Time to Travel!

Sweden!

God has been working in miracles these last two months in Scotland! I want to give you guys a few testimonies of how He has been moving over here and in us.

Healing has been on the rise here. Devine healing, from the Lord. We have had several people in our DTS physically healed of chronic back pain, and even some of their arms or legs growing a few centimeters to match up with the other limb to fix the problem. (This was to realign the joins/or bones that were out of place, once the arm or leg grew a little bit it would realign the back/hips or shoulders to fix the pain). Sounds a little kookoo I know, but this is what's happening!
I personally have a story of healing to share with you guys. I'm not sure if any of you are aware of a severe ear problem that I have has since I was eight? My ear drums had burst while on vacation in the snow. Ever since then flying (hopping planes), going up into the mountains, and even swimming below three feet of water has caused serious pain in my ears. I always thought it was just something I was going to have to live with. We were in class one day and the speaker said "Does someone have a problem with their right ear"? I had to ask if she was serious. When she confirmed that she was I said "Well, heck yes I have an ear problem". She got me to stand up in front of the class and tell them the reason why I had ear problems. The speaker then led the class in a time of prayer over me. Everyone (about 25 people) surrounded me in a circle, laid their hands and me and started to pray for the Lord to come and heal a problem that had gone on for way too long. They prayed for about 20 to 25 minutes. After this time they went through a whole process of asking how I was doing and what was God speaking to me. I told them I felt like God was asking me to take a faith step and go swimming to see a complete healing come. (Now remember swimming= ear aches and infections). Several of the students confirmed this sense of water by either saying they saw a picture of me and water, or water pouring into my ear. (funny I know) So… a couple of days later I went to our local hotel and decided to take a step of faith and swim to the bottom of their pool and get my complete healing! I did it and there were NO PROBLEMS swimming 5 1/2 feet under water for a long period of time. Since then, I have flown to Sweden and back, no problem, driven on the motorway with only one window down (usually really difficult for me), no problem, and even been able to sit in a bath tub with my head under the water and there being no sign of any aching ears! Praise Jesus. You might not understand, but this has actually been a huge battle my entire life having ear difficulties. I always travel with antibiotics and ears drops. NO LONGER! THERE IS NO MORE PAIN!

Two weeks ago the DTS was involved in an event called Light and Life. It's a ministry here that sets up events kind of like a physic fair to draw people in. They offer Spiritual Readings (meaning prophetic words), Prophetic Art, Massage Therapy, Spiritual/Physical/Emotional Healing, Street Evangelism, and Dream Interpretation. This is all done in the name of Jesus. So when anyone asked you "what medium do you go through", we would answer Jesus Christ. Most of the time is an opportunity to pray for people and tell them what the Father is saying to them. I was working on the Healing team that night. A young woman came up to me and my prayer partner Rachel. We introduced ourselves and asked her why did she sign up for the "healing booth". She explained that she was only 27 but she looked much older than that. She had been a smoker and had quit the day before because it was prematurely aging her skin. She had very dark black and red rings under her eyes and aging spots all around her face. She wanted to know if we could actually just pray for her skin that it would change and she wouldn't look like and older woman any more. We told her the process of prayer, and how we pray in the name of Jesus and how He can heal all things. She freely accepted out prayer. As Rachel and I prayed for her I asked if I could place my hand over her eyes, again she accepted. We prayed for a few minutes this way and when I removed my hand from her eyes they were drastically lightened. We asked her to go and look in the mirror and tell us if she liked what she saw. She came back ecstatic! God had started the healing! We asked if we could pray again, because we believe the Lord gives 100% healing to us, He doesn't do things half way. We prayed again and the Lord continued to heal as Rachel and I got to witness years of harsh treatment physically leave from this woman’s face and her to be restored to her youth. AMAZING! WATCHING GOD HEAL SOMETHING AS SMALL AS SKIN DEFECT FROM SMOKING! Beautiful, really beautiful. This woman left that night full of joy form the gift the Father had given her.
That same night a little boy came in. He was only 6 and completely deaf. He received his full hearing that night in the name of Jesus when two people prayed for the Lord to reveal his glory to this little innocent life. For the first time he heard music. There was a worship band playing at that moment. When he turned and saw them, he took out his hearing aids and ran straight to the front of the stage just mesmerized by the sound. What would that be like to hear for the first time? Scary? Confusing? Elation? It's amazing to witness the miracles of God. He still does them to this day. The New Testament hasn't finished, we're just adding onto the book of Acts. (That's the book with a ton of miracles by the way).

I need to tell you guys about my outreach! We leave in a week to go traveling throughout Scotland bringing the Kingdom of Heaven here! Ah! I am leading a team of five students throughout the West coast of Scotland (the Highlands and Islands). For a part of our outreach my team will be camping and hopefully staying in Scottish host homes. Our first week will be spent camping on the Isle of Skye just going where the Father leads us each day.


My team practicing setting up our tent!


We will then be partnering with a few different churches working in schools and with youth on the small islands outlining the west coast. My team is definitely a go with the flow (as in the Holy Spirit) kind of team. We only have a few ministries set up here and there and the rest of the time we are just going to wake up in the morning and ask what God wants us to do that day. We will be traveling throughout Scotland until the very last day in May and then I will be off to Turkey for two weeks finishing the outreach portion of DTS with a smaller team. I will be going to southern central Turkey in a more rural area to reach out to the Turks. (If you want to know the city I will be based in please email me, I can't put that online any longer). With how God has been revealing himself in the base I am expecting mind blowing experiences out in the Nations. Our teams objective is simple: to love as God loves us. To serve, as God serves us. And to be His mouth piece for Him to move though.



Meet my team. We're posing in front of the mini bus that we will be using for
outreach that we have nic named Marv!



I am still in the process of raising my funds to lead my team. I have until Wednesday to raise about 700 pounds ($1,150). I will not be able to go out into theses nations if I don't raise all my support. I known it seems like short notice, but I have seen God move in a miraculous way here lately in finances. In the last couple of weeks we have seen THOUSANDS OF POUNDS donated to this school for outreach through other missionaries who are raising support themselves. I know God has told me to lead this team out into Scotland and Turkey. Would you be willing to pray and see if you would like to be a part of this two month mission and help donate to my fund raising? By the way, all this money goes towards gas money for the mini bus we will be using (we named him Marv), plane tickets, ferry tickets, food money, and accommodation.

I am so excited to get out there once again and see God move powerfully though peoples lives when they come to know what He's some for them!
Thank you guys for all your support!

Edinburgh Castle on the east coast of Scotland. It's like a fairy tail!

New Faces All Around

Sorry it's been so long since the last update! I'm a terrible procrastinator! Since the middle of December I have been preparing for 20 new faces to join us here at the Seamill Centre to take a journey over the next six months that will hopefully change the course of their lives. A new Discipleship school has begun these last three weeks and I am an "official" staff member on this one! Nineteen trainees have come from all over the US, Canada, England, and South Africa. Our staff team for this school has six people evolved.....again from the US and England. Three members of the staff include our "Leadership" team, Rachel, Greg, and Shawna. These are the ones that have had the vision for what this new school is going to look like, what we will be involved in, rounding up speakers from all around the world to come and give a lecture each week, and of course leading us through these next six months. The other three staff (including me) is Jazz and Eileen. We are the ones that will be in constant contact with all the trainees (seeing that we live on base), giving One on One discipleship, leading small ministry groups, and eventually taking all of them out into the Nations for three months of "hands on" ministry.
After a few weeks of praying our staff team has come to the decision that the majority of our Outreach Phase will be spent reaching the Scots in Scotland. We have felt this is THE TIME to see God move in big ways through this nation. The Scots deal with several serious issues like low self esteem, alcoholism, unforgiveness, worthlessness, anger, hiddenness (not wanting to be noticed at all), and something we call the Clan Spirit. The Clan Spirit is good in one sense, they are VERY loyal to their own clan and would do anything for them. The bad thing is, it's very exclusive, if you're NOT from the same clan they are automatically against you. They assume everyone from an opposite clan is going to in some way betray them, like old history repeating its self. Example, "Clan MacDonald vs Clan Campbell". One thing the Scottish youth deal with here frequently is fatherlessness. Many young children and teenagers grow up with hard examples of what a dad really is. Scotland has a huge percentage of young teenage girls becoming pregnant to move out into there own flat, (if you become pregnant here the government is required to give single mums their own housing). You can see how that can be a problem. Maybe if young teenagers don't like their own situation they just decide to try and make it better by creating their own family, and it's a vicious cycle.
We believe God wants to break all of this. The Scots have a rich heritage of God moving in amazing and miraculous ways up in the Northern Isles of Scotland throughout hundreds of years. God has made these people to be warriors, poets, and prophets! We want stir up these Giftings and see them reaching their OWN nation with the Word of God.
We also feel we are to go into Turkey for the last two weeks of our Outreach to reach out to the Turks. This is still a decision in process, and we have many months before we come into that.

I am so excited to to have the privilege of working on this school. I love sitting in class each day learning about our Father God and what He has called us as a people to do. Some things that we're taught are a nice reminder of what I have learned throughout my time following Jesus, and most times I am constantly receiving new revelation from God about the world around me, what he had asked me to do, or just His nature and character. Week one for the students was all about Hearing the Voice of God, and how we can ALL hear Him, and recognizing the way we each individually hear from Him. It also included lessons about Intercession (praying on another’s behalf, or praying for a nation or a people group). Last week (week two) was all about the Father Heart of God and being INTENTIONAL about your relationship with Him. So many amazing stories were shared by our lecturer Mike, while sitting around on the floor or on couches just listening to him speak from the Fathers heart point of view. I know God has placed me on this school for the students who are struggling with "father issues". So many of them have been hurt by their fathers in some way or another, and God has given me His heart just for them. I know my circumstance with my own dad has placed me on this school to see these peoples hearts healed by sharing part of my testimony and walking these next six months with them.

I want to give you guys a short testimony of what I have see God do lately: (I know this is getting long and there are so many facts, but here is a story),
I went into Glasgow about a month ago to do some street evangelism with a small team. I felt like God had told me to interact with all the homeless people that were out that day. He also told me to buy a few pairs of gloves and hats to give out when the need had arrived. I went from homeless person to homeless person giving out gloves when God prompted me. I would bend down and place them on their hands and try to bless them any way I could. God told me and my team to go to a street called Buchanan Street because there was someone we NEEDED to see there. So we wandered along, and once we got there we just waited to see what we would find. In a moment I saw her. She was crouching down leaning against a wall, smoking a cigarette and crying. I motioned for my team to follow me. I crouched down next to her and asked if she would like a pair of gloves (she didn't have any and it was in the 30's F that day). She slowly reached out dirty hands letting me put one glove on at a time. I asked her what was wrong, she told me the electricity had been turned off in the apartment she had been staying in and she didn't have any money to turn it back on to feed her kids. She had been sleeping outside under a bridge for the last couple of days and had given her kids to someone. Her name was Amanda. Amanda had tiny cut marks on one side of her face near her eye, and deep slashes from a knife on both sides of her cheeks. (She had been in a rough relationship and her boyfriend was in jail). The police had come by and given Amanda some canned food to cook for her kids but she still didn't have the money to turn on the electricity to cook this food. She was at a crossroad in her life, deciding to prostitute herself or not. She didn't quite like the idea, but she didn't know what else to do? I asked if I could lay my hands on her and pray. She started sobbing and was eager for the prayer. A friend of mine and I prayed for her, that God would just bring provision and a way out of the darkness she was being consumed by. When we finished our prayer, she was prompted to ask Jesus into her life all on her own and ask forgiveness for all of her sins. She also was calling on God saying she knew He was the only way she could make it through this. We didn't tell her to do any of this! The Holy Spirit completely lead her. I was only able to give her the 3 pounds on me that I had left, and a small New Testament bible that I had been carrying in my bag. I gave them both as a small gift, and she readily accepted the bible holding it to her heart. Amanda kissed both mine and my friends hands as we left and thanked us for stopping to notice her. Everyone else walked by without even giving one glance.
I continue to pray for Amanda today. I pray that God continues to show her the right path and provide for her and her children’s well being. He needs us to stop and look. To take our time and notice the people around us. Most people are feeling lost and alone, like no one notices. They need to know the truth! We have a God that notices EVERY detail in our life and wants to meet us right where we are at. He loves us! Look around. Even in all the darkness, He loves us.

To be continued.....

Seasons Greetings! I love the Holidays!

Happy Holidays all! The holiday season is booming here in Scotland. Decorations are out, hot chocolate is brewing, and people are shopping like Christmas is tomorrow! The last few days have been beautiful here at the base. We finally got some snow! I woke up the other morning, pulled back my curtains and found a steady snow fall greeting my eyes! Snow at the beach, what a wonderful sight! Walking into the village these last few days has been a wonderful treat. Snow crunching under your feet, the sun shining on you, and your ears frozen by the time you get there because you forgot to wear a hat! There was a craft fair going on this weekend in West Kilbride (my town is known as Craft Town Scotland because of all the little shops that make handmade artifacts). I stopped into the village hall Saturday to check out the fair and what goodies they have this year. It's always a great opportunity for me to meet people in town because they always want to know about my accent and where I'm from. When I get to tell the little Grannies, Southern California they always exclaim, "What are you doing here then lass! You should be back there enjoying the wee sun!" I love my conversations with the elderly community here. It's a great way for me to minister to them (being a foreigner) because they always want to know why I'm here, in Scotland, so far from home.
I had a lovely conversation with a woman in the charity bookshop today about YWAM and those of us that live "up on the hill" in that big house together. It's so interesting and funny to hear some of the people's opinions on what we do here in the base. A bunch of weirdos. Ha. But this woman was very nice and loved our presence here in the village. She said she knows we do "wonderful work out there". It's always good to here some affirmation from the locals here on what we are doing and how we are trying to reach the community by friendship evangelism.

The past few months I have been praying about my vision, and what it is that I am moving towards while I'm here. We need a vision so we're not staying stagnant. I want to go farther, be stronger, and live the calling that God has told me to fulfill. The past three months have been a little difficult with not fully understanding my personal vision. I have the wider picture: I've been called to make disciples in all nations in Jesus name, but I still needed a personal vision. My friend Hanna and I were having a Bible study the other day and I finally had a revelation! God told me that I am still in a time of training. He brought me back to Scotland not only to disciple others, but also to train me on a higher level for the calling He has giving me. I know this seems basic to most of you, but when you have a "light bulb" go off, and you have a deeper understanding about your passion, the world just feels right again. The Lord also said He brought me back here for this training because my foundations in Him were not solid enough to live a daily life serving Him in my hometown. I was not prepared to stick to my guns and not waver in ANY of my new knowledge, just because someone objected. So......I am here building my foundations. Getting prepared to one day be back in my own culture, an lead a life of faith by example.

This brings me to my other news. I have officially decided to become a staff member on the January 2011 Discipleship Training School (DTS). (insert exclamation !) This means my training will double or triple in the next few months. A staff member who works with the trainees side by side daily has an increased amount of responsibility. I will be leading home groups (bible studies), local ministries, mentoring, facilitating prayer times and meetings, and I will also have the opportunity to do a bit of teaching. One of the biggest roles a staff member takes on is leading a team of trainees into another country for ministry for up to three months to get a taste of what a long term missionaries life is like, and if they feel called to live in long term missions. As time gets closer to this this school I will give you more details.

In the past few weeks here I have been helping the October DTS prepare to leave for their outreach phase. This has included A LOT of practical work. I have been researching flights for 23 people, helping budget little parts here and there, preparing packets of paper work that they will be taking with them (this means a lot of photo copying), and praying daily on this teams behalf. A huge part of my role here is prayer. We call it intercessory prayer- where you pray and plead on someone elses behalf. My support team and I feel led to prayer many days. We cry out to God for protection, revelation, miracles, blessings, finances, new faces that they will get to meet, and most of all, a HUNGER in these trainees hearts to get to know our God and the Word He has blessed us with.

Our base also decided to hold a 24 hour BURN two weeks ago. This is a time of prayer and worship that continues on for a full 24 hours. We went from 9am on Nov 16th to 9am Nov 17th! Every two hours tHE people who were leading worship would change over to give them a rest. We have many people on base that are very talented with a gift of singing and/or playing musical instruments. Our Burn was started off by a worship leader named Keith Luker from Bethel Church in California. He came all the way over to the UK to come and encourage all the YWAM bases here to see revial and an outpouring of God's Spirit on this nation. He fired us up to want to see God overwhelmingly bless this nation and see many more lives come to know the name of Jesus. This worship time had all different styles of worship ivolved from singing to dance to artwork to creative writing. People were encouraged to act whatever way God was leading them to with no fear of what anyone else would think. Sometimes our worship may have looked a little.....different. :0 But, everytime it is so freeing to meet with God in a big group of people and hear what He is telling us.

I know this blog post might be controversial for some of you to read. And I know that many of you do not carry my same beliefs. That's ok. I just want to be real with you and give you an insight on how God is changing my life drastically. I AM a new person. I'm not going to hide from it. I have strong beliefs, and I want you to hear my testimony. I thank you for all of you who continue to support me and continue to read this website. It means so much to me that you read my words or even look at my photos. I pray that you will be blessed today. That you will be encouraged that lives can change, and we don't have to stay in our same old ruts. You can change a nation! Step into something new today (it doesn't have to be huge, start small) and take new ground for your life! Be blessed my friends!

PS. I will be coming (or going) home for Christmas this year. Woohoo! I leave Scotland on December 15th and I will be home for exactly 3 weeks! Hopefully I will get to see some of your faces! Tis the Season to be jolly, right?

1 Thessalonians 2:4 "We are not trying to please men but God".

Belated October!

I'm so sorry you guys (for those of you that regularly follow me)for this late update! My last 3 weeks have been crazy, and writing a new blog update wasn't exactly on the top of my to do list to be honest. I'll first update you on my last two weeks to explain why this blog post is coming to you so late:

A little over two weeks ago I found out my Grandmothers health was in very poor condition. She had had a stroke and from that had gone completely blind and lost her short term memory. There was also a serious threat of a blood clot on her leg with the possibility of it always moving to her brain, doing who knows what damage? I had a decision to make: to stay here in Scotland and pray for her well being, or to go home and see my Grandma while I still could. My decision was made in 24 hours... I was going home. I actually really struggled with making this decision believe it or not. I didn't want to move without God telling me to. I want to place Him at the for front of all my decisions, especially this one. I really thought He was going to tell me to stay here in Scotland and just pray. I was REALLY surprised when His answer was GO! On a Monday I decided to leave Scotland and by Thursday morning I was on a plane.

Man, those international flights are terrible! The planes are fine, but the no sleep and German tourist are horrible! :) My cousin Carly was gracious enough to pick me up from the airport and drive me the hour to the hospital. My Grandmas condition was terrible. She was in chronic pain, and couldn't see a thing. I think by the time I got home she had a little more concept on who was in the room with her (before hand she would ask every 5 minutes for someone to turn on the light, and you would have to remind her who was sitting with her). My family (+extended) had been sitting with her every day doing rotations, making sure she wasn't alone. Eventually she was transferred to a rehabilitation center, where she could have 24 hour care. My whole travels home was to stay with my family and support them in this time and to visit with my Grandmother regularly. On my visits to the rehab center there were a few occasions that I would get to sit and pray over her. An amazing memory I will cherish! Each time prayer was offered she would willing accept it! After a few days of being home my Grandmas vision started to improve! She could start to tell when she was looking out of a window because the sunlight would be shining and she could tell the difference between the light contrast! By the end of my visit home her memory was improving little by little and she could see your outline if you would stand still in front of her. This was amazing! We weren't even sure if she would ever be able to see again, and here she was able to point you out or point out a color that you were holding close to her face! My whole base in Scotland here was praying for her, as were family and friends at home. I really did see the power of prayer coming though in her life! Please continue to pray. Her condition is still pretty bad, and I need people to sow in prayers of faith that she she see a full healing in her body.

It was nice being home and relaxing with my family, catching up with uncles, aunts, and cousins, and getting precious time to spend with my Corey. (He'll probably be embarrassed that I said that) :) ha! There was a crazy heat wave of 99 there (37 Celsius for those of you in Europe)! Eww, I'm not heat friendly. But the sunsets were absolutely breath taking!

In Scotland a new Discipleship school has once again started. There are 19 trainees and 8 staff from all around the world. I am in the process of mentoring two girls during there time here, one from Canada, another from Sweden. My times with them have been great. Not only do I get to see the growth that they are going through and how God is changing them weekly, but He has placed me into these women's lives to impart the small amount of wisdom that I have! I myself continue to learn every time I speak with these young women. Discipleship has been a wonderful outlet for me. I really enjoy leading young people and being able to give them some direction for their own lives. This is a thing I would love to explore more of. ( Discipleship is kind of like counseling in a world when you are not using "Christian" terms). I know I like to talk, but in the last year I have really discovered about myself that I enjoy listening. I enjoy just being with people and sharing their daily lives with them. In the Bible it is called being "Pastoral". I'm here in Scotland to learn more of the Pastoral side about myself, and what does this mean for my life?


I'm going to cut it short here, just because my next update will be at the end of November. I will then tell you all that has be going on here, and what the next season holds for me!

Oh yes, I forgot to say I was at home for 2 weeks, that is why this post was late. I just arrived back into Scotland about 3 days ago, still jet lagged and a bit sick.

A New Season

It has come to the time for me to update you all on what has happened this last month in Scotland. To be honest I’ve been struggling with writing out this blog purely because I’ve been emailing a lot more lately and I am not a fan of writing! But once I start going it will probably just flow…..right? Just to let you know, I’m giving you a lot of facts in this one.

I arrived in Scotland in the most beautiful weather I have seen here. Blue skies, warm breezy days and BLACKBERRY SEASON! What a wonderful time to be here. Just a quick fact: Blackberries grow wild everywhere in Scotland, like weeds. So I have had a stained mouth and hands several days though out this month just because I can’t keep myself from picking them off the bush and eating them! Delicious!

This month has started off with coming into my new position as a staff member in the Discipleship Training Team. The team is in a season of change with new leadership and staff coming in, and a revamping of our discipleship office to make it our own, (we like to call it headquarters). J My team is made up of six people (including me) and we are all support staff for the October discipleship school that is coming in. Because we have the title “support” doesn’t mean our role is any less than the members of staff who are going to be leading this school. My ministry includes A LOT of intersession (prayer for the students and staff on the school) and practical details being taken care of every day for the students arrival. Right now I’ve just finished making all the students homemade welcome cars that include several personal prophetic words for each person. This is a word/message/picture from God that we believe He wants the individuals to know for their time here in Scotland. I’ve also been running around the base cleaning and praying in bedrooms, making welcome baskets, picking out new paint for our office and helping redecorate, and laminating a ton of teeny tiny papers! (By the way me and the laminator are now friends after a long battle of frustration)! These are just a few things to mention, there’s much more as always!

I have just been trained last week in reading the applications that come in to the base for someone applying to be a student on a DTS. This is A LOT more work than I ever thought! Many weeks of prayer and deliberation go into each applicant, and each is hand picked by God for our schools here at the Seamill base. I’m now in the process of reading the applications that have come in for the January DTS. We already have 13 people that have applied and 6 of them are men (which is amazing considering the Oct dts is 15 girls and 4 boys)! We’ve been praying for men constantly to come and apply here, and it’s finally happening!!
I will be involved in some of the lecture phases that are going to happen here with the students, so I will come along side of them and help guide them through this time when they are seeking God’s will for their life. I will also be doing a One on One with probably two students. I will be their mentor for this 6 month time and have weekly meetings set up with each girl to discuss their whole process they are going through and the changes God is making in them. I’m also praying into what kind of ministry God wants me to get involved in here with the Scots. Maybe Healing Rooms, working with emotionally abandoned teenagers, or street evangelism? These are just a few possibilities, there’s many more out there.

Ok, this month has been really busy. Starting at the beginning of the month we had a three day YWAM Scotland staff conference that we hosted here at the Seamill base. Every member involved in Scotland YWAM came for three days of lectures, worship and prayer to see where God is leading us as a “corporate body” in this season of missions. Then a few days later came our Seamill staff “Face to Face” two day meeting. This is where out smaller base community comes together to worship God and ask Him what these next four months are going to look like just in OUR community. We got the sense of family. To grow closer together and be bonded just like family.
The next week our entire base traveled the 11 ½ hours down to England to the Harpenten base to attend the 50th anniversary of YWAM. The founders of this organization came and talked to 700 YWAMers from around western Europe about the past, present and future of this movement. Hundreds of THOUSANDS of people have been involved in YWAM for the last 50 years following their calling into the nations of fulfilling the Great Commission, (making disciples of all nations). I can’t believe God has called me to be a part of this amazing team of people trying to seek the lost!

God has been speaking to me lately about discipline. Disciplining myself, my habits, my body and my spirit. It’s one area in my life I’m terrible at and need to grow in. The past few weeks I’ve been rereading Romans 12: 1 & 2“…offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God… Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” What does it look like for me to continually offer myself up to the Lord as a sacrifice and renew my mind everyday to know His will? I’m just slowly getting an understanding of this verse day by day. Right now a huge part of my life is prayer, reading chapters of my bible out loud, and fasting to see break though in my discipline. This has already been an amazing journey! As I press forward to know more about the Lord I find new wisdom everyday. I can’t wait to see what next month brings with all the new blood and cultures coming in! The new students will be here on the 2nd of October and then the real fun and challenges begin!

Hope you all understand my update. Love from Scotland! Katie

Arriving in Scotland

I GOT MY VISA FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO DIDN’T KNOW!

I’ve finally made it back to Scotland! After three flights and 16+ hours of traveling I have made it to the Seamill Base. Right away I was welcomed with a big sign, biscuits (cookies) , and a friend jumping up and down, completely excited to pick me up from the airport. How wonderful it’s going to be calling this beautiful place my home for the next year! On the drive home I was greeted with the rolling vibrant green hills, grazing cows and sheep, twisting tiny roads, raindrops followed by bright sunlight, and finally the steep drive up to the base. I was assigned a room in the girls staff wing with a view that over looks the ocean and the Isle of Arran. I can’t wait for the spectacular sunsets I’m going to have the priviledge to see! I woke up early this morning, pulling back my curtains to find a perfect rainbow and a light down poor of rain. What a way to start off the day!

This is a quite weekend, only 5 other individuals in the base beside me. Everyone’s on Holiday and visiting their families. Work for me starts on Monday! That’s when I will find out my duties here on base and get acquainted with everything. The information I’ve been given so far is: about 20 students are signed up to come onto the October DTS school that I will be working on and about 7 staff members? This week our Seamill base will be the host of the annual YWAM Scotland staff meeting, so the whole castle will be filled up with new faces and returning friends. I’m so excited to hear what God has been doing in my friends lives these past four months and catch up on where they are now. I’m finally going to be “in the know”. At the end of the month the whole Seamill base will be traveling down to England for a 50 year YWAM celebration. Hundreds will gather from all around the world to reunite after years of separation, share their lives, and encourage one another with their ministry. It will be a time for teachings from Loren Cunningham (ywam founder) and fellowship between YWAMer’s from every kind of culture.

I just wanted to give you guys a quick update on where I am and how things are starting off. At the end of each month I will write an update on what God is doing all around me and in me.

As always, could you keep me in prayer as I am on this journey with the Lord to walk in obedience to the calling He has put on my life. Thank you guys! Miss you!

Ready to Fly the Coop!

One week and counting until I head back to Scotland to join Youth With A Mission in my staff position! Time has flown by being here at home, but I'm ready to get back in action and continue my work with the Scottish people and the new students that come to the Seamill Base.

These past two weeks have been so amazing by watching and enjoying what God is doing in my own home town. I've had a ton of great conversations about my plans with friends and family, and I'm really starting to see a blossoming relationship with so many people. It really seems like when your ready to leave a place for some time people can't get enough of you and want all your attention, but when you're at home for MONTHS everybody is busy!! :)

It's definitely sad leaving home, family, friends, and our dog Ziggy ;), but I know without a doubt Scotland is THE place I'm supposed to be in this next year. I'm ready to once again call myself a missionary for the Lord and dive into a culture that needs God in their lives. That's right, the Scots need God, no matter how Westernized they seem every country needs to know about Jesus and the relationship He is crying out for us to have with Him! So...for me to do this and follow the calling God has given me I really need your prayers right now! I am still waiting for my visa to come in the mail. The British Consulate has received a lot of visa applications this summer and it's taking awhile for them to process them all. My flight leaves out on Wed August 25th at 3:35. Before that time and date comes up I need my friends and family to keep praying for me that my visa WILL show up in this next week. I need it to come by Tuesday the 24th so I don't have to pose pone my flight and go through a big headache with the airlines.

Now I truly believe that the power of prayer works, and if we all say a quick one anytime I pop into your mind, that will just keep jumping me up in front of the visa line! I'm also still in the process of raising monthly financial support so I can continue to be involved in my ministry in Scotland. I would love for you guys to pray about this and think of partnering with me and what God is doing in and through me in my ministry overseas. I am covered on my plane flight and visa fee but I still need to raise $450 a month to stay in Scotland and be a staff member. If you feel led to help me you can donate money straight into my Paypal account or send a check to my home address.

If anyone wants to be pen pals and I don't have your address let me know (katienbeck@yahoo.com). I would love to stay in contact with you through snail mail (you feel so much more special when you get something hand written in the mail, you know)?

My Scottish address is:
Katie Beck
YWAM Scotland
9 Glenbryde Road
West Kilbride, Scotland
KA23 9NJ

BACK TO SCOTLAND!

Sorry this is a bit long! My next updates will be a lot shorter! I just have a lot to say to you all!

I'm officialy going to be a blogger. Wow, things have changed! I have been accepted to go back to Scotland at the end of August and this is going to be the way I'm going to send out my support letter and update everyone on my where abouts.

The first time I traveled to Scotland I didn't keep anyone but my family updated and I have completely regretted it. I now realize the huge mistake I have made by not taking along the others in my life with me during this EPIC (yes epic) life changing adventure with God. Honestly, it makes me nervous telling everyone in my life what I'm doing because they just might not understand or agree at all. But if I want people to know about God and what I truely believe and know about Him, it has to start with my friends and family, right?

While living and traveling through Scotland, Turkey ,and Bulgaria I experienced the love and miracles of God in ways I didn't know where even possible or still done today in modern times. These experiences need to be written down and shared with the ones I love. When I moved to Scotland over nine months ago I knew I was in for the adventure of a lifetime. I knew God was calling to do something more with my life that included Him in my job title. To be a missionary. To live out His commands and to "go and make disciples of all nations" (Matt 28:19). I joined with the organization Youth With A Mission (YWAM) to undergo a 6 month intensive course called a Discipleship Training School that teaches and equips you to be a short term missionary. During the course you're involved in a three month lecture phase getting to know Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and growing deeper in a personal relationship with each one. This time is spent focusing our yourself, and God revealing who you are to Him. So many barriers where broken down for me in this time. I learned to start loving myself and to love the person God made me to be. When I first moved I had a life full of depression and a heart full of loss from my Dads death the year before. I was so lost. So sad.

God knew this was the right time for me. A time for healing, laughter, expectation, and joy. In the first couple of weeks living in the Seamill community I was healed of my depression! I laughed every day and was continually encouraged by my fellow classmates to seek and praise God for the changes that He already made in my life.

Once the lecture phase was coming to an end it was time to prepare for Outreach. We were going to Turkey! Lessons with language and culture began and we were learning how to bring our classroom theology to the "lost". While in Istanbul I was living with 7 other indivduals reaching out to the Muslim culture at every opportunity. We were involved in different ministries such as teaching english, working in a city church, working with refugees running from war, volunteering in a soup kitchen for 50 Nigerian men, bus evangelism, friendship evangelism, Marias Cheescakes (teaching Muslim women from a farming community to run a business), and numerous prayer walks. This is just a few things we did. This work was challenging daily. We were noticed everywhere we went and stood out like a soar thumb! This Nation is 99.9% Muslim! I believe we made a great impact on the communtiy and the atmosphere. The Lord revealed to me the stuggles of a missionary with spirtual warfare but also gave me an amazing gift by seeing the Turkish community and other cultures from all around the world come together and praise Him as one!

I also traveled to Bulgaria with my team and was linked with the YWAM team there in healing ministries. We were continuesly in prayer with the Bulgarian Gypsies to see the Kingdom of God come to earth. It was some of the most powerful days I have ever experienced in my life! We saw people constatly being healed by God through the power of prayer. We were invited into Gypsies homes to kneal on the floor in front of them and show them they were worthy of love and respect. We would then pray for what ever they needed (and it was usally healing in the physical or spiritual) and see them healed every time by God! I was so blessed to get to really experience the Gypsy culture and people and see how colorful and lively they are. They truely love to sing and worship God with a fire in their heart!

I'm writing this letter to you all to let you know of my up coming plans. While I was still in Scotland I prayed about my next step and where it would be. It took a couple of weeks but I heard from God over and over again "Scotland, Scotland, Scotland". I am choosing to live my life for God and obeying Him when He calls me. I have prayed about staff positions at Seamill and I am confident to say I have been accepted to become a Suppot Staff member on the next October DTS School for a year starting the last week in August 2010. Support Staff works with the new students that come into a Discipleship school. I will be involved in their lecture phase of their 6 month coarse being a mentor, leading small groups, local ministry, and times of prayer. I need your support in this next journey with God. I need your prayers. I need my friends and family to be my encouragement and trust that I am on the right path. I have been called.

Prayers
1. Pray for protection for me getting back to Scotland.
2.Pray for breakthough in finances to be covered during my time is Scotland.
3.Pray that I will have constant encounters to share my faith with the Scots.

I also need help in Financial Support. As a missionary with YWAM you do not get paid. Even as a staff member. I know thats hard for some of you to understand. So I need a team a people behind me that would be willing to help support me. The fee at the base will be about 300 pounds ($450) each month. I would also need help to save up for a flight and visa so I will be asking people if they will be willing to help with 400 pounds a month ($600).This covers my room, three meals a day, transportation, saving for flight, ect. Please pray about this. Monthy support is welcomed as well as a one time gift. God can to anything, even with our finances. I choose to have faith that He told me to go and He will find a way to help me. Thank you guys for reading this and keeping me in prayer and mind!

Checks can be sent to:
Katie Beck
321 Alvarado Pl.
Newport Beach, Ca
92661 USA

My skype name: katienbeck
Email: katienbeck@yahoo.com
Facebook: Katie Beck

I also have a paypal account, and I will hopefully be linking it to this blog soon! Technology is not my friend, so pray for that too!