Computer...

So this week marks a change in our school. We are now focused on the media portion of the school. We spend about 3 to 4 hours a day using photoshop and other tools for design. Please pray, we have many people that are first time users and we are all trying to adjust to the new programs, plus I really miss dancing and being active. But, we are learning the importance of profession design in the mission field and how being professional is important when sending a message. We all look forward to using these skill in other areas of life as well. It is amazing how much we can do to an image without having really expensive tools.

Our school is half way through, six weeks to go, and we have begun to also focus on the outreach portion. Outreach is an option for the school, but we would like to see everyone attend, this makes our team more powerful especially in our stage presence. There are several possibilities for outreach; Chile, Dominican Republic, Cuba, and possibly Haiti. We know we will be in more than one country during outreach so we will be hopefully booking flights next week. Personally I am all for Chile. I have always had a special interest in that country. I think God has a great sense of humor. Our school originally was planning to travel to Asia for outreach. I have such a passion to visit and minister in the eastern part of the world, but during prayer the Lord lead in a different direction. And funny enough most of those directions were in the Caribbean. Not that I am not super excited to be back in the Caribbean but I was hoping to see more of the world. it is so interesting where we may be taken. We all know God has big plans for us.

The Lord has granted us so much favor and power especially in the area of prayer. We have been praying for people to be healed, and it has happened, we have been praying for relationships and they are healed, we are praying for finances and we are confident the rest will come. I am learning so much about how important prayer is, especially for different countries, like America.

Being here has allowed me to see the United States from an outsiders perspective once again. I realize how many things really distract me there. Our country is so blessed and so very rich compared to the rest of the world. Not that technology is bad, but it has the potential. After not sending a text for two months I can safely say I don't miss being attached to my phone. It should be used to bless and not text about gossip. I realized how I text sometimes out of frustration instead of using it to be a way to pass along prayer or an encouraging word. I ask you, what are you using to waste time that you could be using to further God's kingdom? I know for me I am seeing all the silly idols I have in life. God honors our obedience, so maybe write a note or make someone dinner, or change the way you see the things you enjoy, how can you bless someone?

Here is a picture of our beach outside of our base. Most of our weekends are spent doing homework, but we made it a point to venture out and see more of Mexico. I had a great peace fall over me before I took this, I hope it transfers to you too.

Waiting, Hoping, Wishing, Thinking

So I am going to keep giving you all my journal as an update from this week. We had these amazing teacher Jeff and Natalie. They spend there life teaching people how to dance and training up teams to travel the world and bring the gospel through the arts. It was such a joy to be around them and to learn from them. I have been praying a lot for people back home, a guy in my grad class committed suicide, so I have been praying for his family especially, also for my church. I feel there are some areas that need growth there but are not being nurtured. I also am learning a lot about waiting on God and trying to remember that his plan is so much better than my own. I have had a lot of ideas and exciting thoughts about my future so all in all I need to surrender my own ways, but that is just a little of what is on my heart, here is my weekly breakdown.



New – I learned a lot about the Levites this week and the great things God had them do in the bible. I never heard to story for Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 20. In this the Levites go before the soldiers’ going to battle, God calls them to dance and praise Him before the victory happens. God promises victory to His people and they honor Him and believe Him by giving Him praise before He actually fulfills his word. The worshipers of God were put on the front line. I always like hearing Old Testament stories from different perspectives. Jeff and Natalie also taught in a really unique way. They almost did dance, preaching, and words of affirmation in one. They praise God and apply His word and ways to the time they are teaching dance. They don’t separate lecture and studio time they combined them together making dance a really intense worship experience. I was moved this week during dance and open to worship freely while learning the movement and praising God all at once. It was an awesome experience they have such a passion and joy for God.

Confirmation- I was so encouraged by Jeff and Natalie and the passion they have for the Lord. When Natalie spoke on Thursday she confirmed several things for me. I have been growing in my quiet time and I always want that to me more of a priority in my life at home. I think it is so important to have that time alone with God seeking only Him and not having the distractions that are at home. Natalie confirmed the importance of time with God in her testimony about how she moved to California and really grew in her knowledge of the Lord and was strengthened in her relationship with Him. I believe God is doing that in me now, but I still need to me searching harder and spending more time in His presences. I don’t have the responsibilities of home around me know and I believe that is so I will not be distracted from pursuing a better devotional time with the Lord.


Practical- Something I have wanted to work on is my mindset during dance. Jeff and Natalie are both very different but they praise God with there movement and they take the time to explain how movement can be a representation of scripture. I want to apply this to my final project I want my movement to clearly show what God has done in me. This week has encouraged me to be more diligent in my dance moves for my project. There is a part in my dance where I begin to realize I am caught in Sin I want to find movements that clearly show my struggle and pain.


YWAM Value 2- The base here has an amazing Homes of Hope project. Not only do they build homes for families but they share the gospel while blessing others. Many times the team puts up a house in 2 days and is able to share the gospel and lead people to Christ. They are not only making God know through creating housing, but through building relationships with the families in need and explaining what YWAM is all about, making God known to His people. I would really like for our class to be apart of the building process on weekend before we leave. I think it would be awesome way to bless and be apart of something that would partner us more with the base here in Ensenada.

Personally- I am doing well. I was so moved and motivated by Jeff and Natalie. They spoke so much encouragement to me about dance and worship. They were both understanding and challenging. I liked that we did a little acting in our dance about “Lust, Witchcraft, Greed, and Anger. I like these theatrical dances we have for our team. I also really feel like we are to go to Chile on outreach I don’t know why, but I have always had a special place for that country in my heart. I am excited to focus on outreach too. I am a nit nervous about the media weeks of the school. I like to be up and moving so I may get fidgety but I know I have so much to learn with work on the computer so it will be fun to create at a more professional level that way. I was really blessed by the devotional that Lizzie presented the other morning. She spoke about having confidence in God and I know I lack in that area, on of my prayer request is too stop over analyzing my body.

Journal excerpt

So Each week we have to create a journal. It not only has to meet the written requirements, but the media technique is also held to a certain standard. We have to answer various questions about the weeks topic and speaker and then create a design to express an artistic approach on our past lesson. Our leaders have asked we not share the media portion of the journal, but I thought a great way to inform my supporters is to share the written portion.....


Confirmation- Our school has been taught a lot about our gifts/talents/dreams. I feel as though each speaker has encouraged us to follow God and continue working on the raft he has given us. This was again confirmed in Randall’s teaching, on Monday he opened his talk explaining about how God will excel us when we not only practice, but accept the gifts he has given us. This is really one of the bigger foundational lessons in our school. I was also confirmed in the fact that God has blessed me with dance abilities, when our team met together to practice the material from the mentor crew I had not forgotten. This was really exciting I want to continue to honor our teachers, and God allowed me to do that and encourage me about hip hop dance technique.

New- I feel as though I learned some new technique, but mostly I feel I have gained an entirely new look on the spiritual side of God’s thoughts towards the arts. Our speaker Randall clearly has God’s anointing over his life’s work. I love that Randall not only has an amazing testimony, but he also really knows and studies the bible. One thing Randall helped me to see is God’s desire to bless. In Psalm 23 it talks about how God prepares a table before us. Randall emphasized how God wants us to partake of the blessings he has made. He does not want us to suffer for no reason. He is our father and wants to see us blessed and happy. Sometimes I get caught up in sacrificing to God for the sake of sacrificing. I don’t believe God wants us to live that way. He simply asks us to follow and receive at His prompting. It was also interesting learning mime techniques. I would have liked more focus on that area, but I found it really neat learning how to imitate fire with our hands ands how to move our arms as water. Dan taught us different ways to move our hands and how to create different actions through pulsing our bodies. I feel like a small child in the world of dance, I am having so much fun. I feel like a child with a new doll to play with.

Practical- One teaching that really felt practical for here in now is Randall thoughts on the contents of art. Art does not have to be religious to have Christian value. God created all things and gives us the ability to create works of art that go outside the boundaries of nature. One way I can see this is in our dances. Our dance is this week was about the four elements; earth, wind, fire, and water. Those things alone are not necessarily Christina topics, but God created them and we can use our dance to represent His creation, and not praise the creation itself, but the creator. This one of the ways we are free to open our art forms instead of having someone play Jesus in all our dances and dramas.

YWAM Value 10- We had a great chance to function I in a team this week. Our speaker gave us homework where we had to create 2 minutes if dance where we reflected and represented “wind.” We had a team of 5 people and about an hour to create. We had some disagreements and varying opinions of what moves to do, but in the end it worked out. We did forget one of our formations, but as team we felt more comfortable creating after the exercise was over. It was challenging when someone had an idea but the other team members did not agree, but we all were humbled and came together in something we were unfamiliar with and that clearly demonstrates YWAM’s value of teamwork.

Personally- I am feeling much better than I did at the beginning of the week. I had a great talk with Faby about some of the things I am processing at the moment. I have noticed a lot of frustration in me lately. I think I am in survival mode so I just want to succeed at the school and I sometimes am not taking the time in prayer before I do things. I want to think more about God in what I do throughout the day, especially in dance. I want to be able to pray and dance at the same time. The more comfortable I get with the movement, the easier it will be to speak and hear from the lord while in motion.

Been a while

Well a lot has gone on in the past week...

Our Amazing speakers from the Mentor Crew left last week. We all fell in love with them, they were like our parents. They showed us so much about discipline and dance. They were really unique people. Above is Silver and Joyce and myself. I hope God plans for us to reunite on day. I look up to the way they are a married couple serving God with their talents. I think that is the theme of our school. To serve God in the best way you can and to keep training yourself in your talent.

This week we are focusing on more modern dance. It is so different for us all. We are under less physical pressure, but we are learning a lot about God in the arts during our lecture time.

We are also growing in our student responsibilities. Every week we have bible study meetings and performances. So once a week we have to create a piece about what we are learning. We also are creating final projects which are really detailed, along with weekly devotionals and worship session, we have a few book reports and weekly media journals. Needless to say we are hitting the books hard.

Our scriptural principle for this week comes from 1 Corinthians 2;9

9 However, as it is written:

“What no eye has seen,
what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”
the things God has prepared for those who love him.

The Lords will is so exciting. I think we sometimes make life harder for ourselves, we take on the martyr mentality, when really God wants to bless us. He prepares a table for us and desires us to eat and be joyful, there is no need to starve. This week is encouraging me to remember God's promise to bless.