A Little Video

This is my little Student of the Week video :) I personally find it to be a tad bit embarrassing... but here it is!

Here We Go!

Hello Friends!

Things have gotten busy and I have not been posting, sorry folks. I do not even fully remember all that has happened over the past few weeks....But the exciting news is that I leave on FRIDAY!!!! MARCH 28!!! Bah!! It is so so exciting and I can not even believe it is happening! It is overwhelming at times and so exciting at others. Do I feel ready?? Nope, not at all. But God has been calming down my heart and telling me, "You are as ready as you'll ever be... I've got you and you need to trust me." So I am heading to the Middle East on faith in my Lord :) As I am preparing to leave I am being reminded that I still don't fully know all of who God is and what He is capable of... I have no idea and none of us will ever fully understand. I need God more than anything. God's love is the most beautiful mystery and we are so lucky that He chooses to show us little pieces of Himself every single day. I'm surrounded by His creation and I am about go see first hand a part of His creation that I have never witnessed before- the Middle East. I can not wait to see the Holy Land and a whole new world. Thank you for all of your prayers and support, I appreciate it so so much :)

I will not be accessible, except by a few people, for the next two months but I will think of home often I am sure. Love ya'll!

Blessings,

Kathryn

He's Calling, "Wake up child, it's your turn to shine!"

Been two weeks... Sorry folks...

Anywho, I am having a ball here. Today was lovely and very very warm so I spent the day out in the sun with my fantastic friend Meghan :)

The topics over the past two weeks have been Fear of the Lord and The Nature and character of God. Both weeks were very good and I learned a lot. Fear of the Lord was learning what it actually means to love God and be in awe of Him and last week was learning what God's character actually is. It has been amazing to learn more about God and His fatherly ways :) Loving Jesus!

The past week the Fall DTS (Discipleship Training School), SOMD (School of Ministry Development), and SOE (School of Evangelism) cam back from their outreaches. There were 50 students in the DTS alone and so with the other two schools combined there were roughly 100 people living on campus that have not been here for the past two months. Needless to say it was a bit of a crazy week but it was very fun to talk to the other students about their experiences. God did amazing, awesome things through them! I got very excited at their graduation last night and can not wait to head to the Middle East. They have all left and now its back to the 20 students that we were all used to. I know I have said it before but I will say again how much I love these people :)

Jesus is so amazing and breathtaking. Over the past two weeks He has been reminding me how much He loves me and calls me His daughter! We are all learning that we are sons and daughters of The King and that is such a beautiful thing :)

He's calling
"Wake up child, it's your time to shine
You were born for such a time as this"

This is the anthem of our generation
Here we are, God, shake our nation
All we need is your love
You captivate me

I am royalty
I have destiny
I have been set free
And I'm going to shape history

The Anthem- Jesus Culture--- One of my FAVOURITE songs we sing here

Leaving for outreach on March 28! This world is changing and I can NOT wait to see the glory of God shake the nations and do marvelous works! He IS all powerful and loves this world so so so so much. Thank you for all your prayers :)

A Classic Selfie

A Typical Time at Church

A Rain Storm

A Beautiful Morning

A Beautiful Morning

A Beautiful Walk

God is Great :)

Hey All :)

Sorry... I realized that it has been three weeks since my last post. The past three weeks we learned about Relationships, Spiritual Warfare, and Freedom.

Relationships was great. It was about relationship with God, others, romantic, friendship, anything! It was so good :) Spiritual Warfare was earning about the spirit realm. ~~~ This is not a wrestling match against a human opponent. We are wrestling with rulers, authorities, the powers who govern this world of darkness, and spiritual forces that control evil in the heavenly world. Ephesians 6:12. Then Freedom week was learning about God's original design for each of us and how we are supposed to live that out :)

Day to day I love living here in Florida. It has started to get warm here which is a lovely blessing because believe me it has been pretty chilly down here... we're talking below 12 degrees... buuurrr!
But I must say that I adore the people I get to live with and see every day! The girls are like sisters and the fellas are like brothers. This weekend YWAM Orlando had the first open house that the base has ever had and it was a huge success. Over 200 people from the community came to check it out and it was a very busy busy day. My duties switched throughout the day and I went from snack prep to lunch prep to parking attendant (which wasn't very hard.. I basically sat in the sun for three hours!) and then dinner prep. Lots of work but the work was fun :) Love it here but the longer I'm away the more and more I miss you all!

Outreach prep is going well and right now we are trying to figure out what every team member's job will be based on our spiritual gifts and talents :) God has blessed me so much financially and I have more than enough money to go to the Middle East!! I expected to maybe be a bit short financially but He has surpassed my expectations greatly!!

Also, for the past three weeks I was dealing with what turned out to be a bad allergic reaction to something. We don't know what it is but I do live in a forest and orange blossoms.. so there are many possibilities. Anyway, it got very very bad last weekend and both my eyes (especially my left eye) were very very red and sore and the skin surrounding my eyes were very very red and dry. On Monday I was taken to a clinic and I was not able to get in to see someone. We left and decided to wait it out or try again the next day. On Tuesday I was taken to a different clinic and God blessed that visit so much! First of all, the doctor knew exactly what to do and he was very kind. Next, he gave me the appointment for free :) Being an international makes seeing the doctor a lot more difficult and from the beginning insurance was not running smoothly and it was very very frustrating. The doctor did not know I was having trouble with insurance or anything and when he told me that he did not want to charge me for the visit I was very very happy :) Thank you Jesus! 

 Lastly, I wanted to leave ya'll (its becoming part of my lingo) with this because all of us watch this video here and laugh because it is SO true! I actually hear these things daily and it's funny :)

 

 

The Story of our Lives

"It flies in the face of all your pride
It moves away the mad inside
It’s always anger’s own worst enemy
Even when the jury and the judge
Say you gotta right to hold a grudge
It’s the whisper in your ear saying ‘Set It Free’"
--- Forgiveness by Matthew West

The topic this week was titled Biblical Restoration (The Father Heart of God). This week is very hard to explain... the depth we all felt was like nothing else. Our teacher, Michael Berg, taught us how we can view God as a father and it was a concept that I already knew. However, he reminded us that God always forgives us- no matter what! So what excuse do we have to keep grudges and bitterness towards other people? When we repent to God He will restore us, but He will also restore us when we forgive others. We were given an opportunity to do so and it took about 4 hours of praying, crying, and then feeling the most amazing freedom ever :) God didn't want any of us to feel the pain we had been carrying around us anymore. We had worship and a bonfire after and we had a lovely night of community, friendship, and freedom :)

Music that has been encouraging me this past week:
God often speaks to me through music and lyrics and this past week was the perfect week for this kind of communication.

Forgiveness- Matthew West

Bend (Joseph)- Brandon Heath

I Bring it to You- Avalon

Everybody has struggle.. EVERYBODY. But the beauty is that we never have to go through it alone!

I love you all :) Mwah!

Blessings,

Kathryn

Wowzers!! Did not know that!

This week we were given a "Bible Overview" and we were taught by a very enthusiastic teacher named Jessie Anderson. Long story short he took us through the entire Bible in one week!! We focused more on the Old Testament which was super cool! I never realized how much I truly did NOT know. I grew up with a lot of these Bible stories and yet I never knew where they fit over the course of history or why certain events happened. It was also cool to see how faithful God was and has been from the beginning. Genesis 3:15 was the verse we repeatedly went back to and I am in awe of God. Friday afternoon we were awakened with the reality that God CHOSE to send Jesus to redeem us. There we were- a bunch of Christians who had all heard the story of salvation before and had all made a choice to follow Jesus- in tears in the middle of class re-realizing (is that a word?) how much God loves us. It was incredible :) This week is very hard to explain because 6000ish years were fit into 5 days :) Also, it is official official official that I will be going to the Middle East:)

Also, this is where I live :)

The Kitchen

Living room

Other Side of the Living Room

I'm the bottom bunk

Bathroom

Showers

Be Still My Soul... Be Still.

Hearing God's Voice has been such a blessing! I must say that I have changed so much after one week and I absolutely love it. This, in a nut shell, is what we learned in class this week. This video is from the Fall DTS so these people are not my classmates but this man was our teacher and we learned the exact same things from him. It was a concept that I was not used to but God opened me up to the possibilities that could follow after learning how to hear the voice of God. We later practiced intercession and heard a few of the things that God desires for the nations of the world! Injustice is so big and overwhelming and we were really awakened to it. Being still before God and letting him speak is often something I know I forget to do.. prayers often become selfish and we don't stop to ask, "What do YOU want to say?"

Later that day we were told that we needed to pick our outreach country. We were given 15 minutes to really enter into deep prayer with God and try to find His will for each of us in regards to outreach. I felt very strongly that I was to do to the Middle East so that is what I have decided to do. However, God works in amazing ways and sometimes they do not make sense to us. If circumstances arise and I am actually supposed to go to China them I will trust Him in that. If I am wrong in my decision to go to the Middle East, I will trust that God's grace will cover that and He will take me where He needs me to go. Continued prayers for this would be appreciated. Over the next 11 weeks we will begin to prepare for our outreach and I am so so so excited for that :)

Blessings and Love,

Kathryn

Now That We're Friends... Lets Do This!

Hello :)

Today marks the OFFICIAL one week point. For the most part it has been rather chilly... like 5 degrees C chilly... Welcome to Florida! However it is supposed to warm up significantly by Saturday. YAY!!

Anyway, this week our speaker is named John Bills and he has been speaking to us about Hearing the Voice of God. I must say that it has been an INCREDIBLE week so far and it is only Wednesday :) Every morning at 7:30 we have a "quiet time" where we spend time with the Lord and grow in a deeper relationship with Him. It is still early on but one thing I have learned is that God really does speak. At the beginning it was through promptings that would not go away until I followed them. The past few mornings have been very cold and I was content to cuddle up with a blanket and my coffee cup and do my devotions in the dorm living room... until I felt prompted to "Get Outside" I didn't go and the prompting got stronger "Go Outside" and it would not go away. Then I got up, took the coffee with me and my iPod and went outside. I found this awesome little place that is away from the hustle and bustle of the base and I am surrounded by forest. I sat there and thought it was beautiful and liked the idea of doing devos there. Until the next morning came and it was FREEZING. SO SO COLD! but then again when i tried to stay inside God told me to "Go Outside" so I did. Since folowing those simple requests He has been so faithful and I can feel His amazing presence :) He is here and ever present and hears us!! He has been so wonderful :)

Blessings,

Kathryn

Photos :) Pizza Night at the DTS Director's House and Target Run!

Church on Sunday :) They had donuts.

First Week

Hello All!!

Okay so wifi is a bit of a hike to get to so posts may not come as frequently as I expected. I have now been here for the past four days and I absolutely love it. It was hard to accept being so far away from home but as the other students started arriving I quickly felt at home. I absolutely love every one of them and we are already becoming wonderful friends. I room with four other girls and I am the youngest... but we are discovering that age is NOT a barrier in friendship!!! God has brought us all together for a purpose and we are quickly realizing how true that is. One the first day of orientation we jumped right into testimony sharing and everyone shared their personal walk with God and why they decided to come to YWAM. Everyone had a different story and they were open and honest about life.. the beautiful part was that majority of us all went and had a game night later that evening and our past life experiences did not change the fact that friendships were growing. God is opening our hearts to be open and loving towards each other and we all see the beauty in each person.

Tomorrow we officially start lectures and I can not wait to get going :)

Today we went for a walk and these are some photos of the campus. I have other photos but they are on my phone and I forgot to bring the cord with me and like I said before it is a hike to get to the wifi... so those will come later.

My DTS has a total of 16 students and 4 of us are internationals. Meghan is from Scottland, Sam is from France, Rene is from Switzerland and then of course I am from Canada.

I don't have photos of everyone yet.

Outreach locations have been announced and my options are Asia and the Middle East. I will be going to one country for outreach.. I thought it was two but that is totally okay. If God needs us to focus on one place rather than two then that is perfect for me :) I will be praying about that decision and will let you all know later what I decide. Thank you all for your prayers :)

                                                         Josh, Josh, Weston, Jay Mark

Top: Meghan, Rachel, Katie-- Bottom Me, Asia

   

Waiting, Flying, Waiting

Today is officially day one of this adventure I am going on. I am currently in Minneapolis eating my over-priced mediocre lunch and using the Delta gate complimentary iPad. This iPad thing needs to be in EVERY airport! After a delayed first flight I was still able to get through with plenty of time to wait for my next flight. Not much to report yet but that I am very grateful for all of your prayers- I can feel them and I can see God working all around me to get me where I need to be. He has been taking care of every little detail that is stressing me out and I feel rather happy right now :) Thank you all so much!

Blessings,

Kathryn