60 days, 20 crazy people, 2 countries, 1 purpose

   In 2 days from now, myself along with two co-leaders and seventeen students will trade in -25 deg weather for 25+ deg weather as we head off to Haiti and the Dominican Republic for a two month outreach. For me I can't wait and all of this really hasn't sunk in. It's crazy how good God is as I would of never thought that I would ever be taking 17 students on an adventure with Jesus into other countries and I can not wait to see everything that he has in store for our whole team!
   Prayers would be greatly appreciated as we head out and attempt to daily carry out what God is asking us to do.

  I've included a video below that one of our students has put together for our team.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGqp7QGcOHs

Thankyou all so much for your prayers and I will try to continue to send out updates while we are gone!

The Feeling that Freedom brings

     I have learned over this past week that there are VERY few things more rewarding in life the being able to see 56 students that you have been disciplining and pouring everything you have into finally break free of all the lies of the past that they have held onto for FAR too long.
     Yesterday we had a ministry time where as a whole DTS we gathered around a blazing fire and threw pieces of paper containing name and lies from the past that we are holding on to into the fire followed by proclaiming that we are free in front of the group. This was an amazing time for me for two different reasons:
1.  My list was more the half the size that it was during my DTS, which was a reminder of how much God has brought me through but also a reminder that he is not finished with me and continually healing me and doing work within me.
2.  I felt the amazing joy and pride that it gave me to be able to stand there and watch all the students become completely free from stuff that they had held onto for their whole life.
    After this we went into a time where we as staff prayed for the students who felt called to a life of ministry and this had to be the highlight of my time here so far. The reason for this is that 7 months ago I laid all my rights down before God asking him to use me to minister to people in whatever way he saw fit and here I am 7 months later ministering to and praying for students who also want to follow God into ministry!
SOOOO COOL

   Thankyou all for your continual prayer for me as this school continues and we are now just under a month for leaving for the Dominican Republic. Also, I am SO grateful for all of you who have helped me out financially over this past month as I now have the exact amount that I need for Outreach.

The start of another school!!!

  The Fall DTS of 2013 is a week in and wow, what a fist week it has been!! Over the past week I have fallen in love with staffing and can not wait to see what God has in store for both me and all 55 of the students over the next 5 months. This first week has been amazing as it is so cool to see all the hard work we have done over the past month finally showing reward and coming into play as 55 students from all over the US and around the world come together for the next 5 months with the single goal of growing closer to God and learning more and God, themselves and his heart for them and the world.

   Also, I will be Co-Leading a team of 16 students to Haiti and the Dominican Republic for a 2 month outreach over the months of December and January. I am beyond stoked for this and can not wait to see all that God has in store for our team and I can`t wait for him to show up and move through all the students in ways they never thought possible. I would love prayer that all the preparations go smoothly as we prepare over the next three months!

  Well that is a brief update of what has been going on and what the next 5 months hold for me. Feel free to email me if you would like to hear more!

The 'Reasons' are coming, The 'Reasons' are coming!!!!

   WOW! It seems like just yesterday that I was arriving home from my DTS and yet, the whole summer has come and gone and here I am again back in Montana ready for another Adventure with Jesus. For those of you who don't know I have come back on staff at YWAM Lakeside Mt and will be staffing the Fall DTS. I am beyond stoked for this school and can't wait to see what God has in store not only for the students but also for me!

    I heard a story the other day about a christian camp that a friend worked at where just before the campers arrived the leader of the camp would run around the camp and proclaim to all the staff "The Reasons are coming, the Reasons are coming" Her motive behind this was to remind all the staff that these kids were the reasons for everything they were about sacrifice, devote and do while the campers were at camp. When I heard this story it make me so excited for this Fall DTS because this same concept applies to the DTS students. They are the reason.......

    Thankyou SOOOO much to all of you who have either agreed to support me or who gave me work over the summer, you have no idea how much it means to me and honestly, I would not be here if it wasn't for you, so THANKYOU

    I would love prayer over the next 3 weeks as we continue to prepare for our upcoming DTS, we have alot of decisions to make and things to get done, but it will all be worth it...........

......... The reasons are coming!!!!

Montana Bound!!!!

Blacktail Mt Lakeside MT

It feels good to be back!

DTS is done

Hey Everyone!

    I wanted my last update to be more personal so I decided to do a Video Blog. Please click on the link and enjoy!

   Also, below is a response from one of my supporters and some photos from the last few weeks of DTS.

What one of my sponsors had to say (Thankyou Mrs Vinna!!!):

Hi Josiah,

   I have just looked through your blogs and it sounds like you are having some epic growth in your life, as well as helping others do the same.  Good for you!  What exciting things you've done in the past months!  I have also looked into the organization - YWAM - which does some impressive ministry activities. I will give you a commitment of support for one year at $1000, and at the end of that year I would like to reassess that after you give a summary of how exactly you were helpful to making the world a better place through your ministry.    Will that work for you?  I would also be happy to post this commitment on your blog and encourage others to join me, if you would like me to do that.


    I feel you should be rewarded for you work and commitment to ministering to the world, while many of your peers commit themselves to...themselves!  This is the Me Me Me Generation, I read the other day.  So I believe encouragement to youth to get onto other far-reaching efforts is due instead of sitting around complaining about them.  This is not just about helping you Josiah, though, it is about helping the network of people you are helping in poor, poor areas of the world.  I am grateful to be able to help through you.





PICTURES!!!!!!!

Me and the boys from the Hope House

Drumming with a boy at one of our Open Airs

Jesus Statue

Overlooking Rio

Winter DTS 2013

Recife!!!

We have been here in Recife for just over a week now and I se loved every moment of it!! The Recife YWAM base is located about an hour outside of downtown Recife on a 30 acre piece of property with an amazing view of the city and a huge jungle! They didn't have enough room for us in the actual base housing so we are staying in the Hope House which is a house for street boys. I have loved staying here as we have such an amazing ministry opportunity within our home. There currently are 8 boys living in the house (between 11 and 17 years old) and it has been such an amazing opportunity to love on them and spend time with them.

We have also been doing tons of manual labor for the base which I have loved!! There are 2 main projects we have been working on; the first has been making a brick factory. The goal for this brick factory is so the base can use the bricks for future projects and then also sell them. The factory will also give the boys in the hope house a chance to get work experience and learn how to hold a job and it will also give them the chance to make some
money.. The second project is making a wall along part of the property where there is none and people are able to just wander onto the base (and they have had
break-ins without a wall there). Both of these projects are being done by hand (with the help of a few shovels, pick axes, and machetes). So far we have done a lot of clearing, digging and cement making which has been hard but so fun and so rewarding!!!

I was also giving the opportunity to help out with a hockey ministry that the base has started. One of the families on the base is from Switzerland and they have started a hockey ministry for the kids in the community and it was a blast to be able to help with that!!!

My favorite time here so far though was last night. A group of us drove into a really rough part of Recife to do street ministry. We met up with a group of homeless people who the base has been spending time with for about a year now. It was so amazing as we just sat down on the dirty ground with them and painted their nails, played dominos with them, and just spent time with and loved on them. It was a little tough to communicate with some of them as everyone from 10 and up was high on glue but it was also so refreshing to not only give but also receive so much joy

Hello from Brazil!!

As I sit here enjoying the wonderful Brazilian heat and feeling satisfied from the my first Brazilian BBQ I can't believe all that has happened in the past few weeks!! It has amazed me to see how much so little does. The people here are so accepting and are so hungry for any love they can get.

After arriving in Rio we had a few down days to get used to the culture and climate before we hit the ground running. Our first two weeks have consisted of many open air's, days in local schools, and a day in the slums.
The open air's are basically a 2ish hour presentation in a square in town . These two hours will include worship songs, pop songs, testimonies, dramas, and the sharing of the Gospel. It has been really cool to see how receptive the public are and how even those who disagree with what we are sharing stay around and listen and engage with what we are sharing.

The times in the local schools look similar to the open airs except they also include about 100 pictures per program, the signing of many autographs and being asking far too many times for my Facebook. To put it simply we are like celebrities to the kids and it is so cool to see such a open door we have with them as we have their full attention and had such opportunities to share Gods love with them. I will say though that I have not been called beautiful by so many girls before in my life haha!!

The day in the slums was one of my favorite despite the long and sweaty two hour hike up a mountain to get there. Once we reached the slums we spent the day walking through the streets worshiping and praying. The highlight of this day had to be when we continued up the mountain past the slums to a Cross atop the mountain where many people had prayed for many years. It was such an overwhelming feeling to be able to look down upon Rio and pray for the city and the people within.

It's crazy to look at all that has happened over the past two weeks and how much I have grown already! As we head off to Recife for a month this Tuesday I can't wait to see all God is going to do through us and how he is going to continue to radically change and use me in ways in ways I never though possible!

An exciting update!!!

   The past two weeks have been amazing! God has been revealing such amazing truths and awesome stuff to me. We have been learning about Spiritual Warfare and  the Gifts of the Holy Spirit and I have learned so many AMAZING things! We are now preparing to enter our last week of lecture/preparation before we head out to Brazil on the 17th (SO crazy, yet SO awesome!!!!!!!)

    As I have mentioned in past blog updates, one of the main things I have been trying to figure out during/through DTS is what I am going to do after DTS is done. God has really spoken to me and what I really want to do (and what I really feel God telling me to do),is to come back here in September and join DTS staff (for at least two years). I am so pumped for this as I LOVE the YWAM community here and this base! I also can't wait to pour into others all I have learned. As awesome as this this, all the staff here is  are  volunteer, so I will still have monthly room/board and related staff expenses rental and other monthly fees that I will have to pay. That being said since I will only have 2 months from the time that I get home to when I leave in September, I will not have enough time/work to earn all of the two years tuition. And so that is where you come in! I am looking for some friends / family who would be willing to support me financially as I step into this new season of my life. I will need $500 a month and although I will be working as much as I can while I am home for the summer, I won't be able enough to earn enough to pay for all my expenses.  

      Any support would be extremely greatly appreciated as I understand that it would be a sacrifice on your behalf. On a realistic note though, what would be the most helpful would be a group of people who would be willing to give a set amount each year. 

   If you could let me know as soon as possible that would be awesome, as I am trying to figure out if staffing would actually be a possibility financially. 

Thankyou all! 

Mini Outreach - Seattle!!!!!

  Mini Outreach week!!!!!!!! At a first glance I wasn't exactly looking forward to heading over to Seattle for a week (spending such long periods of time in a 10 passenger van just to head back to the wonderful rainy weather of the coast) but looking back now it was an amazing life changing week!

   Monday Tuesday and Wednesday were spent downtown Seattle doing street evangelism. To explain it simply we would walk around the streets each day loving on, talking to and praying over people. It was an awesome experience and we got to pour into alot of people and some of the outcomes were amazing!!

      Friday looked a bit different and was alot more challenging! We set up around/on a stage in a very sketchy park and for two hours just filled the park with worship and also shared testimonies. I wasn't planning on sharing my testimony but ended up sharing it in front of at least 50 people (One of the scariest moments of my life but also one of the best as I walked away from it alot less fearful and extremely stoked!

    In all it was a crazy week full of crazy awesome times that I will never ever forgot! 

     

     Thankyou all who have supported me these past few weeks with your prayer and wonderful responses to my blog updates. The past two weeks have been amazing as I have learned SO much through lectures, music track and God has really started to move in my life!!

      Throughout the first 2 weeks in lecture I felt that I was learning alot of AMAZING new things and got my mind blown with alot of things that I had never thought about before, but at the same time I didn't feel like God was speaking to me though any of it and nothing totally hit home and changed me. That all changed during the 3rd week (Father heart of God). On Thursday night the speaker was talking about the Calling that God has placed on each and every one of us and how each of our callings is unique. At the end of the evening he prayed over the whole group, praying that God would reveal to us our calling. I sat there that evening for almost an hour just praying that God would reveal his calling to me. To make a long story short God showed me his calling for my life through different stories in the bible and a vision. He then confirmed it through multiple people praying almost identical callings over me (SUPER AWESOME). My next question for God was "Whats next". I had the big picture now but I had no idea what the first step was.


      Music track has been challenging but such a good challenging! Our first assignment was to write a song in groups of 2 or 3 and have them ready to play in-front of the group a week later. This was a big stretch for me as it was the first time I had written a song with other people but it ended up being an amazing experience! We were able to use each others ideas and all pitch our own touch in and in the end, it wasn't perfect but pretty awesome and an awesome experience! I am enjoying and absorbing everything and am so stoked for weeks to come!

    Now that I have gotten used to the schedule here I will do my best to send out weekly updates!

    Have an amazing blessed week!!

The beauty of the base!

Small Group out on the Frozen Lake

                                        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIela99MfOQ

    WOW! My first week in Lakeside Montana has been amazing!!!! Looking back, there are two things I can't believe! How quickly it went and how much was stuffed into the last 7 days!! From orientation to lectures to small groups to sledding and snowball fights to late night jam sessions and tea time, I have loved every moment of it!! 

    We hit the ground running on Monday with Worship, Orientation, Introduction and a tour of the wonderful base. Tuesday brought more orientation but also included our first lecture with Pastor Mike Phillips as well. Both Wednesday and Thursday had a similar schedule with a few last introductions and orientations and also two more amazing lectures on Hearing God by Pastor Mike. Friday was my favorite day as we had our first track session!!!! It was so nice to be in a room of other people who all have a heart for music, worship and God. I am super stoked to learn everything I can musically over the next 3 months along side such talented people! The weekend was full of laying around, playing games in the student center, hanging out with awesome people and creating some epic music Saturday night when we had a crazy jam session with 5 guitars and 2 guitar cases for percussion. We ended up going crazy for a few hours and made some pretty sick music if I may say!!

     Thankyou all for your prayers over the past week as I could totally feel them!!! Please continue to pray for me as I will need it and if I can ask for prayer for a cold/cough, that has lingered for almost a week now and is getting quite annoying now, it would be greatly appreciated 


Have a great week and I will try to send out another update soon!