Sawatdee Ka!

I'm in Thailand, but running out of time at the internet cafe! Just wanted to let you all know I made it to destination number one!!!

Hopefully I'll have time to give a better update soon!

HAPPY DECEMBER!

HEY, EVERYBODY!


Happy Thanksgiving and Merry almost Christmas! This holiday season is definitely shaping up to be one very out of the norm for me. We had our Thanksgiving meal last Wednesday evening, passed out food to the homeless on Thursday morning, and spent the rest of the weekend on the beach and having crazy adventures around the island of Maui! I can't wait to see what's in store for Christmas in Asia! :)


This will probably be my last update for awhile. It's been pretty busy the past few weeks and we are only down to DAYS left here in Maui (about 5 1/2)! Here's a quick update on what's been going on since I last updated:


The week following my last update was about the Holy Spirit. It was a very interesting week, to say the least. To sum it up, the Holy Spirit definitely moved among us and did a lot of cool things, including confirming to me, yet again, my next step in life: becoming a counselor. God never lets us wonder when it comes to following His will!


Following that, we had a week about current issues in ministry which focused on postmodernism and the Emergent Church. This week was SO interesting because I never knew much about postmodernism and had never even heard of the Emergent Church. It was very eye-opening to some experiences and ways of thinking I'd come across while in college. For those of you who haven't heard of it, I would encourage you to look into it. It is quite scary because we learned how postmodern ideas (mainly the relativism that is so prevalent in our culture) have infiltrated the church. On the surface, the Emergent Church seems great (focusing on social justice and doing good to others), but in so many ways they have lost focus of Jesus and what the Bible says about truly godly living. If you want to know more about it, I'd love to share more, but it might not be until I get back from outreach!!!


This week, we've had a speaker, Ron Carlson, speaking about different world religions and cults. We've gone through Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormonism, Hinduism and Buddhism; we will be learning about Islam tomorrow. For our Monday evening lecture, Dr. Carlson spoke about Evolution. Coming from my biology background, it was definitely an interesting lecture to hear after four years of hearing about it from a secular standpoint.

Thank you to those of you who have been praying for me! For those of you who have heard about me being sick, I wanted to let you know that I went to the clinic today and they told me I only have a cold! This is good news considering one of the girls in my school has recently been diagnosed with mono. She's doing pretty well, but your prayers for her (Tara) would be greatly appreciated. As of now, it's looking like she'll still be going on outreach! In a somewhat related note, one of our team members will be going home instead of coming on outreach with us. Through various circumstances, she feels this is where the Lord is calling her at this point in her life. It's hard for her and all of our team, but it is clear that the Lord has the BEST in mind for her. Keep her (Brittany) in your prayers as well, especially because she has some pretty major, pre-existing health conditions.

I just wanted to leave you all with some passages the Lord has placed on my outreach team's hearts:

*"Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." - John 14:27
*He is like a tree planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. - Psalm 1:3

Identified and Baptized

You're in for a treat with this post: words AND pictures :)

Last week, our lecture topic was "Identity in Christ." Our speaker, Jed, was another friend and pastor of our school leaders. He began with speaking about our false-self (how it comes about and our need to surrender it). It was a good lesson in conjunction with what we'd learned during New Hearts week and some of Leadership week. The rest of the week, Jed spoke about seven critical moments in Jesus' life and how they relate to ours (birth, baptism, temptation, transfiguration, death, resurrection, ascension) and common misconceptions of who Jesus really was and is as well as how to shed light on those misconceptions. The week was full of awesome insight and information, too much for me to take in in one week. Finding my true identity in Christ and what He has done has been a challenge for me over the years. I know that I will need to take a lot of time to think about the information that was given to us so that the reality and truth of my identity in Him can be revealed. Please pray for me as I walk this out!

On Thursday of last week, we had a time for baptisms. Over half of my team got baptized; it was such a blessing to be a part of their public declaration of faith in Jesus!

On a fun sidenote, there was a man from one of the churches our base attends who wanted to bless us. He invited us onto his sailboat for the afternoon yesterday (Sunday). It was so beautiful and relaxing...and DEFINITELY a blessing!

(1. The boat; 2. My friends Amber and Alyssa with me on the boat...sailing!)

So, it was a pretty awesome week. This week is Holy Spirit Week where we'll be learning a lot about the Holy Spirit...uh...yeah, I'm sure you could have figured that one out. Our speaker, Amy, shared her story with us during this morning's lecture time. She has quite an amazing story of many things the Lord delivered her from and I'm excited to hear more from her tonight as well as the rest of this week.

As an update on outreach stuff, we'll be leaving in about 3 weeks for our training time in Thailand. We will be there for about a week (give or take a few days...) and then our teams will split up from there. It's really exciting that it's coming up quickly, but it still doesn't seem real! In terms of needs, God is totally providing and I only need about $100 more towards outreach funds! However, there are some people on my team who still have a great need. Please pray that God would continue to provide for EVERYONE's needs here (for all those in need).

Keep checking in and thanks for all of your support!!! God bless, ya'll ;)

Follow the Leader

Last week, our lecture topic was "Leadership." The speaker was Matt Mitchell, a pastor and friend of our base leaders (my outreach leaders). It was an awesome week through which many of us were able to see areas of our lives in which we were called to lead. The week began with us making a timeline of our lives with significant events, people, circumstances, etc., as well as lessons we learned from those things. We also did an activity to determine our personal core values (characteristics and behaviors that were important to us). Through these things, we were able to create a personal vision statement. All this was just within the first couple of lectures! For me, this was so important to understand where I was at in my life and how I had gotten to this place. All of the circumstances throughout my life had shaped a lot of my values and what I feel called to do with my life. To put it all in perspective and see that God had brought me through so many things with a greater purpose in mind was challenging. We moved on to discussing various aspects of leadership for the rest of the week (i.e. servant leadership, the ultimate example of leadership, what it looks like to lead, different aspects/capacities in which one can lead). By the end of the week, I felt challenged and had a lot to consider. It was definitely a very thought-provoking, insightful week.

Along those lines, I feel I've been learning so much and there's been tons of information poured into my little head every week. I know I'll be probably be processing many of the lectures for many more weeks to come and even when I get back from this crazy adventure. Every week has been so amazing and definitely touches a different aspect my life each time.

Sidenote: I just wanted to share this song with you. It's really been touching my life and helping me realize that there's so much more to my life than me (and what I want for my own life).

Here I Am by Downhere
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JH1iYDWN3Ic)

Sometimes Your calling, comes in dream
Sometimes it comes in the Spirit's breeze
You reach for the deepest hope in me
And call out for the things of eternity

But I'm a man, of dust and stains,
You move in me, so I can say

Here I am, Lord send me
All of my life, I make an offering,
Here I am, Lord send me
Somehow my story is a part of Your plan,
Here I am

When setbacks and failures, and upset plans
Test my faith and leave me with empty hands
Are You not the closest when it's hardest to stand
I know that You will finish what You began

And these broken parts You will redeem
Become the song that I can sing

Overwhelmed by the thought of my weakness
And the fear that I'll fail You in the end
In this mess, I'm just one of the pieces,
I can't put this together, but You can

Here I Am, all my life an offering to You, to You
Somehow my story is a part of Your plan
Here I am

PICTURES!

Paia Bay Beach (a.k.a. P-Bay)














Kaanapali Beach
(I jumped off the rock towards the left of the picture...it's called Black Rock and is actually a lot bigger than this picture suggests!)









Baby Beach (calm, beautiful beach)



















Our base cat, Vivianne...she kills rats.

















Most of the girls in our DTS on opening night (and one of our DTS leaders, Nick).

This Crazy, Good Life

Once again, I apologize for the long time between updates. Days are very full and busy around here, but they've been so great. Each day definitely brings something new! Last week, our school did a media fast meaning that we gave up music, movies, laptops, books, magazines...all those kinds of things for the week. It was really cool to see relationships get closer during this time when a lot of the typical distractions were taken away.

Since my last update, we have had two other lectures: New Hearts and Bible Overview. The former dealt with things in the past that had led to unhealthy thought patterns, lies we believed about ourselves and others, and wrong worldviews. There was a lot of forgiveness and freedom that came from that week through all the students, including myself. It was a topic that really opened my eyes to how circumstances and things people say to us can impact us so greatly even if we don't realize it at the time. Bible Overview week was also eye-opening and greatly impacting. The week focused a lot on the Old Testament and how so much of what happened (Covenants, prophesies, etc.) pointed to Jesus and the life He would live. The Bible and its truth came alive to me and it's been AMAZING!

In other news: On Saturday, YWAM Maui put on the first ever "Manny's Moustache Marathon". Most of the guys had grown out their facial hair for the month of October ("Overgrown October"); they shaved, leaving behind their moustaches. So, we ran seven miles, from Haiku to Paia. It was pretty crazy, but a lot of fun. Oh...and I got third place :) It's crazy because I am not much of a runner, nor was I expecting to place. My goal was simply to get through the whole thing! Anyway, still kind of a nice way to end a long race.

About five weeks from now, I'll be heading out to begin the outreach portion of this whole adventure. I'm definitely excited, but it also doesn't really seem like it's actually happening. Because of how busy it always is, I feel like I haven't even had the time to let reality sink in that I'll be going. I wish I could share so much more about outreach, but, again, I'll just have more to share when it's all over! On a related note, God has really been faithful with providing the finances, but I still need the second half of my outreach portion (~$2,000.00). I know it's out there and I know He's making a way. Please be praying that it will come in and that I will remain faithful to Him just as He is faithful to us.

I'll try to update again soon and maybe just have a post with a ton of pictures since there have been a number of requests for those. Keep checking in and thanks for all your prayers! Be blessed!

Oh, relationships!

Sorry it's been so long since I've updated! It's been pretty busy here. Lectures the past couple weeks have been pretty intense: Last week was worldviews and this week is relationships. God's doing a lot of heart changing and mind renewing which means many of us (definitely including me) are pretty drained. (Just wait until next week: "New Hearts"...)

We also have weekly journal assignments which include: 1. An overview of our lecture; 2. teaching outline; 3. Bible study (where we study a book of the Bible); 4. reading report (from the book we read for that week); 5. memory verse; and 6. personal response. This is such a great opportunity to process all that we've been learning in lecture and in our own personal times with God. It takes a lot of time, but it's definitely worth it!

You may have noticed I took down the post about where I am going. Because of the nature of what we'll be doing, we have to be very careful of what we put up on the internet. We're being extra cautious now so that we don't jeopardize our outreach. With that being said, please be careful when posting comments, as well.

On another note, thank you all so much for your continued support of me through prayer. There have been a number of times already that I have felt the effects of your prayers! Recently, I've been really struggling as God is revealing things to me about different aspects of my life and relationships with others. Please continue to keep me in prayer and ask that God would show me HOW I can change what He has showed me needs to change.

Um...yeah...so thank you and keep checking in! :)