Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Great things happenning at YWAM in Chico!
Greetings Friends, Family and innocent bystanders,
I'm glad to get a chance again to write another post to share with you what's going on with us here with Youth With A Mission in Chico, CA. The passage of time since my last post to you is kind of testimony that they are keeping us very busy with school, work duties and a fairly tight schedule in which to accomplish all of this. This experience so far has really been a challenge for us, as many of you know us to be a chase-life-from-behind-the-eightball family. But the routine of our daily school schedule has been good for us.
Well, I'd like to share a bit about what we're doing right now and who we're doing this with. The YWAM base here is designed to disciple individuals in their walk with the Lord Jesus and prepare them for their calling whether they go on to be missionaries, ministers, helpers, workers, leaders or whatever, here in the states or overseas working with the local church, or with a missions organization like YWAM, or in whatever arena God leads them to minister. The school we are a part of (Crossroads Discipleship Training School) is strongly based upon refocusing individuals on a strong, personal and ongoing relationship with Jesus as well as learning to reflect His character and communicate His love for the world. (Wow... that was a mouthful, but that described it well.) These past 4 weeks we've had weeklong lectures and an emphasis on living a lifestyle of worship, intercession, hearing from God/knowing His voice. We've had our understanding of “who God is” questioned and challenged and we learned about the father-heart of God and are correcting our human misconceptions of God's nature. This, so far, has been a powerful classroom/lecture time ordained by God.
The team of students who are here at the Crossroads Discipleship Training School, and who will also be going with us to minister in the Fijian Islands during outreach, are a mixture of different backgrounds and walks of life from around the world. Here is our demographic makeup: We have 15 adults, some of whom have brought their children (there are 12 children in all on our team). There are 4 single moms with their kids, and 2 husband/wife families with their kids. The rest are single adults. Rohillah is from Uzbekistan, Debbie is from Scotland, Hope is from Vietnam, Myung Wha is from South Korea and the rest of us are from the States: Florida, Virginia, Texas, Ohio, California, Hawaii, Minnesota, and Indiana (us). Everyone has come to the school hungry and eager for more from God and anxious to see what He can do with us and through us on the mission field.
We have all been gelling together wonderfully, and it is amazing to see how much we all have in common, even for some of us being from such different cultures; it is evident that God has put us all together. God has given us a beautiful sense of family in our teammates. Even our kids all seem to get along well and really like each other. We all have a great expectation that God is only just starting to a work in us all. Keep us in prayer as God prepares us for outreach.
The weeks ahead will be difficult for all of us as God further purifies and strengthens us as a team. We’ve been told that it is pivotal and momentous for many people in this school as they submit themselves fully to God. That’s why, it seems, they call this a ‘crossroad.’ Some of the classes and speakers ahead will be helping us to deal specifically with the broken parts of our lives in which we need to allow God to do His surgery. God wants to send whole people into His work, ministering to others the healing and fulfillment of God’s love for each of us. Not that we will be perfect and God will suddenly be “done” working in us after this experience – just closer to His plan for completion in all our lives.
Well, that’s a bit of what is going here. I apologize for taking so long to finish this post. Time here just flies. We are blessed to do this and to have so many of you praying for us and supporting us as we dive into this crazy, life-changing, life-giving thing in obedience to God’s calling. Please continue to pray for us that God will change and shape Ginger’s and my attitudes toward daily time issues, our time with the kids, and that we can accomplish everything that we need to do. Pray that we can complete our assignments with time to reflect on them (so that they aren’t purely academic, but rather heart-changing). Pray that God will heal and strengthen our bodies, and pray for God’s financial provision for us. (Praise God with us that the lecture phase of the school is covered. And please continue to stand in faith with us as we wait to see God provide for the outreach phase). God has been meeting our needs in awesome ways, and we know that He will continue to do that. Thank you for partnering and believing with us in this great adventure. More news to share soon. We love you all!
Contending 4 the faith,
shawngingerhannahelijah
I'm glad to get a chance again to write another post to share with you what's going on with us here with Youth With A Mission in Chico, CA. The passage of time since my last post to you is kind of testimony that they are keeping us very busy with school, work duties and a fairly tight schedule in which to accomplish all of this. This experience so far has really been a challenge for us, as many of you know us to be a chase-life-from-behind-the-eightball family. But the routine of our daily school schedule has been good for us.
Well, I'd like to share a bit about what we're doing right now and who we're doing this with. The YWAM base here is designed to disciple individuals in their walk with the Lord Jesus and prepare them for their calling whether they go on to be missionaries, ministers, helpers, workers, leaders or whatever, here in the states or overseas working with the local church, or with a missions organization like YWAM, or in whatever arena God leads them to minister. The school we are a part of (Crossroads Discipleship Training School) is strongly based upon refocusing individuals on a strong, personal and ongoing relationship with Jesus as well as learning to reflect His character and communicate His love for the world. (Wow... that was a mouthful, but that described it well.) These past 4 weeks we've had weeklong lectures and an emphasis on living a lifestyle of worship, intercession, hearing from God/knowing His voice. We've had our understanding of “who God is” questioned and challenged and we learned about the father-heart of God and are correcting our human misconceptions of God's nature. This, so far, has been a powerful classroom/lecture time ordained by God.
The team of students who are here at the Crossroads Discipleship Training School, and who will also be going with us to minister in the Fijian Islands during outreach, are a mixture of different backgrounds and walks of life from around the world. Here is our demographic makeup: We have 15 adults, some of whom have brought their children (there are 12 children in all on our team). There are 4 single moms with their kids, and 2 husband/wife families with their kids. The rest are single adults. Rohillah is from Uzbekistan, Debbie is from Scotland, Hope is from Vietnam, Myung Wha is from South Korea and the rest of us are from the States: Florida, Virginia, Texas, Ohio, California, Hawaii, Minnesota, and Indiana (us). Everyone has come to the school hungry and eager for more from God and anxious to see what He can do with us and through us on the mission field.
We have all been gelling together wonderfully, and it is amazing to see how much we all have in common, even for some of us being from such different cultures; it is evident that God has put us all together. God has given us a beautiful sense of family in our teammates. Even our kids all seem to get along well and really like each other. We all have a great expectation that God is only just starting to a work in us all. Keep us in prayer as God prepares us for outreach.
The weeks ahead will be difficult for all of us as God further purifies and strengthens us as a team. We’ve been told that it is pivotal and momentous for many people in this school as they submit themselves fully to God. That’s why, it seems, they call this a ‘crossroad.’ Some of the classes and speakers ahead will be helping us to deal specifically with the broken parts of our lives in which we need to allow God to do His surgery. God wants to send whole people into His work, ministering to others the healing and fulfillment of God’s love for each of us. Not that we will be perfect and God will suddenly be “done” working in us after this experience – just closer to His plan for completion in all our lives.
Well, that’s a bit of what is going here. I apologize for taking so long to finish this post. Time here just flies. We are blessed to do this and to have so many of you praying for us and supporting us as we dive into this crazy, life-changing, life-giving thing in obedience to God’s calling. Please continue to pray for us that God will change and shape Ginger’s and my attitudes toward daily time issues, our time with the kids, and that we can accomplish everything that we need to do. Pray that we can complete our assignments with time to reflect on them (so that they aren’t purely academic, but rather heart-changing). Pray that God will heal and strengthen our bodies, and pray for God’s financial provision for us. (Praise God with us that the lecture phase of the school is covered. And please continue to stand in faith with us as we wait to see God provide for the outreach phase). God has been meeting our needs in awesome ways, and we know that He will continue to do that. Thank you for partnering and believing with us in this great adventure. More news to share soon. We love you all!
Contending 4 the faith,
shawngingerhannahelijah
Thursday, September 01, 2005
Horray!!!! We've Made It To YWAM!
Greetings Friends, Family, and curious onlookers,
We are now at the YWAM base in Chico, CA. We are moved in, in classes, getting to know our teammates, and preparing for the rest of our lives.
I first have to apologize to all of you as you've probably been checking the blog for a new post from me, wonder if we've made it safely and what might be going on. Well, we've been having technical problems with our server for the base internet connection which probably due to heightened internet traffic and damage resulting from the disaster area chaos in Louisiana. So I'm trying again to make this work and it seems to be functioning fine. Praise God!
We arrived on Sunday the 28th and moved our things into the Cooper House (a community house...not a chicken coop, although there are times). Got to know our house mates and the kids are in heaven because there are so many other children on base.
I must share with you our praise report. This has been a big deal for us and it seems that God has tested us in this. Everyone knows that we have been looking for a nanny for Eli. The time was getting short before we left to come out here and we seemed to be feeling desparate. The day we were planning to leave we met with one last person hoping and praying that God was calling her to come with us. But it wasn't to be. It seemed like our time had run out and we cried out to God. I then needed to get in touch with our YWAM leadership to let them know of our situation and we were affirmed by them that God was in control. They sensed that it was God's plan that we be a part of the school and outreach and just to trust Him as we came. So, in faith we left home without a nanny, trusting that God was going to supply for our need. We continued to contact some individuals that we had not heard back from yet, but still no one was able to come with us. We arrived here and everyone on base had been praying for us and seeking God for His will. After a couple of days settling in, starting class, and getting into things, God revealed His plan. Early, after hearing about our need previously, a young lady on base volunteered to watch Eli. But the leadership here wanted to make sure that no one had more work than they could handle, since this is a very tightly run YWAM base. They managed to make the adjustments and we now have a wonderful nanny! God IS good! God IS in control! Praise Him! We could not have found a better nanny!
I wanted to publish some pictures to this post but it seems that the server is continuing to give us trouble. Thank God I can send this!
Like I said, we have started classes and God is doing something awesome...already! Lots of you have asked us about the Crossroads Discipleship Training School, which is what we are doing before we go overseas. I was even a little hesitant about the idea of further discipleship, because I've been discipled, but this is totally different. Still we were lead of God to come (2 years prep) and we're so glad that we did because it is part of His plan to send us out into the world with His fire and it evident already! Classes deal directly with our relationship with God. Our group time has been drawing us closer together with purpose and transparency, and this only day 4!
When we are finished with our lecture phase, YWAM will then send us overseas to the south Pacific Island Nation of Fiji for 2 months, where the Spirit of God is doing an awesome work there as we speak and we are expecting that God is going to do a mighty work through us all.
The base here in Chico is out away from town, about 15 minutes up in the middle of a box-canyon. This is some rugged country...a beautiful place. Hot days and cool nights are the climate so far. These people are part of God's family...loving and passionate about the things of God, just like at home. The culture of the area kind of reminds me of Florida and the midwest because there are so many people from other places on the continent. This is an agricultural area too. The aroma of fruit trees was strong as we drove here from Sacramento. That's my climate report.
Some last thoughts here as I blog to a close.
I want to thank everyone from the bottom of our hearts for your prayers and support. We can strongly sense God's hand on us as we are here. This has been in the works for awhile and we are now just getting a glimpse of what He wants to do in the days, and months ahead. Thank You and Praise God!
Also we want to ask for your continued prayer support and covering as we move ahead here with YWAM in the Crossroads Discipleship Training School. God is certainly at work. We are going to be going through an intense growing and stretching time as we prepare for outreach and also get a vision of God's plan for us.
Also keep our finances in prayer before the Lord. We have not yet raised everything we need for lecture and outreach. Please pray that all the money that we need will come in. God has never left Ginger and I without provision when we've stepped out in faith to serve Him. Although this is the biggest and most expensive missions endevour we have done, ever, we know that God will provide for our every need. He is faithful! We are excited!
More news soon to come. We love you all!
Contending 4 the faith,
Shawngingerhannahelijah
We are now at the YWAM base in Chico, CA. We are moved in, in classes, getting to know our teammates, and preparing for the rest of our lives.
I first have to apologize to all of you as you've probably been checking the blog for a new post from me, wonder if we've made it safely and what might be going on. Well, we've been having technical problems with our server for the base internet connection which probably due to heightened internet traffic and damage resulting from the disaster area chaos in Louisiana. So I'm trying again to make this work and it seems to be functioning fine. Praise God!
We arrived on Sunday the 28th and moved our things into the Cooper House (a community house...not a chicken coop, although there are times). Got to know our house mates and the kids are in heaven because there are so many other children on base.
I must share with you our praise report. This has been a big deal for us and it seems that God has tested us in this. Everyone knows that we have been looking for a nanny for Eli. The time was getting short before we left to come out here and we seemed to be feeling desparate. The day we were planning to leave we met with one last person hoping and praying that God was calling her to come with us. But it wasn't to be. It seemed like our time had run out and we cried out to God. I then needed to get in touch with our YWAM leadership to let them know of our situation and we were affirmed by them that God was in control. They sensed that it was God's plan that we be a part of the school and outreach and just to trust Him as we came. So, in faith we left home without a nanny, trusting that God was going to supply for our need. We continued to contact some individuals that we had not heard back from yet, but still no one was able to come with us. We arrived here and everyone on base had been praying for us and seeking God for His will. After a couple of days settling in, starting class, and getting into things, God revealed His plan. Early, after hearing about our need previously, a young lady on base volunteered to watch Eli. But the leadership here wanted to make sure that no one had more work than they could handle, since this is a very tightly run YWAM base. They managed to make the adjustments and we now have a wonderful nanny! God IS good! God IS in control! Praise Him! We could not have found a better nanny!
I wanted to publish some pictures to this post but it seems that the server is continuing to give us trouble. Thank God I can send this!
Like I said, we have started classes and God is doing something awesome...already! Lots of you have asked us about the Crossroads Discipleship Training School, which is what we are doing before we go overseas. I was even a little hesitant about the idea of further discipleship, because I've been discipled, but this is totally different. Still we were lead of God to come (2 years prep) and we're so glad that we did because it is part of His plan to send us out into the world with His fire and it evident already! Classes deal directly with our relationship with God. Our group time has been drawing us closer together with purpose and transparency, and this only day 4!
When we are finished with our lecture phase, YWAM will then send us overseas to the south Pacific Island Nation of Fiji for 2 months, where the Spirit of God is doing an awesome work there as we speak and we are expecting that God is going to do a mighty work through us all.
The base here in Chico is out away from town, about 15 minutes up in the middle of a box-canyon. This is some rugged country...a beautiful place. Hot days and cool nights are the climate so far. These people are part of God's family...loving and passionate about the things of God, just like at home. The culture of the area kind of reminds me of Florida and the midwest because there are so many people from other places on the continent. This is an agricultural area too. The aroma of fruit trees was strong as we drove here from Sacramento. That's my climate report.
Some last thoughts here as I blog to a close.
I want to thank everyone from the bottom of our hearts for your prayers and support. We can strongly sense God's hand on us as we are here. This has been in the works for awhile and we are now just getting a glimpse of what He wants to do in the days, and months ahead. Thank You and Praise God!
Also we want to ask for your continued prayer support and covering as we move ahead here with YWAM in the Crossroads Discipleship Training School. God is certainly at work. We are going to be going through an intense growing and stretching time as we prepare for outreach and also get a vision of God's plan for us.
Also keep our finances in prayer before the Lord. We have not yet raised everything we need for lecture and outreach. Please pray that all the money that we need will come in. God has never left Ginger and I without provision when we've stepped out in faith to serve Him. Although this is the biggest and most expensive missions endevour we have done, ever, we know that God will provide for our every need. He is faithful! We are excited!
More news soon to come. We love you all!
Contending 4 the faith,
Shawngingerhannahelijah
