Hello Friends!
I’m back in Halifax now and adjusting to the life at home. It’s been great to spend time with family and friends again. I missed the great Halifax vibe 🙂
A year ago, this YWAM experience was a thought, a perhaps. Now it’s a memory, it’s a paradigm shift, it’s life change. I honestly can’t quite put into words the experience I just had at Youth With a Mission Honolulu. God showed up. God worked. I changed.
It started off with “Lecture Phase”, three months of intensive discipleship. Over these first months, my view and perspective of God radically changed. You see, growing up in the church, being a pastor’s kid, I always knew about God, I always believed in Him. But I didn’t always know God. The cool thing about Jesus is that He isn’t this huge fan of religion, He’s a huge fan of relationship. So you can know tons about Him, you can know all the theologies and live the great “Christian” life, but that’s pointless if you don’t have a relationship with Jesus. In my lecture phase, I gained a better, deeper understanding of what it means to pursue God. He’s someone that deserves me investing time in and being intentional about seeking. Being away from my home family, church, and culture, really made me think “so, do I believe what I believe because I truly believe in it, or am I just following this because it’s a belief system that’s been engrained in me my whole life?”. Over the six months I saw the power of God in countless, tangible ways. And I can say without a doubt that I believe in Jesus Christ because I, with my own faith, believe that God is good, He is faithful, and that He is sovereign.
I thought lecture phase was life changing, and fundamentally it was, but then we went on Outreach. Two and a half months in the Philippines with a bunch of crazies I get to call family 🙂 I saw God work in so many ways. People gave their lives to Christ, people were healed of life-long illnesses, I saw transformation occur. I’m incredibly honoured to serve a God that is ultimately in control and all powerful. The fact that my team and I were used to carry out God’s mission is amazing. I will never forget the way God worked in and through us – Philippians 4:13 came to life. We can do all things through Christ.
Outreach stretched me in a multitude ways. Throughout the three cities we went to, we got to present a lot of teachings, lecture style. I taught lectures on the character of God, God’s faithfulness, and identity. I also had the opportunity to give sermons at churches a couple times. Public speaking was never my “thing” but when you’re forced outside your comfort zone, God works! I actually quite enjoy it now! It’s always interesting when you’re put in a situation where you have to fully rely on God because without Him, you’re helpless 🙂 He always shows up and every single time it’s amazing!
Everyday from the last six months has a story. I couldn’t possibly write them all out here but let’s go out for coffee and catch up!