It's Really Happening!

Well It's officially begun! And we're already at the end of week 1 for Engage DTS 2013. 

This time leading up to the school has been pretty hectic but very productive. I think we as a staff team had the equivalent of about 1 day off since Christmas. We've been busy decorating the classroom, getting together student info, welcome baskets, and the like. But it's been so much fun. I absolutely LOVE the staff team I am working with. I am blessed. 

  The students arrived on Jan. 3rd. 52 of them for our school! My job that day was to welcome them and get them to their room with everything they needed. There was so much excitement and enthusiasm because we'd been looking forward to that day for the past 4 months. It was hard to not be overwhelming to the students- who'd just traveled crazy amounts of time to get here. The next couple days were orientation which included honoring the Hawaiians for letting us be here, learning about the different ministries on campus, and setting the heart piece, tone, and expectations for the school. We ended the weekend and started the week with a BBQ on the beach at sunset. A great start!

  Every Monday begins with an hour of corporate worship. A good way to bring everyone back into focus. Then we jumped into classes with Donna Jordan as our speaker for the week. An amazing woman who teaches on 'Listening to God'. She has the authority to teach on it because she walks it out in her life. In every area. Every once in a while she'd stop and ask God what we were to talk about or do next. One time God told her we needed a break time- so we had a much needed break! It was so great to watch the students grow throughout the week. The first day we were all challenged as to what making Jesus Lord of our lives actually meant. So you can imagine it pushed some buttons! Throughout the week students were laying things down and opening up the the fact that God really does want to speak to us, that he desires relationship, and it will cost us our 'junk' that we want to keep hidden, but so very worth it in the end. Because when we give everything to God, Jesus is getting the reward of what he paid for on the cross. It's a beautiful exchange. There was allot of 'letting go' and 'stretching' done this week. It's so good! 

  I am having so much fun getting to know the students. They are amazing men and women who have left everything behind for the sake of getting to know God and serve him for the next 6 months. That's no easy thing to do. But I'm excited to see how God meets them in this place. I'm excited to see the identity he speaks and the dreams he awakens in each one.  

Pray for

- God's will to be done in us this week. That all the glory for what's happening would go to him alone.  

-Open hearts for the students as we go into this next week of teaching on the 'Nature and Character of God' as many previous beliefs will be shattered. 

-Strength in us staff. It's an amazing yet tiring journey for us. 

-That we would be able to build solid relationships with the students this week. So they will feel able to share what they are working through.  

 Thank you for your prayers of support of what I'm doing!

I pray that YOU will have a greater revelation of who God is and his unending love for you this week.

Colossians 1:9-14

Let the Adventure Begin!

  Well I've made it here safely! I've been back in Kona for a little over a week. It's so crazy how a place can feel like home even when you're an ocean away from your family and where you've grown up (and you're living out of a suitcase). But this YWAM base is home. The people I get to work with over the next couple months are becoming my family. I really think that where God calls you it will be and feel so right that it's 'home' no matter where in the world you are. That's why it's so important that we listen and follow His direction.

  This past week has been pretty full, but super good! We jumped in right away with working and serving here on base. Doing anything from building bunk beds, to weeding and raking, to scrubbing, to kitchen duty, to hospitality, to baby-sitting. Not to mention a few trips to the beach on our hours off! Thursday we welcomed around 600 students (not including their families) to the base here. It was so much fun to be apart of Arrival Day and see the faces of the students and help them in any way we could. I can't wait to see what God has for them! Friday I got put in charge of one of the stops for orientation. I had to get the supplies and set up the cafe for break/snack time. It was a bit of a challenge but I learned more about delegating tasks to people.

  Friday we also had orientation and heard the vision for the "Awakening Leadership Track" that we will be doing for the next 3 months. I'm super excited for this! I signed up for more than I thought, but it's so good! I'm going to be stretched in huge ways. We have a very full schedule. We have 4 hours of work duty every morning, about 2 hours of prayer room every afternoon, and some kind of event or community outreach  a couple of evenings. Teachings a few days a week, One-on-ones, small groups, books to read, and verses to memorize. By the end of these 3 months I will have the whole Sermon on the Mount memorized- God help me! Our goal as a track is to serve in anyway we possibly can. So learning to lead by being humble and doing it! It's going to be stretching but that'll be good for me. I am ready.

   I am so happy to have this time to just set aside to chase Christ with all that I am. That's what I really want this time to be. I am feeling my passion and desire for him grow and consume me while everything else fades away. Even just the community here is incredible, I forgot how much I missed it. The team of people I will be staffing with in January are awesome. There are 13 of us, and over the past week we all want to do something together, so instead of watching a movie or going out to eat...we worship. We pray for eachother. We affirm one another. I love the push to pursue Christ.

  Pray for our housing situation. We need off campus housing, because the campus is too full of students(Praise God!). So we are looking like crazy for a place that's cheap and close to base.
  Pray for each member of the team as we pursue Christ. When you follow God on this level the Devil will do anything he can to get us down. Protection over our hearts.


I praise God for each of you reading this. You are such a blessing to me.

This is a picture of the team of us staffing Engage DTS in January. 

My Next Step!

Hey Friends!

   I hope everything is going well with you. I can't believe how quickly time has flown by and I'm moving on to new things as I'm sure you are in your lives. I just wanted to share with you what God's leading me to next.
   As you probably know I got back from a Discipleship Training School(DTS) in June of this year. God radically change my outlook on life through that program. I hope to write more about that in my blog soon. I'm still processing all that happened during that trip. But one of the biggest things I learned in DTS is how to listen to God's voice and what that looks like in everyday life. That said, I've been seeking God as to what's next in my life...e.i. go to school, stay home and work, look into an internship...things like that. I've felt God tell me to go back to the YWAM base in Kona, HI and staff a DTS. Specifically Engage DTS, which is the one I just got done doing. To go back and continue on with my school leader- Joanna and the people there. I have more to learn from them and we have more to do together. So when God told me that it was job to say "yes." So that's the point I'm at now. I've said yes. But without God this is going to be impossible. I don't have to money for this and to be a leader of students who are my age or older will be difficult but it will be a learning experience I haven't had. So I'm leaning on God for ALL of it. He's told me to go and that I don't have to worry. He will supply everything I need. All that is required of me is to trust him. Which I'm finding is a daily or hourly thing.
  What will Staffing require of me? Well, I will be leaving for the Big Island Sept. 21st. I will be gone for about 9 months...a little longer than last time. The first 3 months will be what's called 'Leadership Track' which will involve serving the base in some way for a couple hours each day, helping out prepare for the students to come (contact students, prepare classroom, figure out outreach locations), bonding and becoming family with the other staff in Engage, and taking some leadership classes so we can how this will actually work! Then in January the students come! So from that point on they will be my focus. One-on-ones with them, small groups, and preparing for outreach. April will bring our departure date for Outreach! I will be helping lead a time of approx. 6 students to an outreach location (most likely somewhere in Asia) and help oversee them as we further The Great Commission. I will return home around the end of June after a couple weeks of debrief.
   I'm super excited about this opportunity that God has set before me! I think that discipling young people is something we are all called to do as Christians. This is a setting where the students come setting aside 6 months of their lives to get closer with God, to work on what a relationship with Him looks like. This program has changed me and I've seen the transformation in others as well. I'm in awe of that fact that I get to be apart of this!
   I am looking for people to partner with me in this. First and foremost in prayer. I am a firm believer in the power of prayer and they way it can change things. Will you commit to praying for me, the students, and the school? I also need people willing to partner with me financially. It's going to cost about $1,000 a month for me to live in Kona, pay for housing, and insurance. Please pray about it. Ask God if he wants you to join me in this. Whether it be one time or monthly. You can give online here on my blog or if you would rather write a check email me and I'll get you my address. If you want to partner with me, either or both ways, please let me know so I can have it on record and let you know when I have new updates and prayer requests. My email is lindsj1020@yahoo.com I'd love to hear from you and know how I can pray for you as well!
   Thank you so much for taking the time to read this! Even just that is precious to me.
May the Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; The Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace! Numbers 6.24-26