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

Merry Christmas

God bless in the time of reflection of the saviors birth. It is so very difficult to not get caught up i the gifts of Christmas tradition. Giving is such a joy, but should be done out of the Holy spirits leading, not pressure. I am having no expectations of this holiday except hoping to see a little more Jesus in my life and be with my loved ones.

With about three weeks left in America Christmas is coming at the perfect time. It will be an awesome last visit with family before I head out until June. My biggest prayer is to mental remain where God has me in each moment. The Lord is do good and is always teaching me how time flys. Days so easily become years.

I do want to somehow beging a project surrounding blankets and bibles. i so often see people out in the cold and what better way to hand them God's word than when it is accompanied with warmth. I don't know what this looks like but if you have an extra bible and blanket send it my way I desire to hand some out before I depart on the 9th.

The Cross is the Answer...

Almost There

So much has happened and so much will continue to happen. I have officially purchased my flight to San Diego and arranged my ride to Ensenada Mexico! I have about three months until I depart. I am really looking forward to going. Last time I was very aware of home. Being away lead to thinking often of the place I grew up and sometimes day dreaming about driving on old country roads near my house in New Market. there was such a novelty in being far off and apart from my familiar atmosphere for that long.
With that being said, I have already prepared to keep my mind where I am. I continually pray not to day dream of the future trip now, and that when I'm gone I will be fully present mentally.

Back Again!

SO I realized I have not blogged in over a year and so much has happened that it would be impossible to recap... Basically God is still, always, and forever Good.

I have been preparing to leave in January for the Introduction to Performing Arts and Media School with YWAM! I have done two pretty successful yard sales and I am about half way there financially! It has been yet again an overwhelming time of receiving. I can hardly believe I would be lucky, or better yet, blessed enough to be able to go and serve God and His people in this way. I have decided to go to Mexico for my lecture phase and hopefully somewhere in Asia for the perform ace outreach segment.

It is so incredible that even in my sin and doubt He would still be kind enough to take me to another part of this giant world.

In other areas of life, things are also great! I have completed my Associates degree at Frederick Community College and I plan to head of to Towson for special Ed next fall. This year is going to be busy one, but I am so excited to grow and change and become more of who God is calling me to be.

Life is wild.

More uodates to follow!

Here we go!

I am so very excited I was given the opportunity to speak last Sunday about my YWAM trip. Usually, when i prepare a presentation I practice completely differently than the speech comes out in the end. I will have skipped over a major point or forget to say who I am. There always seems to be some "DUHHH" moment, leading to my embarrassment. But, Sunday was like nothing I've ever experienced before. I trusted God this time. I didn't doubt before I stepped upfront. I knew he had given me a clear message and His power made it eloquent and well constructed. The Holy spirit took control and my own fears were dismissed. I need to start surrendering every moment of life this way. Trust he will do something, be sensitive to the Holy spirits prompting. I really enjoined being able to express His good works, His faithfulness, His Mercy, His Love and all those other qualities He possesses.
It is so exhausting to speak for an hour. When all was said in done I slept for about three hours. I had been so twittery with excitement that I about slipped into a comma afterwords. I imagined for a long time what speaking to my church would look like, but all my expectations were surpassed by His leading. I feel like this experience was the last chapter for my YWAM life, right now, and new things are on the horizon! I've just started my first week back to school. I only have two classes, but the are condensed to 7 week courses. I'm currently looking for a job and a way to raise a little money for a car. I was going to get a car, but it's reliability is less than perfect. I really want to do some mission activities with my church. I think it would be fun to have a, "Skit Saturday" whomever wants to participate can come and we'll learn a few skits and have a practice day. Then, we can go to Baker Park or wherever and perform. This would be a great way to engage people and share the message of Christ. I know a lot of talented people, and this has potential!

Well then, Jesus is Real and Jesus is worthy!

Blessed left and right

I have been provided for once again. I am soon getting a car (and ready to learn stick shift), I have enough money for school books, and I'm hearing my God more in more. God speaks to me by uniting my circumstances. The same topics, places, and people, keep reentering my life. I know there are some hard things ahead, but I'm ready. I'm letting go of relationships that need to be let go. I'm more comfortable with excepting the fact that some people don't like me, and the fact that some people ask a very great deal of me. My friends are in dark places in life, but God is faithful. They are continuing to seek and find the Lords grace in a time when most people give up. Perseverance is such a gift from the Lord. Lets lie for today, in this time in this moment! God's going to tell us what to do...

Speak Lord.... OK

woo! I am so excited. God has been speaking and it has been awesome! I just got home from spending a few nights with my friends in Lynchburg VA. I had not gotten to send any quality time with them and my schedule is about to pick up. I was blessed to go there and back by the kindness of others! My friend Davey works for Liberty University and he took me to look at the school! I asked for the Lord to speak to me and he did. I noticed they have a really large tower there and I asked Davey what was in there, he didn't know so we looked around the campus and i went to the Wednesday morning chapel. In the message they talked about how the very tower I just asked about was going to be the new theatre! They had worked out a deal and were able to afford brand new facilities! That's not a big deal if you don't know that I was thinking about going there for a degree in Drama Ministry! Oh cool, that morning they discussed something that directly affected my plans for going there. I was thinking about how I hadn't done much acting in the passed two years. I started to get worried my talents had faded, then the speaker said, "I used to have a speech impediment, but now I make my living speaking, Gods strength is in our weakness." I was blown away. OK Lord you have been speaking to my heart! My plan is to attend Liberty University in Fall 2010. There are no coincidences in the kingdom of God, so here we go. After another year at Fcc I'm planning to apply to LU.

I have been so productive in the last few days! I am steadfast in completing my presentation for my church about my mission trip. There is just too much to tell I'm going to narrow down all the stories i want to share, but i am making copies of a a lot of my material. I may not be able to fit everything in a 1 hour presentation, but I'm going to have the resources available so people can learn much more! I really want my church t naturally send student to do a discipleship Training school with ywam. It is such a great way to get closer to God, work out all you baggage, and discover if mission work is something you could do with your life! I highly recommend it! I feel like people think going out like I did is impossible. It's not! I went because God provided everything and he would do the same for others!

Well, back to the project!
Blessings!

When Jesus saw their faith he said, "Friend your sins are forgiven."
Luke 5; 20

HOT DoG!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Balls Rollin'

So Ive been preparing to share at my church and visiting old Friends this last week and a half, and today I signed up for some classes at FCC! I'm really happy yet, terrified. My tuition is paid for, but the transportation is still unknown. It's times like these where trusting the Lord can be so difficult. I just have to remember my time is not His, my plans are not always His, but He is going to do what's best for me! It is really exciting and stressful. One minute I'm crying in fear and the next he's answered my prayer in an unthinkable way. An extremely intelligent friend of mine reminded me of the Israelites walking through the parted sea. That must have been such an unexpected answer for an escape plan! How much faith it must have taken to take the first step onto the dry sea floor seeing that all the millions of gallons of water could smash into you from both sides. God is unexplainable and unexpected. I can't wait to see how He parts the sea for me or if he sends a boat, whatever the transportation looks like, It will be for my benefit!

One week Back

So it has officially been one week since I returned home. It has been an interesting experience. I think I expected people to have changed as much as I have on some levels, but I'm realizing that's not the case. I have to keep reminding myself to be understanding. For the most part I've really enjoyed seeing old faces and visiting others. soon I will be presenting about my adventure to my church and other Christan groups. I'm asking the Lord to show me what needs to be said. I'm trying to be sensitive to the Holy spirits leading.
The future looks so endless right now. I am currently working on getting a vehicle and a job. I really want to continue working with children, but not in the position of a personal nanny. Tomorrow I'm going to Frederick community college to try and get in asap. The long I'm not in school, the harder it will be for me to go back. I really want to keep my schedule simple and active. I don't think I'm going to stretch myself as thin as I was before I left. My first focus is the car, work, school situation and the other plans will fall into place.
I'm having a really hard time being at home. It's really nice having alone time, but it;s getting old quickly. I'm trying to keep myself busy with preparing to speak at my church, and sending out my final newsletter. There is so much on the horizon and once again I'm lacking patients. I had some amazing one on one time with the Lord and I know he'll keep me productive. I need to appreciate this time of rest and delight in the stillness He's given me.

1 Peter 4; 19

I'm trying to have a memory verse each week!

Bye Ja

Well, I have some time to kill while waiting for my flight in the Montego Bay airport…

WOW….
It’s over…
My friends are home…
My school is finished…
My plane is getting ready….
My future is limitless…
My heart is full…

I am so very happy to have successful completed my Discipleship Training school. I am so excited to see what’s next. These are some ideas I’ve had. I’m in the process of seeking confirmation from the Lord.

-Serving my church (in whatever means available)
-Joining a small group
-Evangelical trips into Frederick
-Community College
-School of Performing Arts (Belize/India 2010)
-Staffing a youth camp in Jamaica this summer
-Taking a dance class
-6 week leadership school in Australia (2009)


These are just a small fraction of the millions of ideas and activities floating around in my head! Above all these I will be spending more time in the presence of the Lord/realizing I’m in His presence. The best part about all these desires is that I’m not doing anything until I hear fully and completely from God. By surrendering all these things and hearing from God, I can ONLY do His will. Though I may want to reach the World, God may have different plans. I’m ok with doing His plan because it’s so much better for Him and for me. I know His protection and guidance will give me the grace to respond in obedience.

The Debriefing Week

Well, everyone has arrived safely back in Jamaica from outreach. Our team is here from Guadeloupe, my other classmates made it safely from Antigua, and the School of Performing Arts just got back from Belize. This week has basically been a long, but helpful series of meetings. We’ve been practicing how to write a news letter, learning about other YWAM schools and opportunities, figuring out how to reenter our home life, and recapping outreach.
We have all been really emotional and blessed in this time. Coming back to Jamaica was so nice. It has become a second home for us all. The new DTS students are here and we’ve been having a wonderful time making them feel welcome and familiar with life on the base. I’m so excited to keep in touch with them and hear how God will grow them. They all seem very dedicated and mature.
My team met with the directors of the base and our outreach leaders. We were able to express our encouragement and constructive criticisms about the leadership during our time in Gwada. I was able to honestly express my concerns. I’m so happy I didn’t hold back, that God gave me the boldness to speak truth. We talked about when our other team member left and the affect it had on us all. We were really stretched emotionally on outreach. We had extended forgiveness to our team member and attempted to make him feel included, but we faced many hardships. This individual really caused the team to suffer. He did not accept our attempts towards him. He distanced himself from the team and became very inactive. We shared all this with our leader and he understood that by keeping this person as long as he did, he was not doing what was best for the team. Even though he could have left sooner, we were all pushed emotionally unlike never before. I’m glad my outreach was hard. I will carry this life lesson with me as I continue working with others in a team setting.
We had a lecture about coming home and realizing that a church and a mission base function differently. I was afraid of being over critical, but my questions were answered and I have some great tips on getting involved and serving again in my home church. I am excited for home and I’m trying to soak in the Caribbean while I still can. We have begun preparing for graduation and tomorrow we will have our final assessments. Our assessments are an overview of how the base staff feels we succeeded and struggled during our time in DTS. I’m looking forward to this time. I know I’ve come a long way and I still have a long way to go, that’s the beauty in following Christ, we are never done learning, lives are spent becoming more and more like the Lord and getting closer and closer to him.
Last night we had our community meeting this is were the base meets together and hears from that week’s speaker or someone of the base. It’s a fun night because those that home school or travel throughout the day can meet with the rest of the schools. All of YWAM Mo Bay comes together. We were privileged to share about outreach and hear from the other teams. My team shared our skit, gave a testimony about our prison ministry, sang a song we learned in French, and made a slide show highlighting our ministry in the nation. We had such a great time and the group was really receptive to our stories and struggles. It was fun for us to share. Sandra led the opening in French and I translated into English, just to give the crowd an understanding of how we had to communicate in the nation. It was so cool to hear what God did in and through the teams in Antigua and Belize.
Have an amazing day, week, and forever. I can’t wait to see what’s next and trust God completely for His leading and direction. Lose your life in Him, So that you can find it!



Oh, I forgot! We came back from outreach one day early so we went into the city in Montego Bay and performed our mimes. We had a large crowd people clapped when we were finished. It was so scary at first, but God is good he gave us the strength and courage to creativly minister to the town. After we let go of our fear. We didn't care about what people thought we were performng to the Lord and asking Him to toch lives. It's never us its always Him.

So, one of my team mates has be struggling a lot on our outreach. He has committed many offenses and has had a lot of chances to change his attitude, but the same choices keep being made. So in his best interest he is going home tomorrow. We only have 3 days left here, but that’s not the point, if someone’s not ready their simply not ready. We are all doing ok. He is not bitter or angry about leaving, so praise God. I think he’s realizing that by leaving he’s being honest and open. He knows this is not his time, and he can always do another DTS. I think this is the best thing for him. I’m so happy that he wants to continue serving the Lord and be a witness to Gods Goodness! This is however hard on our team. He is apart of us all and we will miss him. Sometimes God timing doesn’t makes sense to us that’s why it’s His timing, we can’t possibly understand.

We've also had really serious news from our leaders. They're family has suffered a loss. Please pray for patients. This is devastating for us all. We will continue to support them and surround them with Love. We will keep praising God! It has been quite an intense day.

We lead a church service this morning and it was great. In the midst of all this pain, we still brought the Word, and had some great conversation and fellowship with the congregation. This church is in the "house" or "pioneer" phase. They meet in different homes every week and then have a long and relaxed lunch. We started the service with a skit and we talked about 1 Corinthians 12; 14-31 and how we are all given different talents to work as a part of the body of Christ. I shared a testimony about our team and how each one of our responsibilities on outreach fits us perfectly. We asked people to write down their talents and give them back to God. If they dance, dance for Him. If they love math, calculate for His glory. If they can build, build something and give Him the due credit. I think it went really well, it was nice to get off the base again and see a little more of God in this nation.

This world has nothing for me, I will Follow YOU (Jesus)