Hola! This past week was our eighth week here. As of Friday I have now been here for over 2 months! It’s almost half way done! It is going by so fast. This week our topic was Destiny by Design (Dreams, Experience, Soulprint, Identity, Gifts, Network). Our teacher was a new staff member named Ryan Bedenkop. We learned a lot about ourselves and how God designed us. And from what we learned about ourselves we came to understand what calling God had put on our lives. It was a really awesome week for me. I learnt that surprisingly enough, I am an inward person. Even though I am a really social person to recharge I need time and space alone. I also learned a lot about the areas that God has gifted me in, such as planning, organizing, giving and mercy. At the end of the week we closed the week with a ten year reunion, where each of us had to share with our class what we had done in the first ten years after our DTS. This week has really helped me understand myself better and my calling from God better as well. God has given me a lot of direction as to what I am to after DTS. This won’t be surprising to most people, but God has called me to a missionary life! I have even got very direct directions of the location and the ministry but I am not going to tell you guys yet until God has given me more guidance. It is very exciting to start looking into the future with a clear path of where God wants me!
On Friday this week instead of our usual Friday Fun Night, the whole base came together for a Prayer Night. Before the Prayer Night started a lot of were unsure about how praying for four hours straight would go. We spend the first 2 hours just praying individually. It was so powerful. Even though there was over twenty people in the room praying as well, it felt like it was just God and me. Than for the last 2 hours we prayed as a base. People would just share a prayer request and everyone would pray for it as a team. It was so awesome. Through the whole four hours I was never once bored or had a wondering mind. I was totally focused on God. At the end I was so drained! Praying with such passion takes a lot of energy.
On Saturday our base was invited to a BBQ at another YWAM base about an hour drive from base. This base is located on the side of the mountain. It is so pretty! It is set up like a camp (for anyone who has been to camp Kadesh, that is very similar to how this base was set up). Also the director of this base, Terry our teacher from week seven, is a farm and so there is a ton of farm animals on the base. Almost all the food on the base is grown or raised there. It is a very environmentally friendly base. We just spent the day chilling there. The guys played a game of soccer, but it started to rain and they got extremely muddy. We had a really good time there.
This coming up week the topic is The Kingdom, and it will be taught by Kenny Peavy who is from L.A. Including next week there are only 4 more weeks of classes.