How It All Began...

            I first began considering Youth With a Mission (YWAM) last summer when I had a conversation with Cameron Toney about his experience with the organization. He told me about the YWAM base in Belize that his family started and his enthusiasm inspired me. That night I went home and did some research online and came up with two realizations. One, that I really wanted to take a part in global ministry, and two, that there was an overwhelming number of Descipleship Training Schools (DTS) across the world. So many in fact that I became disheartened in knowing where to begin. I prayed to God for direction and my prayers were answered when I went to Creation Festival a few months later. It was there that among all of the other merchants and college recruiters that I glimpsed from afar a large poster that stated "YWAM Destination Paradise" in large letters. It was one of those classic movie moments where the crowd parted and I moved forward in a zombie like state to the booth where I confronted the student recruiters saying... "Tell me EVERYTHING!" I quickly realized that they were from the same base that the Toney's ran, what were the chances!? They described their experiences and gave me the information that I was searching for and prayed for my planning process. I expressed my desires to my family and although my mother was rather uneasy about my passion to venture the depths of the sea and my father was concerned about different health hazards, here I am a year later in the middle of my application process with my family's full support behind me and I couldn't be more excited. Now comes the long 4 months of fundraising and growing anticipation!