Culture Shock: Back to Washington D.C.

Well, I realized I haven’t written since September, and that’s simply because I wanted to soak in my experience as much as possible rather than take time to record it. I’m going to do my best to recall all that happened since then in future blog posts, but for now, I am going to give a little debrief. 

Simply put, the YWAM DTS experience was the most rewarding and enriching experiences I’ve had.  I realize DTS is not part of God’s plan for everyone, but I highly recommend anyone who is thirty or younger that thirsts after God to pray about doing a DTS. If one goes into with a focused heart, it is impossible to leave unchanged.

When I started to pray about it, I didn’t get this booming voice in my head that said, “Go!” but rather I stepped out in faith, knowing that what I was doing was toward my goal which was to become more Christ-like. As soon as I took that step of faith, the donation money came flying in, which helped me believe even more that this was God’s desire for my life.

That was six months ago and I can without a doubt say that this experience was every bit in God’s plan for me! I met so many great people, challenged myself spiritually and physically, and tried things I never thought I was capable of  (praying for strangers on the street, cliff diving, exercise for eighteen hours at once, to name a few).

And now after this whirl wind of an experience, I find myself asking, what do I do now? I just went from the most exciting time of my life to the dullest. I’m enjoying the rest, and definitely still growing in my relationship with God, but it’s a process of learning contentment wherever you’re at until God brings the next thing. Transition periods are the hardest because you have to trust that God has you in His hands and that He will lead you. My original plan was to take the Biblical Core Course in Sydney, staff, and then help pioneer the new YWAM base in Tahiti, and I’m definitely still praying about it. Time will tell what’s in store for me, and I’m just waiting now for the job and guidance I’m sure God will provide.

I’ve been making the adjustment back home rather smoothly, but having been removed from the cold-climate, Washington D.C. culture, I feel its coldness more than ever upon returning. Australians in general are extremely relational, as are most people in what people refer to as ‘hot-climate’ cultures (most of Asia, Africa, Central/South America, and the islands). It is less direct, more relational, and in general, more loving. I’m not in any way bashing America (I love America!) but I have been enlightened to new ways of communicating and getting things done. The American way is not, surprise surprise, the only way and always the best way of doing things. I do believe the community that is developed in warm-climate cultures is much more like how God intended it to be. On the other hand, cold-climate cultures have a stronger focus on work and personal success which in turn does produce less material poverty. Huge generalization, I know, but just something I observed from being immersed in the island culture.  I think all cultures have something to learn from one another (this is something I would have probably never really believed before DTS) and I strongly disagree with the notion that says one culture is necessarily better than the other. All that is at the root of that notion is fear, fear that one’s own culture is not valued and appreciated by God as much as others, but I know that God has the same heart for every nation! God certainly does not value the sins of one particular culture (perhaps the general sinful spirit over America is consumerism), but He does love all that is good in culture, including America’s.

Another culture shock has to do with the difference between intense Christian community and not-so intense Christian community. At YWAM, living with hardcore, on-fire people seeking after the kingdom of God helps you stay focused on that mission. You are constantly challenged by other people to grow spiritually and always held accountable. It’s a safe

and fast-growing environment to be in, and rather unique in that we are all forced to live with each other day in and day out. If it wasn’t for that living situation, I’d still be slightly turned off by community living, but now that I’ve been exposed to it, I know that its benefits outweigh my penchant for individualism. You learn more about yourself, have more fulfilling relationships, learn a lot more about the world, and as a result, have a more enriching life.

If I had to sum with the three biggest lessons I learned, it would be the following:

1. The Holy Spirit alone gives us the conviction and the power to change. This was a huge turning point in my walk, because up until DTS, I had tried to take control of my life and “fix” myself because I was so (unnecessarily) aware of everything ungodly inside of me. But God quickly came in and took control, and now, my life is so much more peaceful than having to strive at perfection.

2. Making doctrine and volunteer the center of our Christian walk is backwards. To reflect God’s glory more fully and therefore be effective in ministry, we must come to know God personally, not just through what we learn about Him. I definitely had a personal relationship with God my whole life, but once I gave Him real control and laid down my pride, that was when I saw God work in my life in supernatural ways. Letting go of control and pride is key! *Later edit*: I’m not saying learning doctrine is not important; it is HIGHLY important. But our tendency, especially in the western church, is to build up our knowledge but not practice a daily discipline of His presence.

3. Humility. This is absolutely key in helping relationships flourish. Learning to ask for forgiveness, even if you think you weren’t in the wrong, is powerful. Realizing that my way is not necessarily the best way helps me understand people and culture. Viewing myself the way God views me (neither superior nor inferior) puts an end to fear. Through humility, we become wise!

These lessons will impact me for the rest of my walk with Christ. I could have learned them without DTS, but I thank God that he blessed me with this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! It was an incredible adventure, and I certainly have a hunger for evangelism and international missions. I’m excited to see where God takes me next!

In the coming entries, I will describe all that happened since September since outreach was truly incredible. Take care for now!

Psalm 27:4

My biggest fear coming to DTS is that I would be unchanged. I’m so blessed to say that that is not the case. God has surpassed all of my expectations. Every single day is a new experience with Him and others. I learn, I share, I serve, I grow. Nothing compares to this experience!

I always felt like I had to get all of my character cleaned up, and so I would decide to concentrate on a particular area until I felt good about it. But Etienne reminded me that this is a scheme of the enemy, and his purpose is to distract us from what really matters, which is God Himself and His kingdom.

The next day I went to go spend time with God, and He led me to read Haggai 1. In verses 2-8, I had a revelation! God saw that I was so concerned with getting myself perfect that I totally neglected His own house — which is His people! I don’t have to worry about perfecting myself — Jesus is going to do that (Hebrews 12:2). It was so awesome! I agreed to this in my heart, and all of the sudden felt the Spirit overflow in me. The rest of the day I felt so filled with the Spirit! In just an instant, Jesus touched me with His hand and filled me with His grace.

I am continuing to learn the concept of living in His grace and in His strength. God has given us all wisdom, strength and intelligence to achieve great things, but if I’m ever striving in an area of my life, then it means that I’m not living in His grace. When I stop striving and truly cast all my anxiety on Him, He takes care of everything. His grace is sufficient and I’m a living testimony to this!

That whole revelation was last week and I still feel so peaceful. True I don’t necessarily feel filled with the Spirit but I don’t have to feel like that to know that I am still living in His grace.

Something that God also spoke to me about after reading Haggai was the idea of getting into construction. I realized that God doesn’t want me to become an actual builder, but He wants me to begin constructing His temple, His house, which is His people! I know that God has already given me a heart for the lost, both believers and unbelievers, and I’m ready to dedicate my life to that, whatever form that may take. I have already guided both believer and unbelievers toward Christ, but now I want to make it my life’s purpose!

Things that I want to thank God for over the past couple of weeks:

- Thank you God for opening my eyes to the things unseen

- Thank you God for teaching me discernment

- Thank you God for showing me how men really do think they are good people – but that’s because our hearts deceive us. Your truth says no one lives up to Your standards regardless of what our hearts may think (Romans 3:23).

I was actually thinking back on my life when I didn’t have Jesus, and how I used to think I was a good person. I really thought God would have pity on me because of how nice of a person I was. But now that I’m in Christ, I see how much of a sinful person I was and still can be. This gives me even more reason to praise Jesus Christ who has died for my sins once and for all!

- Thank you for revealing more of Your grace to m

- Thank you for reminding me that I am full of joy and love in Christ – whether I feel it today or not

- Thank you for reminding me that we are in a spiritual battle of opposing kingdoms – the Kingdom of God versus the worldly kingdom!

We learned about three main worldviews of the world, and how it was Jesus’ command to preach God’s worldview (the Bible) to all nations (Matthew 28:18-20). People’s cultures, traditions, and appearances can remain the same of course. God is a God of diversity!

Side note on diversity: if God made every snowflake, human finger print, human DNA and a million other things different, how can God not value diversity? In Genesis 11, God destroyed the Tower of Babel because the people wanted to be the same (since people tend to fear people who are different than them). It was God’s command to scatter and multiply the earth, and their desire to remain in the same place and speak the same language was in direct disobedience to God. Therefore, He scattered the people and confused their language for them.

All the different cultures bring glory to God. How boring it would be if there were just one people group worshiping God? But God isn’t a boring God. He’s made Americans, Samoans, Koreans, Muslims, Fijians, etc. to bring Him glory. And no culture is superior to the other — we all just reflect different aspects of God, just like individual people

End side note.

The three main world views: Christian/Biblical [Man + God], Naturalism/Secular [only man], Pantheism/Animistic [God only].

Secular (Natural) worldview - where man makes all the answers

• Everything has a physical cause. So, if someone got the flu, it was because of germs (whereas the biblical worldview would say that although germs did cause the sickness, the root cause is actually spiritual. Disease entered the world with sin, which gives all sicknesses a spiritual root).
• Faith is in technology (mp3 players, computers, cell phones, etc)
• Lives in a closed system (denies supernatural causes of anything)
• Live in methods (everything can be investigated via the scientific method)

Animistic Worldview

• EVERYTHING has a spirit behind it
• Fatalism. There is no control over life. Spirits control everything.
• Spirits are present in any form of creation. Demons are everywhere.
• Resources are limited.

Biblical Worldview

• Inherent value – we believe in the value of humans
• Relationships are most important
• Life is sacred
• There is a spirit world: faith, revelation, value, church evangelism
• There is a physical world: science, education, reason, facts, family, social actions

The Biblical worldview holds that we are in both the physical and spiritual world. Most people aren’t aware of the spiritual world, even Christians today don’t see the enemy at work in their day to day lives. The Greek mentality has separated these two worlds, but in reality, they are both active on earth, we just can’t typically see the spiritual world with our own eyes. If we don’t see that the enemy is the cause of all sickness, misery and disease, we start blaming God even though it was man’s choice to allow sin into the world. God had a perfect plan for all mankind, but we freely chose to reject Him. So, the animism world view sees only spirits, while the secular mindset (which is so often the Western church) sees only the physical, and the biblical worldview believes both the spiritual and natural are at play, and it takes wisdom to discern between the two.

We then learned about the post-modernism mentality:

• Human nature – it is all culturally determined
• Knowledge – confidence in knowledge of the truth is lost — truth is “true for me or us.” Truth is what works.
• History – this is all meaningless and unknowable except as a study of power by one group over another

This mentality leads to “whatever” or “apathy” mentality:

• there is no “transcultural objectivity”
• We can’t think independently because we are defined by our culture
• Truth is what works
• Ethics is whatever the social group decides
• Power is a key issue (whoever is in power sets the truth)

This past week I got sick with hay fever since Australia changed from winter to spring. I was laying down in the grass to enjoy the sun and all of the sudden I was hit by allergies. I felt like I had a cold but a cold on steroids. I just felt extremely fatigued and stuffed up to the point where I couldn’t even get out of bed. I slept through breakfast club on Thursday morning, but got up for small group. I knew that I wanted to go to Plumpton for evangelism, and I thought that I was was feeling better but by lunch time I was drained again. I wanted so badly to stay in bed and rest, but I really felt the pull to go to the Plumpton shopping center for evangelism. It was by the strength of the Holy Spirit, seriously, that I got up and went to Plumpton. I was screaming at everyone, “I HAVE TO GO TO PLUMPTON!”

So I walked there with a few people, and when we got inside I sat down on a bench waiting for the others who needed to go to the bathroom. I looked to my right and saw a woman that I recognized. I thought to myself, “Who is this?” And then I remembered. Jeremy, Daniel and I had prayed for her about a month ago when we were at Mt Druitt. We were raising money and she ended up giving us $5. Then we had prayed for her shoulder. I quickly turned to her and said, “Miss! Do you remember me? You are the lady from Sri Lanka?” And she said, “I remember you! But I’m from Burma!” I KNEW she wasn’t Sri Lankan, I’m not sure why I said that. I asked her how her shoulder was, and she said it was better, but she would like more prayer. I started praying for her (Berta’s) shoulder, and for some reason I spoke the gospel as I prayed. I used words like “redeemed” and “reconciliation” so I’m not even sure Berta understood, but I do know that it was the Spirit talking so I must have said the right thing. Then her caretaker came over, and Berta told her caretaker that I had prayed for her a month ago. She said that her shoulder had gotten much better but it has started feeling bad again. I wanted to say more to her, but she had to go. Praise God that not only does Berta seem one step closer to Jesus, but her caretaker heard about it too! It was awesome.

What amazed me most about this was that I didn’t have to try and force myself to share the gospel. I really did just feel led to go to Plumpton, and then I sat down on the bench without thinking about it. Sometimes I feel like we just put too much pressure on ourselves when it’s all about just being led by the Holy Spirit, but we have to practice discerning His voice.

After that I still felt pretty sick. I really really wanted to go to Mt. Druitt for more evangelism later that evening but the leader of the event wanted me to rest. I prayed for Jesus to heal me but I continued to feel sick and was having feverish dreams. I laid down at 6:30 pm and didn’t get up until 9:15 the next day. I felt like the whole time I was wrestling with God, wanting to be healthy and doing His work, and yet I was in bed.

Yesterday I got up and took a shower ready for prayer intercession and lectures. We were praying for the new DTS school whose opening ceremony was last night. There are only four girls right now, and two guys might be joining later. I feel sorry for them that their school is so small, but it could be exactly what each of them needs. They all seem pretty cool, too. I’m so excited to see how God transforms each one of them!

So for intercession, Sierra was in my group, and she got a word for the girl we were praying for. She saw this image of a cup that was broken. Each time God filled her cup, the crack in her cup would

Me and Sierra!

then pour out her blessings onto others. But God wanted to fix the crack in her cup so that when He filled her cup, her blessings would overflow rather than seep through the crack. God wanted her to bless others because of the overflow of the Holy Spirit in her. I thought that was such a cool picture!

I was pondering it later, and I realized that God was speaking to me through that prophecy as well. These past couple months at DTS I have experienced so many blessings from God, and I’ve been eager to share those blessings with others. I almost wanted to “prove my love for God” by doing all these good things and loving on others. I’m thinking that maybe one of the reasons God allowed my sickness to continue all day on Thursday was to just find rest in Him. I was putting my desire to do good things for Him over my relationship with Him! While I really do have a heart for the lost, may my biggest desire be this:

One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.

Psalm 27:4

God knows my heart. He knows that I love Him, have a passion to His kingdom grow, and that I am willing to do anything He asks. I don’t have to prove that to Him. He just wants my heart so that I am filled with Christ, and then my good works would be a result of the overflow of Christ in me. So cool!

Today Youth Street went pretty well. Only four kids showed up but I had a good time. We had a

huge water balloon fight which was awesome, but I of course got drenched. At the end, one of the girls asked if I could ride home with her so I did. Her dad was waiting to pick her up at the school. One of the staff asked if I would go chat with her dad, so I did. Her dad told me that his wife was dying of cancer, and that he loved Youth Street because it helped Ashleigh get out of the house and with people who would be supportive of her. At school, the kids tease her for some reason. Her mom is literally dying of cervical cancer and the kids bully her because of it! What’s wrong with kids! So that was really sad to hear, and I told him that we would be praying for his wife. It just goes to show you never know people’s story, and that love is the most important weapon we have in building God’s kingdom.

Trusting God

This past week was filled with breakthrough!

Etienne was our speaker and he spoke on Biblical Worldview, Identity and Destiny. Etienne is always a challenging speaker because he pushes us outside our comfort zones. He talks about living a life that’s on fire for God, and if the advancement of God’s kingdom is not something we most desire, then our lives become self-focused. Someone asked how to get that passion if we don’t have it. And his response was, “If you lay down all your rights in life before God, and truly make Jesus your Lord, then you will find that passion.”

I found myself thinking about my life as it was back home before I came and remembered how sweet it was. I love my friends, family, job and weekly routine. I was pretty much living a dream. Etienne reminded us that a life on fire for God means sacrifice…and often very uncomfortable living situations. But life is so much richer even though we may have less money as missionaries. As I was walking outside to take out the trash, I was reminiscing on my life back home thinking how much I would love to go back to it, but then God told me that I had a choice. I could go back to that life if I wanted, and He would still be pleased with me. Or I could stop living for myself and start living for Him and other people and experience true abundant life. I think both lives are great, but the latter is more fulfilling. I definitely choose the latter, whatever that looks like.

This week we had 24/7 worship, so each of us had to  sign up for a slot where we would spend an hour praying. There was a special focus on Muslims since it is the end of there Ramadan. At any given minute, there was at least one person praying in the base. We also had at least two hours of worship every day which was awesome. I think it really rejuvenated the spirit here at the base, and it was definitely awesome having scheduled time to spend with God.

For the past couple of weeks I have been making a point to just sit in silence in God’s presence for at least twenty minutes per day. So often we are either praying or listening to music or journaling, and we miss out on just being with God. Most of the time my head wanders but each time I get better at keeping my mind focused. Just spending that twenty minutes every single day has made a world of difference in my relationship with God. My main goal of this DTS was to find a fulfilling relationship with Him, and this turned out to be a good first step in that direction.

But I knew something else was blocking me too. Jesus has helped me get past a lot of pride and idolatry that was blocking my relationship, but there was also something else going on that I wasn’t conscious of. Edmund suggested I take praying and fasting more seriously in order to overcome whatever obstacle I was having in developing a satisfying relationship with Him. God had put fasting on my heart for a while but I just never did it. So I decided that on Wednesday instead of just fasting until dinner that I would fast the entire day so that I could pray instead of eat. I also picked a couple more days out of the week to fast a couple of meals. Last week I did that and it turned out to be amazing — God gave me the revelation I’d been looking for.

It hit me during our time of worship that I never really trusted God. I believed a lot of lies from the enemy, and whenever people would let me down (as all humans do to each other), these lies were reinforced even more strongly. So I just didn’t think God was someone I could trust with my heart. I didn’t really believe that I could find satisfaction in Him, and therefore I didn’t trust Him. It was a major breakthrough for me because I always thought I believed in the trustworthiness of God, but He opened my eyes that this actually wasn’t the case. So I told God that night I wanted to learn to trust in Him with my heart.

After the next worship session, the staff asked us to come share things that God had been ministering to us during the 24/7 worship week. I went up and shared that God was revealing to me His faithfulness to me. We all tend to put our faith in material wealth, or our source of joy in substances like food, drugs and alcohol, or our hope in people. But there is none faithful like God. A couple of other students from my DTS shared stuff as well. Daniel had told me the day before he was struggling laying down his rights to God, but he ended up doing it because he knew that living a sacrificial life for God was truly what he wanted.

Something I’ve come to know about God is that as soon as we open our hearts to him like that, that’s when He begins to do the work. Once we confess, then He helps us truly believe in our hearts whatever it was we just proclaimed.

The next day we had another two-hour worship session where Daniel received his breakthrough. While we were all worshiping, one of the staff members went up to Daniel and started praying for him. None of us could hear what he was praying since we were all singing. But all of the sudden Daniel let out three or four screams as he was on the ground. I really wish I could describe these screams, but I honestly can’t. I’m pretty sure the neighbors could all hear. It was seriously the loudest I have ever heard anyone scream…it was as if he had lost his only son, but they weren’t screams of anguish, but more like screams of power. When he was done screaming and praying, he got up and I saw tears in his eyes. I have never seen him look that way. The next day I asked him what had happened, and he told me that he felt like something else had taken over inside of him, and that as he was screaming, he felt a weight lift off from him, and that he didn’t mean to cry but he couldn’t control whatever was inside of him. He said that finally the wall of doubt that he had been struggling through since the beginning of the DTS had been broken. He knew for sure that whatever was inside of him was God, and he had no more doubt. Hallelujah!!!

In lecture the next day Etienne was talking about identity and referred to Jesus’ disciples. Jesus renamed Simon, Peter, which meant rock, because it was Peter who Jesus was going to build the church upon. He wanted to use Peter to spread the gospel. Jesus gave him a new name because He saw what Peter was and not what he appeared to be. Peter acted wishy washy throughout his life toward Jesus and yet Jesus still wanted to use him. God always sees our best while we humans always look at our worst. Etienne then spoke directly to me saying, “You say you have found trust in God? That’s great. But God trusts in you.” I kind of just started at him blankly because I knew he was probably saying that to me for a reason but I just had to go process it later to figure out why.

The next day we all had to dress up in multicultural garb for a time of confession, forgiveness, and communion. Jordan lent me an outfit a friend from India gave her. Thank God because I definitely have nothing multicultural in my suitcase…or even at home. This time of ministry ended up being so good because God gave me the breakthrough I had been praying and fasting for.

They had tubs where we could wash other people’s feet if we wanted to honor someone. I washed Kara’s feet because I’ve noticed how caring she is toward other people and to the things God cares about. She has one of the biggest hearts I know. Earlier this week while we were in prayer together she started praying for my family out of no where because she recognized that I care about them deeply. That really touched my heart!

After washing her feet, I was sitting by myself in prayer and God was giving me a revelation. It was as if He was playing a movie in my head and showing me all the times someone has let me down. But He showed me every single time that He was there for it, offering me His love either directly or through other people. He was there every single time, and yet I rejected whatever love He extended toward me because I thought I wanted something better than what He offered. And despite of that rejection, He still pursued me. He wanted me that much that He took rejection after rejection. It was at this moment where my heart truly believed, “Wow, yes. God is the only one who has always been faithful and consistent in His love.” I had proclaimed that truth the day before, and prayed that God would show me trust, and now He was coming through by helping me believe in my heart.

At that moment, Jeremy came over and asked if he could wash my feet. That meant a lot to me because I knew how much he hates touching feet. While he was washing, he said to me, “I want to ask you for forgiveness on behalf of all the people who have betrayed you in your life. And whatever love I have shown you here is actually God’s love.” I was just blown away because he had no idea that I was just praying about that, and here God was using him to pound even more of His love into my heart. I started losing it at this point. Just like with Daniel’s breakthrough the night before, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that this was God. I felt like I had been fighting against God my whole life, and my fight came to a crashing halt in this sweet, sweet moment with Him.

Denny, an amazing musician here, wrote a song that I’ve been replaying in my head. The chorus goes:

Your love does no wrong, Your love conquers all and now it’s conquered me, and I find Your love is just what I need.

It encompasses everything that I felt in that moment. And I realized, love really does conquer all things. The person can have the hardest heart in the world, but if you continually show the person love, which is actually God’s love, that person’s heart will soften. Sorry for this last line of cheesiness, but His love finally conquered my heart.

When Jeremy had finished washing my feet I went over to the cross and cried so hard. I didn’t really

care what people thought because I was having one of the most amazing moments with Jesus I’ve ever had. After the time of ministry, Jeremy gave me this verse:

There is no fear where love exists. Rather, perfect love banishes fear, for fear involves punishment, and the person who lives in fear has not been perfected in love.

1 John 4:18

Over the weekend as I continued to pray, God kept showing me that He was faithful to me, and that I was always accepted in Him. This breakthrough with God has been such a blessing, probably the biggest one since being here.

As I write this it’s been a week since the revelation has occurred. Whenever a revelation and breakthrough occurs, there always comes an attack from the enemy and I’m experiencing that right now. But I have hope because God has never let me down and has always helped me get past these attacks. Etienne today carve time out of our day to speak to us because he knew that during the 24/7 worship week, breakthrough occurs, and then the enemy attacks. He encouraged us to get together and worship. So after dinner the DTS all got together to worship and we all felt totally blessed. Daniel later encouraged me that breakthrough doesn’t just have to happen in spaced out spurts, but we can experience great moments with God like that every day just by worshiping. And I totally did during our time of worship!

Currently though, I’m feeling a little bit bored of this place and the routine. I think everyone else is feeling the same way. We are holding Nations 2 Nations here in October where we expect around 200 people to come here for a week-long conference. I’m definitely looking forward to that!

Honoring Relationships

Man, it’s been insanely busy these past couple of weeks! Last Monday Simon, one of the leaders here on base, came to talk about faith and finances. He really encouraged us in our faith, and that if God tells us to go, He will always give us the finances we need. So far God has already provided a ton of money to the other students in my DTS in just a week! I need about $1,500 for the outreach while my DTS as a whole needs about $40,000.

After that lecture, the other students and I agreed that we really wanted to start honoring our staff a bit more. There are four of them on staff (not including Etienne and Tania, the base directors): Daniel, Toni, Sam and Bethani. They work extremely hard for not just our DTS, but also for the base and raising their own funds. Toni and Daniel have a baby boy! It’s been hard for all of us to respect authority, especially when all they seem to do is tell us what to do. But we decided to try shifting our attitudes toward them since they are God’s anointed authority over us.

Side note: read “Tale of Three Kings: A Story of Brokenness” by Gene Edwards. It’s all about submission to authority and reacting to trials, and how God wants to use us in brokenness to make us more like Jesus. It’s the shortest read, yet made such an impact on me. The greatest difference between King David and King Saul was that King David was after God, and King Saul was after his own glory. I don’t want to be a King Saul!

So we all decided to do a dinner for them on Sunday night. Selfishly I thought, “Ugh this is going to take my whole night!” Free time is SO SO SO precious here. But I knew this was more important than my free time. So on Tuesday before the lecture we had a meeting and determined that Patrick and Denny would cook since they both love it and are good at it. Kara volunteered to set up the room and Natalie volunteered to make the dessert and coffee. I built a Powerpoint presentation so we could display our thanks in writing. I was really encouraged to see everyone so into it…it got me a little more excited for it.

Daniel, Toni and Josh

In addition to the dinner, we talked about helping Toni and Daniel with babysitting duties. That same night, I heard Toni asking Bethani if she would babysit her son Josh, and since Bethani always has to, I thought it’d be a good idea if I helped out instead of Bethani. Since I have no idea how to change diapers, bathe babies or put them to sleep, I enlisted Jeremy who said he was good with kids. We approached Daniel and Toni and they agreed, but Bethani supervised. Good thing she did! When she was changing Josh’s diaper, there was a big poo in it and Jeremy literally jumped to the other side of the room. He was obviously not experienced in this! Bethani took the blue rag and wiped his bum, and then took the diaper from underneath him. She then went back for the blue rag but couldn’t find it. Josh had picked it up, and so there was poo all over his hands. Then he put his hands in his mouth! We all started screaming. Bethani grabbed the diaper and tried giving it to one of us, but I refused to take it so Jeremy took it and ran to the trash. Then Bethani flung the rag at us but I tossed it to Jeremy who just let it drop to the ground. There was poo splatter everywhere! We ended up having to brush his teeth to get it out of his mouth, too. Beth ended up bathing him and putting him to sleep too, so I guess we weren’t much of help. But we kept her company and showed the Neuhauses we cared

This week was probably the best lecture we’ve had so far. It was on relationships – and not just romantic ones. It was stuff I’ve heard before, but for some reason, learning it in a DTS makes me actually want to change my behavior. God really is all about relationships. Jesus’ greatest commandment after all was to love Him and love others (Luke 10:27). Even the Ten Commandments are all about how to relate to God and to one another. It’s not about following rules, but guidelines in relating to one another. I used to be okay with the first part of Luke 10:27, to love God with all my heart. But we learned that if we just try to connect with God and ignore everyone else, we become mystics, which is not part of God’s plan (1 John 4:20).

The speaker also made an important distinction: love is not God, but God is love, because God is a being who is loving, kind, compassionate, wants a relationship with us and wants us to enjoy relationships with each other. I remember when I first started my Christian walk in 2008, I abhorred the thought of community, but I’m glad I listened to that counsel in the beginning since God has blessed me with an amazing Christian community that has enriched my life immensely.

The four elements that make up a relationship are:

1. Love – this element is the most enduring. It is both emotional (attraction, feelings, affection) AND intellectual (evaluating if the person is someone we can be with for the rest of our lives without emotion). We will be attracted to people and feel strongly connected to the opposite sex for the rest of our lives. That feeling never goes away. So our decision to marry someone has to be based off something more than that (duh).When those euphoric feelings wear off in a marriage and you run into hardships, it’s commitment that makes the marriage last. When we go into a marriage, we should never go in with the option that there is a way out of it. It’s a commitment to God, then to the person. That’s why I’m so against nuptial agreements!

2. Trust – this is the most fragile element. In relationships we put ourselves in a place where we can get wounded and hurt (vulnerability) which is scary for most people. If we have trouble trusting our earthly relationships, we have trouble trusting God and His character and thoughts toward us.

Gossip always breaks trust and then there is a wall in our hearts because of it. So true. I know small group is a place where many of us gossip and hide it behind something like, “She needs a lot of prayer.” I’ve learned that it’s important to ask the person if it’s okay I pray for them in a small group, because some people aren’t as willing to share what’s going on in their lives with people they don’t know.

One of the major things I took away from this particular lecture was responding appropriately in confrontations. Sometimes, the relationship is just more important than being right. So if someone was offended by something that I did, even though my intention toward them was good, it’s better to say, “I’m sorry for hurting you, it wasn’t my intention to do that” rather than get defensive and try to prove yourself right. It’s not about lying and saying the other person was right even though they weren’t, but apologizing for making them feel the way they did. It’s like what Christ did for us. He knew He was God and yet he still died for us. Just because he took the sin upon his shoulders didn’t mean he was sinful, He still knew His identity in God — but died anyways for the good of mankind!

3. Honor/Respect – this is the most overlooked element. To honor someone means to place significance on someone, to prize or cherish someone, even if in our own eyes, they don’t deserve honor. God is always honoring us. We are made in His image and He sent His son to die for us. We are to honor God (1 Sam 2:30), ourselves and others, including our parents and anyone else appointed by God to be authority over us, no matter how unfair they are.

Things that are not honoring: manipulation, destructive criticism, nagging and fault finding, pettiness, trying to embarrass, being ignored or disregarded and selfishness. This goes for our thought life as well!!

4. Understanding (not sure the descriptor for this element). Sometimes, people just want to be understood or want to be listened to even if you don’t agree with them. They don’t want advice or a response, just acknowledgement. To understand someone takes commitment. I know I’m the type of person that if I don’t click with someone right away I don’t have any interest in getting to know that person, but I know that’s not what God wants for me and I’m often missing out on huge blessings when I have that attitude.

Barriers to understanding:

1. Lack of communication and spending time with people

2. Not listening. Often times we all form an answer in our head before truly hearing the person out!

3. Lack of sensitivity

4. Deception

Toward the end of the week, the speaker challenged us to lay down our rights to marriage and sex. Everyone in this world is obsessed with love and romance. It’s a God-given desire – to love and be married. But it wasn’t in God’s plan for us to find fulfillment in a spouse or in sex. Marriage is a good thing but it can never fulfill us like God can. We are all supposed to be journeying toward God, and somewhere along the way, pick up a spouse, and keep going toward God together. The world’s perspective is this: I am only a half, and when I find my spouse, I will be completely whole. But God’s view on marriage is this: I am completely whole, and my spouse is whole too, and when we come together in marriage, we make up a totally new person.

World view: 1/2 + 1/2 = 1

God’s view: 1+1=2 (Genesis 2:24) – though they are one flesh, they are still two whole people together that make up one new entity in marriage.

I decided that I wanted to lay down my right to marriage before God. In my heart, I can truly say that I have done this and am okay with it. I have to lay down my rights every single day though, it’s definitely not a one time thing.

Patrick Cooking

On Sunday after church,  we all went our own ways to prepare for the dinner we were making our staff. I hunkered down with my laptop to build the presentation. I built a slide for six different people that we planned on presenting it during the dinner. Denny made bacon wrapped jalapenos with cream cheese filling (SO AMAZING), and Patrick cooked chicken alfredo. Natalie made the most amazing cake with pineapple. Kara decorated the room in the most amazing way too. I was really impressed with the way she designed everything using different decorations from the base. We the all dressed up in black to look sleek, and Jeremy stood at the doorway to greet all of our guests at 6:15 as they walked in. I think we did a really good job setting the atmosphere because Bethani started crying after

The staff dinner

being served something to drink. During the dinner we showed the brief presentation and told them that we just really wanted to honor them tonight and for the rest our time together.

After dinner, we led them into the next room where we were going to wash their feet. Jesus was GOD and yet He still he bent over to wash the disciples feet. We wanted to show that same humility toward them, despite how ungrateful and inconsiderate we had been. We washed their feet, and then we told them encouraging words. It was pretty powerful. The staff was extremely moved, and I realized that I had received so much more than I would have if I was in their position. At the end we all exchanged hugs and most of us were crying.

Feet washing room

After the staff had left, all of us got together for dinner together and enjoyed the leftover food. It was a time of celebration. We were all so full of the Holy Spirit! And afterwards we just had a dance party, though I was so full I couldn’t even dance anymore. It was one of those nights you just didn’t want to end.

Enjoying each other after a successful night

The next day I didn’t really do much. Jeremy and I spent most of the day just hanging out. He cooked one of the best meals I’ve had here so far!

Confession and fear

This week our topic was on sin, confession and clear conscience. When we talked about the fear of the Lord, it really struck me. We read Scripture and listed out the benefits from fearing the Lord:

- wisdom, knowledge, understanding

- protection, safety

- attention from God

- prolonged life

- abundant life

- satisfaction

- restful sleep

-confidence

My bible’s definition of “fear” (in the context of fearing the Lord, so not like being “afraid”): worshipful submission, reverential awe, and obedient respect to the covenant-keeping God of Israel. I know that I want to be the kind of woman who fears God!

The speaker told us that on Thursday we would have a time of ministry where we could confess something that God had put on our hearts and ask for forgiveness. I was definitely resistant. I wrote some things down that maybe God wanted me to confess but I knew in my heart that they were cop-outs. I felt resistant and didn’t feel the need to share but continued to pray about it.

On Thursday we went out to the mall to evangelize. I had to mail a letter while I was there and spent some time in the post office. One of the leaders on base, Edmund, was upset that I took time out of evangelism time to do that and made me walk with him. I was nervous because he wasn’t just about making small talk with people. He wanted to share Jesus in every conversation he had. He told me to pray about where God was leading us and to be ready to talk. I was so nervous!

First we kind of just stood around waiting for God to lead us to someone. He then led me outside and immediately he led me into the lion’s den: a swarm of high school punks! But the ringleader, Jake, seemed very willing to chat and welcomed us into their circle. Edmund kept smiling and asked a lot of questions even though some of the kids kept giving us weird looks. At one point Jake called his friend over, which was like his super-sized co-leader. I thought I should probably be scared since this kid could pummel me but I knew that was silly. Finally, the kids who weren’t interested in us started filtering out, but Jake and his friend Tim seemed pretty open in talking still.

Jake explained to us that he was 16 but dropped out of high school. He was in and out of juvenile detention for theft, arson,  graffiti, and other punk kid offenses. He had a three-month year old child, too. He told us that this morning he woke up and told himself he was going to get his life together and so he enrolled back into school. And now here we were was speaking life into this kid. Edmund told him about Jesus, and how all of his answers could be found in Jesus. Jake wanted to be a good dad – Jesus could help. Jake wanted to get his life together – Jesus would show him the way. Both Jake and Tim stuck around to listen. It was as though the Holy Spirit had prepared their hearts for this. I truly believe that it was a divine appointment for us! It was amazing.

Edmund wasn’t done with me though. As exhilarating as that encounter was, I was still so nervous going up to people. It just seems so artificial and awkward! But nonetheless we went up to two girls sitting down on a bench. Her name was Paige, and she too had dropped out of high school and was only fifteen. Here life was work, alcohol and smoke. So, I decided to share my testimony with her. I told her that I had lived a similar life and found everything so unsatisfying. I asked myself, there has to be something more to life than this. I decided to give Jesus a chance, and since I did, I have never experienced life more abundantly. Jesus was the answer to everything I had been looking for. Then Edmund interjected and told Paige and her friend (who didn’t seem to care) that Jesus had died for our sins and wanted to invite them into an abundant life that was everlasting. Then we prayed for them and after that they ran away. I was happy Edmund had taken me around with him.

Friday during lecture was the time of ministry that I was not looking forward to. But after praying about it, God revealed to me something He wanted me to bring to the light.

I think the fear of God struck me this week because I realized my fear of God was coupled with something else – the fear of man. When we put people and friendships in a higher place than God, we care more about what people think than what God thinks. After that confession I felt so empowered! Bringing sin like that into the light really releases the enemy’s hold over it.

That night we had Open Mic night again. I truly cherish Friday nights. They are so much fun. It was 80′s-themed and there was some fantastical costumes, songs and dances. Jeremy’s group was the best:

Jamie (SOWW), Jeremy, Daniel, Jordan (staff), Bill (friend of staff)

Last night after Youth Street I went out with Charissa and Jeremy into the city. It was really cool because I strongly felt the presence of God with us the entire time. I was happy because Jesus was able to enjoy a night out in fellowship with us too! When we got to the train station, about five tough looking guys were yelling and staring us, obviously looking for some trouble. They asked Jeremy if he had a smoke and he said no. But because I felt the presence of God so strongly with us earlier, I had no fear. They ended up not doing anything, probably because they knew God was with us too

We saw Cowboys and Aliens in the city because I thought it might be good. I was wrong! It had so much potential but ended up falling way flat. Big disappointment.

Side note: All the people in Sydney go out super early. We got there around eight and already everyone was in their clubbing clothes heading to clubs. The girls here dress way skimpier than the girls back home, and everyone seemed to be wearing costumes and wigs. I wish I had gotten a picture of the madness!

Pictures from UTC

Praying before the S.P.E.C.I.A.L

Matt, Kara, me, Charissa, Daniel & Patrick

Right after the track event and before isometrics

 

Doing the wall sit!

 

The Golgotha run. Of course they couldn't post one of me running!

All of us at the finish line of the Golgotha run

God values days of rest…and so do I

This past Sunday was awesome! I was a bit bummed because we couldn’t find a ride to Hillsong, but the night was redeemable. Kara, Will, Jeremy, Daniel, Natalie, Patrick, his friend Holly and I went

into the city without a plan. It takes about and hour and a half to get to the city by public

transportation, but it was all a part of the fun. I was determined to find a cheap steak to eat. Even though I got so sick of eating out back home, now that we never go out to eat here, I miss it! Thankfully, right outside of the train station there was a pub that advertised a $6.95 steak! I made everyone eat there and it ended up being awesome. I do wish I could enjoy a beer, but absolutely no drinking is allowed which I understand. It was still cool to eat out again.

After dinner we decided we would walk to the harbor bridge, but then it just started pouring. We turned around and went to the movie theater that was across from the pub we ate at. We were all debating between Transformers 3 and Captain America. For some reason, I got this crazy idea from reading Facebook statuses that Captain America was good, and Holly in our group also raved about it. So we all saw that movie. Surprisingly the movie ticket was dropped to $9 because it was “the movie of the week” at this cinema and Jeremy was a rewards member there. Usually movie tickets in Australia are $20!

Natalie, Jeremy, Daniel and me

Cinemas!

The movie ended up being SO bad. I don’t know that I’ve seen a worse movie. The story line was poo and the acting was horrendous. Maybe it was because we were in Australia that made it extra bad — the atmosphere wasn’t right. But it was one of those movies where it was so bad it was good. We had a lot of fun laughing at it. And then I got yelled at for making everyone see it. I think Kara actually fell a sleep.

By the time it was over it was almost midnight. We didn’t get back to the base until 1:45 which made me so glad we could sleep in the next day! Look at this most amazing McDonalds that was across from the theater. It had chandeliers!

On Monday night the base director talked to us about finances and the sincere need that we have. In order for us all to go on outreach, we need to raise $40,000 collectively (both students and staff). If someone doesn’t have the money by the end of the lecture period (in six weeks) then they have to send that person home.  I’m excited to see how God provides! I actually figured out I still need $800 for my outreach since it will cost $5,000. Flights to Tahiti are expensive, and the cost of living is quite high too. But there are some people here in need of $8,000! Time to start praying and doing more fund raisers!

Back at the base this week!

On Sunday when we all got back, I was so out of it. I just fell to sleep at about 5 pm and didn’t wake up until 7:30 the next day. All I did on Monday was read Is That Really You God? by Loren

Cunningham, the founder of YWAM. We have to read it for an assignment. It’s actually extremely good! One of the biggest things I got out of there was that sometimes, if we’re experiencing a

stagnation in our walk with God, then there might be something that God is wanting us to get cleansing from. In the book, Loren had to ask a bunch of people for forgiveness, and after that God really grew his ministry. I honestly recommend this book to everyone! It’s a page turner and took me only a few hours to read. It shows us how a life with God is the most exciting life we can live.

On Tuesday our lesson was on spiritual warfare and we combined the class with the School of Worship. The speaker, Paul, was as Aussie as you get. I could hardly keep up with him. But he really got us fired up. One thing I learned is that the enemy is unable to read our thoughts (since only God is all-knowing), but knows our weaknesses through our behaviors. For instance, if we often lose our temper, the enemy will use our anger against us by making us think we should be angry at everyone. Therefore, the stronger character we build upon Christ, the more authority we end up practicing. Although as believers we already have full authority over the enemy, we need to learn is to exercise it. And since he cannot read our thoughts, we must rebuke the enemy out loud when tempted (James 4:7).

On Thursday during the lecture, Paul started giving words to some of the students. My heart started racing because I really just did not want a word this time…it’s hard for some reason when it’s front of everyone and I always think they’re going to call me out on all my sin. We were all leaving for lunch and I thought I was safe, but he told everyone to sit back down because he had gotten a word for me. He said I was like mighty mouse and was ready to take on new things for God. I was like one of those people who wanted to go the very depths and smoke out the enemy. He had gotten an image of a soldier doing an army crawl trying to rid of the enemy. He said that I had the gift of the gab and that people were attracted to me. I don’t know that I really have the “gift of the gab” unless I’m super passionate about a particular topic, but that makes sense because the one thing I am passionate about is God and encouraging His people.

After the lecture we all went out for evangelism.

Sidenote: I hate that evangelism is a scheduled event because it insinuates that evangelism is not a life-style, rather something we carve out in our day to day walk. We should be open to God’s voice throughout the day and talking to anyone He has us talk to.

Anyways, during the prayer beforehand, God gave me the name “Phil” and he was wearing a green hoodie. So I looked for him at the mall with Bethani. She told me of the cuff she’s only known one Phil in her life but he was dying from cancer. We looked for an hour and spoke with other people but never found Phil. NO ONE was wearing green!

That night we had a time of worship and prophecy. During the worship, God gave me a word for Matt. He told me that Matt was being raised up this year to become a strong man of God. God was going to use the next six months of his life to bring change and growth in his life. I wanted to go up and tell him, but I didn’t for whatever reason. I really wanted a verse to go along with it but God wasn’t giving me that.

After about and hour and a half of worship, Paul started going around to everyone with words of encouragement. He went up to Bethani and said that he got the sense that there was someone in her life that was dying and he needed prayer! Beth and I were astounded because we were just talking about that guy Phil in her life who was dying. Maybe God had put Phil on my heart to pray for earlier that day, and not necessarily talk to at the mall. Then Paul started praying over Matt and basically got the EXACT same word God had given me for Matt during worship! I was kind of mad at myself for not going up to him. It just shows that if we aren’t willing to do God’s will, He will find someone else to do it. I really don’t want to miss out on that again.

Then Paul dragged me to the center of room and started praying over me. He saw that I was chomping at the bit to do God’s will, to start smoking out the enemy wherever God directed. It was if my heart was saying, “Give me a go give me a go give me a go!” over and over again. He saw wood being piled in my life as it was fueling my ever growing fire and passion for God. He saw that I was anointed and my time was going to come during outreach in Tahiti. So that was pretty cool!

On Friday all of us went to the school that the people from boot camp where volunteering at to staff a mini-special for high school kids. These kids went to an Anglican school but most of them were unbelievers anyways. But it was cool because we all taught them to have focal points during their pain, and one kid who was bit of a trouble maker, thought of the fields in the distance as God’s creation. Since he is a leader in that school, having him make such a bold statement was extremely influential.

That night the School of Worship held Open Mic like they do every Friday night. It was country night and everyone kept encouraging me to go up. I can’t sing at all but I thought it would be fun to go up. I recruited two other girls to go with me and we sang “Feel Like a Woman” by Shania Twain. It was SO much fun! We were terrible but I had printed out lyrics so that the audience could sing along with us.

The next day I found myself fighting a battle in my head even though I had some amazing quiet time with Him that morning (I guess that’s when the battles comes, after awesome experiences with God). I was on kitchen cleanup after lunch and was going back and forth from the sink putting dishes away. Someone in the room was staring at me the whole time and I was getting annoyed. But I forgot, when someone is staring at you at YWAM, it means they are getting a word from God. He started talking to me about what had just happened in his life, and that he was holding on to so much anger from it. But God told Him to let it go. When we let things go, that’s when we really see the miracles happen and God’s will work in our lives. He said that God had asked him to share that with me. I just laughed because it really was the exact thing I needed to hear.

Youth Street went pretty well that day. There were only three kids in our group but I felt like I have been building a good relationship with Caitlin. She brought her friend Paige too who I connected with quickly. We all went to the skate park. A lot of youth here are obsessed with scooters. I just stood on top of the ramps encouraging the girls skate. I was wearing my Youth Street shirt along with the other staff, and some Aussie kid came up to me and asked if we were part of some skate team! Haha. I should have lied and said I was scouting for new talent.

That night Sonia, who sang with me at Open Mic, invited me out to a party she was invited to. It was her friend’s 24th birthday party. She told me to get dressed up. I don’t have any going out clothes but I managed. It was nice getting away from the base. I was the only white person there. Everyone was Fijian/Indian. The food was absolutely amazing though! And they played some pretty loud Indian music which I tried my best to dance to. It was such a random night and I loved it! I invited the birthday girl and her brother to Open Mic next week. Open Mic is such a great way to get secular people surrounded by Jesus lovers!

Smile!

Pictures of us on our way home from bootcamp. We’re all happy/tired:

Me and Jeremy

Pate and Kara

Sam and Natalie

Charissa

Sleeping Denny

The best run of my life

After the relays were over, we all walked up the mountain together where we’d have our final run. It wasn’t part of the competition and was supposed to be individual runs. We had to run down a mountain and then run back up carrying a piece of wood. Nothing was left in any of us, but we all wanted to finish strongly.

Throughout the S.P.E.C.I.A.L I was thinking to myself how unfocused I had become on God. It became all about winning and how much pain we were in. I didn’t hear the voice of God throughout like I had really wanted to. I was also highly critical of my performance, thinking I had lost a bunch of events for my team and that I had failed them as a leader. I know that my team probably would not have agreed, but I still felt down. That was one of the pitfalls they told us to avoid – wrapping our identity in our athletic performance, but it proved to be a hard habit to kick.

Since they didn’t have enough wood, they made all the runners go in intervals. The fastest runners went first so they could return with the wood for the last runners. I waited about fifteen minutes and then decided just to go up and get it over with. I got the piece of wood and just started trekking it. I really didn’t know how I was going to complete the run. I started walking after about five minutes, but then picked up a jog again.

As I was running down the mountain, I saw the first runners coming back up the mountain, but this time the wood was across their backs, symbolizing Jesus on the cross. They were running straight up the hill. I thought to myself, there is no way I’m running straight up this hill with a piece of wood on my back. I just didn’t have any strength left.

When I got to the bottom of the hill, the UTC staff was waiting at the bottom with a bible in his hand. Before he sent me back up he read Isaiah 53:5:

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

He then told me to look at my shadow as I ran with the wood across my back. It looked like Jesus on the cross. That was to be my focal point as I ran up the hill.

The run back was one of the most powerful encounters with God I’ve ever had. I was in so much pain. My lungs could hardly breathe anymore. My legs could hardly push me up the hill. I started walking during one of the steeper parts. But I heard God say, “Just start running. Let Me be your strength.” So I just started running and never thought about stopping to walk because the entire time, Jesus literally became my strength in my legs. It was something I had never experience before. My ability to run uphill with the wood on my back was truly supernatural.

I was alone on the path. The sun had come out and for the first time in what seems like weeks, there was silence. As I panted up the hill, I just kept thinking about what Jesus did for me. He went through a million times the pain I was feeling at the time just to save my soul. He loved me that much to go through what he did to bring me into God’s kingdom. He took upon my sin for the pure joy set before us all (Hebrews 12:2). That’s why they called this the Golgotha run, because Golgotha was the name of the hill that they crucified Jesus on.

The passion just welled up inside of me. At that point, I would have done ANYTHING for Jesus. Remembering His sacrifice made me want to sacrifice that much more. I was so pumped up. Finally the consuming fire I had been yearning for was back. Finally I had a reason to give God all of my heart again – an answer to the confession I had thought was so evil. The fresh reminder of His great love for us overwhelmed my spirit. I think sometimes we can get tired of hearing the story of Jesus dying for our sins, but if we truly believe what He did for us, how can we not respond in absolute devotion to Him?

With only 20 meters left to go, the UTC staff stopped me and read another verse:

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

John 8:36

They then took the wood of our backs so we could run without the heaviness through the end. I didn’t realize how painful that wood was until it was gone! I could run 20x faster. What a cool parallel to Jesus freeing us from sin

When I finished I started crying, but then I started choking. Seriously for the first time in my life I was short of breath and was wheezing. But I got it together and climbed up some rocks and started reflecting on everything. A girl from my cabin came over to me and we just started praying and praising God. All of us had encountered God on the run back uphill and just wanted to praise Him.

Now I know why they called this S.P.E.C.I.A.L because it’s truly when we use our gifts to God’s glory and with all our strength that we see God move in incredible ways. God really did become all of our strength when we were weak. There really is no way to describe what we experienced except it was supernatural. Our God is a supernatural God and loves to become our strength when we are weak. I would not have traded this experience for the anything.

The next part was the second most glorious after the Golgotha run: the shower. Oh my gosh I thought the best showers were always after long snowboarding trips but then one was far better. I hadn’t showered since Friday night and I was the most disgusting I’ve ever been! I also thought I would never get more bruises as I did when I first tried snowboarding but my body is ridden with bruises. It’s a week later and people at the base are still inquiring about how I got all the bruises on my arms. I don’t even know how I got them, but I know some of them came from Denny who literally tackled me to the ground when we were both going for a frisbee.

We then ate lunch and debriefed in the bunker before we headed home. To our delightful surprise, our team ended up coming in second place! Abbe and Matt (both from New Zealand) ended up riding back to the base with us since they were going to a nearby school to help some of the UTC staffers run a mini-S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Abbe stayed in our room and Matt stayed with the DTS guys.

Athletes and Action said they would send us all pictures from the camp so I will post those later.Tomorrow, when our wireless internet is back on, I’ll post some pictures of us that I took on our ride home.

To conclude, all I have to say is this: everyone should do a DTS and Ultimate Training Camp before they die. My life is already changed and these are much more fulfilling bucket list items!