well I have arrived here safe in orlando and although I went to bed the first night after a very boring, sad, not-fun day I was honestly wondering what I reallY got myself into. Happily, Tuesday I had a much better day learning the basics of what Ywam really is and getting to know more people.
I have a lot to say so I will try to make it simple and sweet. First, and most exciting: for outreach I am going to the…..
WEST BANK (palestine) the regular DTs is going to East Asia. We leave at the end of March and will be gone till the end of May. Our trip isnt totally planned out yet so I dont know any furthur details, I’ll update when I find out. I honesty hadnt thought a lot about the secnd half of the DTS program because I hadn’t been aware of where we were going but now that I am, I’m getting more excited and thinking more about it. We have a team of 10 people: 4 guys my age, me and 2 girls my age, my outreach leader, kristen who is 23 and then a married couple who are in their early 30s and gabe, their one year old. We have yet to figure out our workout stuff but I do know we are teaching a community program through a local church called 50 days of fitness. One of the eguys my age who wants to go to brazil and eventualy play professional soccer, Lighting, and I are going to teach a soccer clinic together and are really excited about that. None-the-less I am beyond excited to train with him and get better. 🙂
adjusting has been more difficult than I imagined. I try not to think about the length of time I will be here very often because It makes me miss home. I AM very very excited about what the Lord will do in my heart over the next five months but am also very sad I am missing out on the ways the Lord is working back home at school. I am trying to take one day at a time and just enjoy what the Lord has set before me each day.
While Im here I’m required to read the entire new testament, (so far I have one book down) I have 4 books to read for homework, one of the three being an outreach focused book for our specific outreach half. We have to memorize a verse each week and are tested on it for an actual grade. this week is psalm 2:8 ” ask of me, and I wil make the nations your heritage, the ends of the earth your inheritance.” (no I didn’t cheat to look that up!) among book tests, lecure tests, punctuality, journaling and class notes.
The things I’m most looking forward to are:
1.Each week we have one teacher with a theme, I am most excited for the end of this month when we will be taught about the father-heart of God.
2. thursdays: on thurs morn we do worship and warfare. Basically we join together to worship and thank God for what he is doing while praying for a specific people or country. Today we got together to pray for the country Jordan. the king and his family. It was really cool to learn and see a room full of people pray for a person and family that has no idea who we are or what we are doing.
3. to grow in my relationship with the Lord. I have already learned so much and can’t even believe I still have 5 months to learn and soak everything up.
Every morning we have quiet time and I’ve been studying the book of joshua. The lord is continueing to show me his faithfulness through these passages as he was faithful to the israelites. I’ve been learning to sit and listen to the voice of God and its the craziest thing. He speaks to his children loud and clear, more so when you are in obedience. I’ve started to see how the Lord graces everyone with things everyday but when you obey, and continue to be faithful to him the more he will answer your call. the Lord has spoken to me this week about things i need to apologize for, things in my past i need to deal with, conversations I need to have and even things I need to change. He specifically told me not to text someone I wanted to encourage, to delete certain numbers from my phone I didn’t need there to be a possible distraction later on and not make a phone call I was going to make. Its funny because I have felt his presence more and more the more often I seek to listen and ask questions.
I have a few goals in mind for going back to MN. I want to speak of nothing else but the blood of the cross and the freedom it brings. I have a friend that talks about nothing but jesus and his kingdom. I want to be like that, I want nothing else to matter but him and spreading his kingdom, I’m hoping to taste that the Lord is SO good I can speak of nothing else. So often I am plagued by being caught up in drama, most often occuring when I spend too much time talking about things I shouldn’t.
I also have grown a bigger heart for the world, the more stories I hear about the Lord working the more I want to give my life to the Kingdom and its only been 3 days!!
please please pray for me to feel at home here, to continue to adjust. For me to seek wisdom and discernment when speaking boldly but also to spend ample time in prayer and listening to the Lord speak. Pray for the west bank, for political settlement, and for the hearts of the people. For our team to meet people that hearts can and will be softened to hand their lives to Jesus. Also pray for being a sponge, I really just want to soak up everything I have opportunities in to grow.
more to come later, please please send specific prayer requests I’d love to pray for you.
Dear Samm, 