And the countdown is on!

WOW. I really wanted to post a blog last week but time got away from me. I'm leaving for Durban on Thursday. I've been getting all of my stuff packed up and sorted. I didn't realize how much work packing would be. I don't think it has completely hit me yet that I'm leaving Jbay and that I wont be living with my roommate anymore. I've gotten a little attached to this town (and of course some of the people here). It'll be strange not living in Jeffreys anymore. Man... 4 MORE DAYS!

This weekend I went with some to stay with a friend in his home town (Mossel Bay- which is a 4 hour drive up the coast) for his 21st birthday and his grandmother's 80th birthday. I had a really great time. It's hard to fully experience the coloured South African culture while being here in YWAM, but being in Mossel Bay this weekend was the full on experience. I don't think I've ever heard more Afrikaans in my life. Thank God I've picked up a little Afrikaans and could get the gist of what was going on in the conversations. But I felt like I was at home again... my friend's family really welcomed me into their home. And they had CABLE! :) It was one of the first times I've watched cable since I've been in South Africa. The view was incredible. I could stand on the patio and see the ocean and the mountains. It was absolutely beautiful.

Anyway, I'm tired after the bus ride. Have a great week you guys. I love and miss you

DTS STAFF!!

I have extremely exciting news! The opportunity that I was talking about in my last blog is this: I'm going to be volunteer staff for the September DTS with YWAM Durban! If you're not quite sure what a DTS is, let me explain. DTS stands for "Discipleship Training School" and it's is an incredible school that teaches students about the depth and character of God. The aim of the DTS is to develop a daily walk with God rather than to accumulate information. The DTS is approximately 5 months long; 3 months of lectures and then 2 months of outreach. The DTS is designed to encourage students to develop in personal character, to cultivate a living relationship with God, and to identify their unique, individual gifts and callings in God. Cross-cultural exposure and global awareness are special emphases throughout the DTS, and answers the call to "Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations" Matthew 28:19.



As most of you guys know, I did my DTS with YWAM Orlando in September 2007. DTS was a life changing experience for me. For the first time, I realize that I had been putting God into a little "Christian box". God challenged me so much during my DTS. I experience community living for the first time at YWAM Orlando, and honestly, I didn't like it back then. During DTS I realized just how selfish I was and God brought up a lot of issues in my life such as pride. He really dealt with my heart... and it was painful. DTS was literally one of the best things I ever did and opened my eyes to missions. It gave me a new excitement about God. I learned so much in my DTS. Each week we got a new speaker to come in and teach on a different topics (this is the lecture phase and is three months long). Some topics include: hearing God's voice, the father heart of God, forgiveness and many others.

So, my responsibility is going to be working with the DTS students. I'll be leading a small group and having one on one's (accountability) with the female students. The DTS starts September 17, 2008- February 6, 2009. In our outreach, we'll be doing ministry for a month in South Africa and another month in probably India. Although I will be on "staff", it will be as a volunteer. Please pray about whether or not you will be able to commit to supporting me through prayer, and/or financially supporting me. My staff fees, food and lodging add up to around $400 a month. So, for the first three months, which is the lecture phase, I'm in need of approximately $1200. For the last two months which is outreach, I'm in need of approximately $4,000 for airfare, staff fees, food, lodging and other outreach costs. All together, that's approximately $5,200. I cannot do this without you guys. Please pray about what kind of role you can play. If you have any questions, feel free to email me anytime. I'd love to chat.

I'll write more about Durban (which is in South Africa by the way), and the YWAM Durban base in another blog later this week. Here is the YWAM Durban's website if you'd like to check it out: www.ywamdurban.org . I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week.

And another busy week is coming to an end. Each week I find myself more and more blown away by God. We just finished 3 more books... 2 Corinthians, and 1 and 2 Timothy. Something that really stood out to me in 2 Timothy is Paul's commitment to the gospel. So many people were abandoning him and turning their backs on God, but in spite of severe suffering and persecution, Paul sticks with Jesus. He doesn't give up. Paul was dedicated. And the amazing thing is, Paul was previously the one who was persecuting Christians. God is in the business of restoring lives and truly making us a new creation.

God has done absolutely incredible things in my life and has taken me from my old life, to this new life... I'm a 21 year old missionary in South Africa studying the Word of God. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd be doing what I'm doing now. Never. But God dreamed it. He had a purpose for me that I knew nothing about, but now I truly believe I'm living out my purpose. I want to play a role in the discipleship of others. So many people have poured into me, and discipled me (we never spiritually "arrive"...discipleship is a process that lasts our entire lives) and I am excited to play that role in other people's lives. I love intercession; communicating with God is such an important and beautiful thing. I love missions. LOVE LOVE LOVE. I wanna reach out to the lost. I wanna share my story with them and hear theirs. I want to see people fall completely in love with God. I wanna tear down strongholds in people's lives in the name of Jesus. I wanna see people live radical lives for Christ. I am so excited to be where I am right now. I'm really blessed. I have a really incredible opportunity that I'll write more about in my next blog. Just know that it's something I'm very excited about and I've put TONS of prayer into. I'll write more about it later on in the week though.

Anyway, I love and miss you guys. Hope you have a wonderful rest of the weekend.

My little Mia

Today was really cold and windy. However, when I decided to take Mia into the community to watch some of our friends play rugby, I did not know this. After walking about 5 minutes I realized that it was really cold. I don't exactly understand rugby, but I get the idea. It's pretty similar to American football. I hate watching rugby on tv, but I really enjoyed watching the guys play today. They really impressed me. Rugby is a really big deal here. And these crazy rugby players don't wear pads or helmets! They play very very rough and yet they don't protect themselves. Why, you may ask? I HAVE NO IDEA!

God's really been changing my heart (in a good way) about community living. It really does have it's advantages. You always have friends around you and you can usually find someone who wants to play cards or watch tv or just chat. We all share responsibilities. Different people prepare meals through out the week. We each have like a "chore" or work duty. I have lots of awesome people around me that are positively influencing Mia and me. I have lots of good babysitters. Mia is very attached to a lot of people on the base. She's got 4 other little friends on the base that are right around her age. She's a very loved little girl.

Speaking of Mia...she'll be two and a half this month! I cannot believe it. She is the friendliest child I've ever met in my life. She is SOOO social. I suppose she has to be considering she's surround by so many people all the time. She makes new friends everywhere we go. Even today at the rugby field....she was making friends with a couple of ladies today and they had a bottle of flavored water. Mia said to them "Oh, you must give me some of your flavored water." The funniest thing about that is most of us Americans would word that sentence: "Oh, you have to give me some of your flavored water." The word "have" in English doesn't exist in Afrikaans it's some word that means "must". So, when they speak in English they would use "must" instead of "have". Mia never says have. She'll say "Mommy, we must go to the shop"... the translation of that is: "Mommy, we have to go to the store". It's so funny how African culture has rubbed off on her!

Not too much else happening here. I hope you guys are all having a great weekend!