Anybody feeling the Spirit?

As you all know, my school here is very multicultural. We have students from; Madagascar, Korea, Malaysia, China, Germany, America, England, Canada, Mexico, El Salvador, and Guatemala. We have all heard God's call and have stepped out in faith to be here in YWAM for performing arts. Some people were financially stable to come here and others we not.

I was very blessed to have the funds needed to be here. Unfortunately other students did not have the same ease I did in the areas of fiance. Some students have lecture fees, but not outreach fees and vis versa.

We all know and believe that God designed our school for this specific time and season. We all want to be here and are trusting in God to provide the rest. I humbly ask for your prayers. That God would affirm our desire to serve and keep us all here. In a few weeks people that have to paid fully will be asked to leave. I believe this is not God's best for us. After prayer if you are feeling a call to help us then please move. we need around $5,000 to stay together!


If you go to www.ywamsandiegobaja.org...you will see on the bottom right corner a section labeled "donations and payment" from there you choose the "make a contribution" button. You simply follow the instructions listed. Under the section entitled "Your payment is for..." Please pick, "Tuition payment or product purchases" and underneath you can explain the donation is for the IMP School in general concerning outreach and lecture fees.

First pray! Thank you for reading and praying for us it is highly apperciated!

Thank you Lord for Saturday!

Man I am so tired we have been dancing at least 6 hours everyday. Our teachers are professionals so we are being pushed so hard and it is really paying off. No we are not perfect, but we are giving it our all and I believe God will do great things with us artistically on outreach. Still no word on where we might go...

I have been hearing a lot about listening to God. Hearing the small still voice. I was encouraged to pray and not just speak to God about My future, My problems, My fears, My joys, but to listen and spend more time praying for others and especially the lost. I have not been diligent in praying for people who do not know the Lord. I have been caught up in school work and dance moves that I not taken a minute to remember I am doing this so someone later may see Christ reflected in our work. Do you pray for the Lost? Are you now Lost?

The body is just a vessle for the Spirit

I have had so much go on in the last few days. Our amazing speaker Mary Jane went back to Tennessee and she is deeply missed. She brought us so much hope about redeeming the arts for Gods glory.

I also found out I have a fungus in my scalp. I feel like God is teaching me a lot about myself as He tends to do when I am in YWAM. Over the past maybe two years I have gone under many physical issues; I was misdiagnosed/healed from a sickness, I had to have surgery on my foot, I had lice for a while without knowing it and because I had it so bad it came back a few times, and now I am itching violently because of a fungus from who knows where…. Along with these physical issues I have always been very critical of my body and how I view my appearance. Those of you closest to me are well aware of my self confidence issues and may I take a moment to apologize because it is such a waste of time. So all this is happening and I have felt clarity about all the illness I have had.

It seems that God has been teaching me, yes it is important to take care of my body but physically I need to be less critical. I need to stop believing the lies that I look fat, old, or that I am too tall… the list goes on. I have struggled so deeply with these lies and I am really seeing how it is disagreeing with God. He created me and he dose not make junk. I have been continually sinning against him by my thoughts attitudes, and the attention I have spent analyzing myself.

I had a leader of mine pray over me last Friday. I was very stressed out about the media work, completing my assignments, working on my art project, balancing a full day schedule, and on top of it having a fungus that may spread. So my leader was praying and I was reminded of a time I prayed on DTS and it was very sincere and real. Basically I had a prayer time and felt that God sees me as a purple flower. That I am God beloved flower in His garden, He looks on me with love and sees the beauty he gave me. Having that memory really tied all this together. I feel He is teaching me to love Him more and in turn love myself more. I am His. I started to feel bad because I have wasted a lot of time and energy on being really hard on myself, but this is not about living in the past it is about changing the future and the Lord is showing me how to be comfortable in my own skin.

On the school side of things are teachers are so amazing we have about 6 hours of dancing a day and we have learned a dance to the Mary Mary song “shackles”. It is really fun dancing for the lord and doing it well. Hopefully I can put a video up soon but I need permission first. Please pray for the team we are all being pushed this week and we are all growing in different ways, the people who don’t dance are a little discouraged, but standing strong.

Again, thank you for reading!

Your Dream!

We have an amazing speaker with us this week. Her name is Mary Jane Miller and she is speaking on acting and teaching us techniques in pantomime and editing scripts. She is courageous and spoke primarily today on what are dreams in life may be.

We all have a dream whether or not we know now what it is. God is leading us towards it or we have a foundation in knowing the things we love to do, the things we feel created to do, whatever your dream may be I hope you read this and feel encouraged.

we are all unique and along with that we each have a unique dream. Many people have decided not to pursue their dream and say that it is now too late. Let me say this; Never ever is it too late to stop what you are doing and answer the longing in your heart to pursue your passion. Our God is loving, he would not give you a desire and passion to then take it away. Things will never happen instantly. We have to struggle to get where God has placed us, it makes us ready and capable to fulfill His will.

I was so inspired by this today. I don't know if I have a specific dream yet, but I do know this. I love to perform either dance, drama, or music. I love kids of all ages and levels of development. I desire to have a family. I love camp. Now I don't have a specific dream that incorporates all these things, but I will continue to practice and work at these passions. God has given you a passion and a talent. To not practice and fall into the ordinary of this world is dishonoring the giver of your gift. So go back to what you love. I am not saying to abandon your responsibilities. You are where you are now for a reason and God has blessed it, but to be doing what you love, what you were created for, is God's best.

I hope this is making sense. I just know a lot of people who feel stuck or feel like they are not serving God. You can serve God anywhere, but you can also make the choice to follow the passion He has placed in your heart. I hope you are blessed and that you leave the mediocre and choose His Will, the love and talent He put into your heart is there for a reason. If you let it pass by I have good news; It hasn't passed. You can always change, it may not be your original dream, but it will be close. I pray He blesses you and enriches your life with His Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 1;26-29


26 Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

Christ is our redemption. Do what He has made you to love. The worlds opinion is worthless. God uses the unlikely.

A quick Overview

Well, it has been a nice weekend. I have officially been in Ensenada a week. God has already blessed my relationships here and at home. I feel a little scrambled but I have a lot I want to share.

I have really been depending on God for patience. Their is a wide variety of cultures mixing here, along with a variety of personalities. Please pray for me in that. I need to relax. But, the families on the base have some adorable Mexican children. I hang out with them whenever I can and I seem to be on the same level of communication as they are. I can speak to the children in Spanish, but I sometimes get stuck when trying to follow the adults. I went on a walk on the beach yesterday and it was so peaceful. It made me really happy to be in a world free of talking just my ipod, the sea, and me. The tide was out so I could walk in a shallow part of the sand. I meet a nice older man walking his dog. We had a short conversation and I believe he is a christian. Our communication lacked a little because I couldn't follow his quick Spanish. But, we parted with a handshake and went about our days. I also saw a lot of families on the beach having picnics of playing in the sand. It was really great. I walked on the beach later that day with my friend Wenji. We had a nice time but we were offered drugs at the end of our walk. we decided it is better to go with more people or earlier in the day.

Our first speaker is teaching on theater. I am very much looking forward to see what skills I have retained from my past experience in this discipline of the arts. We have several projects and weekly assignment and one of them is to create an artistic piece. it can be a dance drama or song. I really am worried because this whole project is about listening to God and I don't know how much is my own influence and not being open to the Lord to show me what to do. This is a hard part in having faith. I have to listen to God and honestly sometimes I don't know if I am hearing from Him or it's me.

Class has begun

Today we had our first full day! Our schedule is going to be quite packed in in the next three months we will be spending approximately 105 hours in the dance studio! We also have weekly journals, presentations, book reports, and a big final project. I am sure I will have to make up a dance and that is a scary thought. But, I over and over again learn that in my weakness He is strong.

I also feel a lot closer to my fellow students. There are a few people that joke a lot and I cannot tell whether or not they are just that way, or they don't like me. Oh well, I will just keep being nice and pray for a change.

We had a discussion on cross cultural experiences and talked about all the different nations that tell jokes and dislike other countries. It was interesting to hear what stereotypes were sometimes true and false about different countries. I challenge you to be more aware of teasing another place or people group. I know for me I realized it was quite prevalent back home. Jokes about peoples customs, gender, or race are really disrespectful to the Lord and the different nations he has created.

on a lighter note, I have found a great little spot for some dancing and worship time. We have a rooftop with a nice tall railing so I have gone up there a few times to be a lone and get some sunshine. It is actually quite cold here and we are in a shaded area. I am rocking the layers all the time!

We saw a video about the Masters of Beauty Ministry or MBM. This group is our staff for the school here in Mexico they came all the way from Hong Kong to lead the school. My roommate Sandrina also showed me a really cool dance. I am going to post it on my facebook later, if you have time check it out I thought it was really nice.

Town Pictures

These are some areas of the surrounding 4 to 5 miles we walked this morning. It is really similar to Jamaica which has given me this awesome feeling of being at home in some ways.

Made it!

Wow ok I have been in Mexico for less than a day and I am already seeing God's Hand. I guess I will back up to the departure...

I went to the airport and said goodbye to my loved ones. I did surprisingly well until it was time to say goodbye to Brooks (My incredible boyfriend). We both knew it would be significantly difficult to say goodbye for 5 months, but nothing could have prepared me. I was hugging him before the security line and I just felt my heart collapse. It was so hard to trust God and turn the corner out of sight.

I spent the first plane ride off and on crying and listening to music brooks had made me from some of our jam sessions and his beautiful solo work. I made it to my next connecting flight with easy, but still accompanied by a few tears as I was able to have one last phone call with Brooks.

I then caught my next flight and was San Diego bound. I, in the window seat and an older gentleman sat beside me. I don't know about you but sometimes I travel alone and just close off into myself. I am not really chatty with people and let my ipod make me unapproachable, but this flight was very different.

About 30 mins into the flight they offer complementary snacks and drinks. I again picked the yummy delta gingersnaps and slowly began eating. A little later the man next to me asked if I wanted anything else, he was offering to pay for my lunch. I kindly said no and went back to the cookies, water, and ipod. While I was slowly chewing and making every bite count the man next to me put a sandwich on my tray. It was certain he wanted to feed me, so I took off the headphones and said thank you. We then shared and meal and the reasons we were headed to San Diego. I explained about YWAM and my final destination being Ensenada, and he told me he was from Boston going to a protein conference because he worked in the drug administration. He told me of some travels he had done, and we talked about the importance of traveling alone. He thought he would be looking forward to the solo trip because he traveled that way in his youth, but now that he had a family it was much more enjoyable with them at his side, expensing the adventure together. I shared his feeling, that conversation was more confirmation that this is my last solo mission experience.

We flew over the Grand Canyon, and made random moments of small talk until parting on our California destination. I wished him a blessed visit and he sent me some good luck and safety. I then walked through the airport and felt the warm sun through the windows! I headed to the baggage claim and picked up my bags.

As I was waiting then man from the plane approached me asking, "Do you need money for your trip?" I replied, “If you would like to give you are welcome. I can give it away." He then handed me 40 dollars. We introduced ourselves and parted ways. What an awesome encounter? So with 40 extra dollars in my pocket I was picked up by one of my leaders Brain and a fellow student named Paul. We spent some time and San Diego and learned more about one another. It is really cool how this school was a dream for them and now it is happening for the first time in Mexico. We picked up another student from China and drove that night to Ensenada; the base in San Diego is more of an office than an actual facility. We arrived really late and I met a few people from my school. I have 4 other roommates and two of them were already here. I know this is bad but one is from Hong Kong and the other Madagascar and I can't remember how to say their names, but its ok I will pick up on it I hope. Until then I have to be really direct about who I am speaking to.

It was really cool this morning because the girl from Madagascar was telling me about how it was so insane to pay for her flight and asking if I wanted to go on a trip to town with her so she can pay a bill and sight see. I have not taken a single picture so we are going later today with one of our leaders. I told her my story about the man on the flight and asked if I could give her the 40 dollars, she said yes and shared a testimony with me.....

She really wanted to be at this school and was really worried about the money to get here, until the Lord spoke to her in a dream. She was dreaming that the Lord Jesus was standing in front of her holding her hand and she could feel His hand and the peace from it. The lord asked her why she feared money, then he showed her a picture of a lion seated in a field with tall grasses blowing in the wind, she felt peace and the next morning decided to answer the call, not fear money, and do everything to make it to Ensenada. She trusted God and I am so glad the man on the plane gave so I could give and she could be encouraged that she did the right thing and know that money doesn’t matter... let me say that again MONEY DOSN'T MATTER.


So yes it has been less than a day, but the lord is working. I plan to post a few pictures from our trip into town today. Thank you for reading and praying.

God Bless

Just a few Days!

Wow, God has made so much possible for me to go back into Youth With A Mission. I have had a lot of fun and exciting challenges over this past week. It is really hard to leave for a long time when you have such a big group of family and supporters, I didn't get to say goodbye to everyone, but hope they all know how grateful I am. God has blessed me so much that he always keeps me humble. I know the money going with me is not mine, but His, the things we will do don't deserve credit from us, but Him. I am excited for the blessings and growth that will take place in my own heart, and hopeful I may be used to clearly display the gospel in any situation. I want to go to see people accept the Lord, and hopefully become more devoted to Him in my own heart.

the only thing left to do is pack. You know how packing for the beach or a week long trip can be exciting? Well packing for 5 months is Stressful. You never know what exactly you need to wear especially when you have never been to the place your traveling, but again God gave me all the things I needed so I am sure He will pack the same way.

I am unsure if it's because of stress or what, but I seem to be developing a sore throat so if you find some time please pray I am 100% by Sunday I really don't want to travel and be feeling this ill, but I'm sure if I am God will use it for His Glory. thank you again for reading and praying. The next time I blog I will be in San Diego!

He is so Good!


Oh and I wanted to let those reading know about my new mail address! Letters are fun and it is a really cool way to stay in touch!

YWAM San Deigo/Baja
Ashley Guilday - IPM Ensenada
100 West 35th Street, Suite C
National City, CA 91950
USA