Winter Wondertrip

This will be a short blog:

Holy moly, me oh my! We leave for the Philippines tomorrow! Where oh where did the time go? I can honestly say that I do not know. I am so ready for outreach. But at the same time I'm hesatant. Being in another country for longer than 2 weeks is always a little terrifying. Not that I would know because I've never been out of the country for longer than 10 days. Hence my hesitation. But all that aside, I'm stoked. With every story from people who have been in the past and every meeting of preparation my anticipation mounts. However, it will be weird to be gone for Christmas. The holiday season is such a time to be with family; wrapped up in a host of family traditions. But this Christmas, the Lord is stretching me and opening my eyes to my new family: my outreach team. The 12 of us will make new traditions and holiday memories together half way across the world from the place I've always been on December 25.

Sorry for the shortness but the packing of bags, the saying of good byes and the finding of passports is calling my name.

PRAYER: safe travels and supernatural energy. The 16 hour flight staring us in the face is not something none of us are looking forward to.

Goodbye so soon?

I am at a complete loss for words: my DTS leaves Thursday night for LA. My time in Hawaii has come to an end. I cannot believe that it has gone by so quickly. I feel like I just arrived last week! This Thursday will mark the end of the most life changing 2 months of my life. This morning during our corporate worship time my DTS was called to the front and the rest of the student body gathered around us (that's 500 odd students and staffers) and prayed for us as we prepare to leave. Usually the Holy Spirit is always really prevalent during those times. But for some reason this morning the presence of the spirit was so totally overwhelming it drove me to tears. I had about 10 pairs of hands on me, one in particular touched my heart more so than the other's: the little hands of a 5 year old from the campus kindergarden. I could actually feel the Lord coming along side of me, touching my spirit through the hands of everyone who was praying over my team.


As I left Tennessee for Hawaii 2 short months ago I had no idea what the Lord had in store for me. I was walking blindly into a completely new experience and situation. Looking back, even my wildest dreams and expectations couldn't have even come close to what has happened to me while I've been here. Our speaker last week said "It is impossible to think outside of your own vocabulary" which is exactly true. I didn't know what the Lord was capable of. Unbenounced to myself, I had put the Lord in a box so even the wildest things I could have thought up wouldn't have come close to what the Lord has done in my life. Because what He's done was outside of my vocabulary. He has moved and transformed my life so much more than I even knew I needed it. It's a difficult thing to explain. But I had things weighing me down that I wasn't even aware of. And the Lord, in all His faithfulness, broke into my heart and started lifting the weight off my shoulders. As I prepare to move to LA for 3 weeks then to the Philippines for 3 months, I cannot wait to see what the Lord will do. I know that it will far surpass everything that I could possibly think of in my head right now. Because the Lord doesn't operate on our terms or in accordance to our definitions. He operates in His own vocabulary.


So like I mentioned before, I leave Thursday night from Kona and fly through the night to land in LA on Friday morning. That weekend will be full (9 AM-7PM everyday) of training for the conference that starts on Monday. We'll be staying the the hotel where the conference will be taking place and to say that I am excited about staying in a hotel is a complete understatement. Then from LA we will move to Pasadena for the last 2 weeks; finishing up lectures and preparing to leave on our outreaches on December 10. My team will take a 16 hour flight from LA to Manila. Then we move to Devao and be there for 3 days before moving to our final destination in Tagum. For the most part we will be operating out of Tagum for the remainder of our trip, taking small day trips and possibly a 2 week camping trip to neighboring villages and tribal camps. Our schedule is really up in the air still. We might be working with a school, we might be working with a church, we might be camping in the jungle for 2 weeks, we might be building a well. The options are endless and not nailed down yet. I do know that the internet and cell service will be rare and extremely expensive. So blogging and keeping in touch will be really difficult. I'll be keeping my parents updated though so they will be the people to talk to if you're interested in keeping up with what I'm doing.


So much more has happened since the last time I blogged. And again, I apologize for my inadequate blogging skills. But sitting down to write down everything that happens here in a day is more exhausting then actually doing everything we do in a day... if that makes sense.


Prayer: ENERGY!!!! The next month will be grueling. We will be dealing with 2 pretty drastic time changes and a very limited amount of sleep. In addition to a pretty strenuous working schedule. So please pray for supernatural energy and diligence and we push forward to end our lectures and prepare our hearts and minds for outreach.

Baptized by Fire

I have realized, as I'm sure you have as well, that I am really bad at blogging. I can honestly say that I never think to. So I apologize for promising to keep everyone "in the loop" and totally not.


Thursday was the 1 month mark for me here in Kona. Time has flown by and every day knew discoveries are being made, breakthroughs are... breaking though, heart issues are being dealt with and friendships are being strengthened. It's a joke here that YWAMer's only ever marry YWAMer's. But if you think about it, it totally makes sense: we come here and dedicate 6 months of our lives to growing and learning more and more about who Christ is. The life experiences we, as students, have here are unparalleled. We have to marry other people who have also gone through and experianced similar, if not the same, things. I have grown closer to my friends here in just over a month than I have with most other people over years. You are consistently working through such intense heart matters together that you cannot help but grow together as tightly knit brothers and sisters in Christ.


Last Wednesday night (the 19th) I experienced what we like to call "A Spiritual Breakthrough". As a class, we had to go to the prayer room for an evening of prayer and worship. Mark Anderson, the vice-president of YWAM, was there as the leader for the evening. For a couple of days before that, we had been talking about the passage in Matthew where Jesus is talking to his disciples saying that He is leaving but "another shall take my place. I baptized with water but he will baptize with fire and the Holy Spirit." So I had really been dedicating a lot of my prayer time to praying that I would be consumed and baptized by fire and the Holy Spirit. But I was hesitant as well because the whole "spiritual gifts" thing totally freaked me out and I just wasn't sure that I was really ready for that step yet. I wanted it so badly. However, I didn't feel totally ready for what that looked like. Anyways I went to the prayer room, not particularly inthralled about being there (I had even considered skipping) but as soon as I walked into the door I knew something awesome was about to happen. I sat down and just started worshiping and praying; praying that I would be filled, consumed and baptized by the Holy Spirit. I just felt totally at ease but totally empowered at the same time. I got chills and started crying as my mouth started forming words that I wasn't familiar with. Kids, I was speaking in tongues. I couldn't stop either because I was afraid that if I did, I wouldn't be able to start again. I sat there for almost an hour completely unable to stop. Then Mark Anderson got up and started talking about how the Holy Spirit was going to set people free and break off chains. As he moved through the crowd praying for people, you could literally see the transformations happening. People were actually and literally being set free from things that had been burdens to them their whole lives. He moved to me and prayed that I would be set free and assuring me that the past had no hold over me anymore. My knees fell out from under me and I started weeping as I felt the burdens of things that I've held over my head from years fall away and new life be given.


Now I'm sure that this story brings up a lot of questions/comments/concerns. I am more than happy to dive into a more in-depth conversation with anyone who doesn't quite understand all of that. But let me leave you with this: tongues isn't unorderly or possessed. It is literally your soul connecting straight to Christ's in a "perfect prayer". I wasn't convulsing on the floor or foaming at the mouth or anything like that. I was filled with the Holy Spirit, just like the disciples in Acts. And out of the overflow of my heart, my mouth spoke in a language that only the Lord can understand. Yes, I know what I'm praying for and I know who my prayers are directed at but I don't have a complete comprehension of each word that I'm saying.


Also, I'd like to address the phone situation. As I posted on my Facebook, I really felt like the Lord was telling me to take a break from my phone. So I turned it off. But my poor parents had no way of contacting me so that wasn't going to fly. So as of right now, I'm keeping it turned on but in my room. Not carrying it around with me around campus. So if you text me, I will get it and respond when I can. It might be hours later though.


Prayer: as I mentioned before, we, as students, are dealing with a ton of stuff on a day to day basis. It's sometimes really awesome things and sometimes it's really intense heart issues. So pray for diligence and perseverance as I continue to grow in the Lord and as he continues to work on things in my life.

Giving up the right: Outreach

Thursday was the mark of 2 weeks in Hawaii. It's hard to believe. I have only 6 weeks left in Hawaii. It's gone by so quickly. The joy of the Lord is contagious and the understanding He has imparted on me while I've been here blows my mind. This week was corporate week on campus. Which just means that all the DTS's had class together in the big Ohana Court. Loren Cunningham, the founder of YWAM, and other speakers came and spoke to us on pretty radical and mind-blowing ideas.


One thing that Mr. Cunningham spoke on that really rocked my world was the idea of giving up your right to things. The idea that we are entitled to nothing, we should except nothing and we deserve nothing. But because the Lord's love is bigger than His pride, He blesses us with the things that we often times consider ourselves entitled to. So for example, I don't deserve to be here at YWAM, I don't deserve to get married, I don't deserve to go to Heaven and I don't deserve to go on outreach but that's where grace comes into play. Praise the Lord! But before the Lord can extend grace to us, we have to understand that we don't deserve it. Everything in life that is given to us is a gracious gift from the Lord. We can't work really hard at doing good things and expect to get blessed because we help some old lady cross the road. We have to live out the old hymns words of surrendering all to our precious Savior.

So directly after that lecture Athol, my school leader, called my DTS into our class room to announce our outreach teams. I'll just say it now because I know everyone wants to know, I'm going to The Philippines!!!!! I couldn't be more excited, more elated, more anxious and more thankful. It was hard for me though because I felt so sure that the Lord was calling me to South Africa. But for some reason, Debbie and Athol got a different message and asked me to pray and consider going to The Philippines instead. So I talked it over with the Lord and the parentals and we were all in one accord (I used that word just for you, Dad) that The Philippines is the place for me to go. My team of 15 will leave from LA on December 10th to head to the desolate archipelago that we will call home for 3 months. The picture above makes one think that we are going on vacation to a euphoric island to basque in the sun's glory. Let me assure you that is far from the truth. I just liked that picture. Although I don't have a clear picture of what we are going to be doing while we are there, I know that it will most definitely not include sunbathing.


Please pray for myself and my other classmates as we gather our funds for outreach. Also please be praying for unity, respect and love between my teammates and me.

For Joanna.

I realize that I haven't exactly been keeping everyone updated as I should. And for that I apologize. However, believe me when I say: I literally have had no time to do anything but sleep, eat and go to class. They have kept us so busy and to say that I am overwhelmed by this first week of classes would be an understatement. But God is good, He is so so good, and He has blessed me and spoken to me more now than ever before in my life.
For instance, I kept thinking/dreaming about these two random guys on campus who I hadn't met or even spoken to. And the Lord kept bringing them to mind and I felt like I needed to go and ask them if they needed me to pray for anything. As it turns out, both of them were in need of specific prayer for things that were going on in their lives. Once I got over the awkwardness of telling complete strangers that I had been thinking about them, I couldn't help but praise the Lord and His faithfulness.
I would go through and write out exactly what I have been doing every day but that would take ages. And as busy as they've been keeping me, I most definitely do not have any time to spare. But let me assure you, I have been busy and haven't stopped moving since I arrived. Which strangely enough was 1 week ago today. It feels like I've been here 100 years and it feels like I've been here a day. But every day, God's word and Holy Spirit has moved in and around me. My roommates and I have bonded and meshed so perfectly and my DTS has already become such a tightly knit family. On Monday and Tuesday night we shared our testimonies as a DTS; some were funny, some were depressing, some were uneventful, some were just plane crazy. All of which showed the faithfulness of God. The testimonies were a really great opportunity for my DTS to become closer and grow as a family.

Prayer: I am still in the process of raising money for my outreach and our down deposit is due in 2 weeks from today. Please be praying that the Lord would provide that money.

Here I Am.

I arrived in Hawaii yesterday at 5 o'clock and to a hustle and bustle of registration, room assignments, meeting roommates, not eating dinner, loosing my bag, finding my bag and catching a lizard all before my bed time at 8. My 4 roommates have been wonderful and I cannot express how thankful I am that they are totally and completely normal people: Chrystina, Mariella, Jiso and Barbara.

But my adventure started long before I arrived in Kona. On my flight to Honolulu, the woman sitting next to me shared her life story excluding no details. Showing me the powerful hand of God through everything she had been through in her rather chaotic life and encouraging me not to "screw up this time in my life." We parted ways with this last word, "Honey, God is good. And you are a woman of His choosing. Don't screw that up."

Then I met a couple YWAMer's in the airport at Honolulu and we traveled together over to Kona. We got our bags and loaded into a van that took us to the University of the Nations- Youth With A Mission campus. Y'all, it's not what I had in my mind at all. It's 37x better. It's huge! With green trees everywhere. I met my DTS leader who is a precious expecting mother to be from Norway. The rest of the night was uneventful but did end is a total jam sesh with my roommates to Justin Bieber.

Our day today includes meeting with our whole DTS. My leaders said that it is an emotional time because there is always an instant feel of family community between the students.

Prayer requests would be that I am not getting sick! I woke up with some congestion and a headache so please pray that that goes away.

A Prayerful Heart

It's hard to believe that my senior years has come and gone and that the road set before me is cluttered with signs pointing me towards a place to continue the monotony of our modern educational system for 4 more years. I say: no thank-you. I choose a less traveled path. One that is paved with adventure, the unknown, thrills and hopefully a giraffe. So as I mentally and physically prepare myself for what lies ahead, I bow my head in solemn prayer. Prayer for strength to face every obstacle that is set in my path, mental agility to overcome whatever rock Satan plans to set in place to make my foot stumble, and an open heart and mind to hear exactly what the Lord is going to teach me. My time away from my roots may be leisurely or strenuous so in turn I pray that I will be equipped with the full armor of God.