Leah's YWAM Updates: It's been so long

Hey you guys! I am so sorry it has been so long since I've made a blog update. Things around here have been a little crazy! Thank you again so much for all of your prayers and thoughts. I love hearing from you!

2 weeks ago, our lecture was about "Identity and Destiny". Our speaker was Troy Sherman, who is on staff here at the base... He is the training director. He is also Dean Sherman's son; Dean is a well known speaker and author. Anyway, it was awesome to have Troy speak and to hear a lot about his life and what he had to share with us. I had kind of a major breakthrough that week! I have been struggling with really believing in my heart that Jesus loves me, but somehow that week God did some serious soul surgery and revealed His glory to me. How awesome! This week was also a little strange, because almost all of the Galileans were on a mobile trip through California, Oregon, Colorado, etc.

On the 28th at 6 AM, all of the DTS (staff and students) piled into a 12-passenger van to travel to Colorado for the Go Conference. It was about 14-16 hours in the van the first day (I honestly can't remember). At our first stop, we had some van trouble... the engine was smoking. Dave in his wise school leader mode said: "Welcome to YWAM!" haha. After a lot of prayer and testing different things, they found the problem and it only cost $10 to fix. How awesome! We ended up staying the night at a wonderful hospitable church in Ogden, Utah. It was cool to drive through Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah since I've never been to those states til now. Everything is so dry in the west! :) But the mountains were gorgeous.

The next day we traveled probably at least 10 more hours to Estes Park, Colorado where we stayed at yet another church. We met up with the Galileans there and it was so nice to see them again! It's funny how much you bond here, and when someone leaves for only a week, it feels like forever! So we caught up with one another, did a lot of talking and even some worshiping. A few people played in the gymnasium that night, which I'm sure felt amazing after all the van travel time.

The Go Conference started the next day and I have to say it was pretty darn awesome. I always have an amazing time in Colorado in the mountains-- it is so beautiful there! We stayed at the YMCA, which had great facilities. There were so many good speakers and different workshops to attend. There was also a great worship band called Vertical Response from the head honcho YWAM base in Hawaii. There were probably about 500 people at the conference from all over the U.S. (the Madison, WI base was there, yay!) So it was great to meet people who are also going through DTS, and hear what their experience has been, etc.

The best day of the conference by far was on Thursday. The typical day at the conference was like it is at base: Breakfast, Worship, Intercession, Teaching, Lunch, Break, Teaching, Dinner, Worship, Teaching, Bed. It was so nice to get the 2 hour break every day, though! We don't always have that here. Anyway, Thursday was incredible. The intercession in the morning was about children. We watched a slideshow with a ton of awful statistics and haunting pictures, and then cried out for kids all over the world. Then we prayed over people who feel a calling to work in children's ministry, and that was so powerful. And then, all of the men gathered at the front of the room and all of us women gathered around them and prayed for them. The men repented of using their testosterone in ways that end up hurting children. We prayed for them to be warriors, and they all screamed and beat their chests. It may sound stupid, but it was sooo moving! I don't quite know how to put it in words, but it was awesome to see this huge group of young men on their knees repenting for poorly using the very things that God blessed them with. The rest of the day was just full of teachings I needed to hear-- God confirmed His dreams for me to work in Indonesia one day, which I'm absolutely thrilled about!

The Colorado trip was such a great experience, even the car rides. I really feel like we bonded as a team even more. We do have a long way to go. Team unity is down a little, but it really is a challenge when all of us are so different and from so many different backgrounds! But it's a great kind of challenge. :)

This week we had the band Vertical Response here to teach us about worship. It was a little bit of a struggle for me this week, because I didn't necessarily agree with everything that was said. But I know that I need to be open to hearing different things. Our school staff is always encouraging us to wrestle with these issues-- pray about them, go to Scripture with them, talk about them, think about them, etc. This week, though I was in charge of doing the devotions on Tuesday and Thursday, as well as intercession on Wednesday. I was a little nervous about it, because I've never really lead anything before. But God was triumphant and gave me clear direction on what we needed to be meditating on and praying for, etc. Actually, this week's intercession was probably the most powerful one we've had to date! I am so thankful things went smoothly.

Also this week we had a night where we spoke encouragement over each other, and I had a few prophesies spoken about me. Whoa! That's something new. :) I know that one of them was exactly what I needed to hear at the time. There's two others that go together and basically are saying that I'm "waiting to hatch" so to speak. I am going to God about what that means, but I have a feeling that as time goes on, my fear is going to diminish and diminish and I'll be a bold and confident follower of God! I do desperately want this. :) So I'm way excited.

I know this entry is so long.. I'm impressed you're still reading it! There's one other thing I wanted to say. I love living in community! Sometimes it can be really frustrating, especially me as an introvert, because I do like time to myself. But it's so nice to always have someone there to talk to, pray with, work things through, etc. I love seeing the same people every day. In so many ways, we are like each other's family! I am so bonded to the people here, especially to Darcey and Mike. I am confident that I have made lifelong friends. I am really going to miss living in a community like this. But I am almost converted to beliving that this is how it really should be. It's such a challenge and encouragement at the same time to be surrounded by people. People definitely do get to see your "true colors". Anyway, in case you were wondering how I felt about that... I love it. Even on the hard days. :)

Well tonight is such a blessing, because we have the night off. YESSSS!!! Things have been crazy since we got back from Colorado, so I'm excited to just relax tonight. There's been talk about renting "Cars" or maybe just doing homework. We'll see what happens!

I'll leave you with a few pictures from Younsoo.

The whole group after Plumbline (the really emotional week):
Back Row: Vlady, Me, Linda (speaker), Mike, Ian, Jerry (speaker), Amy
Middle: Younsoo, Rachel
Front: Dave, Darcey, Ally