Dear Family & Friends,
I am now starting my 9th week of DTS (discipleship training school). It’s hard to believe that I’m nearing the end of my lecture phase, and that in two short weeks I will be leaving for outreach! We have been split into 3 groups. One team of 11 will be going to Brazil to work with the street children and in an orphanage, as well as working with local contacts at the pre-Olympic games in Rio. The other group of 6 will be going to Taiwan and doing inner city ministry and working hand in hand with YWAM’s full time missionaries in the country.
My team of 7 students and two team leaders (Terry and Janean Hillard) will be going to Thailand! We will fly into Bangkok and stay with contacts for 2 days of briefing about the culture, language, and local/national current events and concerns. From there we will take a train to northern Thailand where we will be staying in a guest house owned by YWAM for one day of intercession before we head into the hill tribes. We will be living with the hill tribes people near the Burmese/Laos border for one month – doing friendship evangelism, as well as showing the Jesus movie, doing dances, dramas, and preaching. From there we will travel down to Chang Mai – where we will work in a smoothie shop (that is own by YWAM missionaries), and minister to the college students at the university there. We will be there for about 3 weeks. After that time we will have about 3 days to rest up and pray about where we should be spending the rest of our time. Terry and Janean are leaving the last part of our outreach open for us to hear God about and plan. So we could go back to the hill tribes, or down to Bangkok, or up to Chang Rai, or any other area that God puts on our hearts as a group. I love our leaders' openness to God and utter dependence on His voice. They absolutely will not plan something just to plan it. They are so careful to do what Holy Spirit is saying, and be lead by His guidance – I have learned SO MUCH from them!
This is a really busy time for us. We are all working on dramas, dances, sermons, music, and children’s VBS programs. I had the honor of being chosen to choreograph a dance for our team. The song we’re doing is “Be Near To Me” - by Enter the Worship Circle. It is my first time ever choreographing anything! So I have been pretty nervous – feeling stretched and out of my comfort zone. But God has been good to me, and He is putting it together smoothly and effectively. When the other girls and Janean saw it, there was unanimous approval and excitement – which was incredibly encouraging. We have a lot to do to get it ready before we go, but I’m not worried anymore. I have total confidence in my Father to finish the work He’s begun in this dance, and in our hearts.
I am also working on a solo dance called, “Just to Please You.” I’m really excited about this one also! Becky Olive – my dance instructor for our track class – is choreographing it. She is a professional dancer, and has traveled with several companies before coming here to work with YWAM. I feel lucky to be getting the quality instruction that I am. It’s always been a desire of my heart!
NOTE: We will be taping these dances and dramas either before we go or while we’re gone and uploading them unto U-Tube online. So you will be able to view them shortly – I will let you know when we get them on there. There are a lot of really talented people on my team. One being Jon Hanson from Kalispell (but a Colorado native). He is on his way to becoming a photo journalist (naturally, owning a pretty sweet camera) and will be making a documentary of our travels that he’s going to share with the everyone when we get back. So none of you will miss a beat!
Before I came here, I had no idea what a ride I was in for. Our schedule is very full with: 17 class room lecture hours, 3 hours of corporate intercession, book reports, homework, track assignments, work duties, and journals due every week. We attend a Thursday night meeting here on base every week that is open to the community. We are also required to be involved in a local church in the area and attend every Sunday– as a part of our DTS curriculum . I’ve been very blessed to have found a ‘home away from home’ at Fresh Life church in Kalispell. It’s a beautiful small store front church in down town, that meets in an upper room of an older/remodeled building. There is a fun mix of people there – a lot of YWAM'ers as well as locals. Sounds a lot like home, doesn’t it?
Since coming here I have been challenged, humbled, stretched, convicted, and changed. We get to spend an entire week on one topic – dissecting and digesting it. But we live in such close contact with each other, and are in a constant application mode. This hasn’t been easy – I won’t lie. But it’s been good for me. I’ve had the opportunity to see the pride and selfishness that is really in my heart, and God’s been able to get it out. I think it’s a daily work. But He’s doing it!
I’ve begun to dream again. And God has reaffirmed the things He’s been speaking to my heart for years (that I was unsure of). He’s been giving me strategy and connecting me with people here who have the same vision and heart! I met a girl named Megan from Maryland who is a powerful intercessor, and we’ve started praying together every morning. We feel that the Lord is calling us to partner together in the future for the things He is calling us to do. We have also started a processing/prayer time for our class every night at 10pm – to whenever we finish. God has really moved our group into repentance and intercession for our generation, the church, and our nation.
We are a broken, raw, desperate people...who cannot be silent. We strive to live vulnerably, transparently, and gut wrenchingly honest lives before each other. We don’t want to GO TO CHURCH anymore. We finally see that attendance on Sunday doesn’t mean anything when you’re spiritually absent all week. We are striving to BE the body Christ died to save. To have intimate fellowship with Him and each other. To listen to His voice and do what He says. To share our possessions with each other, and give to the needy. To allow Holy Spirit to interrupt our plans, and listen to those nudges.
We have been finding that revival isn’t as abstract as we imaged it would be. But it’s the life that’s born out of our death to self. It is the small obediences. It is the small acts of love that are taking over our world with GOOD NEWS. And that is all the gospel really is, isn’t it? Clothes for the naked, food to fill the hungry bellies, a hug for the lonely, to weep with those who are grieving, and laugh with those to rejoice. TO LOVE GOD with all our heart soul and strength, and to love our neighbor better then we love ourselves. To prefer them. Can you imagine what this world would look like if we – small Christ's, we little Christians, just did what He said? This is the simple way we are called to. This is the revolution of ordinary everyday radicals that is on the rise. This is the life we were born to live. This is the message that makes our stomachs quiver and our spirits leap – because something in us tells us it’s TRUE.
If there was ever a doubt in my mind as to whether or not I was supposed to come – it has been completely obliterated. Thank you for your prayers! Thank you for your financial support, making it possible for me to come, and keeping me (alive) here! Thank you for your encouraging words, emails, letters, phone calls, and care packages – that have made me feel so loved and connected to home! You are my home, and I look forward to seeing you soon! My love and prayers are with you!
