Hey everyone. Sorry i didnt update to recently. Anyways, this past week was a blast. We had a team of about 80 people. All the students were high school age and they were a lot of fun to work with. The group was really cool, everyone was friendly, but what made the week really good was that God was deffininitly moving.
The speaker for this week was really good as well. His heart was close to the Lord and he ran the night session how he felt like the Lord was moving him to. He would plan for a lecture, but sometimes worship was intense so he would just let worship continue. God was able to use the speaker to connect with issues that were going on with the kids lives.
I had a super rad expierence with God this past week. So before the week began I was sitting in Will's, the guy who is charge of the mission adventures program, office. he asked me what I got out of the outreach phase of my DTS. I told him one thing I took out and appreciated about the expierence was public speaking. I told him I enjoyed it and it streched me. So he responded by asking me if I would share my testimoney with the group. I responded, "Ill pray about it." I didnt really want to do it but I wanted to ask God if he wanted me to. Two days go by and Rheanne, another leader, asks me if I would share my testimoney with the group. I felt like God wanted me to so I said yes. So a few hours before the session started, that I would share my testimoney in, I sat down with my computer and try to write out my testimoney. I was attempting to write my testimoney for two and a half hours. By the time I was finished I didn't like what I had and I was really stressed out. So skip ahead until like 15 minutes before the session. All the staff just got done praying for the evening session. At this point I still didn't have an idea what I was going to say for my testimoney. I was trying to think of stories or things that had happened to me that I could share with the group but nothing was coming to mind. Now it is like 5 minutes before session starts. I was confused, but I was trusting God. I was talking to God and was like, "God, I don't know why I havnt been able to think of anything to share with the group. I feel like you wanted me to share a testimoney, but i dont really have anythign to say to them. I will go up the anyways and hopefully be a testimoney to them about trusting in you." As soon as I thought about that and told God that He gave me a Bible verse. 1 John 4:16-18. So I went up infront of the group and shared with them this verse and the story behind it. It was cool becuase i heard from a few people that that verse was exactly what they needed to hear. super rad.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in Godand God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
Thanks everyone for following. I'll be home may 7. Happy easter. Much Love
domingo, 24 de abril de 2011
lunes, 11 de abril de 2011
4/11/11
My Week Off.
This past week we didnt have any teams so the mission adventure staff was given the week off. The week had its ups and downs. The first few days were nice. I didnt do to much, kind of just sat around and played video games, caught up on sleep, hung out with the other staff, watched some movies. About half way through my week off I began to feel unproductive. I still had half the week off still though so I began to find some productive things to do such as, having quiet times with God, reading my bible more, reading a book, doing random stuff around the base, cleaning a little bit. So I was able to do some productive things. The break was helpful in many ways. I was able to catch up on much needed sleep. During the previous four weeks I didnt have very much down time. There was always teams coming in and out that I was working with and pouring most of my time and energy into. Now I am ready and excited to go back to work this week. This week we also dont have a team, but the mission adventure staff is going to be doing ministry in the area. I am not exacly sure what kind of ministry yet but we should be keeping ourselves busy.
One notable thing from this past week. This past week, for two nights in a row, as I was laying in my bed, it was hard for me to get to sleep because I had some anxieties. As I relfected and tried to resolve these anxieties God kind of showed me that the root cause of these anxieties was that I was scared of not being in control of my future. God showed me that I needed to give my future to him and put it into his hands. My future is something that I guess I hold tightly to. I needed to be reminded though that my future is much safer and better in God's hands than it would ever be in my hands. The verse from romans 8:28 came to mind, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[a] have been called according to his purpose." This has been an almost cliche verse for me throughout my YWAM journey but it reminded me and gave me revelation that God is always good. He always works things for my good becuase of his great love. My future is much better in his hands then in my own.
peace and love
Elliot
This past week we didnt have any teams so the mission adventure staff was given the week off. The week had its ups and downs. The first few days were nice. I didnt do to much, kind of just sat around and played video games, caught up on sleep, hung out with the other staff, watched some movies. About half way through my week off I began to feel unproductive. I still had half the week off still though so I began to find some productive things to do such as, having quiet times with God, reading my bible more, reading a book, doing random stuff around the base, cleaning a little bit. So I was able to do some productive things. The break was helpful in many ways. I was able to catch up on much needed sleep. During the previous four weeks I didnt have very much down time. There was always teams coming in and out that I was working with and pouring most of my time and energy into. Now I am ready and excited to go back to work this week. This week we also dont have a team, but the mission adventure staff is going to be doing ministry in the area. I am not exacly sure what kind of ministry yet but we should be keeping ourselves busy.
One notable thing from this past week. This past week, for two nights in a row, as I was laying in my bed, it was hard for me to get to sleep because I had some anxieties. As I relfected and tried to resolve these anxieties God kind of showed me that the root cause of these anxieties was that I was scared of not being in control of my future. God showed me that I needed to give my future to him and put it into his hands. My future is something that I guess I hold tightly to. I needed to be reminded though that my future is much safer and better in God's hands than it would ever be in my hands. The verse from romans 8:28 came to mind, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[a] have been called according to his purpose." This has been an almost cliche verse for me throughout my YWAM journey but it reminded me and gave me revelation that God is always good. He always works things for my good becuase of his great love. My future is much better in his hands then in my own.
peace and love
Elliot
lunes, 4 de abril de 2011
4/4/11
Hey everybody. This past week has been a little different then other weeks but has been good for the most part. I was again the host of a group, meaning I was in charge of communicating between my leaders and the leaders of the group, helping the group on local outreaches, and helping the group out where ever need be. The group that I was working with this week consisted of about 17 youth, high school age kids, and 5 adults. This week was different then my previous two weeks. My previous two weeks I was working with primarily middle school aged kids, with them I was looked up to more, while with the high school aged kids, I was only a year older then some of them so I took on more of a friend role. This was a strange transition for me at first I guess. Initially, with the previous middle school kids I worked with, I got to know them quickly. While with the high school kids this past week, it took almost until the end of the week where I started to get to know them better. A huge part of the satisfaction I get from working with the groups is getting to know the people that make up the groups. So to not be able to get to know the group, or have them open up to my as quickly as before was something different and slightly difficult. Once again though, God has taught me some new stuff this week.
Something I have had further revelation on this week has been, take advantage of the opportunities God has given you. Like I said already, it was hard for me to initially connect with my team. I prayed that I would be able to connect with my team and God gave me opprotunities to do so. I wasn't able to connect with my team like i had the previous two week but I was still able to get to know a few people better. I was more concncious this week of opprotunities to get to know people better. For example, who could I sit with at diner, who was working with me during ministry, who was I sitting next to on bus rides. Taking advantage of these opprotunities allowed me to have some good conversations and become more aquainted with the team.
Similiar to taking advantage of opprotumities, another thing I have been more conscious of these past week or two has been taking time to get to know the people God has placed in your life. These past few weeks God has placed some interesting people in my life. Through my interaction with these people and listening to thier stories, their expieriences, and their insights I have been learning more things about myself and getting encouragement from the Lord. Some notable examples of getting to know people God has placed in my life: One guy I have met has been Mike Muzikowski. A movie, hard ball, has been based off his live. The main actor in the movie is keanu reeves, if you havnt seen it check it out. Anyways, talking to him was really cool. He was a good example to me of a Godly, successful man. His story is really cool but also talking to him it was cool to listen to how God has blessed him throughout his life and how he has used that blessing. Another person I talked to was Wilbur, a guy from this last week's group. He told me about how he went to China with open doors, a organization that smuggles bibles, and he also told me about his visit to North Korea. It was crazy to meet someone that has been to North Korea. I read on wikipedia the other day that fewer than 2500 americans have visited North Korea since 1953. That's pretty wild. Also there is a lot of persicution for Christians in North Korea right now. Talking with Wilbur about China and North Korea moved me. My heart goes out to those countries and the Christians inside of them. Hearing about that situation I think made a ripple in my passions that I am still discovering. I also talked to another guy this week at the base who was an encouragement for me to continue to pursue college as my next step in life. God has placed cool and interesting people in my life.
Thanks for reading. Much love.
Elliot
Something I have had further revelation on this week has been, take advantage of the opportunities God has given you. Like I said already, it was hard for me to initially connect with my team. I prayed that I would be able to connect with my team and God gave me opprotunities to do so. I wasn't able to connect with my team like i had the previous two week but I was still able to get to know a few people better. I was more concncious this week of opprotunities to get to know people better. For example, who could I sit with at diner, who was working with me during ministry, who was I sitting next to on bus rides. Taking advantage of these opprotunities allowed me to have some good conversations and become more aquainted with the team.
Similiar to taking advantage of opprotumities, another thing I have been more conscious of these past week or two has been taking time to get to know the people God has placed in your life. These past few weeks God has placed some interesting people in my life. Through my interaction with these people and listening to thier stories, their expieriences, and their insights I have been learning more things about myself and getting encouragement from the Lord. Some notable examples of getting to know people God has placed in my life: One guy I have met has been Mike Muzikowski. A movie, hard ball, has been based off his live. The main actor in the movie is keanu reeves, if you havnt seen it check it out. Anyways, talking to him was really cool. He was a good example to me of a Godly, successful man. His story is really cool but also talking to him it was cool to listen to how God has blessed him throughout his life and how he has used that blessing. Another person I talked to was Wilbur, a guy from this last week's group. He told me about how he went to China with open doors, a organization that smuggles bibles, and he also told me about his visit to North Korea. It was crazy to meet someone that has been to North Korea. I read on wikipedia the other day that fewer than 2500 americans have visited North Korea since 1953. That's pretty wild. Also there is a lot of persicution for Christians in North Korea right now. Talking with Wilbur about China and North Korea moved me. My heart goes out to those countries and the Christians inside of them. Hearing about that situation I think made a ripple in my passions that I am still discovering. I also talked to another guy this week at the base who was an encouragement for me to continue to pursue college as my next step in life. God has placed cool and interesting people in my life.
Thanks for reading. Much love.
Elliot
sábado, 26 de marzo de 2011
3-26-11
hey everyone. This past week was, once again, fun, tiring, and busy. This week I was the host of a youth group from Kelowna Canada. The group was about 15 people with three adults and the rest ages 14- 18. Since I was the host for the group I was responsible for getting them from one place to another, communicating with my leaders the plans for the day and then communicating that to the group, making sure there were lunches and food prepared, and helping the group with their ministry. For ministry this week we went helped a local pastor clear a vacant lot of weeds and trash for a up coming youth conference he was hosting. We also spent three days at a orphanage nearby. At the orphanage we would help clean and do some labor in the morning then in the afternoon we would spend time with the kids. It was the first orphanage I have ever went to so it was a new experience for me as well. It was cool to see the group from Canada playing and communicating with these kids at the orphanage despite the language barrier. The kids from the group from Canada didn't know to much Spanish but they were still able to get to know the kids and play with them despite the barrier. The orphanage was run by Christian and was a pretty good facility, but by being there kind of opened my eyes to see how much effort needs to go into making a orphanage run well. It takes a lot of manual labor, a lot of consistent cleaning, a lot of administrating with the kids, and a lot of love. These week was stretching for me in different areas. I was in position of more responsibility and it made me have to be more conscious of my time and actions. It was stressful at points, especially because some stuff I had to deal with at the last seconds, but I learned from it. God has been teaching me this week and I am sure he is going to teach me more this coming week. Keep me, my team, and the students coming in your prayers. Thanks.
domingo, 20 de marzo de 2011
3/20/11
hey everybody. This past week we had our first team come in. The group was called neighborhood christian school. They were pretty much the ideal group to have for the first week of being on staff. The kids were all in middle school so like age 11-14. The kids were all friendly, well behaved, and fun to work with. The parents and teachers were also very friendly and kind. This group was very good to have for the first week of the Mission Adventures program becuase I did not have experience with the program before and didnt know exactly how it worked or what to expect. The group was well organized and had skits and stuff already prepared so i didnt have to do to much administrating. It allowed me to get to know the kids on the team and the parents. It also allowed me to participate more in the ministry stuff that we did.
We did some cool ministries this past week. The group had between 30 and 40 people so we split up to do ministry work so i'll just share about what I helped out with. The first thing we did was go to a local church and do some skits and dramas for the sunday school and the church there. Next we worked with the ministry at the base called homes of hope I worked with the team to build a house for a poor needy family in the area. It was cool to see the group's heart go out to the woman that we were building the house for. Next, I worked with the team by doing some drama's on the street and we went to a local school to help hand out food to the kids and the students also did a program there. Then for the last day we went to a migrante worker camp. I have never been to a place like that before and it was eye opening. The place was basicly and old horse stable but the stall were closed up and made into rooms. There were pretty many people living there, mostly kids, there were probably about 20. There we did a program and handed out some clothing, candy, and other stuff. Two things that stood out to me with my time there. The first I saw shortly after we arrived at the camp. The group took a walk around the camp. We were looking around the rooms and the property and I walked passed this one room and I had to stop and think for a few minutes. The room was empty except for used toilet paper all over the room and some old poop,which was probably human. It was sad. It made me ask, why would these people not clean this up? It obviously wasn't a bathroom, but yet the room had old toilet paper everywhere. To me, it spoke on the apethetic attitude of the people living there. I don't want to blame that on them, but I think that just by living in such a low living standerd for so long does stuff to you. You start to become apathetic and you never think you will get out of the situation. It was sad. The second situation occured when our group was almost about to leave. I started talking to this girl. I asked her child what her name was, but she was only like one years old so she didn't respond and the mom answered for her. Then i asked her mom what her name was and how old she was and she told me that she was 16. It was a little shocking, but i think that is a familiar situation especially in that place.
Now another group just came yesterday. There is like more than 70 people on the base right now, its busy. Life is busy right now. But God is here and is opening up other people's hearts as well as my own. keep me, other staff, and the students in your prayers. I need to run to breakfast. peace.
ps sorry for my spelling errors. much love
We did some cool ministries this past week. The group had between 30 and 40 people so we split up to do ministry work so i'll just share about what I helped out with. The first thing we did was go to a local church and do some skits and dramas for the sunday school and the church there. Next we worked with the ministry at the base called homes of hope I worked with the team to build a house for a poor needy family in the area. It was cool to see the group's heart go out to the woman that we were building the house for. Next, I worked with the team by doing some drama's on the street and we went to a local school to help hand out food to the kids and the students also did a program there. Then for the last day we went to a migrante worker camp. I have never been to a place like that before and it was eye opening. The place was basicly and old horse stable but the stall were closed up and made into rooms. There were pretty many people living there, mostly kids, there were probably about 20. There we did a program and handed out some clothing, candy, and other stuff. Two things that stood out to me with my time there. The first I saw shortly after we arrived at the camp. The group took a walk around the camp. We were looking around the rooms and the property and I walked passed this one room and I had to stop and think for a few minutes. The room was empty except for used toilet paper all over the room and some old poop,which was probably human. It was sad. It made me ask, why would these people not clean this up? It obviously wasn't a bathroom, but yet the room had old toilet paper everywhere. To me, it spoke on the apethetic attitude of the people living there. I don't want to blame that on them, but I think that just by living in such a low living standerd for so long does stuff to you. You start to become apathetic and you never think you will get out of the situation. It was sad. The second situation occured when our group was almost about to leave. I started talking to this girl. I asked her child what her name was, but she was only like one years old so she didn't respond and the mom answered for her. Then i asked her mom what her name was and how old she was and she told me that she was 16. It was a little shocking, but i think that is a familiar situation especially in that place.
Now another group just came yesterday. There is like more than 70 people on the base right now, its busy. Life is busy right now. But God is here and is opening up other people's hearts as well as my own. keep me, other staff, and the students in your prayers. I need to run to breakfast. peace.
ps sorry for my spelling errors. much love
martes, 8 de marzo de 2011
back in mexico 3/9/11
Hi there everyone. If you didn't know, I am once again in mexico. I went back march 5 to work with a ministry in Ensenada mexico, the same place I did my DTS, called Mission Adventures. The Ministry is basically a week long DTS. High school students come down to the base here in Ensenada for one week. Throughout the week the students will have the opportunities to learn more about God through lecture sessions listening to the weeks speaker but also through local ministry outreach times. The students will do a lot of different things for local ministry outreach times such as building houses for the poor people in the area, going to orphanages, working with local churches, vacation bible school stuff with kids in the area, giving food to the homeless, and other ministries. I will be helping to staff the different groups of students that come to the base and lead them in their activities throughout the week.
I have been at the base now for four days. So far we have been doing some unorthodox training. Usually training for Mission Adventures consist of sitting through lectures for a week, but not this year. The leader of Mission Adventures is trying to try some new things with the program so we have been doing much more then sitting in a classroom all day. So far we have climbed a mountain to work on team building, filmed a movie to inform the students of the rules, brainstormed innovative ideas for the program, and made encouraging signs for a future event. The week so far has been pretty busy. I am scheduled to be a co-host for the group coming in next week so I am sure next week will be busy as well. I am looking forward to see how the program works exactly, meet the students I will be working with, find out the things we will be doing, and see God at work throughout the week.
Thanks for the encouragement I have gotten from so many people. I appreciate it. Keep my team and I in your prayers. Thanks, much love.
Prayer request:
- that the Mission Adventures staff will continue to grow closer with each other and build a strong team.
- That God will be present throughout the week.
- That we listen to God's voice and be obedient.
- For strength to be obedient.
- For the kids coming, that their hearts will be open to what God has for them for the week.
- That the kids will be able to have an experience with the Lord that they won't forget.
- And more stuff along those lines.
I'll try to update my blog every saturday. Until next time, Peace.
I have been at the base now for four days. So far we have been doing some unorthodox training. Usually training for Mission Adventures consist of sitting through lectures for a week, but not this year. The leader of Mission Adventures is trying to try some new things with the program so we have been doing much more then sitting in a classroom all day. So far we have climbed a mountain to work on team building, filmed a movie to inform the students of the rules, brainstormed innovative ideas for the program, and made encouraging signs for a future event. The week so far has been pretty busy. I am scheduled to be a co-host for the group coming in next week so I am sure next week will be busy as well. I am looking forward to see how the program works exactly, meet the students I will be working with, find out the things we will be doing, and see God at work throughout the week.
Thanks for the encouragement I have gotten from so many people. I appreciate it. Keep my team and I in your prayers. Thanks, much love.
Prayer request:
- that the Mission Adventures staff will continue to grow closer with each other and build a strong team.
- That God will be present throughout the week.
- That we listen to God's voice and be obedient.
- For strength to be obedient.
- For the kids coming, that their hearts will be open to what God has for them for the week.
- That the kids will be able to have an experience with the Lord that they won't forget.
- And more stuff along those lines.
I'll try to update my blog every saturday. Until next time, Peace.
domingo, 9 de enero de 2011
1/9/11
hey hey
So a brief update about what my group has been up to in mexico city; We have continued to do bible reading. We are trying to finish the bible within the next week. We have about half done so far. The purpose for doing this is for the spiritual warfare in the area. We also have done 3 or 4 vacation bible schools within the two weeks. We usually get about 20 kids to come to our VBS. In the Vbs we do dramas relating to salvation and other faith related skits, tell bible stories, play games, give testimonies, and have a snack. The kids are really nice. The adults in the area are pretty reserved so it is hard to approach or talk to them, but the kids are so friendly and welcoming. The last VBS we did, we explained who Jesus is and what he does for our lives, then we told the kids that if they wanted jesus in thier life to pray with us and ask him to be in thier lives. It was cool to walk the kids through that prayer. I also have had the opprotunity to play a decent amount of soccer at the local park with some kids. They are also pretty friendly.
The other night we hosted a barbaque type thing were we had hamburgers, hot dogs, nachos, and other food. We went around to as many houses as we could and invited families to come for some free food. It was a good turn out. A lot of kids showed up, probably like 30 to 40 and probably about 25 adults. The prupose of the event was just to open up more to the community, especially the adults. It was cool just to be able to serve them and to have the adults and the kids opén up more to us.
It seems like a lot of what we are doing is planting seeds. Most people are familiar with many aspect of christianity. The catholic church is the church that pretty much everyone is in. But the sad thing about the catholic church in mexico is that it incorporates idol worship into it. Almost everyone prays to idols, or saints. The problem with praying to saints is that they are putting there trust in something other then the lord. They are trutsting that these saints will talk to the lord for them. They try to please the saints. The main saints are guadilupa, the virgin mary, and saint judas i believe. and the people have a distortd view of jesus. So something that we try tro do, mainly with the kids, i to explain to them who Jesus truly is.
This will be our last week that we will be staying in Mexico City. A week from now we will be heading north to the city of Pachuca. In Pachuca we will be working with the YWAM base there. I am not exactly sure what we will be doing there in Pachuca, but we will eventually be traveling to the small towns out side the city, like 5 hours aways, to share the gospel with the people there. It will be exciting.
Things to pray for:
- that we will be able to share the gospel with the kids were working with
- for pachuca and what God has for us there
- protection
- opprotunities to share the gospel.
- That we will do everything for the lord, and keep him at the center of everything
- and anything else you feel like you can pray for us for
Thanks for all the support. I love you all. keep it real.
So a brief update about what my group has been up to in mexico city; We have continued to do bible reading. We are trying to finish the bible within the next week. We have about half done so far. The purpose for doing this is for the spiritual warfare in the area. We also have done 3 or 4 vacation bible schools within the two weeks. We usually get about 20 kids to come to our VBS. In the Vbs we do dramas relating to salvation and other faith related skits, tell bible stories, play games, give testimonies, and have a snack. The kids are really nice. The adults in the area are pretty reserved so it is hard to approach or talk to them, but the kids are so friendly and welcoming. The last VBS we did, we explained who Jesus is and what he does for our lives, then we told the kids that if they wanted jesus in thier life to pray with us and ask him to be in thier lives. It was cool to walk the kids through that prayer. I also have had the opprotunity to play a decent amount of soccer at the local park with some kids. They are also pretty friendly.
The other night we hosted a barbaque type thing were we had hamburgers, hot dogs, nachos, and other food. We went around to as many houses as we could and invited families to come for some free food. It was a good turn out. A lot of kids showed up, probably like 30 to 40 and probably about 25 adults. The prupose of the event was just to open up more to the community, especially the adults. It was cool just to be able to serve them and to have the adults and the kids opén up more to us.
It seems like a lot of what we are doing is planting seeds. Most people are familiar with many aspect of christianity. The catholic church is the church that pretty much everyone is in. But the sad thing about the catholic church in mexico is that it incorporates idol worship into it. Almost everyone prays to idols, or saints. The problem with praying to saints is that they are putting there trust in something other then the lord. They are trutsting that these saints will talk to the lord for them. They try to please the saints. The main saints are guadilupa, the virgin mary, and saint judas i believe. and the people have a distortd view of jesus. So something that we try tro do, mainly with the kids, i to explain to them who Jesus truly is.
This will be our last week that we will be staying in Mexico City. A week from now we will be heading north to the city of Pachuca. In Pachuca we will be working with the YWAM base there. I am not exactly sure what we will be doing there in Pachuca, but we will eventually be traveling to the small towns out side the city, like 5 hours aways, to share the gospel with the people there. It will be exciting.
Things to pray for:
- that we will be able to share the gospel with the kids were working with
- for pachuca and what God has for us there
- protection
- opprotunities to share the gospel.
- That we will do everything for the lord, and keep him at the center of everything
- and anything else you feel like you can pray for us for
Thanks for all the support. I love you all. keep it real.
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