Wild at heart: YWAM Update

YWAM Journal

7/21/13

Funny how I can get so excited about doing my hair because its short and really easy to do. It's even easier now due to the fact that its not as curly anymore. And it's not as curly as I thought it would be short.
I went with a few other girls to Faith this morning. First time here! It reminds me a lot of Trinity, especially since I know some of the people on stage cause they play on the worship team on base as well. It was great! I think I will need to go again to make it feel more comfortable. I already feel that way with mile high vineyard. God is good!:)
I finished my book report paper today and sent it to my small group leader. So glad that's out of the way.
The book is really good!
So to celebrate a group of us ventured off to Starbucks and hung out. Some needed to do homework so I took that time to write the blog you saw last time.
Afterwards we went back to base for dinner and then did some more reading on my big purple blanket in the grass.
A few of us ended our day with some bliss frozen yogurt and then crashed.
I also forgot to mention that Friday Meghan's friend Becca arrived here at YWAM and is now staying on my top bunk!:) She is really neat and a joy to be around.

7/22/13

It's getting closer to my birthday and I'm getting even more excited! I'm ready to be 18 and have been for a very long time. This day will be good even if I do nothing for myself.
This week Eric from staff is speaking about bible study! He aims to make 3 senses apart of his speaking so today was taste I guess. We took something that is like tonic (spicy and boost's your metabolism and immune system), a cracker and then jelly beans that could taste anywhere from gross to yummy. I thankfully got strawberry jam instead of centipede (the two are the same color). He dug into our beliefs of bible study by relating it to our own lives. I realize this now has a big significance to belief's in general and God pointed some stuff out to me. I can't wait to learn more.
After supper I had a date night with just me and Jesus.
I need a special time with Him sometimes that tastes sweet!lol I don't think He has much against Reece's and a iced white chocolate mocha. Lol He just wants time with me.
He is showing me that it's ok to stop and look around!
I have noticed today how much I have changed in just 4 weeks! I'm enjoying every bit of me that is stepping out to change. I'm never in a comfort zone here. If a comfort zone is with Jesus than that's what mine is and sometimes it's not the type of comfort I would like. Even though as I sit here, the coffee is gone and there is no more Reece's, my date is not over yet! I love Him so much! He makes me just want to sit in this moment forever and ponder on who He says I am.
Every time I say "Jesus" He always gives me chills! Being here at YWAM has given me this sweet feeling to say "Jesus"! I love it! "Jesus" here is a sweet sound to all here. I know it would be anywhere but I feel like this is the place it has hit me.

7/23/13

Last night I had a weird dream.
When I say "weird" I mean it.
During quiet time I dissected and was reminded of a lot of things and it all matched up really well. God is so good. The dream was about a dog fighting against the enemy and a bird would come over and give the dog a treat to keep it going. I think God is the bird and I was the dog, keeping the enemy in mind that we always are in a war. The enemy in my dream couldn't be seen, I just knew it was coming. My prophetic word says that I am sweet, that's what He likes about me, I am like candy wanting to give people what I have. The word prey came to mind as I was asking Jesus what this dream meant. Meaning that because of my sweetness the enemy will always be seeking me as prey to devour because I AM so precious to God.
This was a really cool thing to see happen and think thru.

Class has been really good!
We had a chance to act out a part from the bible! My group did the "fall of man". I was the serpent in this one! At the beginning it says that the serpent was the most crafty of them all so I got some scissors, glue and paper and acted like I was being crafty. I had been joking about how God made child labor painful from the beginning when we were practicing so I got to do the sound effects to the child labor part! That was fun!
In class we are learning the different Narratives in the bible such as,

historical narrative
old testament law
prophetic
poetry
wisdom
gospel
epistle
eschatological

and the different genres of the bible. All very neat. I now have a different perspective of bible study.

The day ended with Meghan, her friend Becca and I going to Bliss to get frozen yogurt and then we took a drive towards the mountains. God is always reminding me to take in His beauty and not to take it for granted. I am always ok with this, as long as He is in me reminding me, I will take it all in and enjoy it all. I also learned how to play bonanza which was a lot of fun.

7/24/13

During quiet time I had a revelation of a song I have been wanting to get for a long time because it has just kept on playing in the background of my mind for prolly a month. Found it!:) so guess what? It's been playing every time I get a chance! It's called "He is with us" by love and the outcome (meredith andrews sings it)

Today in class we learned about- meditating on the word, giving 3 options of how you can do this:

one thought method- read a portion of scripture, pick one verse and think about it, turn it into a prayer and then pray it back to God.
Gospel meditation approach-Quiet yourself in God's presence, ask Him to take the words in scripture and lead you to an encounter with the Father, son and the holy spirit.(read John 15:1-7 outloud)
Contemplative approach (also known as Lectio Divina)- a sacred reading method a way of listening to God through scripture.

I had my one on one with my small group leader Mary today at lunch! She is amazing and so very sweet! I can't wait till my parents meet her!:) She is the sweetest!:) She is the kind of person that if you tell her about something you need prayer over, you can have no doubt that she will be praying about it for you. I love her!:)

We had an outreach prep meeting/team meeting today, Erica Strickland (an amazing singer and speaker) taught us how to write a sermon and gave tips to do for our translator when we get one.

Today in work duties on grounds we raked the grass. They don't bag their grass because it fertilizes the grass but in a few days they take it up so that it doesn't suffocate the new grass coming in. Pretty neat I must say. Great biceps and ab workout, I mean I do get enough of this in a day due to laughter but I'm ok with more exercise. It was way better than picking pine cones up!:)

Afterwards Becca, Meghan and I hung out before Meghan went to life group and I needed to do homework.

After homework I just hungout and eventually went to bed early due to God telling me I needed to wake up really early. Before I did I got to drop in on a skit that some of the group was learning/working on. When they all are done and perfected I will post some video's. They are all so great!:)

7/25/13

I woke up at 5:30am to get ready quickly and go see the sunrise.

Living in the mountains is different you don't see it as soon as it come up but you know it is up cause its light out. Plus, clouds got in the way but that was what God wanted I guess. It's funny cause the last two mornings God has told me to do this and my alarm was on low volume and I ended up not doing it but this morning it was 3x louder and much more awakening. And it didn't go off just once, I guess God wanted to keep reminding me even if I was already up! Lets just say it was Beautiful and God's timing was great. I just sat there admiring it and listening to graham Cooke, Afterwards I went to Starbucks across the road and got me set up! My new favorite is iced white chocolate mocha. As i sat in Starbucks I looked out side and caught a glimpse of a rainbow coming from the clouds.:)

So the rest of my day was really nice. I was surprisingly wide eyed and bushy tailed!:) lol

Last day of class we dug into observing, interpreting, finding timeless truth's and application God's word. We did this by digging into Ephesians, taking a bit of it and going thru these steps.

After dinner Tabea and I went and did laundry! I needed it done for the weekend and she had no more clean clothes to wear. Then we went to bliss. Bliss is my favorite place to go after laundry or during if it works out. Then I walked around the park with Alyssa and we just talked, following an awesome quirky time with the photo booth, Tabea and I!:)

7/26/13

I love waking up and walking into the bathroom with my roommates cheerfully telling me "Happy Birthday!!!!!!"

I am 18 today!:) Woot Woot!:)

My small group leader Mary made me Mississippi mud cake (a Paula dean recipe) and they all wrote me words that they felt God was telling me/encouraging words! I love it! They all are so sweet!

I even got to play on the play ground by base with them a little. My youthfulness is what I aim to keep always. Lol

The group sang to me today! It was awesome! I feel so special.

Then some of my friends surprised me with a brownie cake with my name on it!:)

I can't think of a better way to spend my birthday than to be here at YWAM with this new family!!!

When my parents arrived I ran to them. I immediately had happy tears. We ate on base, they were having taco's! We ate outside where we fought a bumble bee for the spot and I opened my gifts they brought. My mom did an amazing job on a picture book that included my graduation pictures, senior pictures, family pictures (Jones) and childhood pictures! I love it! Best part is its zebra. Zebra keeps growing in my stuff. Ha! It's funny.

We later had frozen yogurt at bliss with most of the group. This place was especially busy since they exempt kingdom night this Friday.

Then we just rode around in the mountains!

7/27/13

My mom texting me at 8:30 am was my alarm this morning. I got up, got ready and packed in 15 minutes.

As soon as I was ready and texted them they were on base before 9! We left to go eat at IHOP. Me and my dad ate the best red velvet pancakes ever there. Then we headed for Estes park. At Estes park it was cool but too busy for us so we went thru Rocky Mountain national park. It was simply beautiful.

We made our way thru Idaho springs, where my we got to get root beer floats and me some owl PJ's (needed new Pj's).

My mom found an awesome hotel in wheat ridge for all of us to stay. She can pick. Our joke!:)

Paisley had a sleepover. We watched Disney channel and cuddle until 9 and then we crashed! I love this little girls cuddles. She is sweet, she has her moments but she is 3.

7/28/13

Woke up to a sweet voice asking me if I was up yet. I chose to be happy to be woken up by paisley. I love this girl. Saying goodbye to my family was bitter/sweet! I feel bad for saying I really love it here at YWAM but I do. I wouldn't want to go back home for anything right now. I have so much more exploring to do in this world (literally!!!).

I really loved having them here. Having them meet everyone here and experience some hustle and bustle YWAM life. But saying goodbye to the little one about to burst into tears because she wants her K-T, breaks my heart. I can't believe it has been 5 weeks since I had left them and will be 15 more weeks (or less) till I see them again. Which will be for graduation.:)

I'm realizing that I'm a little pampered here as far as stress goes. I don't have family stress but due date stress. Which to me is nothing compared to family stress.

I wasn't planning on going to church as long as my family was here but they ended up dropping me off at base right before church started so I got to go. It all works out in the end. My Idea's:
popsicles with paper that have a verse on the topic of love, delivered to a near by college.
5 blank t-shirts with a love verse on the front and a cool picture of some sort (hand drawn) delivered to a near by college
My Heart:
My Heart goes out to the College student's of this generation. They deal with so much as fresh new adults. From payments, work school, and tempations always at their fingertips. My heart is to share the love of Jesus with them. I know I am loved and I have experienced His love and can't imagine a day without it. This love is like Candy, candy is sweet and tasty anybody who has tried it wants more of it because it's so good. God is like this, I want them to have this. If they have this love, this sweet love, that is so good, they will come back for more.
What really ended up happening:
All these idea's meant nothing this week to God. He is funny. He had His own idea's for my love action this week. He did let me know that He would use these idea's soon. I ended up going to Hobby lobby on sunday thinking I would get my supplies, make what I wanted and go put it into action at a college. Nope! First of all, Hobby Lobby is closed on sundays, so that ruined my plans immediately. I ended up going somewhere for lunch, ate in my car while I did some other homework I needed done before monday. When I was done and left to go back to the base, this seemed like a bummer since my GPS sent me to the farthest Hobby Lobby (past down town denver- 30 minutes away). God started to talk to me as I drove telling me that this trip wasnt for nothing, It was to get me away from the base to be all to His self. Because He is a Jealous God, He deffinitely has to do this with me sometimes. I can do my own thing sometimes. He showed me the song called He is with us by Love and the outcome. When I asked Him what He wanted me to do, He told me "Katie, daughter of the feared Beloved, you are precious, you don's see this as an assignment but as an oppurtunity. I love this about you. I woud like you to Go to the Starbucks on Ward across from base and there will be a little girl reading (or doing something- He wasnt exactly specific on this part), in her life has been some lies and false truth's about love and religion, i am sending you there to speak life into her and let her know how much she is loved". So i agreed to what He was telling me and went. So as soon as i went in and got me a drink, i walked by a little girl on her lap top. As soon as I saw her I knew God wanted me to speak to her. Funny thing is I have seen her before. I sat down by what i assumed to be her father. I sat there and did my homework for a while and when I thought the time was right I talked to her dad. He was excited about me wanting to talk to his daughter and let me give her the note I had written. It said "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son to make a way for us to know Him. John 3:16 (In my own words)
In purple because purple means royalty and you are His royal daughter."
Now I realize the verse isnt complete word for word but this was God's plan not mine and I'm perfectly Happy with that and I did write the note in purple. Total God thing.
The little girl's name is Andrea and she is 11, when she opened up to me she told me her parents were not christians but she was. She showed me what she was doing on her lap top and that was listening to the adventure's of oddysey (a bible story sound track for kids). Later I knew her dad had a "mask" on because of a confrontation with the word that was made based on his beliefs that was not relevant at all.
God showed me thru this experience that the broken are out there just waiting for us to come and help them, He is ready to use me, use us. This little girl is just one out of many. He also is driven to always remind me to remember how much one person can change the world, if i am one person and I change one. Think of how many can change others, If one is all it takes to change the world.
I do however hope to full fill a college ministry Love action soon, in God's timing.
This is my passion, my heart and my desire to reach out and speak out to people who need it most. This was a blessing to do and a blessing to talk about with you.

7/29/13

It's a rainy and cold Monday here at YWAM. I love it!

Starting the morning out with sweet Jesus time and worship is the best way I know to start the week.

Phil Gasely is speaking this week.He is pretty interesting and has a sense of humor. He is speaking on Justice and compassion, starting the week on true freedom.

" True freedom is to have sin removed from both soul and society and for God's character to be reflected in both." Phil Gasely

I have a feeling we will get along great. Work duties, got put off and instead of normal work duties they let us have quiet time. This is the best part of being on grounds! When it rains, no work duties. So a group of us went to Starbucks and just hung out! I listened to Graham Cooke and loaded his cd's to my computer.

We had night classes tonight from 7-9! Pretty good stuff, I am just glad I voice recorded it because I was too tired to understand most of it! So I used this time to practice my people drawing skills. Pretty good I must say. After such a late class a group of us ate some Mississippi mud cake. Too much cake for just me and way more fun to share with everyone. We did this last night too so it's all going somewhere now!

7/30/13

I had Mississippi mud cake for breakfast! Not a good idea. Seriously didn't feel good most of the morning. Only a night thing from now on. Almost fell asleep in class several times this morning. Ha! I would think it would keep me awake and going but nope! Not how I work! Is this what being an adult feel's like?

Bekah, Meghan's friend left today!:( really sad she had to go but I'm so glad she got to visit!

I have my second creative presentation today called "love action" we all have to do this the second time around. And the story about the little girl at Starbucks is what I got to tell. Almost like show and tell! I had fun! It was great. I'm pretty sure I forgot to mention some stuff but I feel like that's what God wanted any-who.

In work duties we raked the lawn again! Great arm exercise and time consuming so I'm fine with this. After dinner I got spiffed up for church at bridge way, they are doing a prophetic conference tonight and its going to be good. As I walked out in front of the pong I must have caught a wasp with my hand as it swung by my side and it stung me. I have never felt that much pain all at once in one moment. Forgetting that the doors Locke after 5:30 I'm trying to go back into the door I came out of to find it was locked. One of the leaders and Meghan my friend came running up to me asking me what was up! So I was took into the kitchen to get sting ointment but they didn't have any so I was given what they thought would work and a wet paper towel. I decided about over half way to bridge way that the devil was trying to get in the way of what was in store for tonight. And he continued to try to get in the way till half way into the service.

Prophetic word- they spoke a lot of the Father's love over me and how He really likes me. One lady healed my hand by massaging it while she spoke over me, she didn't even know I was hurt and didn't mention it but I told her afterwards that she healed me. One guy laid a fire ball on my head as he placed his and on top of my head and mentioned that it will increase. I could feel it go throughout my body and increase. It was so cool. The last guy I was to go to was the pastor and was really moved by me and mentioned my fire ball. afterwards his wife was telling him it was cold in the room and he told her that he was sweating from me "the fire ball". I did not let the enemy win today.

7/31/13

This morning I woke up extremely tired. But as usual in my quiet times, God seems to revive me of that. I love that. Worship was so good. It is always so powerful. I love worship with this group and intercession to follow. We prayed for the education in Libya and drew pictures, ate goldfish and animal crackers and blew bubbles. So much fun. I'm not going to lie class was pretty boring today but I made it thru them. We had a outreach prep meeting today which consisted of getting some cultural differences from some people on staff and my team. Pretty neat and nice to know! Something's shocked me and something's I could relate to.

In work duties Andi and I raked the grass while the others cleaned out the fish pond. Fun stuff! This girl is a lot of fun!:) excited to be traveling the world with her in 2 weeks!lol After dinner I had a rehearsal for the skit "forgiveness"! I play "greed" in this one. It's a really cool skit and will be really powerful. Afterwards Meghan and I went to do laundry. As we did this, we talked about life and marveled over the fact that we feel like sisters. God answered my biggest prayer here at YWAM and that would be to have a big family and here I have it! I love all 8 sisters and 3 brothers as I would my own family!

We got back just in time for our curfew!

8/1/13

I woke up at 5:30 this morning to go have my quiet time.:) I quickly packed a bag of things I needed and got ready!

I drove to my point to watch the sunrise.

It was pretty! On the way back to Starbucks across from base and as I drove I saw at the corner of my eye, bunny rabbit dart across the road just as I passed! The worst feeling is looking in the mirror and seeing the floppy feet flopped over its body as it lay helplessly in the middle of the road. I was in tears going down the road! I quietly asked God why He intended that and He told me "Life is short and can be taken in a second, this is just a reminder to live life to it's fullest!"

OK! Gotcha! I just wish it was shown differently but I guess this is ok.

I won't ever look at a bunny the same again.

I got coffee and have been working on this very blog post!

Bible study was good with Rachel (my roommate) teaching on obeying God and relating it to our own lives and the story of Jonah and the whale. She is amazing and so sweet.

Class was much more interesting today, yet hard!

Speaking on Sex trafficking,

I got to eat lunch with Phil Gasley our speaker, it was great! Then afterwards I had a meeting with my team for outreach. We had some fun times doing some team building excercises.Then I had puppet rehearsal where I met my darling "Cindy Lou hoo", a red headed sweet heart and spunky personality. She had cataracts on her eyes when they pulled her out but we fixed it with a little sharpie. These puppets are not just puppets but dancing puppets! Yup!:) We worked on a song called "laughing" then "Jesus Loves you" by veggie tales and then a Spanish one with a great beat. It was a blast! My darling is the main character of "Jesus loves you".

After that much fun, ATW's had a dinner meeting where we cracked down to business on some travel info. I'm getting more excited as we are 2 weeks and 2 days away from leaving.

I finally got a break after dinner for 30 minutes and then to community night I went! Worship was really good! God showed me my angel wings and kept putting a fire ball on my head! Every time I say "Jesus" during worship or any intimate time with Him, I get chills! It's great!:) Phil Gasley spoke a recap (for me and all the other students in class with him this week) for us!:) He is a great speaker!:) I love his passion for the world and what It hurts for.

The we had cookies and lemonade. I got to get to know Melanie's sweet family (she will be traveling the world with me).

Then had some great laughs by the pond with a lot of the team. Love them all and am so glad they love me for me, all the way.