FIRST UPDATE :)

Greetings all!  It is hard to believe September is already here.  It has been a fast, blessed summer filled with a time of growing spiritually and working fulltime and making memories with my family and friends.  All four of my grandparents as well my Aunt Sister and Uncle Joe came out for my graduation in May, and to end the summer our old neighbors from Memphis came to vacation in Idaho.  It has truly been an exciting and BUSY summer! 

For me specifically, my summer has been centered around the change of plans I had after graduation.  I’ve decided to wait to attend Boise State for a year and instead spend the next five months at a Justice and Mercy Discipleship Training School through Youth With A Mission.  Youth With A Missions (YWAM) is an international missions organizations which has reached out to 140 nations and has the goal of spreading the gospel to the corners of the world.  They do this through their discipleship training schools, intense five to six month schools where students study the Bible in depth and through the teachings grow to know God on a totally deep and real level, while also being prepared to take the gospel to the nations and back into life at home. 

Though they have schools in hundreds of nations all over the globe and each school has a unique focus on evangelism, for me God made the choice so simple.  I am going to a Justice and Mercy DTS in Barbados from September 28^th to February 23d where I will be learning of all the social injustices going on in the world, as well the 3 billion people who have not yet heard the gospel.  Along with the 20 other students I will be experiencing personal freedom and healing and also be given the tools and knowledge to reach the nations with the love of Christ who are discarded by the rest of the world as “unreachable”. 

After the nine weeks of lecture phase in Barbados where we will be studying topics from the “heart of God the Father” to “missional living”, my school will be traveling by boat throughout South America on outreach.  The first two weeks we will be continuing our studies and the following two and a half months we will apply what we’ve learned on the missions field as we travel from country to country ministering and encountering those God has planned in advance for us to meet.  We will not know the specifics until we arrive at school but we have been informed we’re traveling through five countries by boat starting in Venezuela and working our way down to Argentina!

As I’ve prayed over this trip, God keeps reminding me of the freedom I am going to find in Him as I literally put aside all of my fears and worries of the world to chase after Him and discover what he has for me.  The word I have heard several times is encounter.  The definition of this word God has yet to define for me, but I do know this:  I am going to be encountering Jesus on a whole new level which will make my wildest dreams come true.  What those dreams are specifically that will be fulfilled, I don’t know.  But I am so thankful God is giving me this chance to find out.  Since I was very little God has placed on my heart the desire and I’ve seen the importance of taking the gospel to the nations.  This past year I had the opportunity to take a Perspectives college class which taught on world missions.  My heart is burdened with fire to see God’s glory spread around the world and into places unknown.  I want every lost and broken soul to find him and have the same relationship I’ve been blessed with.  This school, will not only give me the training I need to do this, but I will be given a whole new set of eyes for His people on this earth and I will be totally changed by the miracles I witness and seeing His kingdom come to the lost and broken.

Obviously, this decision to do a DTS was not only last minute but unexpected for me too.  There were several huge factors that kept me from wanting to say yes to this right off the bat.  The main one was my health.  Though I have been healthy because of the medicine I receive from St. Jude’s, I still have Neutropenia and it would be a huge ordeal for me to get sick away from home.  However, St. Jude’s is able to provide my medicine for the five months I will be gone and I am taking the necessary precautions to stay healthy while I am there.  I am completely trusting in God to be my health care provider while away.  He is sending me there, so I am walking in complete confidence he will keep me healthy and safe.

The finances of my trip are a miracle.  All my life I have been super cautious about spending money, and I have saved most of my earnings.  Now I know the reason why I’ve saved:  for this school.  Between that, and my graduation money, and working full time this summer at Starbucks, I am going to have EXACALLY the amount I need with every penny stretched. Because of this blessing, I am not writing to ask for your financial support, but I am begging for your prayers as I embark into the unknown with Jesus as my light.  To know that there are friends and family praying for me daily back home when I’m away is my comfort.  And for this big of a leap of faith I need as much prayer as I can get.  Here are a few specific prayer requests that I would love for you to partner with me in interceding over these daily. 

     That God would be faithful in keeping me and my team healthy and safe from the time we leave home traveling through the airports, during our time in South America, and as we return to Barbados for graduation and come home.

     My family would be at peace letting go of their worry for me and remain healthy and safe while I’m gone.

  Pray for me as I grow into the young adult God has for me that I would let go of all fear and reservation and make my life a living sacrifice to Him.  That He would be the center of everything in my life and that I would absorb everything He has for me to learn on DTS and let them make me into the person God desires me to be.

   Pray for the other students and the life long friendships I will make.  (I don’t know any of the other students or anyone in Barbados)

     Pray for the lecture phase and outreach.  During lecture phase pray for our teachers and minds as we learn and grow and during outreach that we would be effective ministers for Christ and that any stumbling blocks would be cast aside and that we would see God’s Kingdom come on earth and His glory work and shine through the nations.

I cannot thank you enough for your prayers and taking the time to read my first update.  I truly could not do it with out you.  I have created a blog for my DTS and I will also be posting email updates and keeping in touch through skype and facebook.  My blog url is http://bekahdtsupdate.blogspot.com/.  If you would like to be put on my email list email me at suprgirl759@cableone.net.  I am planning on posting updates as much as I can with prayer requests, testimonies, pictures, and informing you on what I’m learning and the changes going on in me.  THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for praying.  I hope God blesses you and your family while I am away and I hope to hear from you all soon!

Lots of love,

Bekah