Daughter of the King
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!
Today was the day! Got up at 4:50 this morning to gather my cosas and head out the door! (Cosas = things)
It's so crazy. 5 whole months! They definitely have not been easy. But I have grown so much! And sometimes I don't know how to put my finger on it, but I feel different. God's been working hard on my heart, even when I try to stop him, or when I don't even notice. I have grown incredibly close with my Mexican team, and I am SO sad that they are not with me right now. Right now my mind is in shock I think haha. I keep thinking I see my fellow classmates in the corner of my eye then I look and they are not there. And then a few minutes ago I thought I heard bailey, and then it was her voice coming from a different face. One moment you are spending every day all day for 149 days, eating together, going to class, having bonfires, going to oxxo or the beach, sleeping in close courters. Living together. Doing life juntos. And then the next moment, you are all alone sitting in an airport. I shouldn't be so depressing haha, I am excited to go back home! I can't wait to see my familia. (Though Tyson won't be there and that does make me sad) Ahhhh you know what I will miss so much!!! SPANISH!!! Spanish is my love. haha I love it, I need it. I will die without it. hahaha anyways. I am being weird. So I will talk a little bit about Outreach. And share some pics finally :) I believe the last place I left off was when we were about to head to the indigenous tribes. That was an experience. The first 3 days I felt sick, so that wasn't that fun. Here our team was challenged a lot, we had to preach preach and preach! And there are a few, or many on our team who struggle with public speaking. (myself included) But we all had to preach at least once. And it was actually super cool, because we CAN do it. God HAS taught us things. We do HAVE things to say. In the mountains we ate a lot of hand made corn tortillas, beans, beans, a few more beans, and some eggs, and a little bit more eggs, and TONS of this one red soup with a freshly killed then boiled chicken in it. Tim, a member of our equipo also had the chance to partake in a killing. Besides that! It was so so so beautiful there!!!! And the people were beautiful! It was hard for me that I couldn't talk to anyone, the kids especially! I am so used to being able to communicate through spanish but ahhh another language? I remember one moment the kids were being ridiculously loud, and I just wanted to say please be quiet and leave hahahaha but I couldn't!! (I was also sick that day so give me some grace) I also got to translate three preachings :) (English to spanish to the local language) and I got to preach twice in Spanish. I am honestly so blown away by God. I have been praying to learn spanish for a long time! And to be at the level that I am at by only actually having been in Mexico for a short time is crazy, I pretty much taught myself at home hahaha (If you need tips, I am here ! ) I remember writing on here way back when that I want prayer to learn spanish, and here I am ! everyone depending on me haha It's such a blessing to be able to speak. After the mountains, we went to two different communities that were a bit more modern but still not like modern modern. haha We spent time praying, a little bit of preaching, and doing dramas. Then our last week we spent the first day in a Christian School, which was super cool. We did a few dramas, Taylor gave her testimony for the older kids and I lead a kids bible story. Which is something where I have also grown in. In the past speaking in front of kids freaked me out. Cause they don't pay attention!!!! but now, I have learned to keep my calm, wait till they are quiet, then continue without getting flustered. I told the story of David and Goliath a lot. Because I love that Storyyyyyyy!!!! I could write a sermon on it! haha Verse I love which I would get the kids to repeat. "The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." It doesn't matter what people say or think. What matters is what God thinks! And even if we are small it doesn't matter, nothing can stop us if God is on our side! I just really love David's attitude and how when he sees the Israelites, and how the are so scared of Goliath, he is confused at how Goliath could be defying the people of God. Like, doesn't Goliath know who our God is? No fear! Anyways. I learned a valuable lesson this last week. I don't want to go in detail, but there has been something in my life that I haven't been letting go or giving to God. Hence I had a hard time going to God because I sensed I needed to give him this area of my life but I never was doing it, so I never received his complete joy that he wants to give me! But then I finally did it, and God filled me with his joy and peace and even though it's hard, it's good because I am in his will. And there is no greater joy than being in the will of the Father. He knows what's best. He knows!!!!! He knows. I just need to obey and trust. He is a good good good Father. He has been a Dad for a long time, and he has my best in mind! ahh so amazing and amazing. Trust him!!!!! Obey!! I am about to board the airplane :) I will add the pictures when I get home
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Holaaaaaaa! :) I am very excited to update you all. It has been a while since I have had access to a computer, and doing a blog on a phone is not fun.
So right now we are in our last location. Chiapas, a beautiful state in Southern Mexico. It has been a time. haha. I feel like I have learned a lot and have definitely matured during this outreach. First I'll give you a brief update about what we have been doing the past month. First we went to Hermosillo. That was actually a hard place for me to be. Well, I actually loved it, as soon as we got into the airport in Hermosillo I felt at home. I absolutely love Sonora I missed it so much, it really is like my second home. That being said, it was hard because the past few times being there I was a free person, I travelled completely by myself got around on bus and taxi, was able to do whatever I want and be with the people I love. So it was actually really difficult being so close to my home but not being able to be there. I did get the opportunity to go to my friends wedding in Guaymas and see Cristian, so I was super grateful for that. It was here in Hermosillo that I feel I matured a lot, because there was a moment where I really did not agree or understand what the leaders told me but of course I had to obey and I had to choose to have a good attitude even though I was super upset. Now I can laugh at myself, but at the time it was really difficult. I am really learning to not live by my emotions and not let the things around me affect how I am doing. (though I feel like I keep failing all the time haha) Besides that haha Hermosillo was beautiful, we worked with a couple, Ami and Ruben. We also stayed in their house with them. 9 of us, plus them = 11 people sharing one bathroom. haha it sounds bad but I honestly didn't mind. We grew super close cause we were always always together, you couldn't be in one part of the house without hearing what was going on in the rest of the house. Ami and Ruben have a ministry called Jesus Freaks. What it basically is, is a group of people committed to evangelizing in creative ways. We got to be a part of few of them. One was we learned a dance and did a flash mob to draw peoples attention and then we went and talked with the people and pray with them. I will hopefully post a video on youtube when I get back. I actually really enjoyed it. We started with Jingle bell rock and then it ended with silent night and a nativity seen with "baby Jesus" actually being a banner saying Esperanza (hope). One of my favorite things we did was "Christmas in the streets". We walked around with a decorated Christmas tree and a few small presents and found someone sitting by themselves and set it up by them played the song Feliz Navidad and then shared with them the true meaning of Christmas and prayed with them and gave them a small gift. It was actually so cooooool!!! There was one guy that was so sad and we talked with him and he started crying, and then at the end we gave him chocolate and played Feliz Navidad and he started singing along and looked so happy!! And there was one time, there was a woman that had asked me for money and I said I had none, and then I was like Kendra you are such a liar you have, how can you not spare 10 pesos. So we ended up running into her again and she was making bracelets and necklaces, so I went up to her and gave her 12 pesos I think and bought a necklace and she looked so happy! And then I actually ended up running into her again at a different ministry we did and she saw me and gave me a big hug. We also helped with a ministry called la mesa del rey, I think that was what it was called I cant remember. It was a beautiful dinner the churches in hermosillo do every year for the homeless people. They give them free haircuts, free blankets, a hot meal and they serve them and they have worship and a message. They treat them as kings! I really like this idea. One thing that really stood out to me in Hermosillo is how the churches are always working together as a team as the body of Christ, with one heart for their city. We took part in a few other ministries but I am running out of time cause I have to be back at the base in a few minutes haha. Then after Hermosillo we went to Monterrey. Which for one the living conditions were a blessing because we finally had space where we could be somewhat alone, and we had a huge bathroom for the girls and boys, each with three toilets and three showers. so we went from one to 6. In Monterrey we dipped our feet into a few different types of ministries. An orphanage, an old folks home where I gave a small preaching. haha it was kind of funny cause well, they are old so they fall asleep whenever they want. I enjoyed it there actually, there was one lady who kept holding my hand and rubbed it on her face. We also did evangelism on the streets. We learned a drama which is actually super beautiful as well, it made me cry the first time I watched it, but I don't have time now so I will explain it later maybe. We did the drama in the streets and we had the Lord's favor that day because we found a man that owned one of the restaurants and he allowed us to use his speaker and microphone. So we could play the music loudly and afterwards use the mike to preach. We usually explain the drama and talk about Jesus after, and they made me do it once haha and i was so nervous. And like, it's hard enough in english for me to public speak, but in spanish yet ay. haha but it is ok. I am definitely a lot bolder than I used to be. And then I got super sick and skipped out on ministry for 2 days and just laid in bed. Or was it three days? I don't know. I am running out of time!!!!!!! The last day though we went to a youth group and I honestly had missed so much being in worship like that. They sang songs I knew!! and it was loud and it was amazing haha. And the preaching went straight to my heart! about looking forward and not back. One thing I really like that he said was. When you clean your room, to you keep holding on to the garbage? or do you throw it out? We need to let go of the things of our past and look ahead. A verse that has really been encouraging me these days is Isaiah 43;18,19 Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? And yeah, that has been a huge thing I have been learning the past week. Right now we are in Chiapas, and tomorrow we are leaving to spend a week in an indigenous tribe. We are hiking up in the mountains, so please prayer for us as we venture out there. I don't have many details of what we might be doing, but I do believe we will be doing a lot of preaching, so please prayer for me!!! haha It will be interesting because this entire trip I have been able to communicate, but in the villages they don't speak spanish, the speak a tribal language, so now I will be in the same boat as many of my fellow team mates. so yeah that will be humbling for me. I have to go now, but thank you for reading. I will try to come here again to do another update. Miss everyone back home!!!!!!! I have so much love for you! So, today is the day! Me and my beautiful team will be leaving to Hermosillo, Sonora!!!!!! A place that is not too unfamiliar to me :) So, I'll give you guys a little glimpse of how our outreach will look because I may not be able to update super often while I am out there.
First we will be going to Hermosillo for 2 and a half weeks! (I am super excited! And hoping to be able to go to my friend's wedding in Guaymas). So in hermosillo we will be doing a lot of evangelism, street performances, kids ministries and helping our hosts with their existing ministries. Our second location is Monterrey, Nuevo Leon! Yay! I am super excited to go to a new part of Mexico and a new state ! :) Here we will be staying at the YWAM base and participating in their ministries. Some of them being, distributing bibles and Homes of Hope (building houses).We will be here for a week and a half. Then we will be going to CHIAPAS!!!! Here we will be for an entire month! Though nothing is set in stone yet, some things we may be doing would be working with an orphange, the persecuted church, with a men's rehabilitation center, and with other local churches. Some more street envangelism will happen and we will have a week of hiking from village to village, preaching, teaching, and serving around those communites. So yeah, that's about what we will be doing! The past while I will be honest I have not wanted to go on outreach, I have been stressed and a bit overwhelmed. We were asked to create 3 sermons and prepare kids ministry and practice dramas and songs. And I really want to go prepared, so the schedule has been super hectic and I feel like I haven't got everything done that I wanted to. So I was reminded the day before yesterday that I can do absolutely nothing without God. This week I have been the most stressed of all the weeks, but it is also the week I have spent the least amount of time with God. I cannot do anything without him. I was getting super discouraged and just moving through the days not super excited about anything. And I mean that does happen in life. But then I was talking with Cristian and he was just telling me amazing things about Jesus and I was just completely touched. So that evening I went to the prayer room, and I just cried to Jesus and simply asked for forgiveness for the way I have been acting, that I haven't given him any of my burdens, that I've thought that I can do it on my own. That I have not let my heart been a place where he can rest. I don't want to grieve the Holy Spirit. He has literally placed his own Spirit in our hearts. If that doesn't blow your mind, I don't know what does. The God of the universe, the Almighty God placed his own Spirit in your heart because he loves you and he wants to be in relationship with you. He sent his own SON!!!!!! To be a sacrifice for us! So that he could restore our broken relationship! So he could break the curse of sin off of our lives, so we don't have to sin anymore! We can be in perfect relationship with Father God. All we have to do is receive his love. And I have been so focused on works and trying to do all these things for God and failing haha. What does a tree do to produce fruit? It stands there, and recieves nutrients from the sun, the water, and the soil . I can't do anything unless I remain in Jesus, and he in me. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." John 15:5 So yeah, that's what I have been learning. And I am so human, and I am learning and struggling and learning! I am being humbled. (If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. Galatians 6:3) Thanks so much for all the prayers you have all sent up on my behalf. You are loved! I miss home a lot these days actually. So you could pray that I would have perserverance! :) And that I would keep improving my spanish everyday all day, for I will be the only translator on my team and I am kind of nervous about that. That I would be bold and unafraid! Complete faith and trust in God, for he is good and his ways are perfect and he LOVES people! May I not get in the way of him loving someone else because of my own selfish fears of what people may think. May I grow in the knowledge of him. You can pray Colossians 1:9-12 over me if you'd like. :) or Ephesians 3:14-21. Those are prayers Paul has for the churches he is writing to, but I like to use them as an idea of what to pray for other people. You are loved!!! Be bold! And here are some pictures I'm gonna miss my fellow DTSer's. And photo credit to Olivia, Jeff and Dani. I am not sure who all took the pictures but I didn't take hardly any of them. And some people got baptized!!!!! So that is what those pictures at the beach are of! :) Even though I stumble and even though I fail. You lift me up, and the story continues. You don't give up on me. 5 MORE DAYS Untill OUTREACH!!!!!!!!!!!
Woooooooooooooooooooooooo!!! I am so excited and ready to go! Actually, I am not ready ! I am feeling a little stressed. I still have to prepare two and a half sermons and pack within the next few days, and there is no time!! (and I know, this is my fault that I didn't prepare them sooner) I will only be taking a hiking backpack on outreach so I hope I can figure out what to bring cause there is very limited space haha. I have been doing well. :) Today my beautiful Mexico team led intercession. Me Taylor and Rahel led worship and then I translated. (My translating is not good when I am in front of a crowd.) So One major major prayer request I have is translating. I am the only translator on my team, and I still have a lot of stuff to learn. So may God give me the gift of translating. May he give me the words when I need them, and understanding when I need to understand what they are saying haha. Our team is super cool. I feel like we are going to work really well together, each one of us is literally so different, and I already love them so much! But keep praying for unity within our group, cause problems still can happen haha. I will try and do a better update this weekend. I am short for time right now, but maybe Sunday or Saturday I will be able to . It's been 2 months! I never know how to start these blog posts. :) Yesterday I got my first butt shot. I was kind of nervous but I was excited to say I've finally gotten a needle in the butt. We don't do that in Canada or the U.S. but it is very common in many many countries. I'm slowly turning more Mexican. Oh, and if you are wondering why. I woke up the other night in a lot of pain, and I could literally barely move. Nothing was comfortable so I couldn't sleep. I've had a lump in my neck for a while but was told it was just a swollen lymph node or something like. I had my blood tested and everything was good. But then here, the whole right side of my neck was super swollen and sore, and the pain moved into my right shoulder and back. So yesterday I went to the doctor, and she didn't say much about what it is. (But part of it could be I missed something cause my spanish isn't super high up there when it comes to medical stuff) And I just learned, that the shot I received, was to reduce inflammation and a vitamin booster. haha So if you want to pray for my health, that would be amazing. But above all pray for my relationship with God. I do believe that some of the health problems I have been having, have been an attack on my spirit. Cause Friday morning, not only was I in pain, I felt really low. I felt oppressed, sad, and was super discouraged. I went to the prayer room and just cried. One of the staff came in and prayed for me, and then later my amazing one on one came and talked with me and prayed for me. I also prayed to God, reminding myself of who he is and spoke out that these things aren't happening to me because he is making them happen. He is not upset with me. And actually when I feel like I am being attacked, that probably means that I am doing good things for God and the darkness is trying to bring me down. (I don't want to necessarily say the Devil because, he is not omnipresent (I think that's the word) so it may not actually be him, but he does have his followers)) I also have been learning a lot about daily dying to myself. I am a new creation!!!! Romans 6 has been my theme chapter these past two weeks. Please read it! haha I was united with Christ in his death, buried with him in his tomb, and I share in his resurrection. I am no longer a slave to sin. Christ didn't just die to forgive my sin, but he died to break the curse of sin off my life! And I love Colossians and Ephesians, so read those too. I have been reading scripture that I have read so many times, but I am just receiving so much revelation and seeing things I have never seen before. And I am just simply enjoying reading it. The gospel is so amazing. So yeah yesterday I woke up way way lighter than I felt on Friday. And I started laughing again haha. Picture below is of us waiting at the doctors. Mandi my one on one :) She is my favorite! And then my two lovely friends, Tim and Joshua accompanied us for emotional support. STORY:
I had been feeling like we just really need a time of prayer over our school and our outreaches. Many people have been feeling sick and attacked. And one of the leaders mentioned to me that a lot of people from my Mexico Outreach team have been feeling attacked. And in general pray is always needed. So I posted in our group face book page that I'd be in the prayer room at 6:30 to pray over outreach and if anyone wanted to join that would be awesome. So there ended up being 5 of us and oh my goodness!! haha. We started with the steps of intercession that we learned. Praise God, get our hearts ready before him, ask the Holy spirit to lead and that he'd remove all distractions and that any thoughts from the devil or our own thoughts would fade away. And stuff like that. Then we had a list of things we could pray for that my lovely friend Emma came up with. Things like Unity in the teams, Protection, Prepare our hearts, for those we will meet on outreach, I don't remember them all but there were 10 things. We then each chose two and prayed for them. Then Emma left, but then came back like 50 seconds later saying God told me to come back. We then had a time of worship, and sat in a circle resting in the presence of God. Then Mike said, "everybody ! Ask God what he is saying to Emma. Because if he brought her back, then he wants to tell her something" So we had a time of listening, and then we shared what we felt God was saying. And it was so cool. Then we prayed those things over her. We then ended up doing that exact thing for every single person. And we got words for each other and they actually made sense to the person we were talking to!! haha We didn't share anything beforehand what we wanted prayer for, but the Holy Spirit inside us knows! It was super cool for me, because I have felt like I had words for people before, but often I haven't been able to see that it actually connects with their life. But this evening I received some words and they were actually relevant and meant something, and it was so cool. All of a sudden we looked at our watch, and it was 11:00. We were praying for 4.5 hours. It did not feel like that at all. Today someone was like "I still don't believe that that was 4.5 hours". So yeah, cool things. I've also been learning to be obedience. Immediate Joyful obedience! Partial Disobedience is disobedience. That can be a challenging thing to hear. But I am learning! Last week there were I few times I felt God saying do this or that and I actually followed through and was able to bless people, and receive so much joy for obeying. So I need to continue in that, because often I dwell on the past and think, woah God that is so cool that that happened when I obeyed, but I forget to keep listening for more things to do and I get nervous again when he tells me to do something. Every day is a choice to follow him. And he is so faithful and loving and good. Thank you for reading!!! I hope some of the stuff I said made sense. haha Love you all. And know that God loves you and he never leaves you. He decided to place his very own spirit inside you, how far away could he be? haha!! wooohoo God is good. You are so loved. Hi :) I believe it is time for another blog post.
It's already November. It's so crazy how time flies. 20 days until my birthday :) Ok, it just hit me how crazy it is that I am going to Hermosillo for my outreach. And possibly going to Ancla de Amor, my cousin's orphanage. What?! How is it out of all the places in the world God is sending me back to where I love being. I imagined I'd be going to India or Columbia (Though one day I do still want to go there) but I am just so blown away that I am going to Hermosillo. I love Sonora!! haha Anyways! Life has been continuing here in beautiful San Antonio del Mar. Some days amazing! Others days average, other days not the best. But that is life! and I am learning to find Jesus in the midst of it all. I missed class today due to being sick. So I instead am here writing my blog. Since the last time I've written we've had a week on Destiny (The calling of God on our life) and Worship/Evangelism. Both weeks have been incredible. Oh my goodness!! The package my mom sent me arrived early and it made my day. Anyways :) On Wednesday for our class we went out to a place called Playas to pray and to evangelize. I had the most amazing time! I was the only translator in our group so I got to be part of everything. This was super beneficial for me because often when I have gone with other people to pray in the streets I usually let other people do the talking, but this time people were like Kendra I wanna talk to this person. So it made me start talking even though they weren't my words. And my spanish was just flowing that day. I even got to pray for a man in Spanish and the words just came. It was such a blessing. It was actually so cool because me and Tim just saw this man sitting on a street corning wearing a blue shirt, with something wrong with his foot and we were like let's talk to him. So we got to talk to him and pray for healing for him and for his foot and Tim even blessed him by giving him his own shoes off of his feet. Others from our group ended up coming and praying as well and it was beautiful. And then later during class while we were talking about what had happened, Mily said how she had received a picture of a man in a blue shirt sitting by a street corner who needed healing. And I believe someone else in our group also received that picture! And that just blew my mind cause I was already so blessed by the whole thing and meeting him, and then to hear that they had shown them an image of that before hand! So goood!! That was such a beautiful time for me. God has also be teaching me the importance of prayer. I hit a point where I was like, what is the point? Do my prayers really make a difference? But then God was like yes they dooooo!! We also received a teaching on evangelism and talked a little bit about spiritual warfare and it was seriously so interesting. The teaching came from Luke 10. Man I wish I could just say everything I learned but it was so much and I am still processing everything. But it was super cool, we had an evening class, and after that class I just had tantas ganas to go and be with Jesus!! I don't know how to say that in english. I just really wanted to go and pray and be in the presence of God. And I was with a few friends and I was like, I really think I want to go to the prayer room, and then someone was like, yes let's go, and then we headed to the prayer room, and put some music on by elevation worship. "Come to the Alter!" and just spent an amazing time with God. We laid in his presence, read his word, spent time praying. Me and two other guys from my Mexico Team prayed for our team, our trip, and each other. It was also another beautiful Spirit-Lead moment. So yeah, those are two little stories from this week. :) I hope you are blessed! God loves you so much. If you want to pray for me, please do! One, that I wouldn't get discouraged or discourage myself, cause I have found that often after I feel super close with God immediately after I get discouraged. So pray that I would have the wisdom to fight off the devils lies and take hold of the life God has freely given me! And for my spanish, that it would continue to improve! And for boldness and confidence in who God created me to be! Love you all!! Kendra Here are some pictures! Photo Credit to Jeff and Bengi and selfies. :) Hi! :) So, remember the last post when I said that there were wasps all around. Well I got stung haha. And right as I was about to leave too!! I sat there for like 2 hours and then right as I was ready to go he decided that it would be nice to send me off by stinging me on the finger. (Random fact about me, I have been stung 4 times in my life, and they it's always been on my hand. and twice on the same finger)
Anyways :) Guess what!? :D We found out our outreach locations and I am going to MEXICOOOOOOO!!!! Well, I am already here, but I will be going to Hermosillo (Which is in the state of Sonora which is close to my cousin's orphange and my second home Guaymas) and CHIAPAS! (Which is a state in Southern Mexico. I am so excited!!!!!!!! I have always wanted to visit Southern MEXICOOO. It is apparently so amazingly beautiful and green. (unlike here where it is a desert.) Random side note: I keep writing the homophone of words instead of the actual word. For example, as I was writing "I keep writing, I actually wrote "I keep righting". And I keep writing hear instead of here. I don't know why this keeps happening. But yeah, I will be heading to Hermosillo and Chiapas! With my wonderful small team. There are 7 of us students and 2 leaders. I am also excited because I will get to continue practicing my spanish! I am not sure yet of the details of what our trip will consist of, but as I know I will let you know. One thing I do know is, that in Chiapas we will be going to some areas where you can't even get to with a vehicle! I am so excited to go hiking and ahhh it'll be so amazing. I can't wait to use the sleeping mat that I bought haha. And yeah God has been good, he is always good. This week for me honestly has been full of ups and downs. I haven't felt his presence as much as I did last week, but the amazing truth is, that doesn't mean he isn't with me. I have been learning that what I feel or think doesn't change what's true. This week our topic was fear of the Lord. The teaching was really good. I will type of some of my notes so hopefully they can touch your heart! Our speaker was super genuine and raw. It was a blessing to have her teach us. And in the last lecture we talked about sin, and one of the things that stood out to me was to have a lifestyle of confession. There is freedom in confession. And we need to confess our sins in order to overcome them. We need to bring them to the light so that the devil no longer has power. He loves to keep things in the dark. If you have a sin that keeps coming back, and you feel like you'll never overcome it, trying to do it on your own is religion. Confess your struggles to one another it'll bring so much healing. And also when you ask for forgiveness, say "I am sorry" don't say "I am sorry, but.." Unity is important to God. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Romans 12:18 Also, Capture you thoughts. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:5 We talked about lies, and lies we tell ourselves. (I'm not good enough, I'll never change, I'll never be bold, I'm ugly, I don't know haha lies) And how sometimes, we have been believing a lie for a very long time. And often it doesn't just happen overnight, that now you think differently. She made us write out name with our opposite hand. And then afterwards with our normal hand that we write with. In the same way it can be when we are trying to overcome a lie we have been telling ourselves. It takes longer, and we have to concentrate more. It's not the thing we first think of. We have to train ourselves to continually recognize what we are telling ourselves and replace it with truth. Truth from God's word. Another reason it is so important to be active in reading his word. Another amazing thing I learned that I just remembered. Ok, so often we imagine God as the "angry God" how he is upset with us and that Jesus is the nice one who loves us. Maybe that's not true for you, sorry. haha but that is generally how lot's of us have perceived God. But listen to this. 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know[a] my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” 8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” 9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority.Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. John 14:6-11 For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say. John 12:49-50 Whatever Jesus said, the Father TOLD HIM to say. The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy; but I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son to the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:16,17 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners - of whom I am the worst. 1 Timothy 1:15 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. Luke 19:10 This has challenged me as I read the gospels and as I read the words of Jesus himself, to remember that this is what the Father was telling him to say. God was revealing himself, he was revealing his heart for us. Ahh so amazing. God is so beautiful. It was HIS will that Jesus would come to save us. He LOVES US. God HIMSELF LOVES US. Jesus came to do the Father's will. What king comes to serve? What king comes down from his throne? Every time we see Christ it is a reflection of the Father. When Christ spoke it was the Father speaking. When you are reading about the life of Jesus ask, "what does that say about God?" Ahh so cool. haha I am kind of like just copying my notes down because it is just that good. I hope you have been blessed. You are so loved. Peace <3 And here is a few pictures, some are from way in the beginning. Photo Credit to the amazing Olivia Meers. She is an amazing photographer and a wonderful person. :) (sorry for taking them, I just haven't really took any pictures) And Rahel took the group picture :) Ahhh, what a week! I feel like I have learned so much these days, I don't even know what to write or where to start haha.
Ok, so last week our topic was The Father Heart of God. An incredible week for everyone I would say. We not only began to have revelation on how God sees us, but also how God sees the people around us. There are wasps flying all around me right now, and I don't like it. haha These are all super random but I would like to write about a few things I have been learning. One thing that really stood out to me that week was that having knowledge about God does not guarantee that we have revelation of God. We can know lot's of scripture and be super smart, but unless God gives us revelation, it won't change the way we live. We need Holy Spirit to transfer it from our head into our heart. 1st Corinthians 2:14 says that The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. God wants you to understand the "why?". He wants you to understand his heart. He doesn't just want you to obey him because you are told to. He wants you to obey him because you love him. When you are in Christ, you are a new creation. New means new. (2nd Corinthians 5:17) God is not something, He is someone. He is someone, not something. His nature is that of a person. He thinks, He feels, He has emotions. He has free will, He has an intellect. And like, some of these things I have always known, but to actually sit down and think about it and meditate on it is so good. And to go deeper and see what the bible says is and you know, to search through his word and confirm these statements. It is important to know how I view God. It's important how I view him. And it's important to know how God views me. (Random Quote from Ricardo our speaker) When you live in the past You get anchored to your present And it condemns your future. There are so many more things that I have been learning!!! God is so amazing, so good and so faithful. This week our topic was Recognizing the Voice of God. And honestly I was super nervous at the beginning of this week. I am not super comfortable or confident in this area, but I know that I do believe that God does speak. Ok, so the first 2 days I wasn't really feeling it. I think I was just upset that I don't feel like I can hear God very well or clearly, or on a regular basis. And it was super cool what she was teaching, and I am glad I took notes cause now reading them I am like ah this is good stuff, but I just wasn't really excited about it. And also she was all for engaging the class and making us practice right then and there, and that also made me nervous haha. But this week turned out to be my absolute favourite week. Wednesday. She was talking about the hurdles we often face in hearing God's voice. Doubt, guilt, shame, feeling unloved, independence, feeling ruined, feeling rejected, and fear. When we got to fear, all of a sudden she was like, ok it's time to slay some fear of man. She made us get up, and move all the tables and chairs to the side of the room, and stand in a circle. At first it was easy. We had to find a line from a psalm and then repeat it out loud over and over and over. After that she asked one of the staff to play a melody on the guitar and then we were suppose to sing it out, all at the same time though, alone would be too scary ;) haha. After that we were suppose to ask God to give us a phrase to sing to him. And then we sang it, all at the same time. Then after a little while she went around the circle and made us sing in groups of 6, and that was scary haha. I was so nervous. And THEN the final one haha She asked if anyone would be willing to sing out to God by themselves. A few people raised their hands. So she picked one and then we went along the line all the way around and whoever wanted to sing by themselves could. Oh man, I knew I had to do it. I didn't know what I was going to end up singing but I was gonna do it. There were like 6 or 7 people ahead of me, so I didn't have much time to prepare haha. So, my turn. The first thing that came out was, Daddy! I wanna know you! And as soon as I said that. I burst into tears. Then Jen (our speaker) came over and laid her hand on my shoulder and said something but I can't remember haha, I think it might have even been in tongues. Then she ask if I would like to try and finish singing, and I continued, I think It was more like talking than singing, but that is ok haha. I just cried out telling Daddy God that I want to love him, I want his presence, and I want to trust him. Then the line continued and so many sang and it was so amazingly beautiful. Everybody's songs, everybody's hearts. No one was paying attention to the voices or even really watching. It was such a raw moment. I was literally crying the entire time haha such a mess, but I didn't care at all. Every day I learn how easy I cry, and every day I am learning that it is ok. And then at the end we all sang at the same time. UGhhh I have never heard a more amazing sound. It was soo cool to see (I guess hear) the difference from the beginning to the end. I have one more story haha Thursday. She gave us homework. Ask God who he wants you to bless, and how he wants you to bless them. (It could be a word of encouragement, money for outreach, anything really) So for a while I have had one person in particular on my mind who I wanted to help out. So I decided perfect opportunity. I wrote down the amount of money on a card and was going to give the card to him because I didn't have the money physically with me. But then in the morning during devotions. God changed the number on me!! Then I asked God, how about this much money, he said nope. What about this much? "Nope, I've already told you how much I wanted you to give" haha, then I was like, ok can you somehow confirm this to me? So, I opened my bible ready to do what I often do, and what also never works for me. You know, flip to a random page, and see what it says. So I flip to hebrews randomly and then the first thing I see is. But my righteous one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back. Which is Hebrews 10: 38 for your reference. And I was like, woah. And I just stared at it for a little while. I was quite amazed and excited actually because God spoke to me!!! and he even confirmed it!! haha but I was also wrestling with God a little debating whether or not I would do what he had told me to do. I then decided, ok I am going to obey. I went and took the card and changed the number. and then I felt so so so so so so incredibly much peace. I have never felt like that ever. I didn't even want to leave the prayer room cause I felt so much peace, and I felt so close to God, and I just knew with my whole heart that he had been speaking to me, that he was there, he was right there with me. But then I left cause i had to eat breakfast before bible reading. And then came time for class, and then came time for gift giving. So we all sat in a circle. And the way we did this was. One person would stand up and call out the person that they were going to give something to. So we all got to see what God was doing. And then after they would leave the circle for a couple minutes and pray with each other. The receiver for the giver, and the giver for the receiver. I was just so ready to give my gift. haha I was almost shaking. So I stood up and called out his name. And told him, "quiero darte esta cantidad de dinero" Which means "I would like to give you this amount of money". And I gave him the card. and he just held it, so I had to tell him to open it haha. Then he opened it, and read it. And then he started crying. And then I started crying. Then he said, "God told me this morning that I would receive exactly this amount of money, but I didn't know how it would be possible". And then he gave me a big hug. And ah I could cry just thinking about it. haha So yeah, that's the story. God has given me so much joy. And he did so so so many cool things during that giving time, many tears were shed, and so many people were so blessed. Oh! And they gave us our outreach locations on Friday!!!! Indonesia, Greece, and Southern Mexico!!!! :D Ahhhhh and this monday they will tell us the teams and who is going where. Pray for that please!! :) Thanks so much for reading!! Sorry If my thoughts are all over the place. Don't forget. You are so loved. Many blessings!!!!!! Buenas Tardes! :) I had written something here, and it didn't save, so here we go again.
I have been here now for about 1 week :) Traveling went alright! My plane got cancelled and I found out at 11:30 at night, thankfully I was awake and able to switch my flight to an earlier one rather than later. So instead of waking up at 4:30 I woke up at 3:30. :) That already feels like so long ago though. We've only been here just over a week and it feels like a month, or maybe at lease 3 weeks. The days have been packed, and I guess just adjusting to a whole new schedule and new place just make the days seem longer. The first few days were full of activities for us to get to know each other better. We had a bonfire, some games, and we went on a scavenger hunt in Rosarito. They gave us a list of things to do, and we had to try and complete them in one hour. The tasks varied quite a bit, from getting a picture on a horse, serenading a random person, buying tacos and giving them to someone and praying for them, and taking a picture at an oxxo. (I can't remember all of them haha) It was super fun! The best ways to get to know people is by having to accomplish something with them. The first few days also included a lot of introducing ourselves, saying our names and where we are from, and then doing it all again about 28 times haha. This monday we started lectures. Our topic for this week was the character and Nature of God. I took lots of notes :) I do enjoy being in school. I really want to take what I learn and make that heart knowledge, not just head knowledge. I want to really know God. More and more and more. Not just know about him. He is a real. He has real thoughts. He has actions, he does stuff. He doesn't just sit in the sky. He has emotions, he feels. And he loves!!!!!!!!! And as I know him more, I know I will trust him more. And honestly these past few days I haven't felt super close to him. But tomorrow I am hoping to spend some time with him in the prayer room. So if you could pray for that :) And for patience for me :) to wait on God. An average day for me this next week will look like this: 7:00 devotions 7:30 breakfeast 8:00 bible reading in small groups 8:30 -9:30 prayer (sometimes for ourselves and sometimes for other things like the ministries here at the base, or for example on Thursday we prayed for the U.S. ) 9:30-12:30 Lecture 12:30 lunch 3:30 work duties (I will either be in the kitchen, or on the property probably watering plants, though I am not sure) 5:30 supper and then some evenings they have community events or games, sometimes there is soccer or ultimate frisbee. This first week was special though because we had orientation from 1:30 till about 4:30 where they would explain how things go around campus, the rules and guidelines. Also, every single person gave there testimony in front of the class, which was a super good way for us to get to know everyone at a deeper level right aways. :) Also, every wednesday I will be heading out into the community for local outreach, and mondays we will have our track focus. Mine is compassion and action. And yeah so that is kind of how my time looks like here in this lecture phase. I just wanted to give you some picture of what's happening. And I will try to update you soon with more stories, pictures, and stuff God's been teaching me. :) So tomorrow is the big day! I just got back from the wonderful pool at this hotel. I haven't gone on a water slide in forever! And the pool was even heated!!
I woke up this morning quite nervous actually, I haven't been nervous really at all yet until today. Maybe cause I have kind of not really been thinking at all about what I am actually about to do tomorrow, and maybe it just hit me haha. My life is going to look a lot different in these coming months. And for a moment I remember thinking and having doubts about going to Ywam, maybe I shouldn't, I mean it's a lot easier being at home and comfortable and it also would be a lot easier going back to Guaymas/San Carlos, I know the area, I know the people and the ministries and it wouldn't be a bad thing even. But then I look back at Jesus and I remember, oh yes this is why I am doing this. He has a plan for me, I love HIM And I CAN trust him. So pray for me :) That I wouldn't worry about the small things, such as my luggage being too heavy. Cause I tend to worry about that one haha. |
AuthorKendra Fehr Archives
November 2016
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