Making a Way

Just a quick note to let you know where my life and energies are directed right now.  We are preparing for the arrival of the  students for our discipleship training school, and as a base we are setting aside time for prayer and fasting to get God's heart for our ministry in this area.  I feel like God is preparing to work in the Central Coast in a new way, and we are preparing ourselves to receive Him and His gifts.  Advent seems to be the perfect time to be about this business of making a way for God to move in and through our lives and ministries, making a way for others to know Him. 

My church (www.everydaychurch.org) is doing a series on stewarding the Glory of God.  A couple weeks ago we talked about time management, which is very important to walking in His Glory...making sure the ways in which we spend our time reflect our priorities.  It fit well with the things I was learning in orientation and personally as I prepare to balance a pretty heavy work load.  Since weightiness is the definition of glory, this seems to fit!  (heavy work load=weighty work load)  I just want to be sure my time is spent productively and efficiently.  This week we are talking about glory in suffering. 

On a more personal note, I am finding myself overwhelmed by the abundance of God in the place He has called me.  The road before me is a place where my gifts are needed, welcome, and encouraged.  The people at my work and in my community want to know my heart and cherish me.  The love I feel every time I interact with someone from my church, even someone who doesn't know me at all...it's all overwhelming.  Friday night it moved me to tears.  I have no category for this. 

So that would be my prayer request for this week...that God would expand my heart to be able to receive, accept, and pour out His abundance.

<3
Beth

Finding My Place

Happy Thanksgiving and a Lovely Advent to you!

I am settling in and finding my place in the Central Coast.  As for my part supporting the base, I am serving on four base ministries:

• Hospitality
• Fund Raising and Advertising
• Worship, Intercession, and Spiritual Warfare
• Outreach 

Each community house has Inreach each week, which is like Outreach, except we invite people INto our homes.  Our Inreach is on Wednesday nights and you can read more about it in my previous post.

So far I am serving on one personal ministry, and that would be Discipleship Training School (DTS).  The students arrive on January 10, so we are busy with preparations for them.  We will be here in the Central Coast for January, February, and March...then we will go overseas.  We as leaders will pray about where we are going, then we will give the students an opportunity to pray as a team.  It is a very exciting process, and I am anxious to see what God has in store.  If you pray and get a sense of anything, let me know!  This is one of my favorite things to see...how God speaks to many people in many ways.

My specific jobs in the DTS will be:

• Lead a small group
• Lead one-on-one discipleship times with each person in my small group
• Student Hospitality
• Assist with Speaker Hospitality
• Assist with weekly Debrief time
• KITCHEN!!!

I'm so excited about serving the DTS Kitchen, and I need your help.   Now, I considered a few loaves and fish, but given the month I have to prepare, I thought a few more recipes might help. So what are your favorite recipes to feed a crowd on a budget?

We have 15-20 people to feed, mostly girls.
I am trying to procure a slow cooker or two and maybe a pressure cooker.
We will need a variety of quick 30 minute meals, slow cooker meals (hopefully), casseroles, simple hot lunches and dinners.

Thanks!

Beth

P.S. I can now add 10 people on my blog email list.  If you would like to have the posts emailed to you, please let me know.  <3

Orientation Continues

We have just completed our first week of Discipleship Training School (DTS) orientation.  It was  a good week.  We worshiped and prayed together, discussed the upcoming school requirements, guidelines, and values, and talked about experiences from the past and where the school is headed this year.  Yesterday was our staff bonding day for the DTS staff, and we had a chance to wash each other's feet and share what God has placed on our hearts for each other.  As my fellow staffers spoke to me about how I would minister to the students, my heart overflowed with gratitude and awe...I feel like it is such an honor and wonderful opportunity to build the Kingdom of God in the hearts of the people God is sending to us.  I feel like they are world changers, and the idea that I get to influence them and pour into them all God has given me brings me to tears.

We had our first inreach this week.  A few of our homeless friends from the community and friends from church were able to come, and we are still praying about how to reach the community and our neighborhood as a whole.  We are situated in an interesting place...two houses to our right is a literal fence dividing two socioeconomic classes.  As I have toured the central coast, getting God's heart for the region, I have been getting the sense that we as a missionary base are placed strategically to bridge even the richest and the poorest of the world.  Many times the experiences of the extremely poor are simply inaccessible and unimaginable to the privileged of the earth, which includes the vast majority of the US and Canada.  As an international missionary I have the humbling experience of getting a global view of the world, something I long to share with others, as well as a more complete picture of the Father's love.  Many people say that death is the great equalizer, but I believe Grace is, for we are equal before the throne of grace, and I long for others to experience this freedom.

 So...back to my thoughts on in-reach...we are still praying about how to open our home to bring the community together.  In-reach happens on Wednseday evenings.  Please be praying with us about this important part of our ministry.

I am still settling in, and by that I mean I am still purging five years of boxes of the things that accumulate in a person's life.  I feel it is important to steward the things I have been given by God without clinging to material things I don't need.  For instance, the boxes of books are helpful for our DTS, and I am already rummaging through them to reference for my friends, while art projects and Christmas cards from several years ago may not be needful or helpful.  Some of them help me remember who I am and how loved I am, so I will be sorting through those today.  I have already purged half of what I had, so I feel like I am traveling much lighter now.  This is my act of worship on a Saturday afternoon in November.

Love you all and talk with you soon.  Drop me a line if you think about it.  I'd love to hear from you.

Beth

First Day on Staff!!!

Woooo!!!  Today is my first day on staff with YWAM Pismo Beach.  The last two to three weeks at work have been crazy...getting all the lose ends tied up and preparing for this transition.  I found myself lacking in sleep, rest, peace, and joy, but every day here has been better than the day before.  Just driving into the region I found something that had been unsettled within me was set right...I am where I belong.

I am excited about orientation, about my ministry coming into focus, about preparing to staff the Discipleship Training School next spring.

Please pray...

• for confidence as I step out into a new season in my life.
• to grow in love for my YWAM community.
• to get God's vision for the Central Coast of California and my place in it.
• for wisdom, clarity, and joy as I budget my time, finances, and other resources.

With Love,

Beth

Backstory

Updates...updates...what I have for you today is some backstory. I am speaking on September 20 at St. Luke Presbyterian church in Kansas City, MO, the church which was my home all of my growing up and into college, and I wrote for them a backstory of where I've been for the last few years and how God called me into missions.

I thought I would also share it here.

After graduating from the University of Kansas in May of 2005, I moved to Ft. Collins, CO and after a short but eventful stint at the post office, became a Certified Nurses Aid at a surgical rehab center. Dance has always been part of my life, and in January 2006, I felt God leading me back into dance classes, so I switched to the night shift and enrolled in class. One Sunday later that spring I was in worship at church, asking God what is so important about dance? At the same time stories of children bought and sold in the sex trafficking industry were haunting me, and I felt God saying that I would use dance to help Him redeem these traumatized women and children.

Within a month my friends had gotten me connected with the International Christian Conference on Prostitution, a one week conference for ministries to sex workers. During the week I met many amazing people and learned more about recovery from this type of trauma. I didn't now what my ministry would look like...I figured I would begin by working for a magazine and raising awareness. After that I figured God would lead me. I wanted God sized dreams for my life.

The problem was I still didn't have any idea where to start. I just knew that overnights at the rehab center were draining me, and I asked God for a way out. He provided a way to my first interview as a flight attendant, which is what I have done for three years now. I worked for two different airlines (the first was a bit of a flop) and lived in five different states: Phoenix AZ, Washington DC, Portland OR, Denver CO, and back to Vancouver, WA (which is "north of the river" in Portland).

In the book of Hebrews, God says, "I will shake that which can be shaken so that that which cannot be shaken will remain," which pretty much defines those few years of my life. In the process I learned more deeply who God is, who I am, and how God works to put our broken world back together. I have been supported mostly by a small band of international friends who keep in contact through email, and through local fellowships in Denver and the Portland area. On the other side of the shaking, I was left with my faith in God and this dream to help women who are trafficked.

Friends in many different circles kept telling me that I needed to join YWAM, Youth with a Mission. On a whim one night I looked up Discipleship Training Schools (DTS), which is like YWAM 101, and found one that focused on Social Justice and the Arts. Through others, God confirmed that this was the direction He was leading me. I suspected that I would be joining YWAM on staff someday, but I didn't know when or where. DTS is the first step toward joining staff, and THAT is how I ended up in Pismo Beach, CA, learning from other missionaries and studying social justice issues; THAT is how I ended up in India and Southeast Asia, bringing the mercy, love, and good news of Jesus to hurt and broken people.

In November this year I will be returning on staff with Pismo Beach. I will probably be involved with many ministries at the base, but one prominent option is writing for a social justice magazine published weekly online and quarterly in print! I remember back three years ago when I thought that was how I would begin. God has been so faithful through it all.

Debrief from India 2009

I woke up to sunlight streaming through gingham and sunflower print curtains. We are back in California at a church camp along the central coast. It takes me back to my church camp days, when everything was simpler. Someone else paid the bills and made sure I had food. I was learning to worship and journal and pray. I was learning some of the best and worst lessons of my life, and the air was filled with hope. There is something sacred and intimate about those memories. This place restores my soul.

Only a few days ago I was on a tropical island paradise in Thailand. We went there for two days of debrief, which happened in private conversations in deck chairs on the white sand beach. We thought we were going to the Bankok YWAM base, but the taxi kept driving, and then we got on a speed boat, and then we waded through the ocean to our island.

For the safety of our contacts, I will not tell you where we *actually* were for three weeks between India and Thailand, but I have taken to calling it Never Never Land in my heart. They have a great fear of foreigners and foreign influence. We were more free to talk about Jesus than politics, but we had to be wise about both.

I'm still processing. I feel like God has taken me "back to the place where we fell in love", although I was in love with Him long before church camp over sixteen years ago. This place also reminds me of the mountains of Colorado. Walking along the gravely trails under the full moon takes me to so many beautiful places. It's a good place to begin laying a foundation. A friend of mine in Never Never Land, we can call her Lisa because there were a lot of Lisa's everywhere we went, commented that the next five months are a time for me to lay a foundation because when I return on staff I will be going into missions "for a long time...a very long time."

...return on staff. Have I mentioned yet that I'm coming back on staff with YWAM? Lord willing I will have my support raised by November and will be back in Pismo by my 29th birthday.

That's about all I have for now. Getting settled and getting all my bills sorted is a bit...harrowing. I am seeking peace.

Beth

Southeast Asia

Wow. Things are amazing here. There is so much to be thankful for. Such good conversations, and the people we are getting to know are amazing. I find that I am struggling with self contempt and a sense of failure, that most people struggle with here. They are definitely strongholds. People don't even pray for fear of failure. In light of that, we are speaking a lot on identity, and how that changes when you know the one who made you. I got to teach on forgiveness to the kids here. I believe this generation is the one who will put things back together again, they are the world changers. Pray for us on May 28th and 29th when get a certain amount of money and a taxi and a day to go where ever we are lead. Pray for our money struggles. Our budget is a bit tight, and getting money is difficult as...it's just difficult. We met an angel from Duluth Minnesota who left us $100. We could use more of those, if anyone felt like praying them into being. I can tell you all more later, in about a week and a half. These people are so gentle and beautiful. Love you all,

Beth

India

More things about India, since I have time

On the street in front of our house there were brand new puppies when we first got here. They're standing now.

I am going to miss auto rickshaws. They're super cheap and they connect you on all the crazy back roads to where you are going.

There is an election happening here in only a few days. Activity is ramping up surrounding that. Elections in India are quite something to experience.

Not only are we here at the hottest time of the year, but it is the hottest summer they have had in 35 years. Apparently God likes to refine me with literal fire. Reminds me of the August I spent in Phoenix...only hotter.

There are these black crows everywhere. When we first got here, it was kind of creepy when they looked at you sideways and you had to wonder what they were thinking. Now I know what they are thinking. They are wondering how they can poop on my clean laundry which I am hanging on the line. They begin practicing flight patterns before I am even inside. When they see me come out with a book or purse, they are even more excited because the greater surface area means they do not have to aim as carefully. This is what the crows in India are thinking.

Good night.

Looking back, looking forward

Our time in India is almost up. There were a couple of Australians here when we got here. Paul and Louise have been an amazing encouragement to me. They left earlier this week. It was really sweet to be around them, and I miss them already. I am really very grateful for their presence here. Lizzie is another friend at our guest house. She is from England and works with street children. She is a rather amazing woman. I don't quite know how to show her how important her friendship is and has been to me. Sometimes I'm horrible at showing that on a daily basis. I hope she knows. The people you meet, they change your life as you go, don't they? Especially in moments like these, when you are most actively becoming.

Our next stop will be working with children and youth, teaching about identity, forgiveness, and reconciliation. I am stunned at the honor and opportunity which we have. Amazing.

I probably won't be back online for the next month or so. I may check once before we fly out this weekend. I love you all. Please keep praying...perhaps now more than ever.

Beth

Children of the Howrah Train Station

Last Sunday, two boys died in the Howrah train station. I just thought that someone, somewhere needed to know. They were probably high on glue, which diminishes hunger pains, and rolled off of the roof onto the tracks, where they were then run over by the train.

I spent my week with 8 of the Howrah boys. They're a little like the lost boys in Peter Pan. I felt like Wendy, darning their clothes. These 8 moved in with our contacts here about 30 days ago...and you can tell...you can see it in their eyes, in the way they move, treat each other, and touch you. They are being fed, they are being loved. I got to be part of that this week.

Healing in India

Well, I could begin this post by telling you how the first thing I will do when near a bathtub in the states is take a good long bath, or how the water coming off my hair the other day was nearly black...and they say that this is relatively clean air for Kolkata. OR I could tell you about evangelism time today and how we saw SIX PEOPLE PRAY TO ACCEPT JESUS and 15 people or more HEALED on a street corner.

It began with interview-style evangelism, where we took a video camera with us and interviewed some flight attendant students about places to eat in Kolkata and the purpose of life. There were three of us in the group...me, Cody, and Kelsy. Cody shared the gospel with them and they said they had never heard such a thing, then were eager to pray with us. We arranged to meet them for church this Sunday, and ran into them in the street later, where they gave us mangoes and salt, may my bowels rest in peace tonight.

We kept walking and found a "blind" beggar on the street. Cody began to pray for him, for healing, and within seconds a crowd was gathered. I looked at him, thinking this could end well or it could end very very badly, "This should be fun." He grinned and proclaimed that it is fun, which was pretty much my cue to jump in. I was praying for the beggar as Cody began explaining what he was doing. No one spoke English, so he prayed for a translator, and in short order a young Christian student happed by and thought we might need some help, so he started translating. Woooooooo!!!

I felt things get a little harried and my attention was drawn to the shrine only a few feet away. Just as Cody was getting to the resurrection power of Jesus, he was interrupted. I began praying against death and praying in tongues, and the man clears out and Cody goes on. As he put it:

At the end of my message, I hear come out of my mouth, "I want anyone who is sick to come forward, I will lay hands on you, and when you are healed you will know Jesus is real." This surprised me, I was not planning on saying that. And what happened next I will never forget.

He starts praying for a man's arthritic knee as I'm remembering that God promised to put His power behind the words of His saints, for His name's sake. I'm remembering and praying for the man and against doubt and against death and against pain and disease, bringing the Kingdom of God and all this in the name of Jesus. Cody prayed for the man four times...the second time he had some relief, but the pain persisted, and the fourth time it began to recede. Three more people came forward for healing, and I continued praying for the beggar. I finally felt a sense of peace that he had had healing, and although I could not communicate with him very well, I saw his countenance change before my eyes, and just as I thought, "It's done. He can go now," he got up and left.

I wanted to pray, so Cody sent over a man with a headache. Hurrah! I have prayed for many headaches since this trip began, with great success. It's an area that I want authority over and so have been pressing in for that. I had Kelsy join me so that I would not be praying for the men one on one. We prayed for his headache several times, and it was when I touched the spot lightly and prayed that the pain was healed.

There was only one woman in the crowd, and I smiled at her. She returned shortly with her camera crew! That's right, ladies and gentlemen, the Indian paparazzi. I'm cracking up, they're videoing us, Cody gave them an interview and Kelsy told them that "Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible told me so."

We were walking away...very slowly as people continued to want prayer...and honestly, it broke my heart to send them away...and some people warned us to be careful...and the police started running after us...which was a little threatening. They told us to wait as another police man and a guard came over to us. Kelsy and I looked at each other sideways. They wanted healing! We prayed for all three of them, for their backs. Wowza! What a night.

We then went out for dinner with the team to Mouline Rouge, which is a knockoff from the movie or the place in Paris, or both, but it made me smile because it's my favorite movie.

Glory be to Jesus! This is amazing stuff...God really is powerful...and amazing! I'm so excited to see more!

Dance Therapy in India

Friday I have an appointment you want to know about.

It was during our Evangelism time. Cody, Jonathan, and I set out to pray for sick people. The guys asked me which way I thought we should go, and I had some sense to go right and then right again...so off we went. Half way around the block, we saw a sign, "Women's Union of Kolkatta." We stared at the sign and then at each other. I had been ruminating to Cody earlier that this is not a good city to be a woman, so I was very intrigued by this organization which has been around for over 75 years. Cody raised his eyebrows and said, "Wanna check it out?" Of course I do!

The men at the gate gave me a little slip of paper to fill out. Name: Beth; Name of person to visit:.....................uh......................"Guys, what do I put?" "I don't know...make up a name?" "I could write my mother in law's name." Instead, with now six Indian men gesturing to me that I should write on the paper, I wrote "I want to know more about women's union." We were escourted to a cool room with many nice women in sarees sitting behind desks doing paper work. The little paper was handed to one woman who asked me what I wanted, then we were invited to sit on a little bench. We spoke prayers as conversation to one another in the moment of expectancy. Within minutes we were taken to meet the vice president.

She told us about how they take in refugees and women and children who have been trafficked. How they have formed a school and also take in some of the street children. They are a government subsidized residential facility for women and children in need. She spoke about the children who are trafficked, and how they needed to get counselors for them. And then her face brightened even more as she talked about how they have been doing a dance therapy program, and how freedom of movement has really transformed these girls!!!! So there were some confusing conversations and phone calls, and I have an appointment at 1 PM on Friday to meet the woman from the organization who offers that. And maybe...just maybe...I will get to participate in a dance therapy session or ...maybe several. Glory be to Jesus...this is just stunning. Amazing. Only He could be so magnificent!

In other news, for those of you who follow all the random and amazing places I have danced, we can add a rooftop in Kalkotta to that list. Wooooooooooooooo!!!

Happy Bengali New Year. Tomorrow we are working with children, then we will start with the mother homes on Friday. That should be intense.

First Post from India

Hello from India!!!

I am excited to report that there is an internet cafe just around the corner from our guest house (hostel). This is very good news, and although I will not have very much time to be online, hopefully I will be able to make blog posts on a weekly basis.

Healing in His Wings

Our travel time was amazing. I got to see my friends Lisa and Barb before leaving (waves) which was a gift from heaven, and then I got to see my friend Terry during our layover in San Francisco. We had a wonderful dinner together, and Terry prayed for the team with her flags. That was super exciting. Then she gave me a key...and a confirmation...to remind me that I have the keys to miracles and healing. Um...wow. Yeah. That's pretty God. Within moments I was with my team members, two of whom were sick. One I prayed for and she felt a little better maybe. The second one I was praying for and I got to the point where I didn't have any words left, so I said, "and...Jesus...I don't know what else to pray...but I feel like-" My friend interrupted me, "Wait! I'm better. Hold on," she swallowed, "All better! No pain!" Are you kidding me? I mean, yeah, that's what we were going for and all...but...wow. We continue to pray for one another for healing, as we see that modeled in the New Testament. Sometimes people get better quickly, sometimes over time...and I am talking to God about how He works in all this. Hurrah.

New Clothes

We each came with only a few clothes and intentions to buy some functional Indian clothes once we got here. Yesterday we spent most of the day at market buying clothes. I found a couple punjabi which I really love (Despite ludicrous amounts of starch. I feel like I'm wearing paper. Anybody know how to get this stuff out?), one which I'm not sure I like and I feel like I paid too much for...but Jesus says that He cares even more about me looking nice than I do, so I can trust Him with this. I was really disappointed because I love the bright, bright colors and my punjab are all pale or drab. I wanted something that was pink and orange and gold like the sunrise. Our guide, a very shrewd man who helped me find my friends when I was lost, told me, "One more place for you. Just come." Okay....so I sit down and they begin showing me saree's. There were a few that I really loved, and as the man was measuring me, just in case I wanted it, I saw fabric that was exactly what I had been wanting. I asked him about it and he laughed, knowing that it was way out of my price range. Then, on an impulse, he said he would give it to me for the price of the one I had been thinking of buying. Are you kidding me??? All this, because his sister is visiting from Portland. I will go pick my sari up tomorrow and have it in time for Easter sunrise service, which we are leading. How lovely is that? I think I would like to paint for him a picture. Please pray that I make something lovely and meaningful...a gift from the heart of God.

The Father of Lights

One of the hardest things for me in this culture is knowing how to successfully interact with the men. I do not like to send wrong signals, and I find it hard even within my own culture because I am so interested in hearing what other people have to say, in really hearing them and hearing what God is teaching them. The lecture phase of DTS was great, because there was a pretty clear age boundary between me and most of the men in my life. I was walking along last night feeling rather overwhelmed by it all, thinking about how hard it must be to be a woman in this culture (and yet how lovely the women are!), when I looked up and there was one more guy looking strait at me, raising his eyebrows. (There is also an assumption about American women...grrr...based on movies. This is one main reason we are buying these clothes. Even when I was buying my sari I had to stipulate that I wanted a "shy...good family" neckline.) Ugh! I looked away, crying out to Jesus, and found myself staring down full face the nearly full moon. We were walking between two buildings, and there it was, beautiful as ever, carrying in it all the haunting memories of beautiful life and love and friends that have happened under nearly full moons. Every good and perfect gift comes down to us from above, from the father of lights in whom there is no shadow of turning, no variation, constant as light. (James 1) In that moment I was found.

Prayer requests

Please pray for me as I try to learn this new culture. I feel like I barely understand my own culture...although Jesus says I am lovely in any culture. I am struggling with my attitude, feeling overwhelmed, and not knowing how to even interact with my own team. It would be really great if we all got our feet under us during this time, and a sense of openness, vulnerability, and love for one another was established and rooted. We are already unified in thought and action...but here in a place so far from where we live we will get to see how strong that foundation really is, how deep those roots really go. For myself, I feel like I'm still digging, like the things God has for me here will require strength and depth which I am still seeking. Pray for me, I do not feel like I even know how to seek Him more, and yet I am so hungry to find Him, to find more. Also, I feel like we are here as representations of life and light in this place. I am praying that we reflect God a little more clearly each day, and that as we walk, life comes forth from the city around us. The abundant, lasting life of God.

Love you all. Holy Spirit, keep coming...deeper, deeper, we want more of you, more than we ever thought possible. More than we can handle. More.

Beth

P.S. There are pink roses in the garden of the guest house, and I saw a butterfly this morning. It's the only one I've seen since getting here, but maybe that's normal for places that aren't Pismo Beach.

P.P.S. The food is especially comforting to me because it reminds me of Daksha (my sister-in-law's mum) and the four months I spent living with my brother and his wife in Washington D.C. After a hard week of flying I would always come home to Daksha's wonderful cooking. It warms my heart...every time. :-) Mmmmm...glory be to Jesus.

Packing for Outreach

Packing for our departure...I have a few exciting things to report:

Including the two checks in the mail, my outreach fees are paid! Thank you, thank you thank you to all who support me...in all the ways you do. Last Friday the base raised money for our remaining expenses. My peers and other YWAMers donated over $1500!!

We are leaving so soon. I wish I could post all the things I've learned since San Francisco...but as you can tell from my lack of posting, we have been learning A LOT.

I might have a chance to update when we are overseas...but I can't make any promises. I will have someone making updates if at all possible.

Tomorrow, Saturday, is a day for cleaning and phone calls...so call if you get a chance! I will have my phone service held starting Tuesday. Not much use of it in India.

I do continue to have some financial needs, namely paying for my vaccinations, a couple bills, and spending money. Spending money is important not only for my heart, but also for my outreach. With this money I will be able to buy clothes and fit into the culture better. Because of stereotypes of American women, our contacts encourage us to dress more like local women, thus respecting their cultural concept of modesty. Each outfit is $6-10 (American currency). I will need clothes in both countries. Plus, it's fun and the clothes are pretty! I would really like to have a little money for postage...if you want a post card, please send me your address :-).

That's all for tonight!

Bethy

San Francisco

Yay! This is us in San Francisco. This picture has been edited by the talented (and also world famous) Paulina. This is an absolutely incredible group of people. Absolutely incredible. Jonathan and I were talking about it it this evening...we have lived together all these months and there isn't the sense of kattiness that you would expect from this many women living this close together. Each and every one of these people contributes to the group as a whole. Gosh, these people are so amazing...or in the words of Michelle...AWE-some...

It has been FAR TOO LONG since I made a post here. There is so much to tell, so I will try to keep to the highlights.

First, the big news: we are going to India and Thailand! I have been so excited to go to India since my captain spoke that over me...oh...over a year ago. "Go to India," he said with a certainty that we both knew was from God. God has confirmed this in so many ways, and it is coming to pass!

Another highlight for me was our trip to San Francisco. Something I have been wrestling with and praying against since, oh, two years ago has been abject fear. We have been praying for God to deliver me from that fear, and I felt that He wanted me to call one of the people from that painful event two years ago...and that somehow through that phone call He would set me free. It was good to speak honestly, to ask the questions that have been on my mind, and to treat this person with love. The next day, as several of us were walking to the bus stop, a homeless man was walking the opposite direction and caught my eye. It seemed he wanted to tell me something...almost with the same tone of certainty that the captain had told me to "Go to India." So I stopped and listened as he said over and over, "Be anxious about nothing. Do not be afraid." I prayed to Jesus, Okay...I hear you...I accept it...I accept... and in that moment I felt something lift from me! Many beautiful things unfolded from that moment forward, showing the subtle but profound shift in my life, and I believe that God has more for me in the days ahead. I would not be surprised to one day learn that that man was an angel.

We are putting together our art show on Monday. I have spent most of my weekend putting together my project, which is coming along nicely. We will have the opportunity to show our art and advocate and inform people about sex trafficking and child soldiers in several different venues in March.

I am still in great need of support. I have come to the conclusion that this is one thing I will need to learn if I am going to be a missionary...and I believe that is where I am headed. At this point I still need about $2500 for our trip overseas, $120 to register my car (which has been a huge blessing to many people on the base) in California, as well as keep up on the insurance and pay my phone bill. Please pray for me as I learn the important balance of trusting God for money and inviting others in to support God's work.

Many Blessings,
Beth

We've been here three weeks so far, going into our fourth week.  So far the topics we have covered have been Orientation, the Character and Nature of God, and Hearing God's Voice and Intercession.  Our staff as a whole spoke to us on Orientation, we had a speaker from the YWAM base in Scotland (originally from Sierra Leon in Africa) named Olu for the Character and Nature of God, and our very own leader, Cody, from Calgary, Alberta spoke to us on Hearing God's Voice and Intercession.  Our leaders for the Social Justice and the Arts DTS are Stephanie from California, Paulina from Sweden, and Cody from Canada. 

From what was relatively a life of isolation, I have burst into a world of living, learning, leaning on, and working with over 30 other people.  Being in community is sooooo wonderful, and is truly where God is taking my life, but there are also...adjustments...that I need to make.  There are about 12 people living in each house, plus the staff.  It's a lot of people.  In my other life as a flight attendant, I have time to draw away, to think, to listen each time I am given something to chew on.  I'm really missing that pace.  We spend 2-4 hours in lecture every day, surrounded by worship, intercession, and outreach.  I begin every day with some time alone with God.  I think I need to make a practice of stealing away more often.  Will you pray that God will help me find a rhythm and a pace, and also that I will sense Him calling me away from time to time throughout the day?  I'd really like that.

One of the most exciting things about this week has been learning more about speaking in tongues and what is called a personal prayer language.  I know that many traditions have different beliefs.  It has always made sense to me that when God speaks to me in my heart it is not exactly English, because sometimes I cannot come up with an English word to describe what He has said.  The idea of me myself speaking in another language never really sat right with me, until these last couple weeks.  When I would pray silently, I could feel my tongue and mouth making different shapes.  I felt that something within me was stirring, and talked to Stephanie about it.  When she prayed for me it felt like someone stuck a nine-volt battery to my tongue.  I could taste the electricity and feel it in my whole tongue and like there was a ball of electricity above my sternum.  I even ate ice cream and could still taste the electricity!  I went down to the beach and spoke to Jesus in a language I did not know.  I heard proper names come out of my mouth...like twice I heard myself say Elijah, and when I was praying for Philip I heard a variation of his name.  It's so cool.  When I hear Cody speak, every once in a while I hear him say a word I know from Latin.  It's just wild, I tell you.  Wild.  I feel like God is telling me that He is teaching me to use this gift more accurately, that there is more.

What if?  What if there's more?  Natalie Grant's song has been haunting me the past couple weeks.  "What if there's hope you never dreamed of hoping for?"  It makes me think of our memory verse this month from the third chapter of Ephesians.  "Now to God who is able to do immeasurably more than you can ask or imagine, through is power which is at work within us, be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus for all generations..."  More than I can imagine...that's a lot... :-)

Oh!  Dance class was wonderful.  We went to a contemporary class on Tuesday and lyrical on Thursday.  I'm looking forward to technique on Wednesday.  Yay!  I am researching exit ministries for human trafficking this week, gathering art supplies, and taking pictures for our photography class.  Our lectures will be on World View and Biblical World View.  

Thank you all!

Bethy

*happy sigh*

This week has been so full.  I am finally getting some rest, and waking up at the same time in the same place every day is doing me a world of good.  Being a flight attendant, switching my mornings and evenings depending on my schedule, hopping from city to city has been far more tiring to my spirit than even I realized.  I feel more whole now.

I think the highlight for most people this week was our silence and solitude time on Tuesday.  I curled up in the cleft of the rock (literally) as waves crashed against my little hiding place, eagles and butterflies soared overhead.  For me it was a day of stillness and peace.  I have had so much stirring around inside of me, and yet God did not seem interested in speaking to me about any of it...in fact, I felt He stopped me from bringing it up myself...it was a day to just be.  One of the coolest things about this day was seeing the change in some of the guys...they seemed transformed the next day.  Something in their spirits was calmed, centered, more focussed throughout Wednesday.

Another thing from Tuesday was that I chose to take a stand against the self-contempt which I mentioned in my last post.  I felt that God told me I would see the fruit of those prayers in two to three days.  Sure enough, a couple days passed and the self-contempt which I have been wrestling fell away like chaff.  I think that my prayers on Tuesday were a major part of that, as well as the prayers of my friends, and simply talking about what I was struggling with.  Being honest with the people around me, bringing the struggle into the light siphoned off the death grip it had had on me.

OH!  Excellent news!  Tomorrow Zarha the Stara and I will go to a dance school to talk to them about classes!!!!!!!!  Yay yay yay yay yay.  They are very reasonably priced, and our leaders are searching the budget for funds to help us out in this endeavor.  It feels like such a miracle to me as I have been desiring to be in dance class for years but unable to carve out the time and find the money.  If you are interested in helping to support this dream, please contact the YWAM school or me and let us know.  Yay.  Did I mention yay?

I have more to tell, but I think that is enough for now.  Love you all!  Thanks for coming with me on this journey,

Beth

Hurrah! Dance is a gift returned to me with abundance. How can I be so near to the ocean and keep from dancing? Yay. My friend Damaris took this picture. She is very famous. Maybe you have heard of her. She is a wonderful photographer, but she is best known throughout the world for how she loves Jesus and people. *waves at Damaris*

We prayed together and asked Jesus where we should go on our outreach. It was such an incredible time. I have experienced life like this with friends like Lisa, but I guess on some level I thought it was rare...so rare...I mean...it is...but here I am with these beautiful people who are teaching us how to hear and follow Jesus as a team. It is so incredible to see. We spend time in worship, then we pray through aligning our wills to God's, asking Him to take away all the distractions, then we ask God what we are seeking Him for (in this case, where we should go on outreach) and we go into quiet time and just listen. When we come back together, we compare notes on what we heard. We are looking not only for God's will in our mission together, but also we want to hear whatever He is saying. For me, He confirmed the place He had told me a year ago (and kept pursuing me with for the last several months). I'm not sure if I'm supposed to post where we are going, but if you know the place that has been on my mind, then now you have half of the picture. :-)

I think the very best moment was when my friend Jon heard from God. We had gone on a prayer walk the day before. This kind of prayer and hearing God speak is new to Him, so He did not know where to begin. As he and I were talking, I was moved to pray that Jon would be able to hear God speaking in his heart. The next day when we asked about where to go, he heard a place that he was not wanting to go, a place that wasn't even on his radar. It turns out that that place was confirmed over and over again in the things that we all were hearing...it is where we are going!

(Don't you wish I would just out and say it? *smirk*)

Here is another picture that the famous Damaris took. We had a bonfire on the beach last night, and people were blowing bubbles. Lo is the beautiful woman in the green scarf. I think Jesus has plans for her...I think He's going to blow her mind on this trip. She knows Him and follows hard after Him. The princess holding the bubble wand is Zahra. She's a star. I think that Jesus can't wait to see her shine. But that's just my opinion. Can you tell I love these people? I would have to say that is the biggest thing for me so far, is seeing God in all of the people around me and asking Him for His heart toward them. I love it. Love love love it.

My biggest prayer request is that we would all encourage one another and call out the beauty we see in one another. That is my desire for this week. That we come together around one another and that no one gets left behind...I know that Jesus has something for each of us. For me, I need rest. I've been running on adrenaline and prayer for the last thirty days, and I need to take care of my health. I've also been struggling with self contempt. So if you could pray about that, I would really appreciate it.

God bless you!

Beth

The drive here was quite exciting. Janet and I got in a lot of miles and a lot of laughs, but not a lot of sleep. I hope that she is recovering nicely, but that she never fully recovers. We are never the same after stuff like this, you know. At least now she knows how to drive a stick-shift. ;-)

There are two discipleship training schools here at the Pismo YWAM. I am in the Social Justice and the Arts school with 9 other women and one man. The surf DTS has 7 men and one girl. The one guy from our school and I are living in a house with the surf people, which is quite fun.

I think the most significant thing to me is the way these people follow after God and love each other. I've never been among people so passionate...except my friends. Gosh...I was sitting in the living room today, watching everyone just love each other, wondering if I could just move in to stay. I don't know that that is a serious thought...but gosh this love is beautiful. Love will change the world, you know. Have you heard?

YWAM Pismo is a decentralized base. That means we have people living in houses in the community in several different towns along the central coast. I'm so tired. We spent the day traveling to all the places within our base, praying for the area. Maybe I'm weird, but I think that kind of prayer is exhausting...good...but tiring...like climbing a mountain or something. I feel like I've climbed a mountain or three today. I think I need to take a holy nap.