Since returning back home to Michigan, I have constantly been asked the classic question, "What is next?" Will you be going off to college in the fall, will you get a job and work, or will you be doing something else? I have been answering that question with a tentative answer up until recently. I found out officially on March 25 that I have been accepted to the Chronological School of Biblical Studies (CSBS). This is a secondary school in YWAM. The CSBS is a nine month intensive course where students read and study every book of the Bible, starting in Genesis and ending in Revelation.
This September I will be returning to the place I call my second home: the lovely island of Oahu. I will be in Honolulu intensively studying the Bible for nine months. After the nine months is up, there is an optional outreach for students that I plan on attending. This is my next step before hopefully being able to staff the coming year. It brings me so much joy to finally be able to confidently announce this to everyone and share what my future plans are.
Here is a little more of an explanation as to what the school is all about. The CSBS (based on the inductive study method) teaches students about the context, culture, and history of each book of the Bible. After gaining an understanding of the historical context, students start to make observations and interpretations of the text based on the authors' original intent and the original reader's (and hearers') understanding. Students have around ten hours of lecture a week, which cover the historical and cultural background of the book being studied, as well as tackling difficult passages. These lectures are taught by a wide variety of Bible teachers, including Bible scholars, Old Testament archaeologists, New Testament historians, and leaders within YWAM - all of whom are passionate for seeing God's Word brought to the nations. The majority of this course is self study. Students typically spend forty (or more) hours per week individually studying the Scripture. Students also have the opportunity for field trips, community outreach, intercession, and worship as a way to enhance their nine months of study. The goal of the CSBS is to equip our students to study God's Word for themselves and then help equip others to do the same. After the students complete nine months of intense study they have the opportunity to share with others the riches of God's Word. An optional eight to twelve week outreach is offered to all CSBS students who want to practice what they have learned. Most of our CSBS outreaches go to Asia or the South Pacific and focus on teaching the Bible and inductive Bible study skills to new believers, churches, pastors, and anyone else wanting to grow in their knowledge of the word. (Taken from ywamhonolulu.com)
Thursday, March 26, 2015
Sunday, March 1, 2015
There and Back Again
I am so thankful that God brought me to this time in my life. First things first. Austin and I arrived safely in New Delhi on Tuesday, December 23rd. Thankfully, the time adjustment was not a problem for either one of us. It was so nice to be able to finally join our team. The first full day in New Delhi was spent preparing for a Christmas party for that night. Our team helped cut up fruit and nuts for a salad and decorate the place. About half cut up fruits and half decorated the place. I helped cut up the all the different kinds of fruit; pomegranates, cashews, raisins, strawberries, papayas, and melon. The Christmas party was an ample amount of fun later that night. There was lots of singing and dancing and games involved, as well as a short message. Christmas in India is fairly different than Christmas back in the USA. Our leaders surprised us each with a box of presents from our parents. Mine was filled with some various gifts, but also about forty letters from people back home. Just saying, you guys are some of the most kind and caring people out there. Thank you so much. You all make me feel so incredibly loved. One thing that is big here in India is chai Tea. I myself am not a fan of tea, but this chai tea is some of the best out there. After opening presents we each had a cup of chai. We went to a Christmas party at church later that day. While in Delhi, we had a few days where we went and saw the historic sites. History is so interesting. We were also able to see the Taj Mahal! It really is amazing. The tiny detail that went into something so massive is stunning. No wonder it is one of the seven wonders of the world. My New Years Eve was spent on a thirty four hour train ride from New Delhi to Vijayawada. So basically from the Northern part of India to the Southern part. Seeing the country of India via train ride was definitely an interesting way to spend the New Year. I have been in India for a little over a week and I simply love it here.
January 1-14 was spent in Vijayawada, India. While we were there, we had the opportunity to visit a few slums. It really spoke to me how much we actually had and how little everyone else had. And to see their joy just amazed me. A big thing that we did while we were in that location was that we went and visited a local temple. Along the way, we found a house that had bags and bags of hair on the roof. This was all the hair of the people who had shaved their heads for their "gods". There were people who were crawling up the mountain on their knees out of respect for their god. Keep in mind, it was quite a hike. To see everything that these people did for their gods is crazy in comparison to how little we do for Jesus. I keep thinking about how blessed I am to have been born into a Christian family. Being here also makes me really how lazy Christians really are. And everything they are doing is pointless! Their god doesn't even exist! Think how much Christians could do for Jesus is they had the same mindset-if they worshiped Jesus as much as the people here worship their god. If they gave up everything for Jesus. We could change the world and do so much in the name of Jesus. On one day, we were able to go to two different churches and worship. At both churches we performed a dance, a skit, sang some songs, and shared a testimony and sermon. I had the privilege to share some of my testimony during the second service. I shared about the loss of Luke/my car accident and how it affected me. God has moved so much in my life since then and I am so grateful for it. We were also able to take communion, which was interesting because I was able to see the differences between here and in Moline.
From January 15-28 our team was in Dharmapuri, India. A lot of crazy things happened while being there. One of the first days there, we went to a Hindu man's house. This man had a brain tumor that was removed, but he could not talk, walk, or hardly move. After a couple of hours of praying and worshiping, he started speaking and was able to walk around the room with the help of others. When he spoke, he said "Jesus, Jesus". It was incredible to see what God is able to do in just a few short hours! Besides just that, we went to a house to pray over a man. While we were there, a crowd gathered and we started to pray for various people in the crowd. One of which was an elderly lady. This lady came forward asking for prayer, and as soon as we started to pray over her, she started to manifest. The demon inside her was cast out and she collapsed on the ground. After our contact anointed her with the Holy Spirit, it was crazy to see how big of a change there was in her. The elderly lady looked so gentle and sweet. We truly serve an awesome God! Our team also went to a house where a man was in a coma for a month due to witchcraft. We spent at least four hours praying over this man. He did not have a radical change, but he did open his eyes and slightly move his arms. Even in little things, God is moving. Besides all that, we also briefly went to an Indian wedding in which we wore saris. We also did a lot a house visits in our time there. Our team also had the privilege to bless three different leprosy colonies by giving them rice, hard boiled eggs, and chicken. We were able to visit one of those colonies prior to that, and it was heartbreaking to see the condition some of the people were in. Being able to bless them with food was definitely something I will never forget.
On the 28th, we left Dharmapuri and traveled to Chennai to sleep overnight before our flight the next morning. On the 29th, our team left India and headed to Sri Lanka. From January 30-February 6 we spent our time in Pussellawa. Even though we were only there for a week, we had an eventful time. When we stepped off the plane and walked to pick up our backpacks in the airport, there were some guests from YWAM Honolulu waiting for us. It was so nice to see people we knew that were not from our team. Our first day we had off due to all our traveling the day prior. At night we went to a restaurant and ate hamburgers. I cannot explain to you how good it was to finally have beef again. In India the cow is holy, so hamburgers are not common. When we started ministry we discovered that a lot of the places we would be going to involved a bit of a hike. Our first couple days we did a lot of house visits and a few open airs. One of the days we traveled to a church that was two hours away. One of my team members preached and we performed a skit and sang some songs. Afterwards, we prayed for people and one of my team members prayed for a woman who could not see very well out of one of her eyes. After praying, the woman was able to see! Praise God! We also did a house visit where one of my team members felt pain in her arm and asked if someone in the house had pain in their arm. As it turns out, one of the people did and we prayed for her, and she received healing in her arm. It was so cool! We traveled six hours in a van across the country of Sri Lanka headed to our second location, Trincomalee. While we were in Trincomalee, we did a lot of kids ministry. There were several days where our team would split in half and we would go to different preschools and work with the kids. We were in Trincomalee February 6-12. The morning of the 12th, we packed up and rode in the back of a truck for 2 and a half hours to our third location, Vavuniya. We were there from February 12-20. Our third location has involved manual work. Our team is working on a learning center. We sanded benches and tables and varnished them, painted, and did flooring. It was a nice change. On the days we did not do manual work, we would do ministry. This involved a lot of kids ministry, which was an ample amount of fun. On Sunday, our team split in half and went to two different churches. At the church service I went to, I was able to give my testimony. It is such a blessing to see people react to what we say.
In my time on outreach, I read through the entire Bible and God has been speaking to me through it. One of the biggest things I have learned is that sometimes suffering is not bad. We should feel honored that the devil finds us worthy enough to attack. Suffering for God is an honor and something I used to complain about. Paul and the disciples would endure whipping and stoning, and would then praise God and thank Him that they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. It is been such an amazing past two months and I thank you all so much for your prayers! I am once again back in Hawaii, and we have graduation tonight! These past six months have flown by and I have grown so much. I cannot believe that I will be headed back to the mitten in two days, but I am very excited to see all of you.
January 1-14 was spent in Vijayawada, India. While we were there, we had the opportunity to visit a few slums. It really spoke to me how much we actually had and how little everyone else had. And to see their joy just amazed me. A big thing that we did while we were in that location was that we went and visited a local temple. Along the way, we found a house that had bags and bags of hair on the roof. This was all the hair of the people who had shaved their heads for their "gods". There were people who were crawling up the mountain on their knees out of respect for their god. Keep in mind, it was quite a hike. To see everything that these people did for their gods is crazy in comparison to how little we do for Jesus. I keep thinking about how blessed I am to have been born into a Christian family. Being here also makes me really how lazy Christians really are. And everything they are doing is pointless! Their god doesn't even exist! Think how much Christians could do for Jesus is they had the same mindset-if they worshiped Jesus as much as the people here worship their god. If they gave up everything for Jesus. We could change the world and do so much in the name of Jesus. On one day, we were able to go to two different churches and worship. At both churches we performed a dance, a skit, sang some songs, and shared a testimony and sermon. I had the privilege to share some of my testimony during the second service. I shared about the loss of Luke/my car accident and how it affected me. God has moved so much in my life since then and I am so grateful for it. We were also able to take communion, which was interesting because I was able to see the differences between here and in Moline.
From January 15-28 our team was in Dharmapuri, India. A lot of crazy things happened while being there. One of the first days there, we went to a Hindu man's house. This man had a brain tumor that was removed, but he could not talk, walk, or hardly move. After a couple of hours of praying and worshiping, he started speaking and was able to walk around the room with the help of others. When he spoke, he said "Jesus, Jesus". It was incredible to see what God is able to do in just a few short hours! Besides just that, we went to a house to pray over a man. While we were there, a crowd gathered and we started to pray for various people in the crowd. One of which was an elderly lady. This lady came forward asking for prayer, and as soon as we started to pray over her, she started to manifest. The demon inside her was cast out and she collapsed on the ground. After our contact anointed her with the Holy Spirit, it was crazy to see how big of a change there was in her. The elderly lady looked so gentle and sweet. We truly serve an awesome God! Our team also went to a house where a man was in a coma for a month due to witchcraft. We spent at least four hours praying over this man. He did not have a radical change, but he did open his eyes and slightly move his arms. Even in little things, God is moving. Besides all that, we also briefly went to an Indian wedding in which we wore saris. We also did a lot a house visits in our time there. Our team also had the privilege to bless three different leprosy colonies by giving them rice, hard boiled eggs, and chicken. We were able to visit one of those colonies prior to that, and it was heartbreaking to see the condition some of the people were in. Being able to bless them with food was definitely something I will never forget.
On the 28th, we left Dharmapuri and traveled to Chennai to sleep overnight before our flight the next morning. On the 29th, our team left India and headed to Sri Lanka. From January 30-February 6 we spent our time in Pussellawa. Even though we were only there for a week, we had an eventful time. When we stepped off the plane and walked to pick up our backpacks in the airport, there were some guests from YWAM Honolulu waiting for us. It was so nice to see people we knew that were not from our team. Our first day we had off due to all our traveling the day prior. At night we went to a restaurant and ate hamburgers. I cannot explain to you how good it was to finally have beef again. In India the cow is holy, so hamburgers are not common. When we started ministry we discovered that a lot of the places we would be going to involved a bit of a hike. Our first couple days we did a lot of house visits and a few open airs. One of the days we traveled to a church that was two hours away. One of my team members preached and we performed a skit and sang some songs. Afterwards, we prayed for people and one of my team members prayed for a woman who could not see very well out of one of her eyes. After praying, the woman was able to see! Praise God! We also did a house visit where one of my team members felt pain in her arm and asked if someone in the house had pain in their arm. As it turns out, one of the people did and we prayed for her, and she received healing in her arm. It was so cool! We traveled six hours in a van across the country of Sri Lanka headed to our second location, Trincomalee. While we were in Trincomalee, we did a lot of kids ministry. There were several days where our team would split in half and we would go to different preschools and work with the kids. We were in Trincomalee February 6-12. The morning of the 12th, we packed up and rode in the back of a truck for 2 and a half hours to our third location, Vavuniya. We were there from February 12-20. Our third location has involved manual work. Our team is working on a learning center. We sanded benches and tables and varnished them, painted, and did flooring. It was a nice change. On the days we did not do manual work, we would do ministry. This involved a lot of kids ministry, which was an ample amount of fun. On Sunday, our team split in half and went to two different churches. At the church service I went to, I was able to give my testimony. It is such a blessing to see people react to what we say.
In my time on outreach, I read through the entire Bible and God has been speaking to me through it. One of the biggest things I have learned is that sometimes suffering is not bad. We should feel honored that the devil finds us worthy enough to attack. Suffering for God is an honor and something I used to complain about. Paul and the disciples would endure whipping and stoning, and would then praise God and thank Him that they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. It is been such an amazing past two months and I thank you all so much for your prayers! I am once again back in Hawaii, and we have graduation tonight! These past six months have flown by and I have grown so much. I cannot believe that I will be headed back to the mitten in two days, but I am very excited to see all of you.
Wednesday, December 17, 2014
Passports!
As some of you may know, I was unable to leave this past Sunday for India. My passport did not show up in time. Nor did two of my teammates, so thankfully I was not the only DTS student left on base. Usually there is about 70-100 people on base, but throughout this week it has emptied out and currently it is myself and about seven other people. It has been a quiet week.
Today I returned after a lunch off base to find out that my passport had arrived. It has been a joyous day. I was also able to go see the new Hobbit movie. Let me tell you. It is pretty good. Go see it. This coming Sunday I will be leaving for India with one of my teammates. We will be departing from Hawaii at 12:30 am Monday. It has been a crazy ride up until this point. God is so good through everything.
Unfortunately, one of my teammates will be headed home this weekend and will not be joining us on outreach. She had a lot of complications with her passport/visa because Fed Ex lost her original passport/visa. We are all very sad to see her return home to Canada. In all things, God is still good. Even through crappy things such as this.
I would very much appreciate prayers this week, as well as the following nine weeks. I ask that you pray for safety as the three of us travel to various parts of the world. I also ask that the adjustment for all of us will go smoothly. It will be a difficult transition for Austin and I as we join our team a week late. Our team will have already had time to adjust to the time difference and their surroundings, whereas we will have to just jump right in. Unity is also a prayer request. It is hard to do things with twelve people if there is no unity involved. God is going to stretch us all and move us in incredible ways and I cannot wait to experience it.
As you can see above, I was thrilled to see my passport.
Blessings on all of you! I will try to update in the following months, but I cannot make any promises!
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Project Exploration
Departure for India is in three days. Today was a packing day and I can happily say that all of my stuff is packed away. It was pretty nice because my parents took a whole suitcase home for me and made this a lot less stressful. For those of you who do not know, my parents flew in and spent a week with me in Hawaii. It was a wonderful time to be able to see them before I leave for India/Sri Lanka. I was able to see Pearl Harbor the day before the 73rd anniversary. I also went on a tour to Kualoa Ranch. Kualoa Ranch was a beautiful place in Hawaii where many different movies and TV shows have been filmed. Such as Hawaii Five-0, Lost, Jurassic Park, Pearl Harbor, Fifty First Dates, Soul Surfer, and Karate Kid. Here are some photos of the tour.
I was also able to go to the zoo and see elephants, giraffes, and zebras for the first time. It was quite the experience. While I was there, I found out that there is in fact a zoo in New Delhi. I am still in the works of trying to convince my team to let us go to the zoo in India on one of our days off. What an adventure that would be.
It is crazy to think of how fast two and a half months flew by. There are so many things that have happened since I landed in Honolulu, Hawaii. One of the biggest things that has happened was when I rededicated my life to Jesus and was baptized yesterday. It was such an incredible experience. I have been baptized before when I was around a month old. I also made profession of faith the summer after my 9th grade year. When I made profession of faith I definitely was not ready and rushed into that choice. Yesterday, I was completely and 100% ready to follow Jesus. It really was one of the coolest things in my life.
These last few weeks in Hawaii have simply been incredible. I cannot wait for God to stretch me and use me when I go on outreach to India and Sri Lanka. It is going to be the best time. Myself and twelve others are about to head off for an unforgettable time period of our lives.
I found out recently that while on outreach I will only be able to be able to update my blog three times, if that. I also will not have my computer, so I am not sure if I will even be able to blog. If I cannot, I will be updating via Facebook since that will be the easiest way for me. My flight leaves Sunday night/Monday morning at 1am Hawaii time, 6am Michigan time. It has been a great adventure so far and I thank all of you for supporting me to be able to get here. Thank you so very much for everything, and I would love love love for you to keep praying for me while my team and I go off on outreach.
The photo above is of the dead tree from Jurassic Park that the kids and Dr. Grant hid behind in the dinosaur stampede. It was a dream come true to be able to see this. The photo below is of a real life dinosaur attacking me. Terrifying.
It is crazy to think of how fast two and a half months flew by. There are so many things that have happened since I landed in Honolulu, Hawaii. One of the biggest things that has happened was when I rededicated my life to Jesus and was baptized yesterday. It was such an incredible experience. I have been baptized before when I was around a month old. I also made profession of faith the summer after my 9th grade year. When I made profession of faith I definitely was not ready and rushed into that choice. Yesterday, I was completely and 100% ready to follow Jesus. It really was one of the coolest things in my life.
Here are a few recent photos of the group. The top photo has all of us in it. I would really appreciate it if you all would pray for my team over the next two and a half months. Back row: Margrete, myself, Mariesa, Bree, Cambree, Cassidy, Ashley, and Saara. Front row: Tony, Jed, Link (white), Joz, Tanner, and Brice. Brice is not coming on outreach with us since he is support staff; he is actually part of the January school and he will be getting ready to co-lead his own team to on outreach shortly after we return from our outreach in February.
Saturday, November 29, 2014
|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.
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.
Sunday, November 9, 2014
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.
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!
Saturday, October 25, 2014
KONA
This past week I was able to travel to the big island and spend four days in Kona for Corporate week. It was definitely an experience, but it also made me realize how thankful I am for what I have here in Honolulu. The University of the Nations has about twelve DTS schools going on, as well as countless other upper level courses and seminars. There is around one thousand people on their campus daily. Whereas here at home, our base has around seventy to eighty. It was quite a large upscale. While at Kona we had a three hour lecture every morning and had the privilege to hear from Loren and Darlene Cunningham, the founders of YWAM. It was interesting to hear all about their life and their travels all over the world spreading the gospel. And as a bonus, I was able to see two girls who I went to high school with. It was like a little bit of home for a few days.
When I wasn't on campus, I was down near my room at YWAM Ships. It was really cool because it was right next to the water and it was near a bunch of little shops. Being able to walk straight to the beach in less than two minutes was a nice perk of not being on base. The whole week was pretty relaxing. One of the only downsides was that we had quite a hill to walk up to base if we happened to miss the shuttle. I missed it a few times, but was able to hitchhike with a few other people. It was quite an interesting experience.
All in all, my time in Kona was pretty fun, but I was very happy to come back home to Honolulu. The night we came back, I received a few letters and a care package. To those of you who mailed me things, I thank you so much! It was such a blessing to be able to know that people are thinking of me and praying for me back home in Michigan. Still overwhelmed by how lucky I am to come from such a great community.
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