Letters, Love & Prayers Vol. 5

Greetings from YWAM Orlando! I’ve been here for about a week and what an experience it has been so far! I tried come here with as little expectations as possible, to get the most out of the experience. But this past week and a half has exceeded any expectations I would have had!

Evangel Church, our classroom home

There are about 60 of us here training at one of YWAM’s training schools. 20 of us are Compassion & Justice DTS focused, with our outreach planned for South Africa. About 30 are in the Classic DTS, with an outreach planned for both India or Jordan [they get to choose!]. And then there’s a secondary school going on as well, called School of Ministry Development. These 10 students have already completed a DTS, and are now part of additional training and equipping school. We’ve experienced such a unity and bonding just in these first few days! I’ve met some pretty amazing people!

Compassion & Justice Team 2010

Students and staff live in houses throughout 2 different neighborhoods in Orlando. I have 2 roommates, Katie & Victoria, [started with 3, but one actually went home this week]. Two staff girls, Kylie & Ashley, share another room and us 5 share a bathroom. A young married couple, Barbara and Marni, live in the other room along with their little baby, Eirikur [pronounced like Eye-ri-coor]. We’ve become a great little family!

Prayer for John Bills, the first week's speaker.

The training itself is so much more than I could have imagined! We start each morning with a personal quiet time, from 7am – 7:45am. It’s early, and I kept thinking, how would I fill 45 minutes with God when I can’t even keep my eyes open or form a coherent thought this early? But I turn on my iPod to my handy worship playlist, and just begin to pray, and ask God to keep me alert for this time with Him. And it works every time. 

We have nine weeks total for lectures here in Orlando. Each week has a different topic and a different teacher. The first week we are learned how to Hear the Voice of God, but upcoming weeks include teachings on Biblical Restoration, Lordship, The Seven Mighty Nations, Nature & Character of God, Intimacy with God, Relationships, Evangelism, Maturing in Christ, Spiritual Warfare and Inductive Bible Study. I am blessed to be here. 

Other aspects of training include a time of worship & warfare, in which we sing and praise and have a time of intercession for our team, our outreach countries, and the upcoming ministry opportunity. We also have what’s called CR, or Community Responsibilities. This could be anything from meal prep, to mowing lawns, to answering phones to stacking chairs. These 10 hours each week are to continue to grow us in ministry opportunities and increase our servant’s hearts. Every Wednesday afternoon, the entire staff & students of YWAM Orlando drive out to the new 198-acre property that has just been purchased for the west campus. This base will allow YWAM Orlando to be in one spot, from staff to students, instead of spread out through the city, like we are now. So we have the opportunity to make this abandoned church camp facility beautiful and usable again. We have geography class, Bible verse memorization, and required reading too! So needless to say, I stay pretty busy, and by the end of each day, I fall happily into bed.

Morgan, Linnae, me and Rachel before the work begins!

So that’s just a little glimpse into what my life looks like here in Orlando. Please keep up with my blog for even more posts and updates as I journey through this time. Some areas I would appreciate your prayers are:
• Continued spiritual growth as these next 9 weeks are an amazing opportunity for God to really grow me closer to Him.
• Support! I found out that my South Africa outreach costs went up by $500, so any additional supporters would be such a blessing. And also, that my monthly supporters would remember their monthly pledge & continue to give faithfully. [You can give through PayPal at my blog, or mail a check to Watermark Church, P.O. Box 7925 Tampa, Florida 33673]
• Unity. As our team grows closer together, that we don’t let personalities types and pet peeves drive us apart, but that we continue to grow in unity in Christ.

Roomies Victoria & Katie...love these girls!

Thank you so much for being part of my support and prayer team. I truly would not be here without you! I am forever grateful.