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
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