Week two here at YWAM Denver has come to an end. I survived bonding week AND the first week of lectures! It would take forever to share all the crazy amount of amazing things that have happened already, so I will just write about my top 5 favorite experiences so far! But first...
Last week we received our flight itinerary, which is exceptionally exciting! Sooo, here it is:
- August 16th - Leave Denver at 13:20, arrive in Dallas at 16:15
- August 16th - Leave Dallas at 17:10, arrive in Guatemala City at 19:20
- August 30th - Leave Guatemala City at 8:15, arrive in Dallas at 12:40
- August 30th - Leave Dallas at 14:55, arrive in Houston at 15:55
- August 30th - Leave Houston at 20:00, arrive in Istanbul at 15:45
- August 31st - Leave Istanbul at 18:15, arrive in Budapest at 19:15
- September 20th - Leave Paris at 15:45, arrive in Cairo at 21:05
- September 21st - Leave Cairo at 0:01, arrive in Johannesburg at 7:10
- October 3rd - Leave Johannesburg at 21:25, arrive in Doha at 6:20
- October 4th - Leave Doha at 12:55, arrive in Kathmandu at 20:05
- October 20th - Leave Kathmandu at 23:00, arrive in Hong Kong at 7:30
- November 1st - Leave Hong Kong at 10:05, arrive in Los Angeles at 07:40
- November 1st - Leave Los Angeles at 12:15, arrive in Denver at 15:25
If I let myself, I probably could do absolutely nothing for the next six weeks except bounce around with anticipation and exhilaration for this trip. Luckily, that time is looking like it will be filled with much more useful things. So without further ado, here are the most awesome, super duper, spectacular, mind blowing, just straight up cool things about my YWAM adventure, as of 07/08:
1. The People:
I love all my new brothers and sisters in Christ here at YWAM! Seriously, they are already like family. I get really nervous about meeting new people and it usually takes me awhile to click with someone when I first meet them. The idea of trusting a bunch of strangers with my testimony normally would seem just straight up terrifying. Not the case at all with these cool cats. Hanging with my roomies feels like home, and the support that this community provides is inspiring. It isn't just the fellow students either, but all the staff too. We had a 'Commitment Ceremony' the first Thursday here, where we relinquished everything to God, and our small group leaders washed our feet as a way to show that they were willing to be a part of working through anything in our lives, even the dirty stuff, just like Jesus!
It is so cool to be around a group of people 24/7 who can go from goofing off, playing volleyball, or imitating small animals, to having thought-provoking, intentional conversations about everything Jesus. A place where folks can be both silly and meaningful is the best kind of place in my opinion. It is so great to share these experiences with such a diverse group!
That is another awesome aspect of YWAM. We are all SO different! The Lord blessed me with a super encouraging image the other night of a pot being filled with a variety of different colors. The colors represented our personalities and the pot represented the YWAM Denver base. When they first started mixing it got a bit messy, and it looked like the end result was heading towards an unappealing brown. But then God showed up, and once we let Him stir us all together, the result was a fantastic, bright light that shined out over the world. I know each of our individual skills and personalities will play the perfect role God has planned once we surrender our differences up to Him! Furthermore, with all the diversity, it means that you get to not only see the wonders God is working in your own life, but in everyone else's life too! I have already seen Him romancing and shaping us ALL in the exact kind of specific way we need, and it is just so heartwarming!
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| A group of us bused into downtown Denver our first Saturday here. |
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| There are a ton of homeless people in Denver. I have actually enjoyed chatting with quite a few of them now... This guy right here is Santa. He even has business cards that declare he is in fact Santa. |
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| We probably took like 300 photos while we waited for the bus... Not at all ridiculous. |
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| The amazing lake we found that I desperately wanted to swim in. It is part of some rich private community however, and the lady we talked to was just rude and wouldn't give us the key. We spent the whole trip back ranting about how God made the lakes and He would want His daughters to go in! So silly, but so funny. |
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| MAD FACES! In all honesty though, the outrageous adventure we had getting there was great. It is about the journey, not the destination, right? I think that is definitely the case when you are in good company. |
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| My new gym buddies! We keep each other accountable to staying in shape, and make a potential chore so much fun! |
2. Kingdom Night:
Every Friday night a group of people from YWAM, plus anyone else that is keen to tag along, head to downtown Denver for what they call 'Kingdom Night.' During this night we hang out in the heart of the city for a few hours doing all we can to get God's heart and share encouragement with anyone He calls us to share with! Who doesn't want to get some compliments just randomly thrown their way?! It is awesome to make connections and have conversations with new people, ask them if they want any prayer, and if the situation is right, share Jesus with them. Don't worry, it isn't a stomp around shouting at people they are going to hell while we shove religion down their throats kind of thing.
Everyone returned with all sorts of awesome stories about people coming to know the Lord, stories about miracles occurring through prayer, or just small instances of how rad our God is. The thing myself and my one friend Nicola ended up sharing was our story of how we met Morgan.
We were in a book store and noticed a girl sitting by herself on the couch, frantically writing in a workbook. Once we were outside, four of us prayed and asked God if He had a word for the girl in the shop. Then it was suggested that Nicola and I go back in to share the words we got. But when we went back in, the girl was gone. We shuffled about looking for her, with no luck. So we sat down and prayed that God would reveal who the words were for. We explored the store a bit more, Nicola pointed out a girl sitting by herself, and we both had a feeling it was her. As we super awkwardly inched closer to her (I seriously dislike 'bothering' people) I finally just went up and told her that it might sound weird but we felt like God wanted to share with her the words comfort, security, and outlet. She immediately responded that it wasn't weird at all, that she was a Christian, and that she had just moved to Denver two weeks ago, so those words were really encouraging. With a great amount of relief we all started chatting.
As soon as I introduced myself, Morgan exclaimed that her Mum's name is also Rachelle. She then told us that she is a graphic designer and photographer, and Nicola jumped in with the fact that she is also a photographer. We then told her that we are a part of YWAM to which she said she had just gotten back from Hungary (WE ARE GOING TO HUNGARY IN A FEW MONTHS, WE SHOUTED) and that while she was there she was designing posters for the YWAM base in Budapest! We all had so much in common, there is no way it was a coincidence! We exchanged numbers and left feeling so excited by how cool God is, that He was able to encourage someone and start a new friendship just through us listening to Him!
3. Pastor Blake and the Character of God:
The first lecturer we had was Pastor Blake, who taught us about the Character of God. The aspects of God's character that we explored were courage, honesty, forgiveness, contentment, obedience, and kindness. For one week Blake blew my mind everyday and overloaded me with so many new ideas and lessons. His testimony and openness to share stories from his own life made everything so accessible, and made you feel like it was ok to open up too. Also, he always backed up everything he said using the Bible. It was not a week filled with someone's unfounded opinions, but insightful lessons based deep in God's word.
Each morning during quiet time I would wrestle with something, wonder something, or just not even know where my head was at, and as soon as I would sit down for class, the lesson would be addressing what I had just been working on with God by myself. Oh boy does He answer prayer and guide us to exactly what we need!
My favorite lesson however, revolved around wearing a ball and chain. Each DTS student had to wear a legitimate, heavy, ball and chain for 30 minutes sometime outside of class. Some people went to the grocery store with it, others walked around the lake with it. My time started right after I got out of the shower in the morning, so it got dragged along as I got ready for the day and prepared breakfast. It was a pain. I kept accidentally hitting myself with it.
Finally Pastor Blake revealed the teaching behind the ball and chain. That day we learned about, and confronted, the monsters that live in the dark. So often we have monsters that get dragged around just like the ball and chain, but we will refuse to confront them. Either it is too painful or we are just too ashamed to bring them out into the light. When they are in the dark however, we will never be free from them, and they will eventually be the end of us. It was a very emotional afternoon, but it ended with such a euphoric sense of relief, as we each called out our monsters and commanded them to be done with forever in the name of Jesus Christ!
Having Pastor Blake as a teacher was such a blessing. He really allows God to speak through him and was a spectacular steward of our time. The things I learned during his teachings have greatly developed my walk with the Lord and changed my life forever.
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| Wearing the ball and chain while making my morning coffee. This was part of a lesson on monsters that live in the dark. Carrying this thing around was a real heavy hindrance and so is carrying around hidden burdens from the past. |
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| Pastor Blake had us repeat this everyday he taught, because it is straight up truth! So excited to see how God uses us all as ambassadors for Christ! |
4. Creative Presentation Preparation!
Each student here at YWAM has to do a creative presentation on an assigned topic for their DTS. The topic I chose was 'refugees and immigrants.' I didn't know much about the topic to begin with, but considering the fact that my Mum was an illegal alien living in the USA for 15 years I figured it could be something interesting to research. I also thought about how bullied I was when I moved to New Zealand. There was so much anti-American hatred coming from a bunch of kids who really didn't even know what they were talking about. Just a few examples of this bullying include getting a rugby ball thrown at my head, which subsequently caused me to fall off a small cliff, having someone put a dead baby bird in my hair, and being told that the USA deserved what happened on 9/11 and that all Americans should die that way. I can't relate to the paperwork and time consuming struggle that comes from trying to get entry into a new country, I can't relate to the absolute fear and desperation that occurs when your home country is in shambles, but I can relate a little bit with the persecution that comes from being a foreigner in a new place.
So I decided I wanted to focus on refugees and immigrants in the USA, in particular, the public opinion and treatment of these people here. So I spent all day Saturday wandering around downtown Denver just chatting to anyone who would let me talk to them. I had such a great day. I would be lying if I said there weren't any frustrating moments or times of straight up rejection, but ultimately it taught me so much. God really gave me His heart for the people of the city that day, and on top of doing my project, I ended up hanging out with a group of homeless men for awhile, having a good chat about the Bible, and praying with one of them. I was somehow both exhausted and exhilarated by the end of the day.
Right before coming to YWAM, I made a promise to God that I would not have any sort of romantic relationships for a whole year. I made this promise because I 100% know it is for the best. I need to learn to put God first and find in God whatever it is that I desire from a boyfriend or husband. But I haven't been like, overly thrilled about the whole idea. This outing was the first time I really felt like I absolutely just wanted to spend a whole year totally focused on getting to know God, enjoying the way He romances me, and praising Him in all the adventures we have together. I thoroughly enjoyed His company and the company of all the interesting people of downtown Denver. Plus, I think God really re-sparked my love of film and showed me how I can use the gifts He has blessed me with to bring glory to Him. It was just an all around A+ day ya'll.
Here is a link to the final product for my creative presentation. We only had five minutes and I shot/edited the whole thing on just my iPad over one weekend so... Definitely far from perfect, but, again, life is about the journey, not the destination lol...
5. Storm Night
Now let me tell you about pretty much the best night ever. After an unbearably hot day that was filled with quite a few trials and some serious attacks from Satan, I was feeling pretty down. Then God blessed us with literally the most amazing lightening storm I have ever seen in my life. It had me just overflowing with awe and reverence for His power and glory. A small group of us ended up running out into the storm, prancing all around the lake, bouncing about the playground, and frolicking through some extremely warm sprinklers before heading back to the base. Being in such an EPIC storm was so invigorating! When we returned, I felt completely refreshed and renewed. Then we had an impromptu worship session in the living room, because there was no way all the love for Jesus that was booming inside us after such a marvelous night could have just stayed in there! A+++ night right there folks!
Now that our flights are booked and I have had a week for settling, plus a week of learning, it has finally set in that I am REALLY here. That this is actually happening. And that my life is never going to be the same. 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!
"'Have faith in God,' Jesus answered. 'I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."
Mark 11:22-24
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