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.

Unique, Beautiful and Whole

The Character of God...what a confusing, wonderful thing.   The beginning of the week started out with the question; "What do you want to know about God's character?"  Uh...Hello..How am I even supposed to start or end the answer of that question? Insane.  Well, this week brought so many questions and answers and new thoughts to mind.

"The character of God? Just look at Jesus."

He is holy, holy, holy.  Holiness isn't just avoiding sin. It is unique, beautiful and whole. He loves. He cares. He isn't a god out for blood.  God doesn't want to "fix" us, as much as He wants to know us. He is family. He is so much, I cant put it into words. This week has been great, a lot of learning. Some questions cant be answered...but I think I am okay with that.

Think of this.  We're made in God's image, yeah?  Awesome. So...I'm a cryer. It was put out there that crying isn't a weakness. What? Sounds something like a mom would say. Crying is being vulnerable. Vulnerable equals weak right?  Hmm... Well, Jesus wept.  The thought that was brought up was that mayyyybbeee....Jesus didn't weep because He was human, maybe we weep because we are made in His image.  Just the aspects of the Lord that we think is just a stupid human reaction, but we were made with these feelings, reactions and emotions.  So a lot was learned, and as I read over my notes more things are coming to mind. God is good all the time.

Also, here is a little information on what I will be doing in the Philippines.  (this is what the school wrote)..

We will be heading to Subic Bay, and also traveling to San Juan, La Union in the Philippines. During our seven weeks we will have a wide variety of many different ministries. We will be doing street evangelism, working in the slum communities doing feeding programs and working with kids, teaching English, basic life skills and music classes. We will also have the opportunity to work with the bar girls in the community, doing friendship evangelism and sharing the love
of Christ. My desire is for our team to have the opportunity to listen, love, and imitate a life like Jesus in all that we do. I’m so excited to join in and partner with the Lord with what he is already doing, will you join in too?

Our first big payment for outreach is due NEXT FRIDAY! July 19th
The first chunk is $1400...Please give prayers, and if you feel led even $5 helps more than you know.

FINANCIAL SUPPORT
Date: September 14, 2013 - November 1st, 2013 
Cost: $2800.00
First payment: July 19th, 2013
Second payment: August 16th, 2013
If you would like to send financial support, please make checks payable to YWAM Denver and send to the student:
Delaney Harila
c/o Youth With A Mission Denver
12750 W 63rd Ave
Arvada, CO 80004
You can also pay online: www.ywamdenver.org. Click Donate/Pay. Go to School Payments. 
or click on the link>>>>YWAM DENVER PAYMENT  [Delaney Harila],

School: Compassion DTS and Date: Summer 2013



I don't want anyone to give with the feeling of pity on me. The word says to give with a generous heart, and it will be given back to you.  Thanks everyone for your support.

Recap

Tomorrow is the beginning of week 3 here at YWAM Denver. Crazy its been two weeks. I almost feel like I've been here forever and known some of these people my whole life. But at the same time I feel like I just got here and I'm slowly meeting some of the other people. The fact that I have been here for two weeks and I feel like so much awesome stuff has happened in my life and heart, I can't even fathom what is going to happen between now and November.

I have had some more time to process what happened during last weeks classes.. The teaching of Father Heart of God was incredible. Absolutely incredible. We learned so much about God's heart for us as His kids. We learned all about the way we build up things between us and God. We were taught the way past wounds and hurts can cripple our relationship with God if we allow it. Personally, I am learning about trusting the Lord and forgiveness. I don't think I'm much of a grudge holder, but I do tend to hold onto some part of past angers. This last week has taught me so much about the truth of forgiveness. Somehow, the last teachings of my home church Ignite, that I attended keeps coming to mind. Just bits and pieces, but its cool how everything somehow ties together.

Now to the crazy four day weekend. In my last post you heard all about my fourth, which was fun. Washington, you have much better fireworks. Anyway, Friday we got 3 vans full of young people and a tube for just about everyone.  The vans were cram packed with people and tubes, it was quite the experience. We drove up to Golden, CO. We walked up the river a bit and filled the river with YWAMers! I think just about everyone flipped over at least once. We laughed, we joked, we froze. Personally, I did it as much as possible (three times) trying to find the roughest rapids on the river. Our last  run we heard thunder and it started to rain while we floated down the river. A little sketchy, but it was all good. It was a great day. That night I went to bed as early as possible to prepare myself for a 8 mile hike. We left the base at 4am. We trucked up the mountain to the elevation of 14,270. I could barely breath. My muscles were screaming "what are you doing?!"  Only 10 of us from the school went. It was spectacular. I saw mountain tops for days. The whole way we spoke of dreams, life and the love we all share for our God. It was a great adventure, with great people. My bedroom is on the second floor, needless to say, walking up those stairs today is a struggle. Ha

Now to get serious. Here is what is on my mind.  I am not really worried about finances, but it is on my mind. Due to the fact that I do not have the money ready. I hate to ask for money, and it's not something I would normally do. However, if you feel led to donate to an awesome mission trip...Good news! I am headed to an awesome mission trip and half my tuition for it is due at the end of week 4. Half of the tuition is $1400.  I ask that you pray about my finances, and the right things will happen.  I know it will be provided, I have peace about it. But the question is how.. I don't yet know that but I am looking forward to my mission. If you have any questions about my trip or finacial support, you can get ahold of me at email or you can ask me through my facebook page.
Thank you for your support whether it be prayer, encouragement, support, and/or financial support. God Bless!

Week Two.

Soo....YWAM is great so far.  So many friends!  It's incredible how quickly you can click with people. I love being surrounded by so many great people all the time.  Very few guys in the DTS, but there are more in other schools and a lot of guy staff.  We have liiiike, 35 students in DTS and only 5 are boys.  So many ladies of the Lord, its cool. I do wish there was more boys though just to maybe even it out a bit, but the guys are cool.

Oh, Happy 4th of July! I'll start with that.  We have a four day weekend due to the holiday. So, today my friend Tim (he is on staff, super cool dude) let me borrow his car to take a bunch of ladies to the thrift store. We spent a lot of time hanging out and trying on awesome red, white and blue clothes to get festive for the evenings activities. We slowly, but surely got everyone something awesome to wear, even those who aren't from America, which is awesome.  Then we made our way back to the base and we all split up to read...and most of us failed to actually read. (We have a book report due Mon. I'll get to that in a bit)  Eventually, we all gathered up our festive clothing and worked our way to a BBQ at a staff members home. We ate far too much junk food and enjoyed every last bite! We climbed a dead tree stump, took a ridiculous amount of pictures and walked in fields of tall grass.  Some people played games, I watched a movie laughing at all the awesome comments from the people around me. Then we made our way to "the fields" to watch the fireworks. There we laughed, caught gold fish in the air and enjoyed the rest of our night. It was all in all a pretty darn good day!

Our schedule is pretty cool.
Breakfast at 7:30-8
Quiet time 8-850
Worship or Class 9-whatever.
Class.
Lunch. 1pm
Class 2-whatever.
Work duties 3:45-530
Dinner 530-630? Idk.
Then the evenings are usually pretty free.

Now to the crazy, life shattering (in a good way) week...  Father Heart of God was our topic this week taught by Jeff Pratt.  He is an amazing story teller, an amazing man of God, and hilarious. He challenged us in so many ways and brought tears to nearly every one's eyes.  So much happened. I don't even know where to start. Basically our God is an awesome God. His heart is awesome and we should all strive to be just like Him.  So many people were changed in this week. It also brought our class to know each other more on an intimate level. The week was great. I'm not sure I have any more tears to let loose in a while. The weeks teachings were great, I wish I could go into more detail, but it was so crazy awesome that I'm not even sure what happened. Ha.

We started our work duties this week.  I am on Child Care and House Keeping.  Child Care is every Monday and once a month when the family has a meeting. Then house keeping Tuesday-Friday.  Tuesday-Wednesday I get the pleasure of cleaning the bathrooms....that's sarcasm. I don't love scrubbing toilets, but someone has to do it. Right?  Then Fridays I get to clean the guest speakers house. It's not bad, and I get to clean with a really awesome girl.  So, my work duties are a little different than most peoples. Most people have one duty that they do each day. I get different things, so it never gets old. I hope! Ha

Also, we have book reports. Anyone who knows me knows I do not enjoy reading. So this is a test...I know I can do it. I'm just slacking...whoops. But it will all be good, and my report will be in on time! Also we have creative presentations we have to do. So somehow we each have to come up with a creative way of showing the methods of Jesus.  It will be interesting to watch each persons presentation.  I think I will be drawing or painting for mine. I present Tuesday morning I believe.  So, there is some homework, but not too terribly bad.

So, I think I have chosen my mission location. I think I will be going to the Philippines.  It's an awesome opportunity to work with people in slums, prostitutes and so much more. We will be partnering with the local YWAM teams there. Staying at the YWAM bases and helping out. I can't wait. My mission phase will be costing $2800. I have little worries about money, even though I personally do not have that money in my bank account, I know that It will be provided in one way or another.

Keep me in your prayers.  And I'm sorry if this post seems all over the place, its past bedtime. I am exhausted from such a crazy, fun filled day!  Let me know if you have any questions, but post them to my facebook, because I don't know how to work these blog things very well yet!  Miss many of your faces back home. Love you guys.
And you can always log onto ywamdenver.org