God Is Moving!

What an incredible couple of days it has been!!  The week has been very full, with people coming back from outreach, people in the Awakening Track transitioning out of the track into staffing a DTS, I got to MC our Love Feast, and we got to do some really awesome community outreach!
But I wanted to share with you about the Community Outreach real quick, and then about our Outreach Testimony Report Back that all happened just yesterday!

          Every Wednesday afternoon we set aside time to go out into the community in various ways to do outreach.  As you know, we have been partnering with churches and distributing Bibles to the houses in Kona all around, and it's been amazing!!  We just heard that with our group and the DTS' that did their outreach here, over 150 families got a Bible for the first time in their home!!
Well, the outreach with the churches has ended so as we prayed about what we should do, someone got the idea to buy a bunch of burgers and head into town and pass them out to the hungry; so we did!!  We bought 20 burgers from McDonalds, walked about 5 minutes down the street and hit the beach where a bunch of surfers were.  We got to share the gospel with over 7 people and give them food.  Then we headed into town and met a bunch of homeless people who we were able to really love on.  Kona is full of people living on the streets, because it's so easy to do.  And a lot of them are caught up in drugs and drinking, so it's not uncommon to find them hiding out by the beaches and on the sidewalk drinking in the middle of the day.  We ran into about 5 people who were really drunk and just wasting the day away.  We got to share the gospel with them, pray with them, give them food, and show them Jesus' love.  It was so much fun!!

          Over the past 3 days, the campus has been filling up with the returning outreach teams who have been gone for 3 months in various parts of the world.  Fire & Fragrance teams returned from Monday morning until Wednesday morning, and it's felt like the biggest family reunion all week!! It's been so wonderful to have them back and hear all of the amazing stories.

[Pete & Kenzie Mitchell, and Ethan Leavitt as we are about to hit the streets!!]

          Every time a DTS returns, we all gather back for Outreach Testimony Report Back, where we listen to each outreach team share on the amazing things that happened, so we got to do that last night!  As I was sitting there, surrounded by well over 300 people, I listened to the stories of Gods faithfulness and His pursuit after the ones He has created and longs for, and my mind was blown at what I heard!!

The teams were sent out into India, Nepal, Amsterdam/London, South Africa, Uganda, LA, New York City, and DC.  The story of each was that the simple gospel was preached, and thousands came to know Jesus for the first time!

Uganda alone saw over 500 SALVATIONS!!  India saw in a short hour over 100 people instantly healed from major sicknesses and pains.

In Nepal, they told people that they would pray for them to be healed of whatever they had.  A man then walks up to them with a fractured wrist.  It was visibly obvious that the bone was out of place as it was penetrating the skin, and the man was in a lot of pain.  As the girl on the Nepal outreach team began to pray for him, all of the sudden they hear cracking and look down and his wrist had popped back into place and became COMPLETELY HEALED!!!!

This is just one of many many stories that we heard of over 2 hours of sharing.  It was amazing!!  With all of the outreaches combined, the Good News of Jesus was shared to over 5,000 people, and they saw over 1,500 salvations in just 2.5 months with 150 people sharing the gospel!!!  They saw blind eyes open, deaf ears begin to hear, they saw the dead raise right here in Hawaii, and many many more amazing things of Jesus pouring out His love.  Jesus is so ready to encounter His people and loves when we partner with Him and believe that He actually is willing AND able!  People are hungry to hear the GOOD NEWS of the gospel, and it's absolute proof by these testimonies.

[In the Fire & Fragrance Tent listening to the powerful testimonies]

I am so stirred by yesterday to not walk in any fear, but just to love on people the way that Jesus did and tell them of who He is and who He has been in my life.  Our testimony and story with Jesus is the most powerful tool that we carry to bring the kingdom to earth.

I hope you are all pumped & excited and that this put fresh faith in you for what God is doing all around the world!! I love you all and hope to hear from you soon!

Time to Come Alive!

Oh Jesus you are SO good.
It's 3pm and I'm in California.  Yes, you heard me right, CAL-I-FOR-NIA. I've never been here and might I say so far, it's everything I hoped it to be and i've only been here a little bit.  I am outside in the backyard of the Gibbons house in a little neighborhood in the heart of Irvine.  Trees, purple flowers, green grass, perfect 75 degrees (my favorite) with a slight breeze.  Did I say how at peace I am?  Well... I am.  You see, before getting here, we had quite a journey.  Our team changed 4 times, we lost all housing and transportation 2 days before leaving... One thing after another came our way to take us out.  My father said on the phone as I talked to him about everything going on, "You know it's because the enemy is about ot be taken out so he's using anything and everything he can to distract you and take you out before he is." we've only been here a few hours and he was right!  Did I mention we got all 7 weeks of housing 20 minutes prior to boarding the plane?  And in the house with me is another girl who is gluten free?  Needless to say the enemy is being taken out and whatever tactic he might have simple WILL NOT WORK.  Why?  Because we've already won... The victory is already ours - now we just live it out.  So i push past the pain in my joints that continues to get worse, the ache in my stomach and this attack of confusion on my mind because I know we have glory in tribulation and it produces perserverance, which prudces character and character HOPE.  Hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the HOly Spirit who was given to us [Romans 5:3-5].

Breathe in.  Breathe out. The winds come and go through the trees and the birds whistle their tune.  Thank you Jesus.  You are Faithful.  There is NONE like you.  ONLY you satisfy.  You've won my heart over again and again and again.  I am yours forever and this outreach is yours for the wrecking.

It's a freedom you've never known or seen and it comes by realizing the love of the King.

It's your Fathers hand behind you, It's my voice all around you.

It's no fear and it's no restraint.  It's living out love & beauty with Kingdom strength.

It's piercing to the eyes.  It goes straight through stone hearts.

It's alive & fun and It's about to run.

It opens the closed & brings light to the dark.

It's unlike any other thing and it's released from your heart.

Spread your wings & become alive

For this is why you were created to fly.
Break every box. Shatter every fear.

For the Kingdom of God is here.

One Day Away!!!

Well... in just a little over 24 hours I will be boarding a plane and headed to L.A. !!  I am super super excited, a little nervous, but more excited than anything.  I kind of don't know what to expect.  I've never done intentional ministry anywhere but 3rd world countries, and I've also never even been to California... So this is going to be quite interesting!! :)  God knows what He's doing and all I can do is put all of hope & trust in Him because time and time again He's proven Himself worthy!

Before we headed out I wanted to introduce you to my team more properly.  Enjoy this beautiful photos taken by my friend here, Josie Farrior.

 

Individually:

Me ;) 

From: Cornelius, North Carolina

Age: 20

  Erin Crain

From: Washington

Age: 32

Nali Kim

From: Pennsylvania

Age: 20

Rami Son

From: Ecuador

Age: 28

Rosemary Cho

From:

Age: 17

Kellye Vetter: Co Leader :)

From: Oklahoma

Age: 21

Jamie Chang
From: Indiana

Age: 18



















See you on the road! :)

LA & NY Here We Come!!!

Wow.  Has it really already been 3 months since I started this journey?  I honestly cannot believe it.  In ways it seems like it just started last week, in other ways it feel like I've been doing this forever.  Regardless of what it feels most like, I wouldn't trade a second of it for anything.  I've learned so much, I've grown so much and been set free in so many different ways and depths and it's only just begun really!

I am sitting on my couch right now in my room with so many emotions running through me... 2 of my roommates and fellow staffers have already left, one to Kenya & the other to the Philippines.  Brazil has already been invaded with a team as well... In just a few 4 days I will be leaving as well.

                                                 My Co-Leader & I, Kellye Vetter 

On Wednesday I will be landing in Los Angeles leading a team of 5 amazing woman (Rosemary, Jamie, Rami, Erin, & Nali) with my co-leader Kellye Vetter.  in L.A. we will be going to universities, setting up Open Mic Nights at cafe's, street evangelism, working with orphans and prostitutes, hanging out and worshiping in parks, loving on the homeless and the wealthy all with a heart to love those who have never seen true love, to bring a heart of Kingdom Family into a dry & thirsty land, to set the captives free, heal the sick & raise the dead... We want to live the abundant life we have been given through grace by Jesus Christ everywhere we go... to set ourselves on fire with the love of Christ and allow the world to watch us burn.  After 7 weeks of that, we will transition and fly to New York!!  Our heart is the same for this place, although it will look a little different.  We are partnering up with Models of Christ and working at the Fall Fashion Week.  Some of us will be back stage dressing models, others of us will be interning with photographers and bloggers and also getting into the shows. During this week we will be hosting a burn & partnering up with 3 other YWAM teams to set the tone of the love of the Father to flood through this week.  We will be in NY a total for 4 weeks.  Then we head home!!

That's the outline, but doesn't even scratch the surface of what Jesus will do.  We are expectant to see crazy crazy things happen and aren't afraid to pray faith filled prayers of craziness.  We love Jesus and want to live like it and see other people transformed by it.  It's that's simple and that amazing.  We are so stoked! I am so stoked!!

Please partner with us in prayer if you want to!  America is a hard place, hungry and thirsty for truth, and we fully believe we are entering into these major lands at a perfect time when the people are ripe for Jesus and we cannot wait to see what it looks like.  Thank you all for your prayers thus far!
Please continue following this blog as we travel and I will also post another link soon for our Team Blog that will be updated weekly.

I love you all and miss you a lot!!!

The Whole Team Taken @ Love Feast

 [From Left to Right: Rami, Jamie, Rosemary, Me, Kellye, Erin, Nali]

Simple & Profound.

Jesus is so good.

I could just put that as my blog post, and I feel that it would fully explain everything that I could ever say.  It's that simple.  And it's that profound.  There is nothing about Him that isn't good.  Everything about Him is good.  Not just somewhat good, not just sometimes good, but ALL of the time ALWAYS 100% good.  Could it really be that true?  Could He really be that good?  Yes. Because it is & He is.

I've been in Kona now for a little over four months.  You have read the few posts that I have shared my heart in, but no words could describe all that the Lord has done in my heart.  Freedom after freedom after freedom.  From glory to glory to glory.  Revelation after revelation, wisdom upon wisdom, joy for mourning, oil of gladness for the spirit of heaviness... I could go on and on about all that has happened.  Not just in the physical, but more importantly in my heart.  I have been transformed.  Why?  Because He is good & His love for me is eternal.  And not only is that something that I feel and see daily, it's what everything else comes from.

See there's this place that Abba desires to take us all.  It's not the "end".  He isn't there for us so we can get into heaven.  He isn't a means to an end.  But rather HE is the end.  He is heaven.  He is the kingdom.  And what I've been realizing, daily, and even now as I am typing this, is that our whole mindset is messed up.  God didn't send His son JUST so we could go to heaven.  I mean, Heaven is amazing, don't go me wrong.  But it's not the end.  The end is Jesus.  It's being in relationship with Him.  It's seeing LOVE.  It's showing other people Truth.  It's living abundant life.  It's not about struggling for a few 70 years on earth and then finally getting to heaven.  It's about living out the Kingdom on earth, it's about bringing heaven to earth. "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." It's not a sweet little prayer.  It's a prayer dripping with a passionate Father who is desperately crying out for His children to look Him in the eyes, to know who He is, and to walk out who He is in them.  It's a song overflowing with the melodies of heaven.  It's a cry that we would deny ourselves daily, die to our selves in every situation, pick up our cross, and live as Jesus lived.

This may seem simple to you.  And it is.  But it's my heart.  It's the journey that the Lord is taking me on.  I have experienced the good.  I have experienced the bad.  I know heartache, I've walked through loss.  But even more than my failures, even more than my sad days and painful moments, even more than seasons of wilderness and seeing the enemy win in situations... Even more than all of that, I see that the Lord is good and His mercies endure FOREVER.  I see that His perfect love casts out all fear.  I see peace that surpasses ALL of my understanding and it guards my heart & my mind in Christ Jesus.  I see that HE is love and that He will never leave me nor forsake me.  I see that He fights for my heart.  I see that in Him we have all authority.  I see that the victory has ALREADY been won & that my life was created to fall deeply in love with my creator & live out the victory that He's fought and won for me, and for the rest of the world.

Jesus loves you so much.  His desire for you is so far beyond anything you could ever desire.  It erases all of the fear, it eliminates any shame or condemnation.  His love breathes hope, it drips with power & anointing.  His love speaks volumes and it's the faintest whisper.  His love for you is like a warehouse of treasure boxes just waiting for you to open.  He never disappoints, He never leaves, He never forgets.  He has always been there.  He doesn't look on you with eyes of pity... But rather He looks at you and sees you as His son.  He looks at you and sees you as His daughter.  All that you've done is wiped away, anything you've ever looked at, anything you've ever done, any thought... It all gets covered in the blood.  Because before you were even born, before sin ever took place in your life... Jesus saw you, He knew you, and He died for you because you were that precious and knew that your heart was that worth it.

This is my Jesus.  This is my love & my friend.  He is my strength.  He is my hope & my fortress.  He is always there.  He is closer than I even hope for Him to be.  He is the melody within my heart.  He is the song that I sing.  He is fulfillment of all good things.  He is my deliverer, one who brings freedom. He has saved my life.  He has raised my heart from the grave.  He has made me alive & free.  He created me to live for eternity, with Him, with my Abba, with Holy Spirit.  He has anointed me, appointed me, and set me a flame with a love that burns everything else away.  He has pulled me into His family & called me daughter.
This is who He is.  This is who I am.
And nothing will ever change it.

Thank you for supporting me to come here.  To pour myself into others.  It has been the most life changing season ever, and I fully believe it will only get better.  I have fallen in love with my students and my heart has grown bigger than I ever thought it could.  I am surrounded by an incredible family who fights for me and walks next to me.  I could not have even dreamed that this is what the Lord has for me.  He is that good.