Holy Spirit at Work

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Tis the Season

It seems that the Fall season brings lots of change.  In the last few weeks, I have been enjoying the changing colors of fall.  The sudden change in temperature has been drastic and it is duly noted that winter is approaching.  Not sure if I'm ready for it or not.  About three weeks ago, I changed my address.  I am now at: 4431 East 107th Street, Kansas City, Missouri, 64137.  I have been given the opportunity to move in with a couple friends from school, AnnaKate and Dawn.  We've had a really fun time getting to know each other and learning from one another.  Upon mid-semester, my Old Testament Survey classes changed to New Testament Survey.  We're all really enjoying learning from Tom Mills!  The number of hours at work that I am being given have changed, but it has given me more time to study and devote myself to the Prayer Room.


As all these changes are different, whether planned or unplanned...I am pressed to put my trust in the Lord. I heard a sermon this weekend that everything in life pushes us to lean on Jesus.  If we're not leaning, He's gonna change our circumstances (oh so slightly) to give us the opportunity to choose His guidance and leadership over our own.  He is such a patient and faithful leader.  


Thank you for your continued prayers and support.  Until next time...

First Three Weeks

I know I say this every time I write in my blog, but time goes so fast! I have been enjoying my classes (Hermanuetics/Old & New Testament Survey, Keys 2, Guitar Lesson) and working at the UPS Store, near my old apartment. I've been back almost a month already!!!

It's an amazing story about how the Lord provides and how I got my job. Since last year, I have printed my support letters at the UPS Store by my old apartment (103rd and Wornall). One day last May, John (Store Owner) asked me if I wanted a job when I came back to school in the Fall. Of course I said yes, but doubting he would remember me three months after. In July, I stopped by to see if he even remembered my face. To my surprise he asked when I would be back and would be able to start!

Again, I say to myself...Lord, why do I doubt the way you work? You just love to fascinate my heart! I'm so thankful to the job and am enjoying catching up with friends from last year.

Dun-dun-dun-dun

As many of you may have heard, Bobby proposed to me two weeks ago by a waterfall in Estes Park. Big news...right?! I couldn't have been more surprised! And the ring is stunning! So, with that comes much planning, prayers needed and pre-marital counseling. We're so excited about our lives coming together and the Lord knitting us together more than ever before.

As many of you know, marriage will bring lots of character building challenges. A teacher of mine from last semester said, "Marriage is a perfect way to learn to show agape love." (Agape meaning to give love without expectation of your own needs being met.) We're saying "Yes," to what the Lord has for us and are excited to be on the journey together.

We're planning a small wedding in Estes Park in March. For more information as well as stories and pictures, click on our wedding website (a work in progress): theknot.com/ourwedding/AlexandraOchs&BobbyRainbolt .

Blessings to you all!

The Glory of Moving and Reunions

This last week, I have started the process of my migration back to Kansas City. School starts in less than a month and I will be living with a family this semester, instead of in my apartment with my last roommate, Danielle. It should be an interesting transition but I think it will enable to Lord to stretch me in lots of ways.

The family I will be renting a room from is Katie, Miguel and their little girl, Grace (4). Whenever I have seen Katie and Grace, I must have been wearing my sunglasses on my head. Katie says sometimes Grace puts her sunglasses on her head, sticks out her hip and says, "I'm Alex," which is what she calls me. She's adorable!

Bobby came to Jetmore and then with me to Kansas City to move my things from my apartment. Oh, the glory of moving! He was so helpful. And even though it's sad moving out of my apartment after such a fun year with Danielle, I'm excited for what this next season will bring. My new address is: 1301 East 126th Street, Grandview, MO 64030.

We also were able to drive to the Lake of the Ozarks for my family's 20-year-annual :) reunion. Haha. The lake was great and it was a lot of fun chatting with relatives I hadn't seen in a really long time. Hoping it's not another 20 years before we all meet up again!

Hope this finds you all well and you're enjoying the last part of July...it's rather hot here! Bring on the fall temps! Blessings to you all!

Summer Thus Far

It's been a while since I given my blog a new heading, so I thought I'd fill you in on my summer thus far. As many of you know, my plans to lead worship at Vail Church fell through only a few days before I was to leave. In the meantime, I have been leading worship at New Horizons Church in my hometown, Jetmore. I have been so blessed at how hungry and responsive the people have been. Although my plans for the summer were more of being "poured into," I am excited that people are able to connect with God through worship at New Horizons.

Last week, I went to Vail to visit Bobby. He is spending the next few weeks in Vail, working with Campus Crusade staff and students from all over the country. The students participated in an activity called "The Great Rescue," while I was there. They were divided into groups of ten and had to share gospel with three people (role-playing) who had physical and emotional needs. My role was to be someone who didn't know Jesus, along with three others. If the physical and emotional needs were met by the students, they "rescued" us. These scenarios are meant to encourage students to share the faith with others.

After 1 pm, the groups gathered together and debriefed about the morning's experiences with sharing their faith. One of the physical needs of another role-player, Martin, was that he was a bum with mud on his face, discouraged about losing his job. One of the students, Adam, ripped his sleeves off his t-shirt to wash Martin's face.

The whole time while I was in Vail, the selflessness of Adam gripped me. He didn't do it because he wanted to be noticed, he just genuinely wanted to help Martin out. Little did he know how much this selfless act impacted my heart and the hearts of many others. What an amazing picture of agape love . . . giving without any expectation of having one's own needs met.

Bless you all as we continue through our summers! Love to you all!

Summer Update

Good Morning everybody!  I wanted to update you with my summer plans, which have recently changed.  I was planning to leave today for Vail, Colorado, for an internship with a worship pastor at Vail Church, but my housing arrangements fell through Wednesday, last week.  I'm really bummed, but also remember telling the Lord when I was praying about this summer, "If you don't want me there, Lord, SLAM the door."  It looks as if it's officially been slammed.  Haha.

So, instead I'll be working in Jetmore at the grocery store and staying with Dad and Mom.  I have been home one week, as of today, and am so grateful for the job I have in Jetmore.  I'll be taking guitar lessons this summer, as well as pursuing some opportunities to lead worship!

Thank you for all your support financially and prayerfully.  If you have partnered with me financially, I will apply your support toward next semester's tuition, unless you have another preference (just let me know).  

Bless you all and have a great summer!

Peoria Pictures

April 30 - May 3, 2009  (updates to follow)

Peoria Ministry Trip Pictures with me playing "You Won't Relent" background music.

Ministry Trip this Weekend

This coming weekend, the majority of our student body (the bible school and music school), approximately 600 students will be traveling to two different venues for the annual ministry trip.  My team will be going to Peoria,   Illinois, where evangelism teams and three worship teams will run a Prayer Room from 10am-Midnight for the weekend of May 1-3.  My team will be leading worship for approximately fifteen hours this weekend.  Our group will also be leading worship for the Sunday morning service at the church that is housing us.

I want to thank you for the opportunity to take the message of the Cross to Peoria.  Without a doubt, it wouldn’t be possible for me to be part of this without your generous support.  I would appreciate your prayers during this weekend.  We’re really excited and have been preparing for it all semester.

St. Patrick's Day Outreach

Click to view video of the parade: http://blip.tv/file/1910625

This year, an estimated 125,000 people, mostly young families, filled Broadway Blvd in Midtown, KC to be Irish and watch the 36th annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade, one of the largest in the nation.

For the International House of Prayer in Kansas City (IHOP–KC), the day begins at 7AM as hundreds of people gather for prayer and last minute instructions before hitting the streets.  Their goal is to engage the gathering parade crowd with the truth about Jesus Christ.  Varied evangelism strategies include:
•    St. Pat tract distribution teams  
•    Street preacher, musician and heckler teams
•    St. Pat survey teams
•    Prophetic evangelism teams
•    Video interview teams

Spring Break 2009 Slideshow

Spring Break 2009

Good morning!  Hope you are all settled into the time change by now.  I love the added hour of daylight in the evenings!  I just got home from Colorado, visiting Bobby, for Spring Break.  It was wonderful to have a week off from studies to relax and enjoy some time with him and his family...but the break was too short; classes start back up Monday.

During my visit to Fort Collins, we did a lot...skiing in Winter Park, rock climbing, Hot Springs in Steamboat Springs, visited his family and new niece in Greeley and took a 400-mile drive through the Poudre Canyon.  I'll try to post a video of our pictures so you can view them.  We had so much fun and really enjoy each other's company!

Bobby works with Campus Crusade for Christ on the campus at Colorado State University with a team of eight (and five little ones) in Fort Collins, CO.  It was really exciting to see their team in action to impact the lives of students at CSU.  We attended their weekly meeting on Thursday for a worship and testimony night from several students.  They are definitely making an impact!

Also, my sister comes to visit tomorrow through Wednesday.  I imagine I'll be really jealous as she continues to sleep while I'm off to school.  =)  It'll be a lot of fun having her here while she's on Spring Break!

Monday begins the second half of semester!  It's hard to believe we only have eight weeks left!  Thank you for your prayers!  Have a blessed weekend!

Healings at FMA

Monday through Thursday from 2-4 pm our worship teams lead a two hour prayer meeting.  The Word says we don't know how to pray so the Spirit makes intercession for us.  Even the disciples asked Jesus how to pray.  That said, our teams meet at 1:30 to pray and ask the Lord what we should ask Him for and how to pray.  

We generally settle into two or three prayer focuses.  Sometimes we pray for the students at FMA, for our families, relatives that aren't saved, healing and lots of other things too.  Today, we were really pressing into the Holy Spirit for healing in the room for our classmates and family members who weren't present.

I've heard lots of stories about people being healed but never been present and heard the report from the people firsthand.  Today was a first for me!  Two girls were healed on the spot, miraculously.  One was of a girl who has had a problem with her ears since she was thirteen, the other was a girl who suffers regularly from excruciating pain in her back and neck.

I don't claim to understand why the Lord miraculously touches some and not all, but I know that when He does touch a life, I want the story to go high and wide to spread the testimony that the Lord moves in amazing ways!  I hope this inspires you, builds your faith and encourages you to pray for those suffering with illness around.  Bless you all!

The 4-1-1 on Tax Info

I've been asked several questions regarding gifts, tax receipts and how that works.  I wanted to drop you a quick note to fill you in referencing this.  

First of all, if checks are made out to me, personally, I apply those directly to tuition, books, rent, groceries, gas, etc.  These checks do not pass through the Business Office at IHOP and you will not receive a tax receipt for these gifts.

If you make your check payable to IHOP-KC, I receive your gifts through their payroll system which pays out every two weeks.  For every gift, taxes are taken out (approximately 25% taken out) and the rest I use to apply to tuition, books, rent, groceries, gas, etc.  For example, a $500 gift is approximately $375 of resource for me.

With tax season upon us, some of you will receive or have received tax receipts for your gifts.  When I talked to the Business Office, they said if you have given less than $250 they don't automatically send out of a receipt, but one can certainly be provided by request.

Hopefully that helps with some (or all) of your questions.  Please don't hesitate to let me know if you need further clarification.  Bless you all and thank you for your continued support.

Worship Teams

We split into worship teams last week.  Each team or band has a drummer, electric guitarist, bass guitarist, three or more background singers, keyboard player and acoustic guitarist.  Either the acoustic guitarist or keyboard player is the Worship Leader, responsible for leading the team in music selection and performance during the set.

My team members are: Katya, Liz, Whitney, Alaina, DeborahAnn, AnnaLisa, Jana and me.  Whitney, AnnaLisa and I are all in the Worship Leader track and will rotate leading the team throughout the semester.  

We play Thursday afternoons for an hour set.  Last week was our first time playing together and I was able to lead from guitar for the first time, ever!  I sent out a text to a few people Wednesday afternoon asking for a covering of prayer during our set.  I can't give the Lord enough credit and thank you for your prayers.  Thanks for having our backs...we were well covered, for sure!

Overall, the set went really well.  It was mostly technical things that made it challenging.  It was probably one of the most challenging (musically), painful (for my poor fingers), rewarding (seeing my classmates worship) and wonderful experiences I have had so far since arriving in August.  We definitely soak up the learning curve during our 12-hour lab throughout the week, where everybody in our class (about 65-70 first year students) is able participate on worship teams.

Before we started playing I prayed, “Let know flesh glory in Your sight, O Lord.”  We hadn't ever played (or practiced) together prior to Thursday.  It was one of those times that it went so well, we couldn't take any credit.  We were  able to give Him the full glory!

I'll keep you updated on how things progress and hopefully get some pictures of our group.  We certainly have a lot of learning to do.  Blessings beyond measure to you all!

Just the Beginning...Spring 2009 Semester

Two weeks of classes down...it's already going so fast!  The last couple weeks I have been trying to figure out my schedule, adding a private guitar lesson just today.  I'm really excited about my classes and lessons but feel like there is some switching around yet to do.  If everything stays the way it is now, it looks as follows (plus an hour guitar lesson each week):

Mon/Wed/Fri

Biblical Theology of Worship (9 am)

Theory I (10 am)

Harp and Bowl Worship (11 am)

Worship Lab (1:30-4, Mon/Wed only)

Applied Studio – Vocal (3 pm, Wed/Fri only)

Tues/Thurs

Ear Training I (10 am)

Keyboard Foundations (11 am)

Guitar Clinic (12 pm)

Worship Lab (1:30-6 pm)

I had a chance to talk with a lot of you about my schedule and how I really would like to work this semester.  I am almost certain that if my schedule stays as mentioned, I will not be getting a job this semester.  Mostly because on addition of my schedule, I am required six hours per week per instrument (a total of 18 hours for keys, vocal and guitar).  So Lord help me, I will survive the semester.  Haha.  

The added guitar class is an extra $475, which I hadn't figured into my budget, so I ask if the Lord leads you to give I would certainly appreciate any help!  I'm currently on a team (which I'll share more about later, including pictures) that I am leading from guitar.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support as I explore this season in my life.  The workload is a little overwhelming but I know it's working to produce character and excellence.  

May the Lord bless you and keep you, may the Lord make His face to shine upon you.