August 2012 Newsletter

This is from my August 2012 Newsletter that I send out to all of my supporters. I know I haven't been doing very wel at this whole blogging thing lately, but I hope to get back on here more frequently in the future!  I'll Post the September Newsletter, as well. Enjoy! :)


Hello, Lovely Friends and Family!

This is my first time sending out an official update about the goings-ons of my life, but there will be more to come. I will try to send them out monthly. It seems that there is always something interesting going on that I’m involved with, so the possibility of hearing something new every month is highly likely. This is where I will tell you about the things that the Lord has been speaking to my heart about, upcoming ministry opportunities, prayer requests, etc. If I send you an update and you don’t want me too, please contact me and let me know. I have a list of people that have supported me, and/or have said that they want to hear updates from me, so I send stuff to them when I do my mass send-outs. Also, if you have a friend that is interested or you think would be interested in supporting me financially, in prayer, or just receiving updates, please let me know!

First of all, I’d like to say that, if you had not heard, I did not end up going to London with YWAM on a missions trip this summer. Last year, I felt like I was supposed to go on that trip, but then I went to Ireland in April, and it was absolutely amazing! One of the things that I did was visit the YWAM base where I will be doing my DTS (I’ll talk about that a little later), and while I was there I just felt so at home and like I may be there for a while after I do my DTS. I felt the Lord give me an option. He said that I could go to London this summer, OR I could stay home and really make an effort to focus on connecting with my family for the next two summers before I leave to Ireland next September(ish). So I didn’t end up going. I really felt at peace about the decision, but I can’t say that I didn’t regret it a little bit when I watched the opening ceremonies for the Olympics. It was okay, though, I felt like I was doing what the Lord wanted me to. Also, I wanted to say that going to Ireland was the most amazing thing ever, but if I talk about every detail of that trip, it will be 5 pages long. If you want to ask me about it, please feel free to e-mail me! J

Now, for the really good stuff! So I have a few ministry opportunities coming up for the near and far future. First, coming up in October, my family (and maybe some other interested peoples) is going to Arizona to do a reservation tour. There are a few Christian Native events that we will be participating in, and we will also be doing ministry on reservations there, but we’re still hammering out the details. Right now, the amount that each of us will have to raise is about $530 for 10 days. Not too bad, right? Next, is our Round Valley Thanksgiving outreach. This outreach is going to be huge! I, personally, do not need to raise money for this particular ministry, but our family’s ministry Singing Feather Ministries, does. Please email Singingfeatherministries@gmail.com for more information.

Then, in January, I will officially start raising support for my DTS (Discipleship Training School) with YWAM Rostrevor in Northern Ireland. A DTS is a 6 month long school. The first 3 months are called the “Lecture Phase”, where we will be taught about deepening our relationship with God, missions strategies and leadership, and other things pertaining to being a missionary, leadership skills, and relationship with Jesus Christ. The next 3 months are called the “Outreach Phase”. This is where we will take everything that we’ve learned in the Lecture Phase and put it into practice in the missions field. This Phase typically consists of doing ministry in the country where you are originally doing your DTS and 1-2 other outreach locations abroad. The estimated cost is about $10,000 (taking into consideration outreach phase plane ticket costs, the ticket to get to Ireland, cost of the school itself, spending money, a visa, and the exchange rate between dollars and pounds). Lodging and food are included in the cost of the school.

If you would like to make a financial contribution to any of these ministry opportunities (excluding Thanksgiving Outreach), please make all check out to Rachelle Butow. If you are supporting me as a missionary in the House of Prayer, please follow the instructions on my support letter that accompanies this update. All ministry funds and House of Prayer missionary funds must be separate.

We just finished our two-week teen intensive at the International House of Prayer East Bay called “Captivated”. I have been a participant of every Captivated since the beginning (this was our 6th one), as well as every Consumed (our 3-day intensive that leads up to New Years' Eve). This year, I got to be on staff for Captivated! It was really exciting because it finally really felt like I was REALLY on staff at the House of Prayer. I've been on staff at the International House of Prayer East Bay since January 2011, but I hadn't had any real responsibilities like this before. I really enjoyed helping out with getting everything ready and being part of the planning and decision making. This Captivated was really good! We had about 20 kids and we had a lot of fun, and a lot of really great Jesus time! Each participant had at least 4 hours in the prayer room and a teaching by one of our staff members every day! Even though I was staffing this internship, I still was able to spend a lot of time with Jesus. It was so refreshing to just sit in the Prayer Room and spend time with Him. About a month ago, I felt the Lord leading me to read the story of David. I made my way through the whole book of 1 Samuel during those 2 weeks and was absolutely blown away at the little details that you don’t really hear about when people are telling you about the story of Samuel, Saul, and David. It was so great!  David Sliker and Isaac Bennett both came out for the last weekend of Captivated and that was just so refreshing for our House. They both delivered amazing sermons about having a right view of where God belongs in your life. It was soooo good! J

The past 2 weeks, I have really been trying to get on a better schedule, making sure that I go to sleep at a good time, get up early, spend at least 30 minutes with God each day, and even eating healthier. I’m starting my senior year in a week, and I really want to be intentional about finishing High School with excellence and having a focused life, that is not just full of frivolous things. So please pray for me that I am able to get to this goal, as it has been pretty hard to break out of my crazy night-owl sleeping schedule that I’ve had all summer. Also, please pray for me that at least $300 a month comes in for me to support myself through the House of Prayer, and that all the money that I need to do these things in ministry comes in, as well. Thank you so much for partnering with me in the Lord. It seriously means so much! I love what the Lord is doing through His Body in this hour. He is drawing His Bride together and to Him, like a bunch of little children. It’s beautiful! J Your prayer and your financial support makes it possible for me to take my place in His Bride and fulfill my assignment that Christ has given me. 

“But your calling is not what you DO in your life, your calling is to be a lover of God. Your ASSIGNMENT is what He wants you to do from that place; your ministry”- Isaac Bennett

Recent Happenings

Well, I haven't written a blog in quite a while...
After I went to Ireland and blogging SO. MUCH. I kinda got blogged-out. Sorry about that, folks. Anyways, I will pick up blogging again, as I know my supporters and friends will be wanting to know the goings-ons of my life.
Right now, I'm almost at the end of summer vacation and will be starting my Senior year of high school at the end of the month. I am so excited for this school year because 1) It's my last year of school!! and 2) I don't only have summer vacation to look forward to... but the END OF HIGH SCHOOL!! And then, my DTS! If you haven't read my past blogs and you don't know what a DTS is, I shall inform you. A DTS is a 6 month Discipleship Training School run by Youth With a Mission (YWAM). Approximately, the first 3 months of the school is called the Lecture Phase, where we learn about deepening our relationship with God, and missions. The next 3 months (approx.) is called the Outreach Phase. This part of the school takes place in the country of the DTS and/or abroad. There are about 200 YWAM bases all around the world, and most offer a DTS. My heart has been, and always will be for Ireland. I am going to be doing my DTS in Rostrevor, Northern Ireland in Fall 2013. As you can read in past blogs, I went to the YWAM Base in Ireland for 2 days and had an AMAZING time. I absolutely loved everyone I met there, missionaries and locals. Anyways, this summer has been absolutely amazing! It's the first relatively empty summer I've had in the past 2 years, and I've had a bunch of fun adventures with my family. I've also had a bunch of things happen that have either never happened and/or haven't happened in a long time. I was here for the 4th of July for the first time in 2 years, I went camping for the first time in 4 years, and I was Staff for our Captivated Internship for the first time! There are a few other things that I can't think of at the moment. The past two years I've had barely any summer because I've been on missions trips and my summers had just been packed in general. This year, I did not end up going to London, as I thought I was going to, so I had a lot of free time. It was God's plan that I didn't go, but it has still been hard (especially when I watched the Olympics opening ceremonies).
This summer has been great and I'm really looking forward to this new chapter in my life after I graduate. I'm going to be starting to raise support for my DTS in January (hopefully I'll have the exact date for that by then). I am going to need to raise $10,000 (including school fee, airfare [to an from outreach locations, as well], and extra expenses) for my  DTS, so please (even though this is unofficial) pray about supporting me in January. There are also upcoming ministry opportunities coming up in October that I will be updating you guys about soon! Love you all!! :)