Two Pilgrims and a Tomato

So friends,

Here in Carlisle, we've just entered into week eight of our 12 week DTS. Things have been just fantastic so far and I know that the entire team is eagerly awaiting and preparing for outreach.

Last week our speaker, Pieter McCarthy, was from one of the bases in South Africa that we'll be staying at. He spoke on worship and what that really means. It's more about living in a lifestyle of continually worshipping God than just something that we participate in at church. We talked about how we're a people who have been created to worship and that we were chosen specifically by God. Worship should be something where we're offering a sacrifice to God and He will always respond to that. It should cost us something either in time, energy, or money and it needs to be spent on something eternal, like our relationship with God. We spent time doing some really cool, open worship in that we sang some African songs and did some dancing. What a fun experience! We also talked about different names of God and how we're called to be warrior princes and princesses for Christ.

We also celebrated Thanksgiving last Saturday. My mom lovingly sent me a box with the Publix pilgrims for the table along with holiday smelling candles. We did a full Thanksgiving dinner of turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, yorkshire puddings (the English influence from our team), and real pumpkin pie. One of the guys from our DTS is from the U.S. and his mother gave me a gift of realy pumpkin puree so that our team could get the true Thanksgiving experience. A good friend, Rachel, who's studying in London, also got to come up to celebrate with us. Lots of fun had by all!

This week our speaker is talking about sin and the cross. His name is David Painting and he's just brought so many new ideas and revelation. He's told stories that are slightly embellished in that they have much more detail than the Bible gives, but it's made it so much more real and less than just a historical account. We've discussed how we were created so that God can love us and so that we can love Him. Everything is really back on relationship with God. God is love, therefore relationship is implied, relationship is based on choices, and since there are different outcomes from different choices, God must be a God of justice. We've discussed relationships being broken through sin, not only with other people, but our relationship with God being broken as a result of sinning. It's been just fascinating to hear things about sin and the cross from another perspective and I'm really looking forward to the remainder of the week.

Other than that, life is just grand. I'm loving Carlisle, even if it does rain almost everyday. Right now we're preparing for a large gathering here in Carlisle on December 9-10. Be praying for that please in that we'll have people from all over YWAM England staying for the night and going to a prayer meeting. We're finishing up 40 weeks of praying 24/7. All of YWAM England participated and so we're having a gathering to celebrate the end of that and figure out where the vision is for YWAM England next.

Also, please be praying for me as to what is coming next after DTS is finished. I'm praying and thinking about staying on as a staff member in Carlisle. There's an administration position open and I'd still be able to help out with the upcoming DTS and possibly go on outreach backpacking in China and the Philippines next year. It's obviously still in the works and the staff and I haven't talked details yet, but it's a possibility, so please be praying for that.

As always, pray for unity for the team and homesickness as the holiday season approaches and we grow closer and closer to leaving for South Africa.

DTS Gathering

I realize that it's been awhile since you last heard from me and I just want to say that life here has been a little crazy. I've still been attending lectures and learning tons about the Father Heart of God this past week. We had a lecturer from Scotland this past week, Richard Mayers, who spoke on God as a Father. We delved into mostly matters of the heart and where we've had past hurts, sins, defining moments that have shaped the way that we respond to God. We had some very broken people who were really able to just sit in the presence of God and relax in Him. I think that it's been a time of my heart growing with God and really seeing that I have a heart of compassion for people who are lost, broken-hearted, and in need of healing.

The week before, from October 29th- November 4th, we were at a DTS gathering in Harpenden, England. All of the current DTS students from England and Ireland gathered at the YWAM base in Harpenden for a week of teaching and learning how to better evangelize. We had a great time and definitely had fun getting to know people from different DTS'. We were all happy though to return back to Carlisle. We had some amazing speakers, Daniel Shannon from Kona, Hawaii; Stuart Lees from London; and Lynn Green, who's part of the national committee for YWAM. Daniel Shannon is only about 24 and God is doing amazing things in his life and he shared about doing evangelism. It was so exciting to hear what God is doing when people make themselves available to God. When we have an air of expectancy that God is going to move and do work, then we are so much more available to him actually working. We went into Luton, Bury Park, which is the predominately Muslim area of town to do evangelism on Thursday. It was incredibly difficult because we hadn't established relationships with the people there. Suzie and I talked to a woman from Bangladesh, Shepa, in a store and just got to really show that we cared about her. We didn't evangelize directly, but I think that we were able to minister to her heart. Bury Park is in such a state of spiritual bondage, so we spent the remaining two hours walking around and praying for the area. It was crazy.

I think that at this point in time, God is really calling me to draw closer to Him. That He's really been saying that in the future it's just going to be me and Him together, so I really need to put my trust in Him completely. I really feel that He's calling me to work with unreached people and that I just need to be in complete obedience to Him. After listening to Gina Fadley, one of the speakers this week, talk on the School of Foreign Missions with YWAM, I'm not sure about the next step, but it'll probably involve much more time overseas. Obviously I'll be praying about it and waiting on God, but it's basically 3 months of training and 2 years doing outreach. They do church planting in China and missions all over the place.

I'm also reading Loren Cunningham's book on faith and finances. It's been so eye-opening and has really convicted me on trusting God with everything.