Outreach Prep & Happenings of YWAM

 <---Sometimes you have to leave base and be crazy on Black Friday. We were on Thanksgiving break so we went to see how insane the crowds would be in Madison. We took pictures everywhere! Promise we didn't break anything.

 This art work is what my Mexico team did during our 'team bonding' last week. We thought since we have all girls on our team, and only our male leader was there, that he should do finger painting. He has children, I'm sure he's used to it! It was so fun! And any instance can be used to team build! My team consists of: The Stenson family (John & Beca and their children, Elliot, Annie and Leif), Maria, Rieneke, Samantha, Emily B and myself. We are leaving December 29th and driving down to Mexico to Creel, Juarez, Mexico City and Mazatlan. We will return to Wisconsin February 21, 2013.



 Those beautiful people are the DTS students and myself who represent my home state of Michigan! We were all dressed up for our base's Love Feast. That consists of a delicious meal prepared by our staff and we took a look at how much Jesus loves us and the sacrifice that He gave to save us from our sin.

So you might be wondering why I have a picture of Montana if my base is in Wisconsin.....

Well here's the deal: After you finish a DTS with YWAM you have the option of staffing at pretty much any base. I feel that God is leading me to Montana to staff at their base there. They have an Endurance DTS that I would like to be a part of and that is what my plans are for 2013. The reason for Montana is simply that God is calling me there. To be completely honest, I really didn't know where exactly that state was nor why there in particular, but I am 100% committed to following God's call on my life and that is where I will be headed. Click on the link below to see what that Discipleship Training School is all about!

Montana Endurance DTS

To everyone who has supported me financially or through prayer or in anyway...this is for you! ::::

Arkansas and Cincinnati

I'm attempting to be better at writing on this blog. At least that's what I tell myself every time I write a new entry, that next time, I'll write more often!

So here's the lowdown:

Arkansas

Two weeks ago my team and I travelled to Ozark, Arkansas for a week of camping with the Ozark DTS. On our way to the campsite, our van broke down in Lebanon, Missouri. By the grace of God, a member of a local church stopped by and invited all 27 of us to stay at his church and found someone who could fix the van the next day. Half our team left the next day to set up camp 3 hours away while the rest of us explored Lebanon while our van was being repaired.

We made it to Ozark National Forest on Monday night/Tuesday morning. It was pretty scary driving those roads in the dark when there was a huge drop on one side. Our campsite was incredibly remote! We did, however, have morning class and evening class (around a fire!) with a speaker that camped as well so he could share about Spiritual Warfare.
During one of our afternoon sessions we were taught how to navigate using a map and a compass, the following day we were sent out into the Ozark National Forest in our teams and had to make it from point A to point B. My team consisted of 6 Madison students and 3 Ozark students. Our hike was around 15 miles and halfway through we had to camp for the night in the tent we made out of tarp and string. It started to downpour seconds after we finished making out shelter, so we spent the next half hour worshipping God and singing at the top of our lungs. We got up before sunrise, dismantled camp, and hiked the rest of the way to the end point, which we reached 20 minutes before time was up.

Cincinnati Conference:

Topic: Finish the Task
Speakers: Danny Lehman and Dan Bauman. With a testimony from Jackie Stanely.
The conference was really awesome but completely exhausting. We had to be at the church from 7:30am until 9:30pm with various lectures and speakers. They gave us food though (: The speakers had gone through so much! Their journeys were so motivational and heartwarming. So glad I had that experience to go through. I got to hear firsthand about how God works through someone even in an Iranian prison, how He provides for a family when their father dies when they are in a 'restricted' country and about Osama Bin Laden. Remarkable experience.
 
And now I'm hanging out with my best friend in Grand Rapids, Michigan while she works. Tomorrow it is back to Madison and back to learning more and more about God from my lovely staff.