Update!

Hello friends! I got back last night from a fun weekend in the LA area. I had the chance to see 6 college friends on my way there and back - it was a special time to reconnect. . .especially since 5 of the 6 girls I won't get to see on a regular basis anymore. One of the highlights of the weekend was Fish Fest, a huge Christian music festival put on by a radio station in Irvine. We got to see Third Day, Mercy Me, Kutless, Christ Tomlin and many more perform - what a blast! And now I'm back in SLO again - I nannied this morning so I'm back in action. It'll be a busy week because on top of work I'll be moving in to the apartment I'll be living in for the year. Also, support raising feels a little overwhelming right now. There are a lot of phone calls that I want to make, letters to write, and a support evening with a group of people being held in SLO tomorrow. All these opportunities are blessing. . .time and thought consuming blessings. Please pray that I would remember moment-by-moment that God is in control of each and every situation and that HE would be the only one that consumes my time and thoughts! Praise God. . .and thanks to many of you. . .I am currently at 71% with 4 weeks to go. I really appreciate your prayers during this time!

Oh, technology!

It's a new week - full of new blessings and chances to be a blessing. I hope it will be a good one for you! I am currently approaching 60% support - wow! What a crazy and amazing process it has been to see the support come in - I know only the Lord can receive credit and I praise Him for how easy it is to give Him all the glory in this area of my life! Here's another thing that is easy - giving online! :) I added a new link, on the right, that will allow those who want to support and haven't yet (you, perhaps?) a very simple and quick way to do so. Click on the link and type in my name on the right hand side of the page that comes up. Believe it or not there is only one Arijaan Bulk on staff with Campus Crusade so I guarantee that you can't mess up! Then, just follow the steps and it's a done deal. Although I am keeping a blog, in all honesty I am not a huge technology buff and would usually rather be doing something else other than sitting behind my computer BUT I promise that giving online is painless even for those who aren't fond of technology. :)

And now for a quick update on yesterday's luncheon. It was such a neat chance to share with a group of people, most of whom I hardly knew, about the Lord's work in my life and in the lives of college students here at Cal Poly and Cuesta. After I had finished speaking a woman pipped up to share something that brought tears to my eyes (surprised? I'm not - I had already shed many tears that morning as it was baptism Sunday at church and so many shared such touching stories of God's love for them displayed on the cross). The Smiths actually invited her after church yesterday and she was able to come, enjoy a yummy lunch, and hear about my upcoming year of ministry. She went on to tell me that she had just stopped supporting an international missionary with the desire to support someone locally. Lo and behold. . .there I was! Isn't that such a great testimony to the fact that it is truly the Lord who is raising up a team of supporters? I know I am so blessed to have this wonderful woman on my support team - I give God all the glory for He works in such mysterious and amazing ways! I hope you are encouraged and reminded that God knows EVERY detail of our lives and it is a joy of His to orchestrate them in such a way that brings utmost glory to His name. I pray that you would see this truth played out during the coming week. . .and beyond!

Featherlight Scones

3 cups flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 cup cold butter or margarine
1 egg
1 cup vanilla yogurt
½ tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp milk
sugar

* Combine dry ingredients
* Cut in the butter until crumbly
* Stir in egg, yogurt, and vanilla
* Kneed 6-8 times on a floured surface
* Pat into a 9 in. circle
* Cut into 8 wedges (like a pizza)
* Put on a cookie sheet, brush with milk and sprinkle sugar on top
* Bake at 425 for 12-15 minutes

(The picture was taken on my 21st birthday a year and a half ago! These scones have been made for many special occasions over the years. And for a random side note, the little potted plant on the back, left-hand side of the picture is still alive after 3 years now!)

The Weekend!

It's the weekend and I'm thankful for a little break from nannying to do other things! This morning my former roommate, Emily, and her sister were in town and I made scones for breakfast. . . I'll post the recipe because they're so yummy and easy! At 10 I'm going to a prayer walk on the Cal Poly Campus that has been organized by the students putting on Summer Crusade. Specifically we're praying for the College of Liberal Arts today. . .because this is the college I graduated from and the college that I hope to lead a Bible study in come Fall I am excited for this chance to lift up the incoming and current students! This afternoon I'll be heading over to the Smith's to help tidy up their yard and wipe down their lawn chairs. This is my "adopt-a-college student" family through Grace Church and they are hosting a support raising luncheon for me tomorrow after church. How awesome is that?! There have been people invited that I have not even formally met before - what a joy it is that the Lord is making connections for me in ways that I could not. I am currently at 57% and am being encouraged and challenged daily as I work diligently at the task set before me. Praise the Lord for His provision! I echo Paul's words when he wrote, "Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen" (Ephesians 3:20-21). It's hard for me to TRY to thank people for how they're supporting my upcoming year so generously. . . I often feel like words cannot express what my heart feels. This also applies to how I try to thank the Lord for all that He is doing in and through both my life and the lives of those He is allowing me to approach for support. . .once again I feel like my words fall short. BUT, thankfully the Lord knows our hearts and He has given us His Word for us to use to thank and glorify His name for the glorious riches in Christ that we are experiencing as His children. I hope that this weekend will find us giving God all the glory even when we think our words don't measure up to our heart. God knows it all but He wants to hear it from our lips too!

Half Way!

I quickly want to update you on how the weekend at home went and where I am in terms of the financial support goal. It was so nice to be home! A good friend of mine had his wedding reception on Saturday and it was a joy to be there and celebrate with them. I was able to have 4 support appointments over the weekend and though they are usually a little nerve-wracking and often go differently then I could have imagined it was a blessing to meet with people about the Lord's work through Campus Crusade (and me!) at Cal Poly and Cuesta. On Sunday I spoke in front of my home church. It was a very special time for me and as I looked out at the congregation, seeing many faces who played a part in forming my strong foundation in the Lord, I couldn't help but get emotional. For those of you who know me this won't surprise you as crying is one of the things I do best. :) Thankfully the tears subsided so that I could actually speak in a coherent manner and it was a joy to try to convey how excited I am to be the first directly sent missionary from this church. After the service many approached me to hear more about the coming year and took information home. Pray with me that people would be diligent in praying and following through with the Lord's leading in terms of how they might be able to support. Ultimately I could not have asked for a better weekend because I know that God was, and is, in control! So, that brings me to today and to sharing with you that I am currently at 50% of the support goal. Yippee!! With exactly 6 weeks left I know there is still a ways to go but I want to celebrate, and invite you to do so with me, each time the Lord provides. Philippians 4:19 says, "And my God will meet ALL your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus." Thank you for your prayers and support. . .I am so glad that the Lord has placed me in this position to be stretched in my faith and I am so glad that you are going on this journey with me!

Prayer, please!

I am headed home (Oakdale, CA) tomorrow for fun in the sun and to raise support with the people in my life in the Central Valley. The Word says that, "The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working" (James 5:16) and therefore I am excited to ask you to pray! I know that many people reading this are righteous, only by the blood of Christ, in God's sight so I covet your prayers over the coming days in these ways. . .and of course in whatever way the Holy Spirit may be leading you!

*Praise the Lord that I am currently at 38% of my financial support goal. . .pray that the Lord would grant me patience and persistence in the coming days - may I be a good steward of the time He has given me.
*Praise the Lord for the many great connections He is making for me as a result of belonging to a church body, as well as through work, neighbors, and blogging. . .pray that I would be diligent in pursuing opportunities to share about my coming year with people that I may not know as well - pray against the fear that tends to creep in as I try to make phone calls, I find it so scary at times!
*Praise the Lord for the opportunity to speak at my home church this Sunday - pray that I would be able to convey how the Lord has called me into ministry, the vision of Campus Crusade for Christ, and the ways in which the people of the church can support prayerfully and financial. . .in 3-5 minutes!
*Praise the Lord that every good gift and every perfect gift is from above. . .pray that I would keep the right perspective so that God would be glorified in many ways as a result of this weekend - may I decrease and He increase so that it is Christ that people see and hear, not me!

I am so thankful for your prayers and I look forward to keeping you posted on how the weekend goes. . .have a great one yourself!

Life is like. . .a bike ride!

I just wanted to give a brief synopsis about why this blog even exists. . .and who I am and what I'm up to for that matter! This blog exists as an outlet for me to share with you about the adventure the Lord has me on during this stage of my life. I'm a Cal Poly grad who is now pursuing full-time ministry with Campus Crusade for Christ. I will be serving Him here, in San Luis Obipso, as an intern with Campus Crusade for Christ (eventually I'll share more on why I chose to intern and not join staff immediately. . .stay tuned) on the Cal Poly and Cuesta campuses.

Currently it is summer, in case you needed a reminder :), and I'm up to lots of fun stuff. I spend about 6 hours a day nannying for a family with 3 kids. We're having fun and I'm thankful for the cash it provides to get me through these months. Also, I spend my afternoons and evenings raising the financial support that I will need in order to be hired by Campus Crusade on August 29th, 2007. Campus Crusade has no central funds and therefore it is up to many generous ministry partners (you! you?) and their prayers and finances in order for this coming year to happen. If you are interested in joining the team that the Lord is raising up. . .or if you know of someone else who might be. . .please shoot me an email at arijaan.bulk@uscm.org I'd love to tell you more about my passion for the Lord and His people, and in this case college students!

I'd like to use this blog to keep you posted on my progress as the weeks go by. I am currently at 33% of my support goal - praise God! I'd also like to use this blog to answer any questions you might have for me - both silly and serious. I will also be posting prayer requests and I promise to update you on the ways in which the Lord is answering prayers as well. Oh, and I'll use this blog to jot down random thoughts about life, the books I'm reading, and recipes too. . .it's always fun to add another recipe to our yummy collections!

Okay, so now you're wondering why I chose to title this post the way that I did. Well, this afternoon I was biking onto campus to go for a swim. The bike ride only takes about 10 minutes but the road I take is at a slight (when I say slight, I mean super slight) incline. So, there I go huffing and puffing for a couple of minutes - so frustrated that the road is not perfectly flat and that I have to work so hard just to peddle. Note all the internal complaining going on. Well, after a glorious swim I hopped back on my bike and headed home, the same way I got there. Of course, I find myself LOVING the fact that now, instead of going uphill most of the way, I'm flying downhill. I start thinking I'm cool stuff, doing "no-hands" and all because it's so easy. . .and then it hits me - this is the way I tend to handle life! When the Lord places challenges in my life (think: support raising) I get frustrated and tired easily. It's hard to stay focused and I can fall into complaining. Just like trying to peddle uphill, no matter how slight the incline. BUT THEN, when life is easy (think: no support raising. . .well, just kidding here but that tends to be my thought process right now) I fall into thinking that I'm the reason why life is so good and moving at such an effortless pace. I start taking my hands off of the handle bars thinking that I've got everything under control. Ha, so this little analogy hit me hard this afternoon. Not sure it makes as much sense to you as it did to me because it can be tricky trying to put thoughts into words BUT I hope you're challenged and encouraged with me in the fact that when God calls us to peddle uphill there's always a downhill in sight. . .and when we're coasting downhill another uphill adventure soon awaits. Aren't you glad that we can do all things through CHRIST who strengthens us? I am!

Blue Like Jazz

So, I've been reading this great book (Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller) that I snatched off of Jenn and Kevin's bookshelf. Actually, it's a book that has been talked about a lot in SLO, partially because the author came and spoke at Cal Poly a year ago. But there's also a lot of hype surrounding the book because it's so good, really that's my opinion but I guess it counts for something. Supposedly the book contains "nonreligious thoughts on Christian spirituality" - ultimately it definitely contains a lot of thoughts on a lot of stuff - a lot of which has really gripped my attention. Here's one quote that I've been mulling over:

"I believe the greatest trick of the devil is not to get us into some sort of evil but rather to have us wasting time. This is why the devil tries so hard to get Christians to be religious. If he can sink a man's mind into habit, he will prevent his heart from engaging God."

Okay, so this is definitely the case in my life. What about you? For example, yesterday afternoon I wanted to go for a swim but a huge sense of laziness came over me and I just about didn't go. Praise God that I did though, and not just for the physical exercise (though important!) but for the paths that crossed with mine during that time. On the way out of the house I came across the kind man that is living upstairs. . .who may be a little lonly. It was a blessing to talk with him and posibly brighten his day (or at least that's my selfish perspective on it, perhaps he hopes that he brightened the lonly girl's day - lonly I am not but brighten he did). Then, at the pool I came across two friends and really enjoyed talking with them and catching up. Because I am going into full-time ministry it is rather simple to weave God into the conversation as the typical question for a college grad is "what are you going to do?!" Lastly, as I was leaving the pool I came across a friend, actually more a friend of my brother's. I decided to take the initiative to say hello and we ended up having a really great conversation. His parents were on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ! Towards the end of the conversation he asked me if I would send him a support letter because he'd like to put a portion of his tithe towards what I'll be doing. How cool is that?! The Lord will, and is, building my support team in really unique ways and in doing so it requires me to be bold and step out to a degree so that He can meet me and bless me (and you!) in this faith-building, and hopefully never-ending, adventure that I am on.

Back to the quote; had I choosen the lazy route and "wasted time" I would not have experienced the Lord's hand at work in these particular ways yesterday afternoon. Yes, life would have gone on but I would have missed out on a sweet opportunity to be blessed by the Lord, and in turn bless and glorify His name for it. May we not fall into a religious rut, may we daily be challenged to exercise an active faith, a faith in which time is not wasted. I am so challenged by this - we need your help Lord. Specifically pray that I would not waste time in terms of support raising, pray that Satan would not feed me the lie that "people don't want to hear about this now", or "people are busy", or "you can talk to them later". No actually, time is ticking - and it's the Lord's timing, not Satan's, that I want to be a good steward of. On that note I am going to try to make some phone calls right now. Have a great day!

Bless God America

"Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O , my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's." Pslam 103:1-5

Happy 4th of July!

These are a few of my favorite things. . .today!

Okay, so this isn't just a serious blog (not that spiritual things are always serious. . .) but I want it to be a silly one too! I recently moved into a Campus Crusade staff couple's house for the month of July as they are leading a team of students to East Asia on a Summer Project. I guess you could call it house-siting but really they are blessing me with free rent for the month so I think I got the better end of the deal. Anyways, this feels like a little summer getaway so here are a "few of my favorite things" thus far:

*discovering the little nooks and crannies of a really old house
*a change of scenery during my morning walks, jogs, runs (whatever you call it!)
*their collection of books - so many awesome ones that I want to read. . .will time permit?
*being able to bike to my nannying job in 5 minutes
*being able to bike downtown to meet with friends in 5 minutes
*watching people walk down the street from the office windows
*Faye, the elderly neighbor lady, who brings me super ripe apricots that are still warm from the sun
(side note: My oatmeal this morning had pieces of apricot, banana, blueberries, and almond slivers in it. . .so amazing - thank you Lord for making food so yummy!)
*the peace and quiet needed to focus on MPD phone calls and such
*a guest room for you to come visit

What are a few of your favorite things in this day?

A cheerful giver. . .

Is this me and is this you? Are we cheerful givers of our time, talents, and treasures? What a high calling that the Lord desires for us to be cheerful givers of all that He has entrusted us with - I'm thankful for Christ's example in this. My thoughts are coming from 2 Corinthians 9. . .a continuation of a post several days ago. Verse 7 says, "Each one must give as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." It am beginning to realize that it's one thing to do the Lord's will while it can be a whole other thing to DELIGHT in the Lord's will (Psalm 40:8, this comes to mind thanks to a sweet discipleship time with Alyse today, maybe I'll post more on that later!). When we are able to give cheerfully we are delighting in the Lord's will for our lives and the lives of those we are called to love (only the second greatest commandment ever!). I think it's hard, at times, to give cheerfully and perhaps that's when we've lost sight of the reality of eternity and the fact that we aren't taking anything with us in terms of earthly treasures. I have so enjoyed talking with many of you (and for those I haven't talked with yet - I want to!) as you have brought this verse to life. . .I am blessed to know so many cheerful givers who are storing up for themselves treasures in Heaven. Thanks to your desire to seek FIRST the kingdom of God my support goal is slowly being chipped away at. I talked to my wonderful support coach yesterday and we crunched some numbers. It turns out that I am at about 32% of the goal. I praise the Lord for this and hope that I can continue to learn from the ways in which you choose to give so cheerfully!

A New Week

What a beautiful Sunday in San Luis Obispo. I walked to church this morning, the worship pastor lead the service with songs and thoughts from the Pslams - it was an enjoyable change of pace and I look forward to reading more psalms this week. Sunday is the start to a new week - what will it entail? Well, I will be nannying daily from 8-2 (except on Wednesday - yay for the 4th, I'll be at Grace Church's picnic). I'm also looking forward to going on some runs though the new neighborhood. . .as well as swimming at the Rec Center (on Cal Poly's campus), I live biking distance distance away which is so convenient. Of course, I will also spend a good deal of time on MPD (ministry partner development). This includes setting appointments, meeting with people, writing letters, making follow-up phone calls, and keeping the computer database program up-to-date with what I'm doing. I am currently at 23% of my monthly support goal. Praise the Lord! How will that percentage change during the month of July? I do not know BUT I do know that the Lord is never early and He's never late, He's always right on time. There is such comfort in knowing that He is always in control - even when things may seem slightly out of control. It's hard to believe that two weeks of summer have already passed. As I spent the last couple of days packing, cleaning, and moving out of the Lincoln house I took some time to read over my graduation cards again. The words of the front of the card I received from the Smith's really caught my attention. . .they were written by Roy Lessin:

Just think,
you're here not by chance,
but by God's choosing.
His hand formed you
and made you
the person you are.
He compares you
to no one else -
you are one of a kind.
You lack nothing that
His grace can't give you.
He has allowed
you to be here
at this time in history
to fulfill His special purpose
for this generation.

How wonderful it is to dwell on the fact that we are right where the Lord wants us, and that we can live out this new week and this new month with great purpose and worth. . .wherever we are! May we remember that we're not here by chance and that it is a joy to be a light for this generation. Have a great week!