MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

from the KP's :)

Wishing you all a very MERRY Christmas!!!!  We pray that you all have a wonderful day celebrating the birth of Jesus!!  That you are surrounded by friends and family and that you are constantly reminded of how much God loves you and what He has done for you!!

  

"So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.  He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.  While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son.  She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.  And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.  An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.  But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.  This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”  Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest heaven, 

and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

Luke 2:4-14

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Georgia

This month has been yet another busy one with winding things down here in Arizona.  You might be thinking, "winding things down?"  Yes, that's right, we have received approval from our boss to go to Georgia for a bit.  We will be heading out December 22nd to visit with family during the holiday and then we'll actually be staying for almost a month working on support raising there.  We are excited for the opportunity to work on support in Georgia and very excited about seeing family as well!!  It's been a year since seeing family there and this will be the longest time we've had with them in.....well, I don't remember how long - its been years (for me :) )!  We have prayed a lot about going and believe that it is the right thing to do right now.  We will return to Arizona the end of January and from there....we'll see what God does!  We have yet to determine how long we will be be here in Arizona once we get back - before heading back to California to continue with support raising there.  We have been praying about it and know that God will lead us.  It could be anywhere from a week to a few weeks, we don't know.  But right now what we DO know is that we are supposed to wait and trust, He will direct us.  And, we will of course keep you all updated :). 

If you think of us, can you please be praying that we will have safe travels to and from Georgia (we will actually be flying this time - yes, no cross country road trip this Christmas ;) ).  And that our last week here will be good as we continue to prepare to leave.  Thank you!!

Happy early Christmas everyone!!! :)

Thankful

A few weeks ago, I (Kaleb), had the opportunity to go on a paintball trip with the Lifelines team at Northern Arizona University (NAU) in Flagstaff, AZ.  They took out 15 guys from a fraternity.  It was great to see and experience how a trip is run and how they tied discussions in/challenged the guys after some rounds of playing.  We were with them for few hours and they played about 5 or 6 games.  Some games were organized to create different scenarios that would bring up the topic of trust for discussion.  During the discussion/debrief we talked about trust and how trust affects relationships with one another and God.  Some of the guys were really honest and it was great to see them open up and share how trust affects the brothers in the fraternity, with relationships in general, and with God.  A few guys indicated when leaving that they wanted the Lifelines staff to follow up with them to talk more.  Please be praying for two of the young men that the staff were able to meet up with and share more about the Gospel with.  Thank you Lord for opening the hearts of those students at NAU and that they want to hear more about you. 

Lifelines at NAU actually owns all the paintball equipment - so this makes it really easy to led a lot of paintball trips and really cheap for the students. 

Getting ready to start one of the games.

One of the games they played for fun.  Two teams were lined up opposite each other - the first guys in line had a sort of shoot out with each other until one of them was hit.  The guy that was hit was then "out."  The team with the most guys in their line at the end won.

The rest of this month has been really great!  Full of more appointments with people down here and we've been able to meet a lot of new folks recently that have been interested in hearing about what we are doing.  Every day it seems we learn more and more about continuing to have faith and trust in GOD's timing, and not our own.  He has been so good to provide and we have grown so much in our relationship with each other during this time - as well as - with HIM.  We are so thankful for that! 

Speaking of thankfulness....there is SO much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving season!!  I don't think we could even begin to name them all, but...here are a few....

• We are SO thankful that during our time here in AZ, we have been able to spend so much time with family that lives here!  That has truly been a blessing since, once we leave, we don't know when we will get to see them again.  The quality time we've had with each of them has been so good and we have learned to value the time we have with them while here.  It could be a year or more once we leave before we see them all again (that's a long time to us :) )!
• We are thankful for what God has given us.  This sounds pretty broad, I'm sure, but since going on our overseas mission trip - we have learned to be thankful for even the "smallest" things.  I say "small" in quotations because to many others (most of the world), they are not.  It is a huge BLESSING to have clothes in our closet, shoes for our feet, food to eat, a car, money for gas to fill our car, a bed to sleep in...a pillow (I love my pillow ;) haha)...and well, you get the point.  We hope that you too will always remember to be thankful for the "small" things that can often times be so easy to look over or to take for granted.
• We are thankful for how God has grown our relationship with Him and with each other!  For those that are married, you might know (or could imagine), that it is quite the transition when you are used to working full time apart from each other - to working full time TOGETHER :).  It is a great thing, but there are many things you learn to work through very quickly as well as learning how to balance your time together.  We feel so blessed to have this time together and have already been able to look back at how God has grown each of us individually as well as together. 
• We are so incredibly thankful for those of you that have partnered with us!  We could not do this without your partnerships!  Whether through finances, helping us meet others, or through prayer.  It is with your support, encouragement and prayers that we are able to move forward and we thank God each day for you and how you have allowed Him to use you in our lives!  

Well, like I said above, we could go on and on about what we are thankful for, but a few is enough ;).  We hope and pray that each and every one of YOU has an incredible Thanksgiving!!!  And that you remember not just during this holiday, but everyday, just how much God has blessed you....even the "little" things :).  We hope your holiday is filled with lots of love, joy and yummy food ;).  HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

On our camping trip for our one year anniversary this past month!  It was SOOOO great to camp for a night and get away to the great outdoors :).  What a wonderful anniversary!!

One Year

Today is our one year anniversary!!!  I can't believe it, this year has flown by so fast....seems like just yesterday we were getting married!  I love how God brought us together and feel blessed to be spending the rest of my life with such an amazing man! :)  Below is a slideshow of our special day for those that would like to watch :).

One year ago today......

God is an Artist

Ah fall, you are so beautiful.  Definitely my favorite season!  I love that it's the start of cool, crisp air...seeing the leaves change, hot apple cider (ok, that's not necessarily nature but you can drink it while sitting out in nature! :) haha).  Yes, fall....I love you or rather, that God created you!  I love looking at all the trees that change color and can't help but think how they are so perfectly scattered creating such a beautiful picture.  And then I think about how God created all of it - the beautiful yellows, oranges, reds....gorgeous.  God is definitely an artist....I mean come on, look around :). 

Kaleb and I just got back from our conference in Colorado this past Thursday night and man, did we get blessed with some amazing weather while there!  I was SO excited for cool weather, some even snowy weather, and being surrounded by mountains.  We Poth's love our nature :).  Having great weather and such a scenic drive definitely topped the conference off!  We couldn't have asked for a better time for this conference - not just because of the weather ;).  But it couldn't have been better timing because of the things we learned there (funny how God does that, huh? :) ).  The conference was 3 days long and took place in beautiful Estes Park, Colorado.  We enjoyed a very encouraging and fruitful time there!  Our meetings were mostly focused on financial stewardship.  It was great to hear from and be encouraged by leadership as well as meet with some of them one on one. They helped to offer great advice and gave us tools to use on our own.  It was a great way to get a break together and meet other staff as well that are right there with us in support raising mode.  All in all, a very motivating and fruitful time!  Thank you to those of you that kept us in your prayers!  We appreciate you!

And now, I leave you with some pictures (surprise, surprise ;)) ....

ah, the colors of fall!

near Durango, Colorado where we stayed overnight on our way to the conference.  No, didn't camp this time - it was a tad to chilly for that ;)

Kaleb has a color accent mode on his camera and uses it quite well, if I might say so ;).  LOVE this pic he took!

Kaleb with our faithful ole Blue Steel (our Subaru :) ).  Kaleb is always so sweet to stop for me when we see some good scenery pics to take :).  We were about the only people on the road this day so it was pretty fun!

So pretty much all the pictures I took were outside the car window....I mean, otherwise we would have never made it to our destination I would have wanted to stop so much, haha.  But this pic was taken during one of our stops.  There was a trail to this waterfall that looked awesome - unfortunately the trail was closed due to snow, but maybe next time ;).

someone likes to have snowball fights ;)

ahhhh SNOW! :)

if you know us at all, you know there will ALWAYS be Red Bull on a road trip :)

we hit some drastic weather changes during some parts of the drive

many elk were there to greet us in Estes Park....very many!

I don't think this one was too happy we were there ;)

check out that handsome man!

YAY for fall!

Faith & Trust

Hello, it's been a while....gosh how days can fly by!  Pretty soon those days have turned into weeks and then before you know it, it's been a month....and well, you get my drift - it's been too long.

Well, on Thursday, we will be hitting the road again for another conference with Cru in Colorado.  It is our follow up training conference and we are very excited!  The conference will be from the 9th through the 12th.  It is always nice to be surrounded by others who are working on support raising as well.  The main focus of this training is financial stewartship.  We are looking forward to what we will learn and hearing from some great leaders.  If you could please pray for our safe travels up to Colorado and back.  It will be about a 17 hour drive for us.  It seems that we will mostly be driving through a rain and snow mixture, haha....quite the transition from Arizona weather :).  But we are also very excited for some cool weather! :)

On one of our days off last week we met up with some friends that live here and hiked out to this waterfall....yes, in Arizona, haha.  I was surprised AZ had something like this ;).  It was so nice to take a break in nature and enjoy a beautiful hike - isn't it amazing how God created all this!! :)

So, you might be thinking...what's been going on lately?  It's hard to completely put into words all that we have been learning since arriving to Arizona.  I guess I could start by saying that we have definitely had our ups and downs.  Not in a bad way, but a good realizing you need more of God way....if that makes sense ;).  Because we are choosing to serve in full time ministry, I think often times people think we are more "holy" or "worthy" than they might think they are or feel they are....when in reality, we are no more worthy or holy.  If you are a Christian, we are all called to ministry in our own way - whether it's serving in your local community, being a light for Christ in your office cubical, while hanging out with friends, and with strangers you meet in passing....we are all called to LOVE and to share Christ through our lives in all we do.  Whether that sharing is through actions or words, God has called us each in one way or another.  The fact of the matter is though, that all of us will fail at this at one time or another....I know there have been many times where I have failed miserably.  That doesn't make us bad or unworthy, but should hopefully make us realize just how much more we need Christ - because it's impossible to do without Him.   

It's funny how God works.  I was definitely one of those people for a while who would look at my friends who were missionaries in other countries and states serving and think, "wow, that's so great for THEM, but I could never do that."  Oh believe me, I definitely felt God calling me into some sort of full time ministry....but did I WANT to do that at that point in my life - no.  I wanted security, comfort, and not having to "worry" or think about raising support - that was how I looked at it at the time.  I would look at my friends in ministry that raised their funds to get to where they were, who led Bible studies, who discipled others and think....that's so amazing, but I am so not equipped or "good" enough and well, that's just too hard to do all that.  Well, here I am...still not feeling worthy to be doing what I'm doing, but I am here because I know I'm called and I've realized all that stuff I placed value in before doesn't matter in the end.  And that it's through allowing people to see my weakness, my imperfections and how God has moved and worked in my life - basically just being REAL - that can be what makes a bigger impression....rather than looking "good" or perfect all the time (that's just not real).  I know that's how God has used many (many of those people were those missionary friends :) ) to make a huge impression on my life.  But anyway, like I said....funny how God works, haha.

Why am I telling you all this?  Well, as I said before - this last month or so has definitely brought it's ups and downs.  But not in a bad way.  We have both been learning even more so how much we need to depend on God in everything.  Sounds like something we should already have down pat by now, huh?  I think it's a constant struggle for many....why?  Maybe because we are all selfish in one way shape or form.  We might be selfish in that we want a "say" - we want control in some way over our lives....it's a lot harder to COMPLETELY trust our lives into God's hands.  It's not that we don't desire to completely trust...but there are times when we allow other things to get in the way of that.  I am definitely speaking about myself on this one.  It is so easy at times, especially when things aren't in "my" timing ;), to start to take control and start to try to figure it out on my own....when really all God is wanting me to do is surrender it ALL to Him, and die to myself.  It's hard.  It sometimes takes me learning the hard way to realize I wasn't completely letting go to God's timing and what He wanted.  You know, after I've tried whatever it is on my own and then realizing after I created an even bigger mess or made things worse, that I should have waited on God and trusted Him completely from the get go ;)...yeah, those times will sure teach you a lot, haha.  As we continue on in this journey of building partnerships with those interested in supporting our ministry, we have learned to die to ourselves daily even more so.  We have no control over when we will be at 100% and we have to completely trust God.  It can be hard when you don't always feel like you have much control ;) ....it is definitely a huge faith builder.

It would be even harder to do something like this without the passion and calling we feel for the ministry we will be working with - at times, that is all you have to fall back on.  Especially when what we are doing is so "out of the norm" -most especially in American society.  God has been growing us through it all - it is definitely a refinement process.  We know that His plan is so much better than ours will ever be, that HIS timing is the RIGHT timing and that it most likely will not be when we think it is ;).  We have been so blessed by others who have poured into our lives by allowing God to use them to encourage us, pray with us and for us and or to just to walk along side us.  We are not "more special" than anyone else, we are simply trying to do what every Christ follower -no matter what their job title, how little or how much money they make, or where they are in life - is called to do...to live by faith daily, to die to ourselves daily and allow Christ to work in our lives.  To be dependent on Him and not ourselves.  It is a process, it can be hard...it's not our natural tendency even.  God wants a relationship with us...and the great thing is that he loves us no matter how miserably we fail.

Everyday we learn more and more to depend more on Christ for EVERYTHING.  Sometimes it is hard to not know where things might be headed at times....how long we will be in this stage of our journey....and how God will provide....but, lately I have been even more so reminded that it doesn't matter that I don't know - God knows - and sometimes I just need to sit tight and trust that.  Lord, please forgive me when I say I trust you but don't act like it when I try to take things into my own hands.

In the end, it doesn't matter what your job title is....how many material possessions you have, how little or much money....are you living for Christ in all you do?  Are you dying to yourself daily?  As Christians we are ALL missionaries.  We should all be living for Him in all we do through our lives, through our words and through loving others.  It's a daily decision and requires sacrifice and dying to yourself- are you going to get up tomorrow and live for Him, or live for you? 

 _________________

"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.  For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain."  

Philippians 1:20-21

"Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."  

Ephesians 5:1-2

Arizona, you melt my heart...and everything else.

We are here!!  Got into our car today and it said it was 120 degrees with the sun shade on....yep, we are DEFINITELY in Arizona ;).  I've gotten way too used to the Northern California mild summers and have been away too long from the good ole southeast heat and humidity - so this AZ sun might take a little bit for me to get used to, lol.  I'm happy that the humidity isn't as bad as it is in Georgia or Florida though (that actually, in my opinion, makes it a bit more bearable)....but it still doesn't make you wanna run around outside in the middle of the afternoon, haha.  I think since being here, I've realized that will be the number one thing for me to get used to again....HEAT! ha.  That and seeing a cactus around every corner...definitely not something I'm used to.  Oh yeah....and I can't forget about the dust storms....we walked outside the other day around dusk, and I got so happy when looking up at the sky, "oh yes! I'm so excited, it looks like it's going to storm!!"  I was quickly corrected, "No, Kristin....that's a dust storm..."  Excuse me what!??  haha.  Yeah, so apparently it rains dust in Arizona, lol ;).

the orange color is dust rolling in....

here it comes.....

I still can't believe this, haha....that's a lot of dust!

We are SO happy to be here though!!  It's been a good couple days getting settled in with family and recuperating from our drive.  We are looking forward to starting to meet with friends and family down here to tell them more about what we are doing.  In addition, we will have time now to start our next seminary class online - looking forward to that.

Also, if you notice to the right in our menu -we are excited to report that we are now 24% of our monthly financial support needed to report to Maine!!!  We have also now reached 60% of our "one time" donations needed!!  We reached this right before coming here.  Wooohooo!  Praise God!!  We are SO thankful for how he continues to provide :).  Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement - it means so much!  We will continue to keep you updated.

Until next time.....

scenery in Colorado

we stopped by the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado, pretty cool.

CSU

Well, it's that time again....car packed up, directions in hand, and off we go - it is time to once again, hit the road.  Kaleb and I had our last day of the conference yesterday and man, was it amazing!  We feel so blessed to have been able to hear from some incredible speakers and participated in some great/very helpful :) workshops throughout the week.  It was pretty incredible to be surrounded by nearly 5,000 others who are all working in full time ministry....even more incredible to be in an auditorium full of 5,000 people singing in worship!  While here, we were able to meet up with some old friends and meet many new friends :).  I think one of the most exciting things for us was meeting the rest of the Lifelines staff!  The first 2 days of the conference was spent with all Lifelines folks as we had meetings and workshops together.  We got to learn more about what God has been doing within the ministry and what to look forward to.  We are now even MORE excited and passionate, if that is possible ;), about the ministry and where God is taking us with them!!  We SO cannot wait to get to Maine and start work with Lifelines!!!

meet the rest of the Lifelines staff! ...I will not introduce them all, but you should know they are all pretty awesome ;)

the Lifelines Ministry booth at the conference

Women's time with Lifelines - we went horseback riding through the mountains, so fun!

After a morning of horseback riding with all the Lifelines ladies :)

Today we head out to Denver to visit/stay with family for a day before we hit up Colorado Springs and then it's back on the road again as we make our move to Phoenix.  We plan to be in Phoenix by Friday.  Your continued prayers would be greatly appreciated as we transition to life in AZ and continue our support raising there, thank you!  We are really looking forward to our time there and seeing what God does!  We will keep you all updated.

Well, as usual, I will leave you with some pictures :)....

We got to hear from Francis Chan two of the mornings at the conf.....amazing speaker God definitely used to encourage, challenge and inspire us!

David Crowder Band concert....AMAZING.

Meet the Bethel's, one of the couples we will be working with in Maine with Lifelines.

love this candid shot of the guys just admiring the view

enjoying a day off at Rocky Mountain National Park

check out that rack! :)