A Journey Blog

I am so amazed that it is already the last week of DTS lecture. The past 3 months have FLOWN by. We are on our 12th week of teaching, closing out the lecture phase with a teaching on, wouldn't ya know it, MISSIONS! Our base director is sharing the importance of going to the unreached, the people who have no access to the Gospel. It amazes me that there are still billions of people in this world who have not heard that Jesus is Lord, even once. Every time I hear about the unreached, I become more passionate about seeing them hear about the good news of Jesus. About 43% of people have never heard...43%! To see this stat and more go to: http://joshuaproject.net/ On December 31st all three teams from the DTS will be heading to their respective countries. I will be flying out with my team to Taiwan! We will be in Taiwan most of the trip then we will go to China for the last few weeks. I am excited to see what God does in both of these countries. Please pray for eac...

About 2,000 years ago a messenger from God, an angel, appeared to a virgin girl named Mary and informed her that she would be pregnant. Confused, she asked, "How can this be? I've never been with a man!" But the angel told her that she would be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. So she put her faith in what the angel said and in what the Lord would do. (Luke 1:26-38 paraphrase) And so began the story of Jesus coming to earth. It seems simple. A nice story. A story that has been on repeat every Christmas since you were a child. But it's not just a story, but truth. The truth about a girl, most likely a teenager, who gave up everything in order to honor God's plan. Think about it. Mary was betrothed to Joseph, an honorable, righteous man. Back in the day, betrothed wasn't just a fancy word for engaged. It meant the guy and girl were legally bound together. So it's like the marriage before the marriage. Essentially, it would have looked like she comm...

I'm in the 8th week of staffing the DTS. It's unreal to think that we only have 4 weeks of the school left before outreach. God has done some amazing things in the lives of the students, giving them liberty and showing them His love. I thank God for the opportunity to see them grow! They have been raising the money for both their outreach and lecture phase of the school, which adds up to $7000. I love seeing God provide for them in miraculous ways, from large sized checks to donations from unexpected people. It's a test of faith to believe for every cent of the school to be paid, but in that test is a growth of faith! This week the students are learning about relationships from my pastor here, Sean Yost. His teaching is something that is profound and practical. I had the same teaching in my DTS, but I'm still learning and growing in this area. Relationships are something we never stop growing in. Jesus boiled everything in the Law and the Prophets down to Love God, ...

  Here are a few pics from my adventure on staff with YWAM. I am loving getting to know these amazing students!           Being crazy with a couple awesome students.   My outreach team!   YWAM DTS Fall 2013 Visiting Acts Two Church             Continue to pray for these students as they learn more about Jesus. I have the incredible privilege to watch them grow. :)

Hey everyone! I am beginning my journey as staff for Youth With a Mission Jacksonville. The discipleship training school is in the second week and we have 27 smiling new faces! I am so excited and blessed to be able to pour into these students. My job is to be a support to the students, to answer their questions and guide them along in their journey in the school. I have 5 people that I am personally mentoring one-on-one on a weekly basis. I also have a couple small groups that I meet with to help them  process what they are learning. I am growing tremendously in leadership and confidence. God has shown me more about what He has gifted me with and helping me realize and grow in those gifts. While the students are learning, I am learning as well! Prayer Points -Wisdom and discernment in mentoring students -For the students to grow in their relationship with the Lord -I am in need of about $1,000 in monthly support

I can't believe I'm already into my 4th week of Phase II! I have enjoyed being around many of my DTS friends, including 5 people who were on my outreach team. I have also loved getting to know some people who were not in my DTS. Everyone here is like family. Living in community is so important and precious to me. I learn so much more and I always feel I have a support system of people with the same passions and experiences. Community was important to Jesus and to the early church, so it must be important to us! The first week we learned about the foundational values of YWAM and some of the covenants YWAM leaders have made over the years. It was good to learn more about what I'm involved in and the passions of the leaders who have gone before me. Why get involved if I don't have the same passion? It's exciting to be a part of an organization that is so passionate about reaching the world. The second week was about inductive Bible study, something super familiar to ...

Here I am finally on here once again! I had an incredible time on outreach and met some amazing people. Being able to share Jesus in a nation where Jesus' name is hardly ever spoken is such an incredible experience. I got to share my passion with others and it is so natural! Sharing Jesus should be like that. I think that's one thing I learned about being in a country where you absolutely have to do relationship evangelism. If you're living for Christ, talking about Him is inevitable. If people ask me about my passions, my futures plans, even if I'm dating anyone, it all comes back to God! I want my life to be completely dependent on His heart and His plans. If I'm doing that, being Christ to people and sharing Jesus with them should be the easy part. Granted it not always is easy and it's easier preached than practiced, but that's a part of learning to follow God and His heart. So, you may be wondering what's next for me. You probably are since almo...

This DTS has been incredible. I've made some amazing friends, grown exponentially in my walk with God, and had an all around amazing time. The week on the Holy Spirit a couple weeks ago was one of my favorite weeks. It was the last week of lecture with a speaker from outside our base. I thought I'd seen and done everything involving the Holy Spirit, which of course was very wrong. God really encountered me and told me to focus on Him instead of my past and what I've done. My knowledge of Him has gone from just knowing about Him to really knowing Him and His heart. That was something that God taught me all throughout this DTS. So now it's off to Asia!! The first part of DTS is done and now it's time to go and spread the joy and the freedom we've received. God has set us free from our past, taught us how to hear Him, and given us more revelation of His heart. We have learned so much, yet what we've learned has not been given to us so we can keep silent. We l...

Hey everyone! So last week was pretty incredible. Our topic was on Biblical restoration and it was a challenging one! We learned about the Father heart of God and His incredible character. But not only that, we were taught the importance of forgiveness. This is often a very hard topic for many people, even if they have lived their entire lives as Christians. Often when people hurt us we desire to hold it against them, but we also hold on to the hurt that goes along with it. We justify our want not to forgive, but in the end we are hurting ourselves more than helping ourselves. Matthew 6:15 says that if we do not forgive others God will not forgive us! That's a statement that goes to the heart of there ever was one! Sounds like forgiveness is pretty important, no? Well, why? Why should we forgive? As I said earlier, it hurts us. God won't forgive us. And it frees us. So wait, it frees us? When we don't forgive we hold ourselves in bondage to the other person's of...

It's been so long since I've written and so much has happened! I have loved being here in Jacksonville, getting to know the students and staff at the YWAM base. Everyone has been so amazing and I appreciate and love them so much! There's a unity here that's so unique :) I have 5 roommates in one large room. It's been a little crazy and we all have very different personalities, but we get along really well. All of us have had a chance to minister to each other and pour love into each other. When we are being stretched in class or in quiet time, all of us are able to support one another. I also have the chance to share what God is doing in my life with Courtney, one of the women on staff here. All the students have one-on-one time with one of the staff and Courtney is the one I get to hang out with! We are the same age and it's fun to get to know her as well as process what God is doing here. So what is God doing? SO MUCH! In the beginning of the DTS a h...

Hi! I'm writing this from the YWAM base in Jacksonville Beach! :) I've been here for about 3 days and it's already been amazing. I've met some amazing people and really feel like I love everyone here already :) God has also been working in my heart from the very beginning. At first, I was so unsure about being here and if this was God's plan for me, but God confirmed in me this is definitely where I am supposed to be. I don't have to do the work that was God's in the first place! I try so hard to please Him sometimes that I end up not feeling confident whatever I do. But I know now through some people here that God's working and He's going to guide me. YWAM DTS is so different than anything I've been involved with before. I am being totally immersed in the challenge and the privilege to grow in relationship with the Lord. I am more excited now, being here, than before I came! I'm excited to see God work in my entire winter class her...