It has been too long since I have posted here. I would love to give an overview of all the different things I have been learning but I have a feeling I wouldn't have enough time for that and then I would just procrastinate. So instead here are some pictures that can hopefully give you a peak into what my world has been for the past weeks. God has been doing some exciting things in my life lately.
I will begin with some rather "flattering" pictures of dorm life. I really have some great roommates though, and we have so much fun together, studying and discussing what we've been learning and growing in.
Meals are a great time to socialize with people. The food is pretty good too!
This is the YWAM Ozark family; staff and students. I am thrilled to be a part of them.
It has been great to go to different churches in the area and bless and be blessed by them. Lately we have been attending a small church with about 30 or so attendees. They love us and we love them. They even ask us to come up and sing a song or two every Sunday. It's so much fun! I wish every town could have a YWAM base in it. Sundays have a whole new dimension when a crowd of passionate young people swarm into your church! :-D
This our trailer which we use for hauling all our gear around to our different camping locations. That's rather obvious though isn't it.
This is right before I went repelling for the first time in my life. It was so exciting! What a great view!
This picture below is not of me but that is Gabriel, a different Gabriel. We met up with a YWAM DTS group from Madison Wisconsin for a week of lecture phase.
Yes, I came down that.
Don't ask me what's going on in this picture but this is our students-only Madison and Ozark team. The staff sent us out on an overnight backpacking trip on our own. Trust me, we love our staff,
but boy was it amazing to put our skills to the test and do things all by ourselves.
We were only allowed to take minimum supplies for this trip.
This is the makeshift tent we all squeezed into. With ten of us in there it was quite cozy.
Team Bacon was our name. Yeah, that was Britta's idea. We went along with it though.
The next week our group for Ozark went to the YWAM Go Conference in Oklahoma, where we met up with several other DTS's from the country. It was an incredible time where I met many new people and realized again that I had a family from all over. I could feel the heartbeat in these brothers and sisters of mine to go and share the love of Christ to every corner of the world.
The job is still massive, but we are getting closer and closer. Oh how I wish the church would awaken and get a fire in their hearts to go unto those people who so desperately need Jesus. There is nothing in this world, no idea, no government, no plan, no organization, nothing but Jesus that can solve the world's problems. We will be just running in circles chasing our tail till we realize that.
A great video we saw at the conference. It really get's at the heart of YWAM
Praying and worshiping over the big map of the world.
This is the three of us Gabriel's at the conference right before we went our separate ways. I pray God blesses and keeps all my new found family wherever our Father leads them.
One of the great things about an outdoor DTS is that we get to see so much of God's splendor in creation as we learn about who He is and what His heart is.
This is the area that we went rock climbing.
Rockclimbing! So much fun!
That's ME!
I have to say, there were some pretty tough rocks to climb.
Frickle, one of our favorite snacks! MMMMMMM
Hanging out around camp with one of our speakers and his dog.
God is at work in all of our lives here at the DTS. There are so many things that we have been learning about that it would take an entire book to put it all down. We've been learning about the Character of God, Fear of the Lord/Intimacy with God, Spiritual Warfare, World Missions and 4k Mapping, Human Trafficking and Justice and Compassion, The Great Story/Inductive Bible Study, Identity in Christ, The Power Presence and Person of the Holy Spirit, how to use drama in missions, hearing the voice of God and so, so much more. It will take my whole life to digest what God has been speaking to me through teachers and fellow students here.
I have gotten to do street and mall witnessing, praying for people in the nursing home, and hear God give me words to speak into people's lives.
It isn't even over yet, though! We still have a month of lecture phase and then two months of outreach!
I am super pumped!
I miss you all at home, though, and would love, love, love to hear from any of you!
God bless you all!
