Give Thanks.

Jackie:

This has been the first Thanksgiving I have spent away from family but one I will remember. We spent a few nights up the mountain with the Kerrs as we watched the snow blanket the trees, roads and homes. The snowy mountains here are breathtaking and the quietness is almost loud...something I've never experienced on the east coast.

Andy Kerr read us a passage of a book he is reading and the author suggests that technically we could live the rest of our lives praying only one word, "thank you", and it would be enough. Oh if our lives could just be one long expression of gratitude how much more would we know God and know true joy.

Tis the season of thanks and I am extremely joyful tonight after hearing some great news that my darling cousin Perrin's cancer has not spread, the remnants of tumors have disappeared, her back is stabilized from the infusions and some enlarged lymph nodes are back to normal size. God is listening to our prayers and joy and hope fill my heart for what's ahead.

Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His love endures forever.

A Wedding and a Winter Wonderland.

Jackie:

Thursday morning we flew south to Oklahoma for Suzanne and John's wedding. After filling two barf bags via motion sickness, we made it to Tulsa to help celebrate and prepare for their big day. Suzanne was gorgeous as usual and the ceremony was perfect for them.

Tulsa was 75 degrees on Sunday and when we flew in to Kalispell we landed with snow on the ground and gusts of 30 miles per hour...while snowing. It was a winter scene ive never experienced before..or felt- 5 degrees. We were supposed to get back to Montana Sunday night but instead we could not make our flight from Denver to Kalispell due to the plane being "too heavy". Brenden and I ended up getting a free meal and nice hotel room which was actually a blessing have one night to ourselves before we go south.

In 2 weeks we head out down to Guatemala. All 5 teams have been preparing as much as we can with the understanding that once we get to our destinations plans can always change. If you think about it please pray for us all. We have teams going to Brazil, Turkey, Thailand, Haiti and of course, Guatemala. The situation down in Haiti has worsened (cholera outbreaks and rioting) so their team will need a covering of protection- physically and emotionally.

The photos above are from more snow, a beautiful bride and our team leaders whom we love- Brian and Mackenzie (If you know Mackenzie you will soon learn that good things come in small packages)

Winter Has Officially Arrived.

Today we all experienced our first official snowfall in the valley. Brenden and I had driven up the mountain a couple of days ago to get a sneak-peek but today we got the real thing. Everyone from the northwest part of the country..or Norway.. was not too interested but everyone else immediately reacted via snowball fights. It is still coming down at 11:30 and night and the roads are beginning to get covered.

Narnia

Jackie:

Well it's been a couple of weeks since we've been back from Washington. The fall colors have become more muted and snow is accumulating in the mountains. It feels like winter has really crept in and I think we can handle a bit of it before we find ourselves transplanted on the equator for a couple of months in Guatemala.

Brenden has found such joy from getting to work in the auto shop on the base these past couple of weeks and he is thinking there might be something there for him in the future. In our music track we are working on a few songs that were selected to be recorded in the studio. I am singing the female vocals on an original song written by another student in our school who is very talented on the piano and songwriting.

We've had two great speakers these past couple of weeks- Dan Baumann and Amy Sollars- both work at the YWAM base in Kona, Hawaii. Dan spoke about "life with Jesus" and told us many stories and experiences he's had traveling. Amy spoke about the Holy Spirit and shared some great stories as well. She grew up in the backwoods of Alaska living with no electricity or running water, and she and her siblings shot bears and wolves as young children. She reminded us through her teaching that Jesus left to send another, the Holy Spirit, to "aid you, assist you, help you, guide you, lead you, give you revelation of scripture, release his gifts through you, give you boldness, teach you, strengthen you, refresh you, empower you, anoint you, protect you, fellowship with you, help you pray, give you rest, give you wisdom, reveal Jesus in your life, be your friend, and comfort you." Pretty good news, I'd say.

Last weekend YWAM hosted a Masquerade Ball and students dressed up in various ways all covering their faces with masks. A friend of mine, Bethany, and I decided our entire costume was actually better than any mask so we took off our mask after 10 seconds. The photo above says it all.

This upcoming weekend we are Oklahoma bound to celebrate in the marriage of our dear friends Suzanne and John! In 3 1/2 weeks we are headed to Guatemala and look forward to seeing what the next couple of months have in store for us!

Oh, and the reason this post is called "Narnia" is because of the snowy photos. Brenden and I drove the faithful Saturn up Blacktail Mountain about 10 miles and these are photos from the top. It was amazing to be on base where its wet and rainy and then drive for a few minutes to find snowy tree tops in a magical forest!!

Brenden-

In most of our lectures within YWAM we have been learning many things about God. But, we haven't been learning just facts about the bible or how to become a good christian, we have been studying Jesus and his nature and character.

We sat in a lecture today with a man who was imprisoned in Iran for being a missionary. He lived in a 6 x 6 cell for nine weeks and everyday for the first week and once a week after they beat him. You might think what we learned today was how radical of christian he was or what a great thing he did. But, we didn't.

We learned about how God likes us. You may think, "okay, of course he likes us....he loves us." It took me a minute too. When was the last time you thought about God liking you, as in, wanting to spend time with YOU. Not, you praying for an hour and just continually asking God for forgiveness, but actually spending time with Him. It never occurred to me either until the speaker said it. It's hard to understand, but have we ever considered that God likes the things we like. I had to really consider what was being said here when the speaker asked us that. I guess I always picture God dealing with the world all day and listening to me but not actually interacting and wanting to be close. The truth is though, he likes us so much and wants to be a part of everything we do. And I'm not talking about little annoying Jimmy from down the street who wants to play, I'm talking about the God of the universe wanting to actually spend time with us and be close.

Being close, that one was tricky too. What do we think of when we think of the physical proximity of God? When I pray, I always feel like I have to pray for a really long time to get to him, or if I pray "hard" enough he might hear my prayers more. A previous speaker asked a girl in our class what she thinks she has to do to get closer to God. She said pray more and read her bible. He then spoke about how sometimes we envision God being far from us. In fact, at times that's always how we envision him. This idea of where He is makes it feel like we have to strive for him to be in our presence. But, the truth is he is truly close to us at all times. People often seem to think that when they make a mistake and sin that he leaves us. The whole purpose of the cross was that there would never be a barrier between us and God again. This blew me away. It changed my perspective on what he actually did for us. One of the coolest parts about this is that when we finally realize this, we can begin to be moved to do things for him, not out of obligation, but out of love. An example of this is when a husband needs to make an apology he might buy flowers for his wife, but a wife might appreciate flowers more when they come simply because her husband loves her and nothing is wrong. God is present. What is holding us back from knowing the closeness of God?

Montana Snow and Bellingham Mud

Last week 70 of us, students and staff, packed the vans and headed to Bellingham, WA for a week on what's called a "Mini Outreach". This was an opportunity to get out and practice what we preach. Since we are all going to be sent off overseas for a couple of months it's a good idea to see how we can all work together as a team. Each morning started in lecture and then the afternoons were spent breaking up and doing some form of ministry.

Sunday we all went to the speaker Matt Atkin's church MOSAIC. It was set in an old ball room downtown and the first thing you see when you walk in is "Don't Go to Church. Be the Church". They had tables set up all around the room so that everyone could sit, chat, discuss and eat an amazing brunch together prepared by the church body. I loved this way of doing church because it was so relational. They were very active in the community and met on Sunday's with the purpose of going out and being the hands and feet of Jesus, however and wherever needed.

The first afternoon of ministry Matt encouraged us all just to go into the city and walk around with no agenda. His theory was "how do you go and love people if you don't care about them or know anything about them?" So we all split up, went into Bellingham and talked to different people around town, finding out about the city and it's history. I love that my perception of "evangelism" has not only changed but been freed from such the idea that we have to go convert people. What freedom there is in just being a Christian in this world and intentionally loving people, the rest is up to God. And, how do we get that wrong so many times. People are people not projects.

We spent the week doing anything from landscaping, planting trees, cleaning out an old woman's house who was about to get evicted, promoting an Arthritis marathon to moving furniture into homes set up for people to leave homelessness.

Bellingham is about an hour and half north of Seattle and most people know that Seattle is usually raining. Well I didn't realize how much this weather would get to me. Mid week, after 4 days of straight cold, rain, mud and fog, the sun came out. It was incredible how much my mood changed when I could finally be outside and see the blue sky. After that week I decided to buy some vitamin D just incase.

Now we're back at the YWAM base ready to start the month of November. Feeling a little homesick as I know the holidays are approaching. The snow on the mountains is majestic and we are greatly enjoying this opportunity to live in such a beautiful place.

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.