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I have made it here to YWAM Denver! Praise God! This first week will be a lot about getting settled and set up on campus, so I figured it would be a good time to write a post which explains a bit more about YWAM, this DTS, and share with you the story behind the title of this blog.
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So here is a little break down about YWAM that I stole from their site:
"Youth With A Mission is a global movement of Christians from many cultures, age groups, and Christian traditions, dedicated to serving Jesus throughout the world. Also known as YWAM (pronounced “WHY-wham”), we unite in a common purpose to know God and to make Him known. Back when we began in 1960, our main focus was to get youth involved in missions. Today, we still focus on youth, and we also involve people aged 8 to 80. We currently work in more than 1,100 locations in over 180 countries, with a staff of over 18,000. One of the joys of participating in YWAM is to work with people from many nations. YWAM’s staff (known as “YWAMers”) come from over 130 countries, including places like Indonesia, Nepal, Mozambique, and Colombia.We invite you to join us! Discover how you can use your gifts and callings in the YWAM world."
I found out about YWAM through some friends when I first started walking with the Lord. I have been saving money to travel since I was 17. I knew I wanted to see the world, but I have also always desired to do some sort of volunteer work overseas. I was looking into doing a Contiki tour around Europe, but once I became a Christian, the drinking and partying aspect of that was no longer appealing. I wanted the money I had saved to matter, more specifically, matter to God and His purpose for me. After explaining this one night while hanging out with some girls from church, they told me I should check out YWAM. While researching, e-mailing, and praying about a variety of different programs, God really narrowed it down for me by shutting some doors, and then opening others, until I discovered the Around the World DTS and knew that was exactly where He was calling me.
That leads me to YWAM Denver and to the DTS program. Here are some pages out of our orientation packet that I think sum up the happenings for the next two months really well:
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| This gives a brief history of YWAM Denver. |
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| This has some great information about the beliefs and purposes of YWAM. |
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| This lists the main objectives of a DTS. To gather, challenge, inspire, cultivate, sharpen, equip, and impart the values of YWAM, which are directly related to what God's word expresses. It also shows the daily schedule for DTS students. |
A lot of stuff to take in! Already I 100% feel like this is where I belong! I love the people, I love what we do, and I definitely already see God making big moves in myself and others. He is just so good!!!
AND finally I will explain what it means to karate chop and scuba dive with God. This title was actually made up during an accountability session with two girls who have been incredible blessings in my life. While we were Skyping one night, I was talking about the areas in my life where I was stumbling and how I just really needed God to get rid of them. I am an animated person, so while I was explaining this, I kept making sharp, diagonal, slicing motions to demonstrate how intensely I wanted Him to cut the sin right out of my life! Supposedly, I looked like I was trying to do martial arts. Then we were talking about the difference between 'snorkel' prayers, that just skim the surface, and 'scuba dive' prayers, that allow you to really open up and expose the deeper parts of yourself to God. We decided the aim that week was to karate chop the stumbling blocks out of our lives, and be willing to scuba dive to new depths during our prayer time, with God. Basically it is just an eccentric way to say 'Making Changes and Opening Up with God.' But that would have been an extremely boring title.
To finish up, here are the links to YWAM and YWAM Denver, in case you want to learn more, as well as a few more pictures! Glory to God for this amazing opportunity! May He bless each one of you, on each of your own journeys, too! Thank you for reading!
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| This is the room I share with 7 other lovely ladies! |
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| My bed! I chose a top bunk and was super excited until I realized there was no bar stopping me from rolling out... |
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| We have a Koi pond where I do my morning devotionals. It is awesome. |
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| Volley ball net with Meadow Lake (aka Goose Poop Pond) in the background. Such a pretty campus! |
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| This is where we have worship and classes each day! |
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For our first breakfast, the staff decorated the dinning hall and served us bacon, eggs, pancakes, coffee, and fruit! It was such a sweet gesture of servitude, and the food was delicious!
"He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all - how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?"
Romans 8:32 |
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