El Salvador!

     Our outreach destinations were announced today and God called me to El Salvador! (On this map its the little red country surrounded by Guatemala and Honduras) There are 6 others that will be on my team and two leaders. The rest of my DTS friends will be going to Turkey and I cannot even begin to describe the excitement in the air! Our leadership staff are still praying about what we will be doing there and where exactly we be staying, but they determined that I need $1,475 to get there and I am so blessed to announce that I have enough!!! Thank you all so much for your support! I am so thankful for everything you have done for me and I ask that you will continue to keep me in your prayers! I can't wait to share more stories in the months to come!
    In other news, this week we had Jeff Pratt as our guest speaker and he talked on the father heart of God. I cried every day. Haha. Really truly! I broke myself apart for God and vulnerably and obediently emptied my heart of lies and worldly mindsets and now we are working on filling ourselves with all of his glory! What a powerful week! my favorite learnings were that 1) we can only have as much love for God as we realize he has for us. 2) That He want's to be fully known, not just intellectually, but that its a head AND heart experience. 3) That when we worship God it must be base on his worth, not on how I'm feeling that day. And 4) That spiritual disciplines are how we receive life transforming grace and power that we can't have unless we walk the way Jesus did.
Cool, right?

God is Good, All the Time. All the Time, God is Good.

It's 6:37am and the orange sun is bursting into the little student library where I am sitting. Another great day :)
Last week we had our base director, Lynn Toney, as our speaker. She was incredible! And not to mention one of the funniest people I have ever met! Her lectures focused on fully understanding God's love for us and how to get out of the spiritual fog and into the life He wants us to have. First we had to make up a mission statement for ourselves. This was mine:

Love. I will love. I will recognize being love. Others will recognize my love and seek the same love that was given to me. Seek. I will seek God with my whole heart and soul (Deut. 4:29). I will not be abandoned because my God is a faithful God who keeps his promise of love to a thousand generations (Deut 7:9). Trust. I will trust in God with all my plans for I know that he has a prosperous and hopeful life planned before me (Jer 29:11) I will remember that everything good comes from God (always) and that he has my best interest at heart. Serve. I will serve. I will serve my God by serving others and do so with the joy God gives me and with unconditional enthusiasm. And above all, I will adore and worship my savior and friend.

 The next day she taught us the importance of forgiveness. We learned that forgiveness is simply not forgetting and moving on and it is not waiting for others to ask first or even waiting for feelings TO forgive. It is a choice, and when we ask God to convict us and open our hearts to see what we need to let go of, it is incredible how He will work in our lives. Not only forgiving others for how they wronged us either, but also repenting for holding anger against them in our hearts. It's so freeing when we step out and stop saying "I can't" and start saying "I will." We also learned how to differentiate our own thoughts and what God is trying to tell us and also how to tell the difference between condemnation (from the evil spirit) and conviction (from God's Spirit). My favorite acronym was B.U.S.Y. (Being Under Satan's Yoke) and we learned to live free of our burdens by taking Jesus' yoke (Matt 11:28-30). Lastly we talked about fear and how perfect love from God drives out all fear (1 John 4:18) and how to receive that love. Basically, everyone cried all week (good crying though). There is a difference in everyones posture this week. God is moving and transforming our lives... our speaker this week is Jeff Pratt and our first lecture was yesterday and he already had everyone crying before the first break. Haha. I love YWAM.

Study, Study, Study!

Hello all!
Last week was our first week of lectures. Our speaker was Jon Peterson from Snowqualmie, WA. He taught us how to effectively use our Bibles to obtain greater understanding and to build our relationship with God. He taught us the importance of context and how to ask three questions every time we open the Word.
First was WHAT (to find the historical context and to read through the passage to comprehend the general purpose of it's placement in the Bible. We were taught to first seek to recognize and understand who the original audience was and what the original author intended for the original audience to get from the passage)
Second was SO WHAT (to apply the knowledge gained to our own lives and seek its meaning in how we ought to live our lives)
Lastly was NOW WHAT (to put into action our new knowledge and understandings)

Each day we were asked to read the book of John in a different way, followed by a 10 question quiz the next morning. We were told that whoever was first to get a perfect score would receive the "Pen or Power" (a 4-color changeable pen to use for Bible marking) and that if the entire class got a perfect score the same day that he would treat us all to DandE's ice-cream (the best ice cream in San Pedro... and the world). We had to read it all the way through 5 times! Forwards, backwards, in a different translation, prayerfully, and out loud in groups, which a few of my friends and I decided to sing improv style passing around a guitar and our lyrics book (John) and singing in several different genres (country, folk, rap, and tribal drumming). It was quite a challenge to read it through the very last time, but my entire class got 10/10 the last day and we were rewarded our promised prize! What a great accomplishment! Jon also taught us the difference between existence and life. What a revelation. It would take me about 5 days to explain it all though :)

When I had a gap of time between studying, forcing myself through John for the millionth time, chores and cooking, I enjoyed exploring the island more. The people of Belize are beautiful and kind. They speak English and accept US currency (with a $1 BZ to $2 US ratio). I went biking on the road to town (about 5 miles away) and rode on the beach the way home. I only fell down in the sand 6 or 7 times :) So embarrassing. Almost every day I make time to explore the reef too by kayaking as close as I can get and snorkeling around. I have some great underwater pictures, but our internet is iffy here so I will have to wait until I get into town to post some.

Other than that, things are going incredibly well! God is moving here and we are all going through some major heart-surgery. I can't wait to tell you about all the amazing things that happen in weeks to come! Thank you again for your support. I am always in need of more donations and prayer. Anything helps. Miss you all!

Under The Sea...

Today was our first official day under the sea! For those of you who don't know, I was certified with PADI during 11th grade (in chilly Puget Sound) and I am the only girl in my program that has a head start. OH MY GOODNESS... what a difference 80' water makes!!! We spent about 30 minutes in the pool being instructed over the basics (it was FREEZING!) and then we went straight out to "Mexico Rocks," a five minute boat ride away under about 10-15 feet of water. It felt like bathtub water after being used to the cooler pool water. I was so amazed that everyone else got to actually do it on the FIRST day! I had to do so much bookwork before I was unleashed 3 years ago! According to our base director and dive instructor, Chris Toney, the other girls should all be certified in about a week! So cool! Chris' son (and my good friend) Cameron and I are working on becoming rescue divers in these 3 months. How cool would that be?

The Adventure Begins!

 After 4 different flights, and one water taxi ride... I finally made it to Belize! I couldn't have made it here without all of your help and I am greatly appreciative!! It feels like a sauna here and the water is so warm! I love the other students here too. This is a smaller school with only 15 students total (diving and sailing) and 7 in my program which are all girls!! How fun, right? We each got settled into our own little rooms with two beds and our own bathrooms and my roomate's name is Lucilla and she has lived her whole life in San Pedro just 5 miles down the coast! I am constantly asking her so many questions and showing her my bugbites and asking her if I have Malaria... she's great :) This first week is orientation week so we are learning about the acedemic requirements and regulations of the DTS and I am so excited for it all to really begin! More to come later, but I am limited on my internet time when at the base, but I will probably use one of the computers at an internet cafe in town sometime later this weekend. Hope you all are doing well. Miss you already!

7 Days of Impatience.

      I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and that the first few days of the New Year have been treating you well! My mother gave me one of those wonderful super-absorbant/speedy-drying towels for Christmas and I am so excited to use it. Also, I did a trial pack and everything fits pretty well in my backpack!
       As much as I love Winter in the Northwest, I am also very excited for the 90' weather in Belize! I fly out Monday Night from Seatac to Houston and then to Belize City where I will take a smaller Airplane to Ambergris Caye (San Pedro) and arrive at the Base somewhere around 1:00pm the next day. Prayers for safe travels for me and the other students that day would be appreciated. I am blessed to announce that I have enough funds to pay the second fee for my lecture phase due on the 11th. I do however still need to pay for my Outreach by the middle of February. I know it will be somewhere between $1,275 and $3,275 (depending on which country we decide to travel to). If you feel led to support me financially, I am accepting checks VIA mail (made out to my name and sent to 2205 Henry St. Bellingham, WA 98225) or through PayPal (see "donate" button on right side of page). Absolutely anything helps and I will still be accepting donations even after I leave the states. This trip would not be possible without all of your support and I thank everyone for all of the donations and encouragement I have been recieveing. God is good!

One Month and Counting...

Can you Belize it??
I have just about all of the items I need for the next 5 months and the cost of the plane ticket out of the way, but now I am focusing all funds on my school payments. Thank you for all the support I have been recieving! Tonight I am submitting the first half of the payment for my lecture phase and all of your donations have certainly lightened that load! I still have a long way to go to reach my goal, but I trust that God will provide for my needs with his timing. I hope you all are doing well and that I will be able to see you all before I leave on January 11th. Thank you again for all of your support.