Estoy agradecido.

I am so thankful that I get to live on this beautiful base
with all of these amazing people!

Wow… another thanksgiving has come and gone! This year was a little different for me. Most years, I spend my day with family sitting around the table feasting on turkey, stuffing, yams and all the other wonderful thanksgiving delicacies. In the afternoon, after playing outside (often in the snow) we would head back into the cozy kitchen still warm and fragrant from baking the turkey.  For me, this year was a little different. Yes, there was all of the typical food but instead of hanging out with family, this day was spent with friends and mentors. Though it didn’t feel much like Thanksgiving, the real point of this holiday isn’t about family is it? I am so thankful that God has brought me to this YWAM base at this specific time. I have had so many opportunities to grow not only spiritually, but also in my talents.

The Long Sands band.

Last Saturday, we had an opportunity to put on a concert. Two local worship bands came in and the DTS students played songs in-between them. Several weeks ago, we were broken into groups of about five people and challenged to write a song for outreach. My team really struggled with it. We finally came up with a melody for the lyrics and were trying to write the final part of our song, the bridge. In a couple of minutes we had written a powerful bridge… the only problem was that it didn’t mesh with the melody of the rest of the song. So here we are with two parts of a song that are both great, but don't go together...at all!  We made an executive decision to scrap the melody of the song and re-write it so it blended with the bridge. That’s how much we loved it! In under a week, we wrote a song and produced it for performance! At times, it was super stressful and frustrating but that is how we learn. I did love the process of making everyone in our band blend… from practicing our song to making sure our clothing style was the same. Our performance wasn’t perfect, but so much fun! I couldn’t wait to get on stage and didn’t want to walk of it! I can’t believe we are going to get to do this all the time on outreach!

 

Speaking of outreach, that is coming up in two weeks! As excited as I am, I a still a bit nervous! The next two months are going to be an amazing experience serving the Lord and furthering the gospel. I also know that they are going to hold some of the most stretching moments! Everybody on my outreach team has a job. Mine is to buy and prepare food… surprised right? I am super excited to have this responsibility even though I know it is going to be difficult. I have to buy food on a weekly budget and make sure that there is a meal plan for each week. I’m sure we are going to be eating a lot of pasta! I’m already starting to draw up a meal plan which is easier said then done. Bring... on... the ... challenge! Every week we have an outreach dinner prep, you may remember the delicious cow intestine soup? Basically, our leaders serve us food that we may encounter when on outreach. This week we were served four ham and sourcream sandwiches... one or two I can handle but four? All of the students found secret ways of stashing away the sandwiches when the leaders weren't looking, a little piece in a hoodie, a sandwich in a back pack and many more shoved into bags. We did everything possible to not eat those sandwiches! Who could blame us? It made me think though. Here we are trying to throw away these sandwiches because we didn't want to eat them when there are people living right outside that have nothing to eat. I have to admit that I felt a little guilty. I definitely have a perspective change about these dinners. Even if what we eat is disgusting it is still something. There is so much to be thankful for!

The amazing ham and sourcream sandwiches!