Against All Odds

Winter DTS

(Students & Staff)

Sorry I haven't written in almost another week. It just gets so busy here it's hard to catch a break. I've totally settled down & am loving every minute of it. I'm not going to lie though, I've gotten kind of homesick. I miss my family & all of my friends. Alright....let me think of anything exciting that has happened this week:

Monday through Wednesday our speaker was Jim Steir. He is the founder of YWAM Brazil. Talk about a man with experience...WOW! His stories were very encouraging and just made me more excited for our outreach. His topic was "Against All Odds" & he talked about Hope, Faith, & Love. Some of his great points:

• Your job in life is not to be like anybody else...but to be yourself, totally unique.
• God doesn't guarantee that we'll win all the battles, but He does guarantee we will win the war!
• Whether you persevere or not determines your success.
• The biggest problem in missions is that missionaries quit.
• Faith & Love spring out of Hope. (Colossians 1:4 &5)
• As you move forward with hope, your struggles will begin to fall off.
• Even when you don't know about it, when you open your mouth & share the Gospel, you release the glory of God.
• Many Christians treat God like a salad bar, taking the things they want & leaving what they don't.
• Don't let religion get in between you a & God.
• Religion does things for God, faith does things with God.
• Faith, Hope, & Love feed each other.
• Unless you're in a love relationship with Jesus, you can't really love anyone else with real love.
• Love is essentially a commitment of heart to the other person's well being.
• Love is ALL that God wants from us.
• 1 Corinthians 13...AMAZING! :)
• All real love must have God as its source.

I had an absolute blast with the kids during AOS (Acts of Service) this week. We played with playdo a lot. Noah, Brandon & Angela's son, actually ate some that turned his poop neon green. It was lovely. Noah declared World War III with Mekeisha's daughters, Jasmine & Maya. I just love the terrible twos. Wednesday Noah fell asleep in my arms. That's when I decided I loved him again. HAHAHA...just teasing, I always love him. Here are some fun pics of the kiddies:

Me, Noah, & Jasmine

Lucy

Maya

Sir Noah

Ingin

Me & Ueng Joung

Me & Noah

Me & my partner Hali

Our speaker for Thursday & Friday was Mekeisha Smith again. Her topic was "The Nature & Character of God." Some of her powerful points:

• You know you're getting the truth about God if He gets bigger & closer to you.
• Stop reading the Bible like it's a book of fairy tales, Start reading it like you're catching a glimpse of the min & heart of God.
• Truth has hardly nay power to affect your life, it's your perception of the truth that affects you more.
• God's call to us is not one of success, but one of obedience.
• It is unbefitting to the King for the world no to know who He is.
• Whenever God calls you to something, there's always enough grace for it.
• God is not like us, we can't judge Him by what we see in people.
• Only questions find the answers they seek.
• If the Son of God can be a servant, we're no different.
• Love will carry you where duty will not.
• You need to love God as much as the person you love least.

Thursday night we found out the locations of our outreach. There are 2 different places. 6 students can go on the one and the rest go on the other. Drum roll please................

A special country in Asia & Thailand

or

Columbia

Only 6 students and 3 staff can go to the 1st one because it's a closed country & it's very hard to get in. I chose to go to Thailand & that one. But they haven't told us the final team for this location because more than 6 people wanted to go so the staff is praying about it & will let us know Monday. So I'll let you know. Exciting huh?

So today...when I was out running errands & trying to get Noah's birthday present since he turns 2 on Monday...I got in a car accident. Yep, my very first car accident...I rear ended a lady in a Taurus. It was terrible. She was extremely nice though & told me not to worry. We were in stop & go traffic & I was only going about 10 mph. Her car was fine, it just cracked my bumper a bit. Praise God that was all. :)

Well I just want to say miss & love you all again. & don't miss me too much. :) I'll try to get more pics & let you know where I'm going for sure on Monday. Thanks for all your prayers & support.