Saturday, September 25, 2010

Life In Transit



Life in transit looks like this: one three-hour drive to Dallas, one nine-hour flight to Berlin, two buses to the Hauptbahnhof, two trains to Lรถbau, and one car-ride to Herrnhut---all done while hauling 150lbs of luggage. I am quite the Frau. And now, here I am, back in this little village that I love so much. I still have my moments of "Oh, geez....What am I doing?...What have I done?!!" but it doesn't take long for me get back to this place of peace about my decision and excitement for what's to come. The walk through the forrest (a.k.a. Narnia) along the river to the castle is enough to make anyone glad to be here. I'll take some pictures today so that you can get a feel for what I'm talking about. 

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Garbage City, Ethiopia


Check out this video about our Garbage City project in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. If you want to find out more about this project and the others we've started, pick up a copy of our new book, Reject This Reality. It'll change the way you look at poverty! Click Here for our online store, or stop by H.V. Chapman & Sons downtown if you're in Abilene, TX!


The Lovely Things Left Behind


Being home has been such a blessing. Over the past month I've spent time in three cities that share my heart, seen countless friends, eaten many good meals, and generally soaked up the lovely things of life. Now my time here is coming to a close, and I'll have to trade one life of lovely things for the next. I'm so excited for the future! But it's bittersweet when it means I won't be around when Evie speaks her first words or Dad plays his next concert. I'm so thankful that we serve a God of relationships whose love transcends the distance between these continents and so much more.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

FREE MUSIC

Liz & The Lions
FREE MUSIC! That's right---free music download of  our very own Pick-A-Pocket-ers: Liz & The Lions acoustic EP "Learning To Be Dangerous." CLICK HERE to download! :)

In Our Own Backyard

The mindset of so many Americans is that the horrors of human trafficking and modern slavery don't exist within US borders, and as much as I want to say we're truly the "land of the free," last week's news suggests otherwise. The FBI recently found over 400 Thai nationals being forced to work on twelve different farms in Hawaii. They were recruited in Thailand, brought to America, stripped of their passports, and then forced to work off the "debt" they owed recruiters for their passage to Hawaii. Can you imagine the devastation, the helplessness, you would feel...thinking you're arriving in the Promised Land, only to find yourself in the Negev, the desert, with no way out? The saddest part is that these injustices seem small in comparison with the even bigger problem of sex trafficking in Hawaii and the other 49 states. To read more about these issues, see my links below

Hawaii Home To Largest Human Trafficking Case in US History - News Story - KITV Honolulu


Making A Difference: Pacific Survivor Center Helps Hidden Victims of Human Trafficking & Torture

Friday, September 3, 2010

A New Season

A new chapter has begun in my life as I've really felt God challenge me to take what I've learned through my Discipleship Training School and turn it into a lifestyle. That could look like a lot of things...but for me, for this season of my life, I want to be committed to a group of people actively and radically trying to make a difference in the world.

I plan to spend the next five years working with one such group, called  Pick-A-Pocket. We are a community of young artists, photographers, and musicians, with different backgrounds and cultures who have been united by a passion to serve the poor in both creative and practical ways and whose ultimate goal is to advance the Kingdom of God on earth.
At our fall retreat in Hamburg, Germany.
I've created this blog in the hope that you'll walk with me as I take this step of faith, move to Germany, and pursue what God has for me there!

Living to make His dreams come true,

Laken