Well as some of you may know that from time to time punishments from the staff have rained down on the students at Joshua…especially the guys. It seems as though we have a really hard time obeying the little things that they, Rich and the staff, have asked us to do. Some of the punishments we have received are humorous and some we absolutely hate. Most of the punishments are group punishments and some are not. It is the responsibility of everyone here to keep each other in check and make
sure that we are doing the things that we committed to at the beginning of Joshua.    It’s interesting to look back on these past few months as some of our punishments have really dampened the attitude of the guys but at the same time they have caused us to grow individually and as a group.  I thought you might find it interesting to hear a few of the things we are learning from.   Two of the guys hurt themselves doing things that would not be advised, such as: skateboarding without a helmet and climbing the chimney of Joshua. As a result of those bad choices those guys for two weeks had the honor of wearing a helmet and the other a whole set of climbing gear. All the men had the opportunity to do breakfast duty together for a week because four guys forgot to show up for their turn at breakfast kp. Another one is that we the guys can no longer close our hallway doors because we continue to be loud after quiet hours. There are probably more, but as you can see we have failed in doing and not doing what the staff have asked us.  I guess the funny thing is that we know what we are supposed to do but we just keep messing up because we are not focusing on the little things.  Rich always tells the class that we need to be obedient in the small things first both in common tasks as well as our spiritual lives, and to tell you the truth this is a lesson that we are all learning to do better in.  For a lot of us guys we are working through the tough parts of corporate punishment as many times a lot of us are not at fault yet we live in community and are beginning to realize that our actions affect more then just us personally.
I have been reading about Joshua in my devotions. At the beginning of his leadership, Israel entered the Promised Land. They were supposed to destroy the city of Jericho and completely annihilate it. Yet there was one man who failed to obey God’s command in destroying everything you find in the city. As a result, Israel lost their next battle because of the disobedience of Achan. He was killed, him and his whole family because of his sin. Israel then decided to obey what the Lord commanded and they were able to conquer the land without any more problems. If we as a group can follow Israel’s example in following what the staff tells us to do and what not to do, then we will be able to live without the punishments. I believe that we as a class can learn to obey all of the little things, even if it takes a while with many more punishments to come. What it comes down to is our integrity and doing what we said we would do.  The road to growth is tough and takes time but the cool thing is we are in this together.
Signed
Tim (a work in progress) Leinen

Sorry that I haven’t been posting speaker audio for a while but things have been pretty busy.  With that said these past few weeks we have had some amazing speakers here at Joshua.   Bellow is a talk from each of the guys and you can also click here to go to the speaker bio page.
Enjoy
Rich

Matt Lantz Oct 20th -23rd
Matt Lantz is the director of the “Forge” which is a program very similar to Joshua that runs in Tyler Texas (click here to check out their program).   He spent the week talking with the students on the topic of obedience and what that looks like for our spiritual lives.
Obedience and Salvation

Ken Graves Oct 27th -30th
Every year if you were to ask a Joshua student who one of their favorite guest speakers were they would tell you Ken.  He is a pastor from Maine with a passion for God’s word.  If you get a chance ask your student about Ken as I am sure they will have plenty of fun stories.

John Alvarado Nov 3rd – 6th
John runs an organization down in Mexico called “Reflect Ministries” (click here to check out their webpage).   Their purpose is to reach out to the poor and needy and to bring them the message of hope found in knowing Christ.  During the week John taught on missions and reaching out to those around you.  This was also a great chance for the students to get to know John, as we will be working along side his ministry as well as some others while we are in Mexico on our upcoming trip.

So a couple weeks ago I had the weekend off and I chose to work with Rich and work on his house all weekend. Rich just recently moved so every week he works on his house and this is just a little glimpse of the fun that we had.
Anyway I started work by putting in a tile pathway along the side of his house, Dominique was there because she walked down with some friends and she was prompted to help, so Dom and I built most of a path way on day one and that was cool as it came together nicely and was easy to see the progress as we moved along. The next day (Saturday) we also built Wild Wood style stairs going from his walkway down to his fire pit and Dom and Hailey and I finished the pathway since we decided we could use another kind of tile. We also spread bark chips all around the side of the house and his Jacuzzi which was really cool as it made it all come together and look really nice. On Sunday, we began the fence, it was also Wild Wood style and a lot of fun to build, plus it’s a really inexpensive way to build a fence, all you pay for is the lags to bolt it together. We worked on that most of Sunday and were able to finish a good portion of it. So Monday and Tuesday Rich had a couple guys go with him to his house during the day because his SOD had just came in, (I know by this point you are thinking that Rich just uses us for a work force but really we don’t normally spend this much time away from Joshua) SOD was just one of the coolest things to do, because the whole image of the house and yard does a complete 180, and goes from dirt to fresh green grass and it all happens in a couple of hours. All and all it has been a cool experience as I have gotten to spend a lot of time with Rich as well as learn some new skills around the house.

Jake

So, for our DTG the class was taken on a hike to this place with tons of boulders, rocks, and had an amazing view (at least that is what Rich told us) At first when we arrived at our destination it was really foggy and we really didn’t know how high up we were.  Instead of looking out onto this beautiful forest, which is what happened when the fog was lifted, we were looking into the thick fog. It was really cool to see! We all started to eat lunch and then I looked up and I saw all the fog and clouds being lifted away and I looked over this amazing forest from really high up. Though it was really cold, it was so incredible! The really neat thing about our DTG was that right when we were starting to leave the clouds started coming back.  So it was really cool to see God clearing the clouds so we could all see the beauty that we wouldn’t have been able to see through the thick clouds.  Also Jeff Lilley the Director of Hume came with us and taught us some lessons from nature along the way.  You should listen to the audio track below to hear a little of what we learned on the hike.
At the end of our time Rich asked 3 people to pray. I was privileged to be one of them. Just to be able to pray at the top of this mountain looking over this huge beautiful place just gave me chills! What a privilege! Also you can click here to see more pictures from our hike.
Enjoy
Grace

One of Jeff’s talks from the hike

As you read this next blog I want you all to know how proud I am with Dan and how he handled the situation you are about to read about.   I asked him to tell his story as I have watched as God has worked through the situation to not only change Dan but also all the students in the Joshua program.  Joshua is a place of change as the students throughout the year learn not only from their accomplishments but also from their mistakes.  Here is one such learning moment.
-Rich

Have you ever done something that you felt so horrible and guilty about? Well that happened to me up at Wildwood this September, and yet I felt the Mercy and Grace of God through everyone and everything around me. I am sure you have already heard about it but I was the catalyst of the Wildwood fire this year. It’s crazy how something so small can become something so big as it was an inadequately put out tiny campfire that I thought I had taken care until the next morning when I saw the flames.
I’m sorry for what happened, as it was most definitely an accident.  When I was asked to tell my story I have to be honest with you all, I didn’t want to write anything at all… I was embarrassed and prideful, it was the biggest mistake I made in my life, I mean why would I say anything? But why I’m telling you all this, is to tell you how God was so graceful and merciful to me, and He showed His power through the Forest Service, my classmates, and of course all of Hume Lake.
But what was so amazing was that when I walked back from the scene of the fire, all of my classmates came out, and forgave me of my “epic failure”, prayed with me, and told me that they were so worried about me (I was the last one back to camp). I spent about an hour after seeing the fire, broken before God with my brothers and sisters. But I was lifted up before God and experienced comfort and total forgiveness again in Christ.
It took the amazing crews only an hour to put out the fire, and after it was investigated, I was told by the investigator that the initial cost of putting out the 1/3 of an acre fire was a minimum of $30,000. I was devastated when I heard that. I spent the next week in prayer and I was worrisome as well. The Friday before I was about to go home that week, a forest service officer came to interview me, and during the interview, he proceeded to tell me that the cost had been cut down to roughly $2500-7500. I was relieved quite a bit when I heard that. The Officer also told me all of the legalities that may as well happen to me. When I was about to leave down the mountain for home, I was flagged down by the officer once more down in main camp… and the District Ranger was there to give the verdict, my stomach was in knots.
The officer proceeded to tell me that he was going to write me a $375 citation, and he told me that was all I would have to pay. At that moment, I broke down in tears and was thanking God over and over. Such a huge burden was taken off my chest, and I instantly felt so much better. The District Ranger, and the Officer were so merciful in giving me basically, just a speeding ticket. The reason they told me as to why they only gave me that citation, was because I was honest, forthcoming, and took responsibility for it. It was so hard, I could have turned away from the truth! And yet I thank God for giving me the courage to speak the truth right when I saw the fire.
I’d have to say, this trial was probably the first time I really trusted God to bring me through, and He really brought me through. Why hadn’t I done that for the rest of my life? God gave His Son, and His Son saved me, sinner me. I give all the credit and thanks to God the Father, and everyone else involved with putting out the fire, and aiding me in my healing.
This is my story in a very small nutshell. I thank you all for your forgiveness; prayers, patience, and helping me get through my epic failure. Click here to see more pictures from the fire.

In Christ,
Dan Mitchell

John 8:32-
“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

While Joshua does focus on the important things like theology, understanding the Bible, scripture memorization and spiritual growth; that at times can get a bit boring.   Our cooks do a great job of not only making incredible food but they also put together theme dinners.   There is something really fun about watching all the students relax from an intense program and get dressed up and just have a good time (my question is where they find these costumes).  I thought you might enjoy seeing some of these fun pictures so click here to go to the theme dinner gallery.  Take care
-Rich

Before we left for Habitat for Humanity (click here to see new photos from Habitat) we had the opportunity to have Mike Bogart as our guest speaker at Joshua.   Mike’s background is in world religions and spent the week teaching the students about the different world religions and how they compare and contrast to Christianity.   Below is one of the talks from the week.
-Joshua Staff

Cosmic, Acosmic, and Abrahamic - Mike Bogart

During my time in Joshua I have already been through a lot of life changing experiences. I have seen snow fall for the first time, seen the golden gate bridge for the first time, and Wednesday I experienced what it is like to be high on drugs for the first time. I stepped on a nail during work and got sent to the hospital for a tetanus shot. The nurse gave me some vicodin for the pain. I took 1pill every 2-3 hours. So I had 4 pills of vicodin that day. Now I have never had any type of strong pain reliever before so I had no idea what it was going to do to me. Aside from telling the same stories multiple times, having a conversation with a sandwich, and all the other craziness, I had tons of people caring and praying for me.  Rich drove me to the hospital, waited for like 3-4 hours there then bought me lunch. Josh was my personal doctor the whole day and made sure I got my drugs correctly. Hanna, Julie and Matt gave me slurpies to drink. Multiple people helped me get around and just loved on me a whole lot and Dan and Paul carried me to a couch to sleep on with my own room. The love I got from my new family here was really overwhelming. I couldn’t believe how much people were willing to help me. The next day when I was off the vicodin I was sincerely asked from pretty much everyone how I was doing.  I cant thank everyone enough for all the love and support I got. It made me appreciate everyone here so much more and makes me even more excited to be working with this amazing new family of believers.
Jonathon

Hey everyone we are back from our trip to the Bay area to work with Habitat for Humanity.  From the directors perspective I am very proud of the students and the hard work that they did.  Awhile ago when we were talking with the people at Habitat they mentioned that they had a big job in a warehouse that they needed done but figured that we wouldn’t be interested as volunteers always want to work on houses.  I told them that we were here to serve them and that we would be willing to do what ever they needed done.  On a side note Habitat is not a Christian organization by any means so it is always cool when we are able to serve them and just show them God’s love through our actions and attitudes.  The students did exactly this and once again the people at Habitat began to ask questions about our program and what we are all about.  Anyway we will soon be loading some more pictures from the trip but in the meantime listen to a few words from Rachel and TC.

Rich

Thoughts from Rachel and TC

Well today was just one of those fun days.  As Joshua director it is not unusual for me to spend some of my time in the emergency room during a trip.  With 56 college students there is always someone who ends up needing some medical attention (usually stitches) so you end up sitting for hours on end waiting to get in.  Today Jonathon accidently stepped on a nail while we were working at the Habitat warehouse, which in return sent us to the ER for a tetanus shot.  The day was sort of boring until they gave him some vikadin for the pain.  At first it made him tired and then he became the worlds best storyteller and told the same thing over and over.  A few times he told me he loved me and at one point he was talking to a sandwich.   All that to say he is fine now that the medicine wore off and it made for a good afternoon.  I think the lesson for Jonathon is not the nail as that was an accident but that drugs are bad and he should never even think about doing them.   Always a teachable moment in Joshua and those stories I mentioned, oh you have to hear them some time as they were amazing and this particular story is one we won’t soon forget.  Click here to see some new pictures from our trip.Take careRich-Joshua Director