Double Rainbow

Today was a good day! This is what we got to see right after breakfast this morning:

DOUBLE RAINBOW

"What does this mean?"
Its going to be a good day :)
And it was! It was such a good day. We moved on to a new topic with a new speaker today: The Character of God. Larry Allen was our speaker, and he was so funny! I'll share the really good stuff with you:
*God will lead you to success. Don't let success become your God.
*Be with people just to be there for them. Make them feel special.
*Love wants to give. God has infinite love. Infinite love wants to give infinitely.

In Genesis 1:26 it talks about how man was created in the image of God. Our speaker, Larry Allen, talked about how he pictured God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit having so much love and wanting to give it away. They finally came up with an amazing idea to make something in the image of them that they could share their love with and bless: "Maybe they were so excited about it there was a huge explosion or something." get it? :) "Its not rap, but its still cool." :)

We read John 17:3 and John 10:10 and talked about how our purpose in life is to know God. Not know about him, but know him. This is why we were created.

We also talked about love. We read Matthew 22:36-39. Jesus tells us that the greatest commandment he has for us is love. Mr. Larry Allen told us that a commandment is always addressing the choices you make and has nothing to do with intellect or emotions. Either you obey the command, or you don't. He also read John 14:21 where Jesus tells us that those who obey his commandments, loves him. Larry demonstrated that it is impossible to command emotions (he yelled at a girl in my class to start crying to prove his point. she laughed). Therefore, he concluded, love is not an emotion. It is a choice. I love this :) America needs to learn this.

After class I had an amazing Korean meal prepared for me :) well...not just for me obviously but everyone was very excited to have me try everything they made. And I had to use chopsticks. It was all so good! Everything was super spicy and amazing. Now I'm even more excited.

Trent and I finished our day off by spending time with our new family. It seriously just melts my heart to see how these kids just out of high school take Trent in. I especially love seeing the young men here take an interest in him. I am 100% ok with Trent looking up to these guys. I'm just falling so in love with this place and these people. We are so blessed to be here!

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!

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!