Divine intervention in $50's...WOW!

As we started our time here at YWAM, we knew that we would have most meals provided, but were also realistic and we would have some times we wanted to eat other things or would be hungry when there were no meals. Since we felt a certain amount of responsibility to at least try to just make due with what was provided, we thought it would be a good idea, in YWAM fashion, to have myself, Anya and Charli all pray for a number, and that would be our budget for the week for food. We all felt like we heard $50, so that is what we decided (it is so cool that we all heard the same number, without knowing the other persons number first, this prayer thing works).

I was surprised the first week, after buying what seemed like just the basics, we were left with $6. Set on being obedient to what we heard, we had to regretfully turn down offers to go out to eat on the weekend, and fight off all of the urge to make all kinds of exceptions and just go. SO that evening, I decided to turn this over to God also, praying simply "God, we will be obedient to your words, so if you want us to go out to eat, you will have to give us the money".

About 12 hours later, we are sitting in New Life Church on Easter morning. A single lady kindly asks if she can sit next to us and I struck up a conversation with her about her Bible cover that talked about the bible being illegal in many countries. She asked about us and I told her about being at YWAM. She filled me in that she was retired Military and was here to become a minister to the elderly in her retirement. At the end of the service, I gave her a hug and commented that I believe that she will be blessed greatly by her choice of how to spend her retirement. I really thought God may have put her there for me to encourage. Then, as she said goodbye, she grabbed my hand, and said, "God told me to give this to you". She walked off, and left me with a hand full of money totaling $50. I guess we are supposed to go out to eat a couple of times. Go God!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A few good answers

So now that we are feeling better as a family, and I have caught up on all that I needed to do in the first few weeks, I thought I would pass on answers to a few questions that were asked of me before I had the answers. The classes this first couple of weeks have been amazing, even in the midst of illness, and although our end purpose is not clear yet, what we are learning is very clear, and making a huge difference in our lives and the way that we think. But back to the questions...

Why are we going to somewhere in Asia for outreach when there are so many places that we could go locally?

Because one light in a dark place makes much more of a difference than one more light in a place already flooded with lights. Or in plain English, there are many missionaries and churches in the US, but there are few people reaching out to the areas in the 10/40 window. That is an opportunity to make a huge difference among people who have have not been touched.

How can people make a difference if they are not able to spend time in the mission field?

We learned today that for every missionary in the field there needs to be several people supporting them. Without sufficient support they are most likely going to fail. The missionaries need prayer support, monetary support, and also people who are simply giving them information about the areas that they are reaching out to. YWAM has over 100 staff members here that are responsible for training and supporting the full time missionaries in the field. There is also a great need for people who are willing to run businesses in a Christian way, work in media, promote the arts. All of these areas are available to spread the message that the missionaries are spreading overseas, and support those missionaries by getting out the word of what they are able to do with the right support.

What are you going to do after classes and where will you go?

This one has become very interesting for us. We came here with sort of an agenda in both my and Charli's mind. But as we have begun, we have seen the circumstances the God has put us in resetting all of our ideas, and taking on a new goal. "Stop dreaming, and start praying and listening for an answer, then wait!" What we have learned just about ourselves and our approach to decisions regarding our life has been amazing. We have not changed anything about our plans for after our outreach, and will not make any changes without confirmation that clearly directs us to make huge changes. We could easily mis what we are called to do if we let out own goals get in the way.

Finally, I want to share a huge revelation that I had this week from our speaker. It concerns worship, and the motivation to do so:

"We worship what we like. We can worship anything. But when we take the time to study God, interact with God through our actions, and witness the power that God has in our lives, we will begin to see the greatness of God and all that is provided to us. Once we witness the greatness of God, the natural result of that will be worship! But we have to be willing to take the first step and try it out, because God will not force us to."

Our path to this time on our lives has been so amazing, but we have often let the things around us distract us from seeing how great things have been. Serving others in some way is regularly what provides the greatest joy in our week. As I realized that, I am anxious for any opportunity that I can find to reach someone with the love that Jesus showed, and can imagine nothing but wanting to worship the God that made such joy so available to us at any time of any day.

So give it a try, and see how it feels!!!!

First full week

So I'll just say it...TOUGH WEEK! Last time I wrote, Aria was sick, and had spent most of the day in my arms. Though I would not trade comforting her for the world, I would definitely have traded what I was given in return. By 3am Monday I was sick, and could not stop purging until about 9am. Then late that afternoon Charli and Anya both became sick also. Fortunately I was far enough along that I was able to take care of them. They were not so fortunate in timing, it took them days to get going again. So Charli and I missed the first two days of class, Anya her first three, and we are still trying to get the girls accustomed to going to their classes each day while we attend ours. So things have not been easy. But just because they were not easy does not mean we have not had some awesome things going on at the same time!!!

When we did make it to class, we were able to hear a great speaker, Egbert de Zwaan, the YWAM Central Asia Regional Leader. Edbert talked to us about the character of God, and even better, he got us talking about and seeing what we already know about the character of God. Biggest thing that I brought out of it is that we need to recognize all of the great things that God has done for us, and once we recognize that we will have a great appreciation for God. If we have a great appreciation for God, and enjoy our walk with Him, then worship becomes natural, since we worship what we like! He made it sound do easy!!!!

Other things that have been going through our heads in this first week, where will this lead us. I have heard a lot of people with a lot of great ideas and dreams for what they would like to do after we finish this training. But all that I have felt so far is that our family is not supposed to be trying to figure this out on our own. Instead, Charli and I are supposed to be praying and listening. We have been brought here my so many awesome things, it would not be the time now to try to take control back and dream of what is next. So we will be doing that.

Finally, we had our first opportunity for outreach today. We joined up with a few churches and went to a local park where homeless gather. It was awesome just to take some time to talk to and pray with a group of people who are having a tough time. But is was also great to have the opportunity to encourage a couple who was there with a baby and had fallen on hard times so came by for the food and support. We also gave the kids an opportunity to run and play in the park on a sunny morning .

So we are all getting a little more adjusted. Planning on this week being our first full one in class. Anya has made some good friends and is getting more comfortable. Aria has also found herself a few favorites. We expect great things as we move forward, keep praying for us!!!!!!!!!

So much to say...

Where to begin...I can't even figure it out. I had a great plan to write today, but was distracted when Aria came down with a stomach virus, and I was the lap of choice. Sorry to say no one else ranked above her smiling every time I was with her, particularly when she cried whenever I left. It was a great friend that recently said that if there is no structural resistance to your plan, you are probably not on the right path. SO we must be heading down the right path. Charli and I could not be more sure that we are in the right place.

Our trip out was a great time for us. We spent 14 hours in and out of the car to get to Kansas City the first day. Not bad since we stopped at the Arch for 2 hours and only had two meltdowns by the kids.

That left two easy last days and a lot of fun at rest areas and great times together in the evening.

We arrived in Colorado Springs really early on Thursday and decided to head to the mountains before we checked in at YWAM, since we were not expected until the afternoon. The ride into the city was absolutely breathtaking. The highway in was a rural 2 lane road, so we saw lots of wildlife and slowly saw the mountains appear in the distance as the clouds were lifting for the day. When we finally did arrive in the city we drove past YWAM and discovered that we were only a couple of miles from Garden of the Gods. That is where we spent the remainder of the morning.

Once we finally arrived at YWAM, we met some great people. There is nothing like traveling for 3 days to go to a place that seems foreign, and having 2 very excited people yelling across a parking lot "are you the Rennekamps?" before we spoke a word. Turns out is was another young girl excited to meet Anya, and her mom, who is on staff. As we started to talk, we discovered that the same place in Honduras that inspired me to take this trip, also was a place that their family felt that same call, with Cindy and Henry Lowman encouraging them. Just one more in a long line of connections that we have seen in our story of coming here.

Since then we have had a day of orientation Friday, followed by a picnic that evening. Then Saturday we spent the morning together followed by a few of us taking off to a place called "the incline". We made it half way to the top and decided to come back to conquer on another day...but it was amazing to look down on some mountains, and up to others...praying over the city as we went.

Tomorrow starts the first day of real class, after a morning of worship.

I'm having trouble getting pictures to show up on here this evening, and have other things to do instead of fighting it, so here is the link to my photo album...there are some great ones in it!

https://picasaweb.google.com/twr111/YWAM2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCJPDovb387rPtwE#

Love you all!