I want to be Your hands, be Your feet. I'll go where You send me, go where You send me. And I'll try, yeah I'll try, to touch the world, like You touched my life, and I'll find my way to be Your hands. - Audio Adrenaline

One more week.

In one week I'll board a plane to Denver, Colorado to embark a Discipleship Training School at Youth With a Mission-Denver. Have I ever been to Denver? Nope. Have I ever been to the Rockies, or anywhere west of Texas.? Never. Do I know anyone over there? Hardly. Do I know what I'm getting myself into?

Of course not, but I'm not worried.

I've learned a great deal about faith these past few months. I was first introduced to YWAM about two years ago when my brother did a missions trip through Mission Adventures with YWAM-LA. I was in college at the time, and I thought I might go into missions after college. I was earning my degree in music, and at the time I didn't think people with music degrees could be missionaries. But about six months ago I decided to visit the YWAM website and search for opportunties for musicians. There are LOTS of opportunities in worship and music ministries around the world at various YWAM bases. I've prayed over this exciting opportunity to serve the Lord with the gifts He has given me, but I had a lot of doubt running in my mind. How am I going to afford the training courses? Where will my income come from when I join staff? How will my student loans be paid off? I could have very easily subcombed to the pressure, and let those questions get to me. I could have not tried at all. But there was a strong urge to go ahead and apply for a DTS anyway, despite the circumstances. And I've learned that God has a tendency to lead us through baby steps. So that's exactly what I did, I took small steps towards the bigger goal.

For some reason, God led me to YWAM Denver to do my DTS. I can't explain how it happened, but I know this is where I should be. So I took baby steps. I requested an application. I filled it out, and sent it back to them. I had three people fill out my references. I had my doctor fill out my health form. I waited what seemed like forever to see whether or not I was accepted. I found out the day before my birthday that I was accepted, and a week later I was able to send them the downpayment to secure my spot in the class. I visited friends and family in Texas and North Carolina. I wrote letters to my whole church asking for prayer and financial support. I turned in my one month notice at work, and told them that I was flying off to Denver to become a missionary. I also started on the application process for School of Worship in Montana this fall, pending on my completion of the DTS in Denver. I've written emails to my classmates, and the DTS director has called me a few days ago to go over basic information and to pray with me.

Okay, that was a lot of baby steps. But with every step is God's reassurance that this is indeed His will. My confidence isn't in my circumstances, but in Him alone. My faith has grown tremendously since I decided to do a DTS, and I can't imagine what He will show me during DTS. I feel excited and overjoyed that in just one week I get to experience God like I never have before.


My goal for this blog is to update the readers on what is happening during my time with YWAM. I will share what God is doing in my life and in the lives of others, and what I am learning on a week to week basis. I will also post some pictures here as well, but I will have a seperate site for more pictures. My prayer requests will be at the very end of each entry. Prayer is very essential for missions, and it's not by my strength but His alone that I depend on. So I like to conclude with the following prayer requests:

• The Lord has been extremely faithful in providing the means for me to go to DTS! He has provided a round-trip plane ticket as well as two-thirds of the tuition costs. With one week left, I still need $1045 to pay for the lecture series. This is due when I arrive next Monday. Praise God for the provisions that He has provided, and please pray that He will continue to provide and pay for the remainder of the lecture series.
  
• The DTS class is extremely diverse! There are 29 of us in the class, and almost half are from a country outside of the United States. We have a student coming from every continent except Antartica, as well as students from all over the country. But some of the international students are having a hard time obtaining visas and plane tickets to get to Colorado. Please pray that all of the international students will obtain visas with great ease, and that everyone has a means of transportation to Denver. Pray that God will bring us together safely and securely.
  
• Most people who take a DTS have just completed high school, and they are about 17-19 years old. I'm probably one of the older students in the class and this is not my first time away from home, so homesickness won't strike me down as hard as it will for others. Please pray for the younger students in the class that are leaving home for the first time. Pray that God will give them strength, wisdom, and encouragement. Pray that while they are in Denver that homesickness will not get the best of them.
• If you haven't noticed, I love praying for people that I barely know :). So my final prayer request is for our DTS leaders, who are Mark, Brent, and Heather. Please pray for God's wisdom to be upon them as they embark another DTS term and lead this new "international" class into discipleship. Pray that they will continue to focus on Jesus through all circumstances, and that they are encouraged to know that God has truly annointed them to lead this wonderful class.

Feel free to leave comments with prayer requests, and I will certainly pray for you as well. See you when I get to Denver!