joy and pursuit

Wow. I can't believe it's already half-way through February. I'm honestly having the time of my life, and I believe it began with the prompting of a simple question:

What if before each day began, I decided it would be my favourite one yet? 

It's changed how I see life. It has forced me to decide if I will wait for life to fall into my lap, or if I will take hold of every opportunity and open my eyes to gratitude and joy and the pursuit of God's presence.  

I've chosen to see The Lord in every good thing coming my way and to trust Him with every less-than-good thing. To believe that He works all things together for my good as I trust in Him. I've invited Papa-God to journey with me through the bends, twists and turns which are integral to life, and I've chosen that the joy and pursuit of His presence will be my strength. 

When we declare and choose to come into alignment with the Kingdom of Heaven, the earth and everything in it responds. 

this little island of mine

Hey ya'll! It has been a ridiculously long time since I've posted.

Honestly, I have to apologize. I didn't expect that I would have much to write about when I decided to move out here to Vancouver Island. In my mind I was just going to go to school, my life would be in this boring void for about 4 years, and then once I got my degree and visa to my next destination, I would take up blogging again and document my newly-found exciting life.

How ignorant could I be?

Life on this little island is incredible!

Since I moved here, it has felt like the rumblings before an earthquake. Only not the bad kind. The revival kind. The kind when you can feel that there is about to be a huge move of God sweep over this land. And the beautiful thing is that I know that I am going to be a part of it.

Right away I was networked into an incredible church called "Genesis" (funny how Genesis means 'beginnings, start, origin,' etc.) where I have been exposed to a remarkable method of leadership: Release your 'flock' into their callings.
It's really the way leadership ought to operate, and I've been blessed to experience this in many different ways, but somehow this time is different. I think its more to do with me than anyone, or anything else (besides God of course).

When I decided not to go back with YWAM in August 2013, I knew I needed to discover if my relationship with the Lord was corporately and performance driven, or if I genuinely knew him and had relationship with him when no one else was looking. Don't get me wrong, I knew without a doubt that I believed in God, I just needed to know how close I was to him when no one was looking.

For this reason, I was reluctant to get involved in anything 'public' in the church too quickly, as I really needed to walk out a journey of intimacy with the Lord. I'm so glad that I did. I was ecstatic to find that I was more in love with the Lord than I even thought I was beforehand! God is so faithful to us. In the midst of leaving everything I knew behind; YWAM, friends, family, home, home-away-from-home, and moving to a place I'd never been, to a home with people I'd never met before, and to University which I never thought I would go to, God was so faithful to show up and be my best friend and confidante through all the up's and down's and new-ness-es that I have been experiencing over the past 6 months.

So with that said, I am about to leave you on a cliff-hanger (muahahaa) and say that God has been opening SO MANY DOORS. And I am so excited for the process and the outcome of my obedience to him as I have begun, and will continue, to walk through them.
I promise I will try and keep y'all updated better, and I encourage you to stay tuned. God is moving on this island, and I am going to have a front row seat (though lets be honest, there ain't gonna be no sitting involved!).

I am off to Biology homework (that's a new post in itself)
Much love,
Becca

a change in plans...

You know how people say that just when you have your plans made, God comes in and rearranges them? Well, it would appear that God had some rearranging to do in my plans to return to Kona!

I have deeply loved my time with Youth With A Mission over the past 2 years. It has been an incredible time of growth and opportunity to learn more about the Lord and what his calling is on my life. God has truly blessed me by using this summer to reveal to me what my heart desires, what skills God has given me, and how he wants me to use this next season to become even more equipped for his dream.

Having said that, I believe that God has directed me towards going to University to get a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Global Studies with a focus on Human Development and Environmental Sustainability. This program will give me practical training that will prepare me to work on an international level to bring positive change in the developing world. I believe this is a great platform to effect change in a practical way that will show that the love of God meets every need, be it spiritual or physical.

I am currently in the process of applying to Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo, B.C. Because I am applying late in the year, it is possible that I won't be able to begin the program until January, but I am praying that I will be accepted for this September. I am also looking into getting off-campus housing and am praying that I will be directed to the right housemate. If you could join me in these prayers, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you so much for you support in prayer and finances over these past 2 years! I really appreciate how you've supported me as I've "taken the road less traveled," and I look forward to continuing to share my journey with y'all!

Much love,
Becca

salvations and momo's

Currently sitting in the cutest cafe. Its called "Lakuri," and they sell the best Lime Cheesecake and Cappuccino and they have wifi! Unheard of in Nepal. haha. 

This week and next we are with King's Kids doing street kid ministry. We go out into the streets, gather some street kids together and give them some food & tea while we share the gospel with them. In two days of street kid ministry, we saw 22 children give their lives to God and receive the Holy Spirit! So cool. Almost unbelievable really. 

One really cool story, the first day I went, there was a boy whose knee was dislocated and I believe set wrong. I was telling him about how God heals, and we prayed for him. He didn't get healed right away. After all of the boys heard the gospel and decided to give their lives to God, Chris encouraged them (17 in all) to pray for him also. So this one boy and all 17 of his 'brothers' are praying for his knee to be healed. The boy was almost in tears. And then he gave his crutch to his friend and started to walk on it! It wasn't fully healed, so he tried to get his crutch back, but his friends wouldn't let him. As far as I know, he is still not entirely healed, but we encouraged him and his friends to keep praying. 
But it was such a beautiful thing to see his friends rally around him like that! 

Yesterday we went to a prayer meeting and on the way home we stopped for Momo's (dumplings) and one of our guys shared the Gospel with the owners (2 adults, 2 kids) and all four of them gave their lives to God! We have the Nepalese Bible on micro-SIM-cards, and so we gave them the Bible on their phone in their own language! 

Yesterday we went to a prayer meeting and on the way home we stopped for Momo's (dumplings) and one of our guys shared the Gospel with the owners (2 adults, 2 kids) and all four of them gave their lives to God! We have the Nepalese Bible on micro-SIM-cards, and so we gave them the Bible on their phone in their own language! 

Then on the bus ride home, one of our girls shared the Gospel with a Hindi girl and she also gave her life to God, received the Holy Spirit and got a copy of the Bible on her phone! On the same bus ride, I evangelized to another Hindi girl. We had to get off the bus before I could ask her if she wanted to give her life to God, but she sat down beside the girl that Stephanie had just brought to God, so I'm really hoping that she also gave her life to God. 
How cool is that?!

So in total, in just 3 days, we've seen 27 people give their lives to God, 2 of them have the Bible in their own language and we saw a partial healing! So cool!

Please continue to have us in your prayers as we are here!

Next up: a 3-day DTS camp for orphaned children in Kathmandu and the surrounding regions.

Much love,
Becca

to the nations we will go...

I am currently sitting on a plane two hours away from Kathmandu, Nepal. It's been almost 2 years now that I've been wanting to go to Nepal and I am finally on my way! And now I get to go with an incredible team of five other people. I love how God gives us the desires of our heart.

I am so excited. I will be living in sight of the Himalayas soon, working with street kids and prostitutes. Making water filters to provide clean water in rural villages. Trekking to reach the unreached. How amazing is my life!

We are so excited to bring the light to Nepal, "a city on a hill cannot be hidden..."

Thank you so much for your support. We will have very limited Internet access over the next 3 months, but I will try to keep you updated!

Much love,
Becca

week#9 video blog

week#8 video blog