Fall is Here!!

For me, Fall/Autumn is the best season of the year. I love the changing of the leaves and observing the magnificent power that God has through His creation. 

I have a lot to update on since I haven't written in a while. This past summer was incredibly busy, but such a blessing. I was able to travel home to England to visit my mom and sister and relax with them and talk about what has been going on in our lives. The journey back to America was anything but simple. Problems with my passport and missing my flight meant spending 24 hours in London and re-booking my flight. Thankfully God softened the heart of the man scheduling my flight because he waived the charges and upgraded me with a better seat as well. It made me feel so much more relaxed about the mishap and I realized that God sees the little moments and edits the details because He loves me!


Next was a visit to my boyfriend's family's house in Colorado. His mom is so supportive of the work that we do through YWAM and of us. It was great to have a mini-vacation and see her. I have a lot of family from Colorado, and never having been there before, I really enjoyed being able to experience life in their state. It's such a beautiful place as well. Then it was back to training and working. We drove from Colorado to Madison, Wisconsin (totally 18 hours in a row driving time) to join staff from other USA bases and learn how to best be staff to the students. Connecting with the other staff and forming friendships with them was a lot of fun! It was such an informative week as well. I'll definitely be returning to the next seminar in 2014. 

Since being back at base and having the Discipleship training school start, the months have flown by. I have worked on setting up for the 10th anniversary, driving the base vehicles for grocery shopping trips and camping trips (being recently added to the base driving list), and helping in various domains to keep the place running. I now prepare lunch for 30+ people, am the main person who does the grocery shopping and run the communication section of the office. As well as grading book reports and trying to find more ways for us to save money as an organization, I am kept busy watching children for the families here too. I love doing all of it. Having a variety of things to accomplish keeps me incredibly happy and doing all these things for God? So great!

I've been blessed with gaining more financial supporters but am always excited about more partners in ministry! This would enable me to receive more training and start saving  up for global outreach in the future. If you would like to get involved please donate via www.ywamozarks.org/donate and indicate that it is for Katie Williams. Thanks so much!

This picture to the right is from the most recent camping trip that I went on. Our base joined with the Madison base for a week of teaching on Spiritual Warfare. Such a powerful time for the students especially! Our big group then traveled to Northwestern Arkansas for the GO Conference! We listened to Rob Morris of Love146, David Hamilton and Brian Hogan share the work they have done in multiple countries and get us focusing on going to the nations!

One Week to Go

Apache, Oklahoma VBS

My best friend for the week!

Storm Damage

Tomorrow marks the last week of internship. We have quite the grand way to finish it off also, with a canoe trip! It is work as well though, since we are scouting out the area for the Fall DTS. it's also nice that we get this time to just hang out and enjoy the beautiful outdoors of Arkansas. God has given us an awesome landscape to enjoy and the opportunity to learn new skills and sharpen already known ones.

I'll let you in on what we have been doing for the past month:
Apache Oklahoma!!!! We traveled four hours West to a small Indian town to help with yard work and run a VBS for the local children. The journey was rocky at first due to our vehicle needing new tires but God provided a mechanic that had the availability almost immediately and we were able to make it in time for dinner.


Our mornings consisted of visiting individuals in the Apache/Anadarko area and doing yard work. In Apache we clipped trees, mowed lawns, planted flowers, and organised rooms. It was exhausting but very fun work. We definitely brought our senses of humour to the job site! Half an hour away in Anadarko we cleared roughly a ton of shingles from the yard of a family whose house had been severely affected by a storm. It was so..cool to bless them! Their children were adorable.

In the evenings we ventured even further west of Apache and ran a Vacation Bible School in a quaint little church for 15-26 children. The theme was Courageous Kids and featured people from the Old Testament who did courageous acts as young people. I loved seeing the faces of the children every day and how much they enjoyed doing the activities (like putting the eyes on the furniture/walls for the lion's eyes for Daniel in the Lions' den). By the end of the week we were all sad to say 'goodbye' to these beautiful children of God who had, in such a short time, touched our hearts.

Last week was research project time! I spent the first half of the week making a 'video' via PowerPoint to illustrate the book Tortured For Christ by Richard Wurmbrand. The latter half was researching Russia and writing a paper on it and why Russia needs missionaries. I found so many interesting facts and it furthered my desire to go there and work. That's not something I see in the near future, but it is in the future at some point.

And now...this last week is slightly bittersweet. But, that is how things are when something ends...and something new begins!

Thanks for reading ;)

Leadership

I've been thinking a lot lately about leadership and what it means. I'm an intern right now, so the next step 'up the corporate ladder' would be staff...which would involve leading the DTS students in the Fall. But what exactly is leadership and how does one become a good leader? It can't possibly be just about power and telling people what to do, because that would make it a dictatorship. It can't be doing what the people under you say, because that would be unfair and biased. 
I set out to discover what this meant and to learn how to be an understanding and effective leader. My tool was a book called "Understanding Leadership" by Mr Tom Marshall. He writes his book from the perspective of the New Testament found in the Holy Bible (That Christians follow). 
When considering the leadership in America he states that America does have really good managers, but leadership and management is not the same. Managers govern resources but leaders guide people. Therefore, if you are not a people person and cannot be patient, then leadership is probably not your calling. It's important to remember though, that within a setting, such as an office or a church, a leader is not more important then say the janitor, but their roles are different. 
Leading a group is tricky but not impossible. You always have to consider the group, yes you are in charge of them, but you do not rule over them. You guide. Setting goals and keeping your group motivated is a must. These goals should include immediate ones where the result is noted and ones that are more long term so there is something to strive for. Do not let the goals become your focus and lose considering the people. 
You will know what captivates your people if you get to know them. You cannot get to know them unless they know you and trust you. This all involves a level of openness and vulnerability, but be careful not to be too open or else they will not see you fit to be a leader. It is all a balance and a balance that can be achieved by focusing on the perfect leader whom we have in Heaven. 
If you are curious about leadership and how best to be one, then I encourage you to read this book and take notes. I have plenty of them on post its and a scrap piece of paper. 
A few points to remember are:

• Lead with patience and love
• Don't be afraid to address criticism but do so without judgement on the person
• Remember that God always sets the limits to what happens to us

On Top of a Mountain....

Blogs were mentioned today during a meeting and I realised that I had not written in my blog in two months!! That's so bad and I'm sorry I haven't kept up with it. I will now! There's so many amazing things to share.

I'm settled in at the base in Arkansas now. Click: Where I work to see the base and the schools we offer.

You may be wondering: what does an intern for YWAM Ozarks spend their time doing?
Answer: Being an intern is a mix between being a student and a staff member, so we have class sessions with the Discipleship Training School students on occasion and our own separate classes as well. The classes are on a variety of topics and there is a time of application from what we learn at the end of the week. For instance, we had a week of 'spiritual gifts and callings' and the end of the week we learned to rock climb and delve into God's creation. It was really eye opening seeing different aspects of leadership and encouragement come out of the individuals involved in the event. 

The second half of our days involve working on base. So far we have maintained the grounds by removing fallen tree limbs etc, cleaned and organised many of the common area rooms, and re-placed floor tiles! It's so important that the base is well maintained, especially since in September there will be new students here to disciple and you really respect the property around you so much more when you care for it.

The next few weeks will be book report projects and preparing for Wakarusa Outreach Ministry at the end of May. It's going to be so exciting!!

Future Plans

So I´m sure you are just as excited as I am about my next step! Here it is:

Leadership Practicum in Ozark, Arkansas

2013 schedule: Dates: Feb 25 - June 28th. The first 2 weeks will be boot camp + prep for a Mission Exposure Week. March 11 - 15 Mission Exposure - high school group from Joplin, MO March 18 - 22 Spring Break outreach for high schoolers March 25 - April 19   Four weeks to go home for a break.  This is built in to the schedule because all the interns will have gone directly from Outreach to the Internship.  This gives time at home to share about the outreach and do any support raising. April 22 through June 28 - We will have a combination of outreaches, Mission Exposure groups, and teaching/practical application weeks.  Outreaches will be domestic (in our region of Ark/Oklahoma).  An international outreach may be offered for after the Internship.  We have gone to China in past summers. Some Content Includes: Research project on your subject of interest - cultural studies, apologetics, worldviews, church history etc etc Prepare a teaching Creatively present a book report Support raising training Outdoor skills refined Evangelism & apologetics teaching Practical service on campus & in Ozark community Exploring your giftings Muslim ministry training Prayer hike to Wakarusa Outreach site

That is copied directly from an email I received from their base. It´s going to be so exciting. I feel like after I´ve completed this I will be staying in YWAM and staffing at a base. I`m not sure what base exactly but when I figure that out I will update you.
There´s a few things I need still.....
The fees for the practicum ($2,000) of which I have around $3,00.
In order to stay in YWAM and do missions work I need monthly sponsors. What I´m aiming for is having 30 people sponsor me $25 per month and possibly, if someone feels like blessing me this way, a sponsor to cover the cost of my phone. I use the donations only for course fees so I don´t have any extra money to pay for toiletries etc.
I appreciate all of your support so much and thank you for partnering with me!

Mazatlan & the rest of Juarez

Wow!
I can´t believe that Outreach is almost over. Three more days here in Juarez working at Rancho Los Amigos and then it´s done! But before we get to information on that...let´s talk about Mazatlan.

Mazatlan:
Mazatlan is a beautiful city located on the west coast of Mexico on the Pacific Ocean. The water is so amazing and blue! The weather, even in winter, was sunny and hot. I loved it.
While I was there the 2013 Carnaval was happening. During the evenings the streets were lined with people and music could be heard everywhere. Unfortunately, it seemed like every two minutes you walked down a street you would reach another beer tent. This paints a terrible, but realistic picture for what the main purpose of Carnaval is: to get very, very drunk. The parents would be staggering down the street with their small children in tow. It was so heartbreaking. 
For the Carnaval there were various areas of ministry to be a part of in order to reach out to the people. Evangelism inside the Carnaval gates, outside the gates, prayer intercession, beauty salon and a cafe. I was part of the cafe. We would set up every night from 8:30pm until 1:30am and hand out free coffee. It seems straight forward and lacking in evangelism, but  we had a strategy! We lead people to the tables and two people from the local churches would be at the tables ready to talk about anything with the newcomers. 
At first I was skeptical of this and thought no one would be responsive, but I was definitely very wrong. So many breakdowns and struggles were spoken of. With the use of a translator, my friend and I chatted with a man who had three daughters. All of his daughters were in prison for being drug traffickers. From what he said, the oldest was in her early 20s. That came as such a shock to me and I wanted to help him more but because he was slightly unsafe, we had to remove ourselves from the conversation.

By the end of Carnaval (which lasted around five days) 237 people had accepted Jesus as their Saviour, over 1,000 conversations were held and 4,000 cups of free coffee were handed out. I´m looking forward to Carnaval 2014 and hoping to have the opportunity to return and run a bigger children´s program than the one that was there this year. 

The last few days of Juarez

It´s kind of scary to be almost finished with outreach, especially with all the responsibilities we have this week! My team and I are running the children´s home while the couple in charge goes on a much needed family retreat with his children (one of which is my outreach leader Beca). They all left this morning with their spouses and children for a few days in New Mexico. 
Our day started at 5:30am. We got ready for the day then walked over to Rancho Los Amigos to wake the children up at 6am and help them tidy their rooms, do their hair and put their school uniforms on. By 7:35 all 30+ children were out the door and walking to school. I now have a few hours off until they return at 1pm and the day goes until bedtime at 8pm and then starts again the next day!

A Playground for Rancho
The last topic is....a playground! Here at Rancho the children play outside every day for at least a few hours. Their current play equipment is incredibly inadequate and unsafe. However, since the home is run entirely on donations, they do not have enough money to buy new and sufficient structures. Because of this my team and  I were inspired to raise the funds for a playground for the home. We have located a company in America that builds playgrounds for schools and parks that we are going through to provide for Rancho. In the upcoming weeks we will hopefully have a website showing more information on our endeavor and ways to partner with the home and donate. Our time frame to raise the funds is roughly one year and we are applying for grants and contributing the $800 that was raised by our team members. If you know of any businesses or individuals who would like to be a part of our project please let me know! Mucho Gracias!

Tarahumara Mountains

A lot of people have never heard of Creel, I being one of them. I had to use google to find out where it was before I came here and when I arrived I realised I wasn't going to be staying in Creel, but in a tiny community half an hours drive away. Sierra Tarahumara is the last town name I remember and is still a ways away from here.
Nestled in the Tarahumara Mountains is a cement building where a patient, loving couple work. They have dedicated their lives to following the call that God has for them. They have left their family behind to live among a community of people who are reserved and speak a language that isn't known by many. Spanish is the second language for the indigenious people here and they are not quick to accept outsiders, even those who are Mexican.
Having a team of five caucasian girls and their outreach leaders' family spend two weeks with children of the area was a challenge, but one we accepted. It was difficult at first as the children were incredibly reserved and shy and little progress was made. But as the days progressed they warmed up to us and those adorable, strong children have forever made a place in my heart. I have loved joking around with Leonel and 'surfing' down the pine needle covered hills on sheets of metal all the while greatly enjoying his unabridged laughter.
My team and I shared the joy and love of Jesus with the children by creating a kids carnival for them where they could win prizes and daily presenting Bible stories and crafts. I had the opportunity to tell them about Noah & how trusting God is so important, and the story of Mary and Martha, and how Jesus wants to be our friend. Learning to share simple stories and have them translated was very helpful for my future and was at times challenging, but I wouldn't change a thing about my time here. Difficulties and all, I know we impacted the lives of the children here for the better.
We were also able to spend some quality time with the couple who live here as they aren't around many who know their culture in this remote setting and got to share stories and the goodness of God. Continually we arrive in these places expecting to minister to others, and we do, but mostly the hand of God works in my life. I serve a gracious God who has amazing plans and protects lives.
A man named Dwayne lives among the Mountains here and has faced many run ins with drug dealers who stop him on the road pointing automatic guns at him. God has shielded him from harm numerous times and he is able to continue his work here. Following God can be dangerous, but who is more powerful than He?
Tomorrow I leave for 10 days in Mazatlan & then 6 days back in Jaurez before the journey to Madison starts. I'll update you on the rest of outreach when I'm back in madison, until then. .....

Mexico City

Mexico City has been overwhelming and amazing. The population is incredibly huge and everywhere you turn there is someone speaking Spanish. I can pick out a few words from some conversations but i cant really communicate much. Thankfully our outreach leader, John Stenson, lived in Mexico for six years and is fluent in Spanish so he was the translator when I couldnt understand the other person.

My days were spent at El Pozo De Vida doing workshops with the girls. These girls are all under the age of 18 and were prostitutes. It was so monumental for my team to be able to go into this home and show God's love to these girls. At the workshops i helped teach English for one day and played silly games with them and the second time i was there we baked cookies that the girls sell at church. Our team split up into two groups and we alternated what days we went to see the girls. The days i didnt go to a workshop i was at the home from 9:30pm to 6:00am praying for the girls and the staff there.

Travelling to the home consisted of a long walk through part of town and an hour long bus ride. I learned to navigate this system and make sure Sam and I made it to our destination on time. It was exhausting being surrounded by all the people and all the journeys but so adventurous as well.

Friday all the staff and my team took the girls to a church so we could all play volleyball or soccer. Due to safety reasons the girls arent usually allowed out the premises and its very tricky to let them out. But friday was special. We laughed like crazy and the language barrier wasnt so much of an issue. They touched our lives so much more than they could ever know. I was accepted dor who I am by them immediately and that really boosted my confidence so much. I was sent to minister to the. But these girls truly taught me as well.

Sunday we went to church. Theres something really powerful about singing worship songs in another language. I had an idea of what i was singing sometimes, but mostly i didnt! The trip there was made up of walking, the subway, and a taxi. Life is crazy exciting! I would rather take the bus though. Theres something about travelling underground that im not a fan of.

All together this trip to Mexico city has been life changing. I have loved it. I have done ministry but we also had some fun team times such as running through fountains and random trips to the bakery. It is the little things that counts.

God bless!

Cuidad Juarez!!!

Hello all!

I apologise for the lack of an update. After a 36 hour journey to Cuidad Juarez and a hectic week I've finally found some time. I actually leave soon for the airport to travel to Mexico City, so this might not be the most indepth post.
The day before I left I received all the funds I needed for outreach!!!! Praise God! (However, I continue to need financial support as I stay in the missionary field)
I've spent the week praying for the children's home here and going back and forth to the airport as our flight was repeatedly cancelled due to SNOW IN MEXICO! It is now a reasonable 50 some degrees and it is lovely.
My team and I gradually spent more time interacting with the children and learning some basic spanish phrases. On Friday we did our first 'real ministry time' and made baked goods with the kids and Saturday and Sunday we had 13 hour days that started with waking the chidlren up and putting them to bed at the end of the night.
Sunday we went to church and worshiped Jesus in Spanish! & I had the opportunity of doing a devotional with the little girls.
I actually have to run now because we are leaving for the airport! more updates soon.