DTS Updates

Things are going really well here in Jamaica.The last two weeks we've had a fairly relaxed schedule which has compensated for the intense teachings that we've been having. I have never been more mentally or spiritually tired(which in turn equals physical exhaustion!). But I know that all the hard work is only going to help me know our Father more.


My last couple lectures were on "Humility & Fear of the Lord" and "Identity in Christ & Plumb Line." The Fear of the Lord week was taught by Gayle Keaproth (Her and her husband are directors of YWAM Madison,Wisconsin). She was such a genuine and caring lady who had a lot of wisdom to impart on us. She even took the time to pray for all of us individually before she even met us! Since starting DTS, the fear of the Lord has been something that has been brought up quite often and I realized I had no idea what it meant. I obviously new it didn't mean being scared of God but I didn't understand the practical application of it or how to explain it. From Gayle's sessions I learned that fearing God has a lot to do with understanding the priority of the one we live for and very little to do with being scared. If we don't fear the Lord than we will be afraid of Him. Fear of the Lord is what makes us want to live the right way(willingly and intentionally putting aside our sin) because we understand who God is. It involves humbly honoring and valuing the God that we serve and respecting the position he is in and being in awe of who he is.


Last week was Identity and Plumb Line which was taught by Howard and Margaret Ellis who are from Canada(woo!) and have a ministry called Jacob's Well (http://www.jacobswellministries.ca/). It was an interesting week of learning the answers to the "fundamental questions of life"(Who am I? Where am I coming from?Where am I going? What has value to me?") and identifying the areas in our lives that don't line up to God's Plumb line and dealing with them. If you are wondering what a plumb line is (I had no clue either) apparently its what builders use to make their walls straight. Therefore God's plumbline is what shows us how to live our lives (or build straight walls). His unchangeable word has to be the reference point instead of man's if we don't want our "walls" crumbling.
Outside of class we haven't really been up to too much. The past two weekends have been spent lounging by the pool so I can't really complain! The weather has cooled down considerably and it rains everyday but I still managed to get my first sunburn! Me along with some of my classmates have started leading worship on Thursday mornings for our DTS students and staff. Its been fun to grow in that area in safe environment. Next weekend we hope to go to Negril and visit Rick's Cafe where we will go cliff jumping (weather permitted).


Prayer Requests
1) Please pray for Haiti and the Cholera outbreak (http://www.youtube.com/v/6FbWJRVQcYw?version=3%22%3E%3Cparam
2) Pray for wisdom as we prep for outreach 
3) Pray Paul's prayer for the Ephesians in Chapter 1 over me so that I will have wisdom and understanding during the lectures.


"I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe." Ephesians 1:17-19a

Sunrise this morning:)

Whoa!

This post has been a long time coming and therefore will be extremely long.Sincerest apologies!haha

I am headed towards my third week here in Jamaica! It is unbelievable to me because it feels as if I've been here forever...In a good way. The base already feels like home, the people all ready feel like long-time friends and yet there is so much more to know about each other. 

Recap of the past 2 weeks(as best as possible;)


I guess I'll start with the first actual weekend I spent here because that was my first real exposure to Jamaica. On Friday night after our DTS welcome party (dancing and good food), we all hopped on the bus and headed into Mobay for a Christian reggae concert with local artists. While there a man with the darkest eyes I've ever seen touched my arm and then proceeded to fall at my feet and start smoking a joint. From his appearance and smell, he was clearly homeless and obviously his mind had been corrupted from many years of drug use. He continued to lay at my feet while the others danced and carried on with the concert but I couldn't take my eyes away. My heart was breaking because I wanted to help him but didn't know how. A little girl that I had previously been dancing with turned to me and said "Don't worry,he's just a mad man." Just a mad man? Just a mad man that God cares about and loves. Just a mad man that God desperately wants to free from addiction. Nobody is "just" anything. 


Eventually the man got up and moseyed on, only to be pushed out off the gated concert area by security. For some reason I thought of the story of the woman that had been bleeding for 12 years and who touched Jesus's cloak to receive healing. Only this time, in my mind I saw the woman being pushed away from Jesus by the crowds of people. Can you imagine what that story would have looked like if the woman was never able to reach Jesus? There is something wrong when at a Christian concert people are only accepted if they look a certain way, or are "normal".There is a problem when people only go to a concert to sing about being world changers and about Christ love and not be able to really experience it! A wave of conviction hit me. By me choosing not to do pray for this poor man who desperately needs Jesus(whether he knew it or not-I'd like to believe he did) I was doing the same thing as everyone else. All I could do is pray that God would lead the man back.And he did! A group of us prayed for him and I could tell he was so thankful. He gave one of the guys a big hug and wouldn't let go. Nothing big or miraculous happened but I left feeling like I had been obedient to they way God calls us to live and that was all I could do.

We spent the rest of the weekend at the beach(which was incredible) and promoting a torch prayer run for Jamaica to some of the churches around the island. The group I was in was in went to Kingston for church on Sunday which is about four hours from Montego Bay. The first church we went to was outside of Kingston and it seriously felt as if we were in the middle of nowhere. It was a tiny country church with little goats running around outside and no a/c (of course). We got there just in time for the end of the service(because we had other churches to stop at) so it was hard to get an accurate picture of what the service was like. The people were warm and friendly and the children interacted with us after the service. The second church we went to was inside Kingston in the downtown area. Definitely an eye-opening experience. You always hear that Kingston is rough and it really looks the part. It was good to see and experience for myself though. After church there was a huge prayer vigil in the city square and a bunch of local ministers,politicians and singers came out. It was amazing to see Jamaicans praying and repenting on their country's behalf in the heart its darkest city. 


Yikes this is long already...are you still with me?


Last week was our first official week of classes which were on God's Nature and Character. It was taught by YWAM's Regional Director of the Caribbean who is a guy named Bill Landis. I enjoyed the classes although it was tough to concentrate with the weather that we had going on.It is hurricane season here after all! I experienced what is called a tropical depression which is basically tons and tons and tons of rain and wind. We went through all types of things-roads completely washed out, power outages, no running water, flooded classrooms, the list goes on. Some parts of Jamaica had tornadoes and the homes of the poor were devastated. By the end of the week the weather seemed to have passed us and by Sunday it was hot and sunny once again.


Sunday was my first official Jamaican church service. We went to a church called the meeting place which is actually run by a jamaican born white woman which I found interesting.(http://www.trumpetcallministries.org/meeting_place.php) The service was really good...different, but good(and it had a/c!Hallelujah!!) The music felt like one big celebration. We had probably a good hour of music. The Jamaicans are a very musical people-it almost seems it is part of them. 


Monday we started a new week of classes on Truth and the Bible. I feel like I am learning so much it is almost hard to process in a such a short time frame. The classes don't really feel like classes though because the lecturer(Mike Huckins) has a way of presenting the info in a way that is so practical and applicable. Feels like he is just having a heartfelt conversation with us and we are eating it up!


Tuesday was the Kingdom Torch Run I mentioned before. Basically the idea of it is that Jamaica needs to be reclaimed for God's Kingdom so as we ran and prayed through every parish in the country, we were taking it back for God. It was an incredible time. My team went to Morant Bay(236 km from Mobay) which is basically out in the boonies. Rural to the full essence of the word. It was also one of the areas that experienced a lot of the flooding so the place we stayed Monday night had no running water still. We ventured out at about 5:30 am and alternated between driving and running(we saved the running for key areas). We each took turns running with the torch and praying for Jamaica. It was fun watching peoples reactions to us-some heckled us, some just stared and pointed, others asked what we were doing ("Whagwan?") We ran all the way through Kingston and ended up in Mandeville at about 7 pm. 12 hours on the road in the hot sun made for a long day. The tiredness we felt though was a feeling of accomplishment. That day will never be forgotten for many reasons!


Anyways, I hope this gives those of you who were wondering a good picture of what I've been up to and how I'm doing. If you made it to this part, I'm amazed you had the perseverance to read through all my ramblings! Feel free to email if you want to hear more- amhildebrand@hotmail.com. Blessings!

The Beginnings

I am nearing the end of my first week in Jamaica and I figured I should update this while I have time because from the looks of it, life will be jam packed starting next week!

Sunday I arrived in Montego Bay. After a little difficulty at customs and not being able to find/be found by the people who were supposed to pick me up, I finally connected with some DTS staff at the airport and we made the scary journey to the base. I say scary only because of the driving! Very narrow bumpy roads combined with fast driving and being on the left side of the road made for an interesting truck ride. I spent the rest of Sunday unpacking and meet some of the students who had already arrived.

This first week has been an orientation week which basically means they've been going easy on us! We have done some foundational laying classes(Truth of the bible, Hearing God's Voice, Work is Worship etc) to help us grasp the lectures that will come in the following weeks and have started sharing our testimonies and getting to know each other. There are 18 students in this DTS and it is amazing to hear each ones story as to where they are in their journey with Christ and how God lead them to Jamaica.

I feel I have adjusted to most things pretty well. We only have cold water for our showers which I thought would bother me but instead I love it as it provides relief from being HOT all the time. At night the base guard dogs howl at the street mongrels which makes a interesting lullaby to fall asleep to.My roommates are wonderful gals. One is 23 and from Jamaica and the other is 19 and from Idaho. It's been fun getting to know them so far. The food for the most part is delicious. I'm enjoying eating some traditional Jamaican meals however I did not enjoy pigs tail with beans.Yes i said pigs tail.

The staff all seem like great people who are passionate for Christ. Most of the staff are from the Caribbean if not Jamaica. There are a couple from the states and that's about it. The base is beautiful and kept up pretty nicely. The campus is on a hill that over looks the ocean so there is lots of stairs and steep sidewalks (good exercise in the heat!) It is probably one of the most beautiful places I've ever been (I guess I haven't been that many places but still). Its magnificent.

This weekend we will venture out into Mobay and maybe find the beach. Friday night will be a welcome party for part of the evening but after that we will go to a christian reggae concert! Can't wait to experience the more of the culture. Prayers are greatly appreciated as I continue to adjust. Love you all:)

I'm on my way!

I can't believe I am almost IN Jamaica already. By lunch today I'll be there. 4 months of waiting,over! While saying goodbye to my family I thought "Why in the world am I doing this?!" but as I started flying, a peace just settled over me and an excitement overwhelmed me. I can't wait to see how my journey is going to play out. I can't wait to see each day how God is moving in me and through me and through YWAM.I can't wait to be used by the King of Glory. I can't wait to give someone in Haiti a big hug!

My travels so far have been pretty uneventful but I've had a few "gems" placed in my path today that have blessed me incredibly: 1)A dear friend who came to visit me on my last day 2)An amazingly encouraging and unexpected letter3)A mix tape and 4)Free Starbucks x2.God is amazing!!

Shout outs to Jen, Maxine, Colin and Nigel. Can't thank you all enough :)

The countdown is ON!

Well summer is over and it comes down to this...11 days till I am Jamaica bound!

It was a busier summer than I anticipated (hence the lack of posts) but when I look back at it, I am just SO blessed by the way that friends, family and even some who don't know me(!) have blessed me with their support, encouragement, prayers and excitement for me! I can't help but smile when I think of the how stressed out I was about my finances and then seeing the way God proved his faithfulness to me over and over and giving me exactly what I need!

I read a little reminder of this today..
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts."Isaiah 55:8-9. Love that!

So basically now its crunch time...I have one more week of work and then a week to prepare for the experience of a lifetime! For those of who don't know, I found out that I will be doing most of my outreach portion in Haiti. I can hardly wait to see how God is going to move!

Thanks to all of you who have shown your support for me! It means more than I could ever express!

The "in-between"

Each day I realize more and more how much I have yet to learn.

     On July 5th, I started a new job working as a dental assistant at an office in Saskatoon. In my mind I had things all worked out perfectly-I would work 8-4:30, Monday to Friday, and still get to enjoy some summer while living at home. But due to unforseen circumstances by the office and me, my hours were being cut back by a fairly significant amount. Although I was disappointed considering the amount of money I have yet to raise,I was just thankful to have a dental assisting job (and still am!). Besides that,I was definitely willing to do some extra things around the office and pick up another job for evenings and weekends to make up for the hours I was losing. So I did. Once again I figured I had things cased, however these unforseen circumstances are continuing to pose an issue and my hours at the dental office are threatened by cutbacks once again AND it is uncertain how many hours I'll be getting at the second job.

     I'm trying not to jump the gun and get all stressed about finances. I know that there is more to life than worrying about money and that I serve a God who is bigger than "unforseen circumstances". However, I can't help but be slightly nervous about everything coming together like it needs to. As I was pondering all this on the way home from work today, I really felt God remind me to rely on him.Fully and whole-heartedly. Although I like to say I'm trusting God to provide the way if I'm called to go, the prideful part of me wants to earn my way there and rely very little on God or others to help me. Self-sufficient, independent, in control-all things I think I need to be but nothing like the person God wants me to be. When we get to a place where we don't need others or most importantly God, it's a dangerous place to be.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6. It can't get much plainer than that, can it? Whole-hearted trust in God means that he(who is able to do immeasurably more than all I could ask or imagine-Ephesians3:20) will take care of the details and the way I should go. All I have to do is walk.


58 Days

Why YWAM?

Many people have been asking me why I decided to do a DTS. Fair question...I only wish I had a clear answer. What do you do when God asks you to do something but you don't understand why? I'd be lying if I told people I always dreamed of doing a DTS...I didn't even know what it was till a few years ago! But its no lie that I've always longed to "go somewhere and do something" of significance for the kingdom-I just didn't know where. We live in a world where we don't have to look far to find people that are hurting,poor and impoverished, sick or lame. Look around you next time you walk down the street in any city. So how do you choose when your heart breaks for the child soldiers in Uganda, or for the devastated people of Haiti, for the inner city kids in our Saskatchewan cities, or for the homeless man in the Superstore parking lot that keeps getting ignored? I like how Edward Hale puts it, "I am only one, but still I am one; I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do." I love that. Wherever you are, there is always something you can do-some small way you can help somebody who is hurting and show them Jesus' love.

So why Jamaica,why YWAM? As I said, I've always wanted to travel and do missions somewhere. For I awhile I considered using my training as a dental assistant to help others in countries without access to the luxury of dental care, (Yes, despite how many of you may despise going to the dentist, we are blessed to have easy access to care!), going to an orphange in Africa to care for children abanonded by their parents or going to deliver shoe boxes with Samaritans Purse. But none of it felt right, something was missing. I realized that more than my desire to help others, God had given me a hunger  to know him-to learn more about who he is and who I am in him. I truly believe that the more we learn about our heavenly Daddy, the more we become like Christ,our potential to do big things for him soars. Ephesians 1:11-12 says that "It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we heard of Christ and got our hopes up; he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone".(Taken from the message.) How else can we find out what our purpose is on earth except through knowing Christ?

Sum all that up to say that a DTS is the one thing I found that combined my two desires; my hunger for God and my desire to serve him. Does it make sense to quit my job, move back into my parents house, and try to raise 10 grand in 2 months?No. Even though to the world, I'm going backwards on the "rich and successful" path, I've never felt the peace I feel about going to Jamaica. Sure, doubts come and some days I think I've lost my brain,but I can't help but be excited for what God has instore for me.Glorious living?Sign me up!

Even though I won't be leaving for Jamaica for a while, I wanted to keep you guys updated on how things are going as I prepare to leave for MoBay. Last Sunday I moved from Regina back to Waldheim to live with my parents. How strange it is to be back under my parents roof for more than a weekend! Aside from that, I am so thankful to have parents who love and support me no matter what. I have a little less than half of the money I need for Jamaica when I combine my savings and the support I have already received.It`s exciting to watch how God is providing and opening doors.

75 days
Regina peeps, I miss you already.
Saskatonians and Heimers, It`s going to be a fun summer:)