Electric Mountain Round 2

It's funny how a trip seems shorter the second time you make it. On Sunday those of us from DTS who are going to the Philippines (and our staff) headed back up to Electric Mountain! We got up the mountain just in time for dinner.

Our speaker this week was Peter Warren, one of the directors (and founders) of YWAM Denver. He spoke on Fear of the Lord. I knew this was going to be a challenging week, but it was definitely a beneficial week! Once again, what I was expecting to be taught was not what I received. Peter talked a lot about challenges we may face as we go through life and how having fear of the Lord, rather than fear of man can help us make it through that. The way he taught was incredibly organized and because of that, it is really easy to look through and see the various points he touched on.

Because Peter had to leave on Wednesday, our schedule was very different from any other week- including a night class on Monday. It was nice, in a way, to have our schedule so mixed up because so often we simply get stuck and forget that there is so much more outside of what we try to plan.

We got to do a lot of random things throughout the week. On Wednesday, we got to go to the reservoir and have a bonfire. On Thursday, we got to go to the closest town, Paonia, which was about a 45 minute drive out on the gravel road. In Paonia, we got to go to a local ice cream shop- it was delicious! Because it was one of our group's birthday, we had cake outside and with the leftovers, we offered it to people walking by. It was fun to see their reactions and have mini conversations with random people on the street.

On Friday, we made our way back to Arvada. It's always nice to come back to base! It's sad to not have the other half of our DTS but I'm looking forward to getting to grow as an outreach team before we leave in just two weeks!

Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support!

God bless!

What Is Your Culture of Revival?

This week we hit the double digits of being here with Week 10! For class, we joined with School of Worship and WISE school (and doubled our class size) and our speaker was Tommy Green, the lead singer for the hardcore Christian band Sleeping Giant!

Tommy Green talked about a Culture of Revival. He had us write out what we would want to see in a culture of revival, then went more in depth of what that means, what a heart culture is many other things. One of my favorite things he covered was Sensational vs Significant. He talked about "sensational" in the Kingdom as something which elicits more of a "whoa" response, such as prophesy and healings. Significant would be things that change people, like someone being healed and their life being radically changed. He talked about how in the Kingdom of God, we should be seeking significance over sensational.

On Friday during small groups, we got to go to the Celestial Seasonings factory in Boulder! It was fun to learn that the mint that goes into their tea is actually grown in Oregon and Washington at the foot of the Cascades! We also got to try some delicious teas and go on a tour of the facility that makes all the tea distributed from Celestial Seasonings!

Friday afternoon, we got to spend at our YWAM Denver Eagle Rock campus. It is about 30 minutes from the Arvada Campus and it was beautiful! We got to see all the rooms and what the campus had to offer and I think most of us wished we had been able to attend our DTS there because it was so beautiful! For my Arizona friends, it reminded me a lot of Camp Pinerock- specifically the smell! It was good to be able to spend a last time with just our school before the ATW team left for outreach.

When we got back to base, a group of us watched Aladdin as a last hurrah before we woke up to say goodbye to the ATW team at 5 o'clock Saturday Morning. There were many tears, but there is such an anticipation for what they get to do over the next eleven weeks as they travel through Colombia, Turkey, India, Nepal, South Korea, and Mexico! They are an awesome group of world changers, Kingdom shapers, and freedom fighters and God is going to use them in amazing ways!

On Sunday, those of us who are left leave for Electric Mountain Lodge again, up in the mountains. A week of seclusion for our last week of teaching which will be taught by Peter Warren, YWAM Denver's director! I am excited to hear what he has to say about the fear of the Lord!

A continued thank you for all your prayers and support! In just 3 short weeks, my team and I leave on outreach for the Philippines! If you would like to specifically be praying for safety for the ATW team as well as my team as we are finishing preparations for our outreach.

Thank you and God bless!

Holy Spirit

During week 9, we were taught by MaryJean Powers. She was intense, for lack of a better word. Honestly, going into the week knowing we would be talking about the topic of Holy Spirit, I was nervous. I've always grown up knowing about the Trinity and hearing about spiritual gifts and knowing they existed and were of God, but I really wasn't sure what to expect and speaking in tongues and healings and having a "Holy Spirit party" scared me.

But my fears were put to rest early on. We had 3 papers on the wall, each with a title. One with "Names of Holy Spirit," one with, "Holy Spirit Day to Day," and the last with, "Characteristics of Holy Spirit." Through the week, we memorized Acts 2:1-4, as well as Acts 2:42-47. The week was more focused on learning about Holy Spirit and who it is, rather than learning what Holy Spirit can do for us.

There was so much information given to us, and I really look forward to looking back through my notes, doing more research into what we've been taught.

On Fridays, we have small groups. My small group combined with another small group and we went over to my leader's house and we got to watch the movie Big Hero 6 (totally worth watching, if you haven't already!) and then we got to sit down and have a full lasagna meal with a delicious salad and gluten free homemade lasagna! We got to sit and have a family style meal and just got to talk and grow as a team

On Saturday, a group of us walked to 7-11 to get slushies! Then, because there was another 7-11 only a mile or so away, we walked to the second one as well and got a second free slushie. Also, because our ATW team was scheduled to leave in one week, we hiked up Tabletop Mountain as something they had wanted to do since we all got here, yet hadn't had a chance. The view was beautiful and it was great to have another memory together before they left for their traversing of the world!

Thank you so much for all your prayers and support! God is continuing to do so many things in our lives and I am excited to see what he continues to do in us!

Simply Week 8

So much happened last week that I can hardly just title this post relating to the topic of the week in class.

I am continuing to love everything about YWAM Denver! I love the base location, the amazing community, the worship, the speakers, the atmosphere (or lack there of in the mile high city!) There is always something to do- . There's almost always someone playing volleyball after dinner, or someone hanging out in the basement and sometimes that means going to get frozen yogurt at 9:30 at night with a random group of people.

Last week, Greg Devries spoke on evangelism. It was interesting to gain a new perspective. As he spoke, the excitement to go on outreach continued to grow at the prospect of getting to share the love of Jesus with people every day in tangible ways!

Like the rest of the United States, we had a three day weekend- which was so appreciated!

On Thursday night, we kicked off 24 hour worship that went from Thursday night at 7pm to Friday at 7pm. All through the week, they had announced the opportunity to sign up for an hour slot in order to lead worship. I thought about it, but decided that it was outside of my comfort zone and I didn't want to do it... God had different plans. On Wednesday during class, Greg repeated something I've heard throughout my school here, "You'll get out of it what you put into it." Conviction. I left class and immediately looked for someone to play guitar so I could help lead a set and put more into this season so I can get more out of it.

Needless to say, at 5 Friday morning, I was up on the stage helping carry the torch and worshiping my God. I spent a lot of time in the worship center over the 24 hours. God showed me himself again in ways I hadn't felt in a long time and it was so refreshing!

I would classify Fourth of July weekend as one of my favourite weekends so far during this DTS! I am so thankful for the community of YWAM Denver and the blessing of getting to be here! A large group of us walked a mile or so to the sports complex down the road and got to enjoy just hanging out, playing frisbee, laughing together, and living in freedom- and watching some really cool fireworks!

As always, prayers are so appreciated! If you would like to donate, feel free to contact me and I am absolutely willing to get you some more info on how to do that!

Thank you so much, and God bless!