The Transition Into YWAM

I had ideas and plans of writing these beautiful slightly dramatic, encouraging stories. However, they have not come together like I wanted them to at this time of month. Nevertheless I would love to do some bullet points for your encouragement on what’s been going on and how things are going =)

What have I been up to?

• Learning how to tie knots!
o Rock climbing
o Repelling
o Bear Hangs (a term we use for hanging up our camp food in the trees. i.e. up and away from the bears.)
• Better understanding what it means to be staff, transitioning has been fairly good!
• Making Sam’s Club and Wal-Mart runs. [livin’ in a small town you drive a great distance to these places. Therefore buying everything in great bulk! Our 12 passenger van fills up like nothing I’ve ever seen with food!]
• Picking students up from the airports
• Communicating with guest speakers [our school teachers’ change from week to week talking on various subjects such as, last week’s – Relationships, and this week’s the Nature and Character of God.]
• Cooking and packaging our food for the first two week expenditure to the Buffalo National Forest.
• Working in the office and attending meetings
• Hiking! Canoeing! Those were great weeks~ Everything you know at home, communication wise and comfort-you are cut off with in the forest world~
• Sitting in on lectures—these times have been great. Our first two weeks of lecture were spent on rock beds outside of our tents <3>

In conclusion life has been crazy but I think the biggest thing I have been learning is having the right state of mind. With being involved in ministry, actually at any moment really, it is so easy to be distracted in thought than being exactly where you are. I would love to be all here in Ozark, in the mind.

What a privilege it has been getting to know the students more in depth. They’re simply pretty stinkin’ sweet ;] You can only talk so much while hiking so getting to know someone doesn’t just happen in one sitting however while hiking and canoeing their was much time to think throughout the day. Having these extended times of hiking deeper and deeper into God’s ever so detailed master piece I had to chose at times to reflect on Philippians 4 verse 8. It really helped me keep a right mind-set. It simply says, “whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is true, whatever is right, whatever is noble, whatever is admirable, whatever is righteous, if anything is praise worthy or excellent, think about such things.” What is pure? What is lovely?? These wild flowers are lovely. These trees are lovely. Then the light went on! Think about those things that are lovely. God is pure, what a Sunday school answer I thought, but then it’s the truth. Our Lord is unpolluted; untainted by our corrupt world. Meditate on who He is.
Oh so good!

So anyways =) If you’ve read thus far, thank you for spending time truly “listening” to what has been filling my days~

With Love,
Rebecca Joy