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