Sunday Update!

Sunday Update: January 8, 2012

Where We Are
It is January 8, 2012 and Lauren and I are at a boy scout camp on Emerald Bay which is part of Catalina Island in California. We do have a little cell phone service, just enough for texts and phone calls. This last Friday we arrived by boat at Two Harbors, which was pretty crazy with 5 foot swells and a speeding cruiser. YWAM (Youth With A Mission) staff met us and drove us down dirt roads on steep cliffs to the camp.

We are all living in cabins; each with electricity, 4 bunk-beds (8 beds) and a space heater. The showers are another thing, because of the extreme expense of water on the island (which is classified as a desert island) we have to take “combat showers” which means getting wet, soaping up, then going back to rinse off. There are 3 other married couples with us and we are each blessed with our own cabin. Lauren and I used 6 of the mattresses held together by a sheet to make a bed for us on the floor. We use the other 2 mattresses and another sheet to use as curtains since all of the windows are bare. We were pretty proud of ourselves.

What We Are Doing Here

This weekend has been all about resting up and grouping up. The staff and fellow students are all incredible people. There are also about as many church denominations as there are people, from Pentecostals and other charismatics, to Messianic Jews and even Baptists ^_^. YWAM, which has graduated almost 4 million students through DTS programs all around the world represent over 200 denominations and 96 languages.

This next week we start classes, LOTS of classes. They have about 9 hours of class planned for each weekday. For this upcoming week the focus of the class will be “The person of Jesus and the cross” taught by Brian Brennt. We learned today that all the lessons we will be learning will be posted free online! So for anyone who wants to learn along with us, I will post the link/information as soon as I know it. Future speakers include the following: John Dawson, Dan Sneed, Loren & Darlene Cunningham, Dean Sherman, Christian Fox, David Hamilton, Danny Lehman.

We are very excited as there are some very big names on the list to come and speak.

For our time here on the island, we are supplied with a wetsuit and snorkeling gear. As I type this Lauren is out with a group snorkeling around an island just outside the bay. It is very beautiful here and a surprising amount of wildlife. Yesterday a couple in our group woke up to a bison right outside there front door.

Last night, we have a special dinner where we invited representatives who wanted to welcome us to the island as we study and grow together. There were pastors of churches from the 2 major cities, Two Harbors and Avalon. There was also a family who were descendants of the natives that first lived on this island. They gave gifts, and told amazing stories of what God has been doing. For example, decades ago the churches on Catalina divided, even amongst themselves. But a faithful few have been praying and working toward uniting them and today the churches are not only whole together and join as churches as a Catalina family.

Where We Are Going

Now that we have finished orientation, we have a very clear idea of what the next 5 month will look like. The mission statement for YWAM is “To know God and make Him known.” It implies that to make Him known we have to first know God. This is why there is so much training involved. This trip is a DTS (discipleship training school). Anyone who is involved in YWAM has to complete it. By the end we will be considered trained enough to be full time missionaries, that we will be able to go out and be effective. This does not mean that we are going to be missionaries, there have been 4 million graduates but many of them will instead support and send others, having an appreciation of what they are doing. Regardless of the future outcome, the focus is for both Lauren and I to learn about God in a place without the normal distractions of life. It really is an amazing privilege to be here and be able to release old habits and form new ones that will be with us the rest of our lives.

As for the outreach phase, this Friday we will know how much they cost, then we are to pray over the weekend and decide where we are going. So by the time Sunday roles around again we will be able to tell you where we will be going and how you can support us.

Here are the options of where we could be going:

-Australia/Papa New-Guinea

Here we would be touring with a flying car (the Maverick), filming it in action and using it to reach remote villages and the aboriginal people.

-Catalina/Mexico

Here we would spend a month in Catalina and a month in Mexico reaching out to local residents.

-Amazon

We would be in Brazil on a river boat called Bethesda helping bring aid and the gospel to the river people. They are not even recognized by the government because of the level of poverty among them.

-Europe

We would sail around various ports in Europe to promote the Olympic games in the UK while evangelizing to people.