Connecticut

I'm settled into a visit to CT. I arrived last Friday night with Michael and I'll be here until this coming Monday after our missions conference at Calvary is over. Michael came to visit my close friends and family here in CT, staying about 30hrs and leaving Sunday early in time to get back for work Monday morning! It was a light-speed visit! We managed to get him out to see the Fall colors and do some pumpkin picking before filling our house with a group of friends and feeding him the real "stuff"...(Italian sauce and spagetti and meatballs, made by Joe Corica).
Since he left I've been visiting with my Grandmother Charlotte, who is up from Georgia for the week. This Friday - Sunday is the Calvary Church Missions conference. My prayer for that time is that I'll have one great 2 minute story to share at church and a good "connecting" Sunday school class on Sunday morning between services. The conference ends after church on Sunday.
I return to CA Monday and I'm due up at Taquitz Pines in Idylwild that evening for our Recruiters retreat. When that ends on Thursday I'll be receiving my good friends the Allinghams as guests in town for the week.
I ought to have lots of good pictures for you in the coming days. My November promises to be a busy one!
If you attend Calvary Church in Trumbull then I'll look forward to seeing you there this weekend, starting Friday night! Thanks for stopping by to catch up with me!
Dagney

Friends from NY and friends with airplanes!

Last week was a pretty full one! Don and Elaine Eli were out here in California visiting their son and my friend Doug, and they stopped in Hemet to see me and join me for dinner at my house! It was a neat experience to have friends from out East here at my house in CA. In fact, Elaine was one of the first two people I met my first night at Calvary Church in Trumbull. She was also the first youth group leader of my first small group in high school in CT. It meant a t for them to visit. The very next day I joined some friends in San Diego and volunteered for Fri/Sat/Sun at the Miramar Air Show with the Warbird West Museum. I helped "man" the MiG-21 cockpit that they use to raise some funds for their other airworthy aircraft by charging people a couple dollars to climb in the cockpit. Of course I love being around the airplanes and it is my privilege to know these fun people. Particularly the owner of the museum, Jim Ostrich who has been so kind to include me in the museum's various activities. He has blessed me in the area of aviation and continues to, as well as in the area of my local relationships. Without being of the same spiritual persuasion, he has certainly been a kind of "dad" to me here in San Diego. I was able to continue to develop these relationships during the weekend.
Youth group has been quite different this year. Our youth pastor left in June and we now have a somewhat permanent intern. The group has dwindled to around 30+ every week, but my group of now "Sophmore" girls has remained mostly the same. One friend of the group of girls just lost her Mom to a deadly disease as of this Sunday. Please pray for Samantha and her family. She is so young to lose her Mom and this circumstance has really affected those that know her as they watch her deal with the pain of it. My girls have been doing something special to encourage her. The Lord has blessed our conversation times in small group the last few weeks and I have left youth group totally charged up about how He chooses to use me. It's really exciting to watch the girls "get" new concepts about God! The last picture on this post is our group of leaders that met after youth group this week.
For work, I was able to meet with a young lady who is interested in working for my organization in the area of journalism. We have both had a lot of fun discovering the ways she could serve. She has agreed to join me and another recruiter as we begin to write a book that we hope will be a resource for youth pastors to teach their interested students about missions. We began working on this book last week and will meet next week to keep the writing going! I also met with a group of youth ministry workers from the LA area, this week up in Lake Arrowhead. I was able to enlarge my circle of influence and learn about what God is doing in youth ministry in this Urban area. Met some really amazing people! Wow, some people are seriously motivated!
I stayed with a relatively new friend Jennifer for the first time this week. She has offered to let me stay at her house which is near my work which would allow me to shorten my commute some during the week. We had a good time connecting and she has graciously allowed me to stay when I need to.
Well, that was probably enough to read! I will be traveling to CT next weekend in order to see family and to attend the missions conference the following weekend!
Thanks for checking in again! There was a lot to write about and there were some things I left out!
Dagney

Office stuff getting busy!

I finally finished the decorating (for the most part) of my office in San Diego. There is a part of it that I can't show you, as it reveals the name of my organization, but just know that the wall facing the door has big mirrored letters of my organizations logo on the wall. Very cool! I've been busy with new ideas and with meetings. I've attended a number of webinars online to improve my skills in doing my job.
My youth group girls and I have been getting along really well. God has blessed me with some fabulous conversations in the last few weeks. Conversations that I go away from amazed at God and so thankful that He chooses to use me to speak through. I love, love, love watching and witnessing students grasp how wide, and tall and deep is the love of God! He is an amazing and intricate God!
This week I have the opportunity to spend time with my aviation friends as I volunteer at the Miramar Air show! I met these friends last year at this very event! Pray for me to be the gentle witness that I must be and that my life and actions prompt questions about who I follow. I love aviation so this is my favorite pastime and these are wonderful caring people!
Next week I attend with my supervisor, a meeting our youth ministry folks from San Diego, up in the mountains for Tues-Wed. We will have the opportunity to pick their brains and to share our missions ideas and opportunities with them!
Thank you for your interest in my ministry! Please continue to pray for one of my girls's friends who is losing her mother to cancer this week. She desperately needs the constant tangible presence of God to be her comfort. Pray that my girls will be that tangible presence of God in some ways that He will give them the wisdom they need to be a blessing to her as she mourns.
There are so many students who need our prayers. I have even had Facebook conversations that have prompted me and other to prayer. So many needs it's a good thing that our God has his ear and heart on every single one!

Arizon trip

I've added two posts this week. The first one is below and I added that on Wednesday. This one is to update you on what happened since I got back from NC.
Last week from Tues-Fri I was in Catalina (ie.near Tucson) AZ. Our organization held some Child Safety Seminar classes, which I along with my colleagues attended on Wednesday. Thursday we met to discuss the future of our camping programs as well as to try to better define our dept.
In the evenings we shared meals both at our recruiter friends home one night and a retired organizational member the next. We got to watch 2 fabulous sunsets in Arizona! The desert in the southern part of our United States is absolutely beautiful. AS you can see!
This week at work I've had a lot more to do. I'm keeping up with a number of new recruits in my specialty age group and we are starting work on some new ideas. Which I will tell you about as i have a better idea of how it might work out. if you know anyone who might be interested in a short term mission trip to Cameroon, Africa next summer. We are in the beginning stages of planning one. Let me know!
Youth group on Wednesday was so much fun. I ran the game, which is not my favorite thing to do, but I used a game we used in Russia and it was alot of fun. Our group has dwindled in size. There are probably a number of factors why. One of them being we lost our youth pastor earlier this summer so we're starting up again fresh. We have a tiny little budget too, but that is normal for youth groups all over the country! Gotta get creative!
I finished my office finally, so next week I'll post pictures of my "other world"!
Thanks again for checking in! andPS> don't forget there are two posts this week. I want you to meet Michael my boyfriend.

Official introduction to my blog friends

This blog is primarily for the "dissemination" of information to my partners, of my mission activities. But knowing that you my partners are also my friends I want to introduce to you my boyfriend "Mike" or "Michael" as I call him. We've been dating since the end of July and he has met both my parents, but not Lee yet.
So, a little info for the inquiring minds. Yes, he is a believer and originally from California. He's a little bit younger than me (27mths) and works for the Army. For now he's stationed at California Polytechnic University as a Professor of Military Science in the ROTC unit. He has served 14+mths in Iraq as a helicopter pilot (yeah, for those that know, just like Dad!) His intention is to make the Army his career, but there are a number of options out there for him when it's time for a reassignment. You could pray for him and his family as his mother is facing serious health issues and we don't know how much longer she has until our Father calls her home. His Dad has been gone since 2006, so many of the responsibilities of his family have fallen on Michael.
We have tons in common, aside from aviation and the military and I look forward to introducing him to y'all when the time permits! He is coming to CT in October, but because of his work and the flight schedule he won't be able to make it to church this time. He will get to see the Lee Pitts family and my "home town". Maybe those of you in CT will see him over the Christmas holidays!
Thanks for checking in. Ministry news will be posted in a few days! All is well!

the last 2 weeks!

Well, for those of you who read my blog rather regularly, you know that I tend to miss my weekly blog updates when I travel. So is the case this time too! I went to North Carolina to join a group of friends, family and supporters for a yearly retreat/vacation. Our host and friend Mr Powell Harrison invites a large group of us to enjoy his family home on the Outer Banks. This year, as in the past we enjoyed deep fellowship, Bible study, worship and lots of fun. My parents joined us for the second "week" and I caught up with friends that I generally only see on this trip. It did not disappoint this year once again. I come back from this trip refreshed and excited and envigorated by the people time and fellowship. We always share our year and our prayers and hopes for the next year. Even the Tropical Storm Hannah was mild "enough" to be exciting but not to keep us from staying. We weathered a very windy night on Friday but by Saturday afternoon the skies were blue!
This week, right now in fact, I am with colleagues in Arizona taking a Child Safety Seminar and today (Thurs) we are meeting within our department to discuss the future of our camping programs. It is always enjoyable to spend face to face time with my colleagues who are usually spread out over the country. We return Friday to our homes.
On another note. My landlord/colleague/friend Tori's daughter is getting married at our home this Saturday! Very exciting! the groomsmen will be preparing themselves in my house, which is in the backdrop for this backyard wedding! So Saturday will be a fury of activity and I'm looking forward to it!

a gathering in CA from CT!

Last weekend, I got to go up North a bit and visit with the Todd's )while they were here on vacation) and Doug with his friend Emily. We met at the beach where Texans, Jenn and Jason were taking surfing lessons and the five of us hung out for the afternoon and I stayed through the night and went home the next day! It was so sweet to revisit our memories of times working in youth group in Connecticut and to remember the lives that we were involved in while there. It has been 2 years since I saw the Todd's and it felt like just a few days. Doug has recently moved to Pasadena to work with a mission there, having just finished raising support is now fully active at the mission offices. It was kinda hard for us to believe that we were together so far away, out here in CA!!! Who would have thought a few years ago, of such an event.
Wednesdays youth group meeting was the first big one since school has started. Once school begins we see the kids more consistently. I am sad that the freedom of summer schedules are over. We have a new youth intern, and he has begun to prepare the schedule for the fall and winter and it seems like there will be many opportunities to be involved in kids lives. Yeah!
As Fall approaches, my schedule will be very busy. I travel a lot for both business and for family, in the Fall. This year will not be different. I go to Tuscon, AZ in Sept for a ministry training event.
Looks like I'll be staying in San Diego a few nights a week with a friend at her house. That will make it easier for me to get to work and will keep me off the highway so very much; but it also allows me to keep low rent and to enjoy the peaceful countryside where I live now. That is an answer to prayer for a solution to my travel woes and I get a friend in the mix too!

To translate or not to translate in Jamaica?!

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/september/5.15.html

This article was brought to my attention as an example of the struggles that translation organizations face as they strive to provide the Scriptures in the heart languages of God's people around the world.
The task of translation is not an easy one and as you can see, the current trend towards "globalization" provides some interesting dialogue on the topic!
We value every language as unique and important. When scriptures are translated into someones heart language, they then WANT to read! Once they can read their own spoken language, it is then easier for them to learn a trade language! See the article and see how this problem is discussed in the particular situation in Jamaica!

California August

July was a pretty busy month for me but August promises to be a bit slower. I can be at the office more consistently. I work a day or two from home but the other days I work at the National Network of Youth Ministries office, where the activity has also picked up after the crazy summer schedules. My fellow co-workers seem to enjoy popping into my office as it is decorated with spears and arrows and bamboo and a palm tree. I collected a few artifacts from the Temecula office and am privileged to display them in my new place.
We are working on putting together a new kind of short term mission trip for teens with our partner organizations. Hopefully we will get the big details settled in the next month and can begin to advertise it. The purpose is to give teens an opportunity to experience mission options in our organization other than simply translation. This trip will hopefully highlight the work of vernacular media! (meaning non-written forms of scripture). Pray for swift planning and sufficient participants! Another area that we are beginning to explore is how to get teens involved in missions through technology. I talked to a friend this last week who has some interest in the idea and we are gonna start brainstorming how this might work. A way to get teens involved in missions NOW through their abilities in IT! Please pray for the right connnections (meaning that we meet and talk to the right people in the right positions for promoting the idea within our organization).
In the local youth ministry area for me.....our church just said goodbye to our youth pastor, on good terms, and we are in the ever familiar, search "mode"! oh yea! But in the meantime we just met with our new intern for this year. We are hoping to see spiritual growth in our students and an effective ministry despite the lack of formal leadership. I love this kind of ground level ministry. It's actually what I really live for! Seems promising for this coming school year, and for some reason last nights youth ministry meeting reminded me of how MANY of these kinds of planning meetings I have attended in my 15 yrs in youth ministry! Ya know? Ministry never changes!? It seems like we're always dealing with the same issues.....how to show kids Jesus in such a way that they fall in love with Him and want to pursue Him for themselves, while at the same time having fun!!!! Ah, youth ministry! Keeps us young!!! (seriously! I was actually asked last week, if I was gonna be going back to college soon! hahaha!!! nice......."how old do you think I am?" I said) don't ya love teens?! I DO!!!!

6,347 days left in the countdown to Vision 2025!!!

Dagney

More Wisconsin....oh how I love it!

There is no way that I can tell you how much fun it was and how refreshing to go back to Wisconsin. You'll just have to wade through a bunch of pictures this time! But that's more fun anyway, right? Of course, I'll say "something".....you know me! After last weeks blog report, I had a girls sleepover at the Grovers (permission granted, for those of you who wonder!) and then went up into more Northern Wisconsin with my friends the Allinghams to their family cabin. I got back on Sunday in time to clean up (no running water at the cabin nor indoor plumbing!) and get to Faith EFC for Sunday services. The next few days I packed in time with people, both my girls and other friends from church. THANKYOU to the Lovett's (and especially Sorena) for loaning me their car! Tuesday I reluctantly packed up and took the shuttle to the airport in Minneapolis. Once again my spirit and mind and heart had slowed down to the pace that seems to be the healthiest. I had had quality time with people that I care about. I had soaked in more beautiful farmland and taken a few walks. But got to tell you about Monday afternoon. After breakfast with the Clark ladies, I visited with the Berglund family, catching up on their "to-do"ing" and then we all went over to the Bartz's farm. OH MY GOODNESS!!! Soooo much fun. The Bartz "clan" was frantically baling and storing the hay to beat the expected rains. They allowed me to climb up in the hay mow (sp?) and watch as they finished the last batch. They placed each bale on a (don't know the official name) motorized ladder thingy (how's that for official? hehe) and it then dropped off up high in the barn and a couple girls and Chris helped stack it. I didn't take my camera! I know, bummer. Just believe me it was so beautiful, that big old barn smelling of hay with the late afternoon light streaming in through the cracks in the walls and the big opening at the end. MAN! I am so impressed with how much work it is to do what they do at a dairy farm. Wow. Paul Bartz told me some interesting stuff about the hay and how they manage that. Did you know that cows don't taste their food? They only smell it! yeah, picky cows! hehe.
The best part about being there apart from the gorgeous scenery was visiting with the people that I know. They still made me feel like family and it felt like I left yesterday. I am so grateful that God sent me to Wisconsin last year. Who would have known I'd love it so much? I was blessed by the significant conversations that I was able to have and renewed friendships. I sometimes wonder why God would remove me from that place so soon. Only He knows the answers to those questions. But I got to be there for awhile, and my life is richer for it!
Before I left someone asked, "are you going for work or for vacation?" I didn't know how to answer. I felt like I was going back to re-establish the contacts I made in ministry and yet I knew that it would also be a comfort and refreshment for me. I had promised the kids I'd go back before a year was over, and well......I got back exactly the week I left last year! whew, just made it! So somehow God allows ministry and personal refreshment to go hand in hand.
Hope you enjoyed the pictures! (they include girls sleepover, cabin time with the Allinghams, little girls tackle-box, cows outside my window at the Grovers, local scenery, Kayleen and Cole at the Bartz's farm)
Dagney

visiting my friends in Wisconsin!

This week I'm back in my old home of Menomonie, WI! I have been gone from here for almost a year. So hard to believe! Last year, this week was when I moved to CA.
So I came back to reconnect with my girls and to visit other friends. Last night was an informal youth group "meeting". A few of the kids came, we had about 8 total and a bunch of the leaders. We played some games that I picked up in CA with my youth group and friends there and then I got to see how the new Faith EFC band sounds! Got to hear how this last year went and what is going on in the life of the church.
I am staying at the Grovers house, without them as they are in Peru right now! A friend from church loaned me her car, so I even have "free" transportation! Tonight is a sleepover, with basically the girls in the first picture plus another one that I ran into at Wal-Mart last night! I was hoping to see Emilee, and there she was late at night in Wal-mart. I wouldn't have been there except i had to exchange an item from earlier in the day that didn't fit. Which reminds me that this particular girl is so changed! Her countenance is brighter and she seems so much more healthy and happy! I knew it was a "God" thing that I ran into her last night and I am praying that she can come tonight so we can catch up. I met her only a month or so before I moved away from here and I have been concerned for her. I am so very excited to see this goodness in her life! She has been one of those girls that is constantly in my mind and heart.
I was able to go into Connersville and visit another teen, who graduated this year. She and I talked for a couple hours and I got to meet her "new" boyfriend....great guy. The drive to and from her house were amazing. Wisconsin farmland is absolutely out of this world....if you know what I mean. Green rolling hills, barns and silo's peeking out from behind a hill here and there, cows, and waving wheat and corn, straight straight rows of mown grass drying before they are baled. I drive from place to place in awe.
There are a few more days left. More pictures to come! (oh, and the last one is my girlfriend Minda!)

Vision Camp

I spent last week in the Julian Mountains, attending and staffing our Vision Camp, a summer missions camp for teens. It lasted from Sunday afternoon to the following Saturday! There is no possible way that I can tell you about all that happened. We were honored to have in our care almost 60 students from the ages of 12-18. We partnered with Youth for Truth, which is a discipleship program that also send short term teams in the summer to South America. I was a member of a Jr.High team and .....well shall I say, it's been way too long since I had Jr.High experience! whew! The girl in the picture was one of our team members. Each team was named after a language group that just recently completed a translation of the New Testament into their language. Our teams names was Aukan. Our week consisted of 3 meetings a day, of which I taught two sessions on Tuesday and two on Thursday, and games and team/tribal times squished in between! We got to know each other throughout the week and by the end of the week God had done some tremendous things in the lives of the students. We experienced some deep worship times, and watched as kids eyes were open to the reality of the Christian experience. Some received Christ as their own and some decided to spend time this year under the care of Christians in order to find out what Christianity really is all about.
I was personally going through a tough time emotionally, because of stuff the weekend before, but God was also talking to me and revealing some necessarily character growth. He gave me Colossians 3:12-17 and I am still thinking on all that He has for my growth based on that. I needed the camp experience just as much as the kids. God knows all we need. He knows just what to allow in our lives.
I will be going to Wisconsin next week to visit with my students there and church family and friends. I am really looking forward to it. But before that, I am holding a sleepover tomorrow night for some of my small group girls from my youth group! We'll be together that night and I am waiting to see what God will do using that time. Our plan is to continue our time together on Saturday and go to Oceanside for the day at the beach. These "hang-out" times are usually the times that deepen my relationship with my girls in ways that Wednesday youth nights just don't do. So I am praying for these fun times too!