So by now I have been in YWAM at Lakeside, Montana for a little over a week. In my DTS group there are a total of 52 students taking this journey with me. Our group ranges with people from all over the U.S. and even from Belgium, Germany, Norway, Cosovo, and the UK! We also have 3 married couples joining us, and one of them has a daughter as well. It has been so exciting and refreshing to see the various cultures, backgrounds, families, all here for the same purpose...to know and serve God better!
The first week consisted of me arriving here in Montana at the YWAM base and getting moved into my dorm living quarters. We began the week with some general classes and lessons on various subjects like: Hearing God's Voice, Relinquishing Your Rights, and The Kingdom of God. Those lessons we absolutely the best way to begin my lecture phase, and prepare me for the work God is wanting to do in me on this journey. At the end of the week, the base held a "Welcome to Montana" night which was basically a big welcome party for all the arriving students! We had barbecued burgers and just got to hang out with each other more and fellowship together as well. As the night was closing, we were able to take part in a square dancing lesson! Overall, that night really kicked off the fun community I know is going to be offered here in Montana.
Also, during this past week, our DTS was given the choices of locations for the various outreach teams being sent off for the outreach phase. We had a choice of: Turkey, Brazil, Haiti, Guatemala, and Thailand. Each one had various ministries they were planning on focusing on, and our leaders gave us an hour to pray and see which one we felt God was calling us to. After that time, I truly felt the Lord was wanting me to reach the country of Thailand! And just yesterday I found out that I made the Thailand, and we just had our first team meeting. I love my team, and even though I never really saw myself in Thailand, God has blessed me with an amazing peace and sense of purpose for me going there. I know He has called me and everyone on my team to reach that country for a specific reason, and we are going to spread His good and amazing news. I don't know much more about the specifics of my outreach trip, but as soon as I do get more information, I will definitely keep everyone updated!
All in all, the experience thus far has been more than I could have ever expected. God has moved me in ways that I never thought possible, and has been breaking me down more and more. He has already moved my heart to be broken more and more by Him, so that He may raise me up to have a whole new identity found solely in Him and His gracious love and mercy...I can't wait for God to move and change the hearts and spirits of those wanting to pursue His amazing name and wonderful power.
Until next post, thanks for reading and keeping my experience in prayer!
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Sunday, September 5, 2010
I'm kind of new at this thing we call blogging...
....but I thought it would be fitting to start it off talking about some things that have happend to bring me to where I am at right now that have totally showed God's providence and provision, which is the main reason I wanted to start this blog in the first place.
For the passed year, I have had the privilege of attending Biola University pursuing a major in the sciences, hoping to continue onto medical or nursing school. While at Biola, God provided me to go on an missions trip with a team of 6 guys to Cairo, Egypt and it was there when God completely rocked my world, as He tends to do. During our time there, our team came across another team on their Discipleship Training School (DTS) outreach from the Youth With A Mission (YWAM) base in Lakeside, Montana. This is when I first heard about the program that God would soon place on my hear to attend.
After returning to Biola, I had this uncomfortable feeling of being back in the USA. I no longer felt like North America was my home, I longed to be somewhere overseas. During my prayer time, I kept asking the Lord to provide discernment with my feelings, and He did. He gave me wonderful insight on how He wanted me to follow what it was that He had planned for me. God was teaching me what it meant to lay down my future plans and ambitions and trust in His plan. It took a lot of faith on my part, but in the end, how could I not trust in the Lord who holds me together in the palm of His almighty hands. From that moment, I knew that I wasn't called to just work in the medical field here in the comfort of the States, but out among the nations while spreading the wonderful Gospel of Jesus Christ! That was what God wanted from me, to give all of me, and not just a few months or weeks, and that was what I was now willing to do.
So during my last semester at Biola, I decided to look into attending the YWAM Fall DTS program at the Lakeside, Montana base. With my application in hand, I prayed that God would use that application and reveal to me whether it really was His will for me to go, and a few weeks later I had received a phone call telling me that I had been accepted into the program! So I made preparations to withdraw from the university and friends I grew to love, to pursue a call from God. It was and still isn't easy but I have been living faith that God's plan is larger than my mind can comprehend and He knows what will glorify His kingdom in the end.
As for the passed few months and now, I have been raising money to attend the DTS program in the fall, which I actually leave for in less than 2 weeks! I am really close to raising the amount needed for my 3 months of lecture and learning on Missions at the Montana base, but still need to raise the other half for my 2 month outreach in another country. But God has taught me so much during this ride He has taken me on about His provision and grace that I have learned not to doubt Him in any way, shape, or form.
God has showed up in the funniest of ways, especially in providing through people I have never even met or seen, yet still they feel called to help me follow the path God has called me on. That in itself has boggled my mind! But I am really excited to see where this road will take me and how God is going to use YWAM to bring me across the nations to spread His wonderful and glorious name...
And hopefully by reading this blog, you all will be able to stay updated with everything God does through me and everywhere He ends up taking me.
Thanks for reading!
For the passed year, I have had the privilege of attending Biola University pursuing a major in the sciences, hoping to continue onto medical or nursing school. While at Biola, God provided me to go on an missions trip with a team of 6 guys to Cairo, Egypt and it was there when God completely rocked my world, as He tends to do. During our time there, our team came across another team on their Discipleship Training School (DTS) outreach from the Youth With A Mission (YWAM) base in Lakeside, Montana. This is when I first heard about the program that God would soon place on my hear to attend.
After returning to Biola, I had this uncomfortable feeling of being back in the USA. I no longer felt like North America was my home, I longed to be somewhere overseas. During my prayer time, I kept asking the Lord to provide discernment with my feelings, and He did. He gave me wonderful insight on how He wanted me to follow what it was that He had planned for me. God was teaching me what it meant to lay down my future plans and ambitions and trust in His plan. It took a lot of faith on my part, but in the end, how could I not trust in the Lord who holds me together in the palm of His almighty hands. From that moment, I knew that I wasn't called to just work in the medical field here in the comfort of the States, but out among the nations while spreading the wonderful Gospel of Jesus Christ! That was what God wanted from me, to give all of me, and not just a few months or weeks, and that was what I was now willing to do.
So during my last semester at Biola, I decided to look into attending the YWAM Fall DTS program at the Lakeside, Montana base. With my application in hand, I prayed that God would use that application and reveal to me whether it really was His will for me to go, and a few weeks later I had received a phone call telling me that I had been accepted into the program! So I made preparations to withdraw from the university and friends I grew to love, to pursue a call from God. It was and still isn't easy but I have been living faith that God's plan is larger than my mind can comprehend and He knows what will glorify His kingdom in the end.
As for the passed few months and now, I have been raising money to attend the DTS program in the fall, which I actually leave for in less than 2 weeks! I am really close to raising the amount needed for my 3 months of lecture and learning on Missions at the Montana base, but still need to raise the other half for my 2 month outreach in another country. But God has taught me so much during this ride He has taken me on about His provision and grace that I have learned not to doubt Him in any way, shape, or form.
God has showed up in the funniest of ways, especially in providing through people I have never even met or seen, yet still they feel called to help me follow the path God has called me on. That in itself has boggled my mind! But I am really excited to see where this road will take me and how God is going to use YWAM to bring me across the nations to spread His wonderful and glorious name...
And hopefully by reading this blog, you all will be able to stay updated with everything God does through me and everywhere He ends up taking me.
Thanks for reading!
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