|T H A N K S G I V I N G|

Many apologies for not writing again. We are getting closer and closer to the leaving date for outreach and because of that my time has been fairly busy. It is crazy to think that in fifteen days, myself and twelve others will be in the airport leaving for India. It is a whole new adventure and I cannot wait to journey out into the world.

This week we had our very own base director, Cary Solima, as the speaker of our lectures. The topic was on Hearing God's voice. Because of it being Thanksgiving, we only had three lectures this week rather than the normal five. We spent one of the lectures praying about what lies we believed and asked God to reveal the truth of those lies to us. That in itself was a pretty radical thing. The next day in class we spent praying for other people. We asked God to show us a picture or vision, or give us a verse or word about the person that we were praying for. It was a comforting thing, hearing everything that people said.

•Thanksgiving•

I never thought that spending a holiday away from home would feel so normal. Nothing on my family - I love them to death. But spending Thanksgiving with the family of YWAM was one of the best things that I have experienced while being here. We had a large dinner the night before Thanksgiving. Everyone spent the whole afternoon getting ready for the exciting night. The dinner consisted of turkey, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, stuffing, rolls that were to die for, and pumpkin pie. I was slightly upset that there was no cream corn casserole, although nobody would be able to make it as good as my Aunt Bambi. After dinner, we had the privilege to watch a YWAM team from Kona dance. Island Breeze has been staying at our base for the past week while finishing up their outreach. It was so cool to be able to watch them dance. I myself have never really gotten into dancing, but this was a different story. Island Breeze focused on different forms of hula dancing. My favorite one that they performed was where the male off their team took a stick that was on fire and spun it. It was pretty rad.
The morning of Thanksgiving, we had a brunch at ten. There were more pancakes than what I could name. If anyone tells you that they do not feed us well here, that would be a lie. There was an abundance of food and it was like heaven came down to earth. So good. Before brunch, I had the chance to skype my entire family from home. It was such a blessing to be able to talk to each and every one of them. So this Thanksgiving, I am thankful for my family. Not only my Michigan family, but also my YWAM family. I never thought I could be blessed by so many different people at once.

More exciting news - Yesterday I found out that I have all of my outreach fees paid off! I have never been more thankful for all of you, especially those who donated. Like I said before and will keep saying, I couldn't do it without each and every one of you. 

Halfway There!

Hello all! These past two weeks have been pretty hectic, so many apologies for not writing. I have spent my days listening to lectures. Our speakers are so interesting and are really good at explaining things in a new light. 

Two weeks ago we had Aaron Larson speak on Nature/Character of God and Discipleship. One of the things I took from his lecture was that being a disciple is a process. Mark 1:17 says, "Jesus said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men." Notice how it was not an instant transformation, but instead said become. They will become fishers of men. It is a process. So often I find myself wondering why I have not had a radical transformation so when I heard this, it really stuck out to me. Yes, there are people who have radical transformations, but for the most part people have to go through a process to change. 

This past week, we had Keith Martens speak on Spiritual Warfare. He spoke a lot about freedom in Christ. A big thing this week was freedom prayers. He shared experiences of how he has done freedom prayers and how people have been set free from demons and bad dreams and so on. I really enjoyed having the opportunity of a freedom prayer and felt freedom in what I was prayed for. 

Besides the time spent in lecture, I have had the opportunity to try surfing. I was not very good, but I did love it and will be trying it again this coming week. Living in Hawaii is the dream-I cannot explain how much I love it here. 

This week I also found out more details about outreach. I leave for India on December 14. The first city that we will be in is New Dehli and we will be there for two weeks. We have the possibility of being at the Taj Mahal on Christmas, so that is pretty cool. We are in India for six weeks and then Sri Lanka for four weeks. We finally found out what the cost of the outreach would be, and after everything it comes to $2,500. It is a bit more costly than I thought that it would end up being. If you are feeling led to donate, it is possible to get another tax deduction, and I would greatly appreciate it any donations. To be able to get a tax deduction one would have to write a check out without my name on it. Just explain on a separate note that the money is meant for me. The address for mailing it is this

YWAM Honolulu

2707 Hipawai Place

Honolulu, HI 96822

If you feel led to give, I need the money by November 26. Many thanks to all of you who have given money and who are feeling led! I appreciate it so much!