Spirit

Last week our teaching was on the Holy Spirit, taught by Blake Mattocks. He is a pastor at the church right next to my base, and he has a father's heart and he's great teacher.  I don't even know where to begin on what I've learned about when it comes to the Holy Spirit. Not just this week, but through out my DTS. Here are some highlights of the week... Learned truth has to become living truth.  History has to be lived before it can be recorded, Abraham didn't know people would be studying his life thousands of years later. History is being lived and recorded right now. God has hand picked everyone to be world changers and kingdom shapers, so speak up. How do people touch Jesus today, they touch those who know Jesus. The power that flowed from Jesus to that woman who touched His clothes lives in us today. (I knew this, but shoot it was a revelation for me) We need to recognize the Holy Spirits voice, just like we do our parents. There is a difference of knowing of someone and knowing someone.  We learned all about some of the gifts of the spirit. I already knew my main was compassion, but I learned I'm an encourager and server according to a test we took. We are tempted with a question and tested with a choice. Where God puts a period, the devil puts a question mark. Whatever influences you determines what you will do.

Know yourself.

Accept yourself.

Understand your gifts.

Use your gifts.

I've learned so much more than that I just don't know what to write. Please ask me anything. Ha

Anyway...I'm not sure I've ever written about something we do around here called Kingdom Night. It's so much fun. If you want to, you can hop in a van and head to downtown Denver on Friday nights. We begin the evening with worship and prayer. Then, we head into the city. There we hang out and meet people. We talk with people, pray for them, and sometimes we just dance with them. Ha, we just go out and love on people. It is so much fun. This last Kingdom Night I had a feeling something good was going to happen (something good always happens) We did the usual mingle with others and just kinda hanging out. We then decided to walk down the street a bit and I met this guy. He was so awesome. His name was Matthew. "Matthew Fisher of Men" is what I call him. He was incredible. He knew so much about so many things. I really had a great night just chatting with him and learning so much of his story. I can't wait until he writes a book about his life. His crazy, hard life.  I spoke some truth into his life as he did the rest of our hearts as well. I got to pray with him. Also, I got a picture, before we even hopped on the bus to the 16th street mall, of a guy in a purple shirt on a skateboard. Some of the people just happened to be going to the skate park, so I texted them. Told them about this purple shirt guy. They met a guy with a purple shirt and they got to pray for him and his back was healed. All in all the group saw 7 people healed that night. It was a crazy night. A crazy, awesome night.

Then we had a long weekend. What a great weekend it was. Kicked off by kingdom night, then we had Service Saturday.  For this Service Saturday my group went to a local church and helped clean up. The men totally demolished the fence. And the rest of us cleaned the inside and did some weeding and cleaning up the outside of the church. It was a long day, but it was good. Then we went back to the base and I played cards with Drew, as usual. Then that night my friend Sascha drove Megan, Drew and I up to a mountain and we all enjoyed a beautiful view of Denver under the night sky. It was completely lit up and incredible. The sounds of the crickets and the fresh cool air was so good. Sunday came and I went to church and the sermon was so good. Church was followed by movies with Karlee and Drew and just chatting and hanging with friends for the rest of the day. It was relaxing. Then came Monday! Monday Karlee, Jess, Drew and I went to Elitch Gardens theme park! It was such a blast. I can't even believe how much fun we had. Drew had never been on a roller coaster before...He learned that he loves them. We went on so many rides. We ate treats and just had an amazing day in general. It was such an incredible weekend spent with some of my favorite people in the world.

Also, I just finished a book called Compelled by Love by Heidi Baker.  Incredible book. It seriously talks about what I want my life to be. I don't know if my life will be in another place like her adventure, but the love aspect of the book. It really does show what love is and should be. It's almost hard to believe that someone loves that much!  I recommend it.

I have really come to love YWAM Denver more than I ever thought I would. I knew I would love it, but oh my word.  Can't believe my time here at this base in lecture phase is almost over. Still, I can't believe how many people have supported me and continue to follow my adventure. Just less than two weeks until I'm off to the Philippines to learn to love people more than ever...Please continue to pray for health in my team. For my leader, this is her first leading of an outreach. And for direction as we step into unknown territory.

Here are some pictures from the theme park.

The Battle

There is a battle right now in the heavenly realm.

Last week we learned about Spiritual Warfare. Peter Warren, the man who runs the YWAM Denver base along with his family, was our teacher. He is so wise and full of knowledge. It was a great week of so much learning. He was organized and very well put together the topic. He was willing to answer any question and told us what he believes, but told us to go find the truth for ourselves. Our class was honored to have him speak, because he often doesn't speak at YWAM Denver, usually just other schools.

Peter spoke about how knowing about spiritual warfare isn't the most important thing, but extremely important in the mission field. Each person is built with the knowledge of God, they just don't understand it. That is why there is so much worship in other things or gods. We spoke about how war was declared on God. And the possibilities of why we are here on earth along with Satan. It was quite interesting to hear the different theologies. I'm not much of a theology fan, but I love to hear what people think.  One thing I found extremely interesting and I love it is the different types of God's will. So often, people believe everything is in "Gods will" but I personally can't believe that God planned for horrible things to happen to people. I can't believe that my God would make someone and plan for them to be a murderer, rapist, ect. So, the thought is there is two types of will. 1. Boulema-What is determined. (creation, Jesus come to die, flood) 2. Thelema- God's wish/pleasure (everyone to love, no hatred, [His desires])  It was good to put words to the thoughts that I already had, but I didn't take the time to look for answers. We talked about how nobody can limit the power of God, but He limits himself. He wants to swoop in and save everyone, but there is a choice He gave us. He gave us the choice to choose him or not. And in that there is free will. We just have to recognize that the Lord wants to use each and everyone of us.  Just as God is unlimited, the devil is limited. He can only work in the places people allow him to. He isn't everywhere at once, he can only be one place at one time. His main weapons against us is deception, fear and accusation. Demons are another thing we took time to learn about. We also talked about theologies of where they came from. Those, I'll let you ask me about if you're interested. We spoke a bit about angels and their place with us and in the heavenly realm. Then we talked about our Weapons of Warfare. What an interesting thing. We are brought into this war, and so few people know about the war.

Weapons

• righteousness
• truth
• peace
• faith
• salvation
• word of God
• praying in the spirit
• Praying with the mind
• discernment
• unity
• your testimony
• verbally bind the enemy
• symbolic acts of obedience
• praise

So far spiritual warfare was one of my favorite topics. I love learning about things that I feel are taught so little in a church. Yes, we always are aware of the devil in church, but what about the battle? Why do so few people speak about the battle in church. We need to be educated and willing to fight. We have so much authority, it's been given to us, and we should be using it.  So, that's what I've been learning. It's been awesome.

I've been feeling much better. Lots of prayer and slowly getting healthy again. I have a tickle cough (a tickle in my throat causing me to cough, one of my little gymnast used to say that). And boogers for days! But, feeling much better!  However, many of our DTS has been or is getting sick. So, that's something you all could be praying about. Also, I have officially paid for everything here at DTS! I was extremely blessed by you guys. And once again, I can't thank you all enough. Thanks to everyone who has been supportive in any way.  Missing friends and family back home and cooler weather. But, I can't say that I'm ready to go home.

I got to go to the zoo with some friends this weekend! I had a blast. I went with some awesome friends, Jess, Karlee, Sascha, and Drew. We enjoyed a time away from the base and lots of animals. Basically, anytime we are able to get off the base for a bit it's a blessing. The base kinda sucks you in but I can't complain, its a great place. I play lots of cards and enjoy many laughs with friends. We have a good coffee place just a five minute walk or so from the base that I enjoy. And YWAMers get discounts, so that's awesome. I have gotten closer with people as the weeks have flown by. I can't believe I'm in week 10 of DTS. It's so insane, but at the same time it feels like I've been here forever. It has become a home to me. And I have so much family here. People I know will be in my life forever. I'm learning a lot about myself and hoping to know more about what I will be doing in the future before DTS is over. We'll seeeeeee.  But yeah, it's a great experience.

Here's some pics...they are all mixed up and some are old pictures that I just got.

Pep Pep Prep

This last week at DTS we didn't have class. Instead we had outreach prep!  We learned dramas and about how to speak about our dramas.  It was a fun and easy going week. I am in six of our seven dramas.  I really enjoy most of them. In "Bloody Sunday" I play Satan.  It's a pretty intense part, but it's a lot of fun to play. I have a lot to remember of all my dramas.  But it was a good week.

I have been sick for almost a week now.  My nose is raw, my chest is congested, and my voice is one of an angel (that is sarcastic).  But I have had so much prayer for my cold from many people and its awesome. My awesome friend, Drew prayed for me when I was first feeling sick.  I had a bad headache and just a head cold. He put his hand on my head and began to pray. Suddenly, I got this super hot flash through my body and my headache was gone. As this was happening he was like "whoa..whoa"  He was feeling energy and I don't even know how to describe it. We were both on fire. It was a pretty awesome thing.  Also, I haven't had a headache since then. Which is kinda weird for me, in the past I get headaches a lot. Especially when I am sick, but God willing, I wont get them like that again. It is cool, I've had a lot of "unusual" experiences since being in YWAM. I wouldn't trade them for anything.  But if you would like to pray for this sickness to end that would be awesome. I haven't been sleeping much. I don't sleep all that well here anyways, but with this cold I really can't sleep. I slept only a few hours last night. So, I'm hoping for a nice restful night tonight.

Another thing to bring you all up to date.. My payments were due on Friday of last week. Though not everything has been paid quite yet. I have the money!  I don't know if it's possible to feel more blessed. Thanks to everyone who has supported me in any way. Not just finances, but with your kind words, prayers and just being there for me. I love it. And I know God will bless you all with so much!

It's a love issue, not a sin issue.

Last week we had Troy Sherman come teach at our school. Troy is a crazy guy, with so much to say. He is very passionate about his teachings. He taught on relationships. He was fired up from the very beginning. He is so energetic, and always putting little remarks into his teaching to make you laugh, or feel totally violated.

Basically, it comes down to love, which we all know. But what is love? Love is desiring the highest good for the other person. It's easy to see. It's an action, not a feeling. The feeling of love is a side affect of real love. The only measuring stick God has for you is in love, not even the love you have for Him. But, the love that He has for you! Loving people makes you vulnerable. Being vulnerable is being more like God. Love is self evident. Love is only real if it is 100% just like anything else. If you want to know more about love, check out 1 Corinthians 13, as most of you know. It's all about love.

We also learned a lot about what love is not, and relationships with other people and God. We learned the key to a good relationship is to out serve the other. Serving each other is love. We talked about how if homes were restored, and families were actually families we might not have so many problems in the world. Because it's a love issue, not a sin issue. I have such a ridiculous amount of notes. It's hard to try to write out what I've learned at the end of each week. So, I'll just write some quotes from my notes, they're too good not to share.

• It's a narrow path, few will walk it, it's no cake walk.
• Love compels you where duty will not.
• Something is only worth how much someone is willing to pay for it.
• If your theology doesn't show you how little you know about God, it's bad theology.
• What happens when our hate and anger are louder than the gentle whispers of God?
• What's been done to you, and what you've done does not define you. It's all about what you do with it.
• Truth without context is meaningless.
• The enemy of good is not evil. It's compromise.
• The more clear God's voice is, the more you have the right to pee yourself. There is something BIG about to happen in your life.
• He's doing the maximum with the amount of your heart you give Him.
• It's a love issue, not a sin issues
• Understanding of love is rare.
• God is interested in root issues, not the rotten fruit in your life.
• Less of us would sin if we had to pay for it upfront.
• Do not allow God's love to justify your stupid.
• Mature by love not wisdom.
• Our focus should never be to open an orphanage, it should be to end them.
• You do the possible, let God do the impossible.
• Be willing to be the answer to your prayer.
• God calls us to a ministry of obedience not success.
• Jesus carried scars, so will you.
• Damned if you do, damned if you don't. (in regards to things we want, others have but don't want)
• It's not as hard to love people as we think. We just don't want the cost.

Yeah, that's just a fraction of my notes. It was a great week of class.

Let me tell you about my Service Saturday. We have a man at the YWAM base, he is a pastor of a church near by and attending a secondary school. He is from Myanmar. His church is filled with refugees. I was extremely lucky enough to be apart of a day that was like one day of VBS for all these refugee kids. It was incredible. We played, we sang, we did crafts and did a skit for the kids. There was two girls that especially grabbed my heart, Lydia and Mary. Lydia was very small and didn't speak much English. She was so sweet, and constantly wanted attention. She wanted to be held, or to be chased. She played hard, and laughed a lot. She was so full of joy.  Mary was 10 years old and tiny. She was so giving and loving. She was always including other kids to play, but was by my side most of the time we spent there. She gave me her bracelet within about two minutes of knowing her. I couldn't believe it when I hugged her goodbye and her sweet little voice asked if she'd ever see me again. I hugged her tighter and said "I hope so."  It was incredible day, and we hope to go back soon.

Other news. My supporters are amazing, I love you guys! You guys have been blessing my face off. I have received HUGE blessings from many people. I am so happy to say, I should just have about $500 left to be paid off, after my stuff comes through into my bank account.  If you feel led to donate, I will post a link straight to the page, just fill in some information. But as of right now, I just ask for some prayers!  Half of our DTS is leaving on outreach at the end of this week. They are going around the world! Pray for their travels. As for the rest of us, we still have classes for about a month and head out Sept. 14th and 15th, I believe. Pray for our school as a general. Pray for so safety, health and good news to be spread. And even better, send me some prayer request! I'd love to pray for you guys as well.  Seriously, thank you all so much.

Click the link below to donate straight to my outreach to the Philippines! Just insert my information!

DONATE TO DELANEY'S MISSION

At the Refugee Church

Mary

 Lydia

 My amazing school

Constantly Reminded..

There is this crazy thing that's happening in my life.  

It's love.

Yes, I've felt love and have always been loved. But for some reason love is constantly being reminded to me. Love isn't a battle field, love is the safest place you can be! There's no place I'd rather be, than here in your love, here in your love. Lyrics to a song, singing nothing but the truth. We don't want to be anywhere but in love!  What is life without love? What is relationships without love? It is nothing. 

Gah...I just feel like it's important for me to share with everyone how much they are loved. I wish everyone could feel this feeling of love I have felt lately. A constant reminder of how much I am truly loved.  Somethings I am extremely thankful for, and want to share with everyone. It's not even a feeling sometimes, its just knowing that I am loved. You are loved and I want you to know it.

Compassion

"Follow your call fully, not half of the call."

Week six teachings were on Compassion and Justice, taught by the one and only Phil Gazley. First off, I love Phil Gazley! I wish he would be my grandpa. He has cheesy jokes for daaaayyyss. Growing up with Rocky, I have grown to love cheesy jokes. He was very much a one of a kind dude. He listens to what God has to say, and follows it. Even when he is embarrassed or not completely sure why he's doing something, he gets up and does it.  I appreciate who he is very much.

So, we had great teachings. Being in the Compassion DTS, this week obviously hit home, because I decided on this school for the compassion aspects of it.  He put the definition of compassion into truth. Compassion is to suffer with.  Since I was young, I think I have had a heart of compassion. It's built into my soul. Often I try to fight it, because suffering with others really isn't any fun. But, there is a reason for it.  I wish I could put this week into words, but it's so hard to try to summarize a whole week of amazing teachings.

Phil spent a lot of time on the topic of human trafficking. This also hit home.  My wonderful mother and brother have a heart for these things. He reminded us of how important it is to be aware of these things. We learned all about migration, warehousing, and the selling of people. Did you know there is 100 million street children worldwide?  There is said to be between 14 and 15 million refugees in our world? 3% of the population on the world is migrating. Sure, you think 3% isn't a lot, but think 3% of seven billion people. That is a lot of people moving from their home countries. The largest number of people being trafficked are at risk youth. It's estimated that 17,000 people are trafficked into the USA annually for forced labor or sexual trafficking. 82% of trafficking is forced labor trafficking.  These are only a small amount of statistics I have heard in the last week.  Our world is so broken. Preventing things like this are hard. You can't just preach to the choir, everyone has to be aware of these things.  Get out of the churches and start telling the world. Start with your community, and go from there. Phil said "Human trafficking isn't on every street corner, but it is big enough to be on every one's radar." And I fully agree.  Brook, if you are reading this, I am so ready to do something big. Double Dynamic Duo, here we come.

Also, I just read a book. (That's right, I read a whole book.)  It was Speaking of Jesus, by Carl Medearis.  The art of not-evangelism. A great read.  He speaks of how speaking of Jesus is the answer. Stop trying to get people to be "Christians" but instead learn who Jesus is. You know when you introduce your friends to each other, and they get to know each other without you saying everything for them. You just had to introduce them...that's kinda what Jesus will do. Religion is what throws people off. I am one who doesn't like to be called "religious." I'm not all about rules, regulations and traditions. I just love Jesus. And that's kinda what the book is about. Not only is it a good book, but it's an easy read!  Check it out.

I am really excited for classes to start tomorrow. Week seven is on relationships with Troy Sherman. I hear he is going to be my favorite. And with all I have heard about him, I wouldn't doubt it!  So stoked for this next weeks teachings!

WOO! I found out some deets on my trip to the Philippines!  I fly out of Denver on September 15! I will be traveling for a long time with my amazing team. We'll be at two different YWAM bases in the Philippines. We get to hang with kids, go to the red light districts, share our lives with the people, learn so much from others and so so so much more!  I can't wait to get there! We will be leaving there on November first, I want to say. AND I get a layover for 12 hours in South Korea!! We get to leave the airport and enjoy Seoul, South Korea for the day! So not only do I get to be in the Philippines for 7 weeks, but I also get to spend a day in South Korea! I believe we return to Denver the 2nd of November. I can't wait for this adventure!  I can't believe this dream of YWAM is real life.  We get our week on Outreach prep on during week 8. It's going to be a fun week, learning dramas and skits and so much more. It's going to be so much fun!  Gosh! I cant wait.  My final payment is due on the 16th. So a little less than two weeks away.  I am so ridiculously blessed by all the people who have been supporting me especially financially!  I'll have a look at how much I still owe either Monday or Tuesday. This trip is not just for me and my team, but also to make Jesus known!  How awesome. Can't put a price on that!  I have to get some new skirts for the trip, things to cover my knees. This week we get the pictures for our visas, and I think next week our shots.  Yeah, I am so excited and blessed for this entire YWAM experience. Totally changing my life.

I am so thankful for the people in my life, old and new.  Can't believe I have so many amazing people in my life. People supporting me, even when they don't always understand why I am doing what I am doing! You are all amazing. So many people running through my mind.

DTS= Discipleship Training School

During week five of my DTS we studied all about Bible Study.  I thought sarcastically, "Well, this is going to be a fun week.."  Surprisingly, it was a fun week. We enjoyed a staff member, Eric, as our teacher. He is the director of the SBF school here. He was an amazing teacher and taught all about different ways to study the bible. He gave us great outlines for things to do as we study.  It made reading the Bible a whole different experience.  As a class we studied the book of Ephesians. It was pretty cool.  He also turned our classroom into the city of Ephesus. It's weird how much things in the Bible we don't look at, and learn the history of the people the Bible was written to. At least, I don't look at it that way, or I should say didn't look at it that way. Crazy times back in those days!

Lets see....what have I been up to?  I'll start from where I left off in my last post.  The following day after my love action, I gave a presentation on what I did. I think pretty much everyone had brought up notes before me on what they were going to say. I was the last one to present on that day. So, I walk up with just my phone in hand with a Bible verse to reference. I started my story. I was completely honest with the class on how I felt before the love action (Totally annoyed, if you don't remember). I told my story. As a class we all laughed at my story. Being the sap that I am, I cried when I talked about how great Betty and Bill were to me. It was honestly, probably, the best presentation I have ever given in my life. Also, I had the best one-on-one I've had so far with my small group leader. I feel like I got to know her on a new level that day. I am so glad to have her here. I have enjoyed much "hammock talk" with my good friend and roommate, Ashley. From there we come up with great jokes, great ideas, and great friendship. We went to Boulder last week. That town is so awesome! I got pulled into a street act. The guy was creepy. I didn't enjoy a second of it. So, I just kinda walked off "stage" after a little while. Another fun thing, a group of us went to the mountains for a hike this last Saturday. I saw a real lake. Not made by men! I didn't know those existed so close to the YWAM base. It was beautiful. My great friends chose the spot to hike because they know how much I love lakes and just water in general. It was so great. We hiked. We laughed. We climbed rocks. We watched kids cliff jump. We found an old car rolled over in the middle of nowhere. It was all in all a great day. A lot of fun! We want to go back with our swimsuits and cliff jump, swim, and float on tubes around that amazing lake. Sunday, I slept in! First time in a long time. I stayed in my PJ's all day. We cleaned our really dirty room. Then that evening I went to a great church. I really enjoyed it. The singer had a country twang in his voice, and it felt like I was meant to be in good ol' Rainier, Washington. Ha!   So I think that pretty well summarizes my last week.

Oh!  We had our very first team meeting. When I say team, I mean outreach team! Our little Philippines team. It consists of five students from my class, one student from the WISE school, and our leader. Only one boy on our team. Seven of us total. I am so excited for my team. We are going to grow as a group tremendously! We are going to get so close. And all of us girls are getting fanny packs! TEAM FANNY! It's going to be an amazing experience with amazing people!  I still have a large payment coming up. I also have shots I have to get, and appropriate attire for my trip. So be praying for all the things to line up!  At some point this week we get to hear all our travel plans!  Hoping for a long layover in Korea so we can adventure some there! 

If you or someone you know would like more information on my trip, don't hesitate to ask. Please keep me and my school in your prayers. Many of us still have large payments coming up!

Click on the link to learn more about YWAM Denver

Click on this link to financially support me for my trip

Support Delaney

If you are supporting me financially, enter in Delaney Harila.  The name of the school is CPDTS. The date of school, just put summer. They'll know what to do.

If you don't feel comfortable donating online, don't hesitate to call or write me.

I really do appreciate all your help. Whether it is a simple prayer, or a donation at any size. I cant thank you enough! Thanks so much!

Love Action

So, we were challenged to do a "love action" outside of the base. What's a love action you might ask. Just showing the love of Christ. Go out to the community and show the love of the Lord to someone.

Here I am totally discouraged about it. I'm mad because I'm supposed to talk about this "love action" tomorrow, and I feel I am forced to go out and do it. So, before sleeping the last two nights I am praying. "Lord just tell me what I need to do to get this love action over with. I don't even feel like it's love if it's forced..." On and on..I am being a total brat because I'm annoyed with this.  So I go to sleep Saturday night, I wake up to a dream and I think 'Delaney, remember this dream it's important.'  What do I do? I forget the dream. Then last night I go to sleep praying the prayer a little less angry, just a little more annoyed. "God, just tell me what to do for this love action. I want to love, but it's awkward loving on a stranger that isn't in this YWAM world."  I go to sleep.  I have a dream about an old man in Safeway, he is having a hard time doing something. In the dream I help him with whatever it is he needs help with.  Wake up! Yes! I found my love action. If the right old man is at Safeway when I am there, I am going to show him the love!  So after dinner, my friend Bethany and I go to Safeway to get some shopping done. I told her about my dream, and we were totally ready for this awesome encounter with this old man. Just showing him some love.

We walk into Safeway, instantly we see an older man. She nudges me and I'm like, 'nah, that ain't him. He is way too hip to be my old dream man.' So we continue into the store. No joke, not more than a minute passes and she notices an old man. THAT'S HIM! That is my old dream man!  So I nervously make my way to the man. Explaining to him that I am practicing hearing from the Lord. And I briefly discuss my weird dream to him. I ask him if there is anything I could possibly help him with. "No, I don't think so" he said with a smile. I then awkwardly ask if there is anything I can pray about for him. "Nope, I don't need any prayer today." We awkwardly part ways with a smile and kind words.  I was shot down by my old dream man.

Now I'm with a story of just a failed love action. But, I have a lady on my heart. She is an elderly women who lives next door to the base. I decided I would buy her flowers. I find a really cute little flower pot with pretty purple flowers. I'm hoping she isn't allergic to them. I buy these flowers with no clue what to say to this sweet lady I had only made small talk with a few days before. I got a little piece of paper and a cute envelope out to write a note. Secretly hoping that she isn't home, and I can just leave them on her door step. So, I pray about what to say to this lady. "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born again and knows God." 1 John 4:7  This verse comes up, and I'm like "Uh, kay God, but I don't even know if this lady loves you." Next, I begin to write down something like "these flowers represent all the love the Lord has for you.  Also all the love you have given through your life. God Bless"   I like the envelope and stick it in the flowers.

I begin to walk towards the pond as people are questioning me about these flowers. Asking, who they are from? Who are they for?  I do the classic move and give them a sarcastic remark and continue towards these strangers house. I see there is three cars in front of the house. "Cool God, they're like having a party or something."  I ring the doorbell.  A man younger that the woman I thought had lived there answers the door. I kinda hesitate, "Hi, is your wiiiife home?"  "I don't have a wife, but my mom is here."  "Oh, yeah that's who I am thinking about."  He opens the door a bit more and calls out for his mother.

The sweet old lady answers the door. I am so weird in this moment.  "Hi, my name is Delaney. I'm a student at YWAM just next door. These flowers are for you, I just want you to know God really loves you."  She begins to tear up. Great! I'm a cryer, if you cry I cry. She gives me a big hug and asks me to come in.  We chatted and I asked if she believed in the Lord. She happily replies, "Yes, of course."  We then began a long conversation. We shared a bit of our lives. We cried together, we laughed and enjoyed each others company. Sweet, sweet Betty and her husband Bill. I was happy to meet her. And though, I didn't dream of it, it was better than I could have imagined. The joke was on me though. Betty and Bill were the ones who truly showed me God's love. They invited me into their home. Shared stories and even ended with a great prayer. They invited me to come back. "The back door is almost always open," Betty told me. They asked me to come back and share stories from my trip to the Philippines in November. I gave Betty my number and asked her to call me if she ever needed anything. With sweet hugs and smiles I left.

Even though I was bitter about it to start with, the Lord showed up.  He put a smile and her face and he showed me what love is. The family gave me an experience I will never forget. I am happy to call Betty and Bill my friends.

Fear.

So, a week ago we left for another YWAM base only 45 minutes from the Denver base I call home. You may have read a little bit about it in my last post.  Its up in the mountains and absolutely beautiful.  It rained sometimes and was much cooler (in temp.) than my base. The nights called for blankets and even sweats. The first night we were blessed with an amazing show of lightning and roars of thunder.  There was an awesome rock we call Eagle Rock that we were able to hike up to. The Eagle Rock campus was amazing, and I wish we could have stayed longer. The weeks teaching was the fear of the Lord. I have crazy notes that seem to loop around and go all over the place but the teaching was great.

Yesterday was my first big payment to my outreach to the Philippines.  $1400. I don't know exactly how much I have had paid to my account. I'm sure it is at least that much. And I am so thankful to those who have really helped me out. Whether the help came from your pockets, prayers or both, it is all very helpful and I cant thank you enough. My next and final payment for this adventure is in four weeks.  I am very excited to go and work in the nations. Not many people have the opportunity that I have been given. It is quite amazing.

Today, we did a little something different. One Saturday a month we go out into the community and do what we call Service Saturday.  My small group along with three others went to help with Hands of the Carpenter.  This organization helps people in need. Their main focus is on widows and single parents. Today their project was to help with car care. We were split into different groups and got jobs to do.  We had people changing oil, washing cars, greeting the people, hanging out with the people, and crafts for kids.  We were each given a very cool shirt and put to work. I started out with the women just hanging out. Then was asked to wash cars which turned into a big water fight. It was quite a fun day, and I am so thankful I got to work with such an awesome ministry. I met a sweet lady first thing, her name was Shirley. She was elderly and probably the most beautiful face I have seen in a long time. She told me about her travels and struggles through life. Unfortunately I didn't get to say goodbye. I was so sad. When suddenly as we were cleaning up the area and the Honda minivan pulled up. I ran over and was happy to say hello. She had brought something back to have done to her car. I was able to talk with her while her car was being worked on. I got the chance to hold her and pray for her. She tried holding back tears, as did I. And we went our separate ways. She was very sweet and left an impression on my heart that will last a lifetime. 

Just a little side note...I have made many friends. All whom I love very much. I have seven amazing roommates and much much more housemates.  My two favorite places on campus are on the hammock that I can see Goose Poop Pond from. And the roof which I am sitting on right now. A window in my room goes straight to it, and its a great place to relax, and the power cord to my laptop can reach it.  I love the storms and all the locals say they have been bigger than normal this year!  Sometimes waking up for breakfast is a little rough, but I have yet to miss it from sleeping in. The food is usually pretty good.  Class is fun and sometimes a little crazy.  Reading the books is a little hard, just because I don't enjoy reading.  They are good so far.  Quiet time in the morning is a life saver, I love it. Worship three times a week and whenever someone with a guitar feels like worshiping is always fantastic. I'm sure there is so much more I could talk about, but its hard when I cant think of everything I've done. I've done so much!

Here...Let me post some overdue photos. I've been lacking in that...

And here I am on the roof...crazy hair and tired face. 

Skate or Die

Just a side note for this week. We are up at another YWAM base in the mountains, only about 45 minutes away from the Denver base.  Here at Eagle Rock, is where the boarders DTS is held. It sounds amazing and I have so many friends who I think would have a blast here. (One whom I'm trying to talk into going) Anyways, I've been skating on a regular skate deck rather than my longboard the last few days. Annnndd...well, I hit the ground pretty hard with my face.  So, they all frantically ran for tissues and ice. I didn't cry UNTIL one of the staff told me it's okay to cry.

So, a little later a bunch of girls gathered around me.  Laying hands and began to pray.  My head was hurting, my lip was extremely swollen and my knees were pretty banged up.  As they began to pray my headache was slowly taken away. My knee wasn't hurting to bad, and my lip..well its still a bit swollen, but doesn't hurt too bad. Two of the girls spoke in their native tongue and somehow I thought I was hearing english from the one who spoke spanish. I knew what she was praying for. It was AWESOME.  I woke up this morning with a sore knee and a fat lip, but its not too terribly bad.  It has been fun skating the little half pipe and I plan to get back up there again today!  Praise the Lord for a good rest and amazing people living with me.