we realized that we were not in America anymore. We had to stop several more times for water for the bus but these times not were quite as funny. We did make it back alive and with a great story so we are grateful for that. We then got on another bus this time for 12 hours and traveled to Chiang Rai thailand. Chiang Rai is 40 minutes from the border of Burma. We are just down the street from Mae Fa Luang university and are spending most of our time working with a local university student ministry. We went camping in the Jungle and also put on a Christmas party for the university students. A young lady here gave her life to Christ at the Christmas party which completely made the whole trip. Yesterday we worked at Home of the Open Heart. This is an orphanage for children affected by AIDS. These kids were amazing and they loved to play. We played soccer and tag with them for 2 hours. We are having a great time here in Thailand and are making an impact for Christ. Please continue to pray for us that we will be bold, and for the health of our family and team.

P.S Lily is a hit. She has a ministry of her own here.

Much Love,
The Barber's

YWAM Montana FALL DTS 2010 "Carboard Testimonies" from YWAM Montana on Vimeo.

Tuition is payed.

Tuition is completely payed. All together God provided a total that exceeds $14,500 after all of our expenses. Thank you everyone that has been with us and supported us financially and in prayer.

18 days and counting to Thailand

Hey everyone sorry it has been so long since we have written time really gets away from you when you are learning so much so fast. Ok so in this time God has really been laying a foundation in both of our lives for leadership. We are not certain what aspect of leadership he is pointing us towards but we ae becoming more aware of what is next. He is stirring our hearts for discipleship and developing young adults into the people God has created them to be. As for Thailand yes we are about to leave. We leave on Monday December the 6 and will be gone for 60 days. In that time we will travel between northern Thailand and southern and will be doing different things throughout. We will be working in orphanages and also with universitry students. We will also be working with Burmese refugees. Please pray for us and our team as we travel. Pray for team unity and also for health and safety. Also please pray for open doors with the Thai as they are predominantly Buddhist. If you are interested in supporting us we do still need to raise about $800 and you can donate online at: http://sendthebarberstoywam.chipin.com/missions-to-thailand. Thank you so much for your prayers and support.

Hello Friends!
Just an sending you all an update! We have been in Montana for a few weeks. It has been awesome. We are learning so much about the character and grace of God. We have been growing so much.
We are also getting ready for our outreach. We will be leaving for Thailand in early December and doing several different ministeries there. No plans have been set in stone yet, but we will most likely be working with students, refugees, and in orphanages.
We were informed a couple days ago that of the $4000 we still owe, we need to have $2000 by the 18th of this month. We know that is less than two weeks, but we have no doubt that God is bigger than money, and can make it happen. both the staff and our family really feel that God has called us to Thailand, and are so excited to serve his people there. We ask that you would keep us in your prayers, and consider supporting us financially. It has been a huge step of faith for us to drop everything, and follow God's call for our family to do missions, but we fully believe that he wants to use our family in this ministy, and has big plans that we are excited to be apart of.
If you are interested in supporting our family, there are a few ways you can do so, I will list them below. We really would like you to pray about this and ask how God would have you partner with us in our ministry. If it is throuh prayer, we are very thankful, and would love to get in touch with you and tell you how you can be praying for our family.
Ways to give:
1. You can send money directly into our missions account online, ad completely free, by visiting: http://sendthebarberstoywam.chipin.com/missions-to-thailand

2. Send check payable to "YWAM" at:
Robert and Jenny Barber (DTS)
501 Blacktail Rd.
Lakeside, MT 59922

3. Send check through our church in Redding with the account #503 in the memo at:
The Stirring
1348 Market St. #201
Redding, Ca 96001

4. Give checks with a note attactched to Rick Lowrey or Sue Davis at Sierra Pines Church.

We thank you all for your prayers and support!
Robert, Jenny, and Lily Barber

We are going to Thailand

So we are going to Thailand. We feel that God has called us to go with a team of 14 adults and 3 kids to spend two months in Thailand. We will be doing many things such as: orphanage ministry, street evangelism, university student outreach, and Refugee Camp ministry. We do still need to raise $4,000 but we have no d...oubt that God will provide. Thank you everyone for your support

How can they hear?

But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?
Romans 10:14

I just read this on a fellow DTSers page. It gave me goose bumps.

Giving God Everything

Here we are in Redding, our first stop in our journey to YWAM. We really want to thank all of you who have done so much in getting us to where we are now. We have definitely had some struggles getting to where we are now, but all of the obstacles have just been reminders of how good and amazing our God is. Along the way he has been showing us so much grace and favor, from the tow truck driver giving us a discount to a sweet lady at Taco Bell giving us free drinks the next morning. I have just been so blessed and humbled by the way God takes care of us even in the small ways. I am thankful.

Doing missions with a new family was definitely a big decision, but as we have expressed in the past, we believe that we are safer in God’s will than out of it. It is so hard to trust God with everything, but just as he blesses us even in small ways we need to trust him even with the small things. I was reading my husband’s study bible last night, and the side note was explaining how we basically need to let go, and let God handle everything. I do not think this means that we need to be reckless or lazy. We need to follow God as our leader, serving and trusting him.

I was also recently blessed when I was reading an article about God’s reference to “lilies” in the Bible. As some of you know we had not fully intended to name our daughter “Lily”, it just kind of happened, but I fully believe God chose that name. Anyways, the article referenced the scripture where Jesus is telling us to trust him. (Matthew 6:24) He tells us to look at the “lily’s of the field, and how not even King Solomon was not clothed as beautifully as the “lily’s”. As I read this I thought to myself “he’s talking about my “Lily”. I felt that God was telling me that he was giving me this verse for my daughter. He wanted me to know that he is going to take such amazing care of her because she is his daughter and he loves her even more than I do. That even though we may be totally broke because we have given up our jobs and everything to serve as missionaries that he is going to take such special care of my beautiful Lily.

So I know that where ever we go we will be taken care of, as long as we are following God. I feel blessed that for now God has called our family to this life. We may not live in luxury, but we are living with the blessing of seeing God work in big and small ways. I encourage you, where ever you are, whatever you are doing, to look for God in the big and small ways. You will be so blessed. So, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord”, because he is good and his love is great!

A bump in the road

We had a bit of a bump in the road. Last night at 2:30 am our timing belt went out a little bit north of Woodland Ca. From what we can gather it will cost more to repair than the car is worth. We have decided to continue without the car. My wonderful parents will be allowing us to borrow their Jeep Cherokee until we get back and can figure something else out. It is clear to us that we are supposed to be in YWAM. We have seen God come through for us time after time in this Journey to get their and we know he will again. We just ask for prayer from our friends and family as it appears that Satan is trying to keep us from getting their. We will keep you all updated as things develop.

Gods Promises

We were prayed off from Sierra Pines this morning. The whole time I was asking myself, "Wow is this really happening?" It is so amazing to see gods promises coming true in our lives.

One week left in Oakhurst

We leave Oakhurst in just one week. We are very excited to get on the road to YWAM. Thank you everyone for all of your support. Please keep us in your prayers, we do still need $5,000, also please pray for our health and safety as we travel.

This weekend

After this amazing weekend and all of the wonderful people that came to support us, and with all pledges included it looks like we have eclipsed the $10,000 mark. This is huge for us. We are so grateful to everyone that came out and supported us and also to everyone that has pledged to us. Thanks everyone for all of your support. Remember we are leaving Oakhurst in nine days and we do still need almost $5,000. We cannot wait to see what god does in this next couple weeks. Thanks again everyone who has came behind us.

Where are we now

Ok everyone we are getting closer! We leave Oakhurst in 12 days, and Redding 12 days after that! Today we were totally blessed by a supporter, and now only need $5500! Thank you everyone for your prayers and support! See you this weekend at the shows. Remember that they are at 6pm at Sierra Pines Church on Friday evening and also at 7 pm at Yosemite Coffee Roasting (The Grind) on Saturday.

Address Update

Our temporary address is: 47164 rd. 417 Coarsegold, Ca 93614. Our phone numbers are the same. If you are sending support, you can send checks payable to The Stirring at 1348 Market St. #201 Redding, Ca 96001. Please include acct. #503 in the memo.

How you can support us

There are a few ways you can get involved with what we are doing.

• You can pray for us. We need prayer that we would be fully financially supported for our DTS. Please also pray for safety and health as we travel, that Lily would enjoy the car ride to Montana, for direction for our family, that we would have open hearts during lecture phase, for wisdom as we minister and choose our outreach location, that God would speak to us and through us where ever we go, that our DTS and our outreach teams to be tightly knit, for spiritual growth, and please pray for the people staffing our DTS.
• You can send financial support to The Stirring aHt: 1348 Market St. #201 Redding, Ca 96001. Please make checks payable to The Stirring and include our account #503 in the memo. In order for your gifts to be tax deductable please only include the account number and not our names.
• You can attend our fundraisers. We have several upcoming fundraisers and we still need to raise $9,000 out of $14,500.

1. August 20th 6 pm Benefit Show at Sierra Pines Church (Oakhurst) featuring: From Indian Lakes, PK, Picture Atlantic, and Hazel and Vine. (Pay $5 at the door)
2. August 21st 6pm Benefit Concert at The Grind (Oakhurst) featuring: Cross Rock. this will be a great opportunity to come talk to us and find out more about what we are doing! (Admission is free, however tickets are being sold for a $7 donation. Half of profits made from items sold at The Grind will also go to benefit us!)
3. August 28th 10am to 4pm CAR WASH Willow and Nees (Fresno). Come let us wash your car for a donation, or pledge $1 per car we wash!
4. September 12th 12pm to 4pm Chevy's Restaurant Fundraiser (Redding). We will be handing out fliers for this event. Please come see us off on the 12th. Come to Chevy's and eat a great meal. Just by turning in one of our fliers between the hours of 12 and 4pm we will be given 25% from your check.

• You can volunteer with our fundraisers. Come volunteer to help wash cars on August 28th and we'll wash your car! We need all the help we can get. Also if you have any other creative fundraising ideas please let us know!

Okay! We are getting closer to time to go. We will be leaving next weekend to visit family, and then returning to Redding for a week in September before driving to Montana. We are doing a carwash on the 31st so come see us! We still have a few needs. We have raised a good amount of money but still need $95.000 of the $14,000 needed! So we still need financial support. We also are still looking for a missions nanny. Thank you to all of you who have been supporting us financially and in prayer. We have been so blessed. Here are the upcoming events so far...
July 31- Car Wash Dairy Queen on Churn Creek (Redding)
August 20- Benefit Show at Sierra Pines featuring From Indian Lakes, PK, Picture Atlantic, and Hazel and Vine. Sierra Pines Church (Oakhurst)
August 21- Benefit Show featuring Cross Rock at The Grind (Oakhurst)
August 28- Car Wash Rite Aid Nees and Willows (Fresno)

YWAM Here We Come!

We have been accepted to YWAM Montana's Fall DTS! We will be starting our fundraising soon. If any of you have any ideas or would like to help out let us know! We will be leaving in September. The school starts September 20th and ends February 11th. So keep us in your prayers!

Lily is almost a month old now. We can't believe it! For those of you who don't know, we welcomed our little girl into the world on May 4th, 2010. We had an emergency c-section, but Lily came our strong and determined. She is so incredibly beautiful, and we know we are blessed. SO many of you have been giving us words for her, and its incredible. Basically, God has a huge plan for her. We know that as parents that starts with us. It is our responsibility to be 100% faithful and obedient so that she can have that example in front o her.

We are still planning and preparing to leave in September. Its been hard getting our letters out with our new baby. Hopefully we will have them out soon, and will start the fundraising process! Keep praying for us. The past month has been extremely emotionally draining for us. There have been a lot of test thrown at us, but we are doing good.

This picture was taken at Lily's dedication on May 23rd, 2010. Thank you everyone who was there and stood beside us as we dedicated our little girl to God. It means a lot to know that we are not in this alone, and that we have so many standing beside us as we raise her to serve God.

Support/Update Letter

We are almost finished with our support letter! Yay! Such a big project. If you want to be on our mailing list email me (Jenny) your address... jennifervbarber@yahoo.com. Or if you would rather be sent email updates let me know. We will keep our blog updated, but the letters will have some good stuff too!
We will be starting fundraising really soon, so if you have any inspired ideas let us know. We'd love any and all suggestions. Also, if you want to be apart of our fundraising by volunteering that would be great. You can call or email us!
Now everyone has been asking, so I figured I should make a post... baby is doing great. Still not ready to meet us, but she is doing well. My body has been showing signs that it's getting ready for her grand entrance so keep us in your prayers. I am due May 2nd but anytime after Sunday (04/11) is full term. I am getting big, and running out of room, so I'm sure she is very cramped in there. People keep asking if I'm having twins... haha. Nope, just a small girl with a big belly... and yes I'm sure.

Where we are today...

Pray For Us... This is an important time for us. We are getting ready for our baby girl to be born, and at the same time we are preparing to leave for Montana in September. There is a lot of preparation for both! While we are getting ready for these changes we are still going to school full time. We don't want to get so caught up in what's to come that we forget about what still needs attention today.

Preparing for baby... So many of you have given us so many wonderful things for little Lily! Thank you so much. We even have diapers that we expect will last us at least part of the way into our outreach! You guys are great! As many of you know this hasn't been the easiest pregnancy, but we strongly believe that God has a HUGE plan for our little girl, and that these challenges of the past eight months have just been affirming that! We don't know what to expect as far as who this little person will be, or what it will be like to be parents, but we are thrilled and so thankful!

Preparing for our trip... This is big! We have a lot to do. We are working on our support letter to raise support in fiances and prayer, and also to keep you all updated on what we are up to. We have some fundraising ideas, that need to be put into action, and we have a million little details to work out before we go. How can you help? Pray! We need prayer.

We do need financial support... but we still need prayer. We want to know that there are people covering our family with prayer as we sent out to do this. For this trip we need to raise around $13000.00. This amount may change. It covers our room and bored, our traveling expenses, and our personal needs... like wipes and shampoo.

If you feel that God is calling you... to support us, you want to help with fundraising, or you want to let us know that you are praying then please feel free to email us. It is always encouraging to know that we have people behind us. We'd love to hear from you.