(Anna carrying her friend after the "color run" in Grand Rapids)
Hello!
I would like to share with you the amazing
work God has been doing in my life these past two months! If you would have
asked me what I was doing this fall before July, I would have been able to tell
you my fall plans, which sounded like this: This fall I will be going to GVSU
for a major in Biomedical sciences, a minor in Spanish, then going on to become
a physician’s assistant and getting involved in medical mission work.
July 29, I had the privilege to go
on a local mission trip called Immersion. It is ran through the Bridge Street
House of Prayer, a.k.a the BSHOP. It’s a free coffee shop ran by individuals
living in community and showing Gods love to the west side of Grand Rapids.
They invite youth groups into their daily routine for 9 days in the summer. We
started with a camping trip Friday to Sunday with team bonding, and lots of
personal time to listen to God. Then Monday through Saturday it’s all about
spending time with God and the West side.
Camping is where my adventure began.
I was worried about college since
the spring, because I was worried about living at home, didn’t want seven more
years of classes, and I wanted to go DO something. I just didn’t have peace
with my current plans. While camping, during some quiet time, I felt God
telling me that GVSU wasn’t His plan YET. And I definitely doubted what I heard
at first, I was skeptical. So Monday, I prayed if God was telling me this He
would bring someone to me to affirm that. He didn’t bring one, instead He
brought 5; one two hours after praying, the rest throughout the remainder of
the week. I finally got the picture –I need to seek Him for some new fall
plans. I started feeling called to YWAM.
BACKGROUND: YWAM stands for Youth with a Mission. Their
vision is waves of young people spreading God’s Word all over the World. YWAM
has 1,000 bases in 180 countries. It starts with a 5 month Discipleship
Training School, or DTS. DTS is a 3 month lecture phase where you have lots of
teachings, and preparation for the outreach. The outreach is like a 2 month
mission trip, putting what you learned into action and sharing God’s love. Some DTS’s have a focus.
I decided to fast after Immersion,
to really seek God’s direction about changing my fall plans. My mom and I both
fasted over the decision, and it was a great way to seek out God’s direction. During the fast, God provided a base to apply
to, and opened the right doors for my application. I still don’t know how I
found the San Pedro, Dominican Republic base website. I clicked on a long
series of links and ended up there, and instantly felt at peace about it. It
was the first base I found with the right start date and focus. I applied and kept pressing into God for
direction and the right doors to open and shut. Then on August 7, I received a
phone call saying I was accepted to the September 20 DTS in San Pedro,
Dominican Republic!
I will be leaving Sept 20, and
flying down to Dominican Republic for three months. My DTS has a Mercy and
Compassion focus which means on outreach we will focus on witnessing to sex
trafficking victims, orphans and AIDS/HIV victims. Dec 17 I fly out of the Dominican
to an outreach location, which will be chosen within the first few weeks in the
DR. I will return Feb. 15. Then we will retry the original fall plans for fall
of 2013.
Here’s how you can help!
Financially:
Lecture phase is $2,900
Outreach is $1500-$2,500
Travel is $600
Prayers!!
Prayers for safety, guidance
For open, receiving hearts in the communities we interact
with.
And that the glory keeps getting pointed to God and that
people don’t see the students as we serve, but that they are pointed to God,
and He is glorified through our work.
Thank you for all the support!
If you have any questions, email me at marjen@altelco.net
Anna Hill
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