Nepal: The Final Update

November 2010 - (Thought I uploaded this in November)

I must begin by apologizing for my lack of communication over the past few months.  The past few months have been a rollercoaster and I have neglected to keep you, my supporters, updated with my happenings.  Most of you are probably under the assumption that I am currently in Nepal.  Unfortunately I have not made it that far, and I am still in Indianapolis.  I am hoping this Newsletter will update everyone on my life and how you can continue to help me.

Life Update:

For those of you who did not receive my e-newsletter or have not checked my blog lately there is much to catch you up on.  Here is a quick update of the past couple of months.  In May, I flew out to Colorado to attend Missionary Training International.  Half way through my training I finally started to process and deal with my Dad’s cancer.  After much prayer and discussion I decided to return home early to be with my family.  ServLife agreed that it would be best for me to be home and to put my move to Nepal on hold for 6 months.  After 6 months I would re-evaluate my ability to go to Nepal.

Since returning from Nepal I have been busy.  I have spent quite a bit of time with my family in Bremen, took a road trip to Northern California and Oregon, and accepted a full-time position in Indianapolis at Angie’s List as a staff accountant.  In August my Dad’s liver cancer was deemed untreatable by his liver oncologist.  These past few months have been a whirlwind of emotions.  I am thankful to be home and able to spend as much time as possible with my Dad.  We do not know how long it will take for the cancer to progress, but I know I need to be with my family.

This past month I sat down with Joel Vestal, President of ServLife, and discussed my ability to go to Nepal.  After spending time in prayer and discussing my options with my mentors, I have decided not to go to Nepal.  This was a difficult decision for me to make because I felt as though I was letting you, ServLife and the people of Nepal down.  Many people have reassured me that it is best for me to be with my family during this difficult time.  I want to thank you for the continued prayers and ask that you continue to pray for my family and the nation of Nepal.

Donations:

The biggest question many of you probably have is “What happened to the money I donated?”  All the money is considered a donation to ServLife.  Initially ServLife set the money aside to help finance my ministry in Nepal.  Since I do not believe right now is the time for me to go to Nepal, all remaining donations will be sent to Nepal to help finance current projects.

I raised a total of $6875.50 towards my ministry in Nepal.  My training, mailing, and travel expenses totaled $4106.01.  That leaves $2769.01 to be sent to Nepal.  During my meeting with Joel we decided that the money would go towards the Nepal Church Planters Conference in November.  This money will help cover transportation and lodging expenses for the church planters in the villages of Nepal.

ServLife is still in need of donations for the Church Planters Conference in November.  If you would like to make a donation to the Church Planters Conference there is an envelope enclosed for donations.

What’s Next?:

Over the past year I have been preparing for my move to Nepal.  Now that I am not moving to Nepal, I have been praying that God would reveal my ministry here in Indianapolis.  God has definitely answered that prayer.  I have recently accepted a position on the board of a new church plant in Indianapolis, Poiema Church (www.poiemaindy.org).  I am heading up the finance committee for Poiema and actively involved in a bible study with the church and some of its members.  I am excited to see what God has in store for me here in the States.

Again, I want to thank all of you for your continued support both with my initial decision to go to Nepal and with my new decision to stay.  My family thanks you all as well for your understanding.  I know the next few months to a year will be a difficult time for my family and me.  It will be best for me to be here to work through this along side my family.

Please feel free to keep in touch by e-mailing me or calling me.  I would love to keep in touch with all of you.

God Bless

Nick Chrzan

nicholas.chrzan@gmail.com

For many of you, your connection to ServLife is through me.  Through this connection you have been placed on the ServLife mailing list.  If you would like to be removed from the ServLife mailing list please contact the ServLife office at 317-544-0484.

Time

A few weeks ago we finally got news about my dad’s liver cancer. It was not the news I was expecting, but I had been praying for weeks for God to give us answers.

My dad and mom visited a liver oncologist a couple of weeks ago to find out my dad’s treatment options. The Dr. informed my parents that my dad’s liver cancer is untreatable. The Dr. did not give my dad a time line, because he doesn’t know how things will progress. This is probably the hardest news to get, but God has a plan and I have to trust in that plan. I think this news has hit my family hard, we are all dealing with the news in our own way.

Many people ask me why the cancer is untreatable and it is a long explanation, but here is the gist. My dad’s liver is not healthy enough to process out chemicals from the treatments. It would not be good for him to undergo any of these treatments since he can not process out the chemicals.

I want to thank everyone for the continued prayers and support. Currently my dad is doing well, just a little fatigued at times. He is still himself, busy working in the yard or around the house. He seems to have a much brighter attitude now that he does not have to worry about the next test or procedure. I am glad to have my dad back to his usual self. I am looking forward to spending as much time with him as possible. I also want to learn as much as I can from my dad, he is a wise man and I have always taken that for granted.

Last weekend I went home (Bremen) to visit the family and to take my dad out to dinner for his Birthday. His birthday was in July, but I was unable to go home to celebrate with him. We had an excellent meal at Doc Pierces and then we went home and rented The Book of Eli. It was a great evening/weekend with the family.

I hope everyone reading this is doing well, and I am trying to update my blog more often.

Lost in the Real World…

Well, it has been weeks if not months since my last post.  Life has been incredibly busy.  I also do not have internet at my house so I rarely get online.  It has been good for me to be away from technology for a while.  It helps bring perspective to life.

Over the past few weeks I have:

Spent time in Bremen

Attended two weddings (CONGRATS!)

Travelled to California with my two best friends

Got to visit my cousin Carla in Cali

Competed in a Mudathlon with my brother

Decided to start training for a marathon in November

Got a full-time job (never would have thought I would do that)

It has been good.  I was very distraught for a while because I didn’t know what life would be like since Nepal was put on hold.  Overall God has been more than faithful in providing purpose for my life here in the states.  I have been able to provide support for my family while we continue to struggle through my dad’s cancer.  I have gotten involved in a new church plant on the south side of Indianapolis.  God has introduced me to many new people, that continue to challenge me and help me grow in my faith.  Sometimes I lose sight of how good God has been to me over the past couple of months.

Please pray for my Dad and family, because this week my dad meets with a Liver Oncologist.  I am hoping that we will find a treatment option for him, but I do not know what the appointment is actually for.

Thank you for the continued prayers!

An Update: ServLife Nepal May 2010

Here is my monthly newsletter, I just sent out the e-mail version (again) and thought I should post it on here too!  Enjoy and I look forward to hearing back from everyone.

Nepal:  An Update

Hello Friends and Family!

Thank you for signing-up to receive my monthly newsletter.  This is the first newsletter and it is going to be filled with information.  First, I will be updating you on my recent trip to Colorado, followed by an update on my life and finally some prayer requests.  I hope you enjoy and I thank you for your support in my ministry!

COLORADO:

May 10 – 21^st – I attended Mission Training International for their P.I.L.A.T. (Program in Language Acquisition Training) program.  This program taught me a new method of learning language, completely different from high school and college language classes.  The main concept of the PILAT program is that all classes are learner driven.  The students are in control of their own learning, this forces the students to be more responsible for their language learning.  I am excited to use this technique as I learn Nepali.  I also learned that the human mouth can make about a million different sounds, but the English language only makes about 44 different sounds.  It was fascinating learning how to make non-English sounds.  While I was at P.I.L.A.T., I met 8 other missionary families who are getting ready to travel to 8 countries.  Below is a picture of our group!  I miss them already!

LIFE UPDATE:

Many of you may already know this, but some of you do not.  My dad has been diagnosed with Liver Cancer and the doctors are trying to put him on the Liver Transplant list.  This has been a very difficult time for me to be away from my family and to think about leaving.  During my time in Colorado I have been praying and seeking counsel about what steps I should take as I prepare to move to Nepal.

Prior to my time in Colorado I was suppressing the issue of my dad’s cancer.  I was focusing on Nepal so I did not have to deal with the emotions.  Whenever we hear the “C” word we immediately have fearful thoughts and I have been trying to suppress those feelings.  This past week/weekend I have had plenty of time to reflect on the issue and listen for God’s guidance.  I have decided that I am going to put my move to Nepal on hold for 6 months.  This will give my family and I time to focus on my dad’s cancer and its treatment.  After 6 months, I will re-evaluate my plan and go from there.  After speaking with the ServLife staff, my family, and my mentors we feel this is the best option for me right now.

I am praying that everyone can understand this decision.  It was a very difficult decision to come to because I felt as though I was letting everyone down.  I felt as though I was letting down the people in Nepal, ServLife, and most importantly you, my supporters.  Without your prayer and financial support I would not be able to go to Nepal and I hope you will join me in praying for my family.  I know this is the right decision and I hope you will be supporting me in this decision.

Please feel free to call or e-mail me if you any specific questions.  ServLife will be halting all monthly donation charges until my 6 months are complete.  I will notify each of my monthly supports when my monthly support starts up again.

PRAYER REQUESTS:

1)   Pray for the nation of Nepal

2)   Pray for my Dad, and my family

3)   Pray for wisdom for my Dad’s Doctors

4)   Pray that God would continue to guide me during this time

5)   Pray for the ServLife staff

Sufi Poem

A friend sent me the link to this poem and I wanted to share it with everyone.  This is now one of my favorite poems.  Enjoy.

Kill Me, My Faithful Friends

Kill me, my faithful friends,

For in my being killed is my life.

Love is that you remain standing

In front of your Beloved

When you are stripped of all your attributes;

Then His attributes become your qualities.

Between me and You, there is only me.

Take away the me, so only You remain

- Hallaj

Missionary Training International

Well I have been here in Palmer Lake Colorado for one week and it has been beneficial.  The first two weeks focuses on Language Acquisition.  We have deconstructed the English language down to its basic 44 sounds.  Now we are adding non-english sounds to that list of 44.  By the way the human mouth can make more than a million different sounds!  It is crazy how alike most sounds are to the english ear, but in other cultures they are vastly different.

Along with learning how to make our mouths make new sounds we are learning methodology for learning new languages.  The Pilat program has a series of L.A.P.S.  that are learner driven activities to learn language.  We have been practicing these methods with new languages.  My group has been learning a little Vietnamese, granted we are learning the methods more than the language, but I am enjoying every minute.   Today we discussed the struggles and stresses that come with learning a new language while on the missions field.  It was great getting first hang accounts of these struggles and how to deal with them.  I know my problem will be trying to do TOO much while studying the language.  I need to focus solely on the language before I jump into anything else.

The best part of being here at MTI is the people I am getting to meet.  There are missionaries who are planning to go all over the world:  Chad, Turkey, Thailand, Ethiopia, Albania, Honduras and more.  It has been great getting to know these people and hearing their stories of how God got them to this place in their lives.  Please pray for all of them.  I have been so encouraged by many of the people here and look forward to staying in touch with them once we leave this place.

God has really been working in my heart over the past week, and opening my eyes up to new possibilities.  I am enjoying this time where I can focus on God more.  Some of you already know, but my dad has been diagnosed with Liver Cancer.  It is a long story, but he is in the process of being put on the Liver Transplant List.  I have really been praying over this current situation, and am trying to really lean on God!  Please be praying and if you would like more info, I would be willing to talk to you about it.  There has also been some other interesting things going on in my life and I am very EXCITED to see what God has in store with my future.  :)

Well it is time for dinner so I will write more soon.  And I will post some pictures of Colorado.

Check back soon!

The Start…

Scared, Excited, Happy, Sad, Joyous, Anxious, Nervous, Crazy, ect…

These are all terms that could describe what I am feeling right now.

The start of my new adventure has begun, I am currently sitting in the Denver airport waiting for my connecting flight.  About 8 months ago, the vision of becoming a missionary came to me, and it seemed so distant and unattainable.  Now it is right before me, I am on one of the last steps before I move to Nepal.  I am heading to Colorado Springs to attend Missionary Training International (www.mti.org).  This is where I will take classes on Language Acquisition and Cross Cultural Experiences.  It is going to be an intense 5 week program.  I do not know much about my classes at MTI, but everyone who has attended says it will be an amazing and fruitful experience.

I am not going to lie, I was a little hesitant about getting on the plane this morning.  It is hard to believe that I am this close, it is kind of scary but exciting at the same time.  I did not want to leave the comfortable life I had in Indy.  I did not want to leave behind my friends, my jobs, or my family.  It would just be easier if I stayed in Indy.  Although I was not paying attention, God comforted me this morning.  He removed the fear of the unknown and the fear of failure.  He continues to renew my heart and spirit of the plans He has for me.  It is amazing, as I write I could not be more excited to be attending MTI.

This entire weekend was filled with great conversation and encouragement.  I met up with Kelsey at Starbucks last night and she really helped encourage me!  Since Kelsey was in this same position a couple of years ago she provided great insight, even if she didn’t notice she was.  I also spent time with my good friend Chris Anderson this weekend, it was a great weekend of relaxation. We had great discussions on politics, religion, life and we played some video games.  No matter what Chris says, trust me I beat him every time at Mario Kart…haha!

All in all I think this weekend helped prepare me for leaving.  It was good to be surrounded by good friends, but they helped me see God’s plan for my life.

After attending MTI I will be solely working on raising support for Nepal.  I AM IN NEED OF MONTHLY SUPPORTERS! Please pray that God would provide people who can support me monthly.  If you know of any churches, groups or people who would be interested in supporting my ministry in Nepal please let me know.  I would love to speak to them.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support.  I look forward to sharing my adventure with everyone, and the amazing things God is going to do with my life.  Look for more updates soon about my time here at MTI.

Trusting

Well today is my last day at the Lilly Fitness Center.  The feeling is bittersweet.  I have made some great friends while I have been here and I will miss everyone, but I am glad to be leaving.  This means I am getting closer to my move to Nepal.  The past week has been difficult because I am realizing how quickly Nepal is approaching. 

I am excited about moving to Nepal and serving God.  The issue is giving up my self-centered lifestyle and FULLY trusting God.  It is difficult to give up my sources of income to become a servant of God.  My self-centered lifestyle can not process this idea.  THEN, I received this devotion yesterday that renewed my Hope…

Surrender yourself to the Lord, and wait patiently for him. Psalm 37:7 (GWT)

Surrendering your life means:

• Following God’s lead without knowing where he’s sending you;

• Waiting for God’s timing without knowing when it will come;

• Expecting a miracle without knowing how God will provide;

• Trusting God’s purpose without understanding the circumstances.

Later in the devotion it talks about how hard life seems when we give up our self-centered lives and follow God.  It is because we are going against human nature, and fully trusting in God.  We have to fully surrender ourselves to God’s plan for our life.

“This level of maturity doesn’t come easy. In Jesus’ case, he agonized so much over God’s plan that he sweated drops of blood. Surrender is hard work. In our case, it requires intense warfare against our self-centered nature. ” – Rick Warren  

I think this time of my life has been on of the hardest, yet most rewarding.  I have seen God continue to shape my life and give me new passions.  I have made many new friendships with people who are constantly encouraging me and the ministry God has provided.  I am thankful for every friendship God has given me. 

*Support UPDATE*

I just wanted to give an update on my support raising efforts. 

$3,710 out of $10,000 in One Time Support

$180 committed in Monthly Support (online donations please specify Nick Chrzan)- $2000 needed

I would like to take a minute to discuss the difference in One Time Support Vs. Monthly Support. 

One Time support is money that is only needed once to cover specific expenses such as my training at MTI ($3300), trip to Alongside Ministries in Michigan ($400), Airfare to Nepal ($2500), Vaccinations, Visas, moving expenses, ect. 

Monthly Support will cover my expenses while I am in Nepal and this donation will be recurring each month I am away.  Monthly Support will cover the costs of my housing, food, ministry needs, travel expenses in Nepal, internet, ect. 

Please leave a comment if you have a question about my support raising.  I would love to answer any questions you have.

If you know of any groups or people who would be interested in supporting me please let me know.  I would love the opportunity to sit with them and explain what I will be doing in Nepal.

Contributions are solicited with the understanding that ServLife International has complete discretion and control over the use of all donated funds.  ServLife attempts to honor gifts preferenced to support particular workers but the final decision on the use of all funds rests with ServLife.

 

Preparation

This week has been a busy week. I feel like I always say I am busy but this week was more so than others. It was a great week filled with a work, a prayer meeting, preparation for a speaking engagement, learning about the missions field, spending quality time with new friends, and spending time learning from God.

Right now I am addressing envelopes for my 2nd letter that will hopefully be sent out this weekend. I am looking forward to getting this update sent out. It will update everyone on where I am at in the process of moving to Nepal.

This week I have been putting together a presentation for the Philanthropic Education Organization which asked me to speak about ServLife and Nepal on Monday April 12th. This will be my first time speaking about ServLife to a group other than close friends. I am very excited for the discussion and the opportunity to meet so many new people. Thanks Janet for setting up this opportunity!!

Today I also had a great conversation with my friend Hannah who is preparing to go to South Africa for a short term missions project this summer. We are both currently in the process of raising support for our ministries and it was great to discuss how God revealing Himself during this time. Hannah really spoke wisdom into my heart today and I am very thankful for that. Hannah I am praying for you and your ministry in South Africa!!!

Well it is going to be a busy weekend. On the plus side I get to see so many people that I haven’t seen in a while so it will be GREAT! I am looking forward to lunch with Livia and Betty Weldy, celebrating Katie’s birthday saturday night, lunch with Susie on Sunday and attending a new church on the south side of Indy Sunday afternoon!

Please continue to pray that God moves in my heart and reveals Himself even more every day. I am praying that God would continue to strip away the pieces of me that are standing between me and my ministry. God has been so faithful thus far and I know it is going to be amazing as He continues to teach me!

Truth

The other day I was watching TV and the Dominos Commercial came on the screen. You know the the commercial where Dominos shows a focus group bashing Dominos Pizza and then it cuts to the chefs of Dominos visiting those people at their homes. The people act surprised to see them at their door with the newly designed Dominos Pizza.

Anyways the commercial made me think about Truth. With all the media in the world how do we know what is Truth anymore? Obviously the commercial by Dominos was more than likely staged, but what about the people who believe it is true?

I think of Truth as God’s word and guidance, but there are many who don’t. How do we combat the lies of the media and such to proclaim the Truth? Tough questions but things I have been thinking about.

What do you think is Truth and how do you explain Truth in your life?