YOUR Support is Needed

As many of you know, I am currently living at a residential care facility for troubled teens. I am in the final two months of my 13 month leadership training program. From here, I am moving to Lawrenceville, Georgia. I do not have a job yet, and at this point, it looks like I will not have a job until I move to Georgia.

Since I have a 24/7 job, my income comes from family and friends.

I have been totally blown away and humbled by the support I have received from so many. Despite this, at this moment, I have $12 to my name. While I have about $756 of support coming in for the next two months, this is not enough to cover my monthly bills (health insurance, car insurance, college loans, etc.) and allow me to save enough for my move to Georgia.

I have done my best to wisely manage my money this year, despite that, this is the situation I have found myself in.

The thousand dollars, will allow me to pay my monthly bills for the next three months, give me money to move to Georgia, and give me a little extra for whatever might come up until I find job.

I ask that you would prayerfully consider supporting me financially. As my time here is quickly coming to a close, your timely response would be extremely encouraging to me during this time. If you would like to financially support me through Doulos Ministries (tax break) please send your support to before August 1:

Doulos Ministries

801 W. Mineral Ave Ste. 202

Littleton, CO 80120

To support directly, please send checks to:

Amber Divers

282 Doulos Rd

Branson, MO 65616

Thanks for taking the time to read about my need. Even if you cannot give financially, I would appreciate your prayers.

Why Georgia?

If you haven't yet heard the news, I'm moving to Lawrenceville, Georgia in September. As I was visiting with family over post-summer break I realized my own family members do not know why I am making this move. If they are not sure, then others probably are not as well.

Many have asked, Do you have a job there? No. I do not have a job. I am actively pursuing a job as a high school math teacher but have not been very successful. Will I still move to Georgia even if I don't find a job? Yes. I am not moving to Georgia for a job, but because the Lord is asking me to be a part of a community who lives out Christianity and does "church" differently than what most have experience. I am trusting the Lord to provide the job.

Hearing that, people then ask why I'm moving to Georgia. I usually give them the "short" answer - there is a house church and community there I feel called to be a part of. After I give this answer, I have received varied responses.

God has been pulling me away from institutional Christianity for many years. It started in middle school when I felt displaced in my church, grew in college as I was involved in a small church that encouraged community, and grew more when I moved to Korea and was exposed yet to another community and chose a house church as my body of believers (a choice I had to defend on several occasions). Now I am living in a residential care facility for troubled teens and those who I live with are my community. Most of my LeadTime class considers the community we live in as our "church". Most would agree that we feel the community here has challenged our growth in Christ more than any of our previous church experiences. Through all of these experiences, the Lord has built a growing feeling that there is "more" to church than what is commonly experienced on Sunday mornings.

What is this "more" you are talking about? There is a church movement that is becoming known as the "organic" church. Below is an excerpt that describes it.

[It is a] church that is born out of spiritual life instead of being constructed by human institutions and held together by religious programs. Organic church life is a grassroots experience that is marked by face-to-face community, every-member functioning, open-participatory meetings (as opposed to pastor-to-pew services), nonhierarchical leadership, and the centrality and supremacy of Jesus Christ as the functional Leader and Head of the gathering. (see "What is an 'Organic' church?" at housechurchresource.org)

The other key to an organic church is that of apostolic leadership. This style of leadership functions by providing a glorious revelation of Christ as a foundation, assisting the church in growing into every-member functioning, and watching out for problems that will inevitably arise. Apostolic leadership instructs the church in how to live by divine life, how to experience the fellowship of the divine community, and prepares and equips others for apostolic work. These principles are not based on modern or ancient ideals of leadership, but on the foundation of how Christ trained the apostles and how they trained their successors to spread and express the Kingdom of God.

Many house churches lack a commitment to organic church life. Fewer still have any kind of apostolic leadership or even a desire for one.

While I do believe the Lord has "more" for believers than what they are currently experiencing, and I long to share that with others; I have no idea how to share it with people. I know many who have struggled to share with others what God has revealed to them, but others just have not grasped it or understood it. It is hard to get people to be on board with something and crave and desire something that they have not yet experienced. And it is hard for me to share it with others when I feel I am still so new and growing in it myself.

So why Georgia? To move near like-minded people. To grow in community. To learn from people who are further along in this than myself. I am sure there are like-minded people in other areas of this country, however, this is the group that I feel the Lord has called me to be a part of. I know a couple there, Britt and Becca Mooney. They were the directors of the Hospitality House my first year in Korea. Britt also taught Secondary History at my school. These are the people I know there and are part of the community that I am moving to Georgia to be a part of.

The Lord placed it in my heart to contact Britt and Becca months before I actually e-mailed them about joining them. Moving to be a part of a "house church" sounds a little crazy. It's not the reason most people move to a new city.

But God didn't leave me alone, and He kept planting this idea in my head until I one night I finally e-mailed the Mooney's. From that point on, the Lord through a few different things has confirmed this move in my heart. Though at times I still feel like it doesn't make sense... Though at times I struggle with purposefully choosing to live so far from family and not being able to be a part of their everyday lives...I know I need to be obedient to where the Lord has called me. I must seek Him first. Even when it doesn't make sense to others.

I am moving to further experience the very thing that God has revealed to me and laid on my heart. It is not something I can initiate without having experienced it more. As much as I wish I could experience that in Texas-- I do not know where to find it.

I don't know where there Lord is taking me in this journey of community and knowing Him better through His people. How long will I be in Georgia? And where will I go from there? Only God knows. I do know that He has a plan for my life. I know that this is where He is leading me next. I would be crazy not to follow His leading.

I hope this helps you understand a little more why I am moving to Georgia. Perhaps it just raised new questions. If you have questions, I would love to answer them.

Foxy Lady

Rachel Fox (know as Fox) graduated from Shelterwood this past Thursday. This is a picture of us at church on Sunday. She, Deana (another Big), and I all faithfully attend Telos on Sunday's. For our last Sunday we took a blanket and had church on the lawn outside.

Fox is amazing and truly one of the most self-less people I know. I love you Fox!

We actually had two girls graduate on Thursday. Ashley (pictured below) also graduated. And a month or so ago, Natalie graduated. Our girls are moving on and returning to their families. Graduation is always bittersweet. Sad to see them go because we miss them, but excited that they get to return to their families and life outside of Shelterwood.

Natalie, Ashley, Julie

The Blessing of My Car

About two weeks before pre-summer break, the Lord laid it on my heart that it was time for me to return my dad’s car to him and to buy my own. Upon returning to Korea, I did not initially buy a car because I am living off of support this year and cars cost money. I had been told you can survive your year here without a car. Added to that, when I returned to the States I wasn’t sure how long I would be nor if I wanted to buy a car with my Korean retirement or if I wanted to do the whole loan and car payment thing.

Anyhow. I now know I will be in the States for a time. I also decided it would be best to just to buy within my means—purchasing a used car with my Korean retirement. I had $4,000 to buy a car—tax, title, and license.

While $4,000 is a decent chunk of change, I was not expecting to get a fabulous car. Then about a week before break I found out my sister had a friend who lives in Springfield who was selling her car because she was moving back to India. I got on Craig’s List just to see how her car was priced. While doing this, I was pleasantly surprised and realized I would get a nicer car in my price range then I had thought.

Anyhow, Alicia’s friend wanted a little more for her car than I had. No problem. Tuesday of pre-summer break was set-aside to purchasing a car. I got online and checked out classified on Monday night so I would be prepared for Tuesday. My mom and aunt also got online and checked out cars as well. I searched cars within the $2500 to $3600 price range. My mother went all the way up to $4500. What was she thinking?! I couldn’t afford that much. Anyhow, they found this car on auto-trader for $4400. They, my mom and aunt, said I should check it out because it was at a dealer and they said I had better bargaining power. I sort of ignored them just putting the car as above what I had.

Tuesday morning comes. I grab my papers that I had organized into 1) check these out first 2) check these out second and 3) last resort cars. Basically, I discover none of the cars in my first category had phone numbers. Sort of had the same thing for my second category and my third category had phone numbers. What can you do? Tuesday was buy a car day. So I make several phone calls and no one answers. I finally get someone to answer—so we, my dad and I, leave to check it out.

It was a Mazda Protégé. I don’t remember the details except that is was a dealer in the South side of San Antonio (not the best side). Anyhow, the two people we got a hold of both had Protégé’s. This car was listed in Consumer Magazine as one of the cars to look for in my price range. I had in my hand the print off of the car from Auto Trader—it was Protégé as well. We also passed the dealer that had it on our way to the other one. So we drop by just to check it out and have something to compare it to.

Anyhow, we get there. Now I don’t expect to particularly love the look of the used car I buy. However, when I walk up to this car, I actually like the way it looks. Before we look at the car, my dad tells them we only have $4,000, tax, title, and license and would they be willing to sell it to us for the lower price (it was listed at $4400 and blue booked at $4600). Juan, our sales guys, quickly checks with his manager and he says yes. So after liking this car after test driving it—I had a decision to make and decided to buy it. Why not? It was the first car I looked at, but it was newer and had lower miles than I expected. I liked the way it looked. It is in good shape. And because it was bought at a dealer they get to do all the paperwork for tax, title, and license. So I buy it for $3,999.99.

It was the best car buying experience I have ever had. Because I had cash the paper work was easy and by lunch or a little before everything was signed and dated. When we looked at the car it hadn’t even been cleaned from it’s previous owners. So I couldn’t pick up the car to take it home until 5:30 that evening. My dad and I kill some time in town and then meet my mom and sister at Bill Miller’s for lunch. From there we go shoe shopping with my dad. We end up re-grouping and my sister and I chilled at Starbuck’s while my mom and dad went to another area of town to shoe shop. I loved that part of my car buying experience included time to just hang out with my family and enjoy their company. My sister and I pick my car up at 5:30 and it’s a done deal.

I have now had my car for almost a month. The longer I have it the more I love it. I know I might not have needed to give you all the details I did about my car buying experience, but I feel like the Lord totally handed me a gift with my car. I never would have looked at the car if it hadn’t been for my aunt, mom, and my dad. It is so nice. I love it and just want to give Him all the praise and honor. He didn’t have to bless me with this car—but He did. I could’ve found this car after a much more frustrating car shopping experience…but He orchestrated events so that it was the first car we looked at. I never would have looked at the car if it hadn’t been for my aunt, mom, and my dad.

Thank you Lord. May car is Your car. May I use it to be a blessing to others as you have blessed me.

Oh yeah..within a week of buying my car my mom text’s me and tells me I have a check from Mazda. It didn’t cost as much to put the title in my name as they thought so I received a check for $68. My car insurance is $68 a month! That is totally the Lord. One more cool little thing the Lord did for me.

Time Warp

**WARNING** This isn't the most exciting blog, but felt like giving you a glimpse into our summer activities here in Branson. I started blogging for my family, and I know that at my mother will enjoy hearing these details.

So about two weeks ago, I went to journal, thinking only a week had passed by since my last journal entry. Yeah. I looked at the date of my last entry and it was May 1, 2009. At the time is was June 4th. How can a month go by that quickly!? I even thought back to the last event I had journaled about and had a hard time believing a month had really gone by.

Right before writing this blog entry I looked at my blog to see when it was the last time I blogged. It was April! Anyhow...the only explanation I have for this is that a time warp that has made a month and a half feel like a week.

I will write a post soon that lets you know a little more where my heart is/ what the Lord is teaching me...but for now let me take a moment to give you a quick update on the past months events.

Room Changes: We have two girls who graduate on Thursday and on that day we will only have 9 Little Sisters and 11 Big Sisters. For a good chunk of the year we have had 15 Littles. We have enough beds in the main house for 13 Littles and 5 Bigs. We also have two cabins that can hold a maximum of 4 people. I will finish my time here in Cabin 2 which I share with Emily Crow...another Big Sister here. We will probably never have Littles living with us though we have space for two.

The Lord has really worked out the timing in this. I am so thankful that this is my last room assignment. I love being able to "stay home" on my days/time/weekends off. Not only do I not have to pack up my things and pre-think what I want to do with my time off--it is so much cheaper. I am at a point where I need to save money so I have something when I leave this place so the Lord has worked it all out so well.

I thought I would struggle not having Littles living in a room with me. You miss out on a lot of relationship stuff and just are not with them quite as much. However, I have found I am enjoying this time. Because I don't have Littles in my room, I feel like I able to connect with more girls as I "fill in" when Bigs are off. The Lord is so gracious in this time. I was concerned I might feel more disconnected and He is showing me otherwise.

Flemings visit! Kenny, Nicole, Faith, and William Fleming stopped and visited me in May on their way to Texas. I was so bless by their visit. I know them from Korea and they are good friends. Their friendship and our fellowship is what got me through some of my harder months in Korea.

Pre-summer break:

Celebrated my Mommie's 50th birthday

Sadly, this is the only picture I have of the event.

Bought a car

and

Got strep just in time for my cousin's wedding--so I really didn't get to enjoy family or celebrate Chris and Laura's marriage.

Summer Schedule: We jumped right into summer schedule upon returning from pre-summer break. What does this mean? It means the Littles are only in school from 9 until noon--we get to sleep in 30 minutes every morning. It also means we are on coverage more. We used to have from noon until 2:30 a few times a week for down time. In all fairness, we do get random hours here and there.

We keep our girls busy in fun ways to fight off summer boredom. Monday night is movie night. Tuesday is game night. Wednesday is Community Service from 1-5. Thursday is HD Fun night (house director's plan the activity). Friday is room night (Hang out as a room). And Saturday is Adventure Day and House night (the entire house does something together). I, along with two other Bigs, are in charge of planning Community Service. I was pumped to be given this assignment as I have always loved it!

Also in the summer we get to teach a class on Fridays. The girls only have summer school Monday through Thursday. I have known about this all year and to be quite honest, despite the fact that I am a HS Math teacher panicked about this. Why? Because for forever this year I couldn't think what I would teach other than math. How silly is this? This is not the only skill I have, but it took a long time (9 months) to even think of something. We had to write down three things we were willing to teach. I submitted hiking, lap swimming, and sewing. Sewing won, so I get to teach a sewing class on Friday along with two other Bigs. We have two Littles in our class as we are all making Rag Blankets and I am supper excited about this.

Kelly, Chelsie, and I at a park in Springfield on Adventure Day.

Tracy and Deana who are addicted to Spicy Cheetos

Claire and I posing while on dinner.

Oh yeah..Bigs also got to go on a rafting trip without Littles (an entire day and half with no Littles just to enjoy each other and fellowship without "parenting"--pure BLISS!)

This past week we took the girls on a two day, one night camping trip.

And that is a glimpse into what I am up to these days. I am sure I left out many important and significant events...but as I said...it just a glimpse.