“Do not let anyone treat you as if you are unimportant because you are young…”
I just want to start out this prayer letter by saying, THANK YOU! I want to thank each and everyone of you for your prayers, support and just believing in me, and the task that Christ set before me. Thank you for believing that with Christ I can do this, and not looking at my age, for understanding that it’s the Gospel that makes us ready and not our age. It’s so weird to me that the 5 months of my life that I have been talking about for what seems like my entire life are over. I feel like they never happened, and I’m just in a daze right now. Christ has blessed me so much! I’m 17 years old and He has allowed me to “fast 5 months of real life” to spend with Him, studying His word, His character, and doing His work. I still will never understand why He has chosen me to do His work, I’m so honored, and I love doing it. I just feel so inadequate, but with Him I can accomplish whatever He sets before me. We serve an amazing God!
Right now if you were to ask me how my Discipleship Training School experience was, I would say, “Oh, it was good, God rocked my world, I lived in South America for a few months, it was really cool…” but on the inside I’m freaking out, and I don’t even know what to say! I still haven’t totally processed everything, and I’m not sure I will ever be able to process the entire 5 months! It’s very weird getting back to “real life” and not the YWAM bubble. Honestly, I miss the “YWAM bubble” SO much. Real life is hard! My YWAM experience was life-changing. It was the hardest thing I have ever done…my faith was tested, God did so much in my heart, mind and soul, I had stuff crammed into my head, living in South America for 2 months was intense, community living was stretching. It was the real thing. Before my DTS I would refuse to call myself a missionary, because it scared me but now I love it! I’m a missionary, God has chosen me! He has trusted me with spreading His word. That’s pretty sweet!
To sum up Colombia, God did a lot, we were able to work with churches, preaching, working in youth groups, encouraging church members, setting up special times of intercession to have with the church for their city, etc. We helped lead a mini DTS for kids at a church we stayed at, speaking into the kids lives, praying that they would hear God’s voice, which is the exact thing that our leaders had been praying for us about 12 weeks earlier, hearing the kids plans for their futures, kids who were 15 and 16 telling me all they wanted was to be used by God in whatever way HE wanted…it was amazing. We did many park ministries, just doing dramas and sharing testimonies in the middle of parks then going out and praying for people. It was outstanding. I learned the importance of prayer while I was in Colombia, the spiritual climate was SO heavy, but with prayer and daily laying down my desires and drawing closer to God it seemed everyday the spiritual heaviness I was feeling would lift. It was an amazing experience, we saw many people come to know the Lord, we were able to speak into peoples lives, and pray for healing, we didn’t see any healing on the spot, but I believe with all my heart that Christ did and will heal those people in His time.
Coming back to America was…weird, it was weird hearing people speak English, it was weird going to wal-mart, it was weird wearing seat belts, it was weird being cold, it was weird praying…and not having to pause and wait on a translation, it was just…weird. Our debrief week was really good, people really spoke into our lives, we had many people pray for us, and just encourage us, we got to share what we believe the next step is for our lives, and we prayed for each other for those things, being YWAMers we all got to share our plans for the future and then people prayed for our finances…because we are all pretty much broke…still(: We graduated from our DTS on Friday afternoon, on Friday morning we had worship, during worship my friend Carlee asked to talk to me in the bathroom where it was quiet, when I walked into the bathroom, my mom was standing there! She had flown out from Indiana to surprise me and see my graduation. That meant the world to me, it was awesome having family there, and seeing my mom after 3 months was a pretty huge deal(:
So coming back to Indiana has been very weird, and I have been pretty discouraged lately, I’ve just been missing my YWAM family a lot and missing YWAM worship and things like that…today I was very discouraged, coming back to real life is hard…tomorrow my task is finding a job, unpacking was hard, getting used to living in a house with a family is hard, not always having a friend with me is hard…it’s just hard. I got up this morning and went to church, came home, unpacked, family came over to see me and hear stories, then we had AWANA, which I love, working with the kids and hearing them recite the verses they have worked on all week is always such an encouragement to me. This evening I was asked to work with the middle school girls, and was paired up with a little girl named Cheyenne, she was 13 years old and has already had a very rough life. We were going through a booklet called the “Trek Check” and in this particular booklet they ask the kids to memorize bible verses that lead you through the plan of salvation and at the end they ask if they are ready to ask Christ into their lives…Cheyenne had all of the verses memorized…but she hadn’t read the explanations for the verses or the ending question. So I read through them with her, and she had many questions. Once she finished asking her questions she told me she was ready, so I had her explain to me what trusting Christ as her Savior meant to her, she told me and then we prayed together. It was amazing being used by God in that way. I had the privilege to lead one of His children back to Him! I will never understand why He chose me, at age 17 to do His work. I’m so honored, and I love every second of it. I have completely devoted my life to Him and His ministry.
So I just wanted to share with you all a little about my DTS experience, and I wanted to thank you for the prayers and support. You will never know how much each and every one of you mean to me. I think I know the next step for my life, and it won’t start until about July or so…it will be in Chicago, so I’ll be in the States for awhile(: Until then I plan to work and spend time with friends and family, pour into my church and community, do relief work for Haiti, and work with our AWANA program. Definitely staying busy! When I head to Chicago, or anywhere else God decides to take me, I will keep you all updated. Thank you again for your support, and prayers, I couldn’t have done it without those things!
In Christ alone,
Jenny
Right now if you were to ask me how my Discipleship Training School experience was, I would say, “Oh, it was good, God rocked my world, I lived in South America for a few months, it was really cool…” but on the inside I’m freaking out, and I don’t even know what to say! I still haven’t totally processed everything, and I’m not sure I will ever be able to process the entire 5 months! It’s very weird getting back to “real life” and not the YWAM bubble. Honestly, I miss the “YWAM bubble” SO much. Real life is hard! My YWAM experience was life-changing. It was the hardest thing I have ever done…my faith was tested, God did so much in my heart, mind and soul, I had stuff crammed into my head, living in South America for 2 months was intense, community living was stretching. It was the real thing. Before my DTS I would refuse to call myself a missionary, because it scared me but now I love it! I’m a missionary, God has chosen me! He has trusted me with spreading His word. That’s pretty sweet!
To sum up Colombia, God did a lot, we were able to work with churches, preaching, working in youth groups, encouraging church members, setting up special times of intercession to have with the church for their city, etc. We helped lead a mini DTS for kids at a church we stayed at, speaking into the kids lives, praying that they would hear God’s voice, which is the exact thing that our leaders had been praying for us about 12 weeks earlier, hearing the kids plans for their futures, kids who were 15 and 16 telling me all they wanted was to be used by God in whatever way HE wanted…it was amazing. We did many park ministries, just doing dramas and sharing testimonies in the middle of parks then going out and praying for people. It was outstanding. I learned the importance of prayer while I was in Colombia, the spiritual climate was SO heavy, but with prayer and daily laying down my desires and drawing closer to God it seemed everyday the spiritual heaviness I was feeling would lift. It was an amazing experience, we saw many people come to know the Lord, we were able to speak into peoples lives, and pray for healing, we didn’t see any healing on the spot, but I believe with all my heart that Christ did and will heal those people in His time.
Coming back to America was…weird, it was weird hearing people speak English, it was weird going to wal-mart, it was weird wearing seat belts, it was weird being cold, it was weird praying…and not having to pause and wait on a translation, it was just…weird. Our debrief week was really good, people really spoke into our lives, we had many people pray for us, and just encourage us, we got to share what we believe the next step is for our lives, and we prayed for each other for those things, being YWAMers we all got to share our plans for the future and then people prayed for our finances…because we are all pretty much broke…still(: We graduated from our DTS on Friday afternoon, on Friday morning we had worship, during worship my friend Carlee asked to talk to me in the bathroom where it was quiet, when I walked into the bathroom, my mom was standing there! She had flown out from Indiana to surprise me and see my graduation. That meant the world to me, it was awesome having family there, and seeing my mom after 3 months was a pretty huge deal(:
So coming back to Indiana has been very weird, and I have been pretty discouraged lately, I’ve just been missing my YWAM family a lot and missing YWAM worship and things like that…today I was very discouraged, coming back to real life is hard…tomorrow my task is finding a job, unpacking was hard, getting used to living in a house with a family is hard, not always having a friend with me is hard…it’s just hard. I got up this morning and went to church, came home, unpacked, family came over to see me and hear stories, then we had AWANA, which I love, working with the kids and hearing them recite the verses they have worked on all week is always such an encouragement to me. This evening I was asked to work with the middle school girls, and was paired up with a little girl named Cheyenne, she was 13 years old and has already had a very rough life. We were going through a booklet called the “Trek Check” and in this particular booklet they ask the kids to memorize bible verses that lead you through the plan of salvation and at the end they ask if they are ready to ask Christ into their lives…Cheyenne had all of the verses memorized…but she hadn’t read the explanations for the verses or the ending question. So I read through them with her, and she had many questions. Once she finished asking her questions she told me she was ready, so I had her explain to me what trusting Christ as her Savior meant to her, she told me and then we prayed together. It was amazing being used by God in that way. I had the privilege to lead one of His children back to Him! I will never understand why He chose me, at age 17 to do His work. I’m so honored, and I love every second of it. I have completely devoted my life to Him and His ministry.
So I just wanted to share with you all a little about my DTS experience, and I wanted to thank you for the prayers and support. You will never know how much each and every one of you mean to me. I think I know the next step for my life, and it won’t start until about July or so…it will be in Chicago, so I’ll be in the States for awhile(: Until then I plan to work and spend time with friends and family, pour into my church and community, do relief work for Haiti, and work with our AWANA program. Definitely staying busy! When I head to Chicago, or anywhere else God decides to take me, I will keep you all updated. Thank you again for your support, and prayers, I couldn’t have done it without those things!
In Christ alone,
Jenny
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