New beginnings...

I will no longer be using this blogspot for my updates. I have a new website, with a lot more information on who I am and what I am doing.

Please check it out: hannahbethwarfield.com

Brazil

Hello All,

I know, once again, it has been awhile since I have updated on here. For that I apologize. However, since it has been awhile I have lots to tell.

The last two months have flown by. To say the least I underestimated how busy I would be. Every minute has been worth it though. The last couple months have been spent watching the students grow into a little bit more of who the Lord has created them to be.

I have been walking very closely with eight girls. Lisa, Hayley, Shannon, Emily, Megan, Ida, Ashley and Courtney. Many of these young women came into this school simply because they didn't know what to do with their life, and hey, who can go wrong by spending 3 months in Hawaii and then traveling to some far off place? Most of them didn't know what they were getting themselves into. They didn't know that they were signing up for Jesus to pull out all of their junk. We have had different speakers come and talk to the class every week. We have gone over; Hearing God's voice, What Intercession is, Inner healing, What does it mean to be a disciple?, as well as many other things. I have watched each one of these young women struggle through different things as they were challenged to abandon what society says Christianity is and instead live the way that Jesus has called us to, to live and love like He did. To live a life wholly abandoned to God, exchanging the mindset of “Don't be so heavenly minded that you are no earthly good.” for “Unless you are heavenly minded you will be no earthly good.”

A week ago Sunday we, along with my co-leader Hunter and two other students, Sebastian and Grayson, left Kona, Hawaii and headed to Brazil. We left the campus at 5:30PM on Sunday night and arrived in Brasillia on Tuesday morning at 8:30AM. We went from Kona, to LA, to Atlanta, to Brasillia, most of the time I didn't know what time it was! Haha. All together we had around 32 hours of travel time. And now we are here.

Right now we are staying at a place called Atini. I don't know how many of you have seen the movie Hackney, but she is the reason this place exists. Here in Brazil there are many tribes that still follow old traditions. They still have their gods they have to give sacrifice to. The people at Atini want to see that change. In these tribes children are sacrificed or buried alive. Any child that is born with a deformity, mental illness, can't walk, takes to long to talk, born to a woman who doesn't have a husband, or even is born with a pigment issue where the child is white, runs the risk of loosing it's life. Because it is believed to be possessed. In the story of Hackney there was something wrong with her, so the chief made her parents bury her alive before she could even walk. He older brother (I don't remember exactly I think he was 8 or 9) rescued her and started running. He brought her to missionaries that he knew of, this is how Atini was started. Now there is this group of people who man the farm and do the day to day, but the moment there is an alert they leave to go rescue a child, or a family. Much like a fireman who doesn't see action everyday, but the moment he is needed he goes without hesitation. At any time there are families or mother and child staying here in order to save a child's life.

We have been here six days. We have mostly been serving the base, doing tons of yard work, helping fix it up, and lots of cooking. Last night was our first 'official' ministry time. It was incredible, I honestly expected it to be a little rough on our first service, but it wasn't. One of the girls, Emily, shared her testimony, then Sebastian and Ashley lead worship, Hunter preached and then all of the students did the Lifehouse Everything skit. If you haven't ever seen it you should go to YouTube right now, it will change your life. :)

The presence of the Lord was so strong during the whole service. Hunter and I kept looking at each other while the students did their parts and we couldn't stop smiling. It was so good to see them really take ownership of what we are doing and give it their all. It is so amazing watching them come even more alive.  

Hunter and Japheth

After soccer in the rain and mud.

Courtney and Iganani

Samuel

The girls

Grayson

Grayson, Ida, Hayley, and Hunter

“Joy is the serious business of heaven.” C.S. Lewis

Think about the excitement before a woman's first baby is about to come. The mother is so ready and so excited. She is ready to meet the baby, but then she starts thinking about once the baby gets here. What does that mean? Lack of sleep, change of schedule. She is no longer the most important person in her life, but she is now focused on making sure this baby grows up right and learns the things that it needs. Then though she is still excited she realizes once the baby comes... there is no sending it back - and ready or not here it is.

And once that beautiful baby is here she falls in love, and she is overwhelmed with the weight of the responsibility that is now on her shoulders and she has no choice but to humbly say, "Jesus I can't do this without you."

That is the way I felt in the few days leading up to all of the students coming, and the first few days they were here. Day one we prayed for all of them, and as happens when you are praying for people the Lord started showing me different things about different ones. After those first few hours were over I went out for a ride on my moped and just started praying. In my head I've known, 'I can't do this without Jesus.' But in that moment I was hit with , 'these kids have issues and I'm the one that gets to help lead them into freedom.' and that was a little bit overwhelming. After some prayer, first I just really felt the fear of the Lord over this new responsibility, and second I had a heart revelation of this is all Jesus. No matter how equipped I am, no matter how many years I do this... there will always be something I don't know how to handle, and even if I think I know how to handle it- every person is different and needs to be walked through things differently. Ministry and leadership is not a 'one-size fits all' its a 'Jesus how do you want to heal this person, how do you want to show this person you care.'

So, here we are. Week two, to the day. And I am amazed, already, at the freedom I have seen so many of these students walk into. The first week was so hard and we were just repeatedly hitting a wall with them, but something broke on Monday. And they are all so excited about hearing the voice of the Lord, some for the first time.

Yesterday and today we have been sorting out our outreach teams. It has been a long process, but so wonderful!

We have seven different locations we will be sending teams to:

India
Philippines/Indonesia
Brazil
Togo, Africa
Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands
Big Island, Hawaii
Nepal

Tomorrow night we will be telling all of the students where they will be going, as well as who their leaders will be. We are so excited to tell them after spending the last couple of days praying and placing them in the country we really feel the Lord calling them to.

Unfortunately I can't YET tell you where I will be leading a team. But I will in my next post. Just know, the Lord is doing great things, and I am so excited for where He is leading me, who He placed with me as a leader and the students we will be taking.

Our students!

This is Emily, a fellow staff member, and myself picking up our first student.

Emily, ME, and Luke :) I love these two.

The gents. Caleb, Hunter, and Luke on staff retreat.

All the gents. (Guy staff)

Welcome day for all the students.

Hunter holding Abraham

Learning to lead.

The last few weeks have been jam packed! I am all moved into my new apartment. It is honestly such a blessing. I love it. I've also been calling a lot of the students that are going to be here in 21 days, so exactly three weeks. I have been touching base with them, praying with them, just starting the investing now. It's been so wonderful. I am so stoked about every student we have coming this quarter! I get so excited when I talk to them because I know that if they let it, this next 6 months could totally change their life. And that is so exciting.

This week I have been in the Circuit Riders program. What is Circuit Riders? It is learning how to boldly proclaim the simple gospel.

"250 years ago a wild breed of men were unleashed into the wilderness of America not unlike the 12 young, zealous disciples that Jesus sent out in Matthew chapter 10. The mandate for these young circuit riders: Take the gospel to the remote corners of America’s frontier.

“No family was too poor, no house too filthy, no town too remote, and no people too ignorant to receive the good news that life could be better.”

Their message: The kingdom of God has come, repent, be baptized and follow Jesus.

The Circuit riders of old were forerunners in their day. The same call is going out again, God is raising up their example for today’s forerunner generation! The mode and methods have changed, but the mandate, message and cost of the Circuit Rider remain the same. The nations are crying out in darkness. Who will go and gather the lost all over the Earth? Who will go and awaken the Church to the joy of living fully alive in Jesus?

A generation is responding like perhaps never before in history. Confident in who Christ has called them to be and what He has given them, they go forth proclaiming freedom to the captives. Knowing the living God through deep friendship and trust in His Word, they gladly lay down their lives. There is immense hope for the hardest and the darkest, as this generation rises to its feet and lays hold of its destiny!"

I realized that I had never shared the gospel by simply talking about the man Jesus. I have many times tied it into my testimony. But never laid it out as,

There was a God that out of love created man, someone to choose to passionately follow Him. They lived in love, but out of an act of rebellion man turned his back on God. But He had a plan to bring restitution, and out of His love sent His son to die for our sins. Jesus. Fully God, came in human flesh and went through being tortured and was nailed to a cross, for love. His fierce extravagant love for mankind would have put Him in that place even if it was to save one person. 

The simple gospel of the Jesus. The intricate love story that has been weaved since the beginning. 

It has totally blown my mind, even as we were just talking about it in the course, I was again awed by who this man Jesus is. 

Freedom comes in laying down your rights...

So what has been going on here in Hawaii? A lot!

First off, I am so excited because I am going to be getting certified as a doula! I am so excited because this opens a whole new door in ministering to the community. The amount of teen pregnancy's here are through the roof. The Pregnancy center here in Kona is welcoming us with open arms. I will get to walk along side women for nine months, counseling and developing deep relationship with them. I am so excited about the ministry opportunities this is going to open up. Also, with the heart the Lord has given me for human trafficking I feel like this is just another step up in preparation for what He has called me to long term.

On Wednesday's we go out and minister to the community. This past Wednesday we went to the local market and bought pineapples and mango's. Then we started walking around to all of the businesses and offering them to the shop owners and employee's. This was by far my favorite outreach time we have had with the local community. It opened doors in a whole new way, starting conversations with people and in some cases we were even invited back to the shop. It never ceases to amazing me how just little acts of kindness can take down peoples defenses.

I have to admit, my first week or two here I kept wondering, “what have I gotten myself into?” but the more time that goes by the more I fall in love with this place and with the people here. I've heard that when you start praying for people and places, your heart turns toward them. I've definitely begun to see that in my own life, between praying for this community and going out and serving them I've begun to love it.

About two weeks ago I had the live stream from the prayer room in Kansas City on and the phrase, “freedom comes in laying down our rights.” was sung. Over the next few days it kept running through my mind and I kept singing it, “yes, Jesus! freedom comes in laying down my rights, I lay me down God!” Then I was in the prayer room here in Kona praying for the community and thinking about how I didn't want to walk downtown because it was so hot. I didn't feel like talking to strangers, who seemed like they didn't want to talk to me either. So I'm sitting there telling the Lord how much I don't want to do community outreach, when He brings this phrase to mind. “Okay, Lord okay.” With an attitude I started to sing that phrase, “ freedom comes in laying down my rights, I lay me down...” over and over, about the tenth time through I realized He wasn't talking about me this time. Through this simple phrase He was opening my eyes to the fact that freedom comes to others when we are willing to lay down our lives, our rights. The days where I don't feel like praying for an unsaved people group in the prayer room that I don't know anything about, “ freedom comes in laying down my rights”, on the days where I don't want to talk to that stranger I feel like I'm being drawn to, “ freedom comes in laying down my rights”, when I don't feel like walking in the heat to go love on the community, “freedom comes in laying down my rights”. Through our willingness to lay down what we want to do, and doing what the Lord leads us to, people can receive freedom.

Also, some exciting news! The Lord has provided a new apartment for me and a couple friends. The rent is a lot cheaper and the living space is way nicer. We are moving in August 24^th, and I can't wait. Everything is falling in place so smoothly, We will be nice and settled and ready to hit the ground running when all of the students get here. I have three weeks of Leadership training left, and then we will start calling students and making sure they are ready to come and praying with them. They will arrive in Kona September 24^th.

Also, I have finally gotten my missions account up and running. Which means I have the tax deductible option now. The way that you can access this is going to uofnkona.edu clicking on support/fees and then type my name into the search and you can donate and send my support that way. You will receive a receipt with your donation on it for tax deduction purposes.  

“The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.”

The first week here in Kona has already been somewhat crazy, everyone arriving and getting ready to do this thing. We are all so excited and ready to get started and fully immerse ourselves. From July-September we are a part of The leadership track. So we have two months of character building, relationship focused, servant heart acquiring training. 

Everyone has been so welcoming, treating me like I've always been a part of the crew, which is exactly what I needed. 

So what does a week look like here? My days start around 5:30am, which thanks to the jet lag was very easy to get used to! Monday, Tuesday and Thursday mornings I work in the offices- accepting people's applications, answering emails and helping people get settled here on base. Wednesday and Friday mornings we have class room time and then most afternoons we are in the prayer room. And then in the evenings we have different community outreaches. We are busy preparing ourselves and the base for all the new students. Very busy, but in a wonderful way.

We were presented with three different classes we could pick from: worship and songwriting, biblical studies, or preaching and teaching. I was going to do biblical studies and The Lord challenged me on it. I get so nervous having to talk in front of huge groups of people so I didn't even consider the preaching and teaching class. But The Lord told me, "you can do either one, and I will bless both. But one will teach you some good skills, and one is going to really challenge you and make you grow." So, I am doing the preaching and teaching course.

One of the first nights here we had a worship night and The Lord began to speak to me about this season being about learning perseverance. One of the girls came up to me and said that she felt like The Lord was speaking James 1:2-4  over me.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

So, on Wednesday night I had the worst sinus headache I have had in my life, and unfortunately missed out on an apparently amazing message. I was so disappointed. And then yesterday I stepped in a hole and twisted my ankle on my left leg and bashed my right knee (that I hurt about a month ago and I was finally to the point that I could walk normal.) So, I have been stuck in bed since yesterday morning not really able to walk. And I this point I got so angry, I was alone in my room bawling because I was so mad, and I just started yelling at the enemy, "beautiful are the feet of those who carry the gospel! You have no hold on my feet! " and so on. That's how all of yesterday went, I kept having moments of being so fed up with the enemy, and yelling at him, to moments where I started thanking The Lord for bringing me here. Then last night one of the girls from another room came in and said, 

"I was praying for you and I got a picture of a blacksmith shop. And the enemy had this sword that he was hammering. You are the sword. The enemy thinks he is winning because he is hurting you, but God says, 'he doesn't know what he's doing because he is strengthening you for Me.' The Lord is building perseverance in you, a strength that you didn't know you were capable of." 

So, needless to say, this week has been hard, but I'm not getting down about it. Honestly it's just made me want to come out fists punching, not taking anything from the enemy. I am bound and determined to become the leader The Lord has anointed me to be and I'm not stepping down, or getting discouraged. 

Because,

And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, "How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!" Romans 10:15

Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary. Isaiah 40:31

So if you think about it, please lift me up in prayer. I appreciate all of your prayers so much.

Hey all!

So, my life. 

As you all know I have been planning on joining YWAM staff. But I wasn't sure where The Lord was going to have me staff. So I started working towards staff at the Kansas City base.

So I was praying, "Lord, I'm moving forward with Kansas City, if this isn't where you want me show me where to go." And guess what? He did! I know it's silly of me to assume He isn't going to answer in the way I ask Him to. 

So, I started praying about this the last week of March. One night I had a dream, in the dream I was staffing the Compassion Ablaze DTS in Kona, Hawaii. I woke up the next morning and just kind of brushed it off. That night I called my friend Grace who is in Kona we were chatting and all of the sudden she says, "Hannah, I wasn't going to talk to you about this until I got to Kansas City. But I feel like The Lord wants me to say it now, I think you are suppose to be in Kona and I think you are suppose to staff the Compassion Ablaze DTS. I've already talked to leadership about you, and they have been praying over you" My reaction, "excuse me?"  I hadn't told her about my dream at this point so it kind of took me off guard. And then she went on, "do you remember the day that you bought your car, what you said to me when you got home?" So she reminded me of our conversation; 

Grace: What's wrong?

Me: I feel like I am going to throw up.

Grace: Why?!

Me: Because I bought my car, I knew I wasn't suppose to and I did it anyways! 

Grace: Why do you think you weren't suppose to buy it?

Me: Because I'm going to be in Hawaii in a few months anyways. 

Grace: What makes you say that?

Me: I have no idea.

I had totally forgot about this conversation. So, after we got off the phone I started praying about it and The Lord reminded me that in September I felt like I was suppose to go to Hawaii, but I couldn't because of my car payments, so I just totally shut it down. I continued to pray about it over the next few days. 

Then, one day at work I was on my lunch break, sitting outside and this lady I work with came out to join me. We chatted for a few minutes and then she looks at me and out of the blue says, "when are you going to move to Hawaii already? You know that's where you are suppose to be. So just stop being a chicken and go already." *jaw drop* and another "Excuse me?" Moment. I just looked into the bag of chips I was enjoying and slowly kept eating them. And she says, "are you going to do it?!" I had not said anything to her about Hawaii. Jesus was obviously trying to get my attention.

That night I sat down with my parents and we prayed. All three of us having so much peace about this. So I started to get so excited. I kept having this conversation with The Lord of "is it really my turn?! Do I really get to go on adventures and do what I feel like you've called me to do?!" The answer is yes. :) 

I was talking to Mom and Dad a couple days later and I told then about the, "is it really my turn" feeling and Dad says, "Why didn't you feel like it was going to ever be your turn?" Great question Dad way to make me examine my heart. And my answer was, "I guess I have always struggled with feeling like I don't play a vital role. In friendships, in our family and just in the day to day. It's not that people don't love me, but I'm not needed. I guess I have put that on The Lord as well." His reply? "Well that's a load of crap." Hahaha I love my father. :) 

The next day was my interview at the Kansas City YWAM base. I went in somewhat nervous to tell them that I wasn't going to be joining them. I sat down with the base leader and just told him all of the things that had transpired in the last week. He was so excited for me and told me that he felt The Lord on this and that he was proud of me. Then, he prayed for me. As he was praying for me he says, "I see a picture of a soccer field and you are sitting on the bench. And you keep asking The Lord when you get to play. He is saying, "it's your turn" and the reason that He hasn't played you yet is not because you aren't important, it's because He needed you to gather strength and build your faith. You haven't missed out, because he is playing you now at just the right moment. It's your turn." 

I of course started bawling because I hadn't mentioned to him that I felt that way, it was a kiss from Jesus saying, "I see you and you are moving forward in what I have for you!" Mind blown. Haha.

So, I put in my application for YWAM Kona and I received my acceptance letter about a week ago. I have purchased my airline ticket and I fly out July 3rd!!

The Lord has been so faithful in all of this. YWAM requires me to have $1000 of monthly support. I am currently at $450 of monthly support. I would appreciate your prayers for me in raising the additional $550 in monthly support. I know our God is faithful. And I know he will provide. If you feel The Lord leading you to partner with me financially in anyway email me at: hannahbethwarfield@gmail.com or call me: 8168540036 . I will gladly answer any questions! 

I also have a PayPal account you can go in and give a gift, my PayPal email is: buried.inmusic@yahoo.com.

Thank you all for your continual prayers and support!