Changing Times

Its almost christmas!!! Ok... so there's still 14 days- but that still not a lot! Its crazy how time has been flying by and how much things are changing. God has been doing so much work in all of us in such little time! Tomorrow we leave for a 5 day intense camping trip in the jungles of Costa Rica and after that its time for outreach! Outreach will consist of sleeping somewhere different most nights, living out of 1 travel backpack for 2 and half months, hand washing our clothes, lots of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and LOTS of amazing experiences, miracles, and sharing Gods love.

The key to surviving outreach will be team work, unity, being selfless, intercession times, and most of all listening to God. But really- that sounds a lot like life to me. Shouldn't we always be willing to be selfless and work together with others? Shouldn't we always spend time each day praying? Shouldn't we always be listening to what God wants for us? YES! Our lives to an extent are about us- but more so it is about our relationship with God. Alone we can do some pretty good things; get a pretty good job, have a pretty nice family, have a pretty good house, and make some pretty good money. That all sounds pretty nice... but really is that it? Is that all life is about? Because if it is... I definitely want more out of life. 

The only thing that will actually help us get through life and get the most out of life is GOD! He made the earth perfectly, he sent us His son, He gave us the Holy Spirit, and He gave us everything we have here on earth. As the creator of the universe, everything He's given us is actually his if you think about it- our money, houses, clothes, and even our time. So why not give it all up for Him? All of the stuff here on earth is going to perish someday. We all know that and have heard that in church. But really- it is going to go away someday and all that we will have left is God and the eternal life He has promised us.

It seems scary; giving God complete control over our lives and all that we have, but after all, He is the creator of the Universe so I think He will give us a pretty good life if we follow what He says to do. Adam and Eve had AMAZING lives until they decided to disobey God and it remains the same for us today. So as of tomorrow I give God complete control to use me however He wants. Its scary but all I have to do is jump- and it will all turn out better than I could ever even imagine. 

On outreach I will not be bringing my computer. We will be in rough areas at points and stealing is very common. So I will post when I am able to and keep you all updated- but until then: Goodbye and God bless!!!

Nicaragua!

This past weekend we took a 4 day trip to San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua. It was... amazing. We had two purposes for going on this trip: 1- to renew our stay in Costa Rica. We are allowed to live in Costa RIca for 90 days then you must leave the country for 72 hours to come back in and be allowed 90 more days. 2- to practice evangelism! Our topic for class last week was evangelism- so it was a great time to practice what we learned and practice our skits we have been preparing for outreach. For the evangelism projects we partnered with a missionary couple living in Nicaragua, David and Tamara. 

Thursday was a long day full of traveling and chicken buses (normal sized buses crammed full of around 120 people- standing or sitting- smooshed!) On friday we went to work at a school in a village named Ojo Chal. Its a small village with no electricity, running water, and it mainly consists of poor farming families. The school has about 40 kids ranging from 1st grade to 8th. The girl in the black shirt is name Cristina, she's 13 and just finished 3rd grade and someday she wants to be a teacher.  It was their end of school party (because here its now summer). It was  a really fun time of playing and loving on the kids. It was so weird how many of these kids weren't used to just playing- because at home they often have to work and do chores instead of play. So this party was a really good ending to the school year also a fun time to share our dramas to the kids and their moms. 

Friday afternoon we also did some outreach in the actual city of San Juan del Sur. It was kind of a challenge because its a tourist city so it was a lot of rich tourists we talked to. I had a great talk with a lady from Guatemala. She was doing an internship with a company who works on social justice issues. She said she isn't a christian because she wants a religion thats more spiritual but she thinks what we do as missionaries as great. We had a really good talk about how christianity is spiritual and its not just about going to and belonging to church. Even though she didn't like accept Jesus into her heart right there- I know that our conversation had an effect on her. She even said she was going to write to her 9 year-old daughter about us meeting! How great is God? And praise him for my giving me the gift of speaking spanish!

On saturday we did beach cleanup and then had a beach party with the surf ministry there. The trip ended so successfully and in so much unity as a team. God did amazing things and I can't wait to see what else He is going to do through us on our outreach!

Destiny by Design

 God has a plan for all of us in our lives whether we think it or not, whether we know what it is or not, or wether we're following that plan or not.  Last week our topic was Destiny by Design. Its actually a devotional type thing written by Gwen Bergquist but our speaker used it as a guide for our class. Basically, the week revolved around the word DESIGN: Dreams, Experiences, Soulprint, Identity, Gifts, and Networking. Basically dreams is the dreams you have for your life are dreams that God has for you too! And he promises to meet them. 
Experiences is the idea that all experiences in your life, both good and bad, can help further his kingdom and he will use your story to help others. Soulprint is your personality and how he made you; extroverted v.s. introverted, planner v.s spontaneous, etc. But he made you that way for a specific reason! Identity is who you are in GOD and only God. Not who the world says you are, your parents, or your friends- its who God sees you as and that is perfect! Gifts is all the amazing gifts and talents he's given us, both spiritual and physical. Finally, networking is how all spheres of society connect and have God in them. Business, Science and Technology, health care, education, government, the church/religion, and family. So many people think that church and family are the only places God can be but its so not true! God calls people to all spheres of society and its up to us to shine his light in those places- as hard as it may be. 

Now all of this is grand but its the application of all of this where it gets tricky. We as humans really need to listen to God and what his plans are in our lives. We can do whatever we choose to do- but our lives turn out best if we do what he wants us to do. He will give you complete happiness and will make all your dreams come true and more- no matter how weird or hard the choice may seem. I like to compare life to ziplinning now. It's scary the first time but once you just jump it is SO worth it.

he was a skater boy

YWAM supports many other ministries in the world as well as their own. Last week we got to spend some time with a group called "Ride Nature." It is a ministry that uses skateboarding, surfing, and snowboarding to reach teens- mainly teen boys. They are based in Florida but have many other locations and they do international trips a number of times each year. It is an all volunteer ministry and everyone involved in it is very talented at what they do. They do things such as donate skateboards to kids, build skateparks, and host competitions. 

For our local outreach last week we got the chance to team up with them and help at a skateboard competition they held. I definitely have never been around that scene before and I know most of the other girls haven't either.  It was so cool to see how kids connected to all these boys with skateboards and how God used skateboarding to minister to them. My group preformed a drama for everyone at the competition and we also went around talking to kids about their relationship God or if they even had one. To get the conversation started we asked kids to write on their hands what God means to them. That way it wasn't very awkward and we got cool pictures!

Through this I really learned not to judge people because of what they do. Most people would assume skateboarders are stoner kids, addicted to drugs, and rebells. Don't get me wrong, there are these kinds of skateboarders but then there are those who aren't like that. Such as the Ride Nature guys and even some people we talked to at the skatepark. One of the Costa Rican's we talked with at the competition told us his testimony and how he used to be a stoner skateboarder but his life got changed around by people who did skateboard ministry and now he wants to help kids too! And I went up to him thinking we would minister to him but it was the other way around. So all I have to say is don't judge, its God's job to do that. 

Thanksgiving

 Thanksgiving. The one day a year when all you do is get together with family and eat all day long! The turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, pies... so delicious. When I hear the word thanksgiving thats all I really think about... the food and the people. Thats all us  Americans were thinking about last week. We were all getting sad and it was kind of the first time we really felt homesick- thinking about all our families and all the food we were going to miss out on. It was hard for the first while to think about it but then I realized some stuff. Thanksgiving. The word itself just means giving thanks. To give thanks is to appreciate someone or something- so why don't we do this more often? I mean really- why don't we give thanks more often? The bible calls us to be thankful no matter what the circumstances. Philippians 4:6 says that we should "not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." So that means every time we pray about anything- we should present it with a thankful attitude. And the awesome thing is... God is the creator of the universe, the creator of us, and the creator of everything we have- so we'll never run out of things to be thankful for! So really... I want every day to be thanksgiving! No matter what food I'm eating, no matter what clothes i'm wearing, no matter where I am in life- I will be thankful :) But in the end, we got a wonderful thanksgiving dinner full of stuffing, turkey, dinner roles, mashed potatoes, pies, and even cranberry sauce! It was a lot of work- but with 18 girls in the kitchen.... all things are possible. So truly I have a lot to be thankful for and I am especially thankful for a wonderful thanksgiving meal!

We aren't pregnant- just really full of good food!

Resolving Conflict

  Ok, so this week we learned about a new topic but i'm definitely still thinking about the relationships week and I know that God is still working on it with me in my mind. Specifically, he's working with me on solving conflicts and learning how to solve them. Our speaker gave us lots of notes and advice on this subject but its definitely something personal that you have to figure out how to do for yourself... especially when you're living in a room with 11 other girls. Here, I haven't had any intense arguments or anything like that but there's certain people that do certain things that annoy you. And something I really am learning is that when you're mad/annoyed about someone/something- if you keep it inside you're only hurting yourself. For some reason, in the past, I've always felt like holding in my anger would make me feel better than the other person and happier- but really it just ended up making me more mad an more hurt. It's like built up anger which is totally not good! Anger is what ruins people and ruins families.

So really, confrontation/communication is key. But when you go and confront someone it has to be under the right circumstances and you have to be in the right attitude.  Right circumstance: don't say something at the wrong time and are you willing to be wrong and accept confrontation from the other person? Right attitude: are you being selfless or selfish? The hardest part of solving a conflict is laying down your own pride and being 100% selfless. As hard as it may be, going through confronting a conflict is totally worth it. Our speaker gave us a list of how to handle conflicts. Here are the most helpful ones that I found:

-focus on one issue rather than many issues (don't bring up past issues, keep it to 1 subject)

-focus on the problem not the person

-focus on specifics rather than generalizations

-focus on observation of fact rather than judgment of motive (don't assume their motives!)

*focus on mutual understanding rather than whose winning or loosing

-focus on granting forgiveness rather than holding grudges

I feel like with that list.. what argument couldn't get settled? All we need to do is remember to be selfless and be full of forgiveness and love! And really if you're ever in an argument go and pray about it, give your emotions to God, and then he will give you the peace and wisdom to solve the conflict in the manner i just described. God doesn't want us to be angry or sad and he calls us not to be! Ephesians 4:26-27 says:

"In you anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and o not give the devil a foothold"

God is so great! He doesn't want us to be mad and thats why all things are possible through him, even if it doesn't seem like it all the time... its the truth :) 

PS-- these pictures are from a bowling outing a while ago... we're not actually angry or anything- just being weird and it looks like we could be yelling angry or something. I don't have any angry pictures of our group- so thats a good thing. 

Relationships

 There are so many different kinds of relationships that we deal with every day; friendships, family, dating, business relationships, etc. Literally, our lives revolve around relationships. Most of the worlds problems today have to due with broken relationships or lack of relationships. A big reason for this is because the world/non-believers don't have standards for relationships. The world says do what makes you happy- but God taught my group exactly the opposite last week. God has standards/amazing ideas for what all the relationships in our lives are supposed to be like. 

Basically, the whole idea of relationships comes down to finding value in other people. God made every human being in his image and each of us are his treasured possesion. We find value in objects based on where they come from and what they are used for. So if all humans were made by God and for God- we are all valuable! We have no right to judge who anyone else is, because God made them. So no matter what kind of relationship your having problems in, you can always solve the problem because you can find value in the other person because they were made in God's image! Wether its your roommates being noisy at 2 in the morning, you're best friend being annoying, a marriage thats on the verge of breaking- whatever it may be, its fixable because of God! All relationships have their differences and God will help you work through them together but we have to have respect and see the value in one another in order to make any relationship truly work. 

Its amazing how amazing God is. The way he designed us and relationships. And the fact that he is a relationship himself! As the trinity, God, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus show us exactly how the perfect relationship works. They all work together in harmony, love, respect and selflessness. This is what we should strive for in every one of our relationships. To love someone is willing the highest good for them. So loving someone means putting them above you and wishing the best for them. The whole idea of relationships comes down to the second commandment that god gave us: love your neighbor as you love yourself. Its as simple as that, so don't make it more complicated than it needs to be!