Genuine joy.

I cannot believe it has already been 10 days since my last post.

Where has the time gone??

This school is going by way too fast! Next week will be Week 7! 

I have definitely been keeping busy! 

We had the wonderful Jonathan Spainhour speak last week on Bible Study. It was pretty legit that he was here because he has been in Townsville, Australia for the past 8-9 years, so it was great to see another familiar face! (Townsville is where I did my DTS)

Bible Study is prolly one of my top favorite topics - it's so interesting! 

The detail and depth the Bible has is insane. All the intricate connections, truth, proof - definitely makes me hungry to learn more! 

I wasn't in the classroom as much as I would have liked to have been, however, what I did hear was pretty great. And the best part, was that the students were getting it, tracking with him and learning/applying so much! 

I loved to see their involvement and that they were connecting to what was being taught.

Very good week :)

Another fun note: I don't think I've posted anything about Outreaches yet!

So basically while doing a DTS there are generally 8-10 weeks of "Lecture Phase" (which is what we have been doing). 

Once lecture phase is complete, the staff lead teams on "Outreach". 

Most schools have a general core-value or heart towards certain areas or issues.

(i.e. Injustice's, water issues, photography, youth, etc.)

Our school is directed towards Ships (obviously, I know), however, maybe you don't know what exactly that means!

We are geared towards leading Ships (small vessels) along coastal lines and in to unreachable village groups or isolated areas.

God has lead an amazing, detailed/prayer answered, doors opened, blessed beyond measure group of people to YWAM Ships OC.

Our pretty much "man in charge" (whom God has definitely directed) is Brett Curtis! Along with his beautiful wife Karen. They are some amazing, obedient Christ followers and it is SUCH a blessing to be on this journey with them! 

(My next post, I will go in to more detail about the Ships journey, not so sure I have all the facts straight to try and do it on my own right now.) 

So with all of that said, we announced our outreach locations to the students a couple weeks ago and have been moving quickly into planning them! 

Our locations are Brazil/Amazon, Caribbean, and Micronesian Islands (Fanning, Christmas and Washington Islands).

We have got four main staff members and only three outreach teams...

After much prayer I felt God was telling me to pass up this Outreach, to stay and help plan/prepare for the January DTS and to staff another school.

I absolutely love this decision!

 Outreach is my favorite part about YWAM, I didn't even think about the possibility of not going.

I love the lecture phase, absolutely love the speakers, learning so much about God and myself - But man, I love traveling, building new relationships and being active. I love being able to go out and DO what God is calling me to do. 

So at first when I was approached to pray about staying back, staffing another schooling, passing up outreach I was like "No way. Nope nope nope." My school leader said he saw it all over my face, haha.

However, I spent the weekend in prayer, approached God and felt such absolute peace.

I felt the Lord was confirming to me that I am where I need to be. 

I am where He wants me. 

This missionary life that I love to live, is what I'm called to do.

 There will be many more outreach's, this is just the beginning! 

And hallelujah! 

So yet, another adventure has begun in the midst of my current school!

Now, I am staffing our school and preparing for the January school.

And I love every single minute of it.

Going to meetings, continuing in my relationships with this school, constant busyness - I love it.

I love that what I do is not based on an income or salary. It's amazing how hard you'll work when you're doing something because you love it, you know it's making a difference and wouldn't trade it for the world.

 Genuine joy.

I am still in the beginning phase of this missionary life and learning how this works.

Basically, trust God for absolutely everything.

The best part, I'm not worried one bit.

That's a brief update about Outreaches and I'd love to give you more detail about what the three teams will be doing! So, this week I will be posting about each specific location to give you a general idea of what YWAM Ships OC is about!

I will also put a post up of the history of YWAM Ships, the many blessing's we have received and some pretty rad stories that only God could construct :)

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Some other things I've been up to this past week...

Not sure if many of you knew this, but I've started running again, which has been so amazing and relaxing. However, my knee continues to act up and get injured every single time I get serious about running, so prayer would be GREAT! It 'twisted' when I was running Halloween night, and it hasn't been right since. So, prayer/healing would be epic, or any advice is appreciated :)

We had a class outing today! We went down to the beach, worshipped by the ocean, it was beautiful!

Praise the Lord we were able to jetski, ocean kayak, play some volleyball and grill out. It was so relaxing and much needed!

My friend Tashina and I were the first to take the jetski out - Our leader Brett told us if we went out a bit, turned left and rode for 5 minutes we would reach "End of the World" (which is a huge/popular cliff that everyone jumps off, you will definitely be seeing pictures of that one day) 

Oh, and I was driving! 

Well, End of the World ended up being about 15 minutes to the left, which means we had a 15 minute ride back! Poor Brett told us to only be gone about 10 minutes... and the whole time we were just whippin' around the ocean, jumpin' waves and totally loving life!

When we got back to the beach we learned it had been a 30 minute ride, which explained why my arms and hands were shaking, my legs felt like absolute jello and my muscles felt like they had the most intense work out ever! Prolly one of the funnest times I've had since being here.

Afterwards, I was sitting up on the rock wall with Nico (our school leaders beautiful wife) and I see this man looking at me, and he kinda makes the hand gesture of taking a photo. So, I go down to the beach and ask if he wants me to take his photo and he says yes... so I thought.

Upon walking out to his canoe he told me that he has a paddle board/canoe business and has a photographer out in the water and needs an extra person! I was like heck ya I'll do that! So I was able to jump in the canoe with him and two other people and cruise around the bay. It was such a blessing!

I'm the third person :)

It was so much fun! Made me want to go on a canoe/kayak trip with my family like we used to!

It was a blessing to be able to build a relationship with these locals.

Steve (the gentlemen in the 4th seat) gave me a card for a free meal and is also going to take me and one friend on a day trip for free, how insane is that?

I was also able to talk to him about YWAM and our Outreaches and how we need to do team building exercises, and what better way then being stuck in a boat, having to work together and communicate? He was totally for it, so I'm pretty stoked for when I get to lead an Outreach :)

Also, I would love to build up his business, build relationship and make friendships. 

It was such a blessing, very encouraging.

I was also happy because I love the water and God totally just threw this relaxing opportunity at me out of nowhere, God is good.

Not gonna lie, one funny part was an action shot we did.

We all jumped off the boat, which was fun, until I was in the water and realized, "Crap, now I have to climb back in to this boat..."

 I had been in from our wild jetski adventure for maybe a half hour? My muscles are still not happy with me, my knee is being a bum, and now I have to climb into a boat, with complete upper body strength and kicking my legs... Hmm..

So I'm sure they got a good laugh at my struggle, I told them this is the way 'mainland' people climb in to boats, sorry if I shamed any of you ;)

We also had a staff/student/circle group BBQ Friday night, which was pretty fun! We have "circle meetings" here on base, which consist of our YWAM Ships OC family as well as a few other different areas of the base (i.e. hospitality staff, cafe staff, etc.) to get together, get to know each other and build relationships with people outside of our school! It was great - Nice to see new faces and actually connect, aside from the everyday walking by thousands and people and not communicating.

We had the BBQ down at the "Old Airport" which is absolutely beautiful.

((This was the sunset we were blessed to enjoy while at the BBQ.))

I absolutely love this campus, however, somedays it can be hard because there are SO many people, always busy going from one thing to the next. However, it is getting easier. Coming from a girl who absolutely hates cities/busyness and thrives off of small communities/close relationships, I am learning to adjust :)

Well friends, I hope you enjoyed this post! It was a lot of randomness, I'm pretty exhausted so not sure if it even makes any sense! Love you and God bless!! 

<3