You Have Value

We started a great series of lectures today that will go into next week. The topic - relationships. I seriously just want to give you my notes. Our speaker will be covering all kinds of relationships, but she started off with the most important thing. God made us to have a relationship with him.

First some good quotes: "If you don't do anything else in this life, you have to relate to people."
"Relationship, or lack of relationship, is the source of every problem in the world."

The first thing our speaker talked about was Value. She said that the origin and purpose of something is what determines its value. That is why humanity has value. Life is a gift from God, and we reflect His image. Because humanity has value, every single person is worthy of love. When Jesus died on the cross, He died for each person on this earth. To God, every single person has value. If interested, here are some verses that will show you how valuable you are:
John 3:16-17 * 1 Peter 2:24 * Hebrews 9:28 * 1 John 4:7-8, 12 * 1 John 3:16 * Exodus 19:5 * Eph. 2:21-22 * 1 John 4:19-21 * Genesis 12:2-3 * 2 Timothy 2:12 * Revelations 3:21

"Human rights are not a privilege conferred by government. They are every human beings' entitlement by virtue of his humanity. The right to life does not depend, and must not be declared to be contingent on the pleasures of anyone else, not even a parent or a sovereign."
~Mother Teresa.

GOD IS RELATIONSHIP!

Our speaker told us an amazing story I had never heard before from the Bible. I knew about Joseph being sold into slavery and eventually interpreting Pharaoh's dreams etc. And I knew it was his brothers that sold him into slavery. But it was one brother, Judah, who really pushed his brothers into selling Joseph. And Judah's story continues, and it isn't a pleasant one: Genesis 38. I've heard that the Old Testament can get pretty dirty, but wow. Coming to theaters this fall, Genesis 38, rated R. Crazy and gross. Basically, selling his brother into slavery wasn't the only...not nice thing Judah had done. He continued to live his life as a...not nice person...But then something amazing happens. The next time we see Judah, an unknown amount of time has passed. His brothers need to go back a second time to Egypt, and this time they have to bring the youngest brother, Benjamin. Jacob is 100% against this. But then Judah says to his dad, "I personally guarantee his safety. You may hold me responsible if I don't bring him back to you. Then let me bear the blame forever." (Genesis 43:9). Judah's attitude had completely changed, the kind of change that only happens after an encounter with the Lord. And you know what? Judah is the one who is singled out in Matthew 2-3 in the genealogy of Jesus. It doesn't say Jacob was the father of the oldest brother. It doesn't even say Jacob was the father of Joseph. It says "Jacob was the father of Judah and his brothers." And in Revelations 5:5, Jesus is called "Lion of Judah." After everything Judah had done, God still found so much value in him, that they share a name.

My heart still skips a beat at the realization of this. I can't think of many people who did worse things than Judah, but because he changed his attitude and accepted a relationship with God, Jesus shares a name with him! Looking back on things I'm not proud of in my life, I just find this so encouraging. My Father is so loving. My Father is so willing to accept His children back into His arms. He is just the most amazing God ever! I love being at YWAM!

Outreach and Uncollected Thoughts

Oh man -- sitting down to write this I'm having a hard time even knowing where to start or what to write about. We just get fed so much information everyday its overwhelming...but I love it :)

We were given our outreach assignment options today. We get to choose from 3 places, but I don't want to say what they are yet. However, if you would please pray for me to just fully hear where God wants me to go, that would be amazing. As I did with coming here in the first place, I just want to be completely in God's will.

We were also assigned our small groups and leaders today. I was so surprised that Kelsey is in my group! I guess this experience really is one we were meant to have together. I'm having such an amazing time getting to know her better, and being in a group with her, I'm sure that will only continue. And I'm so excited to have someone on staff that will become like my mentor. I have never had a mentor before, so I'm just very excited to have someone who is willing and wanting to take me under her wing.

I started my work duty in child care today. We had three little Korean kids, Kirsten, and Trent. Only one Korean boy spoke English. The kid is two and so smart! He speaks Korean and English very well. So he translated for us when the other little boy was saying he had to go to the bathroom. What a blessing haha. It still blows my mind how the language barrier didn't really matter though. We still had a great time playing all together :)

I want to say thank you to everyone who has been praying for us! This experience has already gone beyond words. I'm looking forward to feeling more settled with everything so that my thoughts can be more collected. I feel like these past few days have been go go go with little time to process. But there is no doubt in my mind: things are exactly the way God wants them to be, and He is taking great care of Kelsey, Trent, and I.

Texas!

Wow it has been a crazy and full couple of days! We came down here a couple days ago, last Sunday. The trip couldn't have gone smoother. All the timing was right on. We didn't get lost. Our baggage didn't get lost. Trent was amazing...probably the best traveler out of the three of us actually! God's hand was just over that whole day.

When we got to the base, Kelsey and I had to go our separate ways - the first big stretch for me haha. Trent and I were shown our room and my mouth almost dropped. It was way bigger than I had been imagining. I wish I had a camera to show you. There are two beds, a kid's work table with two chairs, a desk, two dressers, and a closet. I'm not even using half the closet, and I have empty drawers. And it is far from being crowded. What an unexpected blessing. Poor Kelsey is sharing a room half the size of mine with 5 other girls! That will take some adjusting. However, we have already found an obvious reason God wanted us to do this together. Being here with Kelsey keeps me in with the rest of the kids in DTS as I am kinda separated from them. And whenever Kelsey starts feeling overwhelmed by the lack of space and 40 girls running around, she can come find solitude in here.

Trent has adjusted better than I ever could have imagined. He has two little girls that he likes to run around with, and he has to eat with them at every meal. They are quickly becoming the three musketeers. Trent has preschool in the morning - a preschool that is God centered. I'm so excited :) This is what our average day is like:
7:00 Breakfast
7:30 Quite Time (I've started using this time to teach Trent how to spend time with God.)
9:30 Class (Trent goes to preschool.)
12:15 Lunch
1:00 I work in child care for the English as a Second Language ESL school - starting tomorrow!
3:30 Class (Trent will be in child care with someone from the ESL school.)
5:15 Dinner

There are other random things mixed in as well, but that is the basic thing we do during the week. I'm a little nervous about child care. I know a lot of the kids don't speak or understand English, but I live with a lot of them so hopefully that will help. In the family dorm I am in there is me and another single mom (Kirsten's mom) from America, one family from Denmark, and about 5 or 6 family from South Korea. Some with better English than others but we'll make it work! I'm enjoying being a minority and having Trent be as well. I love the opportunity of getting to learn about another culture before even going on outreach!

So something so incredible and amazing happened this morning. This morning was registration morning. Time to pay up for tuition of the first 3 months. My total was $4,040, and I thought I was still about $700 short. I was really nervous about what they would say. My stomach was in knots all morning. As I got close to the office I just stopped to take a breath and apologize to God for being nervous. I know He wants Trent and I hear, and I know He will take care of everything. The lady who helped me was extremely kind and understanding. She said I was $1,440 short (but this is because a couple checks haven't made it in yet.) When I got back to my classroom and looked at my phone, I saw that my wonderful church family was sending me a combined check from supporters that goes above and beyond what I owe! I lost my breath. Not only had God provided like He promised, but He has gotten me started saving for my outreach assignment as well. God is Good! Another trust lesson for me. I need to stop worrying so much.

I want to take this time to sincerely thank everyone who supported Trent and I being here. We wouldn't be here without you, and we are so thankful. God is going to do amazing things!

Beginning

This is the famous YWAM DTS Texas blog you have heard so much about :) I originally was going to begin it once Trent and I got to Texas. However, I think a lot of people in my life are confused about what YWAM is exactly, and I also thought it might be a good idea to share how I got here and why I believe God is calling me on this journey.

For those of you who know me really well, you know I have an adventurous spirit. For those of you who think you know me really well and are thinking this is wrong, then you probably met me after I became the mother of the most amazing little boy. Surprise, surprise -- having a kid limits your adventure options.

When it came time to go to college, Trent was close to being 18 months old. My senior year, I asked God a lot what He wanted me to do after high school. I asked so many times, because I wasn't getting the answer I wanted. The last place I wanted to go to college was St. Cloud State. I looked at schools everywhere. I signed up to take a marine biology class...which I dropped the next day being the class had been going a month before the school counselor signed me up. After a few more examples of me trying to make my own path, I finally just gave up. You win this round, God.

So I went to St. Cloud State with the plan of majoring in Psychology. Of course I threw some theater in as well :) There were a few times when I thought about double majoring with Psychology and theater. There were a few times when I was tempted to just go with theater. But every time I started flirting with these thoughts, God would find a way to make it clear to me that He wanted me to study psychology, He was going to use me and my insight into people. He also began to strengthen my insight into people during this time.

I don't want this to get too long with the many examples like the one above, but the point is that God has had this wonderfully annoying theme for my college career of "wait." I hate waiting. I hate not knowing. I was constantly trying to make my own plans, or make plans around what God was telling me. They never worked out. As I came to the end of college, I was offered a higher position with the Boys and Girls Club. At the time, I thought managing a KIDSTOP site was what I wanted to do after college, so I accepted the position. As summer drew near, I realized managing was not for me, but I had already been set up to work through the summer and God was telling me one more summer. He would present something new for the fall when the time came.

During the summer I participated in a Bible Study. One of the first nights, I met Kelsey, and she was talking about she felt it was time for something new. It was time for her to do something bigger with her life. I had the thought come to mind that maybe we would be doing something together. About half way through the study, Kelsey shared with us that she was praying about going to YWAM DTS down in Tyler, Texas. We all became very excited for her and as we were talking about her going another person in the study randomly said, "You know, they have child care there, Brittany!" I started laughing. There's no way I could take Trent and just go to Texas for something like this. Looking back on all the times God had told me to stay where I was, my only thought was that I could never do that. But every point I brought up of why that was impossible, the people in the study came up with a way it would work. When I headed home that night, I was still laughing at the idea. Over the next couple days, I could not stop thinking how amazing it would be to go to YWAM. I couldn't get the idea out of my head. So I started doing research. Kelsey and I talked about it, and it blew me away to hear words come out of her mouth that I had been thinking also. Things like going to Texas was an experience we were meant to have together. I started being encouraged by people in my church that had heard Kelsey and I were thinking of going to Texas. The support surprised me. I continued to do research and began to pray very hard about going with Trent and Kelsey to YWAM Texas.

As I prayed about going, I saw pros and cons to going and to staying. All it really came down to was that I wanted to do what God wanted me to do. I wanted to be where He wanted me to be. I didn't want to do my own will, I wanted to do His. So I started taking things by steps. Ok, God, I'll just apply and see what happens. I was accepted. Ok, God, if you pay for it, if you give me the money, then I'll know You want me to go. Money began coming in. Every time I prayed or read my Bible, I felt sure God was going to send me to Texas. He was finally no longer going to tell me "wait" and also was going to reward me with an amazing adventure that I could go on with Trent where we would grow closer to our Savior. I know God can use people anywhere. I know that He uses me everyday. But I also know God wants Trent and I to go to Texas.

As of tonight, I'll be leaving in a little over a week. Trent, Kelsey, and I have tickets to fly out early Sunday morning the 25th. We will be trained in Texas for a few months. We will get a break for Christmas. And then we will be sent out on a kind of missions trip early Jan and we will come back in Feb. If you are interested in looking up where we will be and what we will be doing in Texas here is an address:
www.ywamtyler.org/index.php/training/dts/regular-dts.html
Trent and I still need about $2,000. My American culture/pride makes it so hard for me to ask for that kind of money. But Biblical principles tell us that if God really wants Trent and I to go, people around us will join together to support us. If God is leading your heart to help us, checks can be mailed to
YWAM Tyler
P.O. Box 3000
Garden Valley, TX 75771
To make sure your check goes to Trent and I, do not write our names on the check. Instead, include a separate piece of paper with your check that says you would like this money to go to Brittany and Trenton Schwantz for YWAM Tyler DTS beginning Sep 25th. If you are unable to help us financially, prayer support would work miracles for us.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and thank you so much for considering supporting us. Once God gets us to Texas, I will continue to post to this blog so that you can see what your money is doing in our lives and in the lives of everyone we meet while on this adventure :) Thank you!