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Left
to right.
Back Row: Chase (
Middle Row: Noemi (
Front Row: Jenni (school staff,
outreach leader,
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Hey everyone!
I hope things are going well in the
States! I miss you all so much, it is such a shocking feeling sometimes that I
am on the opposite side of the world. Perth is
similar to big cities in America
so I forget I am so far away sometimes, but then I get in a car and I am on the
left side of the road and it hits me where I am!
I want to apologize that it has
been so long since I have sent out any sort of email. I have really been
convicted of that and I need to be more consistent. The first thing that I want
to say is that I am so thankful for the support in prayer and finances. It has
been a huge blessing. Then hearing about how you all have been praying and
thinking about Marissa and I has been a huge encouragement. I think I can speak
for the both us and say that we are so thankful to have such a supportive
family back home. Hearing others’ stories after being here of what they went
through to get here has been eye opening to how blessed that I am to have you
guys.
Week 7 of the lecture phase has
just finished here, time isn’t going by fast or going by slow, it has been just
right. I am going to give a little run down of how the weeks have been. Each
week we cover a different topic, with a different speaker. So it is really
refreshing each time a new one starts and with someone new teaching. It adds so
much variety and really helps students that learn better from different
teaching styles.
Week #1 “Hearing the Voice of God”
Our
Speaker for this week was Jess Eriksen. She was originally going to be the
leader of my school because she was the one who pioneered at this campus, but
she became pregnant and was going to have her child during our lecture phase. So,
the school got handed over to Richard Blake who is now our leader. This week
was an amazing opening to rest of the months. The biggest thing that I learned
this week was that God speaks to everyone differently and I learned how He
communicates with me. God always wants to meet you where you’re at and will
never speak in a way that you won’t be able to understand. You might not get
the answer you want right away (or at all), or you may have to pray through a
situation multiple times, but he is always communicating to you and working
with you. This week really tested my patience with the Lord and convicted me of
how much time I gave him throughout my week. Another thing that I learned is
that sin is a relationship breaker. Sin breaks relationships with others and
also destroys and hinders your relationship with God. Sin causes great
hindrances to your communication with the Lord, and gives the enemy foothold to
block your hearing. So if you are ever wondering why it is difficult to hear
what is being spoken to you, one of the best things to do is look at where your
hindrances might be. This was a perfect way to begin the adventure because it
really set my focus on him. It showed me what type of commitment I was going to
have to have to grow in the ways that I was really wanting and to see myself
move into the man that he wants me to be.
Week #2 “Nature and Character of God”
The
speaker that we had for this week was Anna Davis. Anna is leader of the
Biblical Core Coarse here on base. That school goes into detail about the bible
and studies it from cover to cover to discuss the context that it was written
in to bring more understanding. She was very intelligent and having her
knowledge of biblical context available to us was so helpful to answer some
difficult questions. This week we went through Genesis and Exodus, and for most
of the time we focused on the fall of man. We studied God’s heart, and learned
about his original intentions for the Earth and for his creation, what his
motivations are, and what His personality is like. We dissected the different
events that happened in those books and really picked out how God was feeling
during it all. This really began to write a new picture of God in my mind. I
never realized how much less I thought of him. His love his huge and his
passion is massive. It’s unending! This week taught me a lot of facts about who
I am serving that I had never thought about before. It showed me his vastness
and the care for his people. It also
gave me a lot more understanding of Jesus, and why God sent him to redeem us.
This really worked well after the teaching of the first week because it really
put an image in my mind of who I am talking to. It was extremely encouraging.
Week #3 “Media, Arts, & Photography”
Since
our DTS has a focus in Media, Arts, and Photography, in week 3 our class was
separated into the individual streams with different speakers. I did the
photography one and our speaker for that week was Dennis Fahringer. He is the
school of photography leader at the YWAM base in Kona , Hawaii
Week #4 “Worship and Intercession”
Worship
and Intercession was one my favorite weeks so far. The speaker was David
McDaniel. He was originally a pastor in the LA area but he eventually went into
a life of missions and is now the leader of the YWAM base in Tokyo , Japan
The Following Weekend
For
a few days we went to a town south of Perth
called Busselton. The cool thing about this weekend is that it was technology
free! We weren’t aloud to bring any electronic devices. Sadly that’s a big deal
for this generation! haha We stayed an area of coastline called, “The Holy
Mile” It is called that because for a mile there many Christian camps along the
beachfront. We stayed in a large hall at one of the camps! This weekend exposed
a lot of things for some of my classmates and I. We all realized how much we
really idolize our electronics and how high up we hold communicating online and
updating our “other life” Seeing how much this had an effect on us, it really began
to show how often we put God to the side and put many things of this world
before him. Some other things we learned were; how often we display our issues
online and wait for responses instead of bringing them to God in prayer, how it
effects our true physical communication and relationships, and how technology
has really caused a lot of boredom to arise creating uncomfortably when alone.
Some of us struggled a lot more than others but the best part is we all
realized what a problem all those things were and really approached this time
with joy and the want to change. So in the midst of solitude and being alone we
all came together and it really was a huge growing period individually and as a
group. I loved it! I wish I could have pictures of it haha
Week #5 “Repentance and Forgiveness”
Let
me start off by saying, this week was one of the most impacting weeks that I
have had here. Our speaker was Caleb Brownhill. Caleb is the son of the base
founders Pete and Shirley. I learned about myself so much this week. Over the
week we discussed what sin/pride are and how that effects ourselves and our
relationship with God. We talked about what true repentance and what that act
really means and than followed that up with discussing forgiveness and what it
meant when Jesus died to redeem us. At the end of the week we had a long day
where all prayed through and gave all our sins to God and express the areas
that we wanted to have change in our hearts and walk in a new direction. The
week was very emotional, and heartbreaking to hear about all the hardships and
struggles that all of my classmates had gone through. But you know this was one
of the most joyful weeks because I realized that we shouldn’t be sad and dwell
in the areas that we have done wrong, but we should take on God’s heart, learn
to hate sin and than come to him through repentance and walk in the light! He
has the ability to transform us but we just have to be willing to make the
steps of faith. It’s not just about confession but it’s about being humble and
walking in the opposite direction of the enemy! I absolutely loved this week
and going through that process. This really changed my heart a lot and helped
me overcome a lot of things that I had been struggling with for a long time
now. I really liked that we did it as group and encouraged everyone to be open
and transparent. I really feel that is something that is really missing from
church today. There is so much guilt and shame carried on our backs that we
don’t bring before God to break. Along with that there is so much fear of man,
fear of judgment, about things we have done, but if we come together unified
before God than we could make great advances individually but also as a church.
It has been very encouraging to really gain an understanding of what God wants
for us and how he really wants to see us prosper!
Week #6 “Evangelism”
The
speaker that we had for this topic was Emma Blake, she is the wife of my school
leader Richard but she also does so many other things around the base; leader
of the Art Evangelist School, leads the design team for the base, and helps
within the media department, and a variety of other jobs! Evangelism was
something that I was very unfamiliar with. I always had thought Evangelism was
just the act of going out in public and talking about God. I learned that it is
so much more than that!! It still is preaching the gospel but there is so much
depth to how you go about it and you can do it in so many ways than just
walking up and talking with strangers. Since we are in the arts we focused how
we can use those skills in public display to attract people into conversation
and how to communicate to them and handle harsh reactions. I had so much fear
in public display of the gospel. The funny thing was I don’t have an issue
talking in front of crowds, but for some reason when it came down to
communicating this subject it was difficult to me. I just had a fear of other
people having a problem with me if I publicly shared the gospel. I was able to
start to overcome that issue by just getting convicted and than thrown into
doing a public preaching. Haha SCARY! It was amazing experience though, it was
about the bondage of sin and how Jesus has come to cut us free and bring us
into a new light. There was surprisingly large crowd and pulled quite a few
people into conversation. The way that I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit
was unreal. It was like halfway through the speech I immediately felt warmth
and heat fill my entire body, all of the words spilled out of me, and my heart
was led to speak more than the word I had originally organized. It was
incredible. It is even hard for me to remember all that I said, kind of liked I
blacked out for second. Such a strong adrenaline rush! Unlike any that I have
experienced before.
Week #7 “Father Heart of God”
This
week brought huge revelation. I didn’t really expect much from the topic at
first but once lectures started and I began to see into the depth of who God is
I knew that this week was going to bring up a lot. The speaker that we had for
the week was Cliff Wiener, originally from the states but he now is a base
leader here and works to upkeep the property and daily functions. He also leads
base worship from time to time! In this week talked about God’s fatherly position
in our lives and what it actually means to be a son or daughter. We main term
we used was our “sonship,” This reached into stuff that I never really took to
seriously. God’s grace and love, and the fact that we have it all available to
us and we often push it to the side or don’t completely trust in his promises.
When I found myself struggling with certain things I would end up rerouting my
aggression towards him instead of really seeing that he is on our side. He will
convict us, never condemn, but even in those cases it’s because he loves us and
cares about our heart. This really spoke to me. Since I have been here I have
been eager to grow and eager to seek, but this opened a door to a new level of
growth. It opened the door to take new steps of faith and to see even larger
transformation in myself. It is really encouraging to see that there is more
opportunity for change and improvement. I am really starting to learn how to
become completely dependent on God and how to stand strong in that. Trust,
trust, trust.
……………………………………
I
know that was a lot all at once, but thanks for reading through I tried to be
brief and detailed at the same time. JUST SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED! Hopefully it
got some people thinking and talking! I have learned so much here, I mean that
is only a fraction of what has been covered. The staff and speakers here have
been more than I could want. Everyone’s heart for the Lord is strong and God’s
activity is more present than anywhere I have seen so far. It really shows how
powerful things can be when a group of people come together that FULLY trust in God. Lives are changing,
and miracles are happening. I am looking forward to the rest of lecture portion
(about 5 more weeks). I can’t wait to learn more The weeks are long and the
days are packed with so much but I love it here, but I also cannot wait to be
back and share what I have learne but the one thing that I can’t believe is that
there is going to be many more crazy experiences!
One
last thing, like I said at the beginning I want to apologize about taking so
long to send out an update about what has been going on with me. It is
something that I have really been working through and feeling really convicted
of. It is a time for myself to personally grow but it also isn’t all about me!
I hope you hear my heart in that. I love you all so much. I am so thankful for
all of the support and encouragement. It has been a huge blessing. It is really
sad to see how many people have left home to come here having left loved ones
or have made the difficult decision with absolutely no support. I don’t think I
will take my church family for granted ever again. So please send me any emails
if you want to chat and I will respond to them! I would love that! I want to
thank everyone for the continuous prayer. Please keep Marissa and I in them.
She is doing amazing things in her ministry. I admire her greatly. She has
incredible strength to going into the brothels and bringing light to such a
dark place. I foresee some amazing testimonies in the future. She has such a
heart for those women, and is striving to see breakthrough in them. Please keep
praying and encouraging her as she continues that work. I love and miss you
all!
Sincerely,
Kevin
OUTREACH
After
the next five weeks we will be moving onto the next portion of the school,
outreach! Since we have a ministry that started here called Megacities, which targets
sending many missionary groups to one large city in the world for a whole year,
almost everyone from our base will be visiting Kolkata , India India (Kolkata and Chennai) and the second
option was Jakarta in Indonesia
to Hong Kong and than on to Kolkata. After
spending a week in prayer about this decision I came to the conclusion on the
first one. Since so many people from our base have been to Kolkata this year,
or are there right now, the kind of scheduled tasks are going to be pretty much
following up where others have broken ground. Like watering planted seeds. I am
not sure completely what that looks like but it will be things like, street
ministry in slums, working with the local churches programs, teaching English,
teaching basic life skills, labor work to help village conditions, etc. There
are so many possibilities. Those will get more set in stone as we start to see
where the previous teams have left off as the time gets closer.
Where
are we really going to be in India ?
Well
the plan right now is to purchase a round trip flight from Perth to Chennai. After arriving there taking
the train (about 30 hours) up to Kolkata, which is where we will spend the
first six weeks. After that for about the next four weeks we will be making our
way back south to Chennai by train. Hopefully stopping In different areas where
we feel led, but even the train rides are like day and night street evangelism.
We are than planning on being in Chennai for at least the last two weeks before
we make our return flight to Perth .
Everyone has been given the goal of having $4000 for the trip, which includes:
airfare, train fare, food, necessities, and any costs of overnight stays. The
price is most likely going to go lower than that, it just gives everyone and
idea of what the max could be. It changes because airfare can fluctuate. As of
right now that is my goal. I am still trusting for about $3500. We have a pool
fund that is growing for our class, from group fundraising done here and other
donations directly to our school, which will help cover student’s expenses in
the last moments. It is SO encouraging to be constantly lifted up when trusting
for finances. This is something that is hard for so many including myself.
Allowing God to have control of this area is scary sometimes, but amazing things
happen when you do. So I am completely trusting in that. We are coming up with
many ways to do fundraisers in this last month and a half that will help. For
example, a couple weeks ago we did a sausage sizzle (an Aussie term, basically
like BQQ hot dogs) at a local hardware store for a few hours and we made about
$1000 dollars! So some things like that are what we are doing to help each
other out and see the numbers drop! It makes me so happy to see everyone so
committed and eager to work as hard as they can.
Prayer Requests:
-
Strength and energy
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Finances
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My classmates and leaders
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Safety during outreach and Evangelism
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YWAM Perth
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Marissa and her ministry
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My family and friends safety
-
Living Hope Church in Dixon , CA
Some photos!!!
Some photos!!!
Photos below are by my classmate Annie:
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| Me taking some photos at the beach! |
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| The first day I met all the other students in my school! |
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| Hanging out at a staff house! |
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| My school leader and staff! |
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| Me working on my creative journal! |
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| Hard discussions with Ben and Chase! |
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| Morning worship in our classroom! |
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