Leaving on Friday!

Hello everyone! I hope that you all had a great Christmas season and that your new years is also awesome!

Our team will be flying out on Friday the 31st. P

lease pray that our travel goes smoothly and everything goes according to plan. Thank you all so much for your prayer and financial support. God has truly blessed me beyond what I deserve with all of you.

I will be updating you guys as much as possible while in Thailand (once a week "ish").

I wanted to leave you with a list of prayer needs for the village of Nahong. Thanks again for your prayers! I love you guys.

PRAYER NEEDS FOR NAHONG

*Relationships with the people would be built easily and soon!

*The adults would be soft to the Gospel and our team

*We would be able to communicate the Gospel in a clear and relevant way.

*Our team would be bold in friendships and sharing the Gospel.

*The chains of Buddhism would be broken in Nahong.

Join in prayer for key relationship that we have already built

*Sap & family - she read the entire New Testament in one night. Pray the Gospel penetrates her heart.

*Lamud - Lamud became a Christian last year praise God!! Pray that her and her friends continue to study the bible and seek God.

*Pii Li, she has been our cook and has good friendship with our team, Pray for her salvation

*Bahtim - He is a teacher and has built relationship with our team. He is seeking truth, pray that he finds it in Christ!

*Nit and Sa - Pray for their salvation. I lived with them last year and they are great people and would be great leaders for a church in Nahong.

Pray for our English teaching

*Our team would teach English effectively and efficiently

*We would fully rely on God for wisdom and strength

*For opportunities to share the Gospel in the school

*That Thai children would receive English well

These are some prayer needs right now. I will update you on more needs once I get there in person.

Please keep Cheyenne and I in your prayers. We have a ton of responsibility and we know that we will not rest in the next two months. Also in Thailand our relationship dynamic will change a lot because of the culture and that can be a real challenge under the emotional hardship of the outreach.

Love you guys and God bless your new year!

~ Lucas

Thailand English Update

Hello all,

Today I found out that I will be teaching the 4th grade English class in Nahong Thailand. This year we have been blessed with new course curriculum that will make lesson planning easier. But if you remember last year, yes I

am still the same person. I need a lot of help from God to be able to effectively plan out a lesson to teach non-English speaking students, our wonderful language. The main focus of doing this is obviously to spread the gospel. But a lot of that rests on how we teach. For the students it's that I teach in the right way and love on them in the right way while also teaching at a high level. It's very important to be a good teacher that isn't just getting by in the teaching aspect and doing really good at loving students. The main way that we are able to get through to teachers in the village is their respect for our teaching ability! So just please be in prayer for that.

Again, we will be leaving on New Years eve. It's fast in coming. First we fly MSP to Seattle to Tokyo then to Bangkok. Once we land in Bangkok we are there for 2 days before taking an 11hour night bus to Chaing Mai and then from there 3 hours by truck to Nahong.

Should be a party!!

I love you guys. Thanks so much for being a part of what we're doing in Thailand. Please join with our team in Prayer for the travel, English teaching and spreading of the gospel.

If you would like to come and join the team for a day of prayer on December 4th (Saturday) we are having a prayer summit for Nahong and northern Thailand here at the YWAM Northwoods campus. It's from 10am-3pm and

a light lunch will be provided.

God bless,

Lucas

Woot Woot!

Hello all friends and family

Well, it is that time again. I will be leaving at the end of December through end of February, to go back to the mission field in Thailand. Last year during my Discipleship Training School, we went to Nahong Thailand. A small village in the Northern part of Thailand. Our main ministry is teaching English in the public schools.

After my DTS outreach my heart ached for the people of Thailand and of Nahong. They are an amazing people and culture that sadly lives with no hope. They believe in Buddhism. If you are Thai that means you are Buddhist. They believe in reincarnation and there is a great deal of idolatry. The people of low class (small village people) live with no hope. There are whole families all the way back to great grandparents still living in the same small house in the village. Their hope is that they will live a good enough life to be reincarnated in a better city in Thailand. That is as far as their vision goes. These are amazing people that our friends and I desire so much to see them come to Christ. That they can have the joy and hope and love that I have come to find in Jesus Christ.

Our Mission: To plant a culturally relevant Thai church in Nahong that worships Jesus Christ.

We will be teaching K-6^th grade in the schools. It also gives us great involvement with the teachers and village leaders in Nahong that we have built a friendship with. Last year they even offered to build us a house if we would stay long term. We are hoping that someone will be able to move there in the next few years.

We also do after school ministry with the kids and teach them stories from the Bible and really love on them. This year we are hoping to have some kind of music/performance ministry as well. I am trying to see what that would look like and get things set up. Please be praying for myself and our team as we go.

Me personally: Well starting in August I came on staff here at YWAM NorthWoods and I am staffing the discipleship training school.

I have loved it so far and God is doing so much in the lives of the students. I do many things around here with the school. I am in charge of the guys dorms and also lead the classroom. Making sure the classes run smoothly and that the students are growing and benefiting from the classes. I do a lot of 'one on one' counseling with some of the guy students. I am also the worship and arts director. Once a week I help lead a weekly bible study in which we study the Bible together using what I learned in the School of Biblical Foundations. I coordinate the worship for the study as well.

Shortly after coming on staff here a church in the area asked me to fill in on a Sunday for their morning worship. The following week they hired me as their worship and arts director for their contemporary service on Sunday mornings.

Working for Youth With A Mission carries no salary/income. Which means I am “self employed” and run on outside supporters to continue the ministry here. While at the same time being under the covering of Youth With A Mission's name and on a 2 year contract with them. So, it is living by faith everyday and gets difficult but love my work-there is nothing I would rather do. I want to see the Awesome name of Christ be spread throughout the world and even in our community.

Please keep me in your prayers as I prepare for the task ahead

If you feel you could support me financially or could like to be on my prayer support team, let me know!

We will be flying out- 5 staff and 5 students- on Dec 31^st and returning the last weekend in February.

My e-mail is: lukieneraasen@yahoo.com or check out my blog @ lifethroughhisscars.blogspot.com

My # here at Campus is: 715-353-2280

Feel free to contact me on Facebook as well.

Thank you all and God bless!

Lucas

Thailand Outreach Time

Hello all,
Most of you know that I will be traveling to Thailand once again this winter. I am going back to the village of Na Hong with hopes of planting a church in the village. Our main ministry will be teaching English in the public school.
A couple things:
First I am extremely excited. I love the people of Na Hong and of Thailand so this is my heart. For me it is not a vacation in any sense of the word. My heart aches to see these amazing people come to Christ.
So please keep our team in your prayers

For me personally this is going to be a ton of work. Setting up and coordinating things that'll happen around the world is a chore.
Please keep me in your prayers.

Also, please pray about my finances. We just found out that we will need to order our plane tickets this Tuesday. The flights have gone up at least $400 from last year and we'll need to fly into Bangkok rather then Chaing Mai. What that means is after 30 hrs of flight travel we are going to take an 11hr double decker night bus to Chaing Mai.

So I am faced with the requirement of getting $1600 by Tuesday. Please pray about supporting me financially if able. I have never particularly enjoyed asking others for help because I've always been a hard worker that supplies for myself but times have changed and I must rely on God to provide. Every little bit helps. Really every small bit helps me out. I value you and praise God for your prayers and support.

This is going to be an adventure that's for sure, but one that God has called me to and I anticipate Him doing great things in Thailand.

Please pray for our students as well. Many of them need passports and finances in record time. Their names are: Michael Knight, Sarah Egge, Dorothy Taylor, Kelsy Hultberg and Josiah Merrill.

One of the main purposes of this letter is to ask you if you would like to receive email updates from our Thailand team while on outreach. If so please give me your email so I can create an email list for outreach updates. Thank you so much for your prayers and support. God bless you and your families
Lucas

Fall begins in the Northwoods!

Hello friends and family!

Well we're already through half of September! I can't believe how fast time flies.

Life is going great and I'm loving my new position here and working with the staff here at YWAM Northwoods! It's already been a growing experience and I know that will continue through my tenure here.

Now is the exciting time!! DTS starts on Sep 26th and we already have 10 students! I am steeped in anticipation for what God is going to do in the lives of the students and staff during the school! The lecture phase will start the 26th as I said and outreach will begin the first week in January! We are potentially sending out two different outreach teams, one to Thailand and one to Brazil! I will still be leading the Thailand outreach and I cannot wait! Since I've been here my heart for Nahong has grown and I'm soo ready to go back and get to work spreading the life giving gospel of Christ! I want the Thai people to know true love. To know true hope and vivid life! That's my dream and prayer!

In DTS I will be working with young adults for a 3 month lecture phase and a 2 month outreach phase. Doing one-on-ones with the young men and leading some local outreach as well. I will be one of the people who sets up our teams transportation, translators and ministry in Thailand. I will also be overseeing the English teaching ministry. It will be a lot of work but I am called to serve at the school in Wisconsin and in Nahong Thailand. It will be a great deal of responsibility but I am ready for the challenge.

I would like to ask you to pray about supporting me in my calling and place in the great commission. One of the hardest things about doing this with my life is finances. Because I hate relying on someone other then myself and I can't stand asking you for help. I'm a hard worker and to have to ask for help is very hard for me but it is also good. It has humbled me and brought me closer to God. Because it not only makes me rely on other but I must rely on God for my daily bread! I'm going to be honest with you, at this point I have only two supporters and would greatly appreciate your prayer about this. Thank you SO much for your prayer support. I understand if you cannot support with finances. I thank you for being a friend and a HUGE part of my ministry in prayer. Because like finances, without your prayers I couldn't do this. So thank you and God bless you and your family!

If you would like to help me in my mission, have questions or just wanna talk, please contact me! I would honestly love to talk and get to know you more or answer questions you may have. I also open myself to you if any of you need prayer support about anything. Please don't think I'm just saying that. I would honestly love to pray for you! God bless you. ~Lucas

I’m on Facebook: Search Lucas Neraasen, Email address: lukieneraasen@yahoo.com Mailing Address: YWAM Northwoods W14580 County Highway D Weyerhaeuser, WI 54895.

It's been a month!

Hey hey hey friends! I hope you are all doing well and enjoying this BEAUTIFUL month of August!! Here is an update on my new life.

I moved out to YWAM Northwoods in Chetek, Wisconsin on August 8th. As you know I am living here as Discipleship Training School (DTS) staf

f. We've been working on contacting potential students, setting up events and scheduling the school. I've been making calls and emailing many potential students, while going over and praying about the applications we have in already.

The beginning weeks were hard. When I got here on the night of the 8th, they didn't have a room for me to live in so I stayed on a friends couch. The next day I found a room and had to clean it all out and then could finally move in! Adjusting to what we do here and living on campus while not being a student was kinda crazy in the beginning. But I am getting more in a groove now and I'm starting to love my new position!

I'm so glad that I'm here. I know that I'm going to be stretched and torn apart for the sake of Christ but I'm so pumped for what God is doing! I really catching a heart for the upcoming DTS! This years but also I have a heart for next years already. I'm really excited for the students coming in. I pray that they experience God in a new way that causes them to grow rapidly in Christ. That God will instill in the students a solid "life style" faith that they continue to walk in the rest of their lives. Of course I am already excited for Nahong Thailand as well. We'll be leaving in January for 2 months to do the ministry in Nahong. My heart breaks for the people there and I can't wait to get back there and work. In October my self and the rest of our Nahong team will start work on setting everything up. From travel to the ministry and activity once we get to Thailand.

I've been very blessed since getting here as far as ministry and finances. I

thank you so much for your support of my mission and pray that God continues to provide. My first week here I met with a pastor at a church about 30 min from base. In that meeting I took the worship leader position for their contemporary service. I'm very excited about the opportunity! The pastor

gave me control of everything to do with the worship arts dept for "The Awakening" which is the name of the ministry. They also offered to pay me for taking the position so I'm very pumped.

Last weekend one of my best friends Tyler married his awesome fiancée Holly! They were both my staff in dts and Tyler was staff in my sbf. It was really great to see my good friends ge

t married and start their new life together. It was a beautiful wedding. The thing I loved most about it was that it was so God centered. Their was a dance and definitely a party but it was an awesome environment and great wedding.

Another event since I've moved, is my state of relationship. My best friend is Cheyenne Clark. We prayed a lot about our friendship on our own without each other knowing and then we came together and prayed about it together. After waiting and praying we truly felt God speaking to us and showing us things about ourselves and each other and us together. We know the call that God has on our lives to be in ministry for Christ and we share a vision and priority for that. It has caused me to grow personally a lot as well. She works along side me, convicts me and encourages me to continue in growth. We love doing ministry together and growing in our relationship with one another but most importantly with God. Growing alongside each other has been an amazing blessing and continues to be. I'm very excited and praise God for His constant

provision in every facet of my life.

Prayer requests and needs: As far as my needs go I always welcome prayer. This job is very stretching. We are servants to everyone as we are to Christ which is how it is meant to be but that can be very hard as you know. Sometimes it can feel as if your always working because of things that come up that you end up doing throughout the day. So pray for strength and a stronger heart of servant hood. Finances. I appreciate so much the support I have received from all of you. It helps me with my everyday needs and strengthens my faith.

I just thought I would share with you the needs of the base as well in case you know someone or God lays something on your heart.

Base Needs: Right now we are looking for a good deal or donation of a 15 psgr van for our DTS to transport staff and students from place to place on group events and outreaches.

We need to redue the roof on the main lodge very badly so we're praying for assistance and finances for that.

We also need to remodel the guys wing of the lodge sometime in the future. A lot of the bathrooms are going bad and we just need to remodel so we can better house students.

Our washer machienes have crapped out on us so all the staff is working with one washer that is working.

I love you guys very much. Thank you so much for all your prayers and support. I'm praying for all of you as well.

~Lucas

Blue sky morning

Hello all,

Well this last week has been absolutely CRAZY! It all started when my sister and I left to visit our family in Ohio. It was great to go on a road trip with my sister Brianna and really get to hang out.

It really blessed my grandma as well. She is the coolest lady ever and lives by herself, so it was really great to spend time with her!

I also got to hang out with my awesome cousin Andrew! It was awesome. We've been best friends since berth so it was really great to get down there and hang out. The trip was top off by getting to visit my best friend in Wisconsin on the way home. All in all an amazing trip!

Now I'm back in Minnesota, this will be my last week at home before moving out to Wisconsin after church on Sunday! I'm pretty excited to move but it is still a huge step. I am so excited for what is going to be happening in my life. There will be some big new things that I could not be more happy about and there will also be some crazy stuff that I won't see coming. I am ready for the challenge and privilege to serve.

So I will be spending my week hanging out with friends. Packing my things and figuring out everything for the move! I'm excited for this new time in my life and can't wait to get started!

If you would like to hang out this week, let me know!! Or if you have any more questions about YWAM, my reasons for going, what I'll be doing or just to talk please get a hold of me.

I greatly appreciate all your prayers and support. Please pray about possibly supporting me in this. I feel called to this as you probably know and I'm very excited about it! People like you supporting me is my means of being able to continue this work and I greatly appreciate every donation that I receive. You are a part of what I'm doing here and my ministry.

If you would like to support me all donations can be tax deductible. For tax refund make check out to YWAM Northwoods- simply include my name in the letter and it will be put in my account. Send all support and mail to mailing address below

Reach me at Facebook: Facebook.com search Lucas Neraasen Email:lukieneraasen@yahoo.com. Mailing address: YWAM NorthWoods W14580 County Highway D, Weyerhaeuser, WI 54895

The adventure awaits

Hello Friends and family!

I apologize for not being able to update you guys during the last few months. I've been beyond busy the last 4 months of my life!


As many of you know, last year I went to Youth With a Mission ( a missions organization that trains young adults to go out into the world as missionaries and followers of Christ). During my Discipleship training school we went to Nahong Thailand for a two month outreach. Once there I felt called to do the second school that YWAM northwoods had to offer, the School of Biblical Foundations (SBF) and that's where I'll start! My latest adventures!

SBF was an extremely intense course that taught me how to study the bible in depth, understand the truths of God's word and teach others from the bible. I feel deeply grounded and firm in what I believe and have a desire to share the word of God and the life it brings to the people around me. At the end of SBF I made the decision to make an outward statement of my faith, by being baptized! I'm very excited for what lies ahead!

In the school we had an intense homework load where I was hardly sleeping in order to finish the projects. Through it I feel much stronger in my faith then I ever have before. I know without God I would not have made it through this intense school and I praise Him and give Him all the glory.

Thank you all so much for your prayers and support while I was in SBF!!

I have recently come home and I will be home for a month before going back to Wisconsin. I've been accepted as Discipleship Training School (DTS) staff! I will be staffing the schools and I will also be leading the outreach to Nahong Thailand this winter! I have had a strong calling to the ministry in Nahong ever since I went there last winter.

As of now I am signed on for the next two years! I will be moving back to Chetek Wisconsin in early August.

Reasons for going:

When I was a little kid, all I wanted to be was my dad. I wanted to be just like him! So I would imitate \ him as best I could. Walk like him, talk like him, listen to his music and anything else that was something my dad would do. I had no reason to walk around with a toothpick in my mouth! I never used the thing. But dad did it so I had to do it. It felt so cool. When people would see me with the toothpick they'd always say “He looks just like his dad”. I love my dad and because I loved him I wanted to be like him and make him proud.

In the last year I've gone through many life changing experiences and my life vision has completely changed. The way I imitated my dad when was a child is how I now want to imitate Christ. I've learned much about what's important in life and I've come to the conclusion that everything points back to God and the gospel. I feel called to bring the gospel to Nahong Thailand and the people around me today. I want to bring young Christians the real Jesus and the true life giving gospel so that they can truly live!

In DTS I will be working with young adults for a 3 month classroom phase and a 2 month outreach phase. Doing one-on-ones with the young men and leading some local outreaches as well. I will be one of the people who set up our team transportation, translators and ministry in Thailand. I will be overseeing the English teaching ministry at the school in Nahong as well. It will be a lot of work but I am called to serve at the school in Wisconsin and in Nahong Thailand. It will be a great deal of responsibility but I am ready for the challenge.

Ways you can help:

Prayer: I value all of your prayers greatly. I have felt the power of prayer in my life so please pray. This will be the most challenging thing I've ever done so I greatly appreciate prayers.

Financial Support: I am taking a great step of faith being a missionary with no form of income other then the support of others. It does give me more reliance on God for provision however.
I will be living a normal life with living expenses, basic essentials and gas, plus a trip to Thailand this winter. If it is laid on your heart to give either a one time donation or even monthly support I can not express my thanks enough for that.
I consider you all a MAJOR part of my ministry. Your by my side here and in Thailand, working with me.
If you would like to help me in my mission, have questions or just wanna talk, please contact me! I'm on Facebook: Search Lucas Neraasen, Email: lukieneraasen@yahoo.com, Mailing Address: YWAM Northwoods W14580 County Highway D, Weyerhaeuser, WI 54895

Thank you so much. And God bless

Luke

The Ride

Soak every moment in deeply. Allow it to permeate your senses so as to experience everything in your life to the fullest. The love, the hurt, the joy, the pain, the beauty of life, the darkness in this world and the light in this world. But most of all the GLORY of our AMAZING beautiful Father who without we would have no light, no love, no music or life. Cherish the friends and loved ones that God has blessed you with but also love your enemies. Let the rhythm of His love carry you through fire and allow creation to saturate you in vivid color and splendor! There are a plethora of evils and hardships on this ride we call life. But persevere and do not lose hope. If it was not for hope, then what but death? Hope, Joy and Love even when your world is engulfed by hardship and dismay. Find the beauty in the dark places. Live Sweetly Broken