Rice Night

Posted in General Articles by ryan on 6/4/2008

Maybe 3 nights ago I heard that as a camp (there's about 80-90 campers here right now) we were going to be eating just rice for dinner. I didn't think they were serious. The intention was to get these second-time campers more aware of the rest of the world and how they live. They also are taking the saved money from food costs ($730) and giving it to 'Feed My Starving Children'. (www.fmsc.org)

I was intrigued about it the moment I heard the notion. The next night I heard that they were for real doing it. I soon thereafter thought about a picture I took while at a care-point in Swazi a year ago. It's of a boy eating a hand full of rice...mid-bite. It's a good shot.

The night before rice night I had this thought of talking to the camp speaker (rice night was his idea) about if he could possibly use that picture for his purpose of rice night.

I get really excited about the possibilities of sharing my pictures for things and especially powerful things like this rice thing...and I am always willing to talk about The Race to anyone and share what I've experienced & learned. Sometimes I worry I'm too prideful about doing the race...that I somehow am this super-christian now that knows more than everyone else...but with that said...I do believe that I have a lot to offer young christians, especially young American christians. So I get excited to share my "wisdom".

So anyway...I went up to the speaker after lunch today to introduce myself and offer my picture to him. He said yeah, and I brought it to him. He ended up showing it and mentioned me a little during a short shpeel he gave after lunch. Then afterwards him, and two of the other camp leaders/ directors offered me and wanted me to share something at dinner about my trip and that picture. :)

SCORE!

So...I was able to share in front of everyone for a few minutes about things I saw and how it changed me and then encouraged them and challenged them to follow God's calling on their life.

I'll admit I was nervous before hand. I just get self-conscious...and with that my thoughts don't always come out clearly when I talk. But I prayed that God would just speak through me.

After I shared one of the camp directors caught me and said that it was perfect...and exactly what they needed to hear.

I felt good.

And then tonight at club he mentioned me a couple times again. And a girl asked me after dinner if I could talk with her about the Race some more...and another guy wanted to hear more about it tonight.

I'm on the AIM bandwagon man. I love sharing about the Race and doing a little bit to help people come alive to their calling in Christ. I love it!

Off Again

Posted in General Articles by ryan on 5/17/2008

I will write some more in the coming days hopefully, but just wanted to update everyone on what's going on with me. I am leaving tomorrow afternoon (sunday the 18th) for Castaway Club. It's a Young Life camp in northern Minnesota. (Young Life is an international ministry to teenagers)

I will be a maintenance intern up there until August 18th. I'll be doing fix-it jobs and building projects, etc...
I'm really excited to get back into the YL atmosphere. For those of you that don't know, YL was the vessel that God used to ultimately bring me to Him for good. I'm excited to be back living in community, like the World Race, and to be back around like-minded people my age (like the WR) and get to partake in some worship again. (like the WR) It's just going to be great all around.

........and if you haven't noticed, I really miss the World Race and that lifestyle...and just being alive.

I've been back at home with my parents in the house I grew up in, these past 6 months. (first of all...i can't freakin believe the Race has been over for 6 months!!!) It's been tough to be back here after being around the world having the time of my life, and not really having many friends to spend time with. (one of my very best friends lives like 40 minutes away...but he's got a full-time job and we just haven't gotten together that much unfortunately) But I'm trying not to complain about my last 6 months, and it has been good overall to be able to spend some time with my parents before I head back out again. And I'm finally realizing that God has had me back here at home these last months for a good reason, and I'm quite sure he's been teaching me even more about being content in an unideal situation and trusting in Him that he will do what is best for me.

After this summer internship in Minnesota is over, I will have a month and a half before I have to be at the YL camp out in Oregon where I will start a year-long internship. I'm gonna take a nice long and casual road trip out there via Colorado Springs, Flagstaff, Phoenix, San Diego and the pacific coast highway.

So yeah...that's me right now. I'll keep you posted on how Minnesota goes.
And FYI, I am slowly working on a book of my year on the World Race. It will contain lots of my photos from the year and some journal entries as well. Let me know if you are interested in a copy...whenever I finish it, I do not know, but tell me anyway.

OK...that's it!

that's up where I'll be

Be faithful, not fearful

Posted in General Articles by ryan on 3/26/2008

In my last post I said that I was gonna be going to Texas to interview for a 2 year internship with Young Life down there.

I went down there for a few days and interviewed for it and all that, but ended up not being offered the job. I ended up being a little too honest with them I think, by openly sharing that I absolutely just wasn't sure if this was where I was supposed to come or not. I expressed that I definitely have a heart for the nations and Japan and that I wasn't sure I wanted to commit to 2 years in Texas or America still. (But at the same time I made it clear (whether they were convinced or not) that if they offered me the position and I felt God wanted me down there, I'd commit to the 2 years for sure)

After I came back to Michigan, I realized that my extreme honesty and openness may have been driven by fear. Fear of...committing to something that may not be the absolute best thing for me right now and therefore somehow wasting 2 years of my life. Fear of failing at the job once I got down there. Stupid stuff really.

Now...I see it more as God was probably keeping me from taking that job because it probably wasn't where he wanted me right now. I'm learning though too...that there isn't a utopian job or utopian place in life either. I think my standards might be too high sometimes.

Since then, I do have one thing nailed down. Starting October 1st, I will be doing a one-year internship at the Young Life camp in Oregon, called Wildhorse Canyon. It's a work thing, getting discipled and mentored, living in community and just getting closer to God. I'm really excited about living in community again and getting poured into by like-minded brothers in Christ. I just wish it started earlier than October.

I'm in the process of applying for a different camp internship for the summer now too. But we'll see what happens. If you guys have any ideas or know of any summer jobs ANYWHERE, please let me know.

Before I end this blog, to anyone who reads this...I need prayer. I don't really like to ask for prayer still, especially on something as public as this, but I desperately need to trust God more all the time!! Trust that he will provide the things I need in life and put me where he wants me. I can be very indecisive and discontent sometimes....like it's me that has to have everything figured out on my own. I'm too fearful, not faithful.
I appreciate your prayers

Far From Over

Posted in General Articles by ryan on 2/21/2008

This is me 3 days ago...

...you could say that my demeanor in this picture effectively illustrates how in my head and in my heart...I REALLY MISS the life I had on The World Race.

Now, by saying, 'the life i had' I don't mean in any way that that life is gone and is never to return ...because I know that isn't true. I know for a fact that God still has AMAZING things in store for me! Huge things! I'm just in a place in life right now (as I imagine many of my fellow racers are) where it feels like no other experience could ever measure up to the high I was on during The World Race.

But I'm reminded of Philippians 1:6, "And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." God began a good work in me way back before I was even thought of, but he REALLY began a good work in me during The World Race. And it's just cool to see and hear one of his promises that, yeah even though the world race is over, and all the experiences, challenges and growth that came with and through that are 'over' in one sense...I can't forget that even though one thing is in fact over, that IT is far from over!!

I mean shoot man, discipleship is my gifting and calling and I haven't even dipped my toes into the vast ocean of real discipleship. And I haven't been to Japan in almost 2 and a half years! There is so much more awesomeness yet to come.

I think it all just comes back to living your life to the fullest, and recognizing what God is calling you to in life...and obeying that call. Taking a risk and going out on faith sometimes, if not all the time. And with being back in my hometown for 3 months now after the trip of a lifetime, just doing typical routine and mundane things that are NOT my calling in life...it's just hard to be patient sometimes. Times like this are definitely necessary, but I am just hungry to be FULLY ALIVE IN CHRIST AGAIN!

Moving right along...
It's full-blown winter here. These are some pictures from the park across the street.

Last night I got to share about the race at a local church. I showed a bunch of pictures and talked about them, answered some questions and stuff. I met a girl from the college here who was really interested in the world race. She asked me all kinds of questions about it...and it just felt really good to share my experiences last night with her, and a bunch of people I didn't know, but were really interested in hearing it.

Lastly, I want to ask for your prayers about something. I am flying down to Texas on sunday, for a few days, to interview and meet with people about the Young Life internship there that I applied for. I've been praying about this for about a month now, and this particular internship in Texas sounds like a great fit. I'm really hoping for it.

And also, I got word via email that Jaco, (our contact from Mozambique) has caught malaria. Please keep him and his family in your prayers also.

Back to Life

Posted in General Articles by ryan on 1/18/2008

The bulletin board at church on my first sunday back

So, I thought that I was done with blogging on here. But I thought it would be a good idea to at least update you guys (however many people will still read this) on what has happened since I have been back. In some ways it's been as I would've expected, but in some ways things haven't happened as I thought they would.

I sit here now...actually just a day shy of 2 months since I left Hong Kong...and I guess it has flown by. Not sure if that's a good thing or not. But I sit here...at home in the house i grew up in...on a friday night...with nothing to do but blog. :) Again, I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not.

I'll just cut to the chase of what has happened, then I'll talk a little more about what it's actually like to be back home...in this American culture.

First of all, I left everyone by saying that I was really planning on moving to Branson, Missouri to be around a girl. Well...to make a long story short, those plans have changed. I went to Branson for a visit in early December to check things out then saw her again for about a week, just before new year's.

Maren in Branson

blowing a glass ornament in Branson, at the house of the family I was going to live with for a few months

I just strongly felt that I wasn't supposed to be with her. We prayed about it a lot...and I broke it off. The first time I've ever had to do that....and it wasn't fun. But in hindsight, it has totally been for the best! God's got our backs for sure. I feel good about it, and I actually just talked to her this evening and she is doing really well also...which was great to hear.

For Christmas, my family and I, along with my grandparents, drove up to the thumb (of michigan...for you non-michigan folk) to see my 95-year-old great-grandmother. It was a 4 hour drive each way, so it was kind of a long day, but it was good see her and I'm sure that the surprise of seeing us on Christmas day meant a lot to her.

Whenever I've been home since I've been back from the race, I've been working again for my friend Jeff making plexiglass display cases, packaging them and taking pictures of them. (If you've read my blogs from even before the race, I did a post on this back then)

I also shot a wedding in Knoxville for a family member of one of my best friends, John.

I've also done some family portraits for a family from church...

I went to a Detroit Pistons game

Antonio McDyess

The other noteworthy piece of news is that......I bought my first car ever. Kinda scary at first, but it's all good. It's a '99 Honda Civic and it's treatin me just fine so far.

From here...I've applied for 8 different internships with Young Life. (from Texas and further west) It's a two-year commitment, and kind of acts as a training period for future YL area directors. I'm a tad tentative about committing to two-years, because of my strong desires to go back to Japan, but I think it will be ok. I just don't want Japan to become one of those things that I really want to do, but keep pushing it back and back. This internship would be great and worthwhile experience though for sure and it's totally something that I will love doing. And it will be great prep for being better equipped to do YL in Japan. We'll see if someone ends up hiring me though to begin with.

So being back in America...at home...where I've lived most of my life............................................I don't know really where to begin to explain how it feels. I am so ready to move on and move out and do the next thing. I'm not gonna lie when I say that there has definitely been a let-down factor with returning to life here versus the life I had for most of 2007. But that was totally expected I suppose.

I've gone back and read through some of my journals from the year, and some of the blogs I put up on here....and oh man the memories!!! TALK ABOUT THE TRIP OF A LIFETIME! It's almost as if that concept is coming even more into focus now looking back on it.

In a sense, it has been tough to re-adjust to day-to-day life here. There's just so much to do all the time it seems like. Not that we didn't have all kinds of stuff to do on the race all the time, but it's different now. It's been really tough to find and set aside time to spend with God, I'll tell ya that much. And I mean it's not like I haven't had the time...cuz i've definitely gotten sucked back into the reality of the fact that I can once again get on the internet WHENEVER i want. And it sucks to be back in the mindset of 'I've-got-to-make-as-much-money-as-I-can' again. So just re-figuring out how to manage my time again.

If you want, just pray that God will totally direct me in what to do next. And that I will make more of an effort to seek him out every single day.

Not sure if or when I might blog again on here....so....yeah.

ryanstewartphoto@hotmail.com

PRINTS FOR SALE

Posted in General Articles by ryan on 11/24/2007

I am home now...and it's weird. So many things are exactly the same as when I left...as if this past 11 months was just a figment of my imagination. I know it wasn't though.

I'm ready for the next adventure.

I've had a lot of people say stuff to me about my pictures. 'There awesome...you have such a gift...you should put together a book..' etc....

So what I'm going to do for now at least, is offer prints for ANY PICTURE I have ever taken!

If you saw a photo on my blog this year, tell me which one it is and what kind of print you want, framed, dry-mounted, or just the print...and i'll send it to you. The price list is above. Either leave a comment on this blog, or email me at ryanstewartphoto@hotmail.com

ANY PICTURE!

Here's some from this trip (and some not from this trip)...to entice your aesthetic senses

The Grand Finale

Posted in General Articles by ryan on 11/18/2007

Gary blessing our last night's banquet and the meal

bush at the final banquet

Josh and I

Jimmy, Chad and Clinton...thank you so much for all you guys did and sacrificed for all of us this year!

Andrew Shearman, Lisa & Gary Black...just some of the amazing people that have invested and poured into us all year long.

Seth is obviously the man that has invested in us and the world race the most�he's traveled all over the world to many of our debriefs. Seth�thank you can't even come close to accurately expressing how grateful we are for all you have done and for what God has showed us thru the world race.

January 14, Palenque, Mexico - A & B squads in their original entirety

April 15, Lima, Peru - the current A squad at that time (minus Andrew & Katie)

May 30, Vilanculos, Mozambique - The current A squad at that point (minus Josh & Clinton)

September 2, Ko Samet, Thailand - The entire A, B & C squads

November 16, Hong Kong - The final shot of A & B squads (minus Jenny & Erin

Just to give you all an idea of what will likely be next for me...or what I am at least planning on doing in the near future...I will be back in Hillsdale on Thanksgiving day. I'll be around there until soon after New Year's, when as of this point I am planning on moving down to Missouri. I have a friend down there named Maren that I've known for about 7 years now, and am really excited to get to know her a lot better and to see what the future may hold for the both of us.

Within the next couple of years sometime, I'm pretty certain that I will be back in Japan. I envision my first year back there to be spent teaching english at a high school, while learning the language and getting to know my students. Ultimately, I have a hunch that being involved with Young Life (probably in Japan, but who knows) will be a huge part of my life, as well as photography still.

Thanks to all of you who have read my blogs this year and supported me financially and through prayer! I appreciate you so much!

I intend to get a website up someday soon for my photography, so keep a look out for that.

And I would love to keep in contact with whoever is willing. My email is ryanstewartphoto@hotmail.com

PEACE OUT.....and GOD BLESS!!!

The Bests

Posted in General Articles by ryan on 11/18/2007

Gary Black and I after the final banquet for the January 2007 World Race teams

It's been a great year! It's been a challenge, but it's been an amazing learning experience and adventure. There was a few times where I really wanted to just quite and go home...but I am really glad and actually proud of myself for sticking it out. I would've instantly regretted leaving if I would've done it.

Hollywood Josh

Mr. Zing himself...James Spano

Some lessons I've learned:

You can't do life on your own. I'm still learning that it's not about how you feel.
It is not about you.
Prayer is maybe the most important thing.
In God's eyes, being is much more important than doing.

Becca

Mallorie

Chad being thanked and honored for all he's done and endured over the course of the last two years (2 stints on The World Race)

I want to share a list I made a few days ago of ways that this year has changed me:

I've become more confident in myself
I've become a man and more mature
I became and learned how to lead
I became way more aware of the spiritual realm, and how real it is
I have an even better idea of what things really matter in life: obeying God, taking risks, surrounding myself w/ supportive people, finding and/or being worship
I've learned more about how important prayer is
I've learned how to rely on God more and to not try to do things by myself
I've realized how important it is to minister and give of what I have, because my life is not my own
I've learned about being vs. doing

Talia

Kim

Jake and Michelle

The best months for me:

Peru - Eventhough Lima is a hole, and I didn't particularly enjoy the ministry we did in Peru, it was the best I was doing spiritually and emotionally of the whole year. I really enjoyed and was proud of myself for being the one to give the gospel presentations at a bunch of those schools we went to. Machu Picchu was great, and I loved the people I got to know while in Lima.
South Africa - Getting to spend so much time with the kids at Lighthouse in Rustenburg was awesome. Looking back at pictures, those kids are by far some of the people I miss the most from this year. Spending a week at the bible school with Gibson and his family was pretty cool (even though the painting situation wasn't ideal). It was great being able to do some little stuff on the side by myself, like helping out YWAM there a little bit, and having a great place to stay.
Mozambique - I won't lie, it sucked at first when our contact fell through and we didn't know what we were going to do. But it was ok...and God blessed us with Jaco. Living at his house with his family and Leah...there was something about our time there was just really really good. Along with Ray in Thailand, he was our best contact of the year. The day that began by leaving for three days in the bush, but ending it at Kobus's resort eating T-Bone steaks...that was pretty cool.
Thailand - Once again, I wasn't crazy about the ministry we did while up north in Thailand, but it was beautiful, and our contacts: Ray, Rapee and Pastor...totally made it a highlight of the year.

Jimmy

Clinton

Things I won't forget:

Jaco and his family in Mozambique
Ray and Rapee in Thailand
Justine from Guatemala
Lima, and the whole 5 weeks in Peru
Lighthouse children's shelter in South Africa
Antigua, Guatemala (the ministries I did on my own, overcoming team issues, depression and discouragement)
the hospitality that I have CONSTANTLY been shown and blessed with throughout the world
the challenges and things I overcame and made it through...I finished something that I really wanted to quit several times.
the islands in Mozambique
the gobs of friendships I have made throughout this entire year
the hiking/camping trip to Canta, Peru
meeting Pyneath and Young Life in Phnom Penh
the night at Kawan in Kuala Lumpur

Mallorie and Eric

HK

Posted in General Articles by ryan on 11/18/2007

the Hong Kong skyline

A few nights ago, we had a dinner out and had a little ceremony where everyone received a medal and a certificate for completing the trip, and then a quick prayer.

telfer and others enjoying the cookout at the restaurant

seth addressing the whole group

Agapetos, the winning squad B team for the Race

YETI and Salt shared the A squad Race title

Josh, Bush and Youell after the light show downtown

Hong Kong

a bridge near where we've been staying

the final hodge-podge L.O. picture (with Joy and Brienna being represented by some fruit and ramen)

The Wall Two

Posted in General Articles by ryan on 11/15/2007

It unfortunately became probably one of the biggest stories of the day...Talia literally ran into part of The Great Wall of China...and apparently had a pretty good gash just above her forehead. She's probably getting sick of all the attention the incident has been given...but how many people do you know that have shed blood from The Great Wall? :) I love ya Tal!

Clinton enjoying the day

it was a shorter version of one of these that Talia ran into I think

Emilie, Candice and Spano

World Racers have taken it over

here's a little sample of the scale

Katie soaking in the day

I'll have at least one more blog to put up while I'm still out on the field...so STAY TUNED for that! It'll include a section describing the ways that I have changed and grown as a result of this year. And before I sign off completely, I'll give you a little idea of what I'm tentatively planning on doing in the near future.

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