Meet My Team

It's officially time for you, my loyal readers, to meet the Super Track and India Team 1.
I don't have any pictures, or they would be up here too.

Super Track:
Terrence from Switzerland. He's a rapper. He has a video on Youtube.
David from Canada. He's one of the leaders, but he's cool. He's also a skater.
Martin from Sweden. He's married, and his wife is on the Justice Track. He's also really funny.
Esther from Denmark. She's quiet, but really cool. She loves RED, which is a Christian rock band that I happen to love.
Elyse from West Virginia. She's one of the leaders. She started the Super Track last year.
Teresa from Virginia. She's the third leader. She's super funny, loves people and is Elyse's best friend.
Jakob from Sweden. He's a leader/student. He's mostly here because he did his DTS last year, but his fiancee is doing her DTS this year. He's totally on fire for Jesus,
Kevin from California. He's actually from South Korea, but he moved her when he was youger. He's one of the oldest students here. He's really quiet, but he's really awesome. He said he was going to make sushi for the whos base someday.
Me. There's not really a need to say much about myself..

India Team 1
Mike from...I actually don't know where he's from, but he's living in Califorina (obvously). He's Leader #1. He's hilarious. Most of us call him Gator, although I'm not sur why. The rest of us call him by his last name, which I should not post.
Danila from Germany. She's Leader #2. She's also my small group leader, which is awesome. She's pretty awesome.
Kate from Wisconsin. She's cool. We don't really know each other that well, as she lives in Trailer 14 and I live in 6. but we did share a room in Mexico.
Lydia from Burundi/England. She's so funny. She's amazing too.
Dinah from California. She's another one of the oldest students. She and I have the same sense of humor, which is scary.
Sam from New York. He's a talented musician. And he had a great sense of humor.
Ryan from Califorina. He's a skater. He's funny.
Amyjane from Oregon. She's a people person, and a morning person. It's really fun to be a breakfast trying to wake up and not fall alseep in your bowl of Cheerios and then she walks by and you're automatically awake.
Kimberli from Oregon. She's really serious, but also really funny. She and Lydia are hairdressers. We'll all have good hair in India.
Rachel from Virginia. She's super quiet, but she's the first to jump into a group project.
Me...once again, not much to tell.

Super Super Track

On Friday night, the Super Track went to the Santa Monica Promenade and Pier. It was so fun. We split into four groups for two. I got Terrence. He's from Switzerland, and thinks his English isn't so great, but it's actually really good. We met this one homeless lady, Ann, who was actually in the process of getting an apartment and a job. She was a Christian and we got to pray for her. Then we met David. He wasn't homeless, but he had a serious problem with his back that caused him to walk with a limp, and be in constant pain. We prayed for healing, and afterwards we asked him how he felt and he said it didn't hurt as bad! The we talked to these homeless two guys, whose names I don't remember. One wasn't a Christian, but had grown up in a Christian home and knew a lot about what the Bible says. The other, was a Christian, but said that because he smoked weed and drank that he didn't call himself a Christian, because he didn't want to put a "smear on Jesus' name." Then we bought them something at McDonald's. On the pier, we met a lady who does healings, but not in Jesus' name. She said that she called in the help of the angels. She had her heart in the right place, but she wasn't getting it from the right place. The we passed a father and son fishing off the pier. We watched for a while, and then we talked with them. We found out that they hadn't really caught anything. So, silently we prayed for fish. A few seconds later, the boy caught a fish! But he was so excited that he jerked the pole and the fish fell off the hook. But it was still so cool!

It was so amazing that we watched a man lose a bit of pain, and a boy catch a fish, when all we did was pray. But God wants us to pray for these things. He said that if we have faith, it will happen.

Outreach Locations (3)

We found out where in Nepal we are going and where in India we might be going. But for security reasons I'm not aloud to say where. Really sorry, as I know you all really wanted to know. And we found out that because plane tickets are so much more expensive than they were a few months ago, that they will cost around $1800.
We will will stay in Nepal aproximately one month. India will be two months.
I'm so excited.for outreach.

Track Experiences

There are 6 Focus Track in this DTS. A Focus Track focuses on on thing.
Skate Track: reaching skaters
Prayer Track: prayer is very powerful
Media Track: yes, movies can reach people
Justice Track: focusing on human trafficking, and homelessness
Create Track: the Arts (dancing, music, fashion, etc)
Super Track: homelessness
 Ryan , sprained his ankle last night. I think he was at a skate park. He's on the Skate Track, which focuses on reaching skaters and the girls that hang at the skate parks. He's walking around on crutches today.
The entire Create Track except for one person, because he's a guy, is exhausted, because they were at Fashion Week LA.
The Prayer and Media Tracks are fine, because they stay pretty much on base.
The Justice and Super Tracks are tired, because we were out late. The Justice didn't get back until 2 am. Super was back at midnight. The Justice Track was staking out some nail salons and massage places, because of some stuff that might be going on there at night. They also went to the red light district.
The Super Track went to Hollywood and walked around for evangelism and prayer. We split into three groups and my group didn't really talk to anyone, mostly because there were on opportunities, but we did do some serious spiritual warfare. It was so awesome. Everywhere we walked twice, it was so different from the first time we walked down it.

Eagle Eagle Condor

So, India Team 1 (Yes. I'm going to India on outreach) has a name. We are Eagle Eagle Condor. I don't really know why, though. I guess it just sounded cool. We had our 'Icebreaker Meeting' last night. It was fun. We don't know what city we are going to yet, but we do know that we are going to stay in Nepal for a month. We get to wear the traditional clothing. Mostly the girls, which can be awesome. We also found out that we need to have $400 as soon as possible for travel expenses. Once agian, God Trust.

Outreach Team (2)

All the DTS Outreach Teams are having meetings tonight. I'm guessing we're going to find out what cities we are going to. I really hope so, because I have people back home wanting to know so bad. And I'll find out whether I can say where I'm going. I'm so excited. I have some really great people on my Team. I know I said that in another post, but it's so true. And I get to know them a little better, too, since we're going to be so close together for three months. There are three guys on Team 1, and one of them is a leader. Team A only has three guys, and none of them are team leaders. I guess none of the other guys felt called to the location. Then again, most of the DTS students are girls, so...

Well, I have to go to supper now.

Outreach Team

My Outreach Team was so big, we had to split into two groups. I got Team 1. The other Team is Team A. I have some truly awesome people on my Team. I can't wait to see what God has in store for us.

Outreach Locations (2)

Unfortunately, I can't tell you where I'm going on outreach, because of security reasons, but it's one of the choices I had. You might see an elephant or two and there are mountains. I really wish I could tell you. I do. But, I can't.

The funny thing is, I have no conscious memory of writing that location down, but when it was time to move to that location's particular spot in the room, I knew it was where I was supposed to be. This might not make much sense, but I think God wrote that down.

Outreach Locations

Tonight we found out what our outreach locations were.
They are:
India
South Africa
Costa Rico
Chile
North Africa

I chose the first two, skip one and forget the last. (If that make no sense, sorry, I can't really say right now, because there might be people that are looking over my shoulder, and they can't know. I will be able to say tomorrow, though).

Thanks to everyone who sent me money for the lecture phase tuition. I will be able to go on outreach for sure. I only need $35 now! God is truly AMAZING!!!!


"I know the plans I have for you,"- This is the Lord's declaration.- "Plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope."
Jeremiah 29:11

Lecture Phase Tuition

Good news!!! Out of the $2215 I owed for the lecture phase, I only owe $200. There were several people who still needed money for it, so we did this thing were DTS staff and students could give to those who didn't have all the money. It was so amazing! After that happened, we took a break for lunch. After lunch, we went back into the classroom and they had all the amount on the white board. So much had been given. One guy, Michael, had no money at all when he came and his tuition was completely paid off!

Anyway, I need $200 by Monday night, or I can't go on outreach. But I'm trusting God.

Followers

For those of you who read my blog, but aren't Followers, become one, because it's so nice to see I have so many people who want to know what's happening in my life.

Five Days in Mexico

When they said we were going to a conference in the YWAM base in Tijuana, Mexico, we thought they were insane. But, as it turned out, we were wrong. We had a great time. It was like a huge prayer and intercession meeting. We had amazing speakers. The food was great, the people, friendly. The weather, gorgeous, the views, spectacular. We had a day of outreach, where the LA DTS group went to this village and repainted the inside of a church and a house, taught at an orphanage, and fixed a roof. I met some awesome Kiwis (New Zealanders). Our last night there we went to a base-wide soccer game, where the Kiwis played for the first time. They did a Haka before the game and I almost cried. If you don't know what a Haka is, you have to know, because its amazing. I suggest Bing.
This morning, before we left, they did another one, where I actually did cry.

I've noticed that YWAMers are very emotional. In a good way. We cry together, we scream together, and then cry some more. I don't think I've ever seen so many people screaming together in a 'God setting' before, except at a Chris Tomlin concert and that was loud and a ton of people. But in Tijuana, there were only, like, 250 of us and we were louder. We were totally stoked for Jesus!

The trip into Tijuana was a trip like no other. The van I was on got lost. Yes, it was the van, because I'm not going to blame Shaun. None of us knew Spanish, and all of the road signs were in Spanish. Some guy tried to get in the van, then we drove into downtown Tijuana, which is the most dangerous part. Did I mention that it was night? Then we passed a shootout. Truly terrifying, yet so fun. We arrived safely on base and we were the last of the LA group to get there.  We went into the evening session, but all of us were so confused. It was almost over, anyway. We got into our beds that night, and I was so high on adrenaline from the drive that I had a hard time getting to sleep. The trip home was a little less exciting, but it was still fun. We got to sit at the border for a while, mostly because the line was moving so slow. Then, Eric, Katlyn, Breana, and I laughed for a long time. Actually, I did most of the laughing. Then I fell asleep and had weird dreams. But we got home safely.

It's funny that we all call the LA base home now. We've only been here for three weeks. But it has become home because this has become the familiar. None of us really want to leave.

What Not to Do in Mexico

DO NOT GET LOST AT NIGHT IN DOWNTOWN TIJUANA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU COULD DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Super Track

The Super Track is just what the name says. SUPER!!! It has a focus only on one thing. Homeless people.
Did you know that 1 % of the American population is homeless? That's about 3.5 million people. Over 1 million childern sleep on the street or in shelters every night. About one quarter of the homeless living  in cities are under the age of 18, making homeless children 39% of the homeless population in America. Adults between the ages of 31 and 50 make up the highest share. 51%. Single men make up about 40% and single women about 14%. About 40% of the men have served in the US armed forces. 11% of the homeless in uban areas are veteran of wars and armed conflicts.
The causes for homelessness vary:
1. The lack of affordable housing.
2. A national increse in poverty.
3. The lack of stable employment that pays a living wage.
4. The inability to pay for medical bills.
5. The inablity to qualify for public assistance.
6. Domesitc violence.
7. Mental illness.
8. Addictions.
Most people think that the homeless are lazy. In most cases this is not true. 13-25% of homeless men and women are employed, but as they don't have a physical adress, they can't get a good job. Most work at temporary labor agencies that offer low pay and long hours.

How many times have you passed a man on a street corner that maybe just needed a prayer? How many times have you dumped half a meal in the trash bin, when there are so many people in America alone, going hungry?
We take our homes, our beds, our clothes, and our food for granted, not even realizing that so many people don't have that.

10 Tips for the Beach

1. Wear a swimsuit.
2. Take a towel.
3. Take snacks and drinks.
4.Take a camera
5. Don't swallow half the water in the ocean
6. Take some friends.
7. Don't get sunburned.
8. Have fun.
9. Wave jump.
10. Laugh at yourself.