Well, I don't know where to start. I'm sorry to have been so long in letting you guys know everything. We finished out the week with Jonathan and Taylor by writing our fears and unbeliefs on a box and then reading them out, declaring the opposite, the truth, and then used a wooden stick to beat the crap out of the boxes. While doing this one of my fellow teammates came to put aside her fears, and doubts and make Jesus her Savior. It was absolutely incredible! I was sharing a box with her and we had spent several days before that talking about some of our similar struggles, and discussing a lot of the unbeliefs and doubts that had been holding her back, so watching her take the step to actually change her life was quite incredible and so amazing!
The week after that we had Corporate Week, where we spent our lectures up on big campus with the rest of the DTSs. That week was a little rough for all of us. We had good speakers, but with how impersonal it felt, how packed we were, and the multitude of distractions around us, we all struggled to stay focused that week.
Last week our speaker was named Joseph, and he was all sorts of fun! He is fluent in seven languages and uses all range of them to keep you on your toes, paying attention, and to add fun and entertainment to his talks. He often times would use various accents to punctuate a point and make it stick. His numerous languages also helped to punctuate his topic of the week, which was worldview. I can't tell you the specifics of what he said because there was way to much, and a lot of it was told in story form, or in discussion. The thing that I walked away with the most from the week was just a more holistic view of the world. I see the world as God sees it now, not as individual countries, or ethnic groups, or however else we split up the world, but instead I see it as THE world. The world with its people, the world with its lands, the world as a whole, even with its diversity, is one big whole. And God doesn't just love a group or a land or a generation, He loves the WHOLE! And I hope that he continues to show me how to do the same for the whole world.
Another big thing happened last week... My school leader came to me and asked me to pray and pick a new outreach location. I had a bit of forewarning that this talk was coming thanks to a friend, which ended up being very helpful and allowed me to have a level head and to enter into the discussion with an open mind and heart. Our leader reassured me that they did not doubt that I had heard the world of God, and told me that the reason they had taken so long to decide to cut the team had had to do hugely with my confidence that I had been called to Hawaii. The other reason they chose to cut the team was due to the fact that none of the leaders were feeling called to lead our group. As I said my leader reassured me that I, and they as leaders, had heard God correctly, and that they weren't sure what he was doing either, but that we must have just been trying to do His will in the wrong time. I also told my leader that even if I did not stay here for my outreach, my heart was called here, and I had no doubt that I would be back at another time to continue to bless these islands, and do God's calling here. The decision of where I was supposed to go was actually rather easy. From the beginning I had had the thought that "Oh, if I wasn't going to Hawaii I'd go here" and "Oh, if I went there I would really enjoy being a part of that team"... and thoughts like that which made the decision so much easier because I already knew. So the next day it was announced to my school that my outreach location would be switched to Palau. I was still slightly bummed out by the fact that I would not be staying in the Hawaiian islands, but after the announcement was made we had a quick 15 minute meeting with our outreach teams, and I found my teams excitement contagious. I also started learning more and more about the country and people of Palau that has excited me and confirmed to me that Palau really is the place I am being called to go. Their flag is a single yellow circle surrounded by blue, not only two of my favorite colors, but it is to represent the sun, another one of my favorite things ever. We were told to get used to the idea of being pirates, because our team is the Palau Pirates, other thing I've always wanted to be, a pirate :) The people there are very relationship oriented, and we were told that we would not be able to serve them or minister to them at all without first building relationships, and getting them to trust us. The first week or more we spend there we will be mostly hanging out with people and getting to know them in order to build those relationships. I still have a small team, which I am thankful for, and there are six of us including our leader. Max is our fearless leader, and this will be the second time he's been to Palau, he lead another outreach there a few months ago. He has a crazy big heart for Palau and the people there, and is a great source of wisdom, comfort, and support. Brandon is the oldest in our group, and I don't know much about him, except that he is a sailor, likes to get up early and go paddle boarding, and from what I have seen he seems to have a strong, but gentle spirit and a wise heart. Timothy is our crazy guy. He's fully of energy, passion, and overflowing with the Holy Spirit. He's got the heart of a child, with the protectiveness of a father. I think Colton (and Brandon) will be the steady rock(s) of our team. He has great courage and an ever present aura of kindness and joy. Alicia is the other girl on my team, and I think we are gonna be great friends. I don't know her very well, and have only had a few conversations with her so far, but from what I've already seen she seems wise beyond her years, and steady as a rock in a storm. I feel so blessed to be able to join such an incredible team and to go to this amazing nation of Palau with them. In regards to outreach, I ask that you guys would really pray over my team and over the nation of Palau. Pray for the divine appointments God is getting up, pray over the peoples hearts that we will meet, and pray over the nation itself that it would see revival. For my team and me, I ask that you pray that our hearts would be entwined and that we would become family. We think the theme of adoption will be a huge thing for our trip, so please ask that we would and could be able to adopt, first of all, each other, as family, so that we may be a strong group that can do the same when we go to adopt the people of Palau.
I know that was a ton of stuff to dump on you all at once, and I appreciate you sticking it out and reading all of it. I also appreciate all of you and all of the support you guys have given me. You are all such a blessing! Mahalo!
