sea turtles, waves, and cocoa buns

First off, i just need to tell you all that I am only writing this blog because Miles Bocianski told me to, and no other reason. Just kidding. I just got off my first Skype session with my bro, dad, Miles, and Courtney. I miss them all and others so much :) But my time here has been so amazing so far. I can not believe how much God has provided and how he is already showing himself to me.

My DTS has been renamed to Awaken. The leaders felt that this DTS is going to be a part of our lives when the Holy Spirit is Awakened in us and that He has so much in mind for us. And I can already feel it. Not gonna lie, I have been feeling very distant from God lately. Even though I am here, I still worry and doubt which is just stupid but I can't help it. But last night I finally felt the Spirit starting to wake in me. He's not up and running yet, but He got a little nudge. Someone asked me yesterday what I wanted to do with my life and I said just get married and have kids but I really do like working with youth, especially middle school/high school girls, so maybe something with youth groups. Then at Worship time, someone who I met only once came over and said they wanted to pray for me. And as they were praying she started to pray for the teenagers that I would one day work with and thank you for my heart for them. She had NO idea that that is what I wanted to do with my life someday. Crazy? I think so.

Lets talk about worship for a second. I grew up Lutheran. Now, we all know that at a Lutheran church during worship, there are a few hand raisers but that is the extent of physically letting go and worshiping. That isn't the case here at YWAM. Last night, at campus wide worship, i witnessed some very expressive forms of worship, all very cool to see. My favorite was dancing. To be honest, I thought it was kinda weird that dance was used as a form of worship here-like people were just showing off that they are good dancers or something. But when I saw it for the first time last night, i could not have been proven more wrong. It was one of the most sincere and beautiful acts of worship that I have every seen. The Holy Spirit was shining through and the movement was so smooth and joyous that it could not have come from anything except the Lord.

Today was a big day, for many reasons. It was the first time I swam in the Pacific ocean wooo hooo! It was gorgeous and so much fun. And the best part was, we saw sea turtles!!!! They were Huge, like 3 feet. I have never seen any except in zoos. It was amazing. And another reason today was such a big day was because....drum roll.....my sister got engaged!!!! wooo hooo!!! Congrats to them :)( and to me since I am the maid of honor-holla!)

Prayer time! Here is what you folks can be praying for
-That I totally let go of everything and Trust God
-That my DTS people all get along-so far so good!

Thank you so much to you all! I miss you and love and can't wait to see you all again some day!