I graduated! Plan:
Now-October: Work, work, and maybe one more work.
October-December or March: Phase II
January-May: Staff BDTS in Denver
June-August or November: Staff SDTS in New Zealand.
We shall see!
I feel like there is a lot I want to say here, but there's really nothing.
I want to start posting pictures of the clothes and trinkets my sister and I create.
Maybe that will end up here.
We shall see!


We shall see...

Finally back!

I know it's been a while! But I've been crazy busy learning amazing things about myself, about God, and about His plan for this world. A lot has been happening, we've had crazy speakers come in and blow our minds with new wisdom and awesome ideas about our heavenly Father. John Murphy taught on the realm of relationships, Troy Sherman taught on missions and evangelism, Pastor Blake Mattocks taught us how to more effectively study God's word. I can tell you everyone here is ten times more excited to read the Bible now! This week we are doing outreach prep with Kelsey Gilchrist leading it. We are learning lots of skit, dramas, puppet shows and crafts to do while we're on our outreach. It's going to be amazing!

Today, two vans drove down the mountain to downtown Denver right after dinner to minister at the skate park, and to those on 16th Street Mall. Yesterday I had made twenty duct tape flowers to give away as a sign of God's beauty and His never dying love. Very clever, I know. =P So I stuffed those in my little backpack named Josh Bergen, with the intentions of giving them out to random women I ran into. Turns out I didn't actually meet any women, but I did give a few out to some homeless men that we spoke to and prayed for. Cameron, Ashley, NZ Michael and I wandered up and down the street looking for the Holy Spirit to lead us somewhere. The first homeless guy we ran into was Glen. In efforts not to overwhelm him, Cameron and Ashley talked to him while Michael and I interceded on a bench a little ways down the street. They spoke to him for a good while, prayed for him, then came over to us and told us about their conversation. Glen was reading the Bible when we first saw him and he told Ashley and Cameron a great story about how he used it once in a coffee shop. A lady behind him said something derogatory against homeless people. Glen turned around and asked if she thought she was better than him. She said yes, and told him that everyone in that coffee shop was better than him because they weren't homeless. Glen pulled out his Bible and asked, "are you saying you're better than Jesus? 'Birds have their nests, and foxes have their holes, but the Son of God has no place to rest His head." Ah ha! You go, Glen! The lady was caught completely off guard and lost all her pride in that moment.

We kept walking. After a while of not really feeling drawn to anything, we each silently began to pray that God would clearly guide us to a person or a place so we could share His love. At that moment, a tall gangly man came up behind us and began telling us a the story of his situation. He said his name was Benny and he and his wife were left there by their ride and have been trying to find a ride or a place to stay that night. He asked for money and told us he knew where to find an ATM. Whether his story was true or not, I decided I am not one to judge, and God had asked us to love on this man. We pulled some money out for him and then asked if we could pray for him. He was all for it so we prayed over him for safety and hope. I gave Benny a rose and asked him to give it to his wife. I explained what it meant to me and asked him to pass that on. He thanked us and went on his way. "Whatever you do unto the least of these, you do unto me."

Later, we all got a good laugh out of a guy who made a banner crooked, ran into a trash can and slurred to us, "Hah I love doing that!" We laughed and kept walking, only to discover that he really did love doing that because ALL the banners were askew. Oh funny!

We later ran into Andy, an elderly homeless man that Michael had met the first time he went to 16th Street Mall. He is such a joyful, kindhearted man! He blessed me just with his caring heart as he remembered Michael, and took great care in learning the rest of our names. We prayed for him and continued on.

On our way back to the vans, a man started talking to us, asking for spare change so he could buy his brittle-boned mother a punt I milk. He said she's into politics and doesn't believe in buying thugs by the gallon. This guy was hilarious as he knelt on his knees and joking begged for money. We didn't have any change on us so I pulled out a flower and gave to him. His whole face lit up and sprang to his feet and told me that he loved me. He went to shake Michael's hand but then quickly turned and hugged me and kissed the top of my head and made us laugh a bit more then moved on.

What a good night! When we regrouped back at the skate park, we got to hear of some more awesome stories that happened there as well. All that to say, I serve a good and powerful God who is worthy of my obedience. Now I'm going to sleep!

Back!

Made it back from Aspen! We're home! Yay soft beds, showers and laundry! Don't get me wrong, though! Our X-Games experience was amazing!!! Street ministry every night! Loving and ministering to people at the venue! Amazing! I met a lot of drunk people. There was one instance when a drunk guy in his early to mid-twenties was sitting on the bus across from one of our staff members, Stephan Cheateams. The drunk guy leaned over an bumped Cheats and said, "you're stupid. You're so stupid!" A little later he said, "you're beautiful." We got to a stop and Te lights came on and the drunk guy realized Cheats was a man so he pointed to the door and said, "get off!" then we started going again and he pulled out his phone and shined the light on Cheats, put it away, then leaned over and threw up in his own hood. At this point I had to turn away and continued praying for this guy's safety. If he thought Cheats was a girl, he could easily get into some bad situations. I also met a completely sober guy who actually saw Jesus Freaks last year, which is a video/documentary of the Boarders DTS that took place in 2007! It was cool finding people all weekend that knew who we were. Pretty awesome! We did a lot of really great evangelism all weekend! We also got to experience the X-Games! I witnessed the first snowmobile front flip on competition history! And I saw Shaun White score a perfect 100 on his VICTORY lap after he knew he had already won. Pretty insane. I also smacked him in he ribs as he walked by. All kinds of fun in Aspen! Now we're back at Eagle Rock and in about 36 minutes we're driving down to Arvada to get our laundry cleaned, then when we get back, I get to shower and sleep!!! So excited!

I don't apologize for slacking on here... Sorry.

Ha! Paradox. Anyways! Yesterday we went down to the Arvada base for worship, intercession and class. Our speaker this week is Greg DeVries, teaching on evangelism! STOKED! We are weeks worth of class in three days so we can be better prepared for our X-Games outreach! It's going to be amazing! I am expecting such great things for our time there. Sleeping on the floor of a church is going to be wonderful. I love living with less when I know it is for the Glory of my God! Anyways!!! After class, we did our laundry, I always have fun at laundry mats, I discovered. I like them and I think they're nifty and great for pictures! Then we went to the mall to get supplies for the X-Games, but I didn't need anything so I bought gauges. Yep. For my ears. Then we came home and slept.

Today! We had class taught by Greg on walking in the Spirit while we're evangelizing (which should be always) and being sensitive to where the Holy Spirit is and what the Holy Spirit wants to do through our willingness to serve. I cannot wait to hear the Spirit clearly while I'm going about my life and act on it, then see radicals things happen because of it. Ahh! SO EXCITED! After class and lunch, then class, we had work duties, during which, Alecia and I went to the Murphy's cabin to help Bethany clean and watch the children. They're a joyful bunch! I love them all so much! Then dinner, then we had the option to watch "Jesus Freaks," an hour long documentary on the Boarders DTS of 2007. It was awesome! And afterwards, the joyful, community centered atmosphere and the general friendliness of our group tripled. Nothing like an awesome video to boost moral. Then a couple of students and staff and I gathered for a Bible study in the dining hall to study the book of Joshua! We plan on meeting every Tuesday night to dive into what we believe to be our generation's calling to be Joshua leaders.

I'm exactly where I want to be, doing exactly what I want to be doing, and it feels amazing.

Hello!

Sorry to all two of you who read my blog, (I love you, mom!) for I have not kept up very well! But! I have an excuse! First of all, the Internet has been down. Pretty good excuse, I'd say! Second, we have been busy! Two days ago, we had class taught by Jeff Pratt on the Father Heart of God. It was amazing. We also had practical application during which we were freed from many things (bricks) that created a wall around our hearts. Wonderful!!! That night, I got to take care of the Murphy kids and make adventure maps in their house with them! Then later, all the girls got to spend a night on the town and get dessert from a sweet restaurant to celebrate Jen's birthday. Tons of fun!

Yesterday, we had worship (superb) and class, and continued with testimonies. We only have five or six left! So close! We are becoming quite the family! And I love it! Last night, I was the student of many as their tried to teach me how to play ping pong. Didn't go so well, but it was fun!

Today, we went snowboarding! On the way, one of the vans broke down so we frolicked on the side of the road and it was so much fun. So funnn! Got a great video. I'll post it. When we finally got the van fixed, we decided to go to Keystone instead of Vail and it was awesome! And now, I am so exhausted!!! So... Goodnight!

Here's a link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDuZW1K35Xs&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Oh! And also...

One of the staff members from the other DTS thought I was homeless because I was carrying a bunch of people's things and I threw my jacket under the bench he was sitting on and then walked away. He turned to Kyle and said, "is that girl homeless?" hahaha Kyle said, "no. She's one of our boarders." But all the way back people were telling me that I couldn't come along. Only DTS students and staff can stay at Eagle Rock and they just don't have room for a homeless girl, like me. Super funny! Good joke for the entire ride home.

This is Really Awesome

Today was our second official day of class, taught by Jeff Pratt, on the Father Heart of God. Amazing. We are learning about how we build walls around our hearts with bricks like guilt, rejection, fear a man, etc. and these things keep us from fully experiencing the freedom and joy of Jesus. We dug into our past to find out why we do the things we do and why we have grown numb in areas. Real heart work is going on here! It's going to be so liberating tomorrow during practical application. Tonight there was an optional outreach called Kingdom Night. Only one can full of us chose to go, but we met up with more YWAM-ers once we got down the mountain. When we got to our destination on 16th Street Mall, we started worshipping God for His wonderful character and His amazing love. Instantly, people were drawn, that's where the fun happened! We branched out, invited people in, gave out free hot chocolate, and made friends. All kinds of people came to see what we were up to! I talked to and prayed for and with many people who were walking down the street. It's amazing how many people will put aside their agenda to feed curiosity. I'm just so glad we caused something worth being curious about! I met a very wide spectrum of people; homeless, drunk, businessmen, students, children, teens, drug addicts. You name it. And I got to pray with them! Do you realize that when you minister to one person in a particular people group, that whole group can be touched. So why not minister to one person from every people group?! It was great! So great that we ran way late and actually just got home about 20 minutes ago. That's 50 minutes after we were supposed to be getting ready for bed. Any complaints? Definitely not! Tomorrow might be different, though, when we have breakfast at 7:30. Posh! We'll be fine! Haha goodnight.