MON-ROE North Carolina

Hey everyone!

As you can imagine the first week and a half here at YWAM has been more then a little bit crazy. My days rather then starting when ever I choose to roll out of bed now start promptly at 6:30am. Because of this I am now in bed around 9pm. Haha I feel like a grandma, but I get so much sleep it is wonderful! I fell into this schedule really easy because the night before I came I only had 2 hours or so of sleep, so I went to bed early.

The day I left Dad, Mom and the boys took me to the airport. Josiah's (6 year old) final goodbye was hand on his hip and a peace sign saying, "See ya" then hopping in the van. I'm not going to lie, there were tears. However the Lord was good and gave me people to talk to on the plane. I Skyped the family Sunday for the first time and it was so good to see all of their faces! Josiah, of course, was hogging the screen. If he couldn't have his face in it he was putting his arm in, or his stuffed dog. Everyone here is jealous of my wonderful family. I have to say they have reason. ;)

So, you might be wondering, what does a DTS look like? What does it consist of? Let me tell YOU.
I live in this big Victorian house with eighteen other girl students and four staff. There is a house across the lot where the boys live, and the rest of the staff are in houses throughout the neighborhood.

The first week was a time of developing relationships and getting to know one another through; working, having fun together and worship/prayer together. The first morning I woke up expecting classes and going right into the heart of what DTS was. Boy was I wrong! I woke up at 6:30am and made myself all cute went to breakfast at 6:45am. After having an hour of quiet time with Jesus I found out that I was going to be doing YARD WORK! Since a skirt isn't good for that I found myself walking back up the stairs to change. After changing I headed outside and started digging trench. Yes, digging, with a shovel - clumsy, tends to hurt myself just walking- digging. Here is the thing, I was pretty good at it, the soil is so hard, its basically clay. So as is the saying, "necessity is the mother of invention" I found it quite helpful to jump onto the shovel, hold on and shake it back and forth. As I was doing this I looked over at my new friend Allison, saw her doing the same and I couldn't help but laugh. We looked ridiculous. After digging a trench we planted pansies and rose bushes! I have never been stuck by thorns so many times. I laughed so much that day, I made a wonderful friend I already treasure so much, and I slept like a baby that night!

Later on in the week we were rewarded for all of our hard work. The YWAM base has two fifteen passenger vans so we all loaded up. Everyone laughed when I told them that a fifteen passenger is what I learned how to drive in. The vans pulled up to Krispy Kreme and I had my first ever hot doughnut! Then the staff took us to see Kung Fu Panda 2. I loved it. We were the only ones in the theater, so we were able to laugh as much as we wanted.

Also during the first week we had intercession and prayer times together. We had days of sharing our testimonies and asking the Lord's heart for each other, as well as what He has for us as a group. Every one has been so open with each other, because of this we are all so close already.

Our first Sunday

Sunday afternoon lounge time

Our second week started what I thought of as the first 'real' week. Classes full force, "Hearing the Voice of God" It has been so good. I feel like I am getting re-acquainted with Jesus, learning to hear His voice all over again. It has been wonderful. One day we went and worked with an after school program for kids from age six and I think the oldest there was four-teen that day. A lot of these kids are ones that don't get a lot of attention at home, sometimes only one parent. It was amazing for me to see how the younger ones just wanted to be loved, just wanted someone to spend time with, look in their face and say, "I'm listening to you". Then to look at the older ones and see how closed off they were, they just wanted to be left alone, but if you were willing to push a little bit, they really just wanted the same thing as the little ones. There was this little six year old, his name was Gabriel, he made me play pool with his five hundred times, and of course he ALWAYS won. I didn't mind though, just for a couple hours wanted to show him that he is worth spending time with, and giving my full attention.

Yesterday we had our first evangelism day, we went to downtown Charlotte to see who the Lord had for us to talk to. In case you guys didn't know, I have a hard time just going up to people and talking. This was by far the easiest evangelism day I have ever been part of. I think a big part of this has to do with the face that my fellow students and I have all been so open with each other and have in such a short time see the Lord move in all of us. We have seen him speak to several of us individually the exact same thing. In short, we have learned to trust Him and trust each other. When He says, "talk to her", or when one of us say, "that person". We know that the Lord is real and speaks to each of us.

So, I was wrong when I said that first day didn't go into the heart of what DTS was, I just didn't understand exactly what that meant yet. That first week was vital for us to function well in this second week. We have poured our hearts and struggles out to each other, so praying or asking questions in front of every one doesn't freak us out. We have worked together, laughed, cried and worshiped a God we all love. He is the reason each of us are here, and He was good enough to give us an amazing community, centered around family for this time of growing.

Anna, Carli and Nikki

Elizabeth

 Carli! :)

Melinda and Allison

Allison 

 Bus station where we did evangelism 

 The van got over heated so we were in a parking lot waiting for a while...

 Everyone had good attitudes! (Tina, Andrea and Nikki)

Ashlyn and Bryanna

Melinda, Victoria and Teirra 

Carli, Allison and Elizabeth

 Andrew our hero!

 Allison acting like she can fix it haaha

So this is what I have been doing my last (almost) two weeks. If you all could still be praying for me about finances. I still need a little over $5000. I know He is going to provide. I can't help but worry at times, the thought of not being about to go on outreach because I can't get the plane ticket TERRIFIES me. I have to remind myself on a daily basis that He is my provider and He is helping me grow in trust during this time. I know I will look back and say, "why did I ever doubt you?". I need prayers though, prayers for peace of mind, and prayer for the finances.

(Oh yes, the title. this is not Monroe like Marilyn. This is mON-ROE, with a deep southern accent. ;))