6 December 2006

On the Road [or not] Again Across the Oceans

Namaskada!

I will send and amazing and wonderful conclusion of my time in India once I
am jet-lag free and safe in San Diego. For now, just know that I am leaving
tomorrow, traveling 40 hours and will return to San Diego next week. Pray
for safe travels and smooth goodbyes. I have made some amazing friends here
and it will be hard to leave the beautiful land of India. However, going
home for Christmas and family will be more amazing than anything I can
imagine at this point.

Over the next month I will be spending time doing Indian ministry style
"house visits". I want to spend time with you guys and really let you know
that your prayers and support have changed hundreds of lives here. I would
love to drop by your place for some sweet time of fellowship and thanks
giving and encouraging each other. If you have an hour or so to spare,
please let me know. Its my hearts desire to really invest in you now that
you have been investing in me!

With much love,
courtney

12 November 2006

Convinced in Badami

Some teachers get apples and some get little idol gods made of sugar... like
me, for example. My little informal English tutoring sessions fluctuate from
5-20 kids, from 6-15 year olds and from a learning atmosphere to utter
chaos. One kid, Ravi, is the obvious teachers pet, telling me who is talking
and offering to go find a stick for me to beat the kids into order. At first
I found myself kindly refusing, now I tell him to sit down, shut-up and read
while I teach the younger kids sounds of the alphabet. The best part is they
don't actually understand English at this point, so , no feelings are on the
line but mine as far as I can tell... Though somehow I did manage to force a
shy kid to stand and read, the other kids, though gestures, told me that he
could not read English. So I started with the alphabet, but he just wasn't
even trying. Only then did I realize the kid was blind. Soooo, being caught
slightly off gaurd, I asked him to sit while I brainstormed what to do next.

See, I've never taught kids, English, or anything. So everyday they come to
my door yelling "Auntie Corney", school books in hand, I sigh, ask for the
Lord's help and dive in... story of my life.

I had this elaborate outline to let you know how things are... but as is my
style I am scrapping it and going off the seat of my pants.

So we are back in Badami for the remainder of our outreach... a week. God
really led the team back here and the fruit has been amazing. We no longer
are doing open air preaching or anything like that. Our ministry consists
mostly of house visits and building God an enduring house in and around
Badami. Over our past three weeks here we have revisited villages where we
have done outreaches and spent time with the new and old Christians there.

It has been amazing seeing people again who were healed or radically changed
through the hand of God and now we are seeing the fruit from our labors and
seeing fruit producing more fruit. The other thing is, house visits are less
obtrusive more what Indian culture does anyway. We go into a house and as
much of the neighborhood that can fit inside does and they listen to a
message and we all sing Kannada worship songs and watch people really get
it. God gives us words specific to the people and it is amazing to be
speaking and watching people well up in tears cause the words are hitting
their heart. This way, when we leave, everyone knows what house to go to to
hear more about Jesus... and an enduring house finds its foundation.

I'm looking at my list of things to include in my update and deciding not
to. Just keep the work in your prayers. We have 1 week of regular outreach,
then a conference in Bangalore, a week of rest then we leave on a jet plane
for the states. Just like that my time in the fantastic land of India is
coming to a close and I look ahead to graduating UCSD in June and then
beyond...

Until the next time I get to sit infront of a painfully slow computer, peace
and grace to you.

Your sister,
courtney

15 October 2006

Update from Bijapur, India

Namaskada guys!

I wish I could explain to you the fun we go through to get to Internet cafes
to spend hours on slow connections praying the current doesn't go out.
Ashley was charged by a bull, I was almost hit by several bikes, rickshaws
and goat herds, and Darla (being the only one apt at maneuvering Indian
streets) always has us on each hand... like a mother hen with her chicks...
so alas, after yet some more everyday adventures, I bring you another
elongated update from the fabulous land of India!

Please, take this little by little, don't feel compelled to read this all in
one sitting... well, unless you just miss me that much. Welcome to inside my
erratic brain's thought processes... please enjoy.

So last night we went to this village...
and the village leader (whom for the past two years has been angry at our
presence) invited us to do the outreach from his front doorstep. We did and
afterwards he asked for prayer. We prayed and he manifested a demon, we cast
it out in the Name of Jesus and he said he wanted Jesus. He got saved
because he just couldn't deny what he'd seen, and neither could the village.

God's ways are not my ways, His thoughts are higher than mine...
I have been chewing on Isaiah 55 daily... check out how cool the Bible is.
"For [God's] thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways [God's]
ways", in regards to His Word, He says, "It shall not return to Me void, but
it shall accomplish what I please and it shall prosper in the thing for
which I sent it", "For you shall go out with joy and be led out with peace".
Come now, how rad are those promises? Sometimes, when the battle is getting
tough, I just hold up the Word and point out a promise that God's given me
and say, "hey, you said so", because He is faithful.

How to eat an elephant and change the world...
The past year has lead me to question if my goal of changing the wold is a
little too out of reach? The extent of poverty, despair, anger, corruption,
hatred and so on and so forth that I have had the privilege of being exposed
to has hit hard. There was Africa, an entire continent of starvation and
disease. Now, India, a nation of over a billion people working themselves to
the bone to make it to the next day... everyday. I am just a twerp from San
Diego with nothing but empty hands and willing feet.

Then, I find myself being held by an old grandmother, in tears. She is
thanking the team for telling her family about Jesus and praying over her
son, who* was* blind. We prayed in the Name of Jesus and his eyes were
opened. He saw his children for the first time, stared in wonder at the
world around him and asking to know more about this Jesus who just changed
the life of everyone he knows.

I remember the village we walked into that talked about the foreigners as we
walked in but could only talk about Jesus Christ as we left because every
single person we prayed for was healed and accepted Jesus.

Or the Gypsy women who testified that they came to know Jesus a year ago and
He has been amazing and faithful. How can I forget when they invited us into
their home to sing and dance with them?

The truth is, this twerp from San Diego doesn't change anything... Jesus
does and I just get to work for Him. You eat an elephant one piece at a
time, Jesus changes the world one soul at a time. The vision He's given me
to change the world is the vision He gives all of us. Its fully impossible
without Him, but with Him at my side, there is nothing I would rather do. I
have the honor of harboring a heart that feels a little of the heartache God
has when He looks at the world, and the privilege to live a life that mends
hearts, one at a time.

Fighting God...
There was this little old bent over woman in Pondicherry I prayed for over
the summer. Her face is in my head each time I pray. She asked for prayer
for her eyesight and toothaches. I prayed and she did not get healed. She
motioned for me to pray again, I did and she was still in pain and without
good eyesight. I moved on to the next person. In a few minutes that old
woman was back again. I prayed again and she was healed, just like that. She
taught me a valuable lesson that I will always carry with me: sometimes God
wants you to fight for it.

Look at Jacob and how he wrestled God until He blessed him and changed his
name to Israel, or at the persistent widow in Jesus' parables, think about
this old Indian lady. How bad do you want what you are praying for? Is it
only bad enough to shoot up a quick prayer before you fall asleep, half
believing that God hears you and barely believing He even cares? I guarantee
He wants to bless you, but He is waiting to see how bad you want it. Charge
it and fight Him for it, ultimately He will bless you, even if it doesn't
look exactly like what you thought you wanted. Do you think Jacob was
expecting God to change his name? Do you think he knew what that meant and
how that decision to fight God would change the world forever? Probably not,
but God knew.

My prayer requests:
*Financial provision for the team (we are running short)
*Health of the team (mosquito and worm issues)
*An increased heart for the Muslim community
*Increased authority in the Spirit
*Increased wisdom and discernment
*That we would run the homestretch strong
*That the captives are set free
*Continued favor of God in the villages
*Running water to miraculously be in our apartment
*Direction of where to go when I get home
*Your prayer requests:
*I really prayed for them so let me know what else to pray for, and if they
were answered... its always encouraging to hear! We might be oceans away,
but really, if you think about it, that's nothing for God. Not only does He
like you, He also likes hearing you talk to Him. I just like to join in on
the conversations when I can!

You sent some great questions, here are my answers and thoughts...

*How does the lady with out the colon live? Through an IV?
Nope, she just lives. You know that spot in Matthew when Jesus says his food
is to do the will of the Father? It must be like that. She just doesn't eat,
or drink, or sleep sometimes... really, I tell no lies. God uses this woman
in insane ways and she was amazing to live with. She knows that God is
keeping her alive to do His work, so she does.

*How's BFI?
Its great! Nick is hard at work back in San Diego working wonders with the
computer and all I have to do is sit in on conference calls every now and
then. We have an amazing staff of people who have caught the vision and are
running with it and a growing list of global contacts who are equally as
enthusiastic! You can keep up on it through www.beautifulfeetintl.org

*If there were no experiences, just resistance to the Gospel, how would you
feel? Would God still be exciting?
This was a rather thought provoking question that I liked. The quick answers
are "fine" and "yes". This makes me think of my time in Burkia Faso. There
it is 98% Muslim and I saw little action and little reaction to the Gospel
and the work I did there. It was only last month I got an email saying that
one of the villages I was in was impacted... that's all. I just have to
trust God that He called me and that His work was done. Why should I
complain if I don't get to see the fruit of my labors? I am not doing this
to see results, I am not living like this for fun or any type of
recognition... if I wanted that I would not be living like this, obviously.
I do what I do because its what God tells me to do and because its how the
Bible says to live, that's all.

The place I am staying right now is heavily populated with Muslims and
Hindus alike. I thought perhaps ministry would be harder, but it is not. God
is showing us so much favor with the people here. Yesterday, for example,
Darla, Ashley, Vivek and I were asked to travel 4 hours (one way) on a bus
to pray for a sick girl... who is Muslim. She knew perfectly well that we
are Christians and when we got there she accepted Christ and so did her mom.
Even, if I did not have the honor of seeing the fruit, God would be the
same... just as exciting. He is teaching me so much about prayer and
prophecy and intercession and vital parts of ministry, especially when the
spiritual warfare is so strong.

We wrestle not with flesh and blood, but in the spirit and everything we
loose in heaven is loosed here on earth, just as everything bound in heaven
is bound on earth. I can't see the results of my labor all the time, but I
have faith it is there in the spiritual realm. Seeing it pay off in this
lifetime is just icing on the cake... and hey, I like cake.

Ok, I'll stop here...
If you have made it this far, congradulations, I'd give you a cookie if I
could, but I can't, so I won't. Know you are loved and prayed for. I can't
wait to hear what's going on in your life!

Much love,
courtney brandt

4 September 2006

Life in India - Pondicherry, Neyveli and Pondroti

Stotrum!

Alright, so I know you may have been wondering if I disappeared in
India long ago because I am actually doing my monthly updates only
once a month... please dispel all the rumors, I am alive and well.

First things first. In a feeble attempt to keep my updates at a
readable length and my Internet cafe minutes to a minimum... I have a
thought. Respond with questions that will be answered in the next
update. I then won't get carried away with individual responses which
tend to be long winded cause I have this habit of writing how I talk,
which is a lot. Obviously.

So, here I am, one month into the beauty that is India. The team and I
are quite busy, working 6 days a week. We are mostly doing open air
outreaches in villages with local pastors translating and doing all
the hard work, like follow up. Most of the pastors we have worked with
so far are young and building up their churches, we are helping gather
in some of the harvest. It reminds me so much of John 4:37-38.

When we are not doing outreaches, we are doing house visits, which I
like much more. The pastors take us to homes of acquaintances and we
hang out, share some testimony, drink some chai and pray. It is just
so real that way. Recently these house visits have been in mud huts
with thatched roofs and candle light.

I'll just throw out some stuff running through my head, because I
can't think of where to begin to tell you of all that is going on...
Two nights ago we couldn't drive to the village we wanted to due to
intense monsoon rains and haystacks in the road. So we went to the
next village, pulled up and immediately saw a temple that Ashley had a
vision about earlier that day. We went into a house and the problems
and prayer requests were exactly what God had shown us in
intercession...

Then we went to the next house. I kept my headlamp on the ground, I
felt like a snake was going to come from the bed I was next too, but
there was no where to move in the one room house with over 20 people
in it. Darla asked me what I was doing, when I told her she said to
share. God gave me Luke 10:17-20 and I told the family what I felt,
figuring it was symbolic. It wasn't, they have a problem with a
particular snake that enters the house and comes out from under the
bed. We were all taken aback a bit at how rad God is when He speaks,
than I gave the word God gave me to share and it opened up to each
person in the house getting prayed for...

One of them had just been in an accident and had a hugely swollen
ankle. Ted prayed for him and told him to get up... there was no pain,
but the swelling was still there and he couldn't move it. Ted prayed
again, unwrapped the brace and the swelling was gone... he is fully
healed, believes in Jesus and more people are going to heaven now.
This is my life, on a daily basis. Rarely does anything go as planned,
but usually it turns out better than what was expected. See, told you
this was long.

I have lived with a woman with more authority when she prays than you
can imagine, grant it she has been resurrected three times and has no
colon... therefore has not eaten or drunk anything in 26 years...
therefore has been to heaven and has very little doubt when praying
that it might not be the right way. She receives people for prayer day
and night. Usually the people seeking prayer are not Christian, but
Hindus and Muslims... they just know that Jesus heals, so they go
where He is moving and now more people believe in Jesus and are going
to heaven.

We've seen demons cast out, cripples healed, the dumb speak the name
of Jesus as thier first word, fevers have broken in my hands, sick
babies eat after days of nothing, marriages restored, and yes, even
prayed that a sick cow would give milk.

God is moving here, there is no possible way to deny it. Nobody can
see what we are seeing and say there is no God (hence lots of people
getting saved).

I love it, Christianity here isn't about the social circles, legalism,
damnation and such. Its the simple reality that Jesus is a God of love
and He wants to pour that love and grace into His children.
Thank you for your prayers, they are being heard. I am praying for
you, so please respond with anything you want me to pray for
specifically and any questions. Maybe then my emails will be more
structured, but then again, maybe not.

Much love,
courtney

28 July 2006

Inside India

Namaskada (but I am sure I just spelled that wrong)!

So, you may be wondering where I have been. I have not been in San Diego...
have you guessed yet?

Wow, amazing, you are right!
I am in India, Bangalore to be exact.

How did I get here?
Airplanes and taxis.

But wasn't I poor and sick?
God healed me AND provided thousands of dollars in just 4 days. You see, I
stopped fund raising about two months ago when I found out I was sick. I
told God that I would stop and if He wanted me to go, He could bust out the
cash as assurance He healed me... I had $400. So the funds came in when I
was out of state. I came home to the news I was leaving in three days and
here I am.

What the heck am I doing here?
Currently listening to Hindi Pop music, wearing my yellow punjabi that Darla
gave me for Christmas in a crowded but well air conditioned Internet cafe.
There is an advertisement next to me promoting "your chance to learn ethical
hacking"... I'll have to check that out for future reference.

Aside from technological induIgences will be spending my time disciplining
Christians, doing open air preaching and traveling to various areas in the
region. There was talk about visiting friends in Kasmir, but it is too
dangerous there for Christians at the moment. It is amazing, we are living
with such amazing people. They have been kicked out of their families,
disowned, homeless, persecuted and suffered, all for the love of Christ and
His truth.

There are great expectations of what the Lord wants to do, each year
hundreds are saved and healed. By healing we are talking blind seeing and
lame dudes walking status. Should be rad.

So you miss me?
Don't.
I'll be sending out monthly emails, because I know how much you must love my
narratives by now (please sense sarcasm here).

Also, when I get the chance, you will find new photos at
http://flickr.com/photos/courtneyanne/.

So as luck may have it, you will hear more of me from this side of the world
than when I am at home.

Do I miss you?
Yes.
I like it when you say hi and tell me I am in your thoughts and prayers. So
many times I think to myself, "Huh, I sure hope someone else is praying for
me besides me right now!" Like the time in Bombay we had to go through
customs more than once, Ashley's guitar got lost in Frankfurt, we missed the
last bus to the domestic airport and had to take a super dodgy cab in the
pouring rain, at 1:30am and made our flight with 15 minutes to spare.

Good times in India.

If you know anyone who wants to be on this list (home church... hint, hint),
I forgot a big list of you guys at home. Sorry. Also, home addresses if you
covet a postcard.

If you are on this list it means I love you and am super grateful you are a
pillar of support in my life. Thank you. Godspeed.

Much love,
courtney

11 May 2006

India and Life

Good Evening (or morning or afternoon depending on where you are),
Here is the latest in my life. Please print this out and pray about it as
often as you are reminded of India, me or the world! The attachment is the
same as that which I have pasted below, I just wanted to make sure you got
it.

If you wish to receive real, live, paper mail from me or if I do not have
your current mailing address, please send it to me. I hope you don't feel
overwhelmed by all this contact I am sending your way... my vision is to see
us all praying and supporting each other as a body in Christ! Let me know
how I can be praying for you.

Much love,
court

--------------------------------

Dear Family and Friends,

Over the past three years I have been running the gauntlet that is my life,
on the path that God has set out before me (Ephesians 2:10). Though it looks
chaotic to just about everybody, including me, I am starting to see a
pattern that matches the plans God has been speaking over and into me for
years. Most of you have received several prayer letters from me throughout
the years and may be wondering when I will settle down and be "normal".
Well, looks like never.

My 2005 service with the peoples of Burkina Faso, West Africa was one of the
hardest times of my life. So many of the assumptions I went with about
missions work got lost somewhere along the way. I came back with my ideas of
what international missions "should be" so shaken that I was beginning to
think I really had lost my mind. I have spent the last year trying to find
my feet again and wondering what was next, secretly hoping for stability. So
when God sprang the idea of serving in India on me, I thought maybe He was
crazy.

SEND Ministries (Serving and Evangelizing Nations in Despair) sends out
teams to spiritually oppressed and developing nations in order to partner
with local believers. This will be the India team's fifth year working with
pastors from their base in Bangalore. The work the team does looks like that
of a migrant worker. Following the pastor's leads, we go where the harvest
is plenty and the workers are few. This summer we will be planting churches,
as well as encouraging churches and believers who represent the one percent
population of Christians in a nation of over one billion people. The plan is
to base our work in Bangalore and work our way through Bijapur, Linksor,
Gokak and up through Kashmir. This year's team will be gone from July to
December and I am called to be on it. Maybe I am out of my mind (2
Corinthians 5:13).

I cannot express my appreciation to you for lifting me up in prayer and
supporting me all these years, it is just too wonderful for words. Knowing
you are praying for God to make straight this path I am walking is one of
the few things that keeps me going. I do not know what the future of this
path holds for me, but I feel your prayers and encouragement pushing me to
find out. So, as goes the story of my life, I will make my plans, but God
will direct my steps (Proverbs 20:24).

Please continue to pray as I go out. I am taking the fall off of university
at UCSD and will be returning to graduate in June of 2007. After that I am
praying about the direction God wants me to take. All I know is that it
won't look anything like "normal", but it will be so good (Romans 12). But
for now, be praying for India, that the light of God would shine upon the
faces of His children there and that captives will be set free.

Pray Upons
*Salvation/Encouragement of Indian Peoples
*Health and Travel Safety (10 July- 12 Dec)
*Team Unity and Zeal
*Financial Support (all needed before July)
If it is on your heart to invest in what God is doing (Matthew 6:19-20,
Philippians 4:17).

God never fails in providing for His work to be done,
and the results of your prayers are constantly manifested in my life
(1 Thessalonians 5:11).
Thank you.
May God's blessings fall upon you tenfold.

In His Hands,
courtney brandt


Bible citations:
*Ephesians 2:10*- For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for
good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

*2 Corinthians 5:13*- For if we are out of our mind it is for God, if we are
in our right mind it is for you.

*Proverbs 20:24*- A man's steps are of the Lord; How then can a man
understand his own way?

*Matthew **6:19**-20*- Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth,
where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up
for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and
where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there
your heart will be also.

*Philippians 4:17*- Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that
abounds to your account.

*1 Thessalonians 5:11*- Therefore comfort each other and edify one another,
just as you also are doing.