NY, new friends, and NyQuil

Well this week has found us on a great adventure armed with kleenex, cough drops, and lots of hot lemon tea. Yes, flu season has found us. It's probably a combo of the cold and being so sleep deprived from having a blast last week. Allow me to explain...

Last week our team headed to NY again, this time to a little town called Smithtown, for a YWAM conference with two other teams at the Metro base. The other teams were from Pittsburg and Manhattan. It was such a great experience for me because I got to befriend a whole bunch of awesome people with the added bonus of meeting some who were from other countries. In all, I think that 11 countries were represented: the netherlands, switzerland, the gambia, france, ireland, england, columbia, pakistan, canada, korea, and of course all over the USA. That's what I love about YWAM, making life long friends from places all over the world. This NY experience was set around teachings about the Holy Spirit, basically we followed the same type of class schedule, just in a new place. We spent a week discussing the nature and character of the Holy Spirit and why He's so misunderstood within the church. It was a very eye-opening time for me because there is a lot about Him that I never understood before (or even knew that I needed to understand). The sleep deprivation part came from staying up late talking about how amazing God is or how animal noises are represented differently in other countries over Oreos and milk.

On friday, we said some goodbyes then spent the rest of the day sight-seeing which introduced me to my first subway ride, on which i felt like the biggest tourist ever with my large camera snapping shots of EVERYTHING. We rode the Staten Island Ferry as well which was...very ferry-like.

This week, we have a new speaker who chose to teach about "Offense-Proofing Your Life" with side teachings on (once again) The Holy Spirit! This time more about the gifts of the Holy Spirit and what their purposes are. So far during this DTS God has continuously been showing me more about myself and the wrong ways I have thought for so long that need correction, mostly in relation to my interaction/understanding of Him. Besides that, He has also helped me understand more about my relationships with other people and why some of them need healing or why I need to pass on what I've learned to them. For one thing, I think the church in America would grow and thrive so much if people began to understand God's grace is meant to be accepted and then passed on. Too many times we get caught up in the cycle of looking for perfection within an imperfect world. We love being saved by grace, but struggle to extend grace. One thing we were taught is that often the closer you get to God, the more offenses from others you will have to deal with. If we want to be like Jesus we need to go through what He went through with the same amount of love for other people that He displayed. Impossible? Yes. On our own human understanding, but that's the point of relying on God right?

I thank you all so much for your prayers and support! I would like to ask specifically for prayers on our health right now, almost all of us have some type of cough, sniffle, or other various annoyance. Also in the general subject of safety as we get closer to our outreach date. I look forward to the upcoming holiday break when I can talk face to face with many of you!

much love,
amanda