Back in Action

Greetings from Deutschland!

I am excited to share what I have been up to since I have been back at YWAM Herrnhut!

I am sitting on the floor of the girls’ shower room as one of my good friends plays her guitar and writes a new song as a part of the school of worship. We couldn’t find a quiet place in the castle. Ahhhhhh it is good to be back at YWAM Herrnhut! =)

This week has been insane! So many logistical things to work out, a couple of great friends from DTS visited, jumping into SOIP lectures, taking on the title of staff, overwhelmed by the beauty of Germany, worship, prayer sets, ultimate Frisbee and basketball games, picture taking and new opportunities popping up! I can’t wait to see how our Father will be faithful with everything He has already begun this week!

As most know I used to live in a flat in town and would walk 20 minutes or so to the class for lecture when I was in DTS, but I now call the castle home. I live in a room with 9 other girls. It is quite hilarious and entertaining with so many different nationalities and personalities in one room.  Currently at YWAM Herrnhut there are a few different schools going on. The Revive DTS: A discipleship training school focused on Revival… duh and 3 secondary schools. The kingdom school, School of Worship and the School of Intercessory Prayer. I have to admit it was very weird being in such a familiar place with so many new faces. It took some adjusting of perspective and attitude, but it really has been great! From just the little that I have got to get to know the new faces I am very excited for this season in Herrnhut. It has also been so great catching up with friends I made in DTS who are now on staff with YWAM Herrnhut or in a secondary school.

So much to tell it is ridiculous!

There are 17 students in the School of Intercessory Prayer. I now have friends from Hong Kong, India, Holland, Australia, Sweden, more Germans, more Americans. Man, so many different cultures and personalities. I am excited for what God will call us to as a school. The first week of lecture we did not have speaker come to speak to us, but our own staff shared their individual walks through prayer and what God has shown them through it. It has been great to get to know the 6 different members on staff and have our faith built up and excitement stirred inside listening to how God has grown them as His children and in prayer.

The heart of SOIP is that we be awakened to the power and excitement of prayer. That we learn how to partner with God and really connect with His heart in prayer. That prayer wouldn’t be a time we beg for God to give us things or list off things in our life we want from Him, but an intimate time with our Father where we feel what He feels and we pray what He wants us to pray by being lead by the Holy Spirit to see His kingdom come to this earth here and now.

I’ve been thinking a lot about prayer, naturally. Before SOIP prayer has seemed so boring and such a chore most of the time. Every now and then I would really “feel” like praying, but most of the time I just wasn’t super passionate about it. And I think it is like that for a lot of people and churches these days. In many places of the Bible we are told to pray without ceasing and to not lose heart, but to continue to persevere in prayer. If it is repeated so much than it must be important. So why is it approached with such a lack of excitement? And I’ve decided that it is because Satan is really good at His job. Satan knows the power of prayer so He has done everything He can to make us indifferent about prayer and neglect it. So, I am excited to walk against indifference and really find out the magnitude and honor it is to partner with God in prayer and intercede on behalf of the people around me and nations in our world.

A lot of what we have been learning is very foundational, but so so good. God asks us to come to Him directly and ask bold things of Him. Before we can do that we must know that we have the authority to do that. To know our authority is to know our identity and to know our identity is to know our Father. So we have been learning about our Father and what He thinks of us. How in love He is with us. How pleased He is with us. How He longs for relationship with us. Already in just this first week I feel like God has reminded me of key truths, challenged me to step into deeper intimacy with Him and fall into new things He wants to give me. It is going to be a great season as a part of the SOIP!!!

Besides the excitement and newness of all that SOIP is I have also officially stepped into the staff team at YWAM Herrnhut!!! This means I am like a full time missionary. Woah, didn’t see that one coming a year or so ago. Haha. It is so great! I attended my first staff meeting this past week. All of the current staff laid hands on the new staff members and prayed. I felt like such a little kid because I was in such awe that I could call myself a staff member just like many of the people that I so greatly admired. It was such an honor to be in the same room as incredibly passionate people and fierce lovers of God. I am so excited to be able to pursue God in such a radical community! Be poured into by a great family and bring all that I have to pour into them. Because I am in a secondary school and leadership of YWAM Herrnhut really wants us to focus on our schools I do not have much responsibility as a staff member just yet, besides attending staff prayer every morning.

So these days my daily life looks something like this…

6 am prayer two to three times a week. Breakfast at 7 am. Staff prayer at 8am. Lecture 9am to 11am. Coffee and fruit break at 11. 11:30 to 1pm, more lecture. Work duty at 2pm until 4pm. Usually lecture from 4 to 6. Dinner at 6pm. After dinner I usually dive deeper on my own into what we learned in lecture, read, take a walk, run or play sports, hang out with friends or catch up with family and friends back home.

Wow, I can't stop smiling thinking about how faithful God is. I hope to share with you guys soon a little more about how He has provided to get me back to Germany. But for now  there’s a little about what I have been up to. It is really surreal to be back in Herrnhut doing a secondary school. Did not think when I started DTS that I would be here now, but God’s plans are always so much bigger and better than my own! Thank you for all of your support and love!

I missed being around such amazing artists!! 

 First day of SOIP!

Coffee & fruit break

Old friends

The beauty of Herrnhut

 Walk down slow death from 6am prayer!

Emma. My Dutch friend. We will meet in Florida.

Keila & Evelyn. MOTA 2013 friends!

Work duty. Intense pile of leaves we raked.

First Staff Meeting.