Fully Funded!!!

    I wanted to take the opportunity to thank everyone of my supporters that made this adventure possible. It's not the easiest thing to keep in contact with everyone from down here but I am SO thankful for anyone who has helped me to get to where I am now. God has being working in me and changing my life in ways I never could have imagined. This week two great things happened. First I was able to pay off the entirety of my school tuition (thank God). After that my outreach team had our first official meeting where we discussed possible cities, places to stay, and cost. After hearing the approximate cost I went to my computer to check how much money I had left over after paying the school... It was just above the approximate cost of the outreach! Thank God and thank you all who have paved the way for me to be here. I can't wait to see you all when I return.

Intercession for India

 We just sent out two girls from the base to India so in their honor we had a giant Indian night of intercession. We ate with our hands, learned some fun phrases, and even had a Bollywood dance!

Somewhat recent pictures

Hey guys! Sorry I don't get to upload too many pictures of myself. I'v been taking video and photos at most of the event we partake in which as you can imagine means I'm not in them. Here are a couple of decently recent photos of me so you guys can remember what I look like. 

We made it in the news!

     Recently we all went out as a team to one of the poorest parts of cartagena for a time of evangelism. We split up in small teams and went all throughout the neighborhood hitting houses, stores, and people in the streets. We were able to have a big collaboration in the community with drama, music, and preaching. A news team showed up and captured us in action and yesterday they uploaded the story! You will only see me in it for a second or two because I was doing video and photography of the event but it's awesome to see all my brothers and sisters in action!

Click here to see the video!!! (Sorry it's in spanish)

More Pictures of Cartagena

Down town Cartagena

A view of the city

My DTS Class

Here is a picture of my DTS in lecture. 

It's hard to see but this our class, 51 students and 20 staff. As you can imagine it's a bit on the difficult side to establish relationships with all of these people (in spanish), but I'm trying my best. Regardless of language or closeness we all love each other and we're all family. 

Weekly Schedule

This is my schedule every week for twelve weeks... It's awesome to have so much time for God but sometimes I wish we could mix it up a little bit.

Monday

5:30 - 7:30 ~ Mandatory Quiet Time
7:30 - 8:00 ~ Breakfast
8:00 - 9:00 ~ Daily Chores
9:00 - 9:30 ~ Intercession Time
9:30 - 12:30 ~ Lecture
12:30 - 1:00 ~ Lunch 

1:00 - 2:30 ~ Free Time

2:30 - 5:30 ~ Interest Groups

5:30 - 6:00 ~ Dinner 

7:00 - 9:00 ~ Lecture 

10:00 ~ Lights Out 

Tuesday

5:30 - 7:30 ~ Mandatory Quiet Time

7:30 - 8:00 ~ Breakfast

8:00 - 9:00 ~ Daily Chores

9:00 - 12:30 ~ Lecture

12:30 - 1:00 ~ Lunch

1:00 - 2:30 ~ Free Time

2:30 ~ 5:30 Creative Time (AKA Acting)

5:30 - 6:00 ~ Dinner

7:00 - 9:00 ~ Lecture

10:00 ~ Lights Out

Wednesday

5:30 - 7:30 ~ Mandatory Quiet Time

7:30 - 8:00 ~ Breakfast

8:00 - 9:00 ~ Daily Chores

9:00 - 9:30 ~ Intercession Time

9:30 - 12:30 ~ Lecture

12:30 - 1:00 ~ Lunch

1:00 - 2:30 ~ Free Time

2:30 - 5:30 ~ Pastoral Time

5:30 - 6:00 ~ Dinner

7:00 - 9:00 ~ Lecture

10:00 ~ Lights Out

Thursday

5:30 - 7:30 ~ Mandatory Quiet Time

7:30 - 8:00 ~ Breakfast

8:00 - 9:00 ~ Daily Chores

9:00 - 12:30 ~ Lecture

12:30 - 1:00 ~ Lunch

1:00 - 2:30 ~ Free Time

2:30 - 5:30 ~ Evangelism

5:30 - 6:00 ~ Dinner

7:00 - 9:00 ~ Lecture

10:00 ~ Lights Out

Friday

5:30 - 7:30 ~ Mandatory Quiet Time

7:30 - 8:00 ~ Breakfast

8:00 - 9:00 ~ Daily Chores

9:00 - 9:30 ~ Intercession Time

9:30 - 12:30 ~ Lecture

12:30 - 1:00 ~ Lunch

1:00 - 2:30 ~ Free Time

2:30 - 5:30 ~ Present Assignments

5:30 - 6:00 ~ Dinner

7:00 - 9:30 ~ Family Reunion

10:30 ~ Lights Out

Saturday / Sunday

Saturday and Sunday very but usually include things like deep cleaning, going to church, and catching up on assignments like research projects, book reports, and journal checks.

Outreach Options!

My school consist of about 51 students and 20 staff members and we are planning to send at least 10 teams across the world. Each team will have around 4 students and 2 staff members. We are all praying about where God wants us but this is the list of possible outreaches we have at this moment. 

• Colombia X4 (Locations include jungle outreaches to work with tribal people)
• Venezuela 
• Brazil 
• Cuba
• Ecuador
• Peru
• Switzerland / Germany (Music outreach)
• Other Europe team (Possibly Italy or Greece)

We may have any variation or combination of these locations. 

Dean Harvey

For the past two weeks I had the privilege of learning from Dean Harvey six hours every day. It was a breath of fresh air to have a teacher that taught in english. Dean was a pastor for more than 40 years and has read the bible more than 55 times front to back. It was a awesome to pic his brain and ask him the some of the hardest questions about the bible. He spent one week on the high cost of sin/ the broken heart of God and another covering the entire old testament. I got to take part in making an interview video with Dean sharing his story of losing his son. His son wasn't a believer and was killed in a drunk driving incident. This video is in the editing process and I will post it as soon as possible. This man was one of the smartest men I have ever met. I hope his has many more years here with us to spread his knowledge.

Interest Groups

We all had the opportunity to join and interest group in our first week. We had options like dancing, theater, english, music, and others. The group I went with was audio visual / creative communication. To my surprise the gear we are working with is actually pretty nice and I'm learning a lot. The leader of the group is in charge of JuCUM's (YWAM in spanish) creative communication team for all of Colombia. It's been awesome getting to learn some new tricks, especially on the video side of things. Here are a few pictures of a practice interview we did. 

Main Points - Week 1

Main Points - Week 1 

6 Steps to survive a DTS - Embrace hardship, Follow rules, Enjoy designated time with Jesus, Keep eyes on the now, Be open to change, Your pride is not worth it. 

Don't make God in our likeness; God wants us to see things from their perspective. 

A good servant is Humble, Transparent, has Integrity, and is Obedient. 

Service is giving your life.

4 Motivations - Pleasure, Power, Public opinion, or God 

Motivation = Internal state that activates, maintains, and directs behavior.

We are all challenged to live love in a practical way. 

All that man can do without God is polluted with selfishness and sin.

Self = Sin 

We are all here to be broken by God, accept it or don't. 

The reason to intercede is love. 

Those who are made new creatures manifest fruits of The Holy Spirit.

We need to accept what comes from God and get radical with our decisions. 

Knowing the whole bible is knowing the whole truth. 

We are they key to fulfilling God's dreams. We are world changers. 

Cartagena =

Cartagena = Hot, Humid, Dirty, and at times extremely beautiful 

Frustration

My first week in Cartagena was pretty rough. I am the only student in the boy's dorm that can speak english. Their are a few girls and guy leaders that are able to but it's still hard. I read a book that said Colombian spanish was the easiest to understand... unfortunately the coastal region is where spanish is the sloppiest. During the worship times I have no clue what I am supposed to be singing or praying and in the class room I'm often lost. They have a translator but they fall behind making it impossible to actually understand what the teacher is trying to communicate. Everyone wants to include me in everything but honestly there are times were my brain is so fried I don't even feel like speaking spanish. I know God called me here but sometime that's easy to forget. I think he's just teaching me to lean on him more. Pray for me!

My Home

Here are some pictures of my home for the next three months. As you can tell it's still undergoing renovations but it sure beats nothing. 

"House of the Nations"

The Boy's Dorm

My Bed (Bottom Bunk)

Difficult to Update

Hey everyone,
     Due to poor internet connection here I have been unable to upload photos or large post. I am trying to work out the issue with the school staff. Stay tuned!

Saying hello to Cartagena

I flew into Cartagena, Colombia on Wednesday. I arrived at 12:30am and it was far from what I expected. I walked out to hot weather and drenchingly humid air which was a little bit of a shock after being up in the cold mountains where it was raining every day. The fact that I don't have the opportunity to talk in english is awesome. I even got to get up in front of everyone today and talk in spanish during a prayer time. It's hard to understand these guys but we are all brothers and that's the most awesome part about it. Experiencing God without words is intensely refreshing. The rest of my team flys in tonight; I can't wait to meet them. 

Machu Picchu

More amazing than the man made ruins were the God crafted mountains. 

Having to say goodbye...

The people I met in Cusco were some of the nicest most genuine people I have ever met. The thought of never seeing these people again was a giant cloud hanging over my head for my last day there. I thought my flight was at 5pm when it was really at 11am which forced me to leave without getting to say adios to some of my closer friends. It's probably a good thing because the ones I did get to say weren't easy. I don't know what it was but leaving Cusco was harder for me than leaving my own home...

Great to Have Support

An excerpt from a Vintage Faith Church bulletin.

Kayla Barker just sent this so me on Facebook. It's awesome to know that even when your 5,000 miles away on a different continent you still have your family supporting you back home. 

Under Attack

     Durring my stay here I had the pleasure of meeting two awesome missionaries, Veronica and Christina. A couple nights ago was Christina's last night in Cusco so we all went out for diner. While we were eating Conor shared his past struggles with drugs and addiction and how God had pulled him away from them. He had been feeling tempted lately but was trying his hardest to lean on God and keep away from it. Later in the night Veronica and I had shared stories of how we have seen the power of God overcome evil so many times. Veronica had some extreme stories from her travels to The Sacred Valley and I had some from my journey to South Africa. After all of this we were walking back and passed a local shaman staring at us, but none of us thought much of it. After walking a good distance a man who tries to sell me drugs every day in the street came up to Conor and said "Yo man I got the good stuff!" Conor politely declined the offer. (Weird how he had just shared his struggles and got offered drugs right after). Immediately after declining a man charged him out of nowhere and jumped on his back like a monkey. Conor pushed him off and I stepped between the two of them. The man started swinging at me and hitting me repeatedly but he was small so it didn't hurt much. I kept my hands up to protect myself as I backed up. I didn't want to hurt the man and oddly enough I was at peace. I didn't feel threatened, I wasn't angry, I just wanted everyone to get away safe. Veronica kept yelling at me to turn around and run. I'v never been the type to run from someone and I knew if I turned at the wrong moment he could hit the back of my head. Eventually I did turn my back after I had created some space and started to walk away. Apparently as I did so he punched Veronica several times but neither me or Conor saw it. The weird thing was that the entire time he didn't say a single word. He just stared at us with and creepy look like a puppet. Now I've seen my fair share of fights and never have I seen someone start a fight without constantly yelling and talking crap. As we were walking away people in the street were heckling us but we just wanted out. As soon as we got to the plaza where we are living a pack of wild dogs tried to attack us and bite our legs but it seamed every time they tried to do so something was preventing them from actually being able to bite us. We got to our door and the dogs had us surrounded. Conor and I stood between the dogs and the girls while they unlocked the door. Finally when we got inside we opened the door (there was a gate around the door protecting us) and looked outside. We saw the shaman we had seen before walking in the plaza, looking around with the dogs following him calmly. Veronica began to read Psalms 91 out the door as Conor and Christina prayed and I started casting evil away in the name of the Lord. Afterwards we turned on some Jesus music in the cafe and all tried to digest what had just happened. The enemy was pissed that Conor was in God's hands, the enemy was pissed that we were claiming the power of God over him, and he attacked us. It was scary. It was hard to sleep. I spent most of the night awake in bed praying. But in the end, after physical attack and spiritual attack, we were fine. God protected us and the enemy was powerless and thats all that matters.

Faith and Food

After two days of being here and feeling fine I thought I was in the clear. Without getting into graphic details I'll just say by day three I was sick to my stomach. Most of the day was spent in bed trying to rest up. The following morning I was so afraid to eat anything that I had a small bowl of fruit and hoped it would last me the whole day. Later in the night I was drained, pale, and shaky from lack of food. With the help of some friends I was able to get to a small little store where I  bought a protein bar and a smoothie and scarfed them both down. Ten minutes later I was knocked out, face down in my bed. After twelve hours of sleep I woke up refreshed and jumped on a bus to a big market town named Pisac. There were sketchy little food booths set up all in a row serving up food that had been sitting out for hours. The friends I was with didn't want to step out of their comfort zone so they went to restaurant where they over payed for really crappy food. But after a day of my body shutting down I was over not eating what I wanted to. I sat at one of the booths, confident that God would protect me, and ordered a plate of shady old food. The result was the best bowl of soup I have ever had. I didn't get sick, the food didn't suck, and God had my back.  

The Best Bowl of Soup I've Ever Had

Meet Cristo Blanco

 Meet Cristo Blanco aka White Christ. This statue overlooks all of Cusco and can be seen from nearly any point in the city. Even at night time you can see Jesus lit up by bright green lights. Lets just say I'v been blessed with one of the best devotional places in the world. 

Made it to Peru!

After a full 26 hours of travel I finally got to Cusco today. I met the owner of the coffee shop I am volunteering at and he arranged a room and spanish lessons for me. While working in the shop I met a huge variety of people from all over the world. I ended up talking with a bunch of German students  and we walked all over Cusco for hours together. The city is beautiful, diverse, and full of travelers my age. It is far from what I expected but so much more. Coming into this trip my spanish speaking was a large concern but today I was able to hold every conversation on my own with no need of a translator. God totally blessed me. I will be posting pictures and what not soon so stay tuned!

Packed and Ready

Before

After

I'm sitting here awake at 12:30 am unable to sleep, double and triple checking that everything is ready and in place. In five hours I will be leaving Santa Cruz for SFO to kick off this trip. Over these past few weeks God has prepared my heart for this. Everyone keeps asking me how I feel, if I'm excited, if I'm nervous. Truth is, other than the sadness of goodbyes the only thing I really feel is mystery of what's to come. 

This mornings flight marks the beginning of my journey.