The Game by YWAM Denver's VIS

This video, The Game, was the final project for the YWAM Video Impact School.  They were a fun school and it was a pleasure to join them for their final project.

Leadership Has Many Dynamics

Theme Bowling!

In SOMD we have small groups.  Theme Bowling was just one of the ways that we are getting to know and build wonderful relationships with the people in our school as each small group dressed up differently.  This was a really fun night for us.  I put a video together so that you can be apart of the fall fun!

This life is not what holds the treasure but we are designed to hunt for eternal treasure in this life

A desire for unity coupled with boldness in the midst of learning... Please note that these are some of my thoughts. I have much to learn. Just when I begin to pray into one area, God begins to open my eyes to see the area differently and in more light. This was an assignment, I pursued it with passion and am somewhat bold in a few comments that I make. Thank you for watching and being apart of how God is speaking to me during this season of my life. I also would like to pass the challenge along to you that I offered to our class in closing my speech: "Pray that people from every denomination and building would agree in Jesus name. Unity through prayer will shake the foundations of the earth to its core allowing the stability of the Kingdom to invade."

At one point I quote a gentleman who I greatly respect, Graham Cooke from his video DTS Lecture Phase - Oxford, New Zealand by saying "We are to be and raise-up world changers, not tour guides. A church building should represent a mission station, not a museum. We are to be missionaries, not club members." I encourage you to check out this video.

Home Sweet Home

Summer behind, fall ahead and yet God presses it on our hearts to “be here now”. This month has been a wonderful month. I returned from Denver with my family after a great week of debriefing with our team. After a long drive from Denver to Clovis my parents explained to me why we need to quickly run by our dear friend’s house so I agreed… I was excited to see them I was just tired after a very long five months. I don’t know what would have happened if I would have said I would rather go home because once we pulled into our friend’s drive way I saw a huge sign that read “Welcome Home!” I had a surprise coming home party! It was super sweet and I shared with friends and family the amazing testimonies of what God did in and through my life and the lives of my team members. It was a sweet time of fellowship. Needless to say I slept very well IN MY BED (with no spiders!) that night. It was a blessing to be home. Not sure about what to do next, asking God what direction I should head in, within a matter of days He confirmed to me in various ways that I was to return September 27th to Denver to attend another school through YWAM, School of Ministry Development. My family had a vacation and time of rest planned for our family after I had been home for about 5 days so we hit the road and relaxed for 10 days in good ol’ Texas. It was so good to be with my sweet family and get to catch up with them and enjoy their presence. After we returned from relaxing in Texas I worked at my church in the youth ministry department to assist the youth pastor for a couple of weeks. It was a really neat experience that I enjoyed very much. God promises He will provide and He does in ways I never see coming! Not only was working at my church a great experience but it gave me a source of income for a couple of weeks before coming back to Denver. Also, this month I had a huge treat by being able to have a girl that was on my team come to Clovis to stay for a month. She had been praying for direction and felt God was calling her back to another school through YWAM this fall as well. Her name is Anna and she is from New Zealand. We had a super time together getting to rest and discuss the life changing experiences we both had over the last 5 months. I am very thankful for Anna and her friendship is very dear to me. God is good. He loves to put us in situations where we can get to know Him better, I see His fingerprints all over Anna and His light through her daily life. It has been refreshing to have many conversations together about life. Well September 27th came so fast! I loved on my family and said goodbyes, Anna and I packed up the car and then said, “Denver, here we come!”

Last (seventh) stop - Mexico City, Mexico

¡mi abuela!

Last stop!  We were very excited to arrive in Mexico City because we partnered with a YWAM initiative called Mega-Cities.  Mega-Cities is a vision that was set in place with the goal to see whole cities turn to Christ.  They divided the city into 32 regions, and their aim is to saturate every area of the city by bringing team after team to partner and encourage local churches in evangelism and discipleship.  We were a part of the third wave of teams to minister in the city.  We were assigned to the region of Iztapalapa. This was the largest region in the city with 1.8 million people.  It was also known as one of the most dangerous and heavily influenced by Catholicism.  Within Iztapalapa, we linked arms with an incredible host church whose name in English is translated "The Fresh Anointing." We began our first couple of days by praying and seeking God’s heart.  One day we felt we were to go to the top of a near by mountain that was near the church, the mountain overlooked Iztapalapa.  We prayed and were led to read and declare Isaiah 40-66 over the city.  The pastor of the church was very encouraged and excited after 40 of us went up the mountain to pray and declare this portion of scripture together in Spanish and English. It was a powerful time that God used to bring His glory to Iztapalapa and to the local church that we had partnered with.  The pastor shared that in July they had received a word that in August they would receive their vision as a church.  He excitedly shared that he felt that through us that morning God had given them a piece of the puzzle!  How cool!  Another really amazing thing is how God was blessing our relationships, we had not been there very long but we built stong friendships.  The ladies of the church invited the girls in our team to attend a baby shower on a Saturday night and that same night the guys in our team and some of the guys in the church hung out and went into town to see a movie.  The baby shower was nothing like what we would picture a baby shower to be, you know... show up, bring a gift and/or food, socialize... something along those lines.  Well this was a 4 hour baby shower that consist of food, games (so many fun games!), gifts, and even a declaration that Jesus is Lord!  Seven people accepted Jesus into their heart that night when the the mother and husband who were going to have a precious baby stood and shared their testimony.  It was powerful!  I have never been to a baby shower like it but it blessed and encouraged all of us girls to be apart of this celebration on earth and in heaven.  Our quick stay in Mexico was wonderful. God is worthy of our trust and faith in that He will achieve great things for His Kingdom.

I am eating a cricket covered in chile!

Sixth stop - Port au Prince, Haiti

At an school in the mountains

Whew!  Well we made it through another long leg of our journey via bus, train, metro, plane, and limousine. Our flight from Barcelona had to make an unscheduled stop in Nova Scotia, Canada to refuel and empty the bathrooms. This stop caused us to miss our connecting flight to Miami.  It ended up being a bit of a hassle to rebook our flight from Newark, New Jersey to Miami so that we would not miss our flight to Haiti early the next morning. We ended up being split into two groups and put on different flights.  The group I wound up in was the group that flew into the closest airport to Miami that we could being West Palm Beach and compliments to the airline we were shuttled by limousine from West Palm Beach to Miami.  It was quite the 3 day adventure! Once arriving into Port-au-Prince we worked and stayed with an organization called ACTS World Relief.  They kept us very busy!  Within the first couple days, we led 3 church services, 2 open air programs, and visited a local hospital that had been a major relief to the disaster that happened earlier this year.  We did many different types of ministry—working in children’s homes with children who had HIV, AIDS, and scabies.  We held a service and prayer walk at a refugee camp.  We woke up many nights because we could hear people practicing voodoo nearby.  We prayed against this fervently.  One of the open air services was at a tent campus that had also been established for the disaster relief.  We had close to 300 people watching. The response was incredible!  As we neared the end of our drama, “Forgiveness,” the crowd was chanting to see the drama again.  There is a part of the drama where Jesus is victorious in a fight against sin and what it does to His children.  The crowd cheered, and God’s majesty was shining bright!  Later that same week, we went to a seaside village where we led a church service.  When we first walked into the church there was such a heavy spirit. The word that was on our hearts for them was that He wanted to turn their heavy hearts into hearts overflowing with joy.  We started off with worship and puppets, and as we began to praise and declare truth, the atmosphere changed.  It went from somber people with heavy hearts to people standing up, dancing, and singing!  The pastor was so uplifted that he encouraged us by saying we were apostles and that this church would never be the same.  Later in the week, he called ACTS World Relief to personally thank them for sending our team.  ACTS World Relief later told us that was the first time they had ever had a pastor call to thank them.  Isn’t God good!  His favor is abundant!  His joy is radiant!  We all learned an important lesson that day because we woke up very early that morning to go on a bumpy ride to the church with 17 of us crammed into a little pickup truck for an hour.  Many of us were very tired and tempted to coast through what seemed to be just another church service, but in unity, our team chose the moment and asked God to bring His Kingdom into that little church by the beach.  Jesus tenderly met His beautiful Bride who turned from sorrow to joy that day!  Also, during our stay in Haiti we traveled about 2 hours to a village in the mountains.  We stayed at a school that was not in session at the time so we planned different activities for the children near by and prayed over many families and their homes much like we did in Uganda. We stayed at the school for a couple of days, our stay there was wonderful.  We had the opportunity to pray with and encourage the man who is running the school.  I learned that there are huge spiders in the mountains...  I slept for about an hour the first night and the second night I was so tired that at about 2 am I figured out that I could use my earring to pin my bug-net to the sheet that was covering the table I was sleeping on.  After I had looked over the job I had done thoroughly and made sure the earring were secure, I decided to use my blanket to lay around the corners to make sure there was NO SPACE at all for anything... any spider to squeeze through.  The mountains were beautiful but I was thankful when the day came when we traveled down the mountains back to ACTS World Relief where we continued the rest of our stay in Haiti. There is still suffering from the destruction caused by the earthquake earlier this year, please pray for Haiti because the damage goes beneath what the eye can see; it’s rooted in hearts of many of the people.  God is joy.

A camp the Dominican Republic set up for earthquake relief

Fifth stop - Cevennes, France

Roman aqueduct in Pont du Gard, France

“To believe God is who He says He is and we are who He says we are.”  That was a theme that resurfaced repeatedly through our time in Cevennes.  We stayed in a farm house that is being used as a temporary YWAM base.  We received teaching from a man with great authority on spiritual warfare.  God spoke strongly to our hearts as we received this teaching to prepare us for the rest of our adventure around the world.  Aside from hearty teaching, we went into the streets and cafes to allow the Kingdom of God to shine through us as we were learning to naturally walk in His Spirit.  We spent a couple of evenings with a family of gypsies.  One evening we invited them over to the house to have a barbecue, swim, and play games.  For the little ones, we blew up balloons that you can shape into animals.  We used a light and fun evening as an opportunity to instill value to a group that is so marginalized.  We said goodbye to France and traveled to Spain where we spent the day before our flight the next day. Barcelona, Spain was awesome.  We walked around the city and soaked up the vibrant culture and its beauty.  We tried to get a good night sleep before we woke up very early as we prepared to travel to Haiti, believing God was going to do great things though us—that He is who He says He is and that we are who He says we are.

Fourth stop - Jinja, Uganda

A sweet lady that we were honored to pray with...

Rich soil, heavy hearts, and yet overwhelming amounts of hope was the face of Uganda that quickly greeted us.  We stayed at YWAM Hopeland outside of Jinja which is a 77 acre farm surrounded by small villages.  Our ministry there was full of time spent walking to homes within these small villages and praying for families and their households.  One day we had the opportunity to serve the YWAM base by cleaning up around the base by picking up trash and mopping floors.  Women of Hope is a group of women who agree that there is hope in Jesus.  They come together every week to encourage, pray, and worship together.  This group is mostly made up of widows and single mothers from the surrounding villages who have become victims of HIV and AIDS.  A day I will never forget was when the guys on our team went into Jinja to a prison to minister to men on death row while the girls on our team stayed back at the base to spend time with the Women of Hope.  This day was so special because we began the day by praying with the women.  While praying, one of the girls on our team felt that God wanted us to wash all of the ladies feet.  So we prayed about it as a group and became very excited for what God was going to do through this time.  We not only had the privilege and honor to wash the feet of about 45 women but we also prayed over each woman as her feet were being washed.  We even gave them the option of having their toenails painted!  It was a beautiful day as many tears had been shed because of raw love.  Uganda blessed our hearts and God continued to show us His favor as we sought Him day after day.

Love your neighbor as yourself.  Love.

This afternoon we re-mudded a sweet family's house

Third stop - Durban, South Africa

My sweet little friend

We flew from Seoul, South Korea to Hong Kong, China. We had a 12 hour layover so we spent the day in Hong Kong and it worked out to where we could go out into the city instead of having to stay in the airport. It was an interesting city but a valuable experience to know that I have step foot in China. From Hong Kong, China we few into Johannesburg, South Africa where we got on a bus to ride 6 hours to Durban, South Africa where we would be staying at the YWAM base. It was winter there so the weather was colder than what we were used to but it was near the beach and it was the warmest place to be for the 2010 world cup. Durban is a beautiful beach city with over 3 million people. Oh my goodness... "FIFA 2010 Soccer World Cup, here we are!" We were pumped and so excited for the opportunity to be a city on a hill in the midst of people who represented different nations, cultures, and traditions from all over the world. A big part of our ministry was evangelism around the soccer stadium and beachside. There was an afternoon we spent praying, asking God how He wanted us to reach out to people. We had the idea to write “free prayer” on pieces of cardboard and stand in different areas. We had a huge response from people who flooded the sidewalks coming or going from a game or to other areas on the beach. What a simple way to reach out, and God used it in a huge way. While in South Africa, we also spent a few days at a day care that was run by a Christian couple. Many of the children who came were from local villages that had a difficult home life, and many of them had HIV. Also, another facet of ministry was working on the streets at night praying for prostitutes who were taking advantage of the fact the World Cup was in full swing. Please pray for Nancy, she was a prostitute that we prayed for that God had brought across our path. We were thankful for the fresh ways God continued to use us on this leg of our journey.

"YWAM" outside of the Soccer World Cup Stadium

Second stop - Seoul, South Korea

Korean High School

We arrived in Seoul, South Korea late on a Friday night. We had traveled a lot that day so we were exhausted, but we were warmly greeted by students from the Christian Korean High School where later in the week we would be leading an English camp. The students that attend this high school live at the high school Monday through Friday. So when we got there everyone in our team was assigned a room with 3 students. It was a great way for us to get to know them and start building relationships with them. We slept well Friday night and Saturday morning we got settled in a bit more and then met together as a team before we went home with a student for the weekend. That was an awesome experience for all of us. Each person on our team went home for the weekend with a student from the school. We stayed in their homes and spent time with them and their families. They were thrilled to have us. My home-stay student’s English name was Esther. She was wonderful and a joy to spend the weekend with. Her family did not speak any English, but Esther spoke pretty good English. I was very relieved that she and I could carry on a conversation. We did some fun things that weekend, like eating silkworms (mmm-mmm, let me tell ya!), seeing a Korean fresh food market, and riding in a boat on a lake with swans. After arriving back at the high school after the weekend, our team was excited to see one another and prepare for the week. We began the week with a worship service and orientation time. It was heavy on our hearts to be praying that this would be a week that the students will not forget because our heart was that it will be a week that they had a divine encounter with the Living God. Only 30% of all of the students are Christians, and we have been given complete freedom to share and lead them into His sweet presence. Each of us was assigned to teach a class in English for the next three days (14, 50 minute classes with a homeroom class in the mornings). It was really neat to get to do this. I had a precious homeroom class that made beginning the day quite pleasant as I led them in a short devotion time to get our day started. The class that I was assigned to teach was Writing 1. I was a bit nervous about teaching the class because I’ve never taught a classroom of students before but after a couple of periods on the first day, I had a good routine that was working smoothly for me and for the students. I used the time that I had with them to challenge them to see how God and His glory are in everything and to be creative so that they could begin to appreciate writing. I grew attached to my students, and after the days there were over and it was time to leave the high school and go into Seoul, I was very sad to say goodbye. This week’s highlight was us getting to share the gospel through our dramas and testimonies to the entire student body. Around 20 students met Jesus for the first time plus there were many others who thanked us for changing the way they viewed God and that they now understand that it is possible to have a loving relationship with Him. After leaving the high school, we traveled to another part of Seoul where we would complete our stay in South Korea at the YWAM base and receive a week of teaching about missions. Our stay at the YWAM base was great; the teaching was refreshing and encouraging. Because the base was a small base we were able to share close quarters and get to bond more as a team. South Korea was a wonderful experience as we saw God at work overseas and in hearts that are hungry for Him.

First stop - San Francisco, California

We arrived in beautiful San Francisco ready to share Jesus’ love with everyone! This was our first stop on outreach. The first night was really exciting, we had an impromptu worship time where we spent time praying over each other and hearing God’s voice as He was preparing us to go all over the world and preach the gospel. After that first night, our team really opened up to one another so that the rest of our time in California could be spent getting to know each other better as a team and working through struggles that some of us were going through. We had our first ministry time at a sweet church on a Sunday evening. We opened in worship (our team was so blessed to have quite a few musicians), did dramas, shared a couple of testimonies, and ended by opening up the front if anyone would like prayer or would like to accept Jesus into their heart and life. God was speaking to peoples’ hearts as many came up for prayer, and God used us to intercede for all kinds of situations in their lives. Later that week we attended a youth group on a Wednesday night. We showed a video that was made by YWAM titled “Jesus Freaks.” After the video we encouraged students to come up and pray with us and talk to us about what might being going on in their lives. It was a really awesome night for me because I was able to pray with two girls that were crying. After talking and praying with them, I also prayed for their father and younger sister who had come to pick them up at youth group. We spent one whole day being homeless in downtown San Francisco where we had no money, only one slice of bread and one bottle of water for each person. We split into small groups and began to make our way throughout the city. We would walk and pray, asking God what His heart was for the area we were in and for people that we saw. There were times we felt led to go up to someone and talk to them and ask if they would like prayer for anything going on in their lives, we encouraged them, and shared verses with them. This was an important day as we practiced hearing God’s voice while we prayed specific things for people. It was a really cool just to see how God works when we are willing to be used by Him even in the simplest ways. We were nearing the end of our stay in California before heading over to South Korea and there was an evening when we were gathered up as a team and were debriefing about ministry times, praising God and thanking Him for the ways He was beginning to use us. It was during this time that Jacob, our team leader, shared something really special with us. He said that he had been praying for our team before he even met us and that the word God gave him for our team was “power.” He shared that God was going to use us in very powerful ways over the next few months. So at that point, we began to watch as God began to sew power into each ministry time, each day that we sought Him with all of our heart, all of our mind, and all of our soul. Our time in California was very much about God meeting us and preparing us for His Kingdom.

Back in Denver for debrief week!

ATW Update Video

Hello from Uganda!  My goodness how time goes by so fast!

Here is a video that we made while in Uganda. You can watch it and see what we have been up to and what God has been doing!



Unfortunately, I do not have a computer with me, so I have been borrowing one from a team member. This is why I have not been posting regular blogs.  Once I am back, I will write a blog for each location.  God is so good and is worthy of our praise! I love you dear brothers and sisters in Jesus' name!

Stand Firm Beloved

Hello friends and family, partners in faith as Paul would say!

This will be the last BIG blog that I will leave you until I return from outreach.  I hadn't realized how much time had gone by since my last blog so what I have done below is a glimpse of what we have been learning in lecture phase.  Now I will keep you updated as my team and I are on outreach.

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LECTURE PHASE:

I mentioned in a past blog Loren Cunningham's book that we read the first couple of weeks we were here. In addition to that book we have read four other books. For each book we read we have to submit a written or an oral report. It’s good for us and I have really enjoyed the five books that I have read.

“Hearing God is not all that difficult. If we know the Lord, we have already heard His voice—after all, it was the inner leading that brought us to Him in the first place. But we can hear His voice once and still miss His best if we don’t keep on listening. After the what of guidance come the when and the how.” 
Is That Really You, God? By Loren Cunningham

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We have had an amazing lecture phase with amazing speakers that we have very much enjoyed after our first week here which was bonding week. I have gathered up pieces of what we have been learning in class to share a with you.

Note: I have a lot of quotes from Blake Mattocks in an earlier post.

“Passion is a collision of mind and heart.” “Infatuation involves emotion without substance. We are more infatuated with God than we are in love with Him.”

-Notes from week 3, Jeff Pratt on Father Heart of God

“Our culture tells us not to be zealous but there is a great reward for those who are willing to walk where others are not.” “You never know how the effect of your obedience.” “Truth without love is harshness and condemnation, love without truth is compromise.” “CONDEMNATION is general, CONVICTION is specific.”

-Notes from week 4, Mark Davies on Fear of the Lord

“Every decision you make from now until you die will either be a loving decision or a selfish decision.” “Waiting is an action. Be proactive when waiting to enter into marriage, be preparing and developing yourself so you have much to offer your spouse.” “Corporate humility brings unity.” “The world shows us how to attract many men and God shows us how to attract one man.”

-Notes from week 5, Jeremy and Keeley Lange on Relationships

“The more you trust God the more He will flow through you, the best gift is the one needed at the time.” “Orphans are afraid to ask questions, a loved child is not afraid to ask questions. Come to the throne of grace with confidence.” “God is not looking for ability, He is looking for availability.” “Healing happens when God empowers us to forgive.”

-Notes from week 6, JR Pohlemus on Holy Spirit

“The Kingdom is like a country. If we are disciples we live in the Kingdom and bring it to earth. If you’re living in the Kingdom then people don’t ask what we believe, they ask what life is like there.”

-Notes from week 7, Dean Sherman on Spiritual Warfare

"We examined beauty, truth and goodness, identified them as reflections of the Trinitarian God,  surveyed a few of the ways these absolutes are under attack, and reminded ourselves that the Father of Jesus will not be satisfied until every lost glory of His Kingdom is restored." (I packed my notes so I pulled this from his website because it so accurately shows you what we studied in class.)

-Notes from week 8, Don Stephens on Worldview and Kingdom of God
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OUTREACH:

Now is time for us to go into the outreach phase of DTS.  I have the dates, leaving, and arriving information:

May 29 - Denver, Colorado to Oakland, California

June 3 - San Francisco, CA to Tokyo, Japan (June 4)

June 4 - Tokyo, Japan to Seoul, South Korea

June 13 - Seoul, South Korea to Hong Kong, China

June 13 - Hong Kong, China to Johannesburg, South Africa

June 30 - Johannesburg, South Africa to Entebbe, Uganda

July 11 - Entebbe, Uganda to Cairo, Egypt

July 11 - Cairo, Egypt to Paris, France

July 22 - Barcelona, Spain to Newark, New Jersey
July 22 - Newark, New Jersey to Miami, Florida

July 23 - Miami, Florida to Port au Prince, Haiti

August 4 - San Domingo, Dominican Republic to Mexico City, Mexico

August 15 - Mexico City, Mexico to Denver, Colorado

Some of many goals we have:

-Teaching English

-Humanitarian Aid

-Drama Presentations

-Work Projects

-Children's Ministry

-Prayer Walk

-Street Evangelism

-Discipleship in basic Christian Principles

-Preaching and Teaching in Schools, Churches, etc. 

-Loving people who maybe for the first time experiencing Christ's love

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PRAYER REQUESTS:

-Safety as we travel.  That our baggage would not get misplaced at any point.

-That each of our eyes and hearts will be open to divine interventions God has in store for us along the way.

-Our openness to God’s strength and not depending on our own strength. For the flow of the Holy Spirit: our sensitivity to God speaking and leading us.

-Binding the enemy of any foot holds with the authority that has been given to us in Jesus.

-For unity throughout our team.  I have felt very strongly when praying even before coming to DTS that our team will be the Body of Christ to people who have never seen the Body of Christ, we will be light to people who have not yet seen light.

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MY HEART:

Please continue to pray. I hit a wall of Spiritual warfare at one point over the last few weeks and it was tough. It is cool though, if I look at it the way I am training myself to look at it, I'm being attacked! Rejoice! I'm bringing the heavenly realms of light to this dark pit where the enemy makes his home and breeding ground. I am overwhelmingly thankful for joy that comes from the Lord, like silver it is when dry and discouraged. I am thankful for strength that is like gold, I can do ALL THINGS through Christ who gives me strength. I can get up in the morning and take every thought captive in Jesus' name because that is where the play ground or battle ground is, it’s in the mind. Satan has come to KILL, STEAL, and DESTROY. We are doing battle against such things. These things surround us and affect us DAILY. Again, that brings me back to how thankful I am for the strength that God breathes into us every second of the day when we trust in Him no matter the circumstances. Our inheritance is far greater than rubies; it is a life of peace, joy, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control, when our Father is who we rest in. Everything is a choice, every sin begins with a thought, and everyone, everywhere is in the battle of Spiritual warfare...let’s fight for our inheritance! Let's fight for the Light who brings eternal life!

Uniting with you in prayer and faith,

Jessica

“We are to come to the throne of grace with confidence. God does not want less of us. We are Christ’s bride. If a bride came to her groom on the wedding night and said, ‘“less of me, less of me, less of me,”’ the groom would be very disappointed saying, “I don’t want less of you, I want ALL of you my beloved.” 
Dean Sherman

Beloved, you are the bride of Christ… Unselfishly give ALL of yourself to the Lover of your soul for the furthering of the Kingdom, for the Lover of your soul is also the King of kings.

World Changers and Kingdom Shapers

Hello fellow World Changers and Kingdom Shapers!

The Multi-Cultural Discipleship Training School
(Chile team & ATW team)

The first morning we were all here was Tuesday morning (April 5th). It was a good day. I spent time getting settled in and organizing in my dorm area. The staff served us breakfast which was wonderful. Because there are so many Koreans here for the Spring Multi-Cultural DTS we had sushi served in a way that was much like California Rolls only with sushi. We also had tofu. I committed to not only coming but my prayer is that God would push me and challenge me in areas I’ve never been before (even the little things) so I tried the tofu with a Korean sauce (the sauce was much like a saltier soy sauce) and I had two sushi California rolls. It was better than I expected I must say. I wouldn’t eat tofu for fun but it was good to try it. I have yet to explain to you what groups are here. There's the around the world team and the spring team that will be doing their outreach in Chile, both teams make up the Multi-Cultural DTS, and there is a Phase II (School of Ministry Development) going on. Phase II is a secondary school you can go through after graduating from DTS. After completing Phase II you can come go on staff at any of the 1,100 YWAM bases all over the world. So we have a variety of people and cultures represented here. The Multi-Cultural DTS in mostly made up of Korean students, so all of our sessions and announcements are translated in Korean which is really neat. There are about a hundred people here with the three groups and YWAM Denver staff.

Life here throughout the week is very good yet busy with community living (getting to know everyone better), sessions, homework, intersession, worship, outreach preparation, small groups, meals, work duties (kitchen clean-up and house-keeping for me), and community outreach. The meals here are absolutely amazing I must say! Something else exciting which is also part of our homework, we are all reading a book titled Is That Really You, God? The author is the founder of YWAM, Loren Cunningham. It is an amazing book that has challenged me to listen to the voice of God and be ready for Him to speak and reveal Himself and His plan more and more.

The weekends are a very nice time of rest. Sunday (April 11th) we went to Faith Bible Chapel which is the church that is close by the base. There are 22 churches that have come together in the Arvada area and decided that they are all going to unite and teach a three week series on How to Love Your Neighbor and FBC is one of those churches. It was a very convicting message. We were challenged to take Luke 10:27 seriously (“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.’”). After church a few of us came together and discussed how we felt convicted about truly loving our neighbors so we decided that because the YWAM base is our home for right now we would go to some houses in the neighborhood next to us and just simply say “hello” and introduce ourselves. So there was about 10 of us that circled up on the YWAM base lawn and briefly discussed a plan as to what houses each group would go to (we split into 2 groups). I was with Darren, Ben, Michael T., and Ashton (who celebrated his 19th birthday on Sunday, April 11th, Happy Birthday Ashton!). We walked down the first street and before going to the first house we circled up and prayed that God would bless our time and efforts to meet our neighbors. There were many encouraging people who willingly spoke with us for a brief time as we introduced ourselves explaining that we were from YWAM and we just wanted to meet our neighbors and say hello. Our group changed a little when some had to go back to base and some of us wanted to go on so in the end I walked back to base with Michael T., Michael B., Darren, and Ashton. All in all we made it to about 25 houses. What a sweet afternoon!! So, loving my neighbors is something that will be close to my heart after this beautiful experience. May I pass the challenge to you; there is a mission field right outside your front door (even if you aren’t home).

While out meeting our neighbors Sunday I am so thankful that we met an older couple whose adult children were involved with YWAM, so YWAM was near and dear to their hearts. The wife’s name was Evelyn, her and I decided to go for coffee sometime and she also told me about an elderly widow who lives next door to her and so I think Evelyn and I are going to visit her too. We also met Harold, around 85 years old that visited with our group for a while and was thankful we came by; he shared many wonderful stories about his life with us and also that he likes peanut butter cookies and oatmeal raisin cookies. So, Wednesday Michael T., Michael B., Darren, Ashton, and I took cookies to Harold’s house and spent about 2 hours with him. Harold told us all kinds of neat stories about World War II and back when Arvada, CO was pasture and dairies. He also showed us many pictures of the horses that he trained to compete in horse races! He had the privilege of training absolutely beautiful horses!

Outreach Monday evening. I went with about 10 other students and staff to The Beacon House which is in Denver. Beacon House is a halfway house and every Monday they play an intense and fun game of Bingo to win prizes ranging from shampoo to laundry detergent. It was a great experience and a wonderful time of getting to know each person there (and getting to see their skill and joy for Bingo!).

This whole week our guest speaker is Blake Mattocks. His topic is Character of God. It’s amazing, it’s Biblical and in depth teaching that is challenging but healthy. Meat is being taught here… example… “The goal of Christianity is transformation,” “Courage is the willingness to act out of conviction rather than feeling,” “Courage is choosing conviction over compromise,” "Forgiveness is to bestow a favor unconditionally or to pardon," "Forgiveness brings freedom," "Obedience is mandatory not optional," "God accomplishes His will through your obedience," "Contentment is to be sufficient or adequate, a satisfaction with what one has and where God has you," "Contentment is a learned behavior,"Monsters in the dark are created through imagination, through life and exposure and openness of sin," "Trying is not Biblical, training is Biblical," "Learned truth has to become living truth," …. these are just a few quotes Blake had for us to begin our week with his profound teaching. He is a man of God. I had the honor of having lunch with him, Stacy, and Cat on Monday, he has an awesome perspective of life and it was refreshing to soak that up. Thank you Blake for a God-led week!


Prayer requests:
-For our neighbors that we met.
-That we will all become more unified as the Body of Christ as our school continues.
-Pray I will not be anxious for anything and that I will diligently TRAIN for what God has for me in this moment, for this hour, and for this day.

Thank you all for your prayer and financial support! If it wasn’t for you allowing God to use you to equip disciples to go to all nations then I would not be here witnessing His hand at work in my life and in everyone at YWAM Denver’s lives. This is exactly where God wants me and I am overflowing with joy because of it. I thank you with all my heart.

God gave this verse to me during our Monday morning worship session and I felt lead to share it with everyone. Just as it brought me encouragement, I hope it brings you encouragement,

“Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.”

Romans 5:2

Itinerary

Wow! Here I am in my hotel room about to go down and eat breakfast before driving to YWAM’s Denver Base where I will sign in alongside my around the world team members to begin our DTS.

First I want to update everyone: When I sent out my YWAM newsletters and I thought that the itinerary that I included was correct but that was for YWAM ATW 2009. Our itinerary is quite different but just as wonderful. I am so excited about it!

Denver (2 months)
San Francisco, CA
Seoul, South Korea
Durban, South Africa (during the World Cup)
Jinja, Uganda
Cevennes, France
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Mexico City, Mexico

So that is what the itinerary for YWAM ATW 2010 looks like. I will keep this blogspot updated as much as our travel and time will allow. My goal is to blog at least once a month and hopefully twice a month.

I have been reading Acts to prepare for this trip and training in Denver, CO. God laid it on my heart that our team will be the body of Christ to many people who have not witnessed the love and kindness of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

God is going to do amazing things while we are at YWAM Denver base where we will all be in training the next couple of months. And because God will be moving and working in many ways, the enemy would like nothing more than to kill, steal, and destroy our unity and the joy that we have in Christ. Please continue to lift YWAM Denver Base up in prayer.

I am very excited because next time I write you, I will have met each member of the YWAM ATW DTS 2010 team!!

Cheerful Willingness

Hello Everyone!
This is going to be a neat place that you can visit and see the beautiful picture that I hope to paint for you of how God is moving and working in and through my life as I begin this journey. I am so thankful to each of you for your love and your prayers as I prepare to travel to Denver, Colorado in 19 days. Thank you for your support and I will talk to you again very soon.

Prayer requests:
-There are 15 around the world team members! We have all been getting to know each other on a facebook page that was created for us. Pray for each one of us; that God would be preparing each of our hearts to be open and sensitive to Him. Also, many of us have not been away from home for this amount of time, please pray that God will give us peace. If you would like to pray for each of us by name: Andrew (California), Anna (New Zealand), Ashton (Canada), Benjamin (Wisconsin), Catharina (Holland), Carmen (Washington/Colorado), Darren (Canada), Garrett (Kansas), Ji Yeoi (South Korea), Michael (Oklahoma), Sam (Canada), Sara (Florida), Tabea (Switzerland), and Jacob (California/Colorado) who is our around the world leader.
-Other programs going on at YWAM Denver's Base: The Multi-Cultural DTS and all of the students in that program. Also, a Phase II and all of the students in that program.
-The Staff at YWAM Denver. God is going to be doing amazing things through them as they minister to us and with us. Pray that God will give them rest as they prepare for this next season.



"Change without transformation is intolerable. Staying the same is not an option. Our function comes out of our relationships, first with our Father, second with each other. We have decided to be Holy Spirit-filled, Holy Spirit-lead, Holy Spirit-empowered. Anything less does not work for us."
Graham Cooke