Kia Ora...or Greetings in Maori

Just a year ago I was walking across a stage and receiving my Bachelors Degree in Elementary Education. So much has happened in the past year, and all of it gears up to the next step in my life. I have applied for, interviewed and gotten turned away from jobs. I also was finally hired as a Substitute teacher for the Chicago Public School system, which has been a very interesting experience. My dad had a quadruple bypass last fall, which showed me that God has a plan for everything and because I didn't have a permanent job and because I am living at home, I was able to be there during the day and hlep the transition once he got home. He's doing great in case you were wondering. 


In January I had the opportunity to go the Passion Conference in Atlanta. Passion is geared towards 18-25 year olds. Honestly, I went to hear David Crowder one last time and to hear some awesome speakers. God had a different plan. At the conference the overall theme was freedom and slavery. Right now in the world there are 27 million people enslaved. This number is outrageous and it bothers me that I have been sitting idly by and haven't done anything to stop this injustice. I was challenged by Christy Caines who shared how you truly don’t have compassion on a person until it moves you to action. Francis Chan challenged us with a very simple yet profound statement, that you read your Bible and do what it says. We are called to go into all the world and make disciples. We are called to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with God. Louie Giglio challenged us to be fearless and to live out our everyday lives for God, to be fearless in our actions and to be bold in what we do and say. I was challenged by the music from songs like White Flag and The Only One by Chris Tomlin, Not Ashamed by Kristian Stanfill and seeing Chris Tomlins How Great Is Our God World Edition brought me to tears. We are so very blessed here in the US to be able to worship God in our churches and being able to have the freedom to talk about Him. 


I came home challenged and on fire for God. I felt called to go and serve. I don’t have to wait for my life to start or for me to settle down or anything, I am called to go now and serve and tell the world about Jesus. I decided to go with YWAM because of their DTS program. DTS stands for discipleship training school and it was exactly what I need and want for right now in my life. The first tree month I will be in Oxford, New Zealand learning about God, his attributes, how to hear his voice, how to pray, how to intercede and so much more. My DTS also has a justice focus so I will also be learning about slavery and human trafficking, fair trade, gender equality and human rights. The next 3 months I will be putting what I have learned into action. I will be going to another country and serving God and telling people how the love of God and what he has done for us. I will be working with a team of people who are from all over the world but who all have a heartbeat of serving our God. 


I am so very excited about this opportunity and so very excited to have you partner alongside of me in this journey. In the next few weeks I will be sharing how I came to the point of YWAM and the journey of getting accepted to New Zealand. It was a journey of God opening and closing doors and I can’t wait to see where God will be leading in the future. 


I want to leave you with the verses that are on the homepage for my trip and I have fallen in love with and what I believe is the calling for this trip. If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment or send me an email and I will get back to you as soon as possible. 

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called Oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor. ~Isaiah 61:1-3