What's Been Going On?

So I was thinking I should write about what we actually do here at our school. Since most people are probably unfamiliar with YWAM and a Discipleship Training School I thought I'd try to give a little realistic insight. Here's a little peek of the day to day routine.

7:00 is breakfast (usually Brenden goes and I sleep in)

8:00 - 8:30 student-led worship

8:30-10 we usually have Intercession, Bible Overview or Tracks.

Intercession is when we all get together and pray for either half an hour or an hour. Just a few things we have prayed for so far are... situations going on in other countries (political or injustices) , the media, single parents, people in prison, families, government, economy, education, celebrities, etc. Basically we just seek God and ask how he feels about issues and learn to grow a heart for things that you typically wouldn't think about.

Bible Overview is pretty neat because we are going through the gist of the whole entire Bible in 3 months. We move fast but it's good to learn more about the history of each of the books.

Tracks are chosen at the beginning of school. Brenden is in the "adventure track" and they have gone on hikes, archery, chopped wood, etc. I have been working with the music track and we have been split up into bands, played for a youth group, will do coffee houses, record and work on songwriting. The band I'm in is called "Heesoo and the Extras". We consist of Leah on vocals, Jay on electric guitar, Daniel on keys, Andrew on bass, myself on acoustic and vocals and of course Heesoo on drums. We have been meshing really well together and I'm pretty pumped about it. It's been great playing music almost every day and getting my voice back in shape.

During the morning we also have lecture. There are various speakers who come from all over and stay the week to speak on a certain topics. We have had people from the base speak, a man from California and another man from South Africa. Some of the topics we've heard so far are grace, prayer, relationships, and the character of God.

After lunch we have small group time where a staff member and 5 or 6 students just get to know each other and discuss the lectures. Sometimes instead of small groups we have meetings to prepare for our Outreach trip in December, for us, the Guatemala team. We spend time learning about the culture, talking about our fears and goals, praying for what God wants us to do there and just getting to know each other as a team instead of individuals.

From 3-5 Monday thru Thursday we have work duties. This is a base-wide cooperation in which everyone takes part in helping to maintain a functioning community. Brenden and I help clean the student center. Others clean dorms, bathrooms, cafeteria, help paint new buildings, basically anything that needs to get done will get done because of this time.

We have dinner at 5 and then after dinner is free. Tuesday nights we have lecture and Thursdays we have a community meeting where the whole base and any residents of Lakeside come and have a time of worship and teaching.

So that's what our life looks like right now. Hopefully this might help to clarify what we actually do at the YWAM base.

Tomorrow we head to Bellingham, WA for the week. It's called a "mini-outreach" so we will work with a local church and various ministries in the community as "Team Guatemala". It will be cool to see some of Washington and get to interact in real-life situations as a team instead of just on the YWAM base.

Sunrise fills my Eyes

Jackie:

Since we've been at the YWAM base we've heard lots of teaching on "hearing God's voice". This has been a tough one for me because

a) I am a somewhat skeptical person

b) people mis-use God all the time and what he has allegedly "told them to do" and

c) it's hard to believe he really can and does want to talk to me and tell me specific things.

The teaching has been excellent and there has been story after story about how God has spoken to his people, they listened, obeyed and then seen literal miracles happen. I'm not just talking about things that happened in the Bible but people our age who have witnessed things I never would have imagined. Even something has non-romantic as needing a new computer, praying for it, and receiving and email the next day from someone they haven't spoken to in years telling them they have just bought and shipped them a new computer.

Even being here for a month, I have already learned that one way God speaks to me is through nature. I've always known this but lately I think I have begun to understand it and pay attention to what He is saying.

This morning (Monday) I decided to drive down to the lake to catch the sunrise. I've been meaning to do this for a while now but when you wake up to 30 something degree air and darkness that even covers the mountains, you don't really feel so motivated to get out of the warm bed, much less de-ice your car to leave. After scraping the car and almost backing into another car from limited visibility, I made it down to the lake and waited eagerly for the sun to rise. It was completely worth it. My hands were going numb as I photographed the colors change and the lake illuminate. I felt invigorated and alive, giving thanks to God for that moment he allowed me to witness. I drove back to the YWAM base thanking God that He knows me so well and wants me to share a moment.

My point is this, we don't always have to be in a church, or in a worship service, or at a Bible study to hear God. We tend to find him in the places that we find ourselves. For some it's nature, for some art, music, or maybe it's your thoughts and ways you analyze the world. Or maybe God uses another person to speak to you, gives you an image, a movie scene or a verse. He has designed us so uniquely and does not want us to just all imitate each other. I am finding that even in our church settings we do this. There is freedom that comes from knowing God is not tame and will not always fit within our constraints of how we think He will communicate with us.

Just an Update.

Jackie:

Well it's been 3 weeks since we've been here at the YWAM base in Montana. I feel like we're just now starting to settle in, really get to know people and become more comfortable (aside from the primarily cold showers).

Something that has been really neat for me is to get to be around so many different people from different countries. It's weird to think that there's an old air force base hidden at the bottom of Blacktail Mountain filled with people from all over the world, all congregated for the same purpose- to learn more about Jesus. On our Guatemala team of 8 students and 2 staff we have 2 people from Norway and one girl from Germany. It will be so fun to get to travel as a team even though we all come from such different places. Just now as i'm writing this blog I am listening to a father speak german to his 2 year old boy who is replying in english. The girl across the hall is from Thailand and two of our best friends here are from our neighbor country, Canada. Also, there is something very moving when you hear people pray in their native language. I wish so badly that God could just give me the gift to just translate but it doesn't happen.

Most people might be wondering what we're learning about in our classes. Each week we have a new topic and a new speaker. This past week we listened to a guy teach on grace and he flew all the way from South Africa to come speak at our school. He was very good at answering hard questions and helping us try to understand what grace is and why we need it. The week before him we learned about the characteristics of God, pulling from old and new testament scripture. This week we hear about relationships, spiritual warfare, prayer, the holy spirit, missions and evangelism. We will also be going to Seattle in a couple of weeks to work with our outreach teams (ours being Guatemala) and do anything from meeting people in the city to working in a soup kitchen. It will be an exciting challenge to see how we all work together and how we will all use our different strengths.

The fall is setting in and the scenery is beautiful. The air out here is crisp and pure and the leaves are golden. The lake is always stunning and I try to get down there as much as possible to take a walk. I pass by little mountain homes with apple trees in their yard and fireplaces burning. The water is turquoise and clear, seeing straight to the bottom. I think if I ever live out west and can't be by the ocean this is where i'd be.

Guatemala!

Last week Brenden and I found out we will be going to Guatemala on our Outreach in December. We were given 5 choices: Haiti, Turkey, Brazil, Thailand and Guatemala and we both quickly agreed that we wanted to go to Central America as our first choice. We are really excited to get to go with this team of 8 students and 2 YWAM staff. We will be going to Antigua for a bit and then staying in a smaller village a few miles outside the city. We will find out more about what we are doing in the weeks to come. One thing that we discussed is just building relationships with people down there and immersing ourselves in the culture. Brian and Mackenzie, the married couple who are leading the trip, are very relational people and feel the best way to do ministry is just building relationships-which is right up our alley. Anyways, more to come on all of that. For now, we have enjoyed Montana to its fullest before the snow starts coming!

a few pics from a hike in the eastern side of Glacier.