Happy Memorial Day! I hope everyone has a safe and fun holiday. We have the day off today, so no classes! Woo hoo! We also had no curfew this weekend, so we were able to stay up as late as we wanted. I didn't stay up that late, but I definitely got a chance to sleep in. I didn't wake up until 10am this morning. That makes up for my breakfast duty that I've done for the past eight weeks.

The lecture phase is about to wind down. We will leave for Brazil in exactly three weeks. Last week, we received teachings on spiritual warfare from Dean Sherman who has been with YWAM for many years. He gave us some practical and Biblical insights on spiritual warfare, which I believe will be very useful on our outreaches. Spiritual warfare is more then casting out demons. It's about knowing your authority in Christ, and knowing that we has Christians have the power to excercise the authority that Christ gave us when He left the earth. Now how cool is that?

This week we do not have teachings, but we will be preparing for our outreaches. All day every day we will rehearse dramas, and meet together as a group in the evenings. We've been meeting together at least once a week to pray over our respective countries, and to pray for humility and unity for the team. The Brazil team is totally awesome, as you can tell from the picture :). We have such strong leadership and prayer warriors in the group, and I have a feeling that we are going to take Brazil by storm.

There are three areas that I would like for you guys to pray over; for Brazil, for the team as a whole, and for myself on a personal level. Please pray over these items in the weeks to come as we prepare for outreach.

For Brazil (these have been taken from Operation World, personalized with our specific outreach):

• The favelas (slums), a blight in every major city. This is definitely the case in Fortaleza, where we will do city ministry in the last half of our outreach. Millions live in the favelas where poverty, crime, and disease takes a toll on their lives. Pray that we will just lavish love on them as if Jesus was with them.
• The little settlements along the many rivers in the vast Amazon jungle. We will begin our ministry in Manaus, and from there we will do river boat ministry up the Rio Negro. These villages are poor both physically and spiritually. We plan to build a well and a skatepark for these villages, and share the Gospel through our actions and our teachings.
• Millions of children who have lost all or most links with their families. We will minister to children at orphanages. A lot of these children live on the streets, and prostitution, drugs, and AIDS are the normal ways of life. We will do various teachings, including music! Pray that Jesus will ultimately reach out to these children.

For the team:

• Unity. Pray for team unity, and that there are no divisions amongst us through the whole duration of the outreach.
• Humility. Pray that we will lay our pride down, and love each other through humility and cooperation.
• Health. Pray that the Lord will bless us with excellent health. Digestive problems seem to be the most common problem on outreach, as well as vomitting. Pray that no one will be sent home due to illness.
• Kingdom focused. We ultimately want to focus on bringing God's kingdom to Brazil. Pray that we will never loose that focus despite the cirumstances, and that we are able to move on for the glory of Christ.
• Strength. We need spiritual, emotional, and physical strength. It's going to be rough on the Amazon, and we'll probably do some extensive hiking. Pray that we will ask for God's strength each and every single day.

For myself:

• Finances. The final payment for the outreach is due on June 1st (Thursday), and I am still $1088 short. The Lord has sent me blessing upon blessing with finances throughout this DTS, but now is crunch time. If you have not given to the Brazil outreach, I would like to encourage you to prayerfully consider giving. It's an awesome and rare opportunity, and I'm super excited to share this with others. If you would like to give, please make checks out to YWAM and send it to this address:

Samantha McDaniel

Spring DTS 2006

c/o YWAM Denver

12750 W. 63rd Ave

Arvada, CO 80004

• Humility. I need an extra dose of humility! I will probably discuss more about this in my next blog entry.
• This might seem silly, but I can't swim! Yet I decided to do ministry on the Amazon River. Pretty crazy, right? A few of my teammates are willing to give me a few swimming lessons before I go. Please pray that I will put my fears aside, and learn to swim so that I won't drown in the Amazon.

Thank you so much for your prayers! I encourage each of you to keep on praying. Through prayer we have keys to the heavenly kingdom, and we excercise our authority in Christ. And I fully believe that Christ works through us through prayer, and it has definitely been a powerful tool in my life. So keep on praying! Thanks!

Hello again! Here's a sweet testimony of what happened in class this past week.

First, here's a little bit of background information. Despite having a degree in music I've struggled with the performing aspects of music, especially playing keyboards in the worship band. I'm not as confident on keyboards as I am on clarinet, and I came from a pretty critical musical background. I grew up with a family of musicians which led me to an intensely competitive high school band program, and then a critical music program in college. To me, it seemed that everyone had a very critical opinion on music. It was either you play well, or don't play at all. It's no quincetance that I've been "dragged" into playing keyboards for at least three different worship bands (this story is for another date) while at the same time felt that I was never confident as a keyboard player. I have also struggled as a singer. I use to have a talent in singing when I was much younger, but when my voice changed I lost my confidence in singing. To this day people notice that my voice is unusually deeper then most females, and I sing in very low registers. To make a long story short, due to my insecurities and fear of man I avoided all opportunities to sing and play keyboards infront of people.

This includes leading worship. The problem? I really feel that God has called me to lead worship. And unfortunately, this requires singing and playing an instrument that isn't the clarinet.

The topic for this week was the Holy Spirit. When class started on Monday, the teacher asked if there were any worship leaders in the class. I felt a little nudge inside my soul. I thought, I'm not a worship leader. I've never led worship in my life! The class called out various names of people who either sing or play guitar, and no one mentioned my name. Okay God. No one is saying my name, so that means I don't have to lead! Finally, someone from DTS staff stepped up and played guitar.

But then I felt guilty. We have classes in the worship room, and a keyboard was sitting right there, plugged in, ready to be played on. I realized that I should have went up there to lead, because the Holy Spirit prompted me to go up there. But because of my fear, I didn't go because I didn't think I was good enough. I didn't beat myself up too much about it, because that's not what God does. But I did realize that I was disobedient. Shortly after worship, the teacher described the feelings of disobedience to the Holy Spirit.

"Ever get that feeling?" he asked, "when you disobey the Spirit? You feel this heaviness inside you, and you know you should have done what He had told you."

Um, yeah. Thanks. I'm feeling it RIGHT NOW!

So I asked God for another opportunity. That came two days later.

The DTS staffer who lead worship before wasn't there, so the teacher asked if any of us were worship leaders. I immediately popped up. I disobeyed before, and I didn't want to miss out on this opportunity again. Some people were surprised. They knew that I played keyboards, but I never mentioned to anyone about leading worship in a corporate setting. When I sat behind the keyboard, I was a nervous wreck. My hands were shacking, and I felt like I was going to throw up. I banged out a D chord, and then hurriedly flipped through the worship book that was left from that morning's worship time. It seemed like it took forever for me to find a song. I finally found "Here I Am To Worship", and then I thought came to mind. Oh crap! I have to sing! How will people know when to come in if I don't sing? Then I realized that the song was in E, and I was playing a D chord, so I had to modulate. And THEN I realized that E is not one of my comfortable keys, and I thought that the song was too high for me.

Needless to say, I was freaking out. But I did it anyway. Somehow I started singing, and playing at the same time. Somehow I didn't screw up. Somehow I was leading people to worship. Somehow I came up with some creative melodies and harmonies while the teacher was praying over people. Somehow I managed to save face while my nose was running, and there was no tissue in sight. Somehow, it all worked out. When it was over, I ran straight to the bathroom and grabbed a tissue. I was totally stoked! I couldn't believe what just happened. Afterwards, people were saying how bold I was to step up to lead worship. One of the staff members was actually praying that a student would lead worship for that day.

The fact is that this wasn't from me at all. I can't explain it, but God truly interceded for me that moment. My hands were moving on the keyboards, but it wasn't me playing. I believe that since I obeyed Him, He came and totally rescued me from making a complete fool of myself. "But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us." (2 Corinthians 4:7, emphasis added). Paul is talking to those who are in the ministry of reconcilation (chapter 3), and because of God's mercy we do not lose hope. But we show people, through this ministry we show God's power through ourselves. And we're merely just jars of clay.

So that was my experience with Holy Spirit week. I will update later on in the week on outreach preparation for Brazil, along with a whole slew of prayer requests and praises.

Hello people! Here's another awesome update, straight from Colorado.

This week was a bit calmer then usual, but much needed. The teachings this week was a little bit more practical. We just did a teaching on Bible study, particularly devotional Bible studies. Quite honestly, I've always known that the Bible was an important tool. It is a major essence of our Christian faith, and an important book for our devotional lives. Yet I didn't realize how powerful the Bible is until this past week. The Bible is God's divine written word, where the Holy Spirit speaks to us. As our teacher Dannie Fischer said, it's a lot more then black ink on white paper. It's full of God's promises and God's corrections. When you look at the Bible as a powerful tool instead of just an "important book", your perspective of the Bible completely changes. I take the Bible a lot more seriously now then I did before, because it is God's divine revelation to His children. It has surpassed the test of time, and it translates to every culture that has ever existed. So this week has definitley brought in some practical application to my walk with Christ.

In the meanttime, we're getting ready for Brazil! The above picture is the team, with 11 DTS students and two staff. We started to rehearse dramas last week, and we're getting our immunization shots this Wednesday. Not exactly what I call a fun time, but it's much needed. We're also having meetings once a week, and doing research on the different social spheres of Brazil. We're already praying that God will pave the way for us, and prepare our hearts, minds, and bodies for the journey ahead of us. This is going to be an intense outreach! Details will come the closer we leave for Brazil.

The biggest prayer request right now is for the outreach team. Please join us in prayer while we are preparing for this outreach. Pray that the places we go to Brazil are ripe for the harvest, and that we are able to sow seeds wherever we go. Please also pray for complete and total preparation. We need to be prepared emotionally, spiritually, and physically. This is a demanding outreach and a challenge for everyone on the team. We're going to be on the Amazon for at least a week, possibly more. Conditions are going to rough and somewhat outside of our comfort zones, but please pray that God will continue to give His strength and wisdom to us during this outreach. Also, some of us have not raised all of our funds for the trip, which is due June 1st. Personally, I still owe $1388 for the trip. Please pray for God's awesome provision for this outreach for each and every single one of us.

Finally, continue to pray for the sick. My roommate, Phil, is still sick! She's been sick for at least a month. I've also had a cold for the past week, and many others are sick as well. It's expected for illness to be passed around since we are living in community, but we all want to be well before outreach! Please pray for God's healing power on everyone.

I hope everyone is doing great! I've been praying for Clear River, particularly little Jackie. Let me know if there is anything that I can be praying about. Thank you!

Wow, where has the time gone??? We're half way through our lecture phase in DTS! I'm leaving for Brazil in about a month and a half. Time has flown by so quickly, yet there's still a lot to do before August. We have six weeks of class, and then seven weeks of outreach. It ain't over yet!

We were in Albuquerque, New Mexico all of last week doing prison and youth detention ministry. For four nights in a row, we went to women's and men's pods as well as schools who teach youth who have fallen away. We performed a variety of dramas that portray Jesus' love for His people. It was amazing to see how these dramas affected the people. Some of the dramas portray how Jesus meets us in our need and even in the mist of our sins. Just to give you guys a picture of what our dramas are like, they are all done over music. No one speaks in these dramas. We act out certain scenes during specific points of the music. For example, in one of the dramas we have someone doing drugs while a Satan figure is nailing him to the ground, symbolizing how drugs and alcohol can bond us to sin. At the end, Jesus comes and frees him from the bonds. Unfortunately we weren't able to record or take pictures while in the prisons, otherwise I would show you one instead of trying to explain it!

It was an overwhelming experience to say the least. New Mexico isn't exactly the prettiest place in the world, but Albuquerque is definitely a city in need. After performing our dramas we were able to talk and pray with the people in the prisons. It was awesome to plant seeds of hope into their broken hearts, and to simple share God's love with them. The very first person I talked to on Monday night was a woman who was in tears after watching out dramas. She felt ashamed about what she had done in the past, and felt she couldn't figure herself. At one point in the conversation I looked her straight in the eye, and told her that she had never disappointed God. We prayed together and she made a recommitment to Christ. Thursday evening I met a young girl who was in the youth detention center for drugs. She is an extremely bright girl with such a wonderful future ahead of her. We also prayed together, and she made a commitment to Christ.

There are at least a hundred stories very similar to mine from just this past week. At least 30 people made a commitment to the Lord, and we're not sure how many made a recommitment to Christ. There are probably dozens more who have received hope in some shape or form, whether it's from the dramas or through prayer. They seemed to appreciate the simple gestures of kindness like talking and listening to them, and not judging them for what they have done. It was truly a humbling experience, because they are just as broken as anyone outside of prison. "But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe."(Galatians 3:22) It's so true. The only difference between us and them is that they wear orange and we don't. We need Jesus just as much as they do. Matter of fact, there really shouldn't be an "us and them" mentality. We are all the same in Jesus Christ.

So here are some prayer requests:

• Continue to pray for the sick, because now I'm sick! I caught a minor cold while in New Mexico. I'm bombarding my immune system with orange juice, water, and rest, and I'm feeling better. But all 20+ girls in the DTS class shared a room for the entire week, and this is passing around pretty quickly. Please pray for rapid healing, and that no one would become poorly ill.
• We are still raising funds for outreach. For myself, I still lack funds that are due this Thursday (I have a payment of $638 due this week). Despite the situation I am confident that the Lord will provide according to His time, because He has definitely provided for me before! Please prayerfully consider supporting either my outreach to Brazil or anyone else in my DTS class that's going to Brazil, Thailand, or Mexico. If you have any questions, please email me at dddelon44@gmail.com or leave a comment on this blog entry.
• On a similar note, please pray for outreach preparation as well. We received a taste of what outreach will be like in New Mexico, and now we will completely focus on our overseas outreaches. Pray that God will provide unity within our outreach teams, and that He will pave the way for us when we arrive in our respective countries.

Again, I can't thank you guys enough for all of your prayers and support. It's been an amazing experience and it's not even over yet! As we say in DTS, we have an awesome possum God. I think about everyone at Clear River and in VA/NC often, and I pray that everyone is doing well!