Sunday, January 29, 2012

Untitled...?

So, lots of things to say! It's been awhile since my last update!! 


First of all, February 2 (4 days!!) is our first deadline for outreach funds! AH! It's getting so close!! I would like to extend an invitation to you to partner with me in reaching the people of South Africa. I ask that you would pray, pray, pray!! If the Lord lays it upon your heart to support me in loving on & sharing the gospel with the South Africans. The total cost for my time in South Africa is around $5,000. That will cover all of my costs while I'm there & airfare. 


I trust that the Lord will lay the amount on your heart to contribute & I would encourage you to listen to His voice. I am so thankful for all of your support this far & would be delighted to receive any further support you can offer whether it be through your prayers, or finances!!


Now for an update?!

In the least negative way possible, this last week or so has been such a roller coaster ride! Kind of seems to be a theme here at YWAM! After getting completely over my last sickness for almost a week, I got sick again this week!! Seriously frustrating! There is a lot of sickness being passed around campus! Please be praying for health for all!!!!


First off, I am getting close
If I had to sum up the last week/all of my time here in two words, I'd have to say overall it's been fun, & challenging

Fun in the sense that I am enjoying getting to know all of the kind folks here! 
Challenging in the sense that my faith has been challenged in various ways.
(On a drive out to Waimea)

This week I met more wonderful people, had some amazing conversations & some craaaazy experiences! Monday, Tuesday & Thursday Darlene Cunningham spoke, that was awesome. She shared some incredible testimonies of how the Lord formed YWAM! So amazing! Also spoke about pursuing the dreams that the Lord has placed in our hearts.
(Beautiful Sunset! From last Saturday)

On Wednesday Heidi Baker spoke in the morning and at night. That's what brings me to the low of the roller coaster! I don't have much to say about her, or her teaching other than she is a very animated speaker. I have some video footage that I shot from Wednesday night. Planning on editing that soon.

On Thursday night & Friday morning we had a really great speaker (I cannot remember her name) from Sex + Money Film come and share about her journey with the Lord & how He brought her to making the Sex + Money documentary. It was a super touching story and I was blown away & shocked by what she had to share about sex trafficking in the US. I really felt the Lord tugging at my heart when she was sharing about her ministry. Here's a link to the trailer of the film:

Yesterday was a very refreshing day, took a super long nap, rested and made some jewelry! If you wanna check it out, or buy some to support me, & get some super cute jewelry, here's the link ---> ETSY <--- where you can buy it!

This is another video I made from the end of last week! Planning to film some more stuff tonight!!

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Fast Forward Motion

This week has gone by SO fast! I cannot comprehend that it is already Friday night! I could have sworn yesterday was Monday!!! 

It has been a bit of a rough week! On Saturday I had some weird meat at lunch that made me pretty stinkin' sick! I haven't really felt up to updating because of it! Luckily I am feeling much better now & am almost completely back to my normal self!

I am really tired & it is pretty late- so I don't feel like going into extreme detail about anything now! So I'll just say a few things!!

This week was Holy Spirit week! It was very... interesting to say the least! Honestly, I'm still processing & it's pretty hard to put into words! It's a topic that is quite controversial among different denominations & backgrounds! Throughout the teaching there were some things that were highlighted that were of that controversial nature! I don't know where I stand completely on some of those subjects, so it has been quite the adventure sifting through those things with the Lord and scripture. I have definitely been tested & stretched this week!

That's all I'm gonna say for now, since I'm starting to fall asleep! 

BUT, here's a really short, raw video of some of the pretty things I've seen here so far! 

(I'm really into doing time lapse video right now, so I wanna go out & shoot more! Haven't had time yet! Hopefully this weekend!!)


Thursday, January 12, 2012

I am so blessed to be here!

I am SO blessed to be here! I am SO blessed to be here!

It has been such a wonderful time of stretching, learning, leaning & trusting. 
The Lord has been drawing stuff out of me that I didn't know was there! Teaching me SO much about who He is, & who He has created me to be!

Today was SO full!

This morning at the end of class, we met in our outreach groups & had a time of prayer for us individually. It was amazing, so freeing and powerful! Definitely felt a sense of unity today among the team!

After lunch, we headed to the prayer room on most days. We're usually there from 1-3!
 Hours of straight prayer and worship ministering to the Lord, & allowing Him to minister to us!!! Built into my schedule on a daily basis! It is so amazing! I am learning a lot of endurance! It's SO good!

I also ABSOLUTELY LOVE my work duty! It is such a rewarding way to serve! Such a blessing! I get to do some yard work with some amazing people. I feel so joyful while I'm outside raking! It's so silly! I come back so dusty and happy!

Then, tonight we had the Thursday night Gathering. Funny that there's 'the Gathering' at VBC thursday nights & the Gathering HERE on Thursday nights! It's our weekly service as a campus! Lorne Cunningham (the founder of YWAM) spoke about LOVE tonight. It was very powerful to hear him talk about his friend Corey Tinboom. 

 We sang all hymns tonight, which was SOOOOO refreshing!! I was absolutely blown away by how powerful, rich & meaningful the lyrics to the songs are. I love singing words that are directly talking to & declaring God's goodness!

  1. Holy, Holy, Holy
  2. Only Thou art holy; there is none beside Thee,
  3. Perfect in power, in love, and purity



I definitely feel like I am on a roller coaster at times! Life isn't perfect, even at YWAM! 

HA.

 BUT- it's cutting it close! 

At different points throughout the day I am so over filled with gratitude that I'm here. Other moments I'm incredibly overwhelmed, unsure & missing home, BUT- I know this is EXACTLY where God wants me. Without a shadow of a doubt!!!

God is SO MUCH GREATER than I could ever possibly understand, or communicate!!!

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Masiphumelele!!!

Masiphumelele, South Africa!!

Today they announced our outreach locations and I'm on the South African team!! I literally cannot believe that's where I'm going to be sent!! 
I was in total shock, well kind of!

Here's the story!:
There are over 120 Fire & Fragrance DTS students & staff, so there were 11 different locations for the outreach to choose from! (I said that the other day!) 
Yesterday in class they wrote all 11/ up on the board and told us we weren't allowed to talk to our friends, or use our cell phones! Then told us we have ten minutes to pray & write down our top two choices! 

TEN MINUTES! 

So, I sat there, NO idea which to choose!! 

The options were: 
China/North Korea
Turkey/Northern Afghanistan 
Berlin/Poland
 Amsterdam/The Netherlands
 Japan
 East Coast of the USA
 Honolulu
 Nepal
 Cambodia
 South Africa

I started praying and unfortunately I didn't hear a booming voice saying "JAPAN" or anything at all! People here had visions, and have had places on their hearts and minds for awhile, but I was totally at a loss! I came in with NO expectations... So I just sat there, most people walked up - ...and I still sat there! 

Then in the last few minutes two stuck in my mind... 

South Africa & Amsterdam/The Netherlands.

I just kept randomly going back to them & repeating them in my head! 
So I wrote them down!

The leaders told us that hopefully a week or so they'd let us know, unless there was some kind of miracle! (You could sense they seemed to think it was gonna take quite some work & time to get 120 people organized into groups!)
 They also told us to be flexible, because there was a chance that we wouldn't be placed in either! So, I was expecting to wait at least a week! 

Then-this morning, sure enough, there was a miracle!

Almost everyone got their first choice! It just worked out perfectly that we were all placed in either our first or second choice! So cool! The leadership said it's the fastest they'd ever heard of getting the locations all figured out! 

So, I'm going to South Africa!!!!!!!!

Here are a couple of pictures from the last couple days!
The sunset yesterday!
 A necklace I made yesterday!
 The sunset tonight!


My friend Kristen and I walked out to this spot to have to read & have a quiet time! 
We ended up chatting the whole time, & didn't read at all, but BOY it was beautiful!!! 
I am SOOO BLESSED!!! 

Andy Byrd, our speaker for this week, included this verse today in his teaching today! Such an amazing time of teaching and worship! He passionately spoke of how all that we do should be fueled by our love of God. Not our striving to please and attain His love. 


Zephaniah 3:17 ESV
"The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing."
Here's a little video from my New Years at the Emerald Palace!!



Sunday, January 8, 2012

Overwhelmed!

The last few days have been SO overwhelming!! I am super exhausted now, so I am sorry if my sentences drag, or are confusing! Hard for me to even begin to think of what to write!! I am an introvert running on no alonetime fuel!

I'm not sure if I wrote this in any of my other posts or not, but there are over 100 people in my Fire & Fragrance DTS! I heard today that since there are SO many people there will be 11 places to choose from for the outreach! Please be praying that I would be wise with my time, so I can be energized to be social! It's been stretching (in a REALLY GOOD way!!!) to be around so many people all of the time!! I'm definitely adjusting! And please be praying for the Lords leading in choosing my outreach location!!!! 


Anyways... This is what my last few days have looked like!!


Friday- the day before yesterday! (which feels like a week ago) we had orientation, & the "Aloha Welcome Night"! They had amazing dancers & performers, like this fire dancer...


...it was super neat and fun! The founder of YWAM, told the story of how God lead him to start the organization! 

Then, Saturday-we went to this AMAZING beach & I took these sweet pics!
Beautiful waves & lovely shades of blue & turquoise water!

One of my new friends Kristen!!

The waves were HUGE!
 I picked my first Plumeria!
 & then they had a carnival for us! 
 We had silly matching moustaches painted at the face painting station!
 & there was even a pie eating contest with COSTCO pumpkin pies. Literally HUGE pies!
Today- the weather was PERFECT! I visited Living Stones Church & sat outside! The view of the waves crashing against the rocks was absolutely AMAZING! So refreshing to see a familiar face! Also really funny to see the similarities in mannerisms of Tim & Bill Barley. I was also really encouraged by the message! 

Worked on some jewelry for awhile... Only took one picture of what I've made... More to come!



































Got to Skype and talk on the phone with quite a few of my favorite people back home! Felt so refreshing. 



I topped off the night with a walk at sunset with a few new friends. One from Pennsylvania, one from Minnesota & one from Germany!














We went down to Hawaii's First Church, where there was an orchestral concert! It was absolutely beautiful music and they ended the night with the singing of hymns. 
We sang It Is Well last, (which we also sang this morning at "LSC") and as we came to the last chorus, all of the old folks stood up and lifted their voices and hands to the heavens. It was so incredibly powerful!!! I've never been amongst such a vibrant, strong group of older folks!! It brought me to tears! Such a beautiful evening!  

Friday, January 6, 2012

As surreal as it gets...

Today has been one of the longest days of my life! Not in a bad way, but an incredibly unreal way. Woke up at 5, I got to the airport around 5:45 this morning, said goodbye to a few of my wonderful lady friends...












































Waited around for my flight to leave
Enjoyed the my last glimpse of the bay for the next few months!
Flew for 5 hours and arrived in Kona around 10:30! I met a few people outside the bathroom in the Kona airport and we were all shuttled over to the base, where we were warmly welcomed! 


It's absolutely beautiful here! The weather is a tad hot & only a little humid! It also smells wonderful! After checking in I got my luggage settled & had some lunch! While waiting in the lunch line I a had a cool conversation with a woman who is a teacher for the 8 year old kiddos on base. With a full belly, I could barely function, mostly from exhaustion, so I came back to the room and layed down, looked out my window...
...and fell asleep! I don't know how long I slept for, but the sleep was great! 

I finished unpacking, then went with my roommate Sarah (who is from New Zealand/South Africa) to dinner. We met a couple cool people & walked with them into town, like a 5-10 min walk (as the sun was setting! Beautiful!)!! We all sat by the ocean for awhile and chatted! Pretty awesome! 

I've had a wonderful first day! Still settling in! Tomorrow I have a pretty full day of welcoming ceremonies and meetings! So, I'm gonna wrap this up and go to sleep!


Please be praying that I'll keep my eyes fixed on Jesus!

Sunday, January 1, 2012

New Years!!

Here's a few pictures from our New Years party at the Emerald Palace!!