BAM

Lately God has been teaching me a lot about pride. I never really thought I'd had a problem with it, but when you're not watching out it can creep up on you.

Sunday I was asked to preach in a Nepali church in Mumbai, and as I was praying about what to say, all I heard from the Lord was the word pride. I knew that God had already started speaking to my heart about it, but I didn't think it was that big of a problem area in my life. As I wrote the sermon God really convicted me of each scripture that He pointed out. I ended up just doing a study on James 4 that morning.

Today at a networking meeting/Christmas outreach prep, after I finished wrapping care packages, God pulled me outside for a chat. I had a good cry as I poured out my frustrations with team members, and a better cry as He convicted me to love them and stop letting stupid things get in the way of our team unity. It's amazing what a long conversation with God and a few tears will do for the soul.

As I was repenting of my pride, He told me to look up Proverbs 12:4, and it was like BAM. Cleansing conviction. I was previously not only frustrated with everyone on the team, but I had also been acting like quite the know-it-all... And still I didn't understand why I felt so disrespected at times. The verse pretty much summed it up in a sentence. Here's my situational paraphrase:

It's better to be humble and have the respect of your brothers, than to have a big mouth and give them every reason not to.

Anyways, I don't know exactly why I shared all that, but since God's teaching me about pride, I guess I'll just get over myself and be open.

And it's only week two! I'm excited to see what else God has to teach me on this journey.

From the Tea Corner

Wow!

So much has happened in the past couple weeks, I don't even know where to start. I guess the beginning is probably a good place.

While in transit to Mumbai, we found out that our housing fell through and our contact had to find something else for us. He did a great job of securing something else, but again the owners changed their minds. We ended up staying at a hotel for one night, and our contact found us an apartment that we could use for a couple weeks. We cleaned out the dirt and trash ridden apartment, not even daring to touch one bathroom. We worked on it for two days, and after it was spotless, the landlord decided not to let us stay there. It was a combination of the stress of her mom passing away, and the stress of having unwelcome foreigners in her apartment building.

Our contact brought us then to the Salvation Army hostel, which is located in the historic architecture-esque area of Mumbai. We even took the train from the station in Slumdog Millionaire almost every day! The hospitality of the people working there was amazing, and we were all extremely blessed to have been able to stay there.

Boy was it hot though! We never stopped sweating the entire time. Actually no, a couple of us stopped at a Café Coffee Day, and we ate at an air conditioned restaurant. But at least we never dealt with dry skin!

We worked alongside YWAM Mumbai in their different ministries, and got to partner with them in prayer. One of the first things we did was prayer walk through Kamathipura, one of the biggest red light districts in India. We also helped with their street kids, slum kids, HIV/AIDS, and prayer ministries.

The thing that touched my heart the most was simply being able to pray with Hindu families who were going through hard times. The ministry that YWAM Mumbai has already been doing with them has opened their hearts to Jesus, and helped them turn to Him in their time of need. In the future we are praying for those families to reject their idols and worship Yahweh alone, because He is the only one worthy of their praise, and the only one whose love can make them righteous. Praise the Lord for those guys in Mumbai doing His work there!

Today is our first full day in Kathmandu, and we are loving the weather and the culture already. It's cool enough during the day that we can wear jackets, but not so cold we must. At night it is chilly enough to get cozy with a hot cup of tea and a warm sleeping bag. I'm personally so glad to feel like it's really Christmas!

When we took the bus yesterday, we were all struck by the fact that the bus actually stopped and waited for us to get on, and one of the guys working on the bus helped us put our bags on the top! We aren't stared at quite as much here, but we are definitely not inconspicuous.

We are excited to get started today. We will be working with women rescued from trafficking situations, and maybe even going into clubs looking for girls to reach out to. I'm excited to really get into the anti-slavery aspect of the trip, especially seeing how our contacts already have the tools to rescue and rehabilitate the people they rescue.

Thank you so much for your prayers, and please keep them coming! We are going to need all the prayer backing we can get.

Prayer points:
Healing for Meredith's stomach
Overall health for Jake and Marissa (and the whole team)
Safety for the team and the people we'll be reaching out to
Lots and lots of blessings poured out on YWAM Mumbai and Kathmandu!

Thanks, and have a wonderfully blessed day :)

--God is my strength

Justice

Before reading this blog, please listen to this sermon by Paris Reidhead.

 Yes, it is long, and the beginning may not seem that exciting, but stick it out.

This is one of those paradigm shifting words from God that you cannot be unchanged by unless you consciously choose not to.

 

Wow.

Brenda Lewis played this sermon for our school, and it absolutely rocked our world. Our world had consisted of justice for the trafficked person, punishment and shame towards traffickers, and God's love towards us being our Christian focus. Now does this really sound that terrible? 

But who of us really desires the justice that we can serve on our own accord? Justice by the power of man would require punishment of any and all sin, death and permanent separation from God. Our idea of justice was warped. Saving the victims and taking out 'God's wrath' on the victimizers. But tell me what victim has achieved perfection, what victim deserves to be saved. Tell me also, what human who holds captive another human, takes away their rights, and forces them to do the unspeakable is LESS human than their victim. If JUSTICE... were to be served by the power of man alone, who would escape the gavel falling on their guilt?

Now who of us desires our own justice?

The only justice that we should be fighting for is justice towards God Himself! Human trafficking is unjust towards God, because the very people He purchased are not being turned over to Him, and are being stolen from Him.

NONE OF US deserves God. By our own power we can be only monsters of iniquity. God did not send His Son to purchase us ALL, just for you or me to choose who "deserve" Him. Who of us deserve Him? None of us deserve God, but He deserves us all.

I am not speaking of a message of a condemnation, but one of redemption. But, if you and I cannot see our sin, recognize our own guilt, how then can we recognize the beautiful, powerful, heart wrenching, chain breaking mercy of our God? We are free! We are righteous! We are holy.

How can I now say we are holy, when only moments ago I pointed out the fact that we are monsters of iniquity? Because God Himself bought us from iniquity! The only righteous purchase of a human is the purchase by the blood of our Saviour. A man buys a girl for an hour and she is a prostitute. A woman sells a child and he is a slave. A resistance steals a child and murders his family, brainwashes him, hands him a gun, and he is a child soldier. Adam and Eve sold humanity into sin, and we are monsters of iniquity. God bought us, and we are holy. What purchase will you and I choose to come under?

The only true justice is God's justice. Justice that declares us purchased by the blood of Christ, holy, and worthy of God. Worthy. Not of our own righteousness, but His blood. We owed Satan our graves the moment we sold ourselves to sin, but our God TRADED Himself for us. Took our place in the grave, took back the keys to Sheol, and conquered death itself.

Now who of us has the RIGHT to say who deserves mercy and who deserves death?

It may sound like I want no person to have to pay for their wrongdoings, for slave traders and rapists to get off scotch-free. Absolutely not. For every action there is a consequence, and our earthly laws need to reflect that. God's purchase applies to EVERYONE who wants to be called His. Here I speak of salvation, second chances, and the respect we must show to one another as masterpieces whom God deems as valuable as His Son (again, by His doing only, not our achievements or abstinence from sin). To label another human being as irredeemable is total trash. To not reach out to them, to not AT LEAST always make known to them their choice to come under the purchase of God's redeeming love, that is condemnation of which we have no authority to hold over another man.

Yes, I believe a pimp should be harshly sentenced by the law and separated from the very people they are taking advantage of for a very long time. The potential buyer of another human being should be so conscious of the fact that if they are caught, the consequences would not be worth the purchase of temporary pleasure. The chances of being caught should ideally be very, very high. But what of God's love can we show to these? How can we show them that they CAN die to their greed and come under the purchase of Christ's sacrifice? And most of all, how can these bring glory to God?

How AMAZING it would be to have a redeemed trafficker in our family! How powerful their testimony for the glory of God, how useful their experiences would be in order to bring more prodigal sons back into the Father's arms? Where there is much to forgive, there not only mercy abounds, but grace overflows.

I am also by no means downplaying the horrendous suffering endured by those who have been trafficked. Should you forgive the one who made you work with no compensation, or the one who raped you daily and convinced you they did not? Should you forgive the one who sold you to 50 or more men a day and made you believe that was your only source of value, or forced you to mow down your own family and told you it was the right thing to do? I tell you that it is nearly impossible without the grace of God in your own life. But I must also ask, is your life your own? Anyone who has done these to you has done them to God Himself because you are not your own. And He has already paid for their sin.

I ask us as fellow humans who have been redeemed, to get rid of our hatred once and for all. We do not have the right to withhold from any other person God's gift of salvation, nor do we have the right to withhold from God the very people that He deserves!

Do our hearts break when we see that the Lamb who was slain does not receive the reward of His suffering? Or do we say that it is just that He does not?

3 o' Clock Miracle

Reminded now of the times when God changed the weather with the release of a prayer.

I'm sitting on my roommate's bed, still somewhat in shock. Busyness all around the building, Florence singing love songs on the other side of the wall, airplanes flying low over the base. I can't move but I can't stay still! The dried tears on my face joyfully praise God and repent of the doubt that previously lingered in my heart. I tried not to doubt the promises that God had already spoken to me, time passes but His word remains solid.

When praying with a friend for provision to staff the Abolitionist DTS, He made His promise clear enough for me to be sure that it was His word and not my fickle heart. She and I both got gold dust on our hands, and my worry was gone. I thank God so much now for that neon sign, because otherwise I wouldn't be sure that I actually heard His voice calling me here.

I knew I WANTED to go to India and Nepal for outreach, but I wanted to seek God's will for the end of the school. India/Nepal? Thailand? Las Vegas? I'd prayed a bit but still hadn't heard His voice. One Wednesday morning during worship, my spirit cried out to hear God's heartbeat and for my heart to beat in sync with His. On the way to my room a couple days later, I randomly laid my ear over India on the giant map, and I heard a heartbeat! Not audibly, but I knew it wasn't my imagination. India and Nepal it was.

I have been unnecessarily been worried about finances this month, because I could not raise the funds on my own, nor did I hear God telling me a specific way to raise the money. I knew God had promised the money and called me to go on outreach, so this week I've had much more of a peace about it, but have been quite impatient for God to provide the funds. Yesterday I decided I would still pack and ride with the India team to the airport just in case God sent the money at the extreme last minute, because I knew it was coming one way or another. Still, I was prepared to stay in Vegas if that should be the case.

At 3 o'clock, the absolute deadline, someone donated all the money needed to pay for everyone's outreaches who hadn't had the money! I have no clue who it was, and the base director won't tell, but to everyone who prayed, and if the sponsor is reading this right now, thank you. Thanks so much for being obedient to God's call for you to be a blessing and for releasing God's promises!

Wow.

Wow.

Wow!

WOW

So now, I guess I could ask for more prayer, as we all need it!

-For my family
-For team unity
-For all of us to hear God's voice clearly
-For strong discernment

If you have anything that I can pray for for you, please email me! BUT, please don't use the words pray, God, Jesus, or anything like that. Ask me to ask dad for something and proofread for any Christian/religious words. Don't want to get in trouble with the government!

Thanks :)

God is my strength and is the victory of His people.

Details

I have a lot of really cool things that God has done in the past week that I could write about, but these couple little things have significantly increased my faith in God and the power of prayer. It's when He takes care of the little details that I am again taken aback by Jehovah-Jireh. He is so constant, so consistent yet mysterious, so... thorough. I don't know why I still have doubts that He hears and provides.

While taking a moment to pray and write before our presentation at Mariner's Church in Irvine, I couldn't help but be worried and frustrated over the van door and my pen. I had jammed both and couldn't fix them. Really not wanting to cause everyone to have to get in through the front doors, I prayed that God would fix the van door. While I was at it, I prayed for my pen because it was frustrating me. As soon as I prayed, I clicked my pen closed and that was that. A few minutes later, one of the girls came back from retrieving something from the van, and said the door was perfectly fine! So there are two little details that God took care of right then and there. Might sound silly, but I was touched that He would hear such a small request! How could I ever have even thought He wouldn't?

This morning I was getting my things together to go to the bank, when my keys went missing! I put them in my pocket, sat down to look up the closest bank, went into the lounge to show Joe a picture of a hamster, and then my keys were gone. I was looking for them for half an hour, had prayed a couple times for God to help me find them, and still no keys. I texted my friend Kenny and asked him to pray, and before I even got his reply, Jake brought me my keys. Cool right? I was still pretty frustrated, but the prayer of a friend got my keys back. Way cool. Still a minor detail depending on how you look at it, but God certainly cares enough about car keys!

I know He answers prayer because I prayed for the rain to flood the streets over the sidewalks and it did! I prayed for a little sister and God gave me two! Kenny and I prayed that his flight would be changed to Monday, and guess what day it got delayed to?

Matthew 18:19
Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.

God cares! So I'm asking you, will you agree with me for outreach funds? If God is asking you to support me in this, will you follow through?

Thank you SO much for your prayers, keep up the good work!

$2315 to go!

Nothing He can't or won't handle.

Call to Prayer

Location: Las Vegas, Nevada

Mission: Bring to the Lamb who was slain the reward of His suffering

Prayer is much appreciated :)

 

 

 

 

Going out again tonight to share the love of Jesus, can we get some prayer warriors up in here?

Please pray:

For open hearts to receive the love of Christ

For divine appointments

Against spiritual heaviness of the area

Against distractions and/or spiritual attacks against the team and people we'll be hanging with

For wisdom and discernment for the team

Thank you so much!

People Get Ready

 So basically, I just copied this from my last email update. If you were directed here by way of said update, you may want to skip this entry. Carry on.
_________________________________

Well friends, the final week is soon approaching. Gathering outreach clothes, praying for the last funds for plane tickets, saying our goodbyes to our local outreaches, and organizing our final details have made the surreality of the outreach become more of a reality.

Before we go on international outreach though, we are taking the school on a tour around California to speak at churches and universities about human trafficking. They'll be covering what can be done about it, what they're doing about it, and what God has been doing in their lives through the Abolitionist DTS.

If you'd like to hear about the school through the eyes of some of our students, you can check out their blogs- I've put the links at the bottom of this email.

Details about international outreach:
Leaving November 21
Mumbai for 12 days working with women and children in the red light district
Kathmandu for 36 days working with street kids, girls rescued from the sex trade, slum school, and small villages
Returning early January (I don't have the dates on me at the moment)

If you could please pray for safety, health, discernment, and wisdom for all of us during these next couple months, that would be very much appreciated.

The Lovely and Powerful India + Nepal Team! Left to right: Abbey, Me, Katie, Jake, Stacy, Meredith, Marissa, Joe, Arielle, Joshua // Stacy and Joshua- School directors // Marissa and I- Staff // Abbey, Katie, Jake, Meredith, Joe, and Arielle- World changers (aka students)

Personal prayer points:
$1200 before this Friday to hold a plane ticket
The remaining $1500 for the trip before November 14th
Healing for back pain, skin issues, and protection against any other distractions that would keep me from focusing on God

Thank you all so very much! Have a wonderful remainder of your week.

May God be your strength and your victory, Gabrielle Nicole

Rainbeans and Coffeedrops

Later that night,,,

Sweet candles with the essence of fall

Psalm 19

Eyes Full of Rose playing softly in the background
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtZHpCGycKs)
Open window
Chilling breeze dancing with the curtains
Raindrops diving into the makeshift creek between the curb and the street
Minutes like hours
Pen and paper neglected
Peace.

          I've heard it said that if the devil cannot draw you away from God with sin, he'll try to do it with business. Just a couple weeks ago, this was exactly the tactic he was using/I was falling for. 

If you've not heard the story about the mayonnaise jar and the two cups of coffee, then go here to read it: http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=11060

           What bothers me about this story, is that there is no empty space in the jar. I've found that before even putting sand in the jar, I have to set apart some space in the jar where I will put absolutely nothing. One of my golf balls has to be time alone with God and look to Him for my strength and refreshment, but I still have to leave room for nothing in there too. I don't want to get burned out and end up being completely mechanical and useless for pouring God's love into the students here and my family alike.

          Tonight I took one of my lovely one-on-ones to a coffee shop called Sambalatte, and it was absolutely lovely. Live music, comfy chairs, and even a few people I know. Being there reminded me of this story, and after thinking on it a bit, it reminded me that I hadn't updated my blog in a while! And now we've come full circle.

          On that note, I need to head off to bed so that I will be awake enough to worship Jesus to the max in the morning. Woot woot! I am excite.

First Friday, Last Friday

Distractions. Inconveniences. Nuisances.

This weekend was full of little attempts from Satan to try and hinder the beginning of this new week, but really, that's all they were. His attempts to grind on my nerves don't really even deserve the recognition, but I believe he saw something coming this week that was worth distracting me from. I'm actually too excited to be distracted by it all now.

This week Brenda Lewis is speaking on Identity. If you've ever met Brenda, you'd understand why I'm so excited. I had the privilege of meeting her a couple years ago when I first started spending time at the Vegas base after my DTS at Holmsted Manor. I believe she was speaking on identity then too!

Today when speaking about destiny, Brenda pointed us to Ephesians 3:14-19. What if this is our destiny? To know the love of Christ that surpasses all knowledge? What if our destiny isn't a fixed goal, unavoidable fate, but the very person of Jesus Christ? Ah, so much good stuff to chew on.

Last Friday night we took the DTS to an art show called First Friday (because it's held on the first Friday of every month) to share the love of Christ. A lot of us ended up doing quite a bit of praying for the physical location and spiritual atmosphere of the place as well as letting God lead us into deep and beautiful conversations. I suppose a person needs to be deeply open to be an artist, but I was still surprised at how many of us came away with intensely Spirit-led experiences.

The main person that Cathy and I spent time with was a man named Nicholas. He was one of the artists at the show, and I am so glad that we got to meet him and hear his story. As we were talking with him, I could sense that God has a powerful purpose for his life and direction for his passion. I'm genuinely excited to see what God does in his life, and I hope that we get the opportunity to get to know him better.

Oh hey, look at a road map next time you get the chance. See the resemblance of the veins in our bodies? Pretty cool. More on that later, I have some stuff I need to process in my head before it makes any sense.

<3

--God is my strength

What More Indeed?

I was just looking back on my notes from the lectures this week, and I found a note that says, "Don't forget the soldier story!!!" It's such a beautifully heartbreaking story, and so I simply must share it with you.

There once were two boys who were closer than if they had been blood. They had sleepovers every week until they were in junior high, and the sleepovers turned into all nighters through their high school years. Girls came between them here and there, but their friendship only strengthened through the fights and hardships.

After receiving their diplomas, the young men immediately signed themselves up for the army. After boot camp, the friends were sent off to different bases, but they kept in touch as often as possible. Whenever they were assigned to the same place, they celebrated like there would be no tomorrow.

You know when you are such good friends with someone that you can just give them a look and they know what you are thinking? Well these guys were those kind of friends, and it saved their lives for a moment.

One day while under fire, one man gave the other a look from yards away that meant "Jump in the ditch when I do" (how that was communicated through the eyes I can't say, but I can say that they must have known each other extremely well). They both jumped in the ditch, and were followed by a shower of bullets that turned the opposite side of the ditch into Swiss cheese.

All they could do was look at each other through the smoke and laugh in relief. Suddenly, a hand grenade was thrown into the ditch directly between the two of them. Time seemed to stand still as they looked at each other one last time, the vhs's of their lives playing in fast-forward each in their own minds. All at once they came back to reality, and one man winked at the other before throwing himself on top of the grenade... Which proceeded to detonate through his body.

His friend was found in the ditch hours later, still in the same position he had been since hurling himself into safety at his comrade's cue, covered in the remains of the man who saved his life. He was carried out on a stretcher as he was in shock, and did not stop crying for days.

His friend's mother took him in, because his mother had died years ago, and she had just lost her only son. The man went into a deep depression over the loss of his friend, and was constantly haunted by that wink. The wink that said "I love you enough to die for you, and here I go." would not cease tormenting his mind. Would he have done the same?

Eventually his depression led to disillusionment and lack of sensitivity. He finally realized this when one day after struggling with a question in his head for hours, he walked into the kitchen and said to his new mother, "How could I know if he actually ever loved me?". In one swift movement she whipped around and furiously took hold of his shirt collar, pulled him down to her face and screamed "WHAT MORE COULD HE HAVE DONE FOR YOU?!?!?!?!!!"

What more indeed?

Only one other thing He could have done, and He did it. He did not remain dead, but loved us so much that He could not bear the thought of being separated from us by the grave. Not only did He die, but He came back to life in order to spend it for the rest of eternity with us. An eternity that starts here.

Selah.

Waterboarding for Jesus

Puppets, henna, photography, and pouring water into the snoring mouths of homeless people are just a few of the very effective evangelism tactics employed by our extremely creative students.

Friday night we took the DTS out in front of the Bellagio fountains to spread the love of Jesus among the spectators.

One team headed away from the fountains to talk to people in front of the Miracle Mile, and were approached by a girl handing out cards for nightclubs. They explained that they were out there to share Jesus, and asked the girl if they could pray for her. She asked them to pray for her daughter, who has been sick for over 4 years without diagnosis. As soon as they finished praying for her, a man who was also handing out cards came up to them and asked for prayer for his health as he has type 2 diabetes.

Another team was trying talk with people watching the fountain show, but everyone was too entranced with the water to hold a conversation. Finally they came upon a homeless man who was sleeping on the sidewalk, and they felt God urging them to talk to him. They both tried waking him up to no avail, and finally one of them decided to pour water into his mouth (definitely not an evangelism tool that I would recommend). He awoke to two girls standing over him asking if he was alright, likely bewildered and confused by what had just happened. He was very friendly, and they talked to him for a while when they noticed that his foot was badly injured. One girl went and got a bottle of water, and they proceeded to wash his foot and pray for healing. The man was so touched by the love of Christ in them that he started bawling. They prayed again with him, and he told them that he knew that God must have sent them to him because he had previously assumed that his foot was a trial from God, but this experience was reassurance that his pain was not God's will.

My friend Sami and I sat on the sidewalk with a "FREE HENNA" sign, and immediately two girls sat down with us to have their henna done. I am generally pretty shy when it comes to talking to people, so I did the henna while Sami did the talking. Both of the girls were agnostic, and were very open to having a deep conversation about God's love for them. They both seemed intrigued by what she told them of His character and their identity as His creation, and had never heard about God's love before. A couple of guys sat down with us next, one was Mormon, the other was Atheist. We ended up having a pretty deep conversation about how intricately God made us with the Mormon guy, and though it didn't seem outwardly to go anywhere, we can now pray for those specific guys.

These are just a few of the stories from Friday night, but I just had to share them with you guys :)

I can't wait to see what God does next.


-May God be your strength

The More I Seek You

Just the other day during a beautiful worship and prayer time, God's voice moved in my soul like the whisper of a thousand war horses (1 Kings 19:12- check out the original language for this, SO powerful) through this song by Kari Jobe:

I wanna sit at your feet
drink from the cup in your hand.
Lay back against you and breathe,
feel your heart beat

This love is so deep,
it's more than I can stand.
I melt in your peace, it's overwhelming

The more i seek you,
the more i find you.
The more i find you,
the more I love you


It's such a beautiful song, fitting for such a beautiful God.


Also, my friend Joanna showed me this powerful message on the intricacy of God's creation and His overwhelmingly immense love for us. I haven't had time to listen to the whole thing at once yet, but I highly recommend it. It's giving me a newfound awe, respect, and deep love for both the Creator and His creation.


Download it here!
http://media.ihop.org.s3.amazonaws.com/5b525264-63ab-4a2f-a2cd-667e7ddf5394.mp3


Let me know what you think of it.


Love you tons, be blessed <3


-God is my strength  

Always Learning

A fresh blog is a beautiful thing. The only conundrum now... What to write?

 Why don't we start with introductions. Hi. My name is Gabrielle, but it used to be Emily. Most people actually still call me Emily, but I'm not at all offended. I love Jesus more than anyone or anything else in the world, but I love a lot of other people too. And India. Oh hey, if you ever find a heart just sitting on the streets somewhere in India, let me know will you? I think I left mine there.

 About the name, a couple months ago I started a study on Daniel, and one of the first points was the significance of a name. It talked about how King Neb changed the names of Daniel, Mishael, Hananiah, and Azariah to names that honored Baal instead of God. In the rest of the book, Daniel is still referred to by his Hebrew name, but the other men accept the pagan names. Which TOTALLY reminded me of how I was named. God gave my mom the name Gabrielle for me. My grandma didn't want her name me Gabrielle because she was afraid everyone would call me Gabby. So. My mom named me Emily instead. I started praying about changing my name back to Gabrielle, which means "God is my strength" and "woman of God". When I mentioned to my grandma that I wanted to change it back, she thought it was a great idea! Which I found strange because it had previously been a subject of conflict in our family. So when she approved I knew it was God moving her heart to accept the name He meant for me. As soon as I got home from a recent visit to her house I changed my name on facebook, but not legally.

 So that's one cool thing God's done in my life recently. Another cool thing, is that He's called me to staff The Abolitionist DTS here in Las Vegas at the YWAM base! I moved onto the base on the 31st of July, spent a week in staff training, and the school began on August 8th!

Already God had been teaching me new things in this role of leadership, such as sometimes having to be the bad guy, but always being the one others can go to with problems without fear of becoming the victim of gossip. I've always sort of lived that go-to person role, but being the rule enforcer is certainly new to me. I have so much to learn in that area.

Other than turning into a meany, I've been so inspired by the students of this school who are so very passionately pursuing close relationship with God. This group of people is just so driven in the area of justice and God's heart for the oppressed... I'm beginning to think that my heart needs to step its' game!

 A few people have asked me why I chose to do this school, so I guess this might be an appropriate place to answer such a question. Originally I had planned to go back to India sometime in June and spend the rest of the summer in a village of Chennai with some of the most amazing people I have ever had the privilege of knowing. But God being God, He had a different plan for me during this season. I first heard about human trafficking when a brother of mine posted a link on Facebook about a fundraiser he was doing with Love146. If you've never heard of them, I encourage you to look them up at www.love146.org and see what they're all about. After watching the videos on their website, I couldn't recall a time in my entire life that I had cried so hard or had my heart so broken. I joined the fundraiser myself, and researched more about human trafficking.

Soon afterwards, some friends at the YWAM Las Vegas base told me about a school that God had put on their hearts to run... The abolitionist DTS. I thought that was great and all, but there was no way I was going to staff a DTS. Later that year (last year) I went to Colorado to attend a friend's wedding, when my friend Andie took me to her church, New Life, for a youth night kind of thing. We didn't end up going to the youth event, but instead we went to an artifact night hosted by iEmpathize. Another fantastic organization fighting the human slave trade. I knew after that night that I could not just do nothing with this heart that God had given me for the voiceless, so I decided to staff the abolitionist DTS.

Quite a few other 'God things' happened that made all the details fall into place, and now here I am. Not really sure at the moment what I'm doing, but I'm actively making myself available for God to use to give hope to the hopeless and discipling more young people in their relationships with God.

 I have so much more to say, but for now I bid you goodnight. God bless you, and may He be your strength.