Camp David is a summer camp for the children of incarcerated people. Each summer, the camp hosts 6 week long camps. All the children have at least one parent who is in jail or has been in the past. When we arrived, we were shown to rooms where we would be staying for the night, ate dinner with the Camp David staff, and this was followed by an evening of learning about Camp David, worship, and intercession for the camp.
The next morning, we ate at the camp and then re-boarded the bus to head off to Roach, Missouri, where the YWAM GO! Conference was being held. Basically, this was 5 DTSs gathered and learning together. It was really like a vacation- instead of having 12 roommates, I had 4, and instead of having 3 toilets (one which doesn't really work) and 4 showers for 35 females, we had one of each for the 5 in our room! It was great! :)
The focus of the week was Missions. Our speakers were Brian Hogan, who spoke about his experiences church planting in Mongolia, Brad Stanley, who talked about cities and evangelizing, and Amanda Siebold, who spoke about her work at a domestic violence shelter in Kansas City.
The week was good, and, as usual, we all learned a lot. I especially learned a lot from Brad which I hadn't thought about before -we have been praying for God to give us the opportunity to reach the unreached peoples, and here they are, all gathering in one place! Sometimes, the best way to evangelize isn't to go out into the wilds and find these people, but to just go to the cities, talk to them there, and let them take it back to their people. Brad talked about urbanization in our culture, which is happening at a very rapid rate. Currently, over 50% of the world's population is living in a major urban city, and by 2030, it is estimated that that number will be at 60-65%. The problem is, rather than seeing urbanization as a good thing, many Christians instead moved out of the cities. One thing that Brad said that really stood out to me was that "The city does not create brokenness, it just draws it to the surface and accentuates it."
Another part of Brad's teaching that really caught me attention was when he discussed immigrants. He has worked with YWAM in Chicago for years, and so he has talked to countless immigrants. One question he will always ask them is what is one thing they really want to do but haven't. And almost every single person he has talked to -and some have lived in America for over 10 years; they are not necessarily new immigrants!- said that they have always wanted to be invited into an American home. But they never have. They also have very rarely heard the words "I'm glad you are here."
The last point of Brads that really stood out to me was when he talked about the parable of the mustard seed in Matthew 13. We always find great comfort in this parable- you can be like a tiny little seed and have faith like a tiny little seed, and yet you can still do much! But as Brad pointed out, in order for this seed to grow, it first had to be planted. If left on a shelf somewhere, the tiny seed won't do anything. "So go, plant yourself somewhere, and God will use you," Brad said.
Another thing that happened during conference was we finally got our outreach locations finalized- we had an outreach reveal night nearly two weeks ago. That night, we spent about an hour in worship, preparing our hearts to listen to God. Once we felt ready, we went upstairs where there was a table for each of the five outreach location. Each table had information about the country, a sample of their food, and a couple other things. We got to see the countries and then take as long as we needed to decide which place God was calling us to.
One of the outreach locations was Uganda. And I wanted to go there- I've always wanted to go to Africa. So I looked at the other tables, but I stayed at Uganda for longer cause that's the place I was most interested in. Usually, the Uganda team goes to a baby home- that would just be totally awesome!
Another option was Mexico. And for some reason, I found myself drawn back to that table over and over again. I didn't want to go to Mexico- that's barely even going anywhere! Uganda was where I wanted to go!
But I knew God was telling me no, that He wanted me in Mexico. So I sat down on a couch with the paper that I needed to number my choices on. But I just couldn't do it. I couldn't write it down. "Please, God," I said, "If you want me to go to Mexico, confirm it."
About a minute later, Kenzie, one of the staff members, walked over to me. "How are you doing? Need to verbally process or talk about it?"
I shook my head, "I think I know. I just don't want to write it down," I told her.
She nodded and sat down beside me and held out a plate that she had, "Well, do you want some salsa and chips? They're from Mexico!"
So.... now that the teams are finalized, it is official: I will be heading to Mexico after Christmas for a couple of months! Mexico is the smallest team- only two students besides me signed up for it. But I think it will be a good team!
The funny thing is that the Uganda team is the biggest. Over 1/3rd of our DTS is going there. Almost everybody put Uganda as either number one or two. This has never happened before. Usually, Uganda is a very small team. This year, they are sending two teams to that country. And a few of the people going there did not want to go there! One of the girls literally just came back from a month serving in Uganda, and that was the last place she wanted to go to. Another girl has lived in Africa for most of her life, so she wanted to go to Asia or somewhere different. But God is calling her to Uganda, just as He is calling me to Mexico.
When we left the conference on Friday afternoon, we only took half our DTS with us, The Rescue Ops people travelled to Arkansas, where they are staying for the week. So here at the TC, it is quite quiet and strange! Half the family is gone! There is currently only one guy here, other than 4 year old Micah. It is just strange!
One thing I really love here is the relationships I am building. We all get along really well and you can talk to anyone, but I've come to know a few people better than others. After lunch on Thursday, some people from my DTS got baptised in the lake at the conference. Kenzie and I decided to sit and talk nearby until it was time for the baptism. The next thing we knew, it was nearly dinner time! And last night, again, we started talking and the next thing we knew, it was nearly one in the morning. I've also grown close to my bunkmate, Anna. She's attempting to teach me Portuguese (she is from Brazil). We have a lot of fun together. Last night, after Kenzie went to bed, Anna and I went stargazing. We were sitting there, looking at the stars, when I said "Anna, we don't get to clean the guy's bathroom together this week! It's so sad!" (since the Rescue Ops people are gone, our chores got shifted a bit). Anna looked at me and started laughing, "That was what I was just thinking!" she told me. I don't know, I guess stars just make us think of those things... :P
Anna also really wanted to see a shooting star. But there was nothing. So we were beginning to get a bit cold, so at 1:37, we decided to give it 5 more minutes. We prayed and begged God to send a shooting star, because we were going inside at 1:42. At exactly 1:42, there was a huge shooting star :)
So life here is busy, but really fun :) And I have picked out a few pictures to show you... but trust me, this is just a tiny snippet of my life!
The next morning, we ate at the camp and then re-boarded the bus to head off to Roach, Missouri, where the YWAM GO! Conference was being held. Basically, this was 5 DTSs gathered and learning together. It was really like a vacation- instead of having 12 roommates, I had 4, and instead of having 3 toilets (one which doesn't really work) and 4 showers for 35 females, we had one of each for the 5 in our room! It was great! :)
The focus of the week was Missions. Our speakers were Brian Hogan, who spoke about his experiences church planting in Mongolia, Brad Stanley, who talked about cities and evangelizing, and Amanda Siebold, who spoke about her work at a domestic violence shelter in Kansas City.
The week was good, and, as usual, we all learned a lot. I especially learned a lot from Brad which I hadn't thought about before -we have been praying for God to give us the opportunity to reach the unreached peoples, and here they are, all gathering in one place! Sometimes, the best way to evangelize isn't to go out into the wilds and find these people, but to just go to the cities, talk to them there, and let them take it back to their people. Brad talked about urbanization in our culture, which is happening at a very rapid rate. Currently, over 50% of the world's population is living in a major urban city, and by 2030, it is estimated that that number will be at 60-65%. The problem is, rather than seeing urbanization as a good thing, many Christians instead moved out of the cities. One thing that Brad said that really stood out to me was that "The city does not create brokenness, it just draws it to the surface and accentuates it."
Another part of Brad's teaching that really caught me attention was when he discussed immigrants. He has worked with YWAM in Chicago for years, and so he has talked to countless immigrants. One question he will always ask them is what is one thing they really want to do but haven't. And almost every single person he has talked to -and some have lived in America for over 10 years; they are not necessarily new immigrants!- said that they have always wanted to be invited into an American home. But they never have. They also have very rarely heard the words "I'm glad you are here."
The last point of Brads that really stood out to me was when he talked about the parable of the mustard seed in Matthew 13. We always find great comfort in this parable- you can be like a tiny little seed and have faith like a tiny little seed, and yet you can still do much! But as Brad pointed out, in order for this seed to grow, it first had to be planted. If left on a shelf somewhere, the tiny seed won't do anything. "So go, plant yourself somewhere, and God will use you," Brad said.
Another thing that happened during conference was we finally got our outreach locations finalized- we had an outreach reveal night nearly two weeks ago. That night, we spent about an hour in worship, preparing our hearts to listen to God. Once we felt ready, we went upstairs where there was a table for each of the five outreach location. Each table had information about the country, a sample of their food, and a couple other things. We got to see the countries and then take as long as we needed to decide which place God was calling us to.
One of the outreach locations was Uganda. And I wanted to go there- I've always wanted to go to Africa. So I looked at the other tables, but I stayed at Uganda for longer cause that's the place I was most interested in. Usually, the Uganda team goes to a baby home- that would just be totally awesome!
Another option was Mexico. And for some reason, I found myself drawn back to that table over and over again. I didn't want to go to Mexico- that's barely even going anywhere! Uganda was where I wanted to go!
But I knew God was telling me no, that He wanted me in Mexico. So I sat down on a couch with the paper that I needed to number my choices on. But I just couldn't do it. I couldn't write it down. "Please, God," I said, "If you want me to go to Mexico, confirm it."
About a minute later, Kenzie, one of the staff members, walked over to me. "How are you doing? Need to verbally process or talk about it?"
I shook my head, "I think I know. I just don't want to write it down," I told her.
She nodded and sat down beside me and held out a plate that she had, "Well, do you want some salsa and chips? They're from Mexico!"
So.... now that the teams are finalized, it is official: I will be heading to Mexico after Christmas for a couple of months! Mexico is the smallest team- only two students besides me signed up for it. But I think it will be a good team!
The funny thing is that the Uganda team is the biggest. Over 1/3rd of our DTS is going there. Almost everybody put Uganda as either number one or two. This has never happened before. Usually, Uganda is a very small team. This year, they are sending two teams to that country. And a few of the people going there did not want to go there! One of the girls literally just came back from a month serving in Uganda, and that was the last place she wanted to go to. Another girl has lived in Africa for most of her life, so she wanted to go to Asia or somewhere different. But God is calling her to Uganda, just as He is calling me to Mexico.
When we left the conference on Friday afternoon, we only took half our DTS with us, The Rescue Ops people travelled to Arkansas, where they are staying for the week. So here at the TC, it is quite quiet and strange! Half the family is gone! There is currently only one guy here, other than 4 year old Micah. It is just strange!
One thing I really love here is the relationships I am building. We all get along really well and you can talk to anyone, but I've come to know a few people better than others. After lunch on Thursday, some people from my DTS got baptised in the lake at the conference. Kenzie and I decided to sit and talk nearby until it was time for the baptism. The next thing we knew, it was nearly dinner time! And last night, again, we started talking and the next thing we knew, it was nearly one in the morning. I've also grown close to my bunkmate, Anna. She's attempting to teach me Portuguese (she is from Brazil). We have a lot of fun together. Last night, after Kenzie went to bed, Anna and I went stargazing. We were sitting there, looking at the stars, when I said "Anna, we don't get to clean the guy's bathroom together this week! It's so sad!" (since the Rescue Ops people are gone, our chores got shifted a bit). Anna looked at me and started laughing, "That was what I was just thinking!" she told me. I don't know, I guess stars just make us think of those things... :P
Anna also really wanted to see a shooting star. But there was nothing. So we were beginning to get a bit cold, so at 1:37, we decided to give it 5 more minutes. We prayed and begged God to send a shooting star, because we were going inside at 1:42. At exactly 1:42, there was a huge shooting star :)
So life here is busy, but really fun :) And I have picked out a few pictures to show you... but trust me, this is just a tiny snippet of my life!
This is The Hallway, on any given night. We like to hang out here.
Just some pictures from GO Conference. We split into teams for games that involved shaving cream. And one with eggs (I ended up having 2 raw eggs cracked on my head). Christine and a couple others were baptised, and my DTS had an hour of worship in a cave.
On the night of our Love Feast (we all had to dress up), we took some girls pictures :)
After supper one day, a few of us had a craving for ice cream. So we drove over to a local ice cream place, Sassy Cow. There are quite a few Sassy Cow trips around here!
This is my entire DTS family -staff and students- other than the two staff members who did not go to the GO Conference.
This is Keisha and Anna. Keish-Keish is my one-on-one. They were holding my ipod for me while I wrestled Kenzie, and as you can see, they had some fun...
This is the view at Camp David... it was beautiful!
We had worship in this cave... at the very end of the cave. Not in the entrance!
The lake at the GO Conference
I saw the sunrise as I walked to breakfast every morning of the GO Conference. It was absolutely beautiful!
Blessings,
Katie
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